On the far wall of the large bas.e.m.e.nt were two doors and Grace headed for them. One led to a staircase going up. The other led into a cool, windowless room containing the building's plumbing and piled with dirt. There was no sense going up again. They'd only grab her.

Locking the bas.e.m.e.nt door leading to the staircase, Grace crawled into the dirt room. Pulling her knees to her chest, she sat and waited until the sound of the whirring chopper blades receded, all the while knowing that as soon as she went out again, they might return.

Grace's stomach rumbled with hunger as she pushed open the door of the dirt room and re-entered the dark bas.e.m.e.nt. She couldn't stay there all night. She'd simply have to try to find her way back to the garage. Hopefully the blackness of night would help and the jammer would work. She had to pray that the nanochip in her blood wouldn't begin broadcasting a signal the moment she emerged from underground.

The building she was in seemed quiet as she stole up the dimly let staircase to the first floor. A man came into the lobby, holding his jacket over his shoulder, sweating from the heat he'd just left behind in the street. "Wow, it's hot out!" he said to her as he punched a number into his cell phone.

"Sure is," Grace replied casually.

He eyed the cut on her arm. "That looks like it hurts," he remarked. "Better clean it up."

"I will," Grace agreed, heading for the front door.

The man suddenly cursed and banged his cell phone with his other hand. Grace whirled toward him to see what the problem could be. "I haven't been able to get a call through all day," he explained angrily. "These solar flares are jamming everything."

Not everything, Grace thought as she pushed the door open and left the building. Apparently Global-1 had stronger equipment than the average person.

Outside the sky glowed eerily, almost as though the sun were still making its way through the blackness of night. The heat was no better than it had been during the day. Checking that she still had the manila envelope, Grace made her way down the front steps onto the street, her eyes darting in every direction, alert for any sign she was being trailed.

"Grace," a female voice hissed.

Startled, Grace turned. Kayla's back was to the side wall of an alley. Reaching out, she snapped Grace into the alley beside her. "Thank G.o.d, I found you. We all came out looking for you as soon as we saw the commotion. Did they come for you?"

Grace nodded. "It was close," she reported.

"I'll bet." In a quick jog, Kayla headed down the alley. "Come on. We're all leaving."

Grace followed close behind. "Where are we going?"

"To the desert. Hurry. We were just waiting on you. We're already way behind schedule."

Pasadena Sun August 8, 2026 - Bedford Hills, New York CHEROKEE BAR CODE DISSIDENT RELEASED FROM JAIL. CALLS FOR SUMMIT OF NATIVE AMERICAN SHAMANS AND CHIEFTAINS.

In her first press conference upon being released from the all-women Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, New York, the Cherokee Medicine Woman and shaman known only as Eutonah thanked former Senator Ambrose Young, who had worked vigilantly for her freedom. "He has become a great friend to our cause," she told the press and followers who had a.s.sembled to hear her.

Her second statement called for Native American leaders to send delegations to a summit to be held on Hopi and Navajo lands near Sedona, Arizona. "This too-bright sun means the time is upon us," she said enigmatically. When questioned on the meaning of her words, Eutonah said only, "The people have long awaited the time that all the prophecies have foretold since the beginning of this world. We must be ready to engage our hearts, minds, and spirits to face the inevitable changes." When pressed to say what these "changes" might be, Eutonah refused to elaborate, but added, "Companies have been strip-mining this land for almost a hundred years. First it was coal and minerals, then oil. Most recently it's the uranium. And last year they found lithium deposits out there."

When it was pointed out that native peoples have allowed this by selling mining rights, she answered, "Back in the last century the Navajo were so impoverished that they sold some of the mining rights. That's true, but the company they sold the rights to mined to an extent that was never imagined by the native Indians. Back in 2014, Global-1 bought up every small mining company with a contract out there; now they're spreading into Hopi territory. In the last five years, Global-1 has also spread into Utah, onto the lands of the Ute, Shoshone, and Paiute nations. It's completely destroying the land."

When asked to speak to the feelings of the tribal nations on this issue, Eutonah told the a.s.sembled crowd, "The native people are protesting like crazy. A Tribal Council has gone to D.C., believing that the entire balance of the universe has been upset because all these minerals are being pulled out of the ground. The members of the council say that by taking the minerals out of the earth there, the very bio-electric balance of the universe has been thrown off-kilter. They are not speaking in the mystical abstract here. They are talking about science: radioactivity, magnetism, and the tidal and gravitational balance that the heavenly bodies maintain in relation to each other."

When asked to comment, President Loudon Waters claimed that the Cherokee leader was merely trying to frighten people in order to keep her movement vital. "Every problem with the bar code tattoo has been ironed out. This woman no longer has a reason to exist. She's simply looking to extend her fame and influence in a world where her movement has become irrelevant."

In response, Eutonah stated, "Loudon Waters does not speak for the people, not my people or those of any other race or nationality. He speaks only for the greed of his own group. The people of this planet need to know that the last days of prophecy are upon us. The time is now."

