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The line ain as the next car opened its doors The tourists, and Chapel and Julia, filed in, filling all the available space The operator of the Skyride announced that this was the last car of the evening, and that thedown in just thirty ood-naturedly, disappointed that they weren&039;t going to have ot to see the carving coht washed over the face of Stone Mountain, filling in every crack and crevice of the low like a titanic jewel, a rich luster that only brightened even as the sun faded
"That&039;s kind of beautiful," Julia said, leaning against the side of the car, pressing her face close to the glass of its s Behind her the tourists oohed and aahed, but Chapel only had eyes for her, this woed out of New York City and taken with him on this mad trip
"It&039;s exactly the same color as your hair," he observed
She turned and faced him, herto give you the cold shoulder," she said "You shouldn&039;t say things like that tosweet"
"Couldn&039;t help it," he told her
She shook her head and turned to look at theto protectme about theabout you knohat That wasn&039;t protectingme"
"It was?" Chapel asked
"You took away ht to make decisions for myself That&039;s what I hate about secrets If I don&039;t know things, I can&039;t do anything about them"
"It&039;s important that some secrets be kept," he said Because it hat he believed
"I suppose so And I suppose that&039;s your job" She sighed "Chapel, how can I ever trust somebody when I know they lie to me professionally? This is just weird"
"I can tell you one true thing," he said "When I caround, and you weren&039;t there, my heart almost stopped I didn&039;t knohat had happened to you I was terrified you were gone That I&039;d lost you"
"As it turned out, I didn&039;t need your protection," she told hiest "Thanks I guess"
"When this is over," he said, " back to New York I&039; to live my life the way I choose to Openly Honestly Or-or I&039;ll gowhere they tell me The Catskills Wherever" She shook her head, and her hair swung around in front of the red-stained mountain He wanted to reach out and put his hands on her shoulders but he didn&039;t dare
"That&039;s what you want," he said It wasn&039;t a question "Just-we part ways, then And I never see you again"
"Juststop, Chapel Don&039;t go there"
"I&039;m sorry," he said
"It doesn&039;t ive you the silent treatether, and if I don&039;t talk to soether from now Be civil to each other But that&039;s it Let&039;s just keep this relationship professional, okay?" She was silent for the rest of the ride to the top
STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA: APRIL 13, T+35:31
The top of Stone Mountain looked like a patch of the rew up there save a few scraggly bushes and some lichens It was bare rock, ses and basins where a little rainwater could gather and support the sparse plant life By that point the sunset was over, though a yellow sered on the far horizon The rock was lit blue with deep purple shadows that were fading to black
There wasn&039;t much to see up top Just a visitors&039; center where the Skyride ended, a few radio antennas topped with blinking bulbs to warn off low-flying aircraft-and the view In the distance Chapel saw the lights of Atlanta scattered aia
A few of the braver tourists walked out onto the naked rock, perhaps in search of better views of the sunset or the scenery Park rangers stood around with their hands in their pockets, giving everyone a little tin of Jereht when he toldinside"
"I wouldn&039;t bla at her arms
It was cold up top, much cooler than it had been when they boarded the cable car She took out the pink sweatshirt she&039;d bought in the Underground and pulled it on, zipping it up to her throat "This is the ugliest thing I&039;ve ever owned," she said, "but right now, it&039;s ive it to her, but he couldn&039;t If he did, everyone would see his holstered sidearers would definitely have questions If he was going towith Funt, he had to stay inconspicuous
"Let&039;s walk over to the far side," Chapel said, pointing at a fence on the other side of the mountaintop
"There&039;s nobody over there," Julia told him
"I want to make myself as visible as possible so he can find me," Chapel replied He didn&039;t like this He&039;d expected Funt to meet him as soon as he stepped out of the cable car He&039;d expected the man to want to talk to hiel said, "I&039;ve got bad news Maybe"
"Go ahead," he told her
"I&039;ve been listening to the chatter on the park service radio channel They&039;re all checking in, confir everybody&039;s off the ht Except one ranger hasn&039;t called in yet They keep requesting he confir"
"Could be anything Maybe his radio&039;s battery just died Or he could have ducked out for a ss have gone since we started with this case, you think that&039;s likely?"
"No," Chapel agreed He bit his lip "Daan, but he was interrupted
"Chapel," Julia said in a forced whisper, "behind you!"
Chapel swung around just in tiun barrel in his ribs
He froze in place
The gun the S maniacally
"Hi," Jeremy Funt said
STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA: APRIL 13, T+35:36
"Nice to see you again," Chapel said He kept his hands at his sides Funt hadn&039;t told him to put theent to think he was reaching for a weapon
"Give me a second here Look behind you-there, you see?"
Froer-presuestures, rolling her hands around each other, tapping her watch Clearly she was suggesting it was time for everybody to head back down She looked over in the direction where Funt and Chapel were standing Funt waved his free hand at her, then held up his fingers splayed out as if to suggest he needed five ed and headed inside the center
"In a second we&039;ll have this place all to ourselves," Funt told Chapel
"You know her? You set this up?"
"Nope I was up here about aout new locations for booby traps I watched the rangers and studied their routine Half of them are hard-core pot smokers They invite their friends up here after hours and they get high while the laser show plays on the side of theas they don&039;t draw too much attention"
The tourists were all herded back into the visitors&039; center and into the Skyride cable car to head back down to the park below All the park rangers ith thehts in the visitors&039; center before he boarded the cable car Eventually it departed
"Okay, just us, now," Funt said "Why don&039;t you take two steps back, very carefully-the ground here is none too level And then you can tell ht her"
"She&039;s so in Julia&039;s direction
"I&039;overnment"
Funt didn&039;t look away from Chapel&039;s face "Who do you work for, then?"
"Cats and dogs," Julia said She sounded perfectly calm
Well, Chapel supposed that was easier when you didn&039;t have a gun pointed at your large intestine
"She&039;s a veterinarian A chimera tried to kill her in New York," Chapel said
Funt nodded "I&039;ll buy it For now I did so up on you, Chapel I still have a few friends left in interesting places You&039;re definitely not CIA" Funt stopped as if he&039;d just thought of soart is her father You know Williao Mad scientist type Liked to clone up perversions of nature in his spare tiuess that&039;s not a bad way to put it What are they, specifically?"
"You don&039;t know?" Funt asked
"I only knohat I&039;ve seen I got no briefing at all, just a warning they were tough The one in New York was definitely that He also had funny eyelids I knohat the word &039;chianism with DNA from two or more sources Which is more than they&039;re supposed to have"
Funt nodded "Okay I&039; to trust you, just a little bit I can&039;t hold this gun on you all night, after all So I&039;ive me yours Then I&039;ll tell you what I know, and then we can discuss getting me out of Atlanta That&039;s the deal You okay with it?"
"I&039;d rather hold on to my weapon"
Funt smiled "I&039;d rather be married to Phoebe Cates I&039;d rather be in Philadelphia right now, eating a cheesesteak The last fifteen years, I&039;ve had to deal with how things are, not how I&039;d rather they were"
"Fair enough," Chapel said Very, very slowly he reached into his jacket and rerip
"Good," Funt said, shoving it in one of his pockets He lowered his own pistol, but he kept it in his hand "Noe can talk"
STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA: APRIL 13, T+35:39