THE BANDIT QUEEN - Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

Eden nudged Deakin awake as she pulled into a truck stop on the outskirts of Medford, Oregon. The morning sun flashed on the huge tractor trailer rigs parked all over the huge parking lot. Diesel smoke hit Eden’s lungs like a hammer and she leaned against the side of the small car and coughed. Deakin stretched and stared at the cars parked around the restaurant. They had taken turns driving since they’d crossed into Nevada and headed north to Reno. After breakfast Deakin could drive the next leg of the journey towards Salem where Mala, Ian, and Martin waited for them. Deakin reached back into the car and grabbed the children’s books. Eden grabbed a bag of clean clothes and they homed in on food.
As they climbed back into the car, Deakin pulled out the map he’d just bought and spread it out across the dashboard of the car. He quickly found Medford near the northern border of California. With his finger he traced the highway through Eugene to Salem. As his finger moved up the map, he noticed tiny red numbers at the very left edge of the map. 42 marked the line of the border between California and Oregon. Farther north he found 43, 44, and 45. 46 ran along part of the border between Oregon and Washington. He looked along the other sides of the map and found other numbers along the top. 124, 122, 120, and so on corresponded to lines drawn straight north and south on the map. None of their other maps had shown latitude and longitude lines. Deakin folded up the map and started the car. Eden took the passenger seat and immediately flipped it back so she could get some sleep. Somewhere along the highway north through Oregon, Deakin’s mind made a connection. He pulled off the road at the first chance which happened to be a scenic lookout just off the side of the road. He joined several other cars and shook Eden to wake her up.
“Hey, cut it out, Deakin. It can’t be time for me to drive. I feel like I just got to sleep. Keep driving and leave me alone.”
Deakin shook her harder and said, “Wake up, Eden. I just figured out something very important.”
Eden reluctantly shook herself awake and pulled her seat upright. Deakin rattled open the map and spread it across in front of Eden. She pushed the hair out of her eyes and stared mutinously as Deakin’s face. He laughed at her and pulled her into a hard hug.
“Just look, Eden. I think I figured out the numbers from the book. Look at this map and tell me what you see.”
“I see a map of Oregon, that’s what I see. Uh, we should be along here somewhere and there’s Salem where we’ll meet the others. I don’t get it.”
“Look at these lines across the state here and here. Latitude, right? And here are the longitudes. Now, guess what the latitude and longitude for Salem is. Go ahead, guess.”
Eden put her finger on the city of Salem and then checked the lines closest to that point. “Uh, I’d say it’s about 45 degrees North and 123 degrees West. What’s so important about that?”
“The numbers from the book. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. 45 and 123. My mother drove straight through Salem on her way back to California after she left me in Seattle with her sister. Maybe that’s where she hid the laser project information.”
Eden looked at the glow on Deakin’s face and wished he looked like that all the time. After what had happened to him, it was amazing he could smile at all. She hated to burst his bubble but she really couldn’t see how the information could help them very much. Instead of telling that to Deakin, she said,
“I would never have thought of that. It’s certainly a better explanation than anything else we’ve come up with. Get back on the road and drive, man. I’ll look at the map and see if I can match up those letters we found in the other book with some place in or around Salem. Let’s go.”
Eden folded the map into a more manageable size and pored over it. After about an hour she finally gave up and closed her tired eyes. The next thing she knew, Deakin was shaking her shoulder again and speaking loudly.
“Eden, wake up. C’mon, open those eyes, girl. I just talked to Mala and they have rooms at a motel in Salem. We’re meeting them for breakfast at a restaurant nearby. That should give us four hours max to get some sleep. I think you’d better drive us through town, okay?”

