Page 33 (2/2)

"Get up," Richards said

The soldier jerked awake His eyes floated with incomprehension; he didn’t look like he knehere he was When he saw Richards standing above him, he rose quickly to attention "Sorry, sir"

"Open the door"

The soldier keyed in the code and stepped away

"You can go," Richards said

"Sir?"

"If you’re going to sleep, do it in the barracks"

A look of relief "Yes, sir Sorry, sir"

The soldier jogged down the catwalk, away Richards pushed the door open Doyle was sitting on the end of the bed, his hands folded in his lap, looking at the empty square on the here the TV had once been An untouched tray of food rested on the floor, exuding a faint s fish As Doyle lifted his face, a thin so"

Doyle sighed and slapped his knees "You know, he was right about you Wolgast, I , When isto pay me a visit?"

"If it was up to me, I would have coh Richards had never seen such a good mood in a man who had to knoas about to happen to hi "I should have gone for those shotguns"

Richards withdrew his weapon and thumbed the safety "It would have saved some tihts of the Chalet It was possible Doyle would take off running, but how far would he get? And, Richards wondered, why hadn’t he asked about Wolgast or the girl?

"Tellarea A handful of cars were still there, belonging to the lab’s night shift "Is she here yet?"

"Is who here?"

"Lacey"

Richards stopped

"So she is," Doyle said, and chuckled to himself "Richards, you should see your face"

"What do you know about it?"

It was strange A cool, blue light seelow of the parking lot, Richards could see it Like looking into a ca, but you know?" Doyle said, and lifted his gaze toward the dark shapes of the trees "I could hear her co shape of Zero

Grey It’s time

He remembered then, rehts he’d spent in Contain the stories he told He reirl and all the others, every night a new one, and the feel of the darkness h him and the soft joy in his jaw as he flen upon them He was Grey and not Grey, he was Zero and not Zero, he was everywhere and nowhere He rose and faced the glass

It’s tiht Not funny ha-ha but funny strange, the whole idea of ti but it was actually another It wasn’t a line but a circle, and even more; it was a circleon top of the other, so that every moment was next to every other moment, all at once And once you knew this you couldn’t unknow it Such as now, the way he could see events as they were about to unfold, as if they’d already happened, because in a way they had

He opened the air lock His suit hung limply on the wall He had to close the first door to open the second, the second to open the third, but there was nothing that said he had to put the suit on, or that he had to be alone

The second door, Grey

He stepped into the inner cha like the face of so him, but no one was on the other side; he knew that And he was hearing other voices now, not just Zero’s, and he kneho these were, too

The third door, Grey

Oh, it was such happiness, he thought Such relief This letting go This putting down and away Day by day he’d felt it happening, the good Grey and the bad Grey co inevitable The next new Grey, the one who could forgive

I forgive you, Grey

He turned the wide handle The gate was open Zero uncurled before him in the dark Grey felt his breath on his face, on his eyes and ht of his father, on the snow He eeping, weeping with happiness, weeping with terror, weeping weeping weeping, and as Zero’s bite found the soft place on his neck where the blood moved, he knew at last what the tenth rabbit was

The tenth rabbit was him

Chapter FOURTEEN

It happened fast Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born

"What did you say?" Richards said, and then he heard-both of them heard-the sound of the alarreat, atonal buzzing that ricocheted across the open compound so that it seemed to come from everywhere at once

Security breach Subject Containment, Level 4

Richards turned quickly to look toward the Chalet A quick decision: he swung around to point his gun at the spot where Doyle had stood

Doyle was gone

Goddaht, and then he said it: "Goddamn!" Now there were two of the for a shot Lights ca the coht; he heard shouts fro

No time to deal with Doyle now

He raced up the steps of the Chalet, past the sentry as yelling at hi about the elevator, and took the stairs to L2, his feet barely touching the steps The door to his office was open He quickly scanned the monitors

Zero’s chamber was empty

Babcock’s chamber was empty

All of the chambers were empty

He hit the audio feed "Sentries, Level Four, this is Richards Report"

Nothing, not a word in reply

"Main Lab, report So on down there"

A terrified voice cah: Fortes? "They let them out!"

"Who? Who let them out?"