The Ghost Ships of Arizona

CHAPTER NINE

In the aftermath they sat and stood around the SUV, taking stock of what potentially had been stolen.

Hayden stood washing her hands free of blood, using water she poured out of a small Evian bottle. “We have no idea what they took. Engineers are going over everything right now. Hopefully it will be glaringly obvious.”

Drake harbored doubts and said so. “Any news from the guys deciphering our own Z-box yet?”

“Not a squeak.”

Dahl nodded toward the overwhelmed facility. “I feel like we both won and lost here today. The amount of mercs we took down put a dent in their resources, but they still managed to escape with what they came for.”

“We lost,” Smyth said pessimistically.

“And remember, Beauregard told us three substations will be hit,” Dahl said. “Any clues as to which is next?”

Again Hayden shook her head, upending the rest of the bottle over her face. “The investigation is underway.”

She indicated Karin inside the rear SUV, already tapping away at a laptop with Lauren seated beside her. “It’s time to move ahead.”

Drake chewed his lower lip. “Do you think? Splitting our forces in the light of what we just saw? Is that wise?”

Hayden shrugged. “Like we said before: Grabbing a Pythian might end this entire fiasco. It’ll get us several steps closer, for sure. And right now we know where at least one of them is. We also have to cover this ghost ship angle in case it turns out to be even worse than the friggin’ Z-boxes. We can’t allow them to just take anything they find.”

Drake saw her logic. “Okay, agreed. So I guess we’re headed to Arizona.” He glanced at Dahl. “You be okay without a hand to hold?”

The Swede grimaced. “Would you like a hug before you go?”

Drake raised both eyebrows, his expression deadly serious. “Considering the specter of where we’re going, the spookiness of what we’re chasing, and all those ghost stories and apparitions I think a hug might be good about now.”

He moved in. Dahl almost tripped over his feet in an effort to escape. Subdued smiles flickered across all their faces.

None of them wanted to split the family up right now.