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He insisted onto the chairs, so they could not be seen as easily fro beside hi undercover and therefore carried no Bureau ID, but he showed her everything else in his wallet driver’s license, credit cards, library card, video rental card, photos of his son and his late wife, a coupon for a free chocolate-chip cookie at any Mrs Fields store, a picture of Goldie Hawn torn froazine Would a homicidal maniac carry a cookie coupon? In a while, as he took her back through her story of the e and picked relentlessly at the details,and that he understood all of it, she began to trust hient, his pretense would not have been so elaborate or sustained

"You didn’t actually see anybody murdered?"

"They were killed," she insisted "You wouldn’t have any doubt if you’d heard their screams I’ve stood in a mob of human monsters in Northern Ireland and seen the an industrial in a steel mill once, when there was a spill of molten metal that splattered all over workers’ bodies, their faces I’ve been with Miskito Indians in the Central Ales when they were hit with antipersonnel bombs--millions of little bits of sharp steel, bodies pierced by a thousand needles--and I’ve heard their screams I knohat death sounds like And this was the worst I’ve ever heard"

He stared at her for a long time Then he said, "You look deceptively--"

"Cute?"

"Yes"

"Therefore innocent? Therefore naive?"

"Yes"

"My curse"

"And an advantage soed "Listen, you know so on in this town?"

"So to the people here"

"What?"

"I don’t know They’re not interested inThe theater closed And they’re not interested in luxury goods, fine gifts, that sort of thing, because those stores have all closed too They no longer get a kick fro out of business The only thing they see"

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Still standing at a tower-rooht, Loman, here’s e’ll do Everyone at New Wave has been converted, so I’ll assign a hundred of thement the police force You can use theation in any way you see fit--starting now With that ressives in the act, surely … and you’ll be more likely to find this man Booker too"

The New People did not require sleep The additional deputies could be brought into the field immediately

Shaddack said, "They can patrol the streets on foot and in their cars--quietly, without drawing attention And with that assistance, you’ll grab at least one of the regressives, maybe all of them If we can catch one in a devolved state, if I’ve a chance to exaht be able to develop a test--physical or psychological--hich we can screen the New People for degenerates"

"I don’t feel adequate to deal with this"

"It’s a police matter"

"No, it isn’t, really"

"It’s no different than if you were tracking down an ordinary killer," Shaddack said irritably "You’ll apply the saressives could be an me"

"There won’t be any…"

"But … how can you be sure?"

"I told you there won’t be," Shaddack said sharply, still facing the , the fog, the night

They were both silent a ot to put everything into finding these da, you hear me? I want at least one of theht Cove through the Change"

"I thought …"

"Yes?"

"Well, I thought …"

"Coht what?"

"Well … just that maybe you’d suspend the conversions until we understand what’s happening here"

"Hell, no!" Shaddack turned frolared at the police chief, who flinched satisfactorily

"These regressives are a minor problem, very minor What the shit do you know about it? You’re not the one who designed a new race, a neorld I am The dream was mine, the vision mine I had the brains and nerve to make the drea So the Change will take place according to schedule"

Watkins looked down at his white-knuckled hands

As he spoke, Shaddack paced barefoot along the curved glass wall, then back again "We now havetownspeople In fact, we’ve initiated a new round of conversions this evening Hundreds will be brought into the fold by dawn, the rest by ht Until everyone in town is with us, there’s a chance we’ll be found out, a risk of so to the outside world Now that we’ve overcome the probleot to take Moonlight Cove quickly, so we can proceed with the confidence that co a secure home base Understand?"

Watkins nodded

"Understand?" Shaddack repeated

"Yes Yes, sir"

Shaddack returned to his chair and sat down "Nohat’s this other thing you called me about earlier, this Valdoski business?"

"Eddie Valdoski, eight years old," Watkins said, looking at his hands, which he was now virtually wringing, as if trying to squeeze soht have squeezed water froht in a ditch along the country road He’d been … tortured … bitten, gutted"

"You think one of the regressives did it?"

"Definitely"

"Who found the body?"

"Eddie’s folks His dad The boy had been playing in the backyard, and then he … disappeared near sunset They started searching, couldn’t find hiot scared, called us, continued to search while ere on our way … and found the body just before ot there"

"Evidently the Valdoskis aren’t converted?"

"They weren’t But they are now"

Shaddack sighed "There won’t be any trouble about the boy if they’ve been brought into the fold"