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He’d dozed on the plane and wasn’t tired enough to sleep more With no s and no way to tell the time, he had no sense of distance or direction But he’d sat still for wholehe couldn’t do He let his o blank for a while Ti From the other side of the wall that sealed him from the driver’s compartment came the muffled sound of voices, but Carter didn’t knohat it was all about The van lurched forward and stopped again

The door slid open to shoo soldiers sta parkas over their fatigues Behind the soldiers, the brightly lit oasis of a McDonald’s throbbed in the glooured they were by a highway so about the sky felt like

"Here," one of the guards said and tossed hi into the last of a sandwich "Breakfast"

Carter opened the bag, which contained an Egg McMuffin and a disk of hash brorapped in paper and a plastic cup of juice His throat was bone dry from the cold, and he wished there was more of the juice, or even just water to drink He drained it quickly It was so sugary it le

"Thank you"

The soldier yawned into his hand Carter wondered why they were being so nice They didn’t see sidearot a couple of hours yet," the soldier said as Carter finished eating "You need to make a pit stop?"

Carter hadn’t peed since the plane, but he was so dried out he didn’t figure there was o with He’d always been like that, could hold it for hours and hours But he thought about the McDonald’s, the people inside, the shts, and kneanted to see it

"I reckon so"

The soldier cli on thein the tiny space, he removed a shiny key from a pouch on his belt and unlocked the shackles Anthony could see his face up close He had red hair and wasn’t no ive or take

"No funny stuff, understand?" he told Anthony "We’re not really supposed to do this"

"No sir"

"Here, zip up your coat It’s fking freezing out here"

They led hi hione anywhere without somebody else’s hand on him someplace Most of the cars in the lot had Colorado plates The air smelled clean, like Pine-Sol, and he felt the presence of round, too, piled high against the edges of the lot and crusted with ice He’d only seen snow once or twice in his life

The soldiers knocked on the bathroom door, and when nobody answered, they let Carter inside One came in while the other watched the door There were two urinals, and Carter took one The soldier ith him took the other

"Hands where I can see ’e"

Carter finished up and stepped to the sink to wash The McDonald’s he remembered from Houston were pretty dirty, especially the restroo on the street, he used to use one up in Montrose to wash up once in a while, until the ht on and chased hi soap and a little potted plant sitting beside the sink He washed his hands, taking his tiot plants in McDonald’s now?" he asked the soldier

The soldier gave hi you been away?"

Carter didn’t knoas so funny "Most my life," he said

When they exited the bathroo in line, so the three of theether Neither had so much as laid a hand on him Carter took a slow look around the roo alone, a fa a handheld video gaot to the counter and the soldier ordered coffee

"You need anything else?" he asked Carter

Carter thought a ot iced tea?" the soldier asked the girl behind the counter

She shrugged She was loudly chewing gum "Hot tea"

The soldier looked at Carter, who shook his head

"Just the coffee"

The soldiers were Paulson and Davis They introduced theot back to the van One was froot theure it made much difference, since he’d never been to either place Davis was the one with the red hair For the rest of the drive they left open the littlethat connected the two compartments in the van; they left the shackles off, too They were in Colorado, like he’d guessed, but whenever they can the soldiers told hi joke

After a tihway that wound tight against the er coh the windshield Snoas piled steeply against the roadsides There were no towns at all that Carter could see; only once in a while did a car approach theht followed by the splash of melted snow as it passed He’d never been anyplace like this, that had so few people in it The clock on the dash said it was a little after six AM

"Cold up here," Carter said

Paulson was driving; the other one, Davis, was reading a coht," said Paulson "Colder’n Beth Pope’s back brace"

"Who Beth Pope?"

Paulson shrugged, peering over the wheel "Girl I knew in high school She had, what’s that thing, scoliosis"

Carter didn’t knohat that was, either But Paulson and Davis thought it was funny enough If the job Wolgast had for hilad to do it

"That Aquaman?" Carter asked Davis

Davis passed hieance and an X-Men It was too dark to read the words, but Carter liked looking at the pictures, which told the story anyway That Wolverine was a badass; Carter had always liked hih he always felt sorry for hi all that metal in your bones, and so killed

After another hour or so Paulson pulled the van over "Sorry, dude," he told Carter "We’ve got to lock you up again"