Page 72 (1/2)

To ed to convince thereat deal in common"

The Cowboy hurried over to Falconer and said, "Holy shit You got the son of a bitch I owe you a twelve-pack, detective"

"It’s not over yet The bo and this asshole won’t call the his feet into the fuckin’ wood chipper, see if that changes his ht Give me thethe wire out of the console, and tossed the rowled, sun into Tennet’s face and threw thehis chest, punching him over and over

I said, "Should we, uh, stop him?"

John said, "Nope"

9 Minutes Until the Aerial Bo of Undisclosed

Marconi walked up and said, "Why do I have the feeling I a to receive my consultant’s fee for this project?"

I said, "Everybody is so freaking droll today Jesus"

John said, "Well, what the hell do we do now?"

To Amy, Marconi said, "You have one of those fancy cell phones, correct? One that can capture video?"

She said, "Yep," and pulled it out

"You have a signal, correct? And access to the Internet?"

"Sure, sure"

Somebody in the crowd said, "Look! There’s a plane! To the north! They’re co!"

I turned There was a speck in the sky, that even from this far away I could tell was not our friendly Predator drone co back to rescue us so bastard, with propellers on the wings, one of the big cargo planes you always saw on the news hauling troops back and forth to the Middle East

Marconi asked, "And you can strea you can capture video and upload it live?"

"Yeah What ahed and said, "Our deaths"

8 Minutes Until the Aerial Bo of Undisclosed

I said, "What? That’s your plan?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and gave h the rain

"What’s that around your lady friend’s neck?"

I didn’t have to look at her to answer It was always there

"What, her necklace? The crucifix?"

"Think about it What I said before, back at quarantine The--"

"The Babylonian Bureau Yes Goddamnit we don’t have time--"

"The sacrifice, David That is how mankind overcomes the Babel Threshold Our little tribal circles, bound by social contracts and selfish reedy self-interests and huddling together with their tribe, at ith all those outside who they regard as barely hue of , who abandons all personal gain, who lays down his very life for the good of those outside his group He beco to make a selfish, violent primate somehow empathize with the whole world, which is iet hiotten, another must replace it Unfortunately, as I feared, today that is to be us"

The plane grew on the horizon Two more appeared in the distance behind it I could hear the ever-so-faint buzz of its engines Appropriately enough, they sounded like bees Just like Tennet had said A swar at me, eyes wide Owen and Cowboy looked befuddled Falconer was standing over an unconscious Tennet, his fists bloody, eyes defiant

7 Minutes Until the Aerial Bo of Undisclosed

John said, "Fuck that bullshit Everybody in the truck, we’re heading out"

Marconi said, "So we ride to safety, while the tens of thousands who remain in the city behind us burn? And then what? We drive out across the buffer zone outside those barricades, and a few er barricade,you choose It is thrust upon you"

Aod it’s so siet to an open area Between us and the plane, so he sees it--the cornfield! Everybody go to the cornfield!"

To John, she said, "Get on the, uh, the speaker thing in the truck! Tell everybody to go to the cornfield!"

We didn’t need to tell anybody anything Hundreds of people were flowing past us, through the ruined barricades, the city draining out through the highway like water

We piled into the truck,over a dozen people, and rumbled off toward the cornfield

On the way, Amy said, "The plane! Oh God I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! It’s flying low, under the clouds! We can see it! So it can see us!"

"I don’t understand how that--"

"The pilot thinks we’re zombies We just have to show hi of Undisclosed