“I know where the last team went and where this one is headed.”

He turned the monitor so Bunny could see. The big young man leaned down.

“Going Viral?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah.”

And immediately, Scott Wilson was on the line. “Pappy, we’re seeing the same intel. This is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Excellent work.”

“The concert’s tonight,” said another voice. Bug.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Top. “Looks like they’re going to Spokane and then fly. I saw them packing parachutes, too. That venue is an open-air stadium. You’d better make sure someone gets control of that airspace and maybe shoots that goddamned plane down.”

“Count on it.”

“But this is only the last shipment. Two other teams headed down there days ago. Plenty of time for them to be in place. Not sure what it’s going to take to cancel this thing.”

“The venue is already in use,” said Wilson. “There have been concerts from non-headliner bands since midnight last night.”

Bug said, “I’m looking at the venue computers now. Shit, guys, there’s twenty-two thousand people in there right now.”

“Then do something,” growled Top, “because I’m looking at medical services reports that tell me that more than half of the Fixers sent out have already had the R-33 packets implanted. You need to stop this.”

Wilson’s voice sounded lost. “I don’t know if we can…”

“You damn well find a way,” Top snarled and tapped out of the channel.

He looked up at Bunny.

“Yeah,” said Bunny, reading the look in his eyes, “let’s rock and roll.”

CHAPTER 156

ON THE ROAD

I was on I-10 with a lot of miles to go. At the last rest stop, I checked on Ghost. His sleep seemed to have changed from the utter slackness of anesthesia to a more normal doze. Bit of a nose whistle. I stroked his fur for a minute and then got back on the road.

After forty minutes of outlining all the reasons I shouldn’t do it, I summoned the courage and called Junie.

The phone rang for so long that I thought it would go to voice mail, but then she answered with a cautious, “Hello? Who’s calling?”

She wouldn’t have recognized the burner’s number.

“Junie,” I said. “It’s me.”

And we both began to cry.

CHAPTER 157

ON THE ROAD

It took us a long time to form words.

I kept telling her I was sorry.

She kept telling me she loved me.

Miles blurred.

“Joe,” she said at last, her voice thick with emotion but clearer than it had been, “I spoke with Mr. Church. He told me about the Darkness and about … Nicodemus.”

“Christ.”

“That’s what this is, Joe,” she insisted. “He’s doing this to you.”

“I … I don’t know, babe. It’s still my head. It’s still me doing all this.”