The Library at Mount Char Part 31

Steve looked through the scope. The house was quiet now. Thin trickles of smoke leaked from the windows. As he watched, Mrs. McGillicutty staggered outside. She was b.l.o.o.d.y and dazed, but very much alive. "Hey, there's the old lady! What's that she's holding!"

Carolyn took the scope and looked for herself, then handed it back. "m.u.f.fins. She's got m.u.f.fins." She shook her head, smiled a little. "David must have saved her as well. Just when you think you know a person..."

"What do we do now?" Steve asked.

"Now we wait, for a little while."

"For what?" Steve asked.

"For David to come back."

"Back?" Erwin asked. "Where'd he go?"

"He's off to Washington."

"What for?"

"He's going to kill the president, and everyone involved in what just happened. He'll use the broadest possible definitions of 'everyone' and 'involved.'"

Steve boggled at her. "That's imposs-can he do that?"

"David? Yes. They might as well start digging the graves right now. The president's a dead man."

Steve stared at her, aghast.

"Oh, for gosh sakes. It was his idea to start killing people, remember? Before his Army guys showed up, everyone was just sitting around and eating brownies. Anyway, I doubt most people will even notice. They'll have bigger things to worry about."

Erwin's eyes narrowed. "What's that mean?"

"What time is it?"

"Uh," he glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "Around four fifteen?"

"Any second now." She gave a thin, feral smile.

Steve felt the hairs on the back of his neck p.r.i.c.kle. "Carolyn, what did you do?"

She didn't answer with words, just pointed at the sky.

It was just after four in the afternoon. The sun was still well above the tree line. The sky was clear. There was no eclipse. All of these things were true, but after a few seconds Steve was forced to accept what his eyes were telling him.

The sun was going out.

V.

For the next minute and a half or so the sun faded from the blazing yellow that was normal for this time of day to a mellower sunset orange, then red. Steve, watching this, thought, It's like someone's turning the switch on one of those dimmer bulbs reeeeeally slow.

At first Erwin hung his head out the driver's-side window to watch, but then-evidently forgetting that he was kinda-sorta in custody-he fumbled the Taurus's door open and stood in the parking lot next to Steve. "Eclipse?" Steve said softly, knowing it wasn't.

Erwin shook his head. "Nah. Can't be. Maybe it's...is it shrinking, too?"

"I can't tell...well...yeah. Maybe." Steve held his thumbnail up for comparison. He could do this without even squinting. The sun had faded to a dirty and unenthusiastic brown. As it went finally to black he saw that it did visibly shrink, at least a little.

Then it was gone.

Steve felt the afternoon warmth fall away from his skin. The October breeze, its slight chill suddenly ominous, rustled dry leaves. How cold can it get? he wondered. How cold does it get on Pluto? Oxygen is a liquid there, isn't it? He shivered more than the breeze really warranted.

"Are you seeing this?" Erwin asked softly.

"I think so," Steve said. "Are you sure about the time?" Ignoring the evidence before his eyes, he was clinging to the notion that maybe this was just a normal sunset.

Erwin checked his watch. "Four eighteen, give or take."

"You're sure?" Steve said. His heart pounded in his chest. The stars were out. They burned down on him like the eyes of distant monsters, huge and merciless. A streetlamp flickered on, coating the parking lot in phlegmy yellow light. Naga looked up at the sky and rumbled, uneasy.

"Right on schedule," Carolyn said from behind him. She sounded pleased with herself.

Steve spun around. "You did this? That's impossible. It's got to be..." He fluttered his hands, helpless. "Why would you do this?"

"That's sort of a long story."

"This is real?" Erwin asked. His voice was flat, unemotional. His eyes flickered back and forth between her face and the gun in her hands. "It's not a trick?"

"I don't do tricks." She took a step back, out of range.

"Put it back!" Steve said. "Turn it on! We'll all-turn it back on!"

She shook her head. "I can't."

"Jesus Christ, Carolyn! You've got to! We'll...everybody...we'll freeze!"

"Not immediately," she said. "I talked it over with Peter once. The atmosphere acts like a blanket. The residual heat will fade, eventually, but we've got some time."

"What are we going to do?"

She considered. "Are you hungry? I'm starving. We've got some time to kill. I know a good Mexican place down the road. The guacamole is-"

"I'm not interested in any G.o.dd.a.m.n tacos, Carolyn!"

"Oh, c'mon. It's really good."

