Page 29 (1/2)

Back at my apartment, I called Murphy on her personal cell phone I used si

"Dear God," Murphy said Can I summarize or what? "They can infect the city with this curse thing?"

"Looks like," I said

"How can I help?"

"We&039;ve got to keep the it into the air They won&039;t be on public transportation Find out if any chartered planes are taking off between seven and eight-thirty Helicopters too"

"Hang on," Murphy said I heard co to someone, a police radio A moment later she said, voice tense, "There&039;s trouble"

"Yeah?"

"There are a pair of detectives heading out to arrest you Looks like Ho There&039;s no warrant listed"

"Crap" I took a deep breath "Rudolph?"

"Brownnosing rat," Murphy muttered "Harry, they&039;re alot a few minutes"

"Can you decoy them? Get some manpower to the airport?"

"I don&039;t know," Murphy said "I&039;m supposed to be a h I can announce that terrorists are about to use a biological weapon on the city"

"Use Rudolph," I said "Tell hi town on a chartered flight from the airport Let hi"

Murphy let out a harsh little laugh "There are times when you can be a clever man, Harry It takes me by surprise"

"Why, thank you"

"What else can I do?"

I told her

"You&039;re kidding"

"No We may need the manpower, and SI is out of this one"

"Just when I had hope for your intelligence, too"

"You&039;ll do it?"

"Yeah Can&039;t pro They&039;re less than five minutes away"

"Gone Thank you, Murph"

I hung up the phone, openedinto a couple of old cardboard boxes I kept at the back until I found my old canvas duster It was battered and torn in a couple of places, but it was clean It didn&039;t have the saht as the leather duster, but it did un than my jacket And it made rabbed ot into Martin&039;s rental car Martin wasn&039;t in it Susan sat behind the wheel "Hurry," I said She nodded and pulled out

A few minutes later, no one had pulled us over "I take it Martin isn&039;t helping"

Susan shook her head "No He said he had other duties that took precedence He said that I did, too"

"What did you say?"

"That he was a narrow-otistical bastard"

"No wonder he likes you"

Susan smiled a little and said, "The Fellowship is his life He serves a cause"

"What is it to you?" I asked

Susan re tio?"

"We caught the iht"

"What did you do with him?"

I told her

She looked at ht?"

"Fine"

"You don&039;t look fine"

"It&039;s done"

"But are you all right?"

I shrugged "I don&039;t know I&039;lad you didn&039;t see it"

Susan asked, "Oh? Why?"

"You&039;re a girl Beating up bad guys is a boy thing"

"Chauvinist pig," Susan said

"Yeah I get it from Murphy She&039;s a bad influence"

We hit the first traffic sign directing us toward the stadium, and Susan asked, "Do you really think you can win?"

"Yeah Hell, Ortega is only the third or fourth led with today"

"But even if you do hat does it change?"

"Me getting killed now That way, I get to be killed later tonight instead"

Susan laughed There was nothing happy in it "You don&039;t deserve a life like this"

I squinted ot nothin&039;-"

"So helpthis car around a telephone pole"

"Do you feel lucky, punk?" I smiled and turned htly on ot to draw the line somewhere"

We rode the rest of the way to the stadiu hands

I hadn&039;t ever been to Wrigley when it was empty That wasn&039;t really the point of a stadiu about a bajillion people and see so happen This time, with acres and acres of unoccupied asphalt, the stadiue and somehow more skeletal than when it was filled with vehicles and cheering thousands The wind sighed through the stadiuht had fallen, and the unlit street laaped in the arches and doorways of the stadium, empty as the eyes of a skull

"Thank God that isn&039;t too creepy or anything," I muttered

"What now?" Susan asked

Another car pulled in behind us I recognized it froht before The car pulled up ot out, and leaned down to say so to the driver, a lasses There were two h I couldn&039;t seethey were all Red Court

"Let&039;s not look scared," I said, and got out of the car

I didn&039;t look at Ortega, but drew out round, and stared at the stadiuh to show the gun on ain I&039;d traded in ols or somebody wore silk shirts because they would catch arrows as they entered wounds, and enable the their innards apart I wasn&039;t planning on getting shot with barbed arrows, but weirder things have happened

Susan got out and walked up to stand beside me She stared at the stadium too, and the wind blew her hair back the same way it didher a&039;s driver is about to wet his pants"

"You say the nicest things to me"

We just stood there for a couple of -one of those annoyingly loud bass stereos in soot louder; then there was a squealing of tires taking a tight turn, and Thomas pulled into the lot in a different white sports car than I&039;d seen hiot louder as he sped across the lot and parked his car diagonally across the lines I&039;d unconsciously respected when I&039;d parked He killed the stereo and got out, a sarette sht blue jeans and a black T-shirt with a Buffy the Vao The laces to one of his combat boots were untied, and he carried a bottle of scotch in his hand He pulled froa Tho?"