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Page 319
area. At this point I was willing to wager that Sate's crew was down there somewhere.
On the other hand, if I accepted Madden's premise that the creatures numbered more than one, then I had to be willing to tackle a host of other unanswered questions. How many are there? And what was their role in all of this? And Kelto's repeated reference to an equinoctial awakening was raising other questions.
At that moment, I had only one objectiveto get Kendall to delay his planned sweep until he had the chance to hear Kelto's story and in turn listen to the plan Madden and I had developed to check out the caves.
There was one other disturbing dimension to the Chambers Bay situation that up to this point hadn't been given a great deal of consideration. If Kelto was right about the Emissary being someone who was moving freely in the mainstream of all this, then the so-called Emissary was in a position to reveal our plan to the true believers.
So, while Jake inched us back to the village, I used the opportunity to whip out the trusty old three-by-fives and frantically make notes on the whole affair. Kelto and B.C. rode in the cramped back seat, both morose, both absorbed in their own thoughts. It was almost twelve-thirty, and I was getting concerned about being able to

 
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