Deakin and Eden hauled their tired bodies up one flight of stairs and fell on the bed, fully-clothed. The phone rang just as the light of the sun lightened the sky outside. Eden groaned and pulled a pillow over her head to drown out the sound of the phone. The ringing morphed into her dream and turned into a fire alarm. She leaped off the bed and stared frantically around for the smoke and flames. She finally reached for the phone and mumbled into the receiver. The cheery tones of the operator lifted the corner of her mouth into a snarl and she threw the phone onto the bed. Then she contemplated the sleeping form of her partner-in-crime. Sometime during the night Deakin had cornered the blanket market and wrapped himself up like a burrito. Eden stood on the bed and began jumping on the mattress. The blanket-wrapped bundle bounced higher and higher. Garbled sounds and muffled screams filtered out. Finally two hands appeared and reached for her legs. She nimbly hopped off the bed and bounced into the bathroom in a much better mood. A muffled thud followed by a body bouncing off the locked door of the bathroom squeezed a laugh out of her. She almost tripped over Deakin on her way out the door after her shower. He’d fallen asleep on the carpet right outside the bathroom door. She shook drops of water from her wet hair on his face and then quickly got out of his way. He threw a snarl over his shoulder and disappeared from sight. Eden hung clean clothes on the doorknob for him and finished dressing.

Eden and Deakin both were in better moods when they pushed through the door in to the restaurant. Eden quickly scanned the room and sized up the inhabitants. No one looked up at their entrance and no one matched her inner picture of Dr. Allen and the others. Deakin pushed her toward a large corner booth and ordered coffee for two as they sat down. He kept the front door in view and signaled Eden when the right group walked in. He stood up and waved to them. Mala Allen hurried up and slipped her arms around his waist in a warm hug. Deakin looked down at the smooth dark hair shot through with silver and put his arm tentatively around her small shoulders. She smiled up into his face and reached up to pat his cheek softly.
“How wonderful to meet you, Deakin Kimbrough. You are a beautiful boy and greatly favor your father. These are my friends, Ian Nelms and Martin Graham, Marianne Wolfe’s son. Sit down, sit down, everyone and we will talk.”
Deakin slid into the booth next to Eden and watched the others dither around before Mala slid next to Eden’s right side. The two men stared appreciatively at Eden. Martin held his hand out across the table and introduced himself to her. Then he pumped Deakin’s hand once and leaned back to let Mala tell their story.
The waitress moved smoothly in and out of their vision as she filled coffee cups, delivered plates of eggs and pancakes, and finally cleared the table. Deakin listened intently to Mala’s story and her description of the man who’d tried to question Martin’s mother. He passed on the bare bones of his search, leaving out any reference to Alden and the bandits. His sources were not anyone else’s business.
At the end of his recital, Martin asked,
“May we see the books you got in Arizona? I’d like to see them. Mala has the letter from your aunt. I’d advise her not to bring it out here. We can go to my room if that’s okay. I’ll get the check.”
Deakin pulled Eden to his side and let the others move off first. He put his hands on her shoulders and spoke softly in her ear.
“What do you think? Do we get the books and meet them or do we slip away right now?”
“We have to meet them. They have the letter from your mother. If we disappear, Martin will talk Mala into reading it. We have to get our hands on that letter, if only because it was written by your mother. I don’t much care for Martin but Mala is wonderful. Ian doesn’t care much about the people. He just wants us to find the laser information. Scientific knowledge is what’s most important to him.”
“What’s Martin’s angle in this?”
“Oh, I’d say he just wants to keep his mother from being hurt again. He’ll pass on the information to anyone who’ll promise to leave his mother alone. She may not realize it but that’s my best guess. You want to get the books now? They’re waiting for us. It’s your call, Deakin.”
Deakin kneaded her shoulders as he considered his decision. “We get the letter. The books are still in the room. You go with Martin and I’ll meet you at his room.”
Eden tipped her head backwards and looked up at her friend. “No, I’ll go with you and watch your back.”
She smiled upside down at Deakin and started to walk away. Deakin slid his arm across her chest and pulled her back. He dropped his head onto her shoulder and kissed the corner of her mouth. She stared sideways in surprise and then relaxed against his chest. Finally, he gave her a very slight push and the two of them walked out of the restaurant.