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Easing off the accelerator again, Mrs Fischer gestured toward the trees "Even in daylight they look real, but they aren’t"
"They aren’t Joshua trees? Then what are they, ma’aate, and you’ll find out"
A nine-foot chain-link barrier, topped with coils of concertina ith razor-sharp projections, loomed out of the rain, and Mrs Fischer braked to a stop before it
Fixed to the gate, a large on featured a skull and crossbones in each corner Red letters warned: EXTREME DANGER / BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH STATION / VIRAL DISEASES / FLESH-EATING BACTERIA / TOXIC SUBSTANCES / DEADLY MOLDS / DISEASE-BEARING TEST ANIMALS / ADMITTANCE ONLY TO PROPERLY INOCULATED PERSONNEL Those words were repeated at the botton in Spanish
Mrs Fischer said, "That’s just Mazie and Kipp’s way of saying ‘Private property, keep out’ "
"Probably works Who’s Kipp?"
"Her husband You’ll love hiht it was just her and her two sons"
"Well, dear, she’s a woman, not a paramecium She didn’t just split in two a couple of tis have been going lately, I take nothing for granted"
From her purse, she retrieved her cell phone and placed a call "Hi, Mazie It’s Lulu froate, which I took to mean that a concealed camera was trained on the windshield "Well, he’s my new chauffeur" She reached out to pinch my cheek "Yes, he’s adorable"
Because it see to do, I waved at the ca if it could detect the blush of my embarrassment
Mrs Fischer said, "Oh, that’s just because he dawdles And since we’ve got an eet to, I took the wheel" She listened for a moment, said, "Thank you, Mazie, you’re a sweetheart," and terate began to roll aside, she said, "Oh, that’s just sort of my secret password When you’re in the line of work that Mazie and Kipp are in, you need passwords and codes and cryptogra"
"What is their line of work?"
"Being helpful, dear"
"That’s a pretty broad job description"
"Being helpful, but only to those who ought to be helped"
She coasted through the open gate, and I said, "How do Mazie and Kipp decide who ought and who ought not?"
"Well, they take new business only by referral from people they trust And Mazie has the very best bullshit detector ever And then there’s Big Dog"
We cae, chain-link overhead as well as on all sides, another gate directly in front of us The gate behind us rolled shut
As aited, I said, "Who’s Big Dog?"
"When you see him, you’ll know There just couldn’t be any other nah the chain-link and the concertina wire, some of the raindrops battered and shaved theusts of wind spun those ravelings of fog into half-for that had been long in grave clothes, and waltzed theht
"Ma’a here for?"
"They’re checking out the car to be sure no one else is in it, becauseit out?"
"Beatsfor insect spy drones, too, though I’ate in front of us rolled open, and Mrs Fischer drove into a large compound that must have had a reliable water source, like an artesian well, because a forest of phoenix and queen palms tossed in the wind Mazie had ravel drivehich appeared to be bordered by beds of succulents She parked under a portico that, on blistering Mojave days, would shade the front of the house
Neither the portico nor the residence was elegant Frole-story structure sprawled over as much as ten thousand square feet, but it was built of poured-in-place steel-reinforced concrete left in its "natural" finish, with a flat roof It looked more like a bunker than like a home, with narrow deep-set s that featured small French panes within stainless-steel frahts
When we got out of the Mercedes, lights ca of the portico
"Way out here, theywind that thrashed the palm fronds
"Lots and lots of solar panels," Mrs Fischer said as she tookher to the front entrance "Plus two gasoline-powered generators, one to back up the other"
"What are they--survivalists?"
"No, dear They just like their privacy"
More suitable to a vault than to a home, the stainless-steel door opened, and before us stood a fifty-soreen eyes He had a face as sweetly appealing as that of Bill Cosby, a face of such likability that he would have been perfect to play the father in a TV-sitcom family, not in any contemporary show but in one made back in the day when sitcorotesque than they are nohen everyone still knew that fa more i store where you buy your gear
He hite tennis shoes, khakis, a white T-shirt, and a full-length yellow apron on which were printed the words KITCHEN SLAVE, and he iping his hands on a dishtowel At the sight of Mrs Fischer, he broke into a killer smile that would have been hard to et out of that nasty night" As he ushered us across the threshold, he tucked the towel in an apron pocket He took Mrs Fischer’s hands, brought theht have done, but as a son ed hands of a beloved mother
He said, "We were so happy e heard about Oscar"
"Kipp, dear, you’re as kind as ever Oscar waited a long ti moment, and I’?" Kipp asked