"Not really. There are so many more names than places. I don't think any of us are making the final choices."

"Terrifying, isn't it?" Arthur said.

"In a way."

"Have you heard anything about the bogeys? On the network, I mean."

"Nothing," Hicks said.

"Do you think we've slowed them down, done any good by blowing them up?"

Hicks smiled grimly. "No. Just about as effective as Crockerman."

"But he didn't ... at least, I presume he had nothing to do with the action in Death Valley."

"That's right," Hicks said. "He's done nothing. So have the hotheads. Certainly, they've boosted our morale a little . . . but nobody beheves they've fixed anything. The bullets still spin."

"Then what purpose did the bogeys serve?" Arthur asked.

"You stated it once. They were a distraction, a misdirection. We've concentrated almost all our attention on them."

Arthur blinked. "I didn't think they were just decoys."

Hicks shook his head. "Neither did I."

Arthur pushed aside his sweet roil, all appetite gone. "They dropped them here, to deceive us, test us, as if we were laboratory mice?"

"I would say so, now, wouldn't you?"

Arthur shook his head. "That burns."

"Insult before injury," Hicks said.

"Have you discussed this with others on the network?"

"No. We've been far too busy with other things. But the network has been given no instructions whatsoever by the Boss regarding the bogeys. We have not been instructed to recruit the President. You know that Lehrman is Possessed?"

Arthur nodded.

"The Boss has written off our entire military and government effort. Obviously." Hicks held out his hands and stood, gathering his foam-plastic cup and waxed-paper wrapper. "So I stay here, help with whatever effort is made in Seattle. And you move south."

Arthur remained seated, stunned. He should have assembled all the facts. He was disappointed in himself to find he had still harbored some illusions.

"Sorry to be the one to tell you about Mr. Feinman," Hicks said.

Arthur nodded.

"Tonight I'm joining a group staying on Queen Anne Hill," Hicks said. "We'll reconnoiter from there." He held out his hand. "Best of luck to you and your family."

Arthur stood and shook it firmly. "Good-bye," he said.

They looked at each other, not voicing the single question too obvious to ask. Is he chosen? Am I?

Hicks returned to his car. A few moments later, after surveying the fresh fish stalls and vegetable markets and purchasing a pound of smoked salmon and several bags of fruit, Arthur descended the stairs and crossed the parking lot and street to join Francine and Marty at the aquarium.

Chapter 57

57

March 20