Ben Dover's Arc

Chapter 22 of 150

Ben stared at the wet mark on the wall. Anita crouched by the alcove and ran a finger along the stone floor. Justin stood in the doorway with the taped crate. No one spoke. The chest was gone. Amanda was gone. Ben did not know which had happened first. "Drag marks," Anita said. She pointed at two shallow grooves in the dust. "The chest went out through the door. Not fast. Somebody pulled it." "Amanda could pull it," Justin said. "If she had to." "Or somebody pulled her with it," Ben said. He knelt by the mark on the wall. The scratch was fresh. The edge was damp. He touched it. Salt. "That's a tear. Or spit. She left it." "Or someone else did," Anita said. Ben sat back on his heels. Three answers. She ran. She was taken. She turned. Each one pointed a different way. Guess wrong and the chest was gone for good. Two carved boxes inside. Three relics. Everything he had built for months. Justin set the crate down. "There's a road below the ruin. Cart tracks. I saw them coming in." They followed the tracks down the slope in the last light. The road widened and ran into a broad wooden building with iron braces and double doors. A lantern burned under the eave. A sign above the door showed a wheel. A transport station. Ben had not known one stood this close. A short man in a dark coat and a peaked cap stood by the doors, checking a strap on a small blue cart. He did not look up when they came into the light. "You the ones asking about the girl?" the man said. "We're asking now," Ben said. "Ollie Tabooger. I run freight." He tightened the strap. "Girl came through yesterday. Dragging a chest. Paid me to haul it south." Ben's chest went tight. "She paid you." "Coin from inside the chest. She opened it in front of me." Ollie looked at him now. Flat eyes. "Said her people weren't coming back." "Where south," Ben said. "Harbor road. Two days by cart." Ollie nodded at the blue transport behind him. "I took her to the fork. She got off there with the chest. Someone was waiting. Tall. Hood up. Didn't give a name." "You didn't ask," Anita said. "Not my job." Ollie fastened the last buckle. "She wasn't scared. She was in a hurry." Ben stood in the lantern light. The answer had cost him nothing and everything. Amanda had not fled. She had not been taken. She had turned on them and sold the chest to someone who had been waiting for it. "The fork," Ben said. "Take us there. Tonight." Ollie pulled open the cart door. "Coin first." Ben dug into his pocket.