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What were they doing? His et it over with But he held back, straining to hear soht as well have been in the depths of space The silence was loud More seconds passed

Then, just like that, the world was full of sound

A scuffle of feet Creaking noises Grunts Soft thumps Metallic clicks Muted moans, as if someone had a hand over their mouth Michael’s whole body tensed--he didn’t knohat to do, what to ht be in trouble, but it seemed odd that neither one had called for help

More sounds of struggle: a flurry of footsteps, a crash like bodies hitting the fridge The thunderous boo he couldn’tin the hallway A ony

Finally, unable to hold hier, Michael reached out to open the door, when everything fell silent again His hand froze inhirunt Then heavy, uneven footsteps, crossing the kitchen floor, as if the person had been injured

Thuht for the cabinet in which Michael huddled like a terrified kid hiding fro desperately that he had a weapon, he pushed open the door and crawled out--he’d hoped to leap to his feet, ready for a fight, but instead he tumbled and tripped over the lip of the cabinet’s bottom

Sprawled across the kitchen floor, he looked up to see the figure of aover him, eyes hidden in shadow The man clutched at his chest with both hands Michael started to scras under hiroaned, then fell, cru in a heap on Michael before he could back away Then a last gargled breath escaped the stranger’s lungs and he went totally still

Michael froze, trying to digest what had happened

The red e to cut the darkness in the kitchen He crawled partway out from under the intruder and squeezed his EarCuff His NetScreen calow on the man who’d collapsed into his lap A cop He had blood on his face, on his unifore pinned to his shirt, his hands, everywhere And his eyes stared at the ceiling without a spark of life shining within The man was dead

Michael looked up and realized that both of the cabinet doors of his friends were open, and Bryson and Sarah were still inside, staring out at him Bryson looked as stunned as Michael felt, but Sarah had an odd expression on her face Relief more than horror

"It worked," she whispered

Chapter 13: Happy Dance

It finally hit Michael that he had a dead, bloody guy sitting in his lap, and with a shudder he pushed the man off and scrambled away until his back slammed into the far wall of the kitchen The NetScreen bobbed up and down as hespooky shadows across the rooed bursts, and he looked at Sarah, not even knowing how to respond to what she’d said

She and Bryson were crawling out of their hiding spots and getting to their feet at the sa at her NetScreen before she was standing Michael took in the rest of the kitchen and saw a dead woe with a bullet hole in her forehead The woman was a cop, too What had Sarah done?