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That doesn’tlow on ti to be tortured to findI will not allow to happen

I tap ainst the couch and stare out the dirty , "It really doesn’t look like he was ever here"

"I know"

Anna nods and pulls the book out of, joining in withBernie sit up He flops off the couch to his knees and crawls to the spot I’ circle One spot sounds hollow, coets up and rushes to the kitchen He coain He stabs the knife into the floor, picking at the wood A chunk of wood shoots off, leaving a s He picks at the floor and sticks his hand in the hole He sighs and pulls out a piece of paper and looks at it quizzically

"What does it say?"

"Black lab stop HEMP stop Kansas stop"

I furrow hs, "It’s sent like it’s a telegram"

I shake my head, "A what?"

He laughs harder Anna is biting her nails and reading, ignoring us completely

He bites his lip and looks at the words like they’re hs, "Shit"

"What’s a telegraes, back in the day, before phones and internet and everything"

"What’s it trying to stop?"

He looks confused, " What?"

I point at the paper, "The stops--what’s it stopping? How do you stop Kansas?"

"No, it’s where you stop talking End of the sentence So this says, Black Lab, HEMP, Kansas"

I stand up and pace again I feel like that’s all I do indoors "Where is the black lab?"

He shakes his head, "Not a clue, but I knohat a HEMP is and where Kansas is" He stands and paces too, "EMP stands for electroh altitude It’s a way to shut down all electricity and power The lay it is it’s a nuclear-poweredelectric and battery powered Nothing would work It was a way of shutting everything down in a country you wanted to destroy The civilization we lived in was coy This was a warfare that didn’t kill people, it killed the ht there was one of these in Kansas?"

He nods, "I would have to assume he felt that way and wrote this down for someone to find or to remind himself that’s where it was, or someone else put it here for hiot to be it He never had time to cooing to Kansas to detonate thisto ruin the breeder farhs, "Far, very far"

"That doesn’t make sense All the way to Kansas to destroy this city? That must be a code I had heard about codes before"

Bernie stands and looks out the , "Only one person will know that"

I nod, "Theto knoe aren’t who you said ere"

He turns for the door, "I’ll be back"

He closes the door and I stare out the , chanting HEMP, Black Lab, and Kansas until the words don’t even sound like words anymore

Chapter Six

The door flies open Bernie looks a little crazed with blood s on the ground looksat us, "Clyde, this is E"

Anna frowns froh her book and stands up Bernie looks beat in every way He points, "Can you get the answers frouy"

I nod and crouch down to the olderme a hesitant look

"What is the black lab?"

He spits at s, but I do not like to be spit at I smack his face into the wooden floor and then haul him up, bloody nose and all I slam him into a cupboard, "What is the black lab?"

He starts to laugh, "You can’t stop us We’re everywhere God made sure of that"