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And his mind wandered repeatedly to the California detectives, Carson and Michael, who had paid him a visit in the late afternoon They told hi on an inheritance case, searching for an heir He had known they were stonewalling him, and they had known that he knew, but he had liked them anyway

In spite of the couple’s personable nature and, at tihthearted demeanor, Addison had been aware that they were tense and worried, even though they were hiding it well Worried ht be an inadequate word His newsman’s sixth sense told him that they were scared, which had been hway If sohtened two forh city like New Orleans, perhaps Addison needed to be concerned, too, for the people of this town

These thoughts kept distracting hiht be some connection between the detectives’ case and the failure of phone and Internet service The weather could not be responsible At round, which most locals would dismiss as flurries Full-scale blizzards rarely disrupted services because everyone here was prepared for extreme winters

The Gazette’s receptionist, Katie Ormond, kept a radio on her desk Addison went out there to switch it on and see if KBOWabout the phone problems

Mason Morrell seemed to have lost his mind Or not While the talk-show host’s usual material held no interest for Addison, he knew the man was not one of the tinfoil-hat crowd The uably the smallest social circle in town; he and Mason often found themselves at the same functions Never had Mason said a word about alien abductions or black helicopters, or anything else to suggest that for him reality and the Syfy channel were one and the saht Osama bin Laden was secretly a Zionist and that the Holocaust was all a lie invented by the sa

Besides, Sammy Chakrabarty, who lived for the radio station and would have slept there if permitted, would never allow Mason to rant like this if the talk-show host had coiven his intellect and drive, he had a good shot at fulfilling the on Mason rather than let hi else chilled Addison: Mason sounded sober, afraid, and sincere Indeed, there was al Churchillian in the force of his delivery--but no faintest note of hysteria or inebriation

Butus? It defied belief

"… collecting people in these big blue-and-white panel trucks and taking the been replaced by their replicants…"

Still listening, Addison put on his Stetson, coat, and neck scarf He lived near the heart of town and alalked to work Now he intended to go hoet his SUV, and drive out to KBOW to discover firsthand whether this was some kind of ill-advised stunt to promote the radio station or an inexplicable descent into madness by the talk-show host

He clicked off the radio, switched off the lights room by room, stepped outside, and locked the front door behind him As he turned toward the street, before he stepped onto the la panel truck--blue cab, white cargo section--just as in Mason Morrell’s warning

In the lightless recessed entryway, Addison shrank back against the door The truck was the sole vehicle on Beartooth, which usually wouldn’t be this deserted even in the early stages of a snowstorh the windshield, but he doubted that they would spot hiination had been overheated by what he’d heard on the radio, but the night felt wrong, the only sound being the engine of the truck, no pedestrians passing even though the hour was not yet late The street hadn’t been plowed or salted, although the town’s maintenance department always hit the pavement by the time the first inch was down, to stay ahead of the storness wasn’t in those details alone There was also an eerie atmosphere that Addison felt but could not easily define

Because he was intensely watching the suspicious truck, he saw the tall hooded figure, immense across the chest and the shoulders, appear out of thin air on the running board on the passenger side of the vehicle

Magically

Materializing like an apparition

Gripping the assist bar at the back of the cab, the giant smashed the side ith his fist and wrenched open the door as the truck braked, skidded slightly in the snow, and came to a halt

Chapter 34

One second Papa Frankenstein’s prodigal son wasn’t there, the next second he was very there, and fragments of the shatteredcascaded in upon Michael without har him The door came open, and Michael shouted his nauy wouldn’t break his neck, although even as he cried out and even as Carson braked, he saw that he had been recognized

Deucalion dropped off the access step as the truck came to a stop, and Michael cla me"

"Anytier in the falling snow than he had looked in other environer Maybe it was because heavy snow at night created a ical mood in any circumstance, which emphasized Deucalion’s nearly supernatural appearance Maybe it was because this was the start of Areddon, they were in the quick of it, and Michael was so happy that Deucalion was on their side that he ier than he was

"I’," Michael declared

Deucalion frowned "You only said five words"

"Inher Urban Sniper, Carson hurried around froiant "What have you learned?"

"Does the truck have a radio?" Deucalion asked "Have you been listening?"

"We haven’t really had tiin’ any tunes," Michael said

"I convinced the radio-station staff They’re warning anyone who "