Page 16 (1/2)

The reporter shrugged and made soe came on

PLAYTIME

The screen went blank Malloy snatched up the radio and tried to call MACC, but the call wouldn't go through The cell phone rang again Malloy listened a few ht on it" He turned to Barnes, his face pale "That was MACC They say that the air-conditioning broke down in the nerve center The co haywire No one knohere the squads are Traffic lights have gone red all over town"

They were approaching Times Square Hundreds of de into the square from the side streets The square was as crowded as New Year's Eve

Malloy's cruiser ed around it As they approached the old New York Ti a Disney character and went black

"Hey, look at that," Barnes said, pointing at the screen

Big letters had appeared in white, strean

GREETINGS, NEO-ANARCHISTS, FELLOW TRAVELERS AND TOURISTS WE HAVE SHUT DOWN THE OPPRESSIVE ARMIES OF THE POWER ELITE THIS IS A SMALL TASTE OF THE FUTURE TODAY IT'S NEW YORK NEXT WE'LL SHUT DOWN THE WORLD CONVENE A SUMMIT CONFERENCE TO DISMANTLE THE FRAMEWORK OF GLOBALIZATION OR WE'LL DISMANTLE IT FOR YOU

HAVE A NICE DAY!

A sle word:

LUCIFER

"Who the hell is Lucifer?" Malloy said, staring through the windshield

"Beats me," Barnes said He reached for the door handle "Thanks for the ride I've got to file a story"

Then the word disappeared, and FRANK MALLOY appeared sin of every size on the square Panasonic LG NASDAQ

Malloy cursed and scra crowd Barnes had been sed up a the thousands of protesters He muttered the name "Lucifer" and a chill ran up his spine It came to him where he had seen the reporter's face The pointed beard, the red hair and the V-angled brows and reen eyes had subconsciously res he had seen of Satan