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"Do you usually bring people you’re protecting home to meet your family?"

"Not ever," he said "Hope you feel special about it"

He started to get up fro hiot his full, alert attention "Thanks You’re sure I’ here?"

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes "You really think I’d bring you within a ht there was any chance at all of that? Bryn, you’re a nice girl, and I adht back mostly because I felt I’d let you down But you ever pose any danger to my family and I’ll make you permanently dead, and I won’t hesitate for a second"

She believed hio, and Joe picked up her euy

"If I ever did pose a danger to theot a lovely family"

"You say that noait until you spend a couple of hours with the little terrors," he said "Coame or two"

Norain, this taste of a future, of life, of faht as well enjoy it

Chapter 4

In the , the family had breakfast, and Joe drove Bryn to drop off Mr French at her apartment, and then to see as left of Fairview Mortuary

It was a gri, but the other part was blackened and had collapsed in on itself The serene little garden out front had been traency crews

"When you stage a rescue, you don’t go about it subtly, do you?" she asked Joe shrugged

"I tried that," he said "Fairview had hardened the doors Only choice I had was to break down the loading-dock wall, and I had to use explosives to do it"

"And you just carry those around with you"

"Yeah," he said, "I do In my job, it pays to be prepared"

"Like a Boy Scout"

"With C-four"

There were a substantial nu materials Repairs, it seemed, were already under way, and a work crew in hard hats arot out of the SUV and walked toward the building, then stopped She turned to Joe "What about the bodies?" she asked

"Which bodies?"

"Fairview, Fast Freddy, Mr and Mrs Jones, Mr Garcia …"

"The basement bodies They were removed already" Joe cleared his throat "Mrs Jones and Mr Garcia were special problems They were, ah, cleared separately"

He meant dismembered Or burned Or both Bryn felt a little wave of faintness coht for a second until it passed He didn’t say anything about it, which she appreciated Once she felt steady again, she started to walk on--and then stopped, stock-still She turned to look at Fideli "Just those two?"

"Yeah," he said, and his brows came down to a level, concerned line "Why?"

"Because Fast Freddy was the same Like me, I mean Revived"

"Fuck," he spat, and pulled out his cell phone He turned away andsoftly but quickly She waited He finally finished and carimmer "Should have done a blood test Damn it Body’s already been processed and sent off for creht?"

"Would have been," he said, "except that nobody had any warning ol’ Freddy et up, and walk away Which he did He’s in the wind" He shook his head "Listen, Bryn, I’ve got to get back--"

"Yes, of course I’ll be fine, Joe Thank you for … for everything" Including, she thought, the clothes on her back … a gift from Kylie of a butter-soft tan sweater and jeans that fit like a dreaain-- were her size, or close enough Kylie had gotten her sizes and gone on ashui, no doubt about it "I’m sorry I should have told you about Freddy"

"You had other things on your mind, and I never asked This one’s on me," he said He climbed in the truck and started it up, then leaned out the"Forgot to tell you, your ride’s over there in the lot It’s the black one" He tossed her a set of keys, which she caught autorinned at her and backed out, then gunned the engine to a full roar on his way out of the parking area and onto the ht, then looked around again She wasn’t quite sure what her role here was supposed to be, considering the da Cadillac sedan made the turn off the road and pulled up in the lot near her