Page 41 (1/2)

For the next two and a half hours, as they drove north to Salinas and then on to San Jose, Nora dozed fitfully When not sleeping, she took co behind thehway, vast stretches of farht of thestretches in unrelieved darkness before spotting an occasional light at a far had tracked Einstein froe County to Santa Barbara-a distance of more than one hundred and twenty-five air miles, Travis had said, and probably close to three hundred miles on foot in the wilds-in three months Not a fast pace So if they went three hundred aira place to hole up in the San Francisco Bay area, ht reat a distance could it sniff out Einstein? Surely, there were li Surely

10

At eleven o’clock Thursday , Lemuel Johnson stood in the master bedroom of the small house that Travis Cornell had rented in Santa Barbara The dresser mirror had been smashed The rest of the room had been trashed as well, as if The Outsider had been driven into a jealous rage upon seeing that the dog lived in domestic comfort while it was forced to roam the wildlands and live in comparatively primitive conditions

In the debris that covered the floor, Leraphs that had probably stood on the dresser or nightstands The first was of Cornell and an attractive blonde By now Leh about Cornell to know that the blonde at his side must be his late wife, Paula Another photo, a black-and-white shot of a uessed the people s at the ca boy, about eleven or twelve, also black-and-white, also old, which ht have been a shot of Travis Cornell himself but which was

The last of the four photos was of ten soldiers grouped on what appeared to be the wooden steps in front of a barracks, grinning at the camera One of the ten was Travis Cornell And on a couple of their uniforms, Lem noticed the distinctive patch of Delta Force, the elite antiterrorist corps

Uneasy about that last photograph, Le rooh bloodstained rubble They were looking for soht be extreful to them

The NSA had been slow to pick up on the Santa Barbara killing, and Lem had not been alerted until al As a result, the press had already reported the grisly details of Ted Hockney’swild speculations about whatprimarily on the theory that Cornell kept soerous pet, perhaps a cheetah or panther, and that the ani landlord when he had let hily on the shredded and blood spattered books It was National Enquirer stuff, which did not surprise Le sensational tabloids like the Enquirer and the so-called "legitimate" press-especially electronic news media-was often thinner than most journalists cared to admit

He had already planned and put into operation a disinforheaded hysteria about jungle cats on the loose NSA-paid infor to know Cornell, and would

vouch that he did, indeed, keep a panther in the house in addition to a dog Others who had nevertheed hied and declared as it had reached maturity Police would want to question Cornell-and the unidentified wo the panther and its current whereabouts

Lem was confident the press would be nicely deflected froht lead thee County, Walt Gaines would hear about this murder, would make friendly inquiries with local authorities here, and would swiftly conclude that The Outsider had tracked the dog this far north Le the living roo?"

The young agent rose froether, and said, "Yeah I put it on the dining-roo roo-binder notebook was the only iteh the contents, he saw photographs that had been cut froes Opposite each photo, on the right-hand page, was the nae block letters: TREE, HOUSE, CAR

"What do you , Le it was iuess why Then it hit hi"

"Yeah," Cliff said

Le "You think they ent, that it must’ve revealed its abilities to them? And so theydecided to teach it to read?"

"Looks that way," Cliff said, still s "Good God, do you think it’s possible? Could it be taught to read?"

"Undoubtedly," Le it to read was on Dr Weatherby’s schedule of experily, Cliff said, "I’ll be daet too much of a kick out of it," Leuy knows the dog is a it to read So we have to figure he’s worked out awith it as well He knows it’s an experi for it"

Cliff said, "Hewould have found a way of telling hi all of this, he hasn’t chosen to go public He could’ve sold the story to the highest bidder But he didn’t Or if he’s a crusading type, he could’ve called in the press and blasted the Pentagon for funding this kind of research"

"But he didn’t," Cliff said, frowning

"Which , co its recapture"

Nodding, Cliff said, "Which makes sense if e’ve heard about hiuy lost his whole da Lost his wife after less than a year Lost all those buddies in Delta Force So he became a recluse, cut himself off fro co

"Exactly," Le undercover won’t be difficult And if we do find hi Jesus, will he kno to fight!"

"We haven’t confirmed the Delta Force rumor yet," Cliff said hopefully

"I have," Leraph he had seen in the wrecked bedroohed "We’re in deep shit now"

"Up to our necks," Lereed

11

They had reached San Francisco at six o’clock Thursdayand, by six-thirty, had found a suitablefacility that looked modern and clean The place did not accept pets, but it was easy to sneak Einstein into the rooh a sht have been issued for Travis, he checked into thehis ID He’d no choice because Nora possessed neither credit cards nor a driver’s license These days, desk clerks illing to -accept cash, but not without ID; the chain’s coive the correct make or license nuht of the office for the very purpose of keeping those details from the clerk

They paid for only one roo to need privacy for loveed to kiss Nora before falling into a deep sleep He dreas With yellow eyes, misshapen heads, and crocodile mouths full of sharks’ teeth

He woke five hours later, at twelve-ten Thursday afternoon