"Sure don't seem like nothin'." I watch her hands move frantically through her bag, searching for something.
"Got it!" She pulls out a crumpled piece of paper—the receipt from the diner. Her eyes scan it eagerly, and I move closer to see what's captured her attention.
"You find it?" I ask, peering over her shoulder.
"I think so. Maybe." Her voice has that excited edge I've come to recognize—the sound of her piecing together a puzzle.
"Tell me."
"Look at this receipt." She hands it to me, our fingers brushing again. "Tell me if you see anything out of the ordinary."
I take the thin strip of paper and study it carefully. Eggs,toast, coffee. The prices. The total. The date and time. It all looks normal to me. "Honestly, I don't. Looks like any receipt."
"Right. Like any receipt you'd get from a remote gas station on carbon paper." She points at the bottom of the slip. "Except what is that bar code doing there?"
I look back down, noticing for the first time the series of thin black lines printed along the bottom edge. I shrug. "Receipts have bar codes."
"Big box department stores have bar codes. For returns. And rewards programs." Naomi's eyes are bright with excitement. "Do you think that diner has a rewards program?"
I shake my head, finally following where she's heading. "You think it's coded information?"
Naomi nods. “Remember Maude mentioning that we weren’t truckers when we first sat down? ‘I’m guessing you two didn’t long haul here,’ she'd said. I don’t think that was just an offhand comment. I think that’s how they track everything without leaving an obvious paper trail." She takes the receipt back, holding it up to the light. "I think they're doing a version of what Static is doing. They're using the normal information on receipts to hide and piggyback route and destination information. The trucks come through, drivers eat at the diner, and Maude gives them a receipt with everything they need to know encoded in the barcode."
"So there’s no physical evidence of the destination on the truck," I say.
"Exactly. No physical footprint. Just a digital one that’s easily erased.”
I fold my arms and lean against the dresser. "Can you decode it?"
Naomi’s eyes narrow. “The credit card machine.” Her voice is a murmur, and I can almost see her building it in her mind as she speaks to herself. “The credit card machine takesthe trucker’s name, which tells them what cargo the driver has and where they need to go. The signal is sent, and the machine generates the bar code.” She looks up at me, everything clicking into place. “We need that machine.”
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "I don't know. What if the encryption is on the other end?"
Naomi shakes her head. "I don't think so. I think if they want to hide it, it has to be here."
"Ok. I'll go get it now," I say, already moving toward the door. "You stay here."
"Wait." Naomi's hand catches my arm. "You can't just go in there and take it."
"Watch me."
"Walker. Think about it. The information isn’t there now. They wouldn’t want it sitting there. I’m sure they wipe it every night. It’s collected and disseminated during the day. It’s a paperweight right now."
I clench my jaw, knowing she’s right but not liking where this is going. "Fine. What's your plan?"
"We need the machine, yes, but also the physical receipts they've printed today. And we should get license plate numbers from at least a few of those trucks." She runs a hand through her hair, thinking rapidly. "The machine is probably wiped clean at the end of each day, but with the physical evidence and the truck information, we can piece together enough to prove what's happening."
"That's a lot of moving parts," I say, skepticism heavy in my voice.
"I know. That's why..." She takes a deep breath. "That's why if we're going to do this without them knowing and without bloodshed, you'll need my help.” I look at her. Not happening. She sees the doubt in my eyes and pushes past it. “If we go in together, as a couple, we can divide and conquer. I'll distract Maude while you get behind the counter. We canget what we need and be out of there before anyone realizes what happened."
I run my hand over my beard. "And if something goes wrong?"
"Then I'll have you." She says it simply, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Like she trusts me completely.
But the thought of Naomi anywhere near danger constricts my chest painfully.
"No." The word comes out harder than I intended. "Absolutely not."
