“Like they’ve been sleeping for a long time and they’re all starting to wake up. But why, and where are they going? So we’ve got a rash of two types of events, things waking up, and other things poking us with a stick. Testing us.” Earl muttered, staring at the map. “These aren’t outbreaks…This is a mobilization.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t know, but this is what Myers was seeing. And now I think I know why that son of a bitch was suffering from insomnia. Hell, makes you wonder what else he knew about and couldn’t tell us.”

“You should call Dwayne,” Julie suggested.

“Got his number?” It was a testament to how troubling the situation seemed that Earl wasn’t joking.

“So have we decided all these things are connected?” I asked, already knowing the answer, but hoping to be wrong. “We making this official?”

“I just don’t know how…We’ll need to talk to everyone, get as many Hunters on the lookout as possible,” Earl ordered. “Shouldn’t be a problem, though. From what I saw, word’s already gotten out. Most of us are a suspicious bunch by nature. After the bunch with Z started swapping stories, all the sharp Hunters know something’s up. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are ten maps just like this one in this hotel by now.”

“Thank goodness for this conference or we might not have put things together…” Julie trailed off.

“What?” Then I realized what she’d thought of. “The conference.”

“Thought of that already,” Earl said. “The timing seems a little suspicious to be holding the first annual one of these things. Almost like they wanted all these different bunches of Hunters to put their heads together.”

“One hell of a coincidence. Did the MCB want us to figure this out on our own?” Then I shook my head and answered my own question. “That doesn’t make any sense. They didn’t put this on, but if they were trying to keep these trends secret, why allow the conference to take place at all? Why not just send us all an email and say, ‘Attention, Hunters, be on the lookout for an invasion of mole people.’”

“Maybe it isn’t the MCB pulling the strings…” Earl said.

“Who then?” Julie asked. “Ick-mip has private organizers, but there’s no way they’d be allowed to do this without government approval.”

“Nobody. Never mind.” Earl looked around. Then picked up the notepad from the nightstand table and scribbled a brief note. Not now. Room might be bugged.

Julie and I glanced at the walls nervously.

Earl nodded, deadly serious.

What the hell had we gotten ourselves into?