A Coming Of Age

"What day in June was that?" Tirrell asked.

"The fifteenth."

Tirrell nodded grimly. "That's it, all right. Listen, Lisa, we can't let Martel get to Jarvis before we do—I can't explain, but it's vitally important. Can you take us to the spot where you saw him?"

"I think so. If it'll be faster, I could show you the spot on a map, if we can find one down in the tabernacle."

Tirrell had forgotten she could probably read maps. "As a matter of fact..." he said, digging into his pocket and glancing around. "Let's get into the light."

Moving back into the sunlit part of the cave, the detective spread his by-now crumpled map onto the gravelly floor. Squatting down beside him, Lisa touched a spot some sixty-five to seventy kilometers west of Barona. "It was about here, I think," she said. "I also told him about these two spots—I saw them marked in your book." She pointed to two of the rockmud areas straddling the road further on toward Rand.

Tirrell felt his stomach tighten. If Lisa's placement of the meeting was correct, there were less than a dozen areas left where Jarvis could be... and Martel had two of them. "Damn. We've got to get after him right away."

"Wait a second," Lisa said, teeking the map back down as he started to refold it. "I didn't remember when I was talking to Martel—I saw Dr. Jarvis's car turn off the road to the right just after I left him."

"You did?" Frowning, Tirrell peered at the map again. The nearest road marked was at least a kilometer from the place Lisa had indicated. Either her estimate was off or Jarvis had taken something more informal then a real road. Either way—"I guess you're going to have to show us the actual place, after all." He studied her face, noting the fatigue there. "You feel up to it?"

"Sure," she said, straightening her back a bit.

"Good." Tirrell folded up the map and stood up. "There was a well-stocked pantry in the big tent; we'll grab some food and head straight out, if you don't mind eating while we fly."

Both preteens nodded. "We still going to stop by Plat City and report this place to them?" Tonio asked.

"I don't think so," Tirrell said slowly. "I'm begi

"Why is it certain? Because Plat City's closer than Barona?"

"No. Because of this." Tirrell waved his hand to encompass the huge cave.

Lisa glanced up. "This? But this is just where he's going to build his Temple of Truth."

"Temple of Truth, eh? I should have figured Martel to come up with something cute. I suppose he has his followers dump the rocks a good distance away; say, by a river somewhere?"

Lisa blinked. "There is a river in the valley where the rocks are taken. How did you know?"

"Because the rocks are what he's really after here—the rocks and the free labor to dig them out." Tirrell gestured. "My guess is that he's taken a couple million bills worth of gold out of here already, and the vein's probably got at least that much still in it."

"Gold?" Tonio looked stu

"Most of it is," Tirrell nodded. "But if you look at the walls closely you can see bits of gold glittering there. How Martel stumbled on a vein this rich I don't know, but the point is that unless he takes the gold down the far side of the Tessellate Mountains, he has to run it through the assay office in either Plat City or Rand, and he's too cautious not to have installed at least one listening ear in each city's police department. That's how he got away from us in Ridge Harbor, and he's not likely to change a wi

"Our two," Lisa corrected, her voice quiet but determined.

"Forget it," Tirrell told her. "As soon as you've shown us where Jarvis turned off the main road, you're going to go to Barona and turn yourself in to the police as a material witness."

"But I want to help you," she said. "I mean, this whole mess is my fault. Again." Her eyes were glistening with moisture, and Tirrell sensed she was fighting back tears. "I got a friend in trouble who was just doing something I asked him to—and now I've made things bad for you in trying to help him." She turned half away, biting her lip.

Tirrell gazed at her, wondering briefly how things might have been different if the various officials had just told her the plain truth instead of dropping ominous hints about Daryl's fate. "Well... first things first. You get us to Jarvis's turnoff and then we'll see."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you."

"But just for the record," he continued, "your friend Daryl's not really in all that much trouble. He's actually only been transferred to a school in Cavendish, where he won't be able to continue your lessons."

Lisa's mouth fell open as a flurry of emotions struggled for supremacy across her face. "You're sure?"

"That's what Gavra Norward told me, and I expect she should know. You're not supposed to be told, but I think we've got enough to worry about at the moment, and I'd just as soon get Daryl out of our way."

"I—thank you." She took a deep breath. "I guess it was kind of silly, but I was really worried about him."

"I know. Just don't borrow any more books from him, and don't turn me in when this is all over." Tirrell turned to Tonio and held out his hand. "Well, don't just stand there—let's go."

Chapter 23

Flying at a brisk but less than eye-gouging speed, it took them nearly two hours to reach the part of the road Lisa had pointed out; after that they drifted above the trees at much slower speed for several minutes as Lisa searched in silence for the exact spot. Tirrell, having spent much of their flying time imagining what Martel would do with whatever discovery Jarvis had come up with, was almost literally aching with the desire for immediate action. But he managed to keep his mouth shut and let Lisa proceed at her own pace—and within fifteen minutes his patience was rewarded as she suddenly swooped downward.

"This is it," she called decisively, paralleling the road at a height of about three meters. "Here's where I flew next to him; he stopped about here and we talked; and then he went around this curve. Then—" she pulled up again, losing Tirrell and Tonio for a half second before the righthand matched her maneuver—"I started to head home, looked..." She hovered for a moment, then pointed. "He turned off and I saw his lights go through there."

"Great." Tirrell fixed the view in his memory. "Let's head down and take a look."

There was no real road anywhere near the place Lisa had indicated, but it took only minutes to confirm that the grassy lane cutting between the trees led all the way back to the main road, and that it was both wide enough and firm enough to handle moderately heavy vehicles. "I think," Tirrell said with satisfaction, "that we've got him. Let's go. And watch out for a path leading on a little to the east—we've still got to hit a rockmud patch before we reach his cabin, and the most likely spots on the map are still east of us."

Flying low, they set off between the trees. Lisa fell into formation beside them, and for a long moment Tirrell debated silently the wisdom of letting her come along. Still, it shouldn't really be dangerous if they got there before Martel showed up; and the girl was clearly determined to help; and, actually, an extra preteen really would be handy to have along.

His rationalization complete, Tirrell put the question out of his mind and settled down to the task at hand.