“I think he did the right thing,” Kit said in a low, stubborn voice. “And I want to find him before somebody else does—and lynches him on the spot.”

Melina shrugged. “How can you help him? Do you have some safe place where he can hide out for a year? Or however long it takes?”

Kit put her chin up. “As a matter of fact, I do. And I’m willing to take him there tonight if I can find him.”

Melina met the challenging gaze with a cool, measuring one of her own. No fool, this woman; she was used to grappling with contrary entities, puzzling out their secrets, and rendering them powerless. But she could also tell which alien life-forms posed a threat and which might exercise a beneficial effect.

“Julitta,” she said without taking her eyes from Kit, “I need the keys to your apartment. Give me a minute,” she said to Kit, turning away, “I have to get dressed. I’ll be right back.”

*   *   *

It was a thirty-minute walk from Melina’s trendy neighborhood to the commonplace, featureless high-rise complex where Julitta had her small lodgings. But there was only sporadic public transportation running, and Melina didn’t want to hail a public limo driver, “who might remember something if my face ever appeared on the news next to Nolan’s.” Kit thought that very unlikely, but did not bother to say so. She was in an agony of excitement, uncertainty, and anticipation. She was on her way to see Nolan.

“So he’s at your friend’s apartment?” she asked, just to have something to say, words to occupy her mouth, if not her mind. “How did that come about?”

“He came to my place in the middle of the night. The night he went to the media, I guess. Told me what he had done. I knew—he knew—the instant his name was released that there would be no safety for him anywhere in the city. I thought about taking him out to my mother’s, but she watches the monitors, she knows what’s happening in the city. He wouldn’t have been safe there, either. All I could think of was Julitta’s place. She hasn’t lived there in more than a year, but she’s kept the lease. In case she ever gets mad and decides to leave me, I guess,” Melina added with a small smile.

“Have you checked up on him? Made sure he has food—hasn’t gotten sick?”

“I haven’t been out of the lab till yesterday,” Melina said gently. “I don’t know if he’s even still there. But I don’t know where else he could possibly go.”