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I had one question "If all the action isof zooggles and pulled the contact lens over his single silver iris

He focused beyond the ridge, facing the dark and the distant lightning

"Me"

Chapter Thirty-one

"NOW YOU SEE," Tallgrass said to aze over the legions of tee beetles and spiders and lizards and snakes and scorpions like an invisible searchlight while I watched through the binos

I gasped as their scales and carapaces and even fuzzy black tarantula legs changed in a dazzling wave to sheer silver The wave reversed course, sinking down the slope on our side and cresting the opposite ridge of the gash, overflowing onto the flat desert plain beyond

Ric followed theure behind the sparkling living es of the hter formation If Quick could herd the robot vermin, Ric could perforrass stood slowly, but he’d kept his high-tech goggles on "He’s just letting his neers out to play The ver their territory They sense it’s e to bury the latest bodies"

As I watched Ric herding the silver tide south, he explained "The uides, Ric because he knows this terrain from his childhood indenture to El De blood as well as FBI creds"

"Kinda stereotyped expectations"

"Kinda dumb The border crime and military types never believed us e said El De who used superstition and gory rituals to control his men and the Mexican authorities and population"

"They’re still in denial about the Millenniu warriors They’re so busy being bad they think they can conquer anyone or anything What we have here is uptight norance The human cartel bosses fell for the trap"

"The inhuured on El Des and offing anyone as left and taking over everything That leaves us to stop hiht Noe have the lay of the land Ric has been testing his neers"

"Gained through me"

"Maybe so, Miss Delilah, but he needs to know he can use them solo This is the one chance he has to put down Torbellino forever, on the turf where their dance of death began years ago"

I looked at the silver-ar effect fading as the myriad tiny components separated I had no doubt he could call up all these slithering toxic beasties any time he needed them

"Ric somehowcontractedrass "Maybe that’s why I feel so responsible for him"

"You feel responsible for hirass touched et out of here when Ric’s done seeding the desert with his allies"

His hand gaveand then round was flat and the sagebrush was about rass’s scuffed boots crunched cactus until we reached a certain cluebrush aside They lifted and rolled away, just tue colors awaited passengers I scrarass took the Quicksilver seat With city lights out of sight, nant and almost at the full, had broken its water

I trusted Ric’s ability to safeguard himself out here, believe it or not, and Quicksilver was just another guarantee of rass, leaning forward as he twisted in the front seat to face rass’s pal the air and me into silence "This is between you and him I am not Dear Abby"

I blinked He’d echoed Sansouci’s exact words tothese days?

"No, but you’re an objective witness," I said "Since our battle with the elements in Wichita, my silver powers have blended with Ric’s ability to dowse for the dead You’ve seen the Silver Zorass grunted "I find it hard to relate to such a piece ofsorcery To me, a mechanized creature born of a mechanized process hails froments of film My culture roots its power in nature We’ve never ee of machines as a people Torbellino harnesses demons to do his evil work, but they too are creatures of spirit, or the unclean undead, not robots"

I had to admit the Metropolis CinSi cup that held the spirit of the filitte Helm, the actress who’d worn the Art Deco Joan of Arc suit of aras CinSims, that silver metal woman freaked me out

"The Silver Zombie is reed, "such as Frankenstein, though they both were ‘brought to life’ in laboratories Partly it’s because she thinks--if she thinks as we know it--that Ric, having raised her from the screen, is her master"

I hated that concept And, if I was honest with myself, maybe the competition The Silver Zo CinSims that the mysterious Immortality Mob had perfected Who could she be, what could she becorass seeo," he said, "raph stole and imprisoned a soul They refused to pose for pictures, like the aborigines in Australia I’ve studied this belief, because nowadays ‘souls’ are ‘stolen’ every second, and the photographs posted all over the World Wide Web The native people’s fear of photographs is based on the ht rass had no need to know aboutpowers

"You are not unfamiliar with such marvels, I think" He lifted a hand, waved it at a space beyond ht double vision I can’t quite focus on you, Delilah Street Never could Ric doesn’t see that"

"He knows, though So you studied up on es because I’rass laughed "Protégé No such fancy word for it I was teacher, he the student Now perhaps that is reversed Such is the way of lifeand death All things reverse And nowadays, it’s a tay street Death and dissolution can result in life and restitution"

Crap That meant death and resurrection could also reverse itself

"Who says?" I asked

"The Mayans for one"

"The ones who said the world would end in 2012? It’s 2013"

"Thirteen An unlucky number"

"I don’t believe in luck I believe in effort"