counter Eleanorâs anger, but that only made it worse.
âYou
are
abandoning him!â Eleanor shouted.
âIâm keeping him safe,â her mom said. âHe doesnât know a thing about any of this. Iâm certain the G.E.T. knows that. Theyâve probably been watching himsince you ran away to come find me. If we make contact with him, itâll be just like Bettyâheâll be involved, a target, on the run with us. I canât let that happen to him. Is that what you want?â
That question made Eleanor pause. Uncle Jack was the best man she knew, and the closest thing to a father sheâd ever had, or ever needed. When she thought about how sheâd run away from him to go search for her mom, and how that must have scared him, and hurt him, the guilt ripped her up from her gut to her chest. Sheâd been waiting for the moment she could explain everything to him and say she was sorry, and that she loved him. But now she wouldnât have that chance, and she had no idea when she would, and she realized maybe that was what bothered her most about leaving him behind in Phoenix. Because she knew her mom was right.
âI miss him,â Eleanor whispered.
Her momâs eyes turned glassy, and her voice came haltingly. âI know, sweetie. I miss him, too. But this is whatâs best for him.â
âHe doesnât know,â Eleanor said. âHe doesnât know Iâm alive, and youâre alive. Who knows what the G.E.T. has told him?â
âUncle Jack is smart,â her mom said. âSmarter than anyone has ever given him credit for. I would notbe surprised at all if heâs figured out for himself that things arenât what they seem. Heâs probably hoping even now that weâll come home soon, safe and sound. And you know what? We will. Wonât we?â
âYeah,â Eleanor said, and even though she knew he wouldnât be able to feel it, she sent Uncle Jack a mental hug, and for a moment, it filled up every spare thought in her mind. âWe will.â
âSo . . . ,â Finn said after a moment. âBolivia, then?â
âNo,â Luke said from the cockpit.
The passengers turned their attention to the front of the plane.
âThose G.E.T. goons messed with
Consuelo
,â he said. âAnd Iâve been thinking. . . . We have to assume they put a tracking device somewhere.â
âWhat do you propose?â Dr. Powers asked.
âI need help finding it,â Luke said. âAnd I know just the folks to ask.â
âWho?â Eleanor asked.
âFelipeâs family.â
âWhoâs Felipe again?â Julian asked.
âHeâs a mechanic in Barrow,â Eleanor said. âLuke and I stayed with him. Heâs a nice guy.â
âSo whereâs his family?â
âMexico City,â Luke said.
T he plane left Alaska behind, but not the ice. Below them, the endless white of the glacial sheet nullified the surface of the earth, rendering it blank. Away to the west, the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains could occasionally be seen breaching the surface, but their upward reaching seemed a desperate act, as though the earth hoped someone or something would take its hand and raise it from the crushing depths of ice.
About six hours out from Fairbanks, they flew over the edge of the ice sheet, cresting like a mile-high wave of white over much of the state of Oregon, and then they reached the coastline of northern California. Luke had decided San Francisco would be as safe a place as any to land and refuel. The G.E.T. didnât have much of a presence there.
Eleanorâs mom said the city was once one of the most beautiful places in the country to live. But not anymore. With the ice sheet only a few hundred miles away, and temperatures dropping, those with the means had gone farther south, to Los Angeles or San Diego, leaving those without means behind. From the
George Simpson, Neal Burger