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"I never read any of that"

Instead of rushing past the s, the sht in a vortex of hot air and swirls around the Grand Cherokee I feel as if the vehicle is being levitated and spun, as it ht be in a tornado, and I close my eyes

"Ed, was it you who opened that sealed drain, so I didn’t have to go back by way of the beach?"

"Yes"

"Thank you"

"You are welcome, Odd Thomas"

"When you led me that way, did you know I’d hijack a truck?"

"I was not surprised when you did"

"But I didn’t knoas going to do it until I climbed out of that manhole and foundSo how did you know?"

"A consideration of all possibilities and an analysis of the viability of each suggested that hijacking a truck and doing what you did with it was the option oal My observation of you, in your discussions with Jolie Ann Har manner, you usually make the correct decisions in such matters"

Jolie interprets: "I think what Ed means is you kick butt"

Ed has a question: "Now tell ene Beamer’s smartphone?"

"What? I don’t know any Purvis Bea the vehicle that he reported stolen"

"Oh Bermuda Guy No, I didn’t take his snals related to Purvis Eugene Bea emitted from the same map coordinates"

When I openaround the Jeep,past as before

"Yeah I see it now His phone’s in one of the cup holders"

"Take it and put it in a pocket Then ill be able to reed that vehicle"

"How do you know I’e it?"

"I have deduced your intentions, Odd Thomas"

Jolie says, "He’s like super-smart, Oddie In a kind of way, he was homeschooled like me, in a lab instead of a home, by scientists instead of by his ously smarter, not because he studies harder than I do, but because he can absorb entire ginormous libraries inlike I am It’s kind of sad he doesn’t have a mom and all Don’t you think it’s sad? It’s not so sad you want to lie around all day sobbing through a thousand Kleenex, but sad enough"

TWENTY-TWO

Ed will be my Natty Bumppo, the unlikely name of the scout in The Last of the Mohicans, as also known as Hawkeye Froh the blinding drifts of smoke

The Jeep Grand Cherokee with the COOL DUDE license plate is equipped not just with OnStar’s real-tiation GPS maps include all streets, county roads, state routes, and federal highways, but if you decide to go off-road, you’re on your own; the graphics on the monitor won’t be able to warn you about treacherous features of the open land, and the recorded, guiding voice of that businesslike yet somewhat sultry lady who provides direction will fall silent in disapproval

Fortunately, Ed enjoys instant access to the latest digitized surveys of the planet conducted by satellite, and therefore he knows the most minute details of the terrain in Harmony Corner, as well as in just about anywhere else you can name He is able precisely to locate the Jeep Grand Cherokee by the identifying signal that its transponder continuously broadcasts His voice has not a scintilla of sultriness, but I am calmed and made confident by his assurances that he can assist oal, which the density of the smoke has seemed to put beyond my reach

"In the first phase of the approach," Ed says, "drive slowly Will you drive slowly, Odd Thomas?"

"Yes Yes, I will, Ed"

"You must listen closely to my instructions and follow them to the letter"

"Of course Yes"

"If I were to tell you to turn the steering wheel a quarter of a revolution to the left and you turned it forty percent--"

"I would never do that"

"--youto avoid Another thing, Odd Thomas--do not interrupt me"

"I won’t, Ed"

"You just did"

"I won’t do it again"

"I am not a harsh taskmaster and certainly not a tyrant"

"I didn’t think you were, Ed"

Jolie says, "He really doesn’t want to rule the world"