WHEN CHERRY EMERGED from the tunnel that led to the surface, she had to screw her eyes up against the light. But when she saw the sun’s position in the sky, she realized it was late afternoon, or evening in Oceanside. Nearly a day had passed while she’d been below ground investigating the Scythian city. The wind hadn’t dropped, and the car was immediately hit by a scouring blast of sand.
As soon as she entered into comm range, she contacted Meredith. Predictably, she heard a ‘busy’ tone, but the Leader quickly ended her conversation and opened contact with Cherry.
“Cherry, thank the stars! What the hell are you doing in Suddene? It took me ages to find you. I had to ask an engineer to trace the last comm you received.”
“You didn’t get my message?”
“What message? I’ve been busy with gov
