Silence. It stretched on for several minutes before she spoke again. “Eric?”

Silence.

“I—I didn’t push the buttons to terminate Dr. Cameron. They wanted me to, but I—” She sighed, giving up in the face of the hostility hanging like a barrier between them.

Silence. He could have been miles away. Angry now, she bit her lip and rolled down the window, staring into the night. She jumped and gave a startled cry as a cold nose pushed over the seat and touched her bare arm. “Lay back down, Cricket!” she commanded sharply, pushing the dog away.

As Eric had led her to the back alley behind her house, Nicole’s German Shepherd had bounded up happily, wagging her tail. In Shalev, watchdogs were unnecessary, but a bark or two? Was that too much to ask? Even a curled lip and low growl would have been appreciated, but Cricket had never lost her puppylike friendliness, and she bounded up to everyone in welcome. When Eric had opened the door of the stolen car and motioned for Nicole to climb in, the dog had beat her to it, slipping into the back seat quickly. To Nicole’s surprise, Eric had given in when she pleaded that the German Shepherd would starve with no one to care for her. She had been glad then, but now, irrationally, her anger boiled over, and she jerked away from Cricket’s nuzzling. “Lie down!” she snapped, knowing even as she did so that it wasn’t really Cricket she wanted to lash out at.

The dog whined, then pulled away and lay back down in the rear seat. Suddenly chilly, Nicole rolled up the window and stared out at the moon-bathed trees whipping by.

“So who did?”

“What?” For a moment she wasn’t even sure he had spoken.

“Who did push the buttons?”

She hesitated, thinking of Travis, how he had jumped guiltily when the Major shouted at him.

“At your house, Travis said the Major did. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

Silence.

“He told me to, but I couldn’t.”

“I thought we had done something wrong.” He spoke as if from another world. “I thought we’d missed our timing. Mine came out without a hitch, then suddenly, just as we were about finished—” He lapsed into silence again for almost a full minute. Then finally he added, almost laconically, “It must be a real source of pride to work for an organization with so much compassion for people.”

“I—” She bit her lip. “I am terribly sorry about Dr. Cameron.”

Silence. She looked away again, too tired to care anymore.