WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz

By Thanksgiving, The Outsider had not found the bleached-wood house in Big Sur.

Every night, Travis and Nora locked the shutters over the inside of the windows.

They dead-bolted the doors. Retiring to the second floor, they slept with

shotguns beside their bed and revolvers on their nightstands.

Sometimes, in the dead hours after midnight, they were awakened by strange

noises in the yard or on the porch roof. Einstein padded from window

to window, sniffing urgently, but always he indicated that they had nothing to

fear. On further investigation, Travis usually found a prowling raccoon or other

forest creature.

Travis enjoyed Thanksgiving more than he had thought he would, given the

circumstances. He and Nora cooked an elaborate traditional meal for just the

three of them: roast turkey with chestnut dressing, a clam casserole, glazed

carrots, baked corn, pepper slaw, crescent rolls, and pumpkin pie.

Einstein sampled everything because he had developed a much more sophisticated

palate than an ordinary dog. He was still a dog, however, and though the only

thing he strongly disliked was the sour pepper slaw, he preferred turkey above

all else. That afternoon he spent a lot of time gnawing contentedly on the

drumsticks.

Over the weeks, Travis had noticed that, like most dogs, Einstein would go out

into the yard occasionally and eat a little grass, though sometimes it seemed to

gag him. He did it again on Thanksgiving Day, and when Travis asked him if he

liked the taste of grass, Einstein said no. “Then why do you try to eat it

sometimes?”

NEED IT.

“Why?”

I DON’T KNOW.

“If you don’t know what you need it for, then how do you know you need it at

all? Instinct?”

YES.

“Just instinct?”

DON’T KNOCK IT.

That evening, the three of them sat in piles of pillows on the living-room floor

in front of the big stone fireplace, listening to music. Einstein’s golden coat

was glossy and thick in the firelight. As Travis sat with one arm around Nora,

petting the dog with his free hand, he thought eating grass must be a good idea

because Einstein looked healthy and robust. Einstein sneezed a few times and

coughed now and then, but those seemed natural reactions to the Thanksgiving

overindulgence and to the warm, dry air in front of the fireplace. Travis was

not for a moment concerned about the dog’s health.

4

On the afternoon of Friday, November 26, the balmy day after Thanksgiving,

Garrison Dilworth was aboard his beloved forty-two-foot Hinckley Sou’wester,

Amazing Grace, in his boat slip in the Santa Barbara harbor. He was polishing

brightwork and, diligently bent to his task, almost didn’t see the two men in

business suits as they approached along the dock. He looked up as they were

about to announce themselves, and he knew who they were— not their names, but

who they must work for—even before they showed him their credentials.

One was named Johnson.

The other was Soames.

Pretending puzzlement and interest, he invited them aboard.

Stepping off the dock, down onto the deck, the one named Johnson said, “We’d

like to ask you a few questions, Mr. Dilworth.”

“What about?” Garrison inquired, wiping his hands on a white rag.

Johnson was a black man of ordinary size, even a little gaunt, haggard-looking,

yet imposing.

Garrison said, “National Security Agency, you say? Surely, you don’t think I’m

in the hire of the KGB?”

Johnson smiled thinly. “You’ve done work for Nora Devon?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Nora? Are you serious? Well, I can assure you that Nora

isn’t the sort of person to be involved—”

“You are her attorney, then?” Johnson asked.

Garrison glanced at the freckle-faced younger man, Agent Soames, and again

raised his eyebrows as if to ask if Johnson was always this chilly. Soames

stared expressionlessly, taking his cue from the boss.

Oh my, we’re in trouble with these two, Garrison thought.

After his frustrating and unsuccessful questioning of Dilworth, Lem sent Cliff

Soames off on a series of errands: begin the procedures to obtain a court order

allowing taps to be placed on the attorney’s home and office telephones; find

the three pay phones nearest his office and the three nearest his house, and

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