Page 4 of Mistaken

“Hi, Sarah,” Lindsay said, looking almost relieved to see her approach. After all these years being married to someone as cerebral and no-nonsense as Miles Odekirk, she probably had a low tolerance for Carson’s finance-bro schtick. “Thanks for volunteering.”

“No problem,” Sarah responded, even as she hoped it truly wouldn’t turn out to be too much of an issue. Since she didn’t want to sound like her ex and start recounting childhood tales of roaming around the area…even if her stories at least were true…she just added, “It’s beautiful country up there, and this is a great time of year to go exploring.”

“It is,” Lindsay agreed. They were now in the last week of May, well past any chance of snow or frost, even with the weather being kind of strange these past couple of years, wetter, and with summer rains coming earlier than the onset of the monsoons in late June or early July that they were all used to. “But still, we appreciate it. None of us have really poked around up there lately, so it’s good to know what we’re getting into before we start making serious plans to settle that area.”

“Sarah and I will find anything you need to know,” Carson said, and slid a glance at her that was almost but not quite leering.

What, did he think she was going to jump into his sleeping bag at the first hoot of an owl or crack of a twig under a coyote’s foot?

Possibly. She’d been quiet Sarah around him, the Sarah she’d turned into after the world ended and she’d done everything she could to hide the person she used to be, so he didn’t know her very well despite the six months or so they’d spent together.

No wonder he’d been so utterly shocked when she announced that she was walking out. He probably didn’t think she had the guts for that kind of maneuver.

“It’s too bad none of our people here had pilot training,” Miles remarked. “Then we could have done some aerial reconnaissance first. But having you go in on foot will still be invaluable.”

She supposed some might have thought that a little strange, that no one out of the thousand-plus survivors who’d made it to Los Alamos could fly a plane. Then again, New Mexico always had been a poor state, with probably a lower percentage of people who could afford to keep a small plane as a hobby. Add to that the Heat’s 99.8% — give or take — mortality rate, and then maybe the situation didn’t look quite so odd.

“I know it will be fine,” she said stoutly, making sure to keep her gaze fixed on Lindsay and Miles, and trying her best not to give Carson any encouragement. “It’s not as if no one has gone that way since…well, since.”

“But it’s still been a couple of years,” Lindsay replied. “Which is why we need to do this at all. I assume both of you are okay with setting out tomorrow morning?”

“As long as we’re off the duty roster,” Carson said with a grin, the kind that should have been ingratiating but sometimes had felt like nails on a chalkboard, even back when Sarah thought she actually cared for him.

“Not a problem,” Nora Almeida, who’d been listening to the entire exchange, said briskly. “Since I’m in charge of setting it up this month. I’ll make sure both you and Sarah are off the roster for the rest of the week.”

“This fact-finding mission isn’t going to take that long,” Miles protested, but Nora only shook her head.

“Maybe not, but it’s probably better to have a buffer in there anyway, just in case. Besides, that’s a long way to walk. Even if everything goes smooth as butter, they’re going to be tired when they get back.”

Her tone was cheerful but firm, and Sarah guessed that even Miles — who was notoriously bad at picking up on social cues — got the message.

“I suppose that’s for the best,” he allowed.

“Great,” Lindsay said. “How about we all meet at City Hall at nine tomorrow morning? I’ll give you some maps and a list of things to look out for, and then I’ll drive you as far as La Chuachia, where Highway 285 and Highway 84 branch. That’s the northwest boundary of the safe zone in Española. From there, you’ll need to go on foot.”

“Will we have devices to take with us?” Carson asked. His voice sounded a little too deliberately casual, telling Sarah he wasn’t too thrilled about the possibility of facing the wilderness without that extra bit of defense.

“Of course,” Miles replied, and Carson appeared to perceptibly relax. “Too many unknowns to have you go out there without them, although the djinn threat does seem to be reduced to almost nothing these days. But we have plenty to spare, so there’s no point in taking chances.”

That was one bit of good news. As Miles had said, there was no reason to believe any djinn would attack her and Carson as they made their way toward Ghost Ranch or the Rio Chama, but on the other hand, they’d been churning out the things for years now, which meant there were plenty to go around.

“It’s too bad the Millerite has such limited use, though,” the scientist went on. “Otherwise, we’d each give you a piece to carry with you, since it’s much less bulky.”

Well, that was true. The devices weren’t huge, but even a four-inch cube could take up a lot of space in a backpack when you compared it to a hunk of mineral you could slip into your pocket.

“We’ll manage,” Sarah said. “But since it sounds like we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, it’s probably better if I go home and get to sleep early.”

“Good idea,” Lindsay agreed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Avoiding eye contact with Carson — Sarah knew looking at him directly would be a bad idea — she tilted her head briefly in farewell before heading for the door. Even though she walked quickly, it wasn’t quite fast enough to prevent him from catching up to her.

“Hey,” he said, and she slowed down, knowing that to do anything else would be rude. “I hope you don’t mind me volunteering, too.”

She glanced up at him, doing her best to keep her expression blank. While she was forced to admit that Carson was one of the better-looking guys in the Los Alamos group, with his dirty blond hair, bright blue eyes, and regular features, now she could only reflect that it was too bad his inside didn’t match his outside.

“Why should I mind?” she said carelessly. “I mean, they needed volunteers, and they got two. All good, right?”

He gazed back at her for a moment, probably doing his best to see if he could detect anything in her expression that would signal her words weren’t exactly the truth.

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