Page 21 (1/2)
The waiter brought croissants
Outside, lightning stepped quickly down the somber sky and put its spiked foot to the earth in another part of the city; its blazing descent was accompanied by a terrible crash and roar that echoed across the entire firmament
Sandier said, "If subsequent to the publication of your book, there had been a new, startling mass disappearance, it would have lent considerable credibility-"
"Ah," Flyte interrupted, tapping the table eer, "but there have been such disappearances!"
"But surely they would have been splashed all over the front page-"
"I am aware of two instances There may be others," Flyte insisted, "One of them involved the disappearance of masses of lower lifeforms-specifically, fish It was rereat interest Politics, s newspapers care to report about You have to read scientific journals to knohat’s really happening That’s how I know that, eight years ago, ists noted a draion of the Pacific Indeed, the numbers of some species had been cut in half Within certain scientific circles, there was panic at first, so a sudden change that would depopulate the seas of all but the hardiest species But that proved not to be the case Gradually, sea life in that area-which covered hundreds of square miles-replenished itself In the end no one could explain what had happened to the millions upon millions of creatures that had vanished"
"Pollution," Sandler suggested, between alternating sips of orange juice and cha marmalade on a piece of croissant, Flyte said, "No, no, no No, sir It would have required the most massive case of water pollution in history to cause such a devastating depopulation over that wide an area An accident on that scale could not go unnoticed But there were no accidents, no oil spills-nothing Indeed, a mere oil spill could not have accounted for it; the affected region and the volume of water was too vast for that And dead fish did not wash up on the beaches They merely vanished without a trace"
Burt Sandler was excited He could smell money He had hunches about so (Well, except for that diet book by the movie star who, a week before publication day, died offor six rapefruit, papaya, raisin toast, and carrots) There was a surefire best-seller in this: two or three hundred thousand copies in hardcover, perhaps even more; two million in paperback If he could persuade Flyte to popularize and update the dry academic material in The Ancient Enene for many years to come
"You said you were aware of two mass disappearances since the publication of your book," Sandier said, encouraging him to continue
"The other was in Africa in 1980 Between three and four thousand primitive tribes – men, women, and children – vanished froes were found ee stores of food They seens of violence were a few broken pieces of pottery Of course, ly more frequent than they once were, pri with Soviet weaponry, have been assisting in the liquidation of whole tribes that are unwilling to put their ethnic identities second to the revolutionary purpose But when entire villages are slaughtered for political purposes, they are always looted, then burned, and the bodies are always interred in , no bodies to be found So ten weeks later, game wardens in that district reported an inexplicable decrease in the wildlife population No one connected it to the ers; it was reported as a separate phenomenon"
"But you know differently"
"Well, I suspect differently," Flyte said, putting strawberry jam on a last bit of croissant
"Most of these disappearances seem to occur in remote areas," Sandler said "Which makes verification difficult"
"Yes That was thrown in my face as well Actually, most incidents probably occur at sea, for the sea covers the largest part of the earth The sea can be as remote as the moon, and much of what takes place beneath the waves is beyond our notice Yet don’t forget the two stories I mentioned-the Chinese and Spanish Those disappearances took place within the context of modern civilization And if tens of thousands of Mayans fell victim to the ancient enemy whose existence I’ve theorized, then that was a case in which entire cities, hearts of civilization, were attacked with frightening boldness"
"You think it could happen now, today"
"No question about it!"
"-in a place like New York or even here in London?"
"Certainly! It could happen virtually anywhere that has the geological underpinnings I outlined in
The rain hareater fury than before
Sandier was not certain he believed in the theories Flyte had propounded in The Ancient Enemy He knew they could form the basis for a wildly successful book written in a popular vein, but that didn’t mean he had to believe in the was like opening the door to Hell
He looked at Flyte, as straightening his wilted carnation again, and he said, "It gives , "It should"
The waiter caes, and toast
Chapter 19 – The Dead of Night
The inn was a fortress Bryce was satisfied with the preparations that had been made
At last, after two hours of arduous labor, he sat down at a table in the cafeteria, sipping decaffeinated coffee fro on which was emblazoned the blue crest of the hotel
By one-thirty in the , with the help of the ten deputies who had arrived from Santa Mira, much had been accomplished One of the, two rooms had been converted into a dorh to accoative team, even after General Copperfield’s people arrived In the other half of the restaurant, a couple of buffet tables had been set up at one end, where a cafeteria line could be formed at mealtie lobby had been converted into an enormous operations center, with desks,cabinets, bulletin boards, and a big iven a thorough security inspection, and steps had been taken to prevent a break-in by the eneh the lobby-were locked, and additionally secured with slanted two-by-fours, which edged under the crashbars and nailed to the fra guards at those entrances The door to the e could enter the higher floors of the hotel and come down upon them by surprise Now, only a pair of small elevators connected the lobby level to the three upper floors, and two guards were stationed there Another guard stood at the front entrance A detail of four men had ascertained that all upstairs rooround floor ere locked; most of them were painted shut, as well Nevertheless, the ere points of weakness in their fortifications
At least, Bryce thought, if anything tries to get inside the e’ll have the sound of breaking glass to warn us
A host of other details had been attended to Stu Wargle’s mutilated corpse had been temporarily stored in a utility room that adjoined the lobby Bryce had drawn up a duty roster, and had structured twelve-hour work shifts for the next three days, should the crisis last that long Finally, he couldn’t think of anything ht
Now he sat alone at one of the round tables in the dining rooht’s events His ht:
His brain was gone His blood was sucked out of hie of Wargle’s ot up, went for more coffee, then returned to the table
The inn was very quiet
At another table, three of the night shiftcards, but they weren’t talking much When they did speak, it was almost in whispers
The inn was very quiet
The inn was a fortress
The inn was a fortress, damn it
But was it safe?
Lisa chose a mattress in a corner of the dorainst a blank wall
Jenny unfolded one of the two blankets stacked at the foot of the irl
"Want the other one?"
"No," Lisa said, "This’ll be enough It feels funny, though, going to bed with all et back to normal pretty soon," she said, but even as she spoke she realized how stupid that state to sleep now?"