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specialized equipment, to shoulders.
Steele walked to the edge of the platform and stared out at rising wall of
greenery that marched up toward the distant Unspoiled-looking... She knew what
the telltale pinpoint burst of light meant, before it had registered in her
brain.
Binocular flashl
She was moving toward the platform railing even as shouted, "He's got us
taped. Get off the platform now[" And herself into a tight ball as she
launched herself out into space.
The distance, almost half a mile, made it eerie.
Carl Endicott saw the line of puffy gray explosions well before he heard them.
One moment he was looking at three people standing
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on a deserted tube station platform. Then the carefully patterned
antipersonnel bomblets he'd concealed all over the station exploded, covering
the squat structure in a billowing wreath of dirty white smoke. Another long
beat, and the high-pitched crack of the explosions reached him.
"Come on," he muttered, pounding on his thigh.
Finally the mountain winds began to rip away the smoky veil. He strained
forward, squinting into the binoculars. Smoke, smoke, now the station ....
Nothing.
No dead hunters. Somehow she'd sensed what he was doing and beaten him.
Well, he'd always known she was good. He just hadn't expected ever to see her
again. But now he knew better. Maybe it would make a difference when they
met the next time.
Soon, no doubt.
He stood up and vanished into the trackless woods.
teele shook her head as she sat up and gingerly checked her arms and legs.
Nothing seemed to be broken, "Ugh. What the hell.. " Heck Campbell, several
yards over, struggled to his hands and knees. Blood leaked from a long slash
in his forehead. "Got us good, damn it," he mumbled, and shook his head.
Blood splattered brightly.
He would live, Steele decided. "Molly? Where you at, Harrison?" "Yo.
Over here, boss."
Steele turned to see a dust-covered Molly limping toward her.
But there was no blood in evidence.
"You okay?"
Molly shrugged. "Turned my ankle. Tape it up, I think it'll be okay."
"Good. Check out Heck, would you?"
"Right, boss.."
Slowly, Steele pulled herself to her feet, slapped her big hands
against her fake hunter's garb to remove the film of white that covered
everything.
She wrinkled her nose at the sharp, ammonia smell that the air. Some kind of
plastic explosive, though she couldn't pin down the type simply from its
residual odor. Well, it didn't matter. He'd missed.
She turned to the others. "Heck? You gonna live?"
Molly finished pressing a medicated flesh pad over Heck's wound. "Boy got it
in the head. Can't hurt him there."
Heck grinned.
Steele nodded. Carl whatever-hewascallinghimselft had missed. Bad mistake.
Now it was personal. Now she would show him just how bad a mistake it could
be.
"Okay, people," Steele said. "Let's move on out."
Carl Endicott burst through the cabin door, slammed out the living area into
the bedroom, and skidded to a dead halt as he looked right down the yawning
barrel of an S&R .75.
"Jim, no!"
Slowly, Jim Endicott lowered the heavy pistol. His face was white, his green
eyes shot with thin red traceries. He looked as if he had been crying.
"Son, first rule," Carl said, speaking carefully. "Make sure you know what
you are pointing that pistol at. Because the second rule is, when you point
it at a human, pull the trigger. Now, what's been going on here?"
Jim stared at his father, a welter of thoughts clogging his brain. He could
see that Carl was under enormous stress--something had obviously just
happened--but still he wanted nothing more than to grab the older man by his
shoulders and shake him until the truth came out. All the truth.
"Dad," he said. "You've got to tell me the truth."
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Carl paused, stared at him sharply. "What?" His gaze slid toward
Tab, who stood behind her adopted son.
She nodded. "Carl, I told him. I thought he needed to know." 'Told him?
About what?"
The... adoption proceedings. And our marriage." Carl groaned. "Oh, Tab. I
wish you hadn't." "Dad, can we talk now?."
Carl turned back to his son, anguish creasing his worn features. "No.
Because some people are coming here to kill us. I tried to kill them and
missed. If we set it up right, we won't miss the next time."
He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
"After that, son, we'll talk. I promise."
kay, this is far enough." Steele brought them to a halt in a narrow clearing
in the underbrush beneath the big trees. Late-afternoon winds roared softly
through the shivering leaves overhead, cut though their heavy clothing.
"Colder'n a witch's---"
"Shut up, Molly." Steele squatted. "Campbell, give me the downlink tablet."
Wordlessly, the big man fished in his heavy pack, found the flat tablet, no
larger than an old-fashioned book, and handed it over.
She flipped open the top of the little machine, exposing an old style non
holographic screen. This was battlefield equipment, built for rugged
dependability. She spoke the proper codes; a moment later, the tablet made
contact with an overhead satellite and began to draw an extremely detailed
real-time picture of the area surrounding the cabin.
"Urn," Steele said. "Okay, there have been some changes since we looked the
last time. Campbell, take a look.." here.." and here. See these spots where
it looks like the earth has been disturbed, the heat signatures?"
Heck grunted agreement. "More booby traps, looks like to me. He grinned
faintly. 'That man sure don't have the welcome out." He nudged Molly.
"Scuttlebutt says he taught the boss thing she knows."
Steele glared up at him. "You got a mouth on you, you that, Campbell?
Two things: First, back then, maybe he did. Second, I've learned a lot since
then."
"So what's the problem?" Molly asked.
"I don't think he taught me everything he knew." Steele the little computer
and sighed. "Well, maybe he hasn't kept with the equipment as well as he
should have. We'll fred out Gather round. Here's what we'll do."
at her round," Carl Endicott said. "Here's If we're lucky."
Jim pushed next to the holographic map shimmering over top of his axe.
He licked his lips, suddenly oppressed by the ness of the primitive little
room. From here the presence of vast forests outside the cabin pressed down
on him with green psychic weight. Anything could be out there. Coming to
them all.
Jim felt his mind creak dangerously, as to tip away, leave him floating
helpless in the blank and the
He shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "What did you say, Dad?"
Carl looked up. "Pay attention, Jim. This is important. There three of
them, two women and a man. I know one of the women. Long ago--before you
were born, Jim--I trained her. She is their leader, and she is very good. I
know her, and she knows me. So she will try to anticipate what I will do.
That's why I've tried to do things much differently than I might have once
done them."
Jim nodded, his head spinning painfully. Dad, training a killer woman before
I was born? What--He bit down on his tongue, and for a moment the pain blew
the endless questions away.
Finally Carl finished. "So here's how we handle it. Tab, you don't have the
skills, so you go outside, and you wear this jacket. I'll show you where to
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