The Planck Factor

Chapter 38

Jessica Evans

I realized I should respond to Cynthia's remark. "I'm remembering a few things. Not much," I stated for the record.

I typed, "Need to talk," and hammered my finger down on the period key.

Cyn nodded. "Do the best you can. That's all we can ask," she said for the benefit of unseen listeners.

She took over at the keyboard and typed, "Hard to arrange. Shooting Lucius wasn't part of the plan, but I'll come up with an excuse. You understand I needed to make it look like I hated you?"

Cyn continued to type, but I knew where she was going. That explained her behavior at the hotel. Why she slapped me so hard. She had to regain whatever trust she'd built with this group of wackos.

She'd only just managed to get hold of the data, but hadn't seen it yet. And she wasn't sure how to get it into the right hands without implicating herself.

Cyn was still typing, when I grabbed the pencil. "Why didn't the Feds just TELL me about you?" I scribbled.

Cyn looked abashed. She typed, "Probably didn't want you to accidentally give me away. You might have betrayed me with a tell."

I gave her a thumbs up. Damn that George, anyway. Did he think I was an idiot? I had to admit, though, it was a smart move on his part.

"I'm writing everything I can remember," I said, to keep the dialogue going. I took over at the keyboard. "Selby was a geologist, who studied tectonics," I typed. "Does that help?"

"Good," Cyn said, adopting a tough tone. "Get it all down in detail." As she spoke, Cyn brought the map up on the screen and squinted at it. She frowned. Her jaw dropped and her eyebrows shot up. She switched back to the word processing program and typed, "Did he study geophysics?"

I looked at the sentence. I had no idea. I couldn't tell you the difference between the two. I shrugged, feeling helpless.

Cyn continued typing. This was putting on a good show for the hidden microphone, anyway. She stopped and I read, "Have you heard the news about the earthquake activity in Yellowstone?"

Yellowstone? I shook my head. What about the Golden Gate Bridge?

Cyn typed at length. When she stopped, I read what was on the screen.

She'd written, "This could be worse than we imagined, if Selby's job is what I think. Our theory was that the group might blow up a major landmark. But these maps are cause for even greater concern. We're talking about a catastrophe that could wipe out the entire continent, maybe half the planet."

There it was again. The threat of near annihilation. I looked at Cyn, no doubt conveying disbelief. "How???" I mouthed.

Cyn paused, exhaled and typed another note. It read, "By causing the supervolcano in Yellowstone to erupt."