Chapter Three
""Rudy, how long can she last out there?" Oscar asked, unable to stop pacing.
"It depends. With her bionics, Jaime expends less energy, loses less water through sweating and thus needs less to stay hydrated. However, if she's injured – or God forbid, losing blood – she's in big trouble."
"How long, Rudy?" Oscar demanded impatiently.
"Not much longer." Rudy still could get no readings from Jaime's tracking chip, which should have been working no matter what sort of shape she was in. After what was at least his tenth attempt, he had to walk away and breathe for a minute, trying to calm down. In the meantime, the centrifuge had done it's work and his slide was ready. With nervous hands, Rudy pulled Jaime's medical records and took out her DNA slide for comparison. He looked at both under the huge microscope, then looked again. Within minutes, he had his answer.
--
The search became more frantic as the day went on. More teams were sent in as men began dropping like flies from the extreme heat. Russ, in the central command bus, radioed the grim news to Oscar.
"Still no sign of her."
"Keep looking."
"Oscar, she may have been kidnapped and taken out of the area – out of the state, for all we know."
"Or she may be out there in the sun, unable to get help. You are that help!" Oscar thundered.
"I know that, and we aren't giving up, but it's rough out here – really rough! We've already sent six men to the hospital! If she's out there, it's possible that she's not even -"
"Just find her!" Oscar slammed down the phone and turned to Rudy. "Let's go."
--
Jaime rolled over and groaned with pain but no sound came out. She was only vaguely conscious, but the snakes seemed to be coming closer. She reached out her right arm to try and club them and pounded only sand; there was nothing there. Water...why was there no water? Silent sobs coursed through her body, but there were no tears...
--
Oscar and Rudy's plane landed at an airstrip just outside Death Valley and a waiting car spirited them quickly to Russ' command center. "Any word yet?" Oscar called out urgently, before he was even inside the bus.
Russ shook his head. "Nothing. It's like she just vanished – and we're down four more men. It's brutal out there."
Rudy stepped forward, his face furrowed with determination. "Get me all the water and equipment you can muster – and a chopper. I'm going out there."
"I'm going with you," Oscar insisted.
"I really can't advise it," Russ told them. There's no air on the choppers, and -"
"I'm going to find Jaime!" Rudy strode to the phone and handed it to Russ. "Make the call."
Within ten minutes, they were in the air. They started from the destroyed hide-out, hovering as low as the pilot would go, with the heat baking the chopper from above and below. "If one of them got their hands on her, they'd probably take her deeper into the Valley, so head straight in – find the most isolated spot, and I'll bet that's where they left her." Reluctantly, the pilot did as instructed, heading for the deepest, hottest portion of the desert. Something deep within Rudy's heart told him they were headed in the right direction.
--
The 'snakes' were gone now, replaced by a blinding whiteness whenever Jaime opened her eyes. It was much less painful to leave them closed. Water dominated her every thought. She had to find some...if only she could move...
For a moment, she thought she heard a chopper, but it was only a mirage. Exhausted and completely spent, she gave in to the impending darkness.
--
All Rudy and Oscar could see below them was sand – for miles and in every direction. The sun bounced off the crystalline surface and played tricks with their eyes, but Rudy was searching with his heart and soul as much as with the binoculars and it finally paid off.
"Is that a rock?" he asked, unsure at first. The form he was looking at in the sand was motionless. A dead branch? A rock, maybe? "No – it's Jaime! There she is! Take us down, right here!"
Rudy and Oscar were off the chopper before the rotors could stop spinning, and rushed to Jaime's side. She didn't appear to be breathing.
--