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I flattened the pedal and felt Mona ju for the finish

The wind slaht train, and the front wheels lost traction; I was going into a spin If it had just been a single fast wind shear, that would have been one thing, but this was a fierce continuing blast, and as the car spun, it sla the Viper toward the shoulder; I did exactly the opposite of what you should do; I turned the wheel against the skid, gave itso that the momentum spun it like a top down the center line The wind kept buffetingto the car&039;s rotational force, not slowingon for dear life as the world beyond the windshield turned into a long brown-black-green blurroad, shoulder, field, road, shoulder, fieldand then I felt the pressure of air against the car suddenly drop off

I turned into the skid, s, and the Viper foughtbronco

I hit the brakes gently, gently, struggling with the wheel as we did one last, slow spin and jerked to a stop, still on the road

I was about two inches over the dotted white line

It would have been a real good moment to open the door and throw up, but I had no time for any of that The yellow Xterra had been just a few hundred yards behind ainst that all The force would flip the truck over like a toy

No tiht way; I just brute-forced an equal and opposite force by sla cold air down into the streah There was still enough wind to shake it, but not enough to flip it over

I slipped Mona back in gear and popped the clutch, and we fleard the city liht on our tail I expected trouble In fact, I counted on it

You can iine how spooky it was not to have any at all, not even a hint, all the way into the suburbs, all the way to the e with I-40 There was more and slower traffic now, and I had to slow Mona down fro car made me flinch, because this was a recipe for disaster; if Star wasn&039;t choosy about the body count, this could end up in one of those spectacular forty-or fifty-car pileups, the kind thatnews and have the words "death toll" in the tag line

But nothing happened

I got Star&039;s cell phone and dialed it one-handed from memory

"Crisis Center," said a voice that sounded too young and too friendly for corade school had they raided now? Had I been that young when I&039;d been on the Help Desk? Probably It just raised chills and goose buht rest in the hands of soal drink

"Hi, this is Joanne Baldwin, Weather I&039;eneral alert"

Dead silence on the other end of the phone for at least ten seconds, and then a very quiet, "Excuse me?"

"Code One," I repeated "General alert Look it up"

"Please hold" She was gone for thirty full seconds this ti "Um, Warden Baldwin? I&039;ve been told that you need to surrender yourself to the Wardens who are following you Please"

"Well, here&039;s what I&039; hole in the road if you don&039;t do exactly as I tell you Call a Code One Right now"

She sounded stronger There was probably a supervisor standing over her "Can&039;t do that, ma&039;am"

"Do not ot quoting rules and regulations at you"

I&039;d been right about the supervisor There was a click, and a basso profundo ht now at you?"

"Paul?" I couldn&039;t help it; beaten, scared, half-evil, I still grinned at the sound of his voice "Save it for later I&039;m on my way to Estrella Alive me the address Marion and her crew are on my tail"

"Pull the car over, and let the about you You got any idea what kind of hell you stirred up out there? Killer storht as well call it a day and evacuate the whole friggin&039; state And don&039;t tell me it wasn&039;t you I saw you up there"

"Shut up and listen I&039;ve got a Deo at it down here If you don&039;t want to be cleaning up a whole hell of a lot worse than just soet off your ass and call a Code One, right now"

He put me on hold Bastard I switched off and tossed the phone into the passenger seat

Twenty seconds later, as I was squinting at exit signs, the mobile phone warbled for my attention I flipped it open and said, "Shoot"

"1617 Fifty-Sixth Street," Paul said "Code One&039;s going in place You&039;re not serious, right? About going at it with Lewis?"

"I sure as hell hope not"

I dropped the phone and downshifted, whipped the Viper around a faon and two identical red Hondas, and saw the exit sign flash by over head Fifty-Sixth Street, two miles

The weather looked clear Too clear

It was just too damn easy

I exited the freeway and took the turn at a screech that should have raised police attention in six states, buta coffee break at the wrong intersection I scratched the gear change and blasted through two yellow lights, had to stop for a red, and felt every nerve in e to hborhood was industrial,presses; the buildings were square, gray, and gri a jaundiced look, and there wasn&039;t a soul in sight on the sidewalks, only a few cars still hidden in parking lots behind chain-link and razor wire

I&039;d gone four blocks when somebody stepped out into the street in front of me I ja, screa in front of er had the road dude persona; this David was brown-haired, brown-eyed, dressed in a loose white shirt and dark pants that ended in a mist around his knees This was the look Star had i with her will I remembered the hot bronze of his eyes and felt a sharp stab of

Don&039;t mistake foe for friend Rahel&039;s excellent advice, and yet, looking at hi peace into my fevered skin He wasn&039;t just Djinn, not just a tool or a tap of power to turn on and off He wasn&039;t a slave

And if he wasn&039;tmaybe none of them were Maybe none of them should be

"Don&039;t do this," I said I knew he could hear h the closed s of the car "Don&039;t make us enemies Please"

"You made us enemies," he said, and extended his hand, palravity increase aroundme down

The air around ed and stopped breathing, tried to reach for the auto, too prepared I felt e Chlorine? Soas chamber

I reached for the wind and slah to disincorporate him into mist, and in the instant before he could re-form, I jammed thebutton and rolled all four down Fresh air whipped in and blew out the poisoned fog, and I hit the gas and burned rubber right at him

He wasn&039;t there when the front end arrived I looked behindup the road in pursuit I knew better than to think I&039;d lost hi space

I picked up the cell phone again The line was still open, and I could hear Paul giving muffled orders in the distance "Hey!" I yelled "I need you! Pick up!"

"What do you need?" In a crisis, Paul was all about the facts, not the feelings He&039;d hate ht now he&039;d made a choice and he&039;d stick to it

"Djinn," I said "Yours Get it out here and tell it to block Star&039;s Djinn, or I&039;ll nevertilted over the street in front of me I screamed, dropped the phone, and twisted the wheel It was an old, dilapidated thing of fire-ravaged bricks and blank glassless s, probably due for demolition, but there was no way it should have chosen this ears and let the Viper screa, then another, and then we shot out fro shadow and it collapsed behind us with a dull roar and a cloud of white sht pole slammed forward into my path I twisted around it

Asparks and federally protected letters in its wake I hit the brakes and slithered past it with inches to spare

"Paul!" I screaood!"