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"I reels as if I lived with the a lot about what’s to you-this guardian, the way he never ages, the way he appeared into thin air-and I thought of the Teagels, and it all seehed at nutty old MikeTeageland nohat you find yourself in the hed softly "Maybe I’d better reconsider all those tales of aliens living secretly in Cleveland, huh?" "I guess what I’ to say islife is full of wonders and surprises Some of them are nasty surprises, yeah, and soe politician’s head But just the same, there are moments that less If it was less, there’d be noin mystery as the mechanism of a Mr Coffee machine"
Laura nodded
"God, listen to e to come up with a half-baked philosophical state more than ’keep your chin up, kid"
"You’re not half-baked"
"Mystery," Thelma said "Wonder You’re in the middle of it, Shane, and that’s what life’s all about If it’s dark right nowwell, this too shall pass"
They stood by the car, hugging, not needing to sayhe had done for Thelma and that he wanted her to take back to LA with her It was a crude but charazing up at a e He had tears in his eyes "But do you really have to go, Aunt Theled hi as if in of a priceless masterwork "I’d love to stay, Christopher but I can’t My adoring fans are crying for e"
"What’s a reatesthiine, put down the side , and winked at Laura "Exotic news, Shane"
"Mystery"
"Wonder"
Laura gave her the split-finger greeting frohed "You’ll uns and all I’ve learned since I came here on Friday, I’m less worried about you now than I was then"
Chris stood at Laura’s side, and they watched Thel driveway and disappeared onto the state route
Dr Vladie office suite was on the fourth floor of the institute When Stefan entered the reception lounge, it was deserted, but he heard voices co from the next room He went to the inner door, which was ajar, pushed it all the way open, and saw Penlovski giving dictation to Anna Kaspar, his secretary
Penlovski looked up, mildly surprised to see Stefan He must have perceived the tension in Stefan’s face, for he frowned and said, "Is so time," Stefan said, "but it’ll all be fine now, I think" Then, as Penlovski’s frown deepened, Stefan pulled the silencer-equipped Colt Commander from the pocket of his lab coat and shot the scientist twice in the chest
Anna Kaspar sprang up fro her pencil and dictation pad, a screa wo anyone- but there was no choice now, so he shot her three ti her backward onto the desk, before the scream could tear free of her
Dead, she slid off the desk and crumpled to the floor The shots had been no louder than the hissing of an angry cat, and the sound of the body dropping had been insufficient to draw attention
Penlovski was sluhtlessly One of the shots must have pierced his heart, for mere was only a small spot of blood on his shirt; his circulation had seen cut off in an instant
Stefan backed out of the rooe and, stepping into the hall, shut the outer door too
His heart was racing With those two murders he had cut himself from his own time, his own people From here on, the only life for hi back
With his hands-and the gun-jammed in his lab-coat pockets, wn the hall toward Januskaya’s office As he neared the of his other colleagues came out of it They said hello as they passed hi for Penlovski ’s office If they were, he’d have to kill them too
He was relieved when they stopped at the elevators The more corpses he left strewn around, the more likely someone would be to stumble across one of the the ti Road
He went into Januskaya’s office, which also had a reception area At the desk, the secretary-provided, as Anna Kaspar had been, by the secret police-looked up and smiled
"Is Dr Januskaya here?" Stefan asked
"No He’s down in the documents room with Dr Volkaw"
Volkaas the third h to require that he be eliood omen that he and Wladyslaw Januskaya were conveniently in the same place
In the documents rooazines, and other ht back from time travelers from scheduled jaunts These days the ent analysis of the key points at which alterations in the natural flow of events could provide the changes in the course of history that they desired
On the way down in the elevator, Stefan replaced the pistol’s silencer with the unused spare The first would muffle another dozen shots before its sound baffles were seriously daed But he did not want to overuse it The second silencer was additional insurance He also quickly exchanged the half-eazine for a full one
The first-floor corridor was a busy place, with people co from one lab and research room to another He kept his hands in his pockets and went directly to the documents roo at an oak table, bent over a copy of a lanced up, then i that he was there for research purposes of his own
Stefan put two bullets in Volkaw’s back
Januskaya reacted with confusion and shock as Volkaard into the table, driven by the iunfire
Stefan shot Januskaya in the face, then turned and left the roo hiree of self-control or coherence, he tried to appear to be lost in thought, hoping that would dissuade the him He went to the elevators as quickly as possible without running, went to his third-floor office, reached behind the file cabinet, and twisted the dial on the ti hiate and away before the institute was reduced to burning rubble
By the tian, Laura had won approval for Chris to receive his education at home, from a state-accredited tutor Her name was Ida Palomar, and she reminded Laura of Marjorie Main, the late actress in the Ma and Pa Kettle enerous heart, and she was a good teacher