"I'm telling you, this is a bad idea," Lloyd insists.
"You got a better one?" Matt grunts. He labours with the weight of Books' body as he helps Jim, Cutter and Jedi carry the semi-conscious American into the Humvee.
"Anything's got to be better than looking for a whole load of trouble."
"Hey, we're chasing codes. Like the kid said, only eight to go," Matt reminds him.
"Yeah, every code has a silver lining—a hundred million silver linings!" Cutter says.
"Look, Cutter, if your head's missing, the money's somewhat superfluous, don't you think? Besides, we got ourselves a hundred and twenty million already—how much more does a man need?"
"This man don't need—this man wants—big difference. So you chase codes and I'll chase the money."
They lay Books down in the Humvee and step back out onto the salt pan.
Lloyd says, "We're chasing jackshit. There's no smoke without fire, and we don't know what caused that fire."
"We go take a look. If we don't like what we see, we head away," Sophia says. "Jedi?"
"Yeah?"
"You drive. Jim?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You go back on the big gun and Matt on the bike. Let's go."
The Americans follow Sophia's orders. Jedi starts up the truck. Sophia and Cutter jump into the rear of the Humvee and wait for Lloyd. He plants his feet firmly on the salt pan.
Sophia holds the rear door open for him. "We're waiting."
"So am I, lady—right fucking here!"
"I'll give you to three, then I'm shutting this door and we're going, with or without you."
"What, you'd leave me out here in the middle of fucking nowhere?"
"One."
"Hey, HEY!" Lloyd yells.
"Two."
"If I die, that's a manslaughter charge coming your way. Think about it."
"Thre—" Sophia pulls the heavy door toward her.
Lloyd runs and jumps into the Humvee, lands and sprawls onto a bench seat next to Cutter. "Fuck, lady—you'd better have a good attorney because when I get out of here, I'm gonna sue your ass off."
"Bad idea, Lloyd," Sophia tells him. "Jedi, let's go!" She kneels next to Books and reaches into the medic kit.
"On our way," Jedi calls through the hatchway. He rolls the truck forward and turns it toward the faint wisps of smoke that now drift high into the cloudless sky.
Jim yells, "You got a bearing down there, Jedi? That smoke's disappearing fast."
Jedi glances down at the compass on the dash. "Heading two hundred and seventy degrees," he calls up.
The last of the smoke disappears. Jedi stays the Humvee on course.
Matt rides alongside on the KTM.
Books drifts in and out of consciousness. Sophia breaks open a capsule of smelling salts. She waves the pungent ammonia under his nose.
Lloyd and Cutter watch on.
Sophia yells, "Books, Books. BOOKS!"
Books coughs, then drifts back into unconsciousness.
Sophia slaps his face. "BOOKS!"
Cutter winces. "Man, that's gotta hurt."
Sophia slaps Books' face again, this time harder. "Open your eyes! Wake up, Books, GodDAMN you!"
Books' eyes flutter open, then close again. Sophia grabs hold of both of his earlobes and digs her nails into them. She draws blood.
She screams, "Wake the fuck up!"
"OOWWWW!" Books yells. "What the hell!"
Cutter laughs at Sophia. "You're one mean woman." He feels his own earlobes and shakes his head. "Never seen anyone do that before."
Books groans. He tries to sit up.
"Thank Christ." Sophia's relieved. She sits back and gives him some space.
Books raises a hand and grabs onto the bench seat, hauls himself up—half sits. Groggy, he leans against the bench, then looks around the cabin.
"Welcome home, Books," Cutter says.
"Yeah, we thought you were dead, for sure," Lloyd tells him.
"Bull—not me," Sophia protests.
"No disrespect, Books, but you kinda had that coming to you," Lloyd says. "Just speaking my mind, but shooting first and asking questions later was always gonna make you a target."
"I don't believe I'm hearing this—take a good look at him, he's lucky to be alive," Sophia says.
"Hey,"—with his good hand, Lloyd points to his shoulder wound—"what the fuck's this, a paper cut?"
Books looks over at the pile of money.
Cutter sees it and explains, "You've just joined the millionaires club." He tosses him a wad of cash.
Books catches it and thumbs through the bundle of notes. "What it cost us?" Books asks.
"What you mean?" Cutter asks.
"I know what he means," Sophia says. She turns towards Books, runs her fingers through her blood-splattered dry hair and bites her lip. "Nevada. She didn't make it."
Books doesn't show any emotion. "The others?"
"They're all okay. Matt's on the bike out front. Jim's up on the big gun, and Jedi's driving."
"Where to?"
"Saw smoke on the horizon. Figured we'd keep with the tourist theme and continue the sightseeing." Sophia nods at the orange case next to Cutter. "Cutter found the case in the Humvee. The numbers on it match the numbers on our container."
"The kid was right. Enter the code numbers into the remote, and we get a blue light on the collars. We're guessing that's good," Cutter explains.
Books looks over at Sophia's collar. "Two blues?"
"Followed the Japanese tracks back to their container—they had everything the same as ours, except the color and the numbers. And so here we are, just having the best time of our lives. La de da," Sophia says.
"And the Japanese?"
"Killed them. Killed them all. Every fucking last one of them," Cutter says.
Books sits up farther and tries to get comfortable. He is in pain but doesn't show it.
"You okay?" Sophia asks.
"I guess I've had better vacations. Anything else I should know?
"Well, yeah."
"Go ahead."
"Jim found a moth."
"A moth?" Books looks puzzled.
"He found it in the Japanese container."
"And?"
"Seems the old man knows a lot about bugs. He says it's only found in Peru or Bolivia. So he thinks we're in South America somewhere. He'll explain it to you. Go figure," Sophia explains.
"If you ask me—it's a total crock of shit," Lloyd huffs. "And now we're going on some wild goose chase, risking our lives again, following a smoke trail. Someone throw me a fucking line."
