“Very curious,” Melanie said.
“Hi, everybody,” Candace called out while coming through the door, without knocking. “How’d I do timewise? I didn’t even blow-dry my hair.” Instead of her normal French twist, her damp hair was combed back straight off her forehead.
“You did great,” Melanie assured her. “And you were the only smart one to get some sleep. I have to admit, I’m exhausted.”
“Did Siegfried Spallek get in touch with you?” Kevin asked.
“At about nine-thirty,” Candace said. “He woke me up out of a sound sleep. I hope I made sense.”
“What did he say?” Kevin asked.
“He was very nice, actually,” Candace said. “He even apologized for what happened last night. He also had an explanation about the smoke coming from the island. He said it was from a work crew burning brush.”
“We got the same message,” Kevin said.
“What’s your take on it?” Candace asked.
“We don’t buy it,” Melanie said. “It’s too convenient.”
“I sort of assumed as much,” Candace said.
Melanie grabbed her paper bag. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Do you have the key?” Kevin questioned. He picked up the locator and the directional beacon.
“Of course I have the key,” Melanie said.
As they went out the door Melanie told Candace she’d brought some lunch for them.
“Great!” Candace said. “I’m famished.”
“Hold on a second,” Kevin said when they reached the stairs. “Something just dawned on me. We must have been followed yesterday. That’s the only way I can explain the way they surprised us. Of course, that really means I must have been followed, since I was the one who talked about the smoke situation with Bertram Edwards.”
“That’s a good point,” Melanie said.
The three people stared at each other for a moment.
“What should we do?” Candace asked. “We don’t want to be followed.”
“The first thing is that we shouldn’t use my car,” Kevin said. “Where’s yours, Melanie? With this dry weather we can manage without four-wheel drive.”
“Downstairs in the parking lot,” Melanie said. “I just drove in from the animal center.”
“Was anybody following you?”
“Who knows?” Melanie said. “I wasn’t watching.”
“Hmmm,” Kevin pondered. “I still think they’ll be following me if they follow anybody. So, Melanie, go down and get in your car and head home.”
“What will you guys do?”
“There’s a tunnel in the basement that goes all the way out to the power station. Wait about five minutes at your house and pick us up at the power station. There’s a side door that opens directly onto the parking lot. You know where I mean?”
“I think so,” Melanie said.
“All right,” Kevin said. “See you there.”
They split up at the first floor, with Melanie going out into the noonday heat while Candace and Kevin descended to the basement level.
After walking for fifteen minutes, Candace commented on what a maze the hallways were.
“All the power comes from the same source,” Kevin explained. “The tunnels connect all the main buildings except for the animal center, which has its own power station.”
“One could get lost down here,” Candace said.
“I did,” Kevin admitted. “A number of times. But during the middle of the rainy season, I find these tunnels handy. They’re both dry and cool.”
As they neared the power station they could hear and feel the vibration of the turbines. A flight of metal steps took them up to the side door. As soon as they appeared, Melanie, who’d been parked under a malapa tree, cruised over and picked them up.
Kevin got in the back so Candace could climb into the front. Melanie pulled away immediately. The car’s air-conditioning felt good given the heat and hundred-percent humidity.
“See anything suspicious?” Kevin asked.
“Not a thing,” Melanie said. “And I drove around for a while pretending I was on errands. There wasn’t anyone following me. I’m ninety-nine percent sure.”
Kevin looked out the back window of Melanie’s Honda and watched the area around the power station as it fell behind, then disappeared as they rounded a corner. No people had appeared, and there were no cars in pursuit.
“I’d say it looks good,” Kevin said. He scrunched down on the backseat to be out of sight.
Melanie drove around the north rim of the town. While she did so, Candace broke out the sandwiches.
“Not bad,” Candace said, taking a bite of a tuna fish on whole wheat.
“I had them made up at the animal-center commissary,” Melanie explained. “There are drinks in the bottom of the bag.”
“You want some, Kevin?” Candace called.
“I suppose,” Kevin said. He stayed on his side. Candace passed him a sandwich and a soft drink between the front bucket seats.
They were soon on the road that led east out of town toward the native village. From Kevin’s perspective, all he could see was the tops of the liana-covered trees that lined the road, plus a strip of hazy blue sky. After so many months of cloud cover and rain, it was good to see the sun.
“Anybody following us?” Kevin asked, after they’d driven for some time.
Melanie glanced in the rearview mirror. “I haven’t seen a car,” she said. There’d been no vehicular traffic in either direction, although there were plenty of native women carrying various burdens on their heads.
After they passed the parking lot in front of the general store at the native village and entered the track that led to the island staging area, Kevin sat up. He was no longer worried about being seen. Every few minutes, he looked behind to make sure they weren’t being followed. Although he didn’t admit it to the women, he was a nervous wreck.
“That log we hit last night should be coming up soon,” Kevin warned.
“But we didn’t go over it when they brought us out,” Melanie said. “They must have moved it.”
“You’re right,” Kevin said. He was impressed that Melanie remembered. After the machine-gun fire, the details of the previous night were murky in Kevin’s mind.
Guessing they were getting close, Kevin moved forward so he could see out the front windshield between the two front seats. Despite the noontime sun the ability to see into the dense jungle lining the road was hardly any better than it had been the evening before. Little light penetrated the vegetation; it was like moving between two walls.
They drove into the clearing and stopped. The garage stood to their left while to the right they could see the mouth of the track that led down to the water’s edge and the bridge.
“Should I drive down to the bridge?” Melanie asked.
Kevin’s nervousness increased. Coming into a dead end bothered him. He debated driving down to the water’s edge but guessed there wouldn’t be enough room to turn around. That would mean they’d have to back out.
“My suggestion would be to park here,” Kevin said. “But let’s turn the car around first.”
Kevin expected an argument, but Melanie put the car in gear without so much as a whimper. They left unspoken the fact that they would now have to walk past the spot where they’d been fired upon.
Melanie completed her three-point turn. “Okay, everybody, here we are,” she said airily, as she pulled on the emergency brake. She was trying to buoy everyone’s spirits. They were all tense.
“I just had an idea which I don’t like,” Kevin said.
“Now what?” Melanie asked, looking at him in the rearview mirror.
“Maybe I should quietly walk down to the bridge and make sure no one is around,” Kevin said.
“Like who?” Melanie asked, but the thought of unwanted company had occurred to her as well.