“You’re going to pick up the phone,” he said softly, “and call Central Control.” He swung the muzzle of the weapon around so it pointed down at Travis’s head. “Now here’s what you’re going to say, nothing more, nothing less, or else Travis terminates. Isn’t that the charming little phrase you people use?”

Nicole’s eyes were wide with shock, and her mouth opened slightly as she glanced quickly at Travis on the floor.

“If you’re wondering if I’d really do it, just remember, I watched a seventy-two-year-old man electrocuted tonight. Understood?”

“Yes.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“All right. Tell them Travis just phoned you. He tried to call in to them but couldn’t get through. Something is wrong with his radio. He called you to relay the message.”

He paused, and she nodded quickly. “I understand.”

“Good. Here’s Travis’s message. I was waiting at Travis’s house when he came home. He attacked me, but I escaped. Travis has me trapped in the neighborhood but needs every unit—every unit—sent to his home, Code Three. Have you got that?”

“They’ll never believe that. It’s too flimsy.”

“Sure it is, once they stop to think about it. But they’re too eager for the kill now to stop and evaluate.” His eyes were suddenly very frightening. “But Nicole, if you want Travis still sleeping peacefully on the floor when we leave, you’d better be convincing.”

She swallowed once, aware of the sudden dryness in her throat, and picked up the phone. For almost a minute she spoke quietly but urgently, then hung up with a curious mixture of sinking despair and vast relief. They had accepted her story without blinking. She had barely finished when in the distance a siren suddenly wailed, then another and another.

He grunted in satisfaction. “Okay, now let’s get out of here.”

Once they cleared the town limits, Eric pushed the car up to its maximum speed, still leaving the lights off. They headed north, on the highway leading to Glacier Park. Nicole was forced to grab wildly for the dashboard several times as the onrushing ribbon of road suddenly veered away from them and Eric had to brake hard and lean the car into a curve.

The ruse with Travis had worked perfectly. They encountered no roadblocks, no Guardian checkpoints. By ten miles out, any hope Nicole had of interception melted away.

She glanced at Eric, seeing only the hard line of his jaw and his rigid grip on the wheel in the semidarkness. Her physical exhaustion combined with the numbing shock of being kidnapped to act like a hallucinogenic drug, giving the whole experience a sense of eerie unreality. Feeling the first tentacles of madness squeezing at her mind, she spoke quickly to bring her back to sanity.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Up.”

“Where?”

“Away from the tender clutches of C. Major Denison.”

“Why me?”