Disappeared.
But they were still out there. Somewhere.
Everywhere.
The shed.
The hot, dry air.
The stench of Hell.
Again, the orange light abruptly grew brighter than it had been, not a
lot brighter, just a little, and at the same time the air became
slightly hotter, and the noises coming out of the pit grew somewhat
louder and angrier, although they were still more of a whisper than a
shout.
Again, around the perimeter of the hole, the earth loosened of its own
accord, dropped away from the rim, tumbled to the bottom and vanished in
the pulsing orange glow. The diameter had increased by more than two
inches before the earth became stable once more.
And the pit was bigger.
PART THREE
Wednesday, 1l:2oP.M.-ThUrsday, 2:30 A.M.
You know, Tolstoy, like myself, wasn’t taken in by superstitions-like
science and medicine. -GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
There is superstition in avoiding superstition. -FRANCIS BACON
CHAPTER SEVEN
At headquarters, the underground garage was lighted but not very
brightly lighted. Shadows crouched in corners; they spread like a dark
fungus on the walls; they lay in wait between the rows of cars and other
vehicles; they clung to the concrete ceilings and watched all that went
on beneath them.
Tonight, Jack was scared of the garage. Tonight, the omnipresent
shadows themselves seemed to be alive and, worse, seemed to be creeping
closer with great cleverness and stealth.
Rebecca and the kids evidently felt the same way about the place. They
stayed close together, and they looked around worriedly, their faces and
bodies tense.
It’s all right, Jack told himself. The goblins can’t have known where
we were going. For the time being, they’ve lost track of us. For the
moment, at least, we’re safe.
But he didn’t feel safe.
The night man in charge of the garage was Ernie Tewkes. His thick black
hair was combed straight back from his forehead, and he wore a
pencil-thin mustache that looked odd on his wide upper lip.
“But each of you already signed out a car,” Ernie said, tapping the
requisition sheet on his clipboard.
“Well, we need two more,” Jack said.
“That’s against regulations, and I-”
“To hell with the regulations,” Rebecca said. “Just give us the cars.
Now.”
“Where’re the two you already got?” Ernie asked.
“You didn’t wrack them up, did you?”
“Of course not,” Jack said. “They’re bogged down.”
“Mechanical trouble?”
“No. Stuck in snow drifts,” Jack lied.
They had ruled out going back for the car at Rebecca’s apartment, and
they had also decided they didn’t dare return to Faye and Keith’s place.
They were sure the devil-things would be waiting at both locations.
“Drifts?” Ernie said. “Is that all? We’ll just send a tow truck out,
get you loose, and put you on the road again.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Jack said impatiently, letting his gaze
roam over the darker portions of the cavernous garage. “We need two
cars right now.”
“Regulations say-”
“Listen,” Rebecca said, “weren’t a number of cars assigned to the
Carramazza task force?”
“Sure, ” Ernie said. “But-”
“And aren’t some of those cars still-here in the garage, right now,
unused? ”
“Well, at the moment, nobody’s using them,” Ernie admitted. “But
maybe-”
“And who’s in charge of the task force?” Rebecca demanded.
“Well . . . you are. The two of you.”
“This is an emergency related to the Carramazza case, and we need those
cars.”
“But you’ve already got cars checked out, and regulations say you’ve got
to fill out breakdown or loss reports on them before you can get-”
“Forget the bullshit bureaucracy,” Rebecca said angrily. “Get us new
wheels now, this minute, or so help me (loaf I’ll rip that funny little
mustache out of your face, take the keys off your pegboard there, and
get the cars myself.”
Ernie stared wide-eyed at her, evidently stunned by both the threat and
the vehemence with which it was delivered.
In this particular instance, Jack was delighted to see Rebecca revert to
a nail-eating, hard-nosed Amazon.
“Move!” she said, taking one step toward Ernie.
Ernie moved. Fast.
While they waited by the dispatcher’s booth for the first car to be
brought around, Penny kept looking from one shadowy area to another.