“Please sit down until I’m gone, Nicole,” she mimicked. “Here are some things for your safety, Nicole.” Her voice sparked like the edge of a knife striking a whirling stone. “My, aren’t we just full of manners this evening, Mr. Lloyd? I’m sorry to have to abandon you, Nicole. I’ll leave you with a hatchet and a flashlight and my good wishes, Nicole. Of course, I must take your shoes with me, Nicole. Please forgive me, Nicole.”

The urge to cry or scream or hurl herself at him was so overpowering that for a moment she just stood there trembling. Finally she ducked her head and dropped to her knees. “Come here, Cricket,” she said, fighting to maintain control of her voice.

Eric reined the horse around. “I’ll have someone here shortly after we get down.”

She didn’t look up as she slipped a rope through Cricket’s collar. “Whatever you have to do to ease your conscience.”

“I don’t want Cliff Cameron on my conscience,” he snapped.

“Oh no!” she cried, her throat tight. “I can’t stop you from going, but don’t leave here with righteous piety swelling your breast. I told you I’d help you help him. Taking me with you now won’t make that much difference to Cliff Cameron. Cliff is just your excuse. The Major has won another round, and you can’t stand the thought of that. It’s the Major you’re really after, isn’t it?”

She had stung him, for when he answered, his voice was heavy with anger. “It’s the Major who has Cliff Cameron and two hundred thousand others under his electronic thumb.”

“Oh? Tell me, Eric, other than in numbers, how do you differ from him?”

In the dim and dancing firelight she could not read the expression on his face. For a long moment he just looked at her across the fire, and then he spoke softly. “Good-bye, Nicky.”

She leaped to her feet. “You brought me an eagle chained to a limb,” she shouted as the horse started away from her. “Did you do that to make me feel sorry for you? Well, it worked. So go, Eric. Go down and save the world. But while you’re going, just ask yourself one question. You have my shoes in your bag. How is that any different from putting a black box in the back of my neck?”

Nicole woke up with a start and groped for the hatchet before she realized it was just Cricket. The dog had stood up and crossed over Nicole’s feet to reach the end of her tether. With a sigh she slid the hatchet back under the sleeping bag near her head and lay down again. Eric had been gone for an hour and a half, perhaps two, and she still had five or six hours until light. It seemed an eternity.