Death Benefits_ A Novel Part 32

"I figured that out a while ago," she said.

Stillman descended until he was lost in the gloom. Walker listened, but he heard no footfall. Then Mary sat on the floor, put her legs into the opening, found an unseen rung of the ladder with her foot, and began to descend too. Walker took one final look out between the louvers in the belfry, but he could see nothing that had changed. He moved to the ladder.

When Walker reached the lower level, he eased his foot down slowly to avoid making a noise. He had become so used to the almost imperceptible sounds of the others' breathing and movements, the heights and shapes of their bodies, that he had developed a sensitivity to where they were in the dark. He lowered himself to his knees and felt for the hatch cover. Stillman knelt beside him as he lifted the hatch a quarter inch and peered down at the cloak room below.

The light seemed impossibly, frighteningly bright in the first seconds, but after a moment his pupils had contracted enough to let him judge that the cloak room was dimmer than the foyer. The light that had seemed so bright was coming from the hanging fixture there. He could see that the hardwood floor below him was bare. He moved to the left, lifted the hatch cover a bit more, lay on his belly, and looked again. He could not see the whole foyer from this height, but the part that he could see was clear.

He lifted the cover off and began to descend into the cloak room. He could hear somebody speaking in the church. It was a man's voice. Walker kept going, trying to keep his footsteps silent.

"Sure it's trouble," said the voice. "It's not anything we can't handle if we all pay attention to what we're doing. It just takes patience."

A higher-register voice-a woman-replaced the male voice. Walker could tell she must be sitting in a pew facing the front of the sanctuary, because her voice was m.u.f.fled. She reached the end of her brief statement, and there were other voices, making what sounded to Walker like murmurs of a.s.sent.

Walker had reached the floor now. He moved to the wall beside the doorway, cautiously tilting his head to search the foyer for people. Then he looked up to see that Mary was halfway down.

As the murmurs subsided, the man's voice rose above them. "You have to understand," said the voice, and Walker realized it was familiar. "These two aren't exactly the FBI SWAT commandos from h.e.l.l." A wave of laughter washed over Walker, and as it did the voice paused, then continued. "They're bureaucrats-investigators from an insurance company. They make their living finding people's lost silverware, and taking videos of disability cases on the golf course." This time, Walker recognized the voice: Chief Raines.

Walker felt a hand touch his shoulder, and he whirled to see Mary behind him. He looked above her and saw that Stillman had cleared the ceiling and was using the sound of the laughter to cover the noise of pulling the lid over the hatch. Stillman began to climb down quickly. When the laughter turned ragged and people were beginning to quiet down again, he slowed his pace.

Chief Raines said, "I think all that happened was that they found a hiding place we missed. What I'd like to suggest is that when we're through here, we all go back to our own houses-n.o.body alone, but in groups of four at least-and search. Look in every closet, every corner of the bas.e.m.e.nt, every inch of the attic. If you see anything, there will be cars patrolling every street, and help is as close as that. When you're positive the house is clear, lock it up tight. Keep all the outdoor lights on, but turn off the inside ones. Put at least one person downstairs and one upstairs, looking out the windows all the time."

The chief was interrupted by another voice from the floor that Walker couldn't understand. The chief answered, "Now that everybody's back from Florida, we've got more than enough people, and we'll be raiding places we haven't hit. Even if we don't corner them, they'll be on the move. They don't want to stay here, they want to get out of town. If everybody is looking, somebody will see them."

Walker felt Mary tugging on his arm. He turned and saw that the cloak-room window was open and Stillman was just easing himself out to the ground. Walker lifted Mary up into the s.p.a.ce, and she slithered through and out. Walker climbed out after her, turned at the sill, and dropped to the gra.s.s, then carefully pulled the sash down.

When he turned around, Stillman and Mary had already moved off toward Const.i.tution. Stillman seemed to be carrying something. At the corner, they began to run, and he sprinted to catch up. They kept up their desperate pace until they reached Birch Street, then turned onto it and moved toward Main.

