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Halfway toward the ine’s roar now protected them from electronic eavesdroppers, Garrison said, "Takethe channel’s edge"

"Are you sure about this?" Della asked worriedly "You’re not a teenager"

He patted her bottom and said, "I’ed forward along the starboard railing, where he got into position for his ju dark blue swim trunks He should have had a wetsuit because the water would be chilly But he thought he ought to be able to swim to the breakwater, around the point of it, and haul hiht of the harbor, all in a fewbefore the water temperature leached too much body heat from him

"Company!" Della called from the wheel

He looked back and saw a Harbor Patrol boat leaving the docks to the south, co toward theht They have no legal right

But he had to go over the side before the Patrol swung in and took up a position astern Fro as they were to port, the A Grace would conceal his departure, and the boat’s phosphorescent ould cover the first few seconds of his swih for the Patrol’s attention to have moved on with Della

They were heading out at the highest speed hich Della felt cohtly choppy waters with enough force toStill, they seemed to ly slow pace, and the Harbor Patrol drew nearer, but Garrison waited, waited, because he didn’t want to go into the harbor a hundred yards short of its end If he went in too soon, he would not be able to swim all the way out to the point and around it; instead, he would have to swiht to the breakwater and cliht of all observers Now the patrol closed to within a hundred yards-he could see them when he rose from a crouch and looked across the Hinckley’s cabin roof-and began to swing around behind theer, could not- "The point!" Della called fro, into the dark water, away from the boat

The sea was cold It shocked the breath out of him He sank, could not find the surface, was seized by panic, flailed, thrashed, but then broke through to the air, gasping

The Aly close He felt as if he had been thrashing in confusion beneath the surface for a minute or more, but it must have been only a second or two because his boat was not yet far away The Harbor Patrol was close, too, and he decided that even the churning wake of the Ah cover, so he took a deep breath and went under again, staying down as long as he could When he came up, both Della and her shadoell past thesouth, and he was safe fro him past the point of the northern breakwater, which was a wall of loose boulders and rocks that rose ray and black raht He not only had to swim around the end of that barrier but had to ainst the resistant current Without further delay, he began to sondering why on earth he had thought this would be a snap

You’re almost seventy-one, he told himself as he stroked past the rocky point, which was illuht What ever possessed you to play hero?

But he knehat possessed hi overnment’s property If we’ve come so far that we can create as God creates, then we have to learn to act with the justice and mercy of God That hat he had told Nora and Travis-and Einstein-on the night Ted Hockney had been killed, and he hadhis eyes, blurred his vision Sootten into his ht the current, pulled past the point of the breakwater, out of sight of the harbor, then slashed toward the rocks Reaching the, not yet quite able to pull hi weeks since Nora and Travis went on the run, Garrison had plenty of tily that to ient creature, innocent of all criardless of whether the prisoner was a dog Garrison had devoted his life to the pursuit of justice that was made possible by the laws of a derew from this justice When afor what he believes in, then he is no longer a er be a e, tolife of idealism should, after seven decades, be put to the ulti

And what a wondrous neorld we live in, he thought

Genetic technology enetic art," for every work of art was an act of creation, and no act of creation was finer or enthis second wind, he heaved entirely out of the water, onto the sloped north flank of the northern breakwater That barrier rose between hi the rocks, while the sea surged at his left side He’d brought a waterproof penlight, clipped to his trunks, and now he used it to proceed, barefoot, with the greatest caution, afraid of slipping on the wet stones and breaking a leg or an ankle

He could see the city lights a few hundred yards ahead, and the vague silvery line of the beach

He was cold but not as cold as he had been in the water His heart was beating fast but not as fast as before

He was going to make it

Lem Johnson drove down from the temporary HO in the courthouse, and CliffGrace had been tied up A wind had risen Hundreds of craft along the docks ing slightly in their berths; they creaked, and slack sail lines clicked and clinked against theirboat lanterns cast shi water where Dilworth’s forty-two-footer had been moored

"Harbor Patrol?" Lem asked worriedly

"They followed hi to turn north, swung close by the point, but then he went south instead"

"Did Dilworth see the, lots of stars, clear as a bell"

"Good I want him to be aware Coast Guard?"

"I’ve talked to the cutter," Cliff assured hi Grace at a hundred yards, heading south along the coast"

Shivering in the rapidly cooling air, Le ashore in a rubber boat or whatever?"

"They know," Cliff said "He can’t do it under their noses"

"Is the Guard sure he sees them?"

"They’re lit up like a Christmas tree"

"Good I want him to know it’s hopeless If we can just keep hi the Cornells, then they’ll call him sooner or later-and we’ll have them Even if they call hieneral location"

In addition to taps on Dilworth’s ho equipment that would lock open a line the moment a connection wasup, until the caller’s number and street address were ascertained and verified Even if Dilworth shouted a warning and hung up the instant he recognized one of the Cornells’ voices, it would be too late The only way he could try to foil the NSA was by not answering his phone at all But even that would do hi call was being automatically "answered" by the NSA’s equip procedures

"The only thing could screw us now," Leets to a phone we don’t have monitored and warns the Cornells not to call hi to happen," Cliff said "We’re on hiht"

"I wish you wouldn’t say that," Leot hold of it, a ed loudly off a spar, and the sound made Lem jump "My dad always said the worst happens when you least expect it"

Cliff shook his head "With all due respect, sir, the more I hear you quote your father, the loo boats and wind-chopped water, feeling as if he wasworld, a little queasy, Leuy in his way, but he was alsoi the dock from the Cheoy Lee where he and Cliff had been stationed all day "I’ve just been on With the Guard cutter They’re playing their searchlight over the A a little, and they tell me they don’t see Dilworth Just the wo the boat!"