"We were just telling everyone about it when you walked in. We found out you have to be very careful about the Network in these parts. There are infiltrators." Dot says the word like she is talking about aliens from another planet.

"We were nosing around at the station and were just about to ask a CabBot when we were intercepted by someone from the Network," Miesha adds.

"Good thing too," Dot says. "He told us that some of the CabBots are bounty hunters. You would never see that sort of thing in Boston. The Network contact didn't know you, of course, but as soon as we mentioned your friend Jenna, he knew right where to take us. She's a regular stop for them."

A regular stop? Allys looks sideways at me. I return her glance by raising my eyebrows. Jenna's questionable circle of friends continues to grow. I look back at Miesha. "What about Gatsbro? Do you think he followed you down to Mexico?"

"Oh, he followed us all right, like a shark after bloody chum. We saw him twice when we had delays at two of the stations. The last time was in El Paso. Once we crossed the border into Mexico, we rented a car and abandoned it in a small town about a hundred miles away. We left the code on the seat so anyone could take it. Hopefully someone will--all the way to South America."

Dot jumps in. "That was my idea. That should keep your pursuer guessing for a while."

My pursuer. It would almost sound romantic if it wasn't so deadly. I remember the cold, detached amusement in Gatsbro's eyes in the alley, and then when Miesha locked the doors and he pounded on the windows, I saw the sputtering rage. He's not just pursuing product anymore--he's after vengeance too. How dare anyone as low as us interfere with his carefully calculated plans. "Let's hope it keeps him guessing forever."

Miesha leans forward on the table and says in a low voice, "What about Kara?"

I knew it was only a matter of time before we got to that. I shake my head. "She hasn't shown. I don't know what to think. It's been too long. She had no money. Nothing--"

"Don't worry, Customer Locke. Your friend--there was something different about her." Dot confidently nods her head. "I am very good at figuring out customers, and she had what we call drive. Like a sweeper. One set course, and nothing gets in their way. She will make it."

I cringe and am almost glad Kara's not here for that analogy. If she heard herself being compared to a mountain of mindless metal--little more than a glorified vacuum cleaner--it would set her on a rampage. But Dot is right. One course. That's Kara. Once she sets her mind on something, there's no stopping her.

Miesha and Dot tell me more about where they went and the trail they left and the sights they saw. There is an odd moment of quietness among us as we all witness Dot describing the wonders she saw for the first time, from the mystic orange sunsets of Santa Fe to the jewel blue sea of the Gulf. Jewel blue. I think her description makes us all pause. Is that standard CabBot vocabulary? What is the blueness of blue for a Bot? It makes me wonder, Whose blue is bluer, mine or hers?

Dot tilts her head to the side, noticing the silence, and immediately turns the conversation back to me, wanting to know about my arrival here. I share with them my encounter with the bounty hunter CabBot. Dot winces when I describe taking his arm off, but then comes to my defense and says it served him right. I tell them about having to run and walk all the way here in the rain, and tell Miesha the coat worked well, like she said it would.

"He's quite attached to it," Allys adds. "He wore it this morning, just as a fashion statement."

I roll my eyes.

"He never cared much for fashion before," Miesha says.

"Exactly," Allys replies.

Miesha looks back and forth between Allys and me, but says nothing.

Jenna and Kayla return, and Allys orders me to go wash off at least one layer of mud because dinner will be ready soon, and then she shows Miesha to the room where she and Dot will stay.

As I strip my clothes off and turn on the shower, my thoughts return to Dot's earlier words about Kara. She will make it. When? What is taking her so long? But one thing Dot said plays over and over again in my head. Your friend--there was something different about her. Something different. There always was.

Chapter 55

I've been at this job for twenty-two years. I've heard it all. I know what you're thinking before you even say it. Don't try me.

He thought he knew it all, but Dean Witters didn't know Kara.

She, Jenna, and I had ditched seminar. It wasn't our first time, but it was the first time we had been caught. We should have been afraid as we lined up on the bench outside his office. And part of me was. If I looked down at my shoes and thought about where I was and what I would tell my parents, my blood rushed from my stomach to my head like it was going to shoot out my ears.

But when I looked up, and Kara widened her eyes in mock terror and Jenna stifled a nervous laugh and shrugged her shoulders, I thought I was going to split apart with laughter, and the more I tried to hold it in, the funnier it became.

It was all my fault, Dean Witters. I told them seminar had been canceled. They didn't know.

When we opened our mouths to protest, Kara shot us a look that clearly said, Shut up. Jenna and I both knew there was no stopping her. This was her call, her moment. She owned it.

Kara took the fall for us that day.

Chapter 56

I hear Kayla and Dot out on the porch. As promised, Jenna gave Kayla more playtime after her bath. Even over my shower I hear Kayla's squeals and Dot's hoots as they take turns going up and down the porch steps. I smell the casserole Jenna has baking too. I could eat two. I scrub the dirt from my chest and pull a washcloth over my back to undo the damage from the spider. The soap stings the scrapes and scratches. The pain is nothing compared to the damage that Gatsbro's goons did, or maybe I have readjusted my sensitivity levels just as Hari feared I would. Yes, Gatsbro, be very afraid. I am becoming something you never planned on. Something I never planned on, either.