“That’s exactly what we figured, so we’ve put up roadblocks on all the roads out of town, and a twenty-four-hour surveillance on his family. But I think he’s still in town. We figure he took some time to find a place to bury Cameron and then went back for Dr. Abernathy. He wasn’t operated on until almost ten o’clock, so they couldn’t have gone very far since then.”

“That was a real surprise,” Nicole admitted. “Cameron must have brought Abernathy in on this from the beginning.”

“That’s been puzzling me, too. If Abernathy was in with them, why wasn’t he at the apartment helping them? If he wasn’t, how did Eric know he could trust him?” Travis passed his hand across the stubble darkening his chin. “I don’t know. Who can tell what’s going on in Eric’s mind?”

“I can’t answer that,” she answered softly, “but whatever it is, it’s been there from the beginning.”

“They almost made it, you know.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“We found Cameron’s wrist computer in the apartment along with Eric’s. And both computer chips. They must have been within seconds of getting Cameron’s out when the Major hit the PMT button.”

“You mean that Eric cut Dr. Cameron’s wrist computer off anyway?”

“I guess so. Cameron’s wrist computer was completely burned out from the Terminal voltage, and Clayne said he noticed a charred spot on the back of his wrist as he picked up the body.”

“Don’t!” Nicole whispered, averting her face.

“I’m sorry.”

They both fell silent for almost a full minute. Then Nicole looked up. “Is the Major angry with me?”

Travis shook his head quickly. “He understands.”

“Travis, I don’t want to be a Monitor anymore.”

“Hey!” he said in surprise. Then his voice gentled. “You’ve had a rough day. Things will even out again once we get Eric.”

“I mean it, Travis. I’ll do anything else, but I can’t do that again.”

He held up his hands. “That’s fine. But you don’t have to decide that tonight. We’re both exhausted. Let’s get some rest and talk about it tomorrow.”

Quickly she ducked her head to hide the tears that welled up and spilled over onto her cheeks. “You’re right. It’s just that all I can think about tonight is an old man lying face down on a table, being terminated long distance by computer.”

He took her face in both hands and tenderly brushed the tears back. “I understand, honey, that was awful tonight.”

But you showed him which buttons to push! To her surprise, Travis continued to smile gently down at her, and she realized she had only shouted the words in her mind. She took a deep breath. “I’ll be better tomorrow.”