“Not quite.”
“What do you mean?” she shot back. “Are you holding out on me? I hate when you do that. Iamyour partner. I bet Robie doesn’t hold out on Jessica Reel.”
“I’mnotholding out on you. I’m just thinking.”
“Of what?”
Decker closed his eyes and downloaded a memory. “Speaking of the ticking time bomb, remember what she told us Cramer said? ‘To maybe not grow our own food’?”
“Wait a minute, who said that?”
“Judith White. Cramer advised her not to grow food on her land. That’s what she told us when we interviewed her.”
“That’s right, she did,” Jamison said. “Wait a minute, their farm is right next to the Air Force facility. Are you thinking . . . ?”
Decker didn’t answer right away because another memory came to him. It was something Daniels had said. And it was perhaps even more ominous than Cramer’s comment.
“Let’s drive out to the Brothers’ place again.”
“Why?”
“Just humor me, Alex.”
“Okay, but you don’t make it easy,” she snapped.
“Since when have I ever been easy?”
“Well, you could make an effort every once in a while.”
Jamison cut a sharp U-turn and headed off in the opposite direction.
Forty minutes later they pulled to a stop in front of the metal farm gate that was the main entrance to the Brothers’ Colony. The gate was now closed.
Jamison put the SUV in park and said, “Okay, now what?”
Decker got out and started to look around. Jamison followed him.
“What are we looking for?”
He stared across the acres of farmland. “They’ve been here a while, right? The Brothers, I mean.”
“You know they have.”
“I mean at this location.”
Jamison looked uncertain. “Well, from the looks of things they’ve been here a few years. It would take at least that long to build all this up to what we’re seeing today.”
Decker continued to watch as twin John Deere tractors moved slowly across a field far in the distance. Beyond that was the Air Force station.
“I think you’re right about that.”
“But why is the amount of time they’ve been here important?”
“It’s just a theory,” he said absently.
“Can you explain your theory,” she said curtly.
He didn’t answer. Decker headed back to the SUV, and she followed, not looking happy.