Scene 48

A road in South Carolina

“What do you mean?” Mike asked.

“Think about it,” I answered. “The FBI captures who they think is a major terrorist leader. Oddly enough, this terrorist seems to have no knowledge of the organization he is supposed to be leading. Since David is from another Earth, he would have had no knowledge of the KLF. So, not wanting to admit that their capture didn’t really help them, the FBI develops a plan to use David as bait to attract the KLF. They arrange a prison transfer, making a tempting target for the KLF; surely they would attempt to rescue one of their leaders.”

“They planted a bug on David?” Mike asked.

“Possibly, but they wouldn’t have to,” I answered. “They get lucky and capture Ms. Raven outside the prison. Ms. Raven is carrying a unit that tracks signals. They quickly determine what frequency the unit tracks. Using their government connections, they tap into the satellites and find out where that frequency is located. And that signal leads them right to Franklin.”

“But how would they know it was David?” Diane asked.

“Simple,” I said. “They arrange a little meeting in a park where we rescue Ms. Raven. They have the unit with them and when the van approaches, the unit detects the signal. They might not know it was David, but they sure knew it was us.”

“But we got away before they raided Franklin,” Mike said.

“I don’t think they wanted to catch us just yet. They can still track us.” I said.

“Can we turn it off?” Diane asked.

“Not without the proper facilities,” I answered.

“But if they can still track us,” Mike began.

I finished the statement for him. “They can follow us right to X Marks Mountain.”

Mike’s face took on a deadly serious expression. “Dave, we want to help you, but we will not compromise the location of our headquarters.”

“You won’t have to,” I told him. “I have an idea, but we’re going to need to coordinate this with your people.”

“What do we need to do?” he asked.

I looked over at Ms. Raven. She thought a moment and then smiled. “First of all,” she said, “You need to contact your headquarters. In the meantime we need to find an electronics store.”