wanted.
Amy looked at Jake. “How did youguys get away?”
“Those dudes were big but slow,”said Jake. “They ran out of gas after half a
mile. Some bad guys. Isabel needs to hire
fitter criminals.”
Amy sat down. “Okay, I texted Evanwhat happened to us in DC and about Riley McGrath possibly being Vesper One. Hopefully, they’ve reached Phoenixby now. But we need to move on fast. Jake, let’s see the pictures you took of thecompass again.”
Jake pulled out his phone and broughtthe photos up.
“Can you enlarge them?” asked Amy.
“Coming up,” replied Jake. He hitsome keys and the pictures swelled.
Dan eyed one photo and said, “Idon’t see anything remarkable. It justlooks like an old compass.”
He brought up the photos he’d takenand stared at them one after another.
“Nothing.”
“Isabel would not have come all this
way just to look at an old compass,” said Amy. “There has to be something. Let’s see the back.”
Jake hit another key and the nextphoto came up on the screen. It was theback of the compass box.
Amy said, “Okay, there are thenumbers. The ones that Dr. Gwinn said noone had figured out.”
“Right,” said Atticus. “Maybe there’ssomething there. My mother obviouslywanted us to find out about this compass.”
“Can you make them larger?” Amyasked Jake.
He made the numbers as big as
possible.
They all stared at them.
Amy said, “Okay, that looks to be afour and a seven.”
“And the letter M or N ,” added Dan. Atticus squinted. “That’s a twelve,”
he said, pointing to a number just below
the four and seven. “At least I think so.”
Dan said, “And a number one after it. So one twenty-one.”
Amy said, “I think so. And there’s aletter behind the one twenty-one. Looks tobe a W .”
Atticus said, “Okay, to recap wehave forty-seven and the letter M or N . And a one-two-one with a minus sign. And the letter W . What does that tell us?”
He looked at the others. Jakeshrugged. Amy looked uncertain.
Dan, however, was on his laptop. “When in doubt, let’s go to the web,” hemuttered.
He put in the information they hadand hit the SEARCH key.
He looked up, smiling sarcastically.
“Only one billion, nine hundred and sixtythree million, four hundred and seventynine thousand, eight hundred and sixteen possibilities. I should be able to get through them in the next seven thousand, eight hundred and fourteen years. Just sit tight and call up lots of room service.”
Atticus suddenly looked excited. “Dan, search for the map coordinates of the Cascade Mountain Range.”
Amy said, “Why the —” She blinked. “Right, I get it; Dan, quick, do it.”
Dan was already punching the keys on his laptop. It took only a few seconds.
He looked up this time in genuine triumph. “Forty-seven degrees north latitude and one hundred twenty-one degrees west longitude is the exact location of the Cascade Mountain Range.
So the letter was an N for north , and not
an M !”
Atticus added, “That confirms whatwe learned from Phoenix. That must be
where the hostages are.”
“And the Cascades have a massive subduction zone,” added Jake. “We already knew that. Perfect for the Vespers’ Doomsday device.”
Dan said, “See, Amy, we should’ve just gone directly there without wasting time in DC.”
Amy replied, “No, we’ve now confirmed what Phoenix told us. And even though I nearly died, it was worth it to see the look on Isabel’s face when I told her
she would never be Vesper One.”
“You must have really made her
mad,” said Dan.
“Oh, I did. But that’s not the only reason I did it. But forget her. We need to get to the West Coast as fast as possible. We’ll hook up with the others, save the hostages, and destroy the Doomsday device.”
“And nail the Vespers,” Dan
reminded
Amy looked at Jake. “How did youguys get away?”
“Those dudes were big but slow,”said Jake. “They ran out of gas after half a
mile. Some bad guys. Isabel needs to hire
fitter criminals.”
Amy sat down. “Okay, I texted Evanwhat happened to us in DC and about Riley McGrath possibly being Vesper One. Hopefully, they’ve reached Phoenixby now. But we need to move on fast. Jake, let’s see the pictures you took of thecompass again.”
Jake pulled out his phone and broughtthe photos up.
“Can you enlarge them?” asked Amy.
“Coming up,” replied Jake. He hitsome keys and the pictures swelled.
Dan eyed one photo and said, “Idon’t see anything remarkable. It justlooks like an old compass.”
He brought up the photos he’d takenand stared at them one after another.
“Nothing.”
“Isabel would not have come all this
way just to look at an old compass,” said Amy. “There has to be something. Let’s see the back.”
Jake hit another key and the nextphoto came up on the screen. It was theback of the compass box.
Amy said, “Okay, there are thenumbers. The ones that Dr. Gwinn said noone had figured out.”
“Right,” said Atticus. “Maybe there’ssomething there. My mother obviouslywanted us to find out about this compass.”
“Can you make them larger?” Amyasked Jake.
He made the numbers as big as
possible.
They all stared at them.
Amy said, “Okay, that looks to be afour and a seven.”
“And the letter M or N ,” added Dan. Atticus squinted. “That’s a twelve,”
he said, pointing to a number just below
the four and seven. “At least I think so.”
Dan said, “And a number one after it. So one twenty-one.”
Amy said, “I think so. And there’s aletter behind the one twenty-one. Looks tobe a W .”
Atticus said, “Okay, to recap wehave forty-seven and the letter M or N . And a one-two-one with a minus sign. And the letter W . What does that tell us?”
He looked at the others. Jakeshrugged. Amy looked uncertain.
Dan, however, was on his laptop. “When in doubt, let’s go to the web,” hemuttered.
He put in the information they hadand hit the SEARCH key.
He looked up, smiling sarcastically.
“Only one billion, nine hundred and sixtythree million, four hundred and seventynine thousand, eight hundred and sixteen possibilities. I should be able to get through them in the next seven thousand, eight hundred and fourteen years. Just sit tight and call up lots of room service.”
Atticus suddenly looked excited. “Dan, search for the map coordinates of the Cascade Mountain Range.”
Amy said, “Why the —” She blinked. “Right, I get it; Dan, quick, do it.”
Dan was already punching the keys on his laptop. It took only a few seconds.
He looked up this time in genuine triumph. “Forty-seven degrees north latitude and one hundred twenty-one degrees west longitude is the exact location of the Cascade Mountain Range.
So the letter was an N for north , and not
an M !”
Atticus added, “That confirms whatwe learned from Phoenix. That must be
where the hostages are.”
“And the Cascades have a massive subduction zone,” added Jake. “We already knew that. Perfect for the Vespers’ Doomsday device.”
Dan said, “See, Amy, we should’ve just gone directly there without wasting time in DC.”
Amy replied, “No, we’ve now confirmed what Phoenix told us. And even though I nearly died, it was worth it to see the look on Isabel’s face when I told her
she would never be Vesper One.”
“You must have really made her
mad,” said Dan.
“Oh, I did. But that’s not the only reason I did it. But forget her. We need to get to the West Coast as fast as possible. We’ll hook up with the others, save the hostages, and destroy the Doomsday device.”
“And nail the Vespers,” Dan
reminded
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