Stillman stopped. He handed Walker and Mary light summer jackets. "I borrowed these from the cloak room," he said. "Maybe they'll help us get across the street." Walker slipped his on, watched Mary put hers on, then moved forward, but Stillman held his arm.

"Not yet," he said. "It's not enough."

"We're not going?"

"No," said Stillman. "We've got to wait."

"But they could be out here any second."

"That's the idea. Look around. We're the only ones out on foot. It's like everybody died. When that meeting is over, the streets are going to be full of people. None of them will be as far east as Birch Street, but we'll still look as though we came from the meeting."

Mary turned her eyes to Stillman but said nothing.

Walker said reluctantly, "All right."

"Give me a minute," said Stillman. "I'll get as close to the corner of Main as I can. The second the doors open up, I'll move. The two of you walk across together. Hold hands or something, and walk at the same speed as everybody else. I'll cross alone from here, and we'll meet on the other side."

He stepped off alone. Mary and Walker stood on the sidewalk and waited. She said quietly, "Did you hear what that man was saying in there?"

He nodded. "That man was the chief of police."

"But the whole town was in there listening, agreeing. It's not just one or two cops fooling people. It's everybody. They're all in on it."

"Let's just hope everybody came to the meeting," said Walker. Then he froze. "Kids. When we were here before, we saw kids. There must be people in some of the houses watching them."

"We should warn Stillman."

They saw Stillman wave his arm and set off across Main Street. "Too late," said Walker. He put his arm around her waist, tightened it once in a quick squeeze, then let it rest there. "We've got to go. Just keep your face turned away from the windows."

They walked to the corner and stepped into the street. Walker looked past Mary toward the church. The doors had opened and people were walking down the steps, across the sidewalk, and into Main Street. He adjusted his pace to theirs. Before he and Mary had stepped across the double line in the center of the pavement, he could see that the street to the west was already clogged.

Some of the townspeople were moving along the sidewalks on Main Street away from the church, and others came east and then crossed the street as Walker and Mary were doing. Walker kept his steps even and unhurried, expecting at any second to hear running footsteps behind them.

Then they were stepping up over the curb, and after a few more steps they were on Birch, moving away from Main. Birch Street was still much brighter than it had been when Walker and Stillman had been to Scully's house the first time. Walker had to force himself to keep from running to get to the house before the first of the residents returned to see them. When he and Mary were almost there, he could see Stillman waiting at the corner of the house.

"The garage is wide open, and his car is inside," said Stillman. "It's a Chevy Blazer."

Walker said, "Want to try for the gun in the bedroom?"

Stillman shook his head. "No. Nothing has changed. If we shoot off a gun, there will be eighty people on us in a second. If we don't need to fire it, what's it for?" To foreclose the argument, he moved up the driveway and into the garage.

When they were all inside, Stillman handed Mary the keys. "You drive. You're the only one they haven't seen."

Stillman climbed into the back seat, while Walker got into the front. Stillman tapped him. "Duck down."

Mary started the engine, and backed down the driveway into the street. Walker crouched on the floor and felt the vehicle lurch forward. She announced, "We're still ahead of the crowd. I'm going to turn left and go down the next street toward the river." She made the turn.

"I see lights ahead," she said. "It looks like a cop car."

"It doesn't matter whose car it is, he's n.o.body we want to get close to," said Stillman. "Can you turn anywhere without looking as though you're avoiding him?"

"I'll make the next turn and go toward Main again." She made the turn slowly, then sighed. "There are people in the street. I can get through them, but if they know the car, they can hardly imagine I'm James Scully."

"See if you can turn at the next corner and get near the river that way," said Stillman.

They felt the car's speed decrease, and then felt it coast. "There are two more cars on that street with their headlights pointed this way." She accelerated again. "I'm going on to Main Street."

She reached Main, then stopped. "This is not good," she said. "I can see more cars up ahead before the bridge. Two of them are cop cars."

Stillman said, "Turn toward them so your headlights are what they see."

She turned the car, then turned again at the first corner. "They're not following," she said. "It looks like they're just waiting for us to go toward the bridge. Maybe I can come up Washington behind them."

