WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz

it moved faster this time, it might come upon them before they were ready for

it. The Big Sur area, because of its sparse population and because it was a

hundred ninety air miles from Santa Barbara, seemed ideal. If The Outsider got a

fix on Einstein and tracked him down as slowly as before, the thing would not

arrive for almost five months. If it doubled its speed somehow, swiftly crossing

the open farmland and the wild hills between there and here, quickly skirting

populated areas, it would still not reach them until the second week of

November.

That day was drawing near, but Travis was satisfied that he had made every

preparation possible, and he almost welcomed The Outsider’s arrival. Thus far,

however, Einstein said that he did not feel his adversary was dangerously close.

Evidently, they still had plenty of time to test their patience before the

showdown.

By twelve-fifty, they reached the end of their circular route through the hills

and canyons, returning to the yard behind their new house. It was a two-story

structure with bleached-wood walls, a cedar-shingled roof, and massive stone

chimneys on both the north and south sides. It boasted front and rear porches on

the east and west, and either vantage point offered a view of wooded slopes.

Because no snow ever fell here, the roof was only gently pitched, making it

possible to walk all over it, and that was where Travis made one of his first

defensive modifications to the house. He looked up now, as he came out of the

trees, and saw the herringbone pattern of two-by-fours that he had fixed across

the roof. They would make it safer and easier to move quickly across those

sloped surfaces. If The Outsider crept up on the house at night, it would not be

able to enter by the downstairs windows because, at sundown, those were

barricaded with interior locking shutters that Travis had installed himself and

that would foil any would-be intruder except, perhaps, a maniacally determined

man with an ax. The Outsider would then most likely climb the porch posts onto

the front or rear porch roof to have a look at the second-floor windows, which

it would find also protected by interior shutters. Meanwhile, warned of the

enemy’s approach by an infrared alarm system that be had installed around the

house three weeks ago, Travis would go onto the roof by way of an attic trap

door. Up there, making use of the two-by-four handholds, he would be able to

creep to the edge of the main roof, look down on the porch roof or on any

portion of the surrounding yard, and open fire on The Outsider from a position

where it could not reach him.

Twenty yards behind and east of the house was a small rust-red barn that backed

up to the trees. Their property included no tillable land, and the original

owner apparently erected the barn to house a couple of horses and some chickens.

Travis and Nora used it as a garage because the dirt driveway led two hundred

yards in from the highway, past the house, directly to the double doors on the

barn.

Travis suspected that, when The Outsider arrived, it would scout the house from

the woods and then from the cover of the barn. It might even wait in there,

hoping to catch them by surprise when they came out for the Dodge pickup or the

Toyota. Therefore, he had rigged the barn with a few surprises.

Their nearest neighbors—whom they had met only once—were over a quarter-mile to

the north, out of sight beyond trees and chaparral. The highway, which was

closer, was not much traveled at night, when The Outsider was most likely to

strike. If the confrontation involved a great deal of gunfire, the shots would

echo and reecho through the woods and across the bare hills, so the few people

in the area—neighbors or passing motorists—would have trouble determining where

the noise originated. He ought to be able to kill the creature and bury it

before someone came nosing around.

Now, more worried about Nora than about The Outsider, Travis climbed the

back-porch steps, unlocked the two dead bolts on the rear door, and went Into

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