In the Zone: Mysterious Journeys, #2

By Jo Carey

Mysterious Journeys—the legend tripping company Ally Jorgensen started with her two brothers and a secret investor, is scouting locations in Mexico's Zone of Silence when Ally's past intrudes on her present and jeopardizes her future.

Ally and Miles learn an important lesson – you can't always trust your eyes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Carey
• Release date: Jul 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393025320

Jo Carey

Jo Carey grew up in the Midwest but her curiosity and gypsy-spirit has kept her on the move. She's lived in eight US states and spent three years living in Ireland. She has always loved creature movies, so creatures and bugs often show up in her books. Jo, a former information security compliance guru, writes fast-paced, character-driven stories in a variety of genres from medical thrillers to space operas and cozy mysteries. Her novels are filled with humor, romance, and sometimes creatures or aliens, or maybe even all of the above. She often builds her stories around a strong female lead character surrounded by plenty of hunky male heroes. Jo's been under fire on a golf course and climbed out the roof of an elevator in the Netherlands. Life hasn't been boring. Now residing in Texas, setting often plays a huge role in her stories. Jo was intrigued by the League of Planetary Systems, a world her husband, Frank, created for his science fiction books, and she now writes mysteries and other types of tales sets in that world. Jo was bitten by a cat, a fire ant, and a snake, before succumbing to the bite of the writing bug.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

This is so cool, Todd said as they piled back into his Jeep after taking a picture in front of the sign. I can't believe we're really here. We're driving into the actual Zone of Silence.

Looks like just empty desert, Chris said. You do realize that even if all those weird things you read about did happen here, that doesn't guarantee we'll see anything strange.

I know, but you can almost feel the electricity in the air.

I thought that was just you vibrating with excitement.

Funny.

Todd drove on into the Chihuahuan desert of northern Mexico, turning off the highway at a milepost he'd memorized.

I can't believe you talked me into this. It might be a cool marketing ploy, but as a vacation there's nothing to do.

Todd and Chris had come to the Zone to test the communication boosting application they'd been perfecting for more than two years. Now that they had serious interest from all the major communication companies and some government agencies, it was time for the final push. Todd had convinced his friend and business partner, Chris, they should have a vacation before things got crazy busy with the sale and roll-out of their app.

The two boys had been friends since being assigned as roommates during their freshman year at Stanford. They had tested the app extensively with great results before Todd came up with the idea to test it in one of the most communication unfriendly areas in North America-Mexico's Zone of Silence.

They drove over some small hills before Todd pulled off the road and headed toward the mountains. Pull out your compass? Todd said.

I didn't bring a compass, Todd said. Don't you have the GPS?

Yeah, Todd said, slowing to search for something in one of the many pockets of his cargo pants as he drove. Here. He handed a small round compass over to Chris. What's it doing?

It's not doing anything. How did we room together all these years without me realizing how crazy you were?

Todd pulled the Jeep over. He got out and laid the antique compass on a flat rock. It took a minute to point north. Let's set up camp here. We'll go deeper into the Zone tomorrow.

XXX

Late in the afternoon, Todd pulled the Jeep to a stop on a rise. According to my research, this is pretty much the center of the Zone.

Like the middle of nowhere, Chris said. Who comes here by choice?

Chris kept up his constant stream of complaints, and Todd continued to ignore him. After setting up their campsite, the boys made dinner and settled in with a couple of beers and a great view of the stars overhead.

They spent the next two days hiking around the desert looking for anything interesting while testing every functionality of their app and documenting the results. Chris, an amateur rock collector, found some rocks he thought were from meteors. Todd's compass did spin out of control at times. He photographed and documented the locations where that happened, but Chris wasn't impressed.

On their third night in the Zone, Chris decided to try to talk Todd into heading back to civilization early so they could spend at least a couple night's with air conditioning and hot food.

Let's pack up in the morning, we can stay at a hotel for a couple...

Todd held up his hand to silence Chris, then moved his hand to his ear. Did you hear that?

I didn't hear anything, Chris said.

Later after they both started on their second beers, Todd pointed off to the northeast. See those lights over there?

Yeah, it's probably just some campers on the other side of the mountain.

I'm going to go check it out, Chris said.

I don't think that's a good idea, Todd said. You shouldn't be roaming around out here in the dark. It's not safe. I told you about the crazy things that happen out here.

Yeah. We came for the adventure, Chris said, shrugging into his backpack. You coming?

Nope. I'm relaxing just like you told me, Todd said. The app works, Chris. Things are going to get crazy when we get back. He watched his friend walkaway until he disappeared in the dark.

Todd fell asleep with his chin on his chest after finishing his second beer. When he woke up, he looked around and realized Chris hadn't come back. His watch said it was after midnight. Chris, you out here somewhere? Todd called. No one answered.

For the next few minutes, Todd freaked out. He was in the middle of the desert alone. He didn't know much about where he was, and he had no clue how to find his friend. He pulled out his phone but had no service. Always keeping the tent in sight, he walked out into the desert calling for Chris. He tried different directions, but never got a response. He finally accepted that he couldn't do much more to find his friend until daylight, so he crawled into the tent and fell asleep.

Chris didn't come back overnight, so in the morning Todd headed off in the direction Chris was headed the night before. More than three hours from their campsite, he found his friend's backpack but no sign of his friend. There were no footprints or tire tracks in the sand where the backpack was. It was like it had been dropped. In fact, now that he took a closer look, the pack was actually sunken into the sand as though it had been dropped from a great height or stomped on by something heavy.

He took photos of the pack where he found it, then opened it to check the contents. He wasn't sure what all Chris had in his pack so he wouldn't know if anything was missing. He did find Chris'