He likely wasn’t anywhere near the other four prisoners they’d located. They would be unable to track him using the special signature Gage had discovered. Too much time had gone by. Indigo Smith could be anywhere. Maybe even out of the country. That was a horrible thought.
“That’s bad.” Valene didn’t mean to say the words out loud, but they were the truth.
Gage nodded. “That’s an understatement. A twenty-eight-hour head start is really bad, bordering on catastrophic. Alpha-Prime is going to go into full battle mode.”
“What does that mean? Alpha-Prime hasn’t been at war in centuries.”
“They’ll dust off the antique battalion war craft and send every spaceship and every single Royal Magistrate Guardsman past and present to Earth through the wormhole, sparing no excessive cost in order to get here as fast as possible to hunt him down in every corner of Earth.”
“We definitely shouldn’t mention it to them just yet.”
“Good plan. Besides, Diesel is Fearless Leader. We’ll tell him first and not over an open channel to everyone. He can decide what to do when he gets back. He can make the call to Alpha-Prime if it’s warranted.” Gage thought for a moment. “But maybe you should call him and get him on a private line, give him some advance warning.”
Valene shook her head. “You call him.” She hated to give anyone bad news. And this was, as Gage had said, catastrophic.
Before they could battle it out over whether she would have to make that call or he would, Nova ran into Gage’s lab. “Gage. Valene.” She put a hand to her chest, trying to catch her breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“Two things. One good and one bad, as always.”
“What’s the good thing?” Gage asked. Valene agreed; she wanted to hear some good news.
“The other van just pulled into the parking lot out back. Bubba and Luther have three prisoners with them, so only two remain out there.”
“Great news.”
“Okay, what’s the bad news?” Valene asked.
“There is someone here to see Diesel.”
“Who is it?” Valene asked, not wanting to hear the answer if Nova thought it was bad.
“Daphne Charlene Dumont.”
Valene rolled her eyes.Now what?
Gage said, “Tell her he’s not here, return time unknown.”
Nova looked unsure. Gage insisted, “It’s the truth. We don’t know when Diesel and his group are coming back.”
“Tell her to get lost,” Valene said at the same time, her belligerent tone safely in place.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Nova’s uncertainty had morphed to alarm.
“Why? What does she want?”
Nova took a deep breath. “She wouldn’t say even when I purposely asked her a second time.” But Nova had a look in her eye that said something was definitely amiss.
“And?”
Nova put the hand from her chest onto one hip. “Well, I may have accidentally read her mind just a little bit and realized what she’s here to tell Diesel. Or at least one thing. There may be more. I don’t know. I can tell you she is big trouble.”
Space potatoes, thatwoman.“And what did you see that was on her mind?”
“Well, it involves Sheriff Wyatt Campbell and something he apparently told her.” Her eyes were wide with unease. She looked at Gage, who was already totally distressed about Indigo Smith being out in the human world for more than a day longer than they’d realized.
Valene wondered when Daphne Charlene had the time to tell Wyatt anything. They’d been together all last night, since they’d picked Wyatt up at his house during their first foray into the woods, not that she planned to announce that to anyone else. They had also been together until he left to go look for the prisoners today.
