Summer returned to Lipton, her elbow brushing against his shoulder. She could have stood farther away, but wanted to send him a message.
“Ah, excuse me. Personal space,” Lipton said in a snort, looking up at her.
“Actually, you’re in my seat,” Summer said.
Lipton shook his head. “I fixed the radio. I get to be the one who makes the call.”
Krista came over and waved her hand at the man. “You heard her. Get your ass out of that seat.”
Lipton held for a moment, his expression one of defiance.
Wicks walked three steps closer, bringing his rifle into position, aiming it at Lipton’s forehead. “Move, asshole.”
“I’d suggest you do as he says,” Summer said, giving Wicks a wink in appreciation.
Lipton got to his feet, taking a position to the right.
Summer sat down and brought her hands to the controls on the radio. “What frequency should I try first?”
“Already set,” Lipton answered, leaning forward and turning on the power. “Just use the mic and say what you need to say.”
“Like what? I’ve never done this before.”
Krista put a hand on Summer’s shoulder. “Anything you want. Just don’t give away our position or too many details.”
“Which is it? Anything I want or not too many details?”
Lipton looked at Krista. “Maybe someone with a little more experience ought to be initiating. For security reasons and whatnot.”
“Who, like you?” Krista asked.
“I was thinking you. She’s obviously a novice. There are probably a hundred other tactical reasons, I’m sure.”
“He’s right,” Summer said, standing in a flash. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
Krista held for a second, then took Summer’s seat and grabbed the mic, bringing it close to her mouth. She pressed the transmit button and appeared ready to speak, but then let go of the transmit button and moved the mic away.
“Something wrong?” Summer asked.
Krista turned her neck and peered up at Lipton. “I don’t know; you tell me.”
Lipton pinched his eyebrows, his face looking as though it was about to swallow itself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The frequency you chose.”
“What about it?”
Krista pointed at the indicators, seeing it set to twenty-three-thirty kilohertz. “Why that one?”
“We have to start somewhere.”
“I know that, but why set it ahead of time and why that specific one?”
“Simple logic, really.”
Krista huffed, shaking her head. “Bullshit.”
Lipton didn’t waste a second, his words arriving with force. “It’s one of FEMA’s emergency frequencies.”
“FEMA?” Summer asked.
“It stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency. The key word being emergency.”
Summer nodded. “Oh, a federal government thing. Makes sense.”
“Precisely,” he said, bringing his eyes from Summer to Krista. “You see, the little squirrel gets it. Too bad we can’t say the same thing for you.”
“No,” Krista said with a sharp tongue. “We’re not falling for it.”
“You’re much too paranoid,” he replied.
“With good reason. You want us to use that frequency.”
“Of course I do; that’s the point. To make contact. It’s the most likely.”
Krista shook her head. “Not if you wanted us to only hear static.”
Lipton threw up his hands. “Again, total and complete lunacy.” He brought his eyes to Summer. “You see what I’m constantly dealing with here? It makes it impossible to do my work.”
Krista stood from the chair and grabbed the man by the collar, pushing him back until his spine slammed into the wall. She twisted the fabric in her hands, lifting him up to his toes. “You already made contact, you son of a bitch. And now you don’t want us to.”
Lipton struggled for air as he replied, “That doesn’t make any sense. How could I have made contact? You’ve been with me the whole time. Have you seen me transmit or contact anyone?”
“He’s right. He couldn’t. You’re reading too much into it,” Summer said, stepping forward and grabbing Krista’s hands. She worked them free, allowing Lipton to step away and cough as the air stormed back into his lungs.
Krista spun to face Summer, pointing at the radio. “Don’t you get it? That’s his.”
“No, it’s not. You’re insane,” Lipton snapped.
Krista never took her eyes from Summer. “Horton told me he remembered seeing it in his lab. Just a few weeks ago.”
Lipton laughed. “He’s a Neanderthal, like the others. That man couldn’t remember what he had for breakfast this morning, let alone recall a specific piece of electronic equipment he allegedly saw way back when.”
Summer needed clarification from Krista. “Okay, so what if it is his? What does it matter?”
“It’s not mine. Why isn’t anyone listening to me?”
“Because you’re a fucking liar,” Krista said, turning from Summer and taking steps toward the man.
Summer scampered to get in front of her, using two hands to stop her advance. “Is this what you needed to vet?”
“Roger that. I knew something was up,” Krista said. “But I had to be sure. And now I am. This man can’t be trusted.”
Lipton smirked. “Once again, the lunatics are running the asylum.”
“He wants us to fail,” Krista said. “Don’t you see that?”
“But why?” Summer asked.
“Because he’s already made a deal with someone out there. That’s why he left Frost’s camp and ran into Horton and the girl. He was on his way to meet up with someone that he doesn’t want us to know about.”
“Wow, that’s what I call a big reach,” Lipton said, looking smug. “It doesn’t matter what I do, everyone assumes the worst.”
Krista raised a fist at him. “Because that’s who you are. A man who’s only in it for himself.”
“Except I did fix your radio.”
“Only because you’re the one who disabled it first.”
“I suppose Horton told you that, too?”
“No, we figured that out together.”
“Well, good for you two. But as usual, you’re both wrong. I keep telling you, that’s not my radio. I’ve never seen it before in my life.”
Summer waited for Krista’s eyes to return to her. “Is there some way we can verify any of this?”
Krista’s eyes dropped their focus to the floor, darting back and forth before she brought them back up. “No. And that’s exactly what he’s hoping for. He wants us to only get static; that’s why he chose the frequency ahead of time.”
Summer understood. “So he could sneak off and go meet up with whoever he made a deal with.”
Lipton shook his head. “Sneak off? When exactly would that happen? You have me under armed guard 24/7.”
Krista ignored the man’s response, keeping her eyes trained on Summer. “Yes, he’d slip away as soon as we weren’t paying attention.”
“So what do we do?”
“We change the frequency. That’s what we do.”
Lipton’s tone turned cynical as he moved a step closer to Summer. “You see, here’s where her delusion falls apart. There are nearly endless frequencies. Even if I did all that you say I did, which I didn’t, you’d never know which one I used to make contact. You’d spend months trying to figure that out, and that’s assuming anyone was still listening on that frequency at the exact moment when you happened to try it.”
“He’s right,” Summer said.
“Why don’t you try the frequency and find out? Got nothing to lose, according to her thinking,” Lipton said, his eyes glued to Summer. “Then again, it won’t prove anything if you only hear static. In my world, it’s called circular logic, trying to use the absence of a negative as some kind of proof.”