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