Road to Arcadia: the Path East

Chapter Fifteen: Different Frequencies

They ventured into the afternoon without further excitement. Yulia was able to finish walking Kai through intake setup, which was nothing more than basic housekeeping and keeping eyes on their supplies. Otherwise it was difficult to prepare for a situation where they didn't know what exactly they were getting into.

When Kai was done with the list of chores, he migrated toward the front where Deon was still in the driver's seat. The road ahead of them was empty, the sky was clear. Kai wanted to inhale, take in the fresh air around them, but there were downsides to being in a vehicle with doors and a roof. He would have to enjoy the view as an outside observer from inside the bus.

"Did you want to take a break?" Kai asked the second in command. "I can drive if you want to stretch your legs."

Deon shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, but no. New recruits don't have the proper training to drive the buses. Any member of the R&R who's interested in motor vehicle operation needs at least one year of experience before they can get the training."

"Well, distracted driving is illegal, so if you're gonna read directly from the rulebook you should step out of the way and just let me drive."

He choked out a laugh. "That's funny, but I'm being serious."

"It's okay," Kai assured. "I drove for months on the road on my own. I've mastered the art of going for long hours, multitasking, steering with your knees--I'm a professional who just happens to not get paid for my work."

"And I'm sure you are very good at it," Deon offered, "but there's more to driving an R&R two-level than there is to a sedan."

"She was a Jeep, thank you very much. A four-ish door SUV. Manual. What's the big difference? You can't make turns as tight and half the time it autopilots. If anything, those are below my pay grade."

He exhaled through his nose. "Maybe down the line I'll let you try it out, but we're in the middle of an assignment and I'm not going to risk it on the way there or when we have civilians on board."

Kai slumped in the seat. "You got it."

They were quiet for a minute.

"If you're bored," Deon started, "you can start monitoring the radio waves for me."

Kai felt his stomach shift just enough to make it uncomfortable. There were a lot of things he was willing to try while on the R&R, but playing the radio gave him an irrational sense of panic.

"It's okay if you don't, I just figured it you're bored--"

"--No, no. I'll do it." Kai pushed the feelings as far deep as he could. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"It's super simple," he assured. He pointed to the radio scanner on the dashboard. "Just shuffle through the frequencies until you hear something. Make a note of the station and what they're talking about."

"Easy enough." Kai got up from his seat. "Is there a lot of airwave activity out here?"

"Not really," he shook his head. "That's why anything we get is worth making note of."

He approached the dashboard, reaching a hand up to steady himself on the shelving above him. He flipped on the radio and bumped the volume a hair.

Static.

It wasn't loud, but it was enough to make itself known. Kai's stomach finished flipping over until it was upside down in his gut. He slowly turned the scanner, shuffling through frequencies at a steady pace.

"You're going to need to turn it up," Deon instructed. "If it's too low you could miss something."

Kai complied, turning the volume knob up just a few degrees more. He flinched involuntarily.