Grace stepped out to the mouth of the cave, careful to stay back in its shade. The Decode station gave shelter not only from the blasting sun but also blocked the signal the nanochip in her blood were bouncing onto satellites in the sky - if they were indeed getting through the powerful solar flares. She surveyed the expanse of desert in front of her. It seemed to her that off in the distance she could see something that shimmered and reflected the sun. Turning, she saw Kayla come alongside her.

"Is there water out there?" Grace asked, pointing.

"It's a mirage," Kayla replied, shielding her eyes as she studied the horizon. "It's an optical illusion, a trick of the heat and the light. But I always like to think it's the ghost of the sea."

"What do you mean?"

Kayla turned to Grace and smiled softly. "Millions of years ago there was a seaway that came through here, splitting the continent. As the waters receded, they left these deserts. There are fossils of sh.e.l.ls all over the place out here. I've seen them myself."

That the Earth was so very old was something Grace found almost impossible to imagine. She tried to think of an ocean in the spot she was looking at. Without too much effort she could imagine it. The vastness of the desert seemed made to accommodate an ocean.

"It does look like an ocean out there. I see it, too," Kayla said.

Grace turned to her sharply, surprised.

Kayla laughed, amused by Grace's shocked expression. "I can see what you're thinking because I'm a telepath," Kayla explained. "You knew that, didn't you?"

Grace remembered seeing Kayla and Mfumbe communicating mind to mind back in the garage. "Can you see into anyone's mind?" Grace asked.

"Most of the time," Kayla replied. "Just like you, I imagine the ocean out here. It's a vision I have all the time."

"But aren't your visions of the future?" Grace inquired. "That would be a vision of the past."

"I know. I don't understand it."

Eric came out from the cave and stood between Kayla and Grace. He had arrived the night before, after Grace was already asleep. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"We've found your family," he said.

Closing her eyes, Grace sighed with relief and happiness. The pleased look on Eric's face told her they were all right, that this wasn't bad news.

"Where are they?" she asked him.

"Decode headquarters in the Adirondacks."

"But why ... how ... what are they doing there?" Grace stammered, confused.

Dr. Harriman emerged from the cave. "I can answer that."

"Dr. Harriman!" Grace cried. "What happened to you?"

"After fighting my way down out of the tree tops, do you mean?" he asked. "After that ordeal, I contacted your father - I mean the father who raised you, of course."

"You know my father, then."

"Growing up, he was my best friend. Who else would I trust with my only child? I never doubted he would love you as his own."

"How did you contact him?"

"It was I who tipped your family to flee to the Adirondacks. I knew Global-1 was coming to pick them up. I thought you would make it home sooner and that Global-1 wouldn't arrive until later - that there would be time for all of you to escape together. But I was wrong. So I told them I would have Decode come pick up Grace and that they should go ahead."

"You work with Decode?" Eric asked, aghast at the news.

"Once I saw how Global-1 was using my work, I wanted no part of it. When I saw how they were treating Kathryn Reed, Grace's biological mother, I was doubly horrified."

"Wait a minute," Kayla interrupted. "My grandmother was named Kathryn Reed. She's my adoptive father's mother, but she's actually my biological mother because her eggs were used to conceive me and the other five clones."

"That's right," Dr. Harriman said. "I loved Kathryn and you, Grace, are our child. But when I learned that they wanted to use your embryo for experiments - as they did on Kayla - we were determined not to let it happen."

"How did you stop them?" Kayla asked.

"Your mother - the one who adopted you, Grace - was pregnant but had just suffered a miscarriage. I persuaded an obstetrician friend of mine to secretly remove the embryo from Kathryn and implant it in your mother. Your mother carried you to term in her belly while we told Global-1 that Kathryn had miscarried."

"Then why have they been watching me?" Grace asked.

"They never really believed it," Dr. Harriman admitted. "That's why they were hovering, waiting for you to be tattooed so they could match our DNA conclusively."

"Wait! Wait!" Kayla cried, holding up her hands to slow the flow of his narrative. "Are you saying that Grace and I are sisters?"

"Half sisters," Dr. Harriman said. "Same mother, different father."

Grace and Kayla studied each other. There were some similarities that Grace could see. She certainly looked more like Kayla than she did Kim.

"What is their problem with you, Dr. Harriman?" Eric asked. "They think you're one of them, don't they?"

"They're onto me. They have been ever since we claimed Grace was never born. But they couldn't do anything because I still knew things no one else knew. And I was helping them, in ways that I had to. Now they want my latest experiment, but I refuse to give it to them, or even admit it exists for that matter."

"What is it?" Kayla asked.

"It's a secret," Dr. Harriman replied, turning back into the cave. "It's better that you don't know."

Katie's tractor trailer pulled past the front of the cave. Grace followed Eric, Kayla, and several other members of Decode who were staying in the cave as they ran out to meet it. The back truck doors opened and Jack handed five-gallon jugs of water to the waiting hands of those below.

