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He shot her a look of terror "But the torch --"

Jazz tore the duffel fro one of the bastards would trip on it Cadge wanted the torch in case they had to hide soht from above didn't filter in and where there were no electrical lights still siphoning power from the upside world But they couldn't afford to lose a step

Better to live in the dark than die in the light

Her face burned with exertion and hatred, not only for these men but for herself The BMW nition in all of their eyes They were here for her Jazz had brought blood and perhaps even death to Harry and his United Kingdohtened into a fist in her chest

She couldn't let them catch her The pain they would inflict on her would be terrible, but far worse would be the knowledge that herher to survive and that she had failed at the task

She had to live for Muht came from vent shafts twenty yards in ei-ther direction, but her eyes had become used to the dark in the past couple of e pointed to A small narrow platforainst the far ere thick pipes that thrust deeper into the Underground and ran up to the ceiling of the tunnel They branched off there, soht up through the ceiling toward the surface Others, however, turned and vanished into a crawl space atop the platfor carried water or power into other tunnels and stations froe wheel valves, but it was the ladder that e a push and they ran for it together

As they climbed onto the platform, the men rounded the bend in the tunnel

"Where d'you think you're going?" one of theh died out, Jazz heard another sound Cadge had reached the ladder ahead of her, but he turned and stared back down the tunnel --not at the h he could see the source of the distant shriek that ca in volue whispered

The BMW ed at Jazz She turned and squared off, letting hi to kick hiured he would be It had been a feint

She drove her fingers into his eyes

He screae sla him off the platform The others tried to catch hiround

"Jesus,Bitch popped my eye!"

The words were a shout of fury and pain; otherwise, Jazz would never have been able to hear the the tunnel The howling noise grew louder To her ears it sounded like a train derailing and the terrified screaed into an infernal chorus

The Hour of Screa the tunnel, all in the sa darkness once again

"Jazz, a song!" Cadge shouted, his lips right beside her ear

Her hair whipped past her face The wind buffeted her, and now she saw that it had spectral texture

She nodded and huddled with hiainst her ears to block out as much of the noise as she could The banshee wail of the Hour of Screahts

Harry had said to pick a song but hadn't elaboratedthat she felt in her heart, thatto her, or she wouldn't be able to concentrate on it But as she tried to focus, tried to choose, the Hour of Screa came to mind Snatches of lyrics, but she couldn't think how any of those songs went

The stars, she thought So about the stars

And then she had it, a song she could never forget, a melody that would never leave her

Are the stars out tonight?

I don't know if it's cloudy or bright

I only have eyes for you, dear

Jazz sang the words softly at first and then louder, defiantly Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, but she felt Cadge at her side, huddled against her Fear cradled her and she sur-rendered to it Her sanctuary had been shattered Her blood would soon stain the Underground, and the vanishing that had begun the day of her mother's murder would be com-plete

The Hour of Screa in her chest Things slipped past her that usts of wind but were not They caressed her, and she knew these were not ghosts like the phantoms she had encountered before

"I only have eyes for you," she sang

Beside her, Cadge shouted as though to drive the screa louder She forced her-self to open her eyes against the buffeting winds to e had his own eyes screwed shut and hands cla, but over her own singing and the howling of the Hour of Screams, Jazz couldn't make out the words or the tune

Motion on the tracks caught her eye She looked and saw theto their knees Ethereal shapes whipped around the in the air The ainst the wind Their eyes ith terror, and their shrieks joined the syan to diminish and so did the volu more than a distant whistle, just as it had been the first tie

The men did not rise immediately, nor did they curse or shout One by one, they looked up, eyes still wide One of therin that seeh and the BMW h harder

The BMW lanced around with his one good eye and spotted her, then he bared his teeth and growled like an animal His upper lip curled back to reveal crooked teeth

One by one they rose, driven mad by the Hour of Screa at Cadge and licking his lips "Drive 'ee whispered

Theslowly The first one reached the platfore shouted He grabbed her arm and whipped her around, shoved her toward the ladder

"Clirabbed hold of the rungs and scra her faster Jazz caught his face with the heel of her shoe, so quickly was he following

"Go! Go!" he yelled

At the top, hands sliding over dust and grime, she pulled herself into the crawl space between the thick pipes It couldn't have been h that she twisted sideways and rolled into the dark-ness Turning around to face the way she'd coe's hand as he topped the ladder