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"If this is soood time, then they are seriously warped"

"Yeah, he is," I said, and again heard that sDaht appeared in the distance There was a car on the horizon, and it was approaching fast

Denny’s backup plan, perhaps?

"What’s the cell phone reception like up here?" I asked, flexing ainst the wheel It didn’t do a whole lot to ease the tension suddenly rolling through me

"It’s pretty shitty, actually," he said "Why?"

I nodded toward the growing light points "What are the odds of another car being on this particular road at this ti station ruins, and it’s not exactly a good ti them, is it?"

"They had a CB radio in one of the other trucks - I heard theet here this soon"

"Unless someone was already nearby How far does the pack’s land boundary extend?"

"I have no idea"

We drove on, watching those twin specks of light grow brighter and brighter Tension crawled throughwheel so hard ers and forced hts flicked down to low beae of the road, allowing the other car plenty of room He repeated the action and we passed each other quickly and without incident I had a brief gliant nose and kneithout a doubt, who it was

"Shit," Evin said "That was Mike West"

"There was another ri Harris"

"Maybe someone told them about Denny’s plans"

"Maybe" But West would have had to have left Dunedan not long after et here this soon And while I had no doubt that so our villa, I veryto either Harris or West the minute I’d disappeared

So as West out here?

Was this the reason he hadn’t been answering Harris’s calls?

Maybe I was being suspicious for no reason;here But whoever was behindhad to have someone else other than Evin here in Dunedan - and what better backup could there be than one of the town cops?

And itno responses to his queries to the Directorate West could have easily either not sent thelanced in the rearviewhim to turn around and chase us But he didn’t, and I wasn’t entirely sure whether that was a good thing or bad

One thing was sure, though - I needed to talk to Harris, and as soon as possible

I glanced at Evin "Is there anything else you can tell round here They seem to know stuff that I haven’t lanced at me sharply "You don’t think it could be West, do you?"

I smiled "Sometimes you’re so like me it’s almost like you are my brother"

"But West is a cop"

"A cop who is desperate to get out of this town and into so,’ as he puts it"

"I don’t know - "

"Neither do I," I cut in "But I sure as hell intend to find out"

"But how?"

"By talking to the oing to believe the worst of a workood cop He’ll listen, he’ll consider the evidence, and he’ll runted And it wasn’t a convinced-sounding grunt, either "There is one thing they did tell o on, I raised an eyebrow and looked at him "What?"

He hesitated "It sounds kind of silly, but they toldinsideodd about theain he hesitated "Not exactly They just said you needed the ifts?

I swerved over to the side of the road and stopped the truck Dust flew around us as the tires skidded on the uneven shoulder "Open the glove compartment and see if there’s a knife in there"

He didn’t move "Get the wire off ht I motioned hiet to the knot at the back easier His neck was raw and weeping, and guilt spun through me I really should have taken it off earlier

I reached for the wire, but the ertips touched it, blue sparks erupted I jerked ertips They were burned

"What’s wrong?" Evin said, voice sharp

"It would appear I’m extremely sensitive to silver Wait here"

I climbed out of the cab and into the bed at the back, quickly flipping open the tool box There was a wire cutter sitting on the top, but that was next to useless - the silver was sitting too tightly against Evin’s neck to risk using it I pushed the tools around and found not only a pair of gloves but also a switchblade I grabbed theloves then cautiously touched the wire Even through the gloves I could feel the heat of the silver, but it wasn’t hot enough to stopthe wire

Evin jerked away the h and quickly rubbed his raw neck "Fuck, that stuff burns"

I chucked the wire out the door then slaather you’ve never had an encounter with silver before?"

"No But I take it you have?"

"I’ve been shot by the stuff so many times I’m now super-sensitive to it" I flicked open the switchblade and studied the point It was certainly sharp enough to do the job After a moment, I became aware of Evin’s heated stare "What?"

"Did you even hear what you just said?"

I smiled "Yes And no, I can’t explain it, beyond the fact that I’m involved on some level with the Directorate"

"Then whoever is behind all this is playing a ame Even I know you don’t fuck around with Directorate people Not if you value your life"

"Which is probably why he gaveany alarms"