Mfumbe and Katie descended from the cab and walked toward the back. "Mission accomplished," Mfumbe announced as he embraced Kayla happily. "Water and a fresh load of fake tattoos from the town of Baker."

Allyson stood beside Jack inside the truck, which was stacked full of boxes. "And all the equipment we need to start producing the first ever magnetic repulsion-fueled flying machines," she announced, gesturing triumphantly toward the boxes.

"Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home!" Jack sang out the old gospel tune for which he'd named his invention. As he sang, he began handing down the boxes.

"Where do you want us to put these, Jack?" Eric asked.

"Just inside the cave," Jack replied. "I'm going to use the swing-lo to fly the materials up to one of these tabletop mesas and set up shop there. We can fly from mesa top to mesa top without having to land on the ground below. I want to see if I can fly higher if I start higher."

"Better pack a chute," Eric warned, grinning at Grace.

"Every swing-lo will come equipped with two parachutes," Allyson said as she handed Grace a box. "You can count on that."

Grace joined Eric as they carried their boxes into the cave. "Have you heard from your mother since she got out of jail?" she asked him.

Eric nodded as he set his box down. "I was just going to talk to you about that," he said. "She wants us to meet her in the old Hopi village of Walpi, on the first mesa of the Hopi reservation. We can take one of the motorcycles there."

"When does she want us there?"

"Tomorrow at sunrise."

"Do you know why?"

"It has to do with the prophecy," Eric told her. Grace walked closer to the opening of the cave. The sun beat on her and the thought of putting on that foil-lined jacket was unbearable. "I can't go, Eric. I can't wear that jacket in this heat, and without it, they'll come for me."

"Perhaps I can help," said Dr. Harriman, coming to join them from the back of the cave. He held a device resembling a remote control. "It's Global-1's most powerful signal jammer. Nothing less will totally block the signal that is coming from your bloodstream."

"I can use it?" Grace asked hopefully.

Dr. Harriman handed it to her. "Yes, but be warned that you will block every signal in your area. If you need medical emergency a.s.sistance, no one will be able to call for it. Police won't be able to communicate. You will even knock out phones in the area. So turn it off whenever you're somewhere safe."

"Is this the technology you've been working on?" Eric asked.

"I've deconstructed how this works," Dr. Harriman said, "but Global-1's satellite division built it. What I'm working on is much more complex than a signal jammer."

"Can't you tell us?" Grace urged him.

"It's not a hundred percent perfected," Dr. Harriman revealed.

"Why does Global-1 want it so badly?" Eric questioned.

"It will break their hold on the people of the Earth," Dr. Harriman said, his blue eyes darkening with emotion. "It will change everything."

Despite the heat, icy fear ran up Grace's spine. The time of The Bar Code Prophecy seemed to be getting closer. What would it mean for her, for all of them?

Looking out of the cave, Grace saw that the blazing yellow sky seemed even brighter than it had the day before. What was this strange light? What did it mean?

To get to Hopi territory, Eric and Grace had to first drive through Navajo lands. As they approached Monument Valley on Highway 163, Grace was overwhelmed by the breathtaking landscape. The red-brown earth tones of immense rectangular b.u.t.tes and other towering rock formations sat against the soaring blue expanse of sky. It was the most awe-inspiring location she'd ever seen. And now that she knew her family was safe, she allowed herself to actually enjoy it.

Eric leaned back and shouted to be heard from beneath his helmet and over the roar of the motorcycle engine. "Amazing, huh?"

"Amazing," she echoed, thinking that the word didn't seem to half capture the majestic forms and deep colors surrounding her. For the first time ever, Grace understood what might be meant by the term sacred lands. These rocks and lands emanated a solemnity that was beyond description.

Several hours later, Eric pulled off the highway. "You must need some water and lunch by now," he guessed, taking off his helmet and ruffling his hair.

"Look at this," Grace said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in. "I never imagined anything could be this overpowering. I feel like I'm on a different planet."

"I know."

They sat cross-legged eating the bread and fruit they'd packed, sipping from their water bottles. Grace tugged on the brim of the cap she'd brought, glad to have it to protect her face from the blistering sun. The heat waves lifting up from the ground reminded Grace of her conversation with Kayla, about how a seaway had once flowed over this desert. She understood Kayla's idea that its remains could be found in this liquid desert mirage.

As she gazed into the waves of heat coming off the highway, Grace realized that the ground beneath her was shaking. An earthquake?

Eric stood, letting his lunch tumble from his lap. Grace got up beside him and he wrapped his arm around her protectively. Grace looked to him. "What is it?"

Responding with a puzzled shake of his head, Eric snapped up the motorcycle helmets they'd left on the ground. They headed for the bike, but before they reached it, they were hit with a thundering wind. Dust and rocks spattered them. Something huge but invisible was thundering by. "What was that?!" Grace cried, once whatever had pa.s.sed was far enough away to make hearing possible.

Eric brushed gravel and red dirt from her back and sleeves. "Is your signal jammer on?"