Earth Thirst (The Arcadian Conflict) - By Mark Teppo Page 0,43

could see the stars.

I call Ralph back and he answers on the second ring, out of breath and somewhat guarded. “Ah… hello?”

“It's me,” I reply.

“Oh, you,” he says. “Yes. You got my message?”

I glance at my phone and see the tiny blinking symbol that indicates that, yes, I do have voice mail. “No,” I say. “Why don't you tell me again so I don't have to figure out how to access my voice mail.”

“You haven't seen the papers?”

“No.”

“There was a fire at Eden Park.”

“When?”

He doesn't say anything, and I realize why he's being cagey. “You think I started it?”

“I… I don't know,” he says. “Why don't you tell me your version of what happened.”

“My version?” I stop myself before my anger takes over control of my tongue. “Are you covering the story for The Independent?”

He makes a noise in his throat that I take to be a yes.

“What about Secutores?” I ask. “You know they're involved. You know they had people at that location, that they want to keep things covered up. You know about Kyodo Kujira.”

“Yes,” he agrees. “But I don't know who you are.”

I stop looking for the stars. “I'll have to call you back, Ralph,” I say.

“No! Wait—”

I end the call before he can say anything else. He's got a valid point. He doesn't know me. He doesn't know what my motivation is or who I might be working for. I don't blame him. Until he knows enough to trust me, he's going to be worried that he's getting involved in a personal spat between me and Secutores. The type of disagreement that involves people with guns. Ralph strikes me as the type who steers clear of those sorts of disagreements.

I glance back at the hotel. Should I let him talk to Mere? He'll trust her; she trusts me. Can I keep things contained? Can I keep my secrets safe?

I dial another number. It rings a long time before it is answered; even then, the line clicks and hums for a bit before I hear his voice. “It's me,” I say.

“Where are you?” Callis asks.

“Same place, more or less.”

“Progress?”

“There's a private security company called Secutores that is running interference. They came in shortly after the boat was found and scared off Prime Earth's legal team. Spirited the survivors away to a place called Eden Park—old asylum outside of the city.”

“This wouldn't be the same Eden Park that burned down less than twenty-four hours ago?”

“The same.”

He waits for me to provide more information. I had been hoping that he'd be the one offering up news, and I exhale noisily before I continue. “I was there. They were waiting for me. Not just there. At the hospital too. They've been waiting for an Arcadian to show up.” I tell him what has been bugging me about my mental puzzle. “They want one of us. They want to capture an Arcadian.”

“Why?”

“I'm not sure.” I'm starting to see the shape of the puzzle. The weed killer is lethal, but the CO2 pistols are a clumsy delivery system, as evidenced by how readily I was able to avoid the pellets. They should be dipping ordinance into the chemical. Since they haven't been—so far—it means they're using it as a deterrent, like using dogs to flush quail toward a blind where the hunters are hiding. Like shocking cows to get them to move in the direction you want.

“How do they hope to manage this?” Callis asks. “Did you see anything that suggests they have a weapon of some kind? Something that could incapacitate us or…?”

“Oh, they have something all right,” I laugh. “It's pretty nasty.”

“What is it?”

“Something that makes Agent Orange look like Tang.”

He's quiet for a moment. While he's thinking, I wander farther away from the hotel, heading for the darkness beyond the parking lot. Heading for someplace with more trees.

“Where did they get it?” he asks, following the same line of thinking that I've been chewing on. A security company like Secutores might have an R & D budget, but not for the sort of high-tech science that it would take to develop something like the weed killer. Someone gave it to them, which means they're following orders.

“Unknown,” I tell him. “But it involves Kyodo Kujira.” I give him a brief rundown of what happened on the Cetacean Liberty. My version. He doesn't ask about Mere, and I don't volunteer any tidbit that involves her.

“The whole mission was a trap,” I finish. “It was all a setup to grab an Arcadian.