"Look, I'm sick of this c.r.a.p. Right now I want you to-"

"Get me some guacamole and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

Steve, red-faced, drew in his breath to yell something else...then shut his mouth with an audible click of his teeth. "You will? Anything?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"OK," Steve said. "Yeah."

Carolyn turned back to Erwin. "We're going to take your car."

Erwin raised an eyebrow. He stood about six-two, Steve judged, and was in fantastic physical shape. He remembered the way the big cop had withered under his glare.

Carolyn, pistol in hand, raised her eyebrows. She smiled pleasantly.

"Keys are in it," Erwin said.

"Money," Steve said. "Did you bring the duffel bag?"

"What? Oh. No, sorry. I gave it to the cabdriver."

"To the cabdriver? All three hundred twenty-seven thousand?"

She shrugged. "I felt kind of sad for him. They ate some of his fingers."

"Wait, what? Who ate-" He broke off. "On second thought, never mind. I don't want to know." Steve rubbed his forehead, then looked at Erwin. "Have you got any money?"

Erwin raised both eyebrows this time. But then he shrugged and rummaged through his wallet. He handed over three twenties, a five, and a couple of ones. "That's all my cash. You want my AmEx, too?"

"No, thanks."

"Thank you, Erwin," Carolyn said. "You've been very helpful." Steve opened the Taurus's back door and patted the seat with his hand. Naga hesitated, then jumped in. Carolyn took the pa.s.senger seat. When Steve put the Ford in gear she said, "Wait."

Her HK was identical to the one she had given Steve. She thumbed the lever to drop the magazine out of it, then jacked the slide back, ejecting the round in the chamber. She clicked the loose round back into the magazine, then turned to Steve. "How do I make the window go down?"

Steve pointed at a b.u.t.ton on the door. When the window was down she waved Erwin over. "Here," she said. She handed him the empty pistol, b.u.t.t first. "For protection. There's a lot of crazy people out tonight. Be careful."

"Ain't much good without bullets," Erwin observed.

"I'll set the magazine on the sidewalk at the bottom of the hill."

Erwin nodded. "Thanks."

When they were a little ways out of the parking lot, Steve pulled into a turn lane and stopped. Carolyn laid the magazine next to a streetlight and waved at Erwin. Erwin waved back.

"What was that all about?"

"He seems nice." She gave him a vague smile.

Steve knew that she was lying again.

VI.

To Steve's irritation, Carolyn was right. The guacamole really was excellent.

The restaurant she liked turned out to be Monsieur Taco, which was in the same strip mall as the vet. Carolyn had insisted that they go there, that particular restaurant and no other, even though the parking lot was still boiling with cops. She said it wouldn't be a problem. Steve had a bad moment when the big cop that Erwin had humiliated looked their way, but nothing came of it. Steve parked in back, and Carolyn rumbled something to Naga. She rumbled back and curled up in the backseat to go to sleep.

The place was weirdly upscale for strip-mall Mexican-among other things, there were valets and a doorman. Steve parked himself, though-Naga was sleeping in the backseat, and he didn't think that would go over very well. He was also worried that the fact his b.u.t.t was visible through a hole in his crusty sweatpants might be a problem. But the closest anyone came to giving them trouble was the matre d'. His right arm was in a cast, and he apparently remembered Carolyn from an earlier visit. When she asked for a table for two, he screamed and bolted for the door.

Steve gave Carolyn a what-the-f.u.c.k look.

"Hmm? Oh. We came here a couple weeks ago. David doesn't understand about money. When he started to walk out without paying that guy grabbed him, and..." She trailed off.

"Wackiness ensued. Got it."

They ended up seating themselves at the bar.

Steve didn't think he could eat, but Carolyn insisted he try the lobster tacos. While they were waiting he drank a half pitcher of margaritas, which cooled him out some. By the time the food was actually in front of him he had rediscovered his appet.i.te. Carolyn, however, only managed a couple of bites.

"I hate to admit it, but this actually is fantastic." Steve munched a chip and pushed the guacamole bowl an inch or two closer to her. She ate a chip or two, but only pushed her dinner around on the plate. "Something wrong? I thought you said you were starving."

"I am, but my stomach's a little upset." She shrugged. "Nerves, maybe. I've got a lot on my mind."

"Hmm. You said you'd answer questions?"

"Sure. Might as well. We've got time to kill, and it'll take my mind off...other stuff. Ask me whatever