Kingdom Keepers V(80)
“I have no idea what you just said.”
“On the ship side of the island, the breeze comes off the water. On this side, it continues on and blows offshore back out to sea. So we want to head into the wind, away from the direction the plants lean. And when we hit other paths, we want to take the ones that head the same way: away from the lean.”
“You’re sure?”
“Am I positive? No. But yeah, I’m sure.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Stay with me.”
“As if there’s a choice.”
“There’s only one small problem,” Willa said.
“Which is?”
“Sometimes the afternoon winds are stronger than the morning winds. No matter what, the wind almost always turns around on itself later in the day.”
“In which case,” Charlene proposed, “everything you just said is backward.”
“Correct.”
“So we’re still lost.”
“Yes. But we’re lost with a theory.”
“You drive me crazy,” Charlene said. “But in a good way.”
“I’m glad.”
“There is an alternative,” Charlene said suddenly.
“Which is?”
“Get on my shoulders and see where we are.” Charlene kneeled. “What are you waiting for? Climb on.”
“You can’t possibly hold me.”
“We won’t know until we try.”
* * *
Surrounded by marsh and a hundred yards from a narrow inlet of ocean water an impossible color of blue, with nothing around them but scrub brush, sand, and darting lizards the size of gummy bears, two men toiled.
“And if the system isn’t working?” Maybeck asked.
“Then the mosquito population will run wild.”
“Does it bother you,” said Maybeck, “that you spent all those years studying the lives of insects, and now you’ve devoted yourself to killing them?”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
“I’m just saying.”
“What bothers me,” Tim said, “is that my sensors are reporting error codes and the valves all look normal.”
“Have you considered sabotage?”
“Come again?”
“That someone is disconnecting the tubes at night and reconnecting them before sunrise.”
“Who would do that?”
“I’m just asking: would that explain your pressure readings?”
Tim looked at Maybeck warily. “It might. But why would anyone do it in the first place?”
“To keep the mosquito population growing while no one knew any better.”
“That’s ridiculous. Preposterous.”
“But it would explain it,” Maybeck tested.
Tim flashed Maybeck a disapproving look and moved on, following the porous black tubing that ran along the ground. He inspected a valve at an intersection of black rubber tubing. “That’s interesting.”
“What?”
“This line was recently disconnected. You can tell by the lack of corrosion.”
“Meaning?”
“We’re going to find out.”
Maybeck followed along as Tim traced the black tubing through the thick scrub. They headed west toward the beaches.
“This is what we call the airstrip line,” Tim said. “Hang on!” He kneeled and pulled back some loose shrubbery. The vegetation had been cut and heaped over a small metal tank.
“What’s up?”
“That’s a propane tank. One of our grill tanks.”
“And another valve,” Maybeck said.
“This is nuts,” Tim said. “This is not part of my system. Propane is highly combustible.”
“Part of a fireworks display or something?” Maybeck didn’t want to say so, but he was thinking something much worse.
Tim looked over at him. “I suppose. They use propane in IllumiNations at Epcot. There’s a special fireworks show tonight for the guests. But I would have been told about it.” He cranked the valve on the tank shut. “I’m shutting it down until I hear differently.”
“What’s that over there?” Maybeck asked.
“The lookout.”
“For?”
“So guests can get a look at a bunch of the island from up there.”
“Including here where we are.”
“Do you work for Uncle Bob?”
“My uncle’s a lawyer in St. Louis,” Maybeck said. “His name’s not Bob.”
“Head of security on the Dream,” Tim said.
“You think I’m working undercover or something?” Maybeck had to bite his lip to keep from grinning.
“The thought occurred to me.”
“I wish!” Maybeck said, maintaining his cover. “I’m on trash detail, remember?”