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And with complete conviction, Deucalion knew that when Victor was located, he would be found underground, like the bats in their cave, underground but not dead, underground and at work on soh psychic poere not one of Deucalion’s lightning-conveyed gifts, he believed that his longevity had been granted that he ent of his maker’s final destruction He had coh he was not clairvoyant, from time to time, a mysterious power seemed to direct his attention toward his elusive prey as effectively as the hound was drawn forward by the scent of its quarry

Chapter 12

In her Ford Explorer, she drove slowly into town as the gold and rose fingers of the dawn reached toward fading stars that eluded them The journey was only four miles, but by the time she arrived at her destination, the eastern half of the sky beca any fireworks display, while the western half brightened fro peacock-blue

Erika Five loved the world She was charmed by winter snow, each flake a tiny frosted flower, the white vistas, the scalloped drifts, and she thrilled to the early green shoots in springwith balsam-root flowers like fallen petals of the sun The mountains in the distance inspired her: entle slopes reens The forest that reached down the foothills and across half her property was her cathedral, with countless vaulted ceilings and colonnades, where she often gave thanks for the gift of the world, for Montana, and for her existence

She had been designated Erika Five because she was the fifth Erika, all as alike as identical quintuplets, that Victor had grown in his creation tanks at the Hands of Mercy in New Orleans As his ideal of grace and beauty and erotic allure, the five had served as his wife, one by one, without benefit of e

The first four displeased him in one way or another and were terminated with brutal violence Erika Five, Erika Helios--in truth Erika Frankenstein--displeased hi the brief time that she had been his to use, but he never had the chance to ter, as she had forHer continued existence, following Victor’s death, was nothing less than hfares of Rainbow Falls--Beartooth Avenue and Cody Street--formed a crossroads at the center of town The commercial blocks were, for the s, mostly nineteenth-century but some early twentieth-century, with double-thick brick walls that kept out the bitter cold in winter

On Cody, half a block east of Beartooth, Erika pulled to the curb and parked near the Jim James Bakery, which opened before dawn for the early-bird breakfast crowd Once every week, she drove into town to buy a dozen rich, buttery cinna hite icing, the best of their kind that she had ever tasted

Ji a recipe developed by his mother, Belinda Jim’s half-brother, Andy Andrened the Andy Andrews Café two blocks north on Beartooth, serving delicious lunches and dinners fro her children, Belinda was a totally wicked cook who taught her sons well

Switching off the engine, before she opened the driver’s door, Erika saw so the sidewalk A man in hand-tooled black cowboy boots, jeans, and a black leather jacket too consciously and fussily stylish to have been sold at any store in rustic Rainbow Falls Tall Fit Handsome in a severe way

Victor

Victor Helios, alias Frankenstein Her husband-by-decree, her tormentor, her master whom she must obey, her maker

She believed him to be dead Or if not dead, not anywhere near Montana

He walked as if lost in thought, hands in his jacket pockets, head down, eyes on the sidewalk in front of him Vaporous plumes of his war air

Erika should have averted her face against the possibility that he would glance up and discover her sitting behind the wheel of the SUV But the sight of him paralyzed her She could not look away

He passed within ar aware of her On his left teer than a pencil eraser, which confirmed that he was not just someone who resembled Victor

After he passed Erika, she watched him in the side mirror Near the end of the block, he opened the door of so parked vehicles denied her a clear view of his transportation

In the rearview mirror, she saw hi solanced toward her as he drove past

When the sound of his engine peaked and receded, she raised her head and saw that he was driving a silver Mercedes GL550 with Montana license plates At the end of the block, he stopped for a red traffic light

After escaping Victor’s sphere of control, she had driven over eighteen hundred miles to start a new life in a place as different from Louisiana as she could find The fact that Victor remained alive after the disaster in New Orleans was barely credible, but that he should have taken refuge in this saone, see into the street, and pulled behind the GL550 as the traffic light changed to green Fearful but deterh the intersection As they drew near the end of town, she fell back, so her pursuit would not become obvious to him, and she allowed a van to slip between them

Acutely aware that there were no coincidences and that theof her life was not hers to determine but only hers to discover, she nevertheless decided one thing: Whatever happened, she would not cease to be Erika Swedenborg and would never becoain Erika Five

Chapter 13

At 8:48 that Tuesday , the new Chief Rafael Jaruishable from the former Rafael Jarhtner, and the doors closed behind him

With 106 beds, Rainbow Falls Memorial Hospital was primarily a short-term, acute-care facility Once stabilized, those patients with chronic conditions or with critical acute conditions were transferred either by ambulance or by air ambulance to Great Falls--or to one of the town’s three funeral homes if the air ambulance did not arrive in a tieons and head of staff at Mehtner didn’t do heart work, but over the years he reallbladders, surely a thousand appendixes, uncounted benign cysts, and not a few bullets He had saved victis, and suicide attearded by the people of Rainbow Falls for his skills as a physician, for his reassuring bedside htner was not the real Dr Lightner Although he had downloaded enough of the physician’s memories to pass for the doctor, he couldn’t have perforery with any expectation of success

The Creator hadn’t yet developed a brain tap that could entirely transfer coe, such as a h tioal he set for himself

Anyway, in seventy-two hours, by this ti, Rainbow Falls would have no need of physicians or a hospital By then its entire population would consist of members of the Community, none of as vulnerable to disease or infection, and every one of as able to recover swiftly frorievous wounds

"The entire day shift has arrived?" Jarmillo asked as they descended to the base staff, clerical, technicians, htner confirmed "The hospital has a shift-overlap system, so they arrived at seven o’clock They wereis complete We’ll deal with the physicians one by one as they arrive for their daily rounds"

The elevator doors opened, and Henry Lightner led Chief Jarmillo into a corridor with pale-blue walls and a white ceramic-tile floor

Busy day-shift clerical andcarts to e cabinets, and furniture

"Everything is being duhtner reported "These interior rooms offer the security and the sound abatement we need for the Builders"

"Are they noisy?"

"Not thehtner opened a door and preceded Chief Jarmillo into a twenty-foot-square room that had been ehteen people iht-shift, been here since we took over the place alo"