sidewall of the trunk, an action that briefly roused him from the
tenebrous images and thoughts that filled his mind. He realized that
his drumming feet would alert Rachael, and he stopped after-he hopednly
a few hard kicks.
The car slowed, and he fumbled in the dark for the screwdriver in case
he had to pop the latch and get out fast. But then the car accelerated
againRachael had not understood what she had heard-and he fell back into
the ooze of primordial memories and desires.
Now, mentally drifting in some far place, he continued to change
physically. The dark trunk was like a womb in which an unimaginable
mutant child formed and reformed and re-formed again. It was both
something old and something new in the world. Its time had passedand
yet its time was still coming.
Ben figured they would expect him to remember the line of parked cars
along the western shoulder of the state route and would be waiting for
him to steal one.
Furthermore, they would probably count on him making his way north on
the road itself, using the ditch along the eastern berm for cover when
he heard traffic coming.
Or they might think he’d stay on the eastern slope, on the highland side
of the road, cautiously following the blacktop north but using the trees
and brush for cover.
However, he did not think they would expect him to cross the road, enter
the woods on the western side of it-the lake side-and then head north
under the cover of those trees, eventually coming up on the parked cars
from behind.
He figured correctly. When he had gone north some distance with the
highway on his right and the lake on his left, he cut up the slope to
the state route, cautiously crawled up the final embankment, peered over
the top, and looked south toward the parked cars. He saw two men
slumped in the front seat of the dark green Chevy sedan.
They were tucked behind a Dodge station wagon, so he would not have been
able to see them if he’d approached from the south instead of circling
behind. They were looking the other way, watching geometrically framed
slices of the two-lane highway through the windows of the cars parked in
front of theirs.
Easing down from the top of the embankment, Ben lay on the slope for a
minute, flat on his back. His mattress was composed of old pine
needles, withered rye grass, and unfamiliar plants with variegated
caladiumlike leaves that bruised under him and pressed their cool juice
into the cloth of his shirt and jeans.
He was so dirty and stained from the frantic descent of the mountainside
below Eric’s cabin that he had no concern about what additional mess
these plants might make of him.
The Combat Magnum, tucked under his waistline, pressed painfully against
the small of his back, so he shifted slightly onto one side to relieve
that pressure.
Uncomfortable though it was, the Magnum was also reassuring.
As he considered the two men waiting for him on the road above, he was
tempted to head farther north until he found untended cars elsewhere.
He might be able to steal a vehicle from another place and leave the
area before they decided he was gone.
On the other hand, he might walk a mile or two or three without
discovering other cars parked beyond the view of their owners.
And it was unlikely that Sharp and his fellow agent would wait here very
long. If Ben did not show up soon, they would wonder if they had
misjudged him.
They would start cruising, perhaps stopping now and then to get out and
scan the woods on both sides of the road, and though he was better at
these games than they were, he could not be sure that they would not
surprise him somewhere along the way.
Right now, he had the advantage of surprise, for he knew where they
were, while they had no idea where he was. He decided to make good use
of that advantage.
First, he looked around for a smooth fist-sized rock, located one, and
tested its weight in his hand. It felt right-substantial. He