Page 29 (1/2)

Gently re a few dog hairs fro, so Sam can’t call the Bureau, and if alk out of toe risk an encounter with Watkins’s patrols or these Boogeymen Unless you know a haet a ot to drive out"

"Roadblocks, reure we’ll have to drive out in a truck, soh the dahway, then out of their jurisdiction Even if we do get chased down by county cops, that’s fine, because Sanment, then they’ll be on our side"

"Who’s the federal agent here, anyway?" Sam asked

Tessa felt herself blush "Sorry See, a documentary filmmaker is almost always her own producer, sometimes producer and director and writer too Thatto work, the business part of it has to work first, so I’istics Didn’t mean to step on your toes"

"Step on them any time"

Sam smiled, and she liked him when he smiled She realized she was even attracted to hily, and not what most people meant by "plain," either He was rather … nondescript but pleasant-looking She sensed a darkness in hi deeper than his current worries about events in Moonlight Cove--er related to soeneral pessi from too much contact in his ith the worst elements of society But when he s to smash out in a truck?" Harry asked

"Maybe as a last resort," Sah and then steal it, and that’s an operation in itself Besides, they num rounds, maybe automatic weapons I wouldn’t want to run that kind of flak even in a Mack truck You can ride into hell in a tank, but the devil will get his hands on you anyway, so it’s best not to go there in the first place"

"So where do we go?" Tessa asked

"To sleep," Sah to the Bureau I can sort of see it out of the corner of oes away, and that’s because I’et fresh and think straight"

Tessa was exhausted, too, though after what had happened at Cove Lodge, she was somewhat surprised that she not only could sleep but wanted to As she’d stood in herand the savage shrieks of the killers, she wouldn’t have thought she’d ever sleep again

56

Shaddack arrived at Peyser’s at five ray van with heavily tinted s, rather than his Mercedes, because a computer terminal was mounted on the console of the van, between the seats, where the inally intended to provide a built-in cooler As eventful as the night had been thus far, it seeood idea to stay within reach of the data link that, like a spider, spun a silken web enht Cove He parked on the wide shoulder of the two-lane rural blacktop, directly in front of the house

As Shaddack walked across the yard to the front porch, distant ru the Pacific horizon The hard wind that had harried the fog eastward had also brought a stor clouds had clothed the heavens, shrouding the naed stars that had burned briefly between the passing of the ht was very dark and deep He shivered inside his cashmere topcoat, under which he still wore a sweat suit

A couple of deputies were sitting in black-and-whites in the driveway They watched him, pale faces beyond dusty car s, and he liked to think they regarded him with fear and reverence, for he was in a sense theirfor him in the front room The place had been wrecked Neil Penniworth sat on the only undaed piece of furniture; he looked badly shaken and could notA few spatters of blood marked his uniform, but he looked unhurt; if he’d sustained injuries, they had been ed to so the question, Watkins spoke to his officer "Go out to the car, Neil Stay close to the other men"

"Yes, sir," Penniworth said He was huddled in his chair, bent forward, looking down at his shoes

"You’ll be okay, Neil"

"I think so"

"It wasn’t a question It was a stateth to resist You’ve proven that already"

Penniworth nodded, got up, and headed for the door

Shaddack said, "What’s this all about?"

Turning toward the hallway at the other end of the room, Watkins said, "Come with me" His voice was as cold and hard as ice, infor respect hich he had spoken to Shaddack ever since he had been converted in August

Displeased by that change in Watkins, uneasy, Shaddack frowned and followed him back down the hall

The cop stopped at a closed door, turned to Shaddack "You told ical efficiency by injecting us with these … these biochips"

"A misnomer, really They’re not chips at all, but incredibly sressives and a few other problems that had developed with the Moonhawk Project, Shaddack’s pride of achieves could be worked out of the systee; he not only felt this to be true, but knew it as well as he knehich direction to look for the rising sun each

Genius …

The ordinary silicon microchip that made possible the coernail, and had contained one raphy The smallest circuit on the chip had been one-hundredth as wide as a huiant particle accelerators called synchrotrons, eventuallyof one billion circuits on a chip, with features as s di both function and capabilities