Page 44 (1/2)

"He went back!" Bracher said, astonished

"Why would he go back," von Manstein said, "when everyone at the institute wants his ass?"

"Worse," Hubatsch said from behind the lieutenant "He came to 1989 days before we did So that belt of his will have taken him back to the same point, to the day that Kokoschka shot him-to just eleven minutes after Kokoschka shot him Yet we know for a fact he never returned that day What the hell’s going on here?"

Klieture out as going on His job was to kill the woer He said, "Get ready," and he slowed the Toyota to look for a way down the embankment

Hubatsch and Bracher had already withdrawn the Uzis fros Now von Manstein arhway Kliet the Toyota off the pavement, down the sloped e toward the wo belt, the air beca on her She gri and burnt insulation, overlaid by the scent of ozone, underlaid by the apricot srew, the blend of odors intensified, and Stefan left her world with a sudden, loud pop For an instant there seemed to be no air to breathe, but the brief vacuum was followed by a blustery inrush of hot wind tainted by the faintly alkaline s fast to her, Chris said, "Wow! Wasn’t that soreat?"

She did not answer because she noticed a white car driving off state route 111, onto the desert floor It turned toward theet in front of the Buick Stay down!"

He saw the onco vehicle and obeyed her without question

She ran to the open door of the Buick and snatched one of the sub by the open trunk, and faced the onco fast Sunlight starred and flashed off the chrome, coruscated across the windshield

She considered the possibility that the occupants were not Gerents from 1944 but innocent people However that was so unlikely, she could not allow the possibility to inhibit her

Destiny struggles to reassert the pattern that was meant to be

No Damn it, no

When the white car ithin one hundred yards, she squeezed off two solid bursts from the Uzi and saw bullets punch at least two holes in the windshield The rest of the telass instantly crazed

The car-she could see now that it was a Toyota-spun out, turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees, then ninety degrees h a couple of still green tumbleweeds It came to rest about sixty yards away, the front end pointed north, the passenger’s side toward her

Doors flew open on the far side, and Laura knew the occupants were scra low She opened fire again, not with the hope of hitting the the fuel tank; then perhaps a lucky spark, struck by a bullet passing through sheet asoline and catch soainst the far flank of the vehicle But she e a fire, even though she had alun, pulled open the back door of the Buick, and snatched up the other, fully loaded Uzi She got the 38 Chief’s Special fro her eyes off the white Toyota for more than a second or two She wished that Stefan had left the third subun, after all

Frounmen opened fire with an automatic weapon, and now there was no doubt who they were As Laura crouched against the side of the Buick, bullets thudded into the open trunk lid, blew out the rear , tore into the rear fenders, ricocheted off the bu shale with sharp cracks, and kicked up puffs of powdery, white sand

She heard a couple of rounds cutting the air close to her head-deadly, high-pitched, whispery whines-and she began to edge backward toward the front of the Buick, staying close to it, trying to et of herself as possible In a ainst the Buick’s grille

The gun

"Moht," she said, trying hard to believe what she told him "Stefan will be back in less than five ot another Uzi, and that’ll even the odds a lot We’ll be okay We only have to hold them off for a few minutes Just a few minutes"