"Then turn right again at the next corner," he said.

"Okay." Walker felt the car tilt as she turned.

"What's ahead of you?"

"Not much. There's a driveway at the end of the street. A big building. The sign says New Mill Systems."

"Good," said Stillman. "Drive until you're almost there, and pull over."

In a moment, the car stopped at the curb. "I'm parked. What do you recommend now?"

"Can anybody see us if we sit up?"

"n.o.body's back in these houses yet, but I just saw a couple pa.s.s the corner on Main, so it won't be long."

Stillman and Walker sat up. On either side, the street was brightly lighted from the windows of the houses and the floodlights on eaves and above porches. Directly ahead was the dim parking lot of New Mill Systems. Walker could see the usual thirty or forty cars in the lot, and beside the lot, the boxlike brick building with its small, high windows lit like all the others.

Stillman said, "Pull into the lot."

"It's not closed," said Mary. "The lot is full of cars."

"That's right," Stillman said. "We won't stand out as much if we're one of thirty cars."

Mary pulled ahead into the parking lot, turned off the headlights, and headed for the darkest corner.

"Not there," said Stillman. "Find an empty s.p.a.ce in the middle someplace."

Mary parked in the third row and turned off the engine. "Well, here we are. Why are we?"

Walker said, "It doesn't seem as though we're a.n.a.lyzing the problem right. We need to think."

"While you're thinking, come with me for a minute," said Stillman. "Serena, stay put. Keep the key in the ignition and watch for trouble. If it comes, pull out fast and pick us up."

Walker got out and waited while Stillman joined him. Walker gazed away from the building at the fields beyond. "Do you think we could make it that way?"

"I did until I saw those rifles come out this evening. A weapon like that isn't much use in a town where everybody's related to you. It'll go through the wall of a house and come across the living room still dangerous. And you don't need a big scope to hit anything half a block away. I think they're hoping we'll get sick of hiding and try running. As soon as we're in ankle-high gra.s.s with nothing on any side of us for a hundred yards that's bigger than a daisy, they'll take us."

"Then what are we doing?"

"This whole town seems to be armed. If one person in this lot got distracted when he parked here, he may have left something that I can use."

"What are the chances of that?"

"Better than if we don't look," said Stillman. "You take a close look at this building. See if there's a way in."

Walker stepped toward the New Mill Systems building, then stopped between two cars and pretended to tie his shoe. He used the time to study the structure from below. He searched the eaves for cameras and floodlights, but he didn't see any.

He went toward the rear of the building. There had to be something back there besides these featureless brick walls with their tiny windows. He turned the corner. There was nothing but a concrete walkway directly beside the building, a treeless lawn, and a high chain-link fence like the one at the east end of town. He kept going. He turned the next corner. There was a big Dumpster placed close to the wall. He looked at it closely. There was a padlock on it, so he couldn't even open it to see whether it would be a good place to hide.

From here he could see the parking lot. With difficulty, he picked out Scully's red Blazer in the third line of cars, but he couldn't see Mary. He scanned the lot for Stillman. He didn't see him at first, but then he detected a shadowy shape drifting from car to car, hunched low to peer in the windows.

Walker took a step toward the lot, then stopped and looked at the position of the Dumpster. Quickly, he put his hands on the lid, pushed down, and raised himself to the top. He brought his feet up and knelt there for a moment, then carefully placed his feet near the rim so his weight wouldn't cause the lid to bend and make a booming noise. He stood, shakily, and looked through the small window.

He was disappointed. There was a big room that looked like the inside of just about any other business. It wasn't so different from the open bay on the seventh floor of the McClaren Building. There were desks with computer terminals, filing cabinets along the walls, and bulletin boards with maps and papers pinned to them. The night shift was in: a few people were at desks working, a few walking around carrying papers or coffee cups. Then he began to notice small, unexpected things.

He craned his neck to see the map above the desk closest to him. It was Florida. At the far end of the room was a big console that had a lot of electronic equipment on it, small modules with dials and speakers. There was a woman wearing earphones sitting in front of it, fiddling with some k.n.o.bs.

