anybody hear me?â but it wouldnât workâno surprise. âRats!â he muttered. There was no way for him to send a radio message, and his dad hadnât given him a telephone number where he could reach the command post at the hangar. He tried to talk into the handset for a while longer, then gave up.
Stacked on the dresser were several Death Valley publications including another map, larger and more detailed than the one theyâd had in the Cruiser.
Jack unfolded it and spread it out on the bed. He turned on every light in the room so he could read the map better.
For a long time he studied it, mulling over the worrisome idea heâd had when he was in the Cruiser. If members of The Unit had started out from Darwin Falls, they could drive along Route 190 past Stovepipe Wells, then park their vehicles off road and cross the desert on foot. Heading south, under cover of darkness, they might be able to reach the kidnappers. And coming from that direction, it was unlikely theyâd be noticed by the SWAT teams, which were deployed to the east of the barricade where Ashley was being held prisoner. That much heâd learned from the short blasts of speech coming over the broken handset.
By now it was completely dark outside, so Jack thought heâd better close the drapes on the sliding glass doors that led to the patio outside his room. As he walked toward the doors his heart lurched. Someone was out there, looking through the glass at him. âGeez!â he yelled.
Scratching the glass with her fingernails, Leesa mouthed, âLet me in!â
Leesa! What was she doing out there on the patio? After rolling back the sliding door, Jack demanded, âWhyâd you come this way? You nearly scared the spit out of me. You could have knocked on the door from the hall, and Iâd have let you in.â
âI was going to, but when I looked through that little glass hole in my door, I saw a man standing there. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you first, so I came around the patio side.â
âA man?â As Jack went to his own hall door and peered through the peephole, he wondered what she meant by âfirstâ? Then he said, âThereâs no one there.â
âThere was!â
âI think youâre just spooked,â he told her.
Leesa took a deep breath. âI donât care whether you believe me about the man being in the hall, but I want you to listen to what I have to say. Iâve been thinking and thinking, rolling it around in my head ever since I got in my roomâ¦.â She paused then, glancing nervously at him, appearing uncertain.
âAnd?â Jack prompted.
âI want to give myself up. To The Unit.â
Now it was Jackâs turn to take a deep breath. âSit down,â he told her, gesturing to one of the twin beds. He sat on the other one, facing her. âYou already said that once to my mother, and she told you it wasnât an option. So why are you bringing it up again?â
The distance between the beds wasnât that large, and when Leesa leaned forward, her big, dark eyes stared straight into Jackâs. âSheâs your parent, not mine. You have to do what she tells you, but I donât. If I go to the men who have Ashley, theyâll let her go. Theyâre not killers, theyâre not terrorists, they just have their own beliefs about how the U.S. government is destroying our way of life. If I turn myself over to them, they wonât hurt Ashley. Theyâll just let her go, honest. Iâm sure of that.â
She made it sound so simple. Even reasonable. But it wasnât. âWhat are you planning to do?â he asked. âJust walk from here to the place where the kidnappers are barricaded in the desert? Itâs miles away, and itâs dark outside. Even if you managed to hitch a ride with someone and you got as far as the Old Harmony Borax Works, the rangers would stop you. The road