Chapter Two
Rudy had always considered Jaime to be a surrogate daughter, but now that the possibility existed that she might be so much more – and she was missing – he was overwhelmed. "What can we do?" he asked Oscar. "How can I help?"
"Did you ever convince her to let you put in that tracking implant?"
Rudy leaped to his feet. "Last month! It was a hard sell; she can be so stubborn sometimes. But yes – she's got one in her leg. I'll go print a current reading!"
"I'll be down in a few minutes," Oscar told him, picking up the phone. He mobilized every available unit, every person he could get his hands on to aid in the search and rescue. The area was vast, and (especially in mid-August's sweltering heat) extremely dangerous. If Jaime was alone out there, and if she'd been injured, she didn't have much time.
Rudy was back before Oscar could join him. "It's dead!" he said frantically. "Her chip – I can't get a reading!"
"Nothing at all? I thought you said it was new!"
"It was working fine just a couple of days ago. I checked it before you sent her on this mission. I just don't understand it."
"Well, keep trying!"
--
Jaime was fading in and out of darkness and wishing the sun would do some fading of its own. She rolled over onto her right side to keep the sand from burning her skin, then sat up, staring at the gaping hole in her leg. Even if she knew how to do the most simple repairs herself, the damage was massive. Wires were torn, whole circuits shredded – and sand had somehow filled the empty spaces. A small cry of frustration escaped her dry, ravaged throat as Jaime realized she could no longer move the leg at all.
Soon, she had to lie down and rest again; whether it was the heat or blood loss, she didn't know, but Jaime's head spun crazily and she'd never felt so thirsty...or so frightened.
--
Searchers immediately began combing the area by land and by air, but with more than 3000 square miles of desert to cover, it seemed almost futile. Jaime's datacom was found not far from where she was supposed to meet her chopper – destroyed and scattered in pieces across the sand. Every crew member was equipped with extra water and provisions because after any length of time in the 120-degree heat, Jaime was going to need it...if they could find her. Several medivacs were waiting at strategic points across the arid valley, ready to move in at a moment's notice and air conditioned buses were serving as relief stations/command centers for the teams.
It was all Oscar could do to keep Rudy from charging out the door and taking off for Death Valley to look for Jaime himself. "You can do more for her here," he pointed out, "especially if you can get that chip to work."
"I'll keep trying, Oscar, but it's not even giving a partial signal." Rudy flipped every lever, turned every dial and swore softly to himself. While Oscar paced back and forth between the phone banks and the radios, Rudy quietly drew a sample of his own blood and placed it in the centrifuge.
--
It was just after 2pm and the temperature was approaching 125 when Jaime opened her eyes again. The sun sizzling off the ground beside her made visible rays of heat that looked like...snakes! She tried to crawl away, but she was so weak and they seemed to be everywhere. Why did they have to be snakes, and not a water mirage so she could at least pretend to drink something?
Should she try to crawl for help, or maybe hop on her one good leg? She barely had the strength to sit up, much less stand, and there was no road in any direction for as far as she could see. Just sand...and the real or imaginary snakes. She had stopped bleeding, but Jaime could definitely feel the vicious effects of the bullet lodged in her side and the sand that had crept into that wound, too. She tried to remember some sort of first aid that might help, but every other thought that flooded her mind cried for water. She had to find water – every cell in Jaime's body craved it, needed it desperately – but she could no longer hold her head up and soon everything once again faded to black.
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