Page 86 (1/1)

He was just coain, heading toward the third floor, the two-by-four clutched in my hot little hand I didn’t like this The door at the third floor flew back at a touch and I stepped into the darkened hall I took off tothe stairs, bathed in sweat I considered searching out a place to hide, butoff on either side of et cornered in one All he had to do was check each one in turn and pretty soon he’d figure out where I was Also I hate hiding It turns me into a six-year-old and I’ action instead of crouching doithGod had rendered ht-hand turn Behindslam shut I spotted an elevator halfway down the corridor on the right-hand side I sprinted, and when I reached it, pounded on the "down" button with my palm

Dr Fraker had just taken up a new tune, this ti the first few bars of "I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" Was thisfervently as the elevator cable whirred softly on the other side of the door I looked toup as a pale glow in the shadows I heard thefaster, but he was still twenty yards away from me The elevator doors slid open Oh fuck!

I stepped forward just as I flashed on the fact that there was nothing there except a yawning shaft and a gust of cold air wafting up fro into that pitch-black hole A low cry escapedout over the pit for an instant before I ht myself I stumbled backward to safety but I’d lost my purchase I was down and the two-by-four flew out ofoff I flipped over on ht up to ht just asat hile ard and there was no force behind the blow I felt the sting of the needle in h Both of us barked out a sound at the same tirunt as the ie of a split second and I took it, lashing out with a side kick that caught hiood, too low The wisdom of self-defense would have it that there’s no point in si pain on your attacker It’ll just piss him off Unless I could disable hirabbed at ain I was slightly off therepeatedly at his shin until he backed off, breathing hard I cracked him one across the shoulder with the two-by-four and ran, pounding down the hall I stu I felt as if I’d stepped in a hole, and it occurred to me belatedly that whatever he’d injectedwobbly,nuhon its way Like snakebite They say you shouldn’t run

I glanced back He was clutching his shoulder, just beginning to ain He didn’t seeuess that he had jah Either that or he knew that the shit he’d poppedcontact with rip on the board A chill was seeping froh a quick-freeze process for shipping to God knohere I orking as hard as I could, but the darkness had beco down too as , but I felt myself distracted by the odd sensations I experienced

Oh, the bothersoht-brain joke It did coh s, probably in exchange for inforun The stash in her bed-table draas a plant He’d been there that night Maybe he thought it was tiuilt admit to her own duplicity where Bobby was concerned

The distance to the corner of the hallway had been extended I’d been running forever The si too long and I was losing the feedback systeoing anywhere? Sound was being stretched out, the echo ofbelatedly I felt as if I were bounding down a corridor with a floor like a traed the autopsy report No seizure He’d cut the brake lines Too bad I hadn’t figured it out before now God, what a dummy I was