Walker put his hands on the wall of the building and leaned closer so he could look down at the woman sitting at the desk to the left, below the window. She was staring at a computer screen, typing. Walker kept his face to the right side of the window and tried to see her screen, but he could not. He leaned farther, saw her open the top drawer of her desk, take out a piece of chewing gum, and start to unwrap it. Inside the drawer, beside the gum, was a pistol.

His eye caught movement to his right and he instinctively ducked close to the wall, prepared to jump. Then he picked a shape out of the shadows and recognized Mary, making her way toward him, and in a moment he could make out the bigger shape of Stillman, hurrying along behind.

"This isn't a good place to be," he whispered. "This is it-the place where they run everything. It's like a command center."

"Maybe that's good," Mary replied. "Maybe they won't look here while we call."

"Call?"

Stillman held up his hand and Walker could see a small black object in it. "I found one that was open. No guns, no keys, but there was a cell phone in it."

"What are you waiting for?" said Walker.

"I didn't come back here to ask what you wanted on your pizza," said Stillman. "I wanted to get out of sight." He stepped around the corner into the shelter of the building and in a moment Walker could hear the beeps as he began to punch numbers on the phone. Walker felt his heart beating faster. The waiting seemed impossible to bear.

Stillman said, "This is an emergency. I'd like to be connected with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yes, the FBI. The closest one to Coulter, New Hampshire." He paused. "Okay, just give me the number and I'll dial it."

Walker's eyes moved to the window as he tried to calm his nerves. The woman across the room looked different this time. She had the earphones clamped on her head, and she was moving the dials on her console with intense concentration. Walker heard the beep as Stillman terminated his connection.

The woman was standing now. She half-lifted the earphones from her ears as she raised her head and called out. Two men and another woman left their desks and hurried to lean over the console.

Walker said, "I don't like-"

"Sshh!" Stillman was dialing again.

"This is an emergency. My name is Max Stillman. I'm in the town of Coulter-"

The woman at the console flipped a switch. Stillman stopped talking and flinched. Even from atop the Dumpster, Walker could hear the whistling, crackling noise coming from the cell phone.

"They're jamming your call," said Walker. "Turn it off."

The noise stopped, but Walker could see that the people inside the building were suddenly animated. The woman at the console was saying something. Others were gathering near her. Walker watched in horror as the lady just to the left of the window opened the desk drawer and took out the gun. It looked huge in her small, manicured hand. Three men came in from another room carrying shotguns, on their way to the door.

"They know we're here!" he said, and jumped from the Dumpster.

They ran along the side of the building, with Stillman in the lead. At the corner he did not stop with his customary caution to look, just kept running for the line of parked cars. He moved between two of them in the first row, then to the next row, and the third, with Mary behind him and Walker last. When Stillman was beyond the third row, he turned up the aisle and dashed toward the Blazer.

Walker heard a metal door swing open and bang against a wall. There was a sound Walker had not heard since he was fourteen, but it was so distinctive that he identified it instantly: the click as the shotgun foregrip was pushed forward an inch, followed by the quick snick-chuck snick-chuck as the slide moved back, then forward to pump a sh.e.l.l into the chamber. as the slide moved back, then forward to pump a sh.e.l.l into the chamber.

The roar tore the air, and the rear window of the car beside him was swept away, blown backward in a shower of shattered gla.s.s. There was another roar, and the car ahead of him shuddered and listed a bit to the side as its left front tire was ripped apart and the car dropped to its rim.

Stillman plucked the keys out of Mary's hand, pushed her into the back seat, and climbed in behind the wheel. As he started the car, Walker flopped inside beside Mary and slammed the door.

The car's tires squealed and Stillman backed through a gap in the next row to put more cars between him and the men in front of the building, then stomped on the accelerator and sped across the lot to the street. There was another loud report, but Walker could not detect any damage to the windows.

"You can sit up now," Stillman said, then made the first turn to the right.

"Do you think you got through to them?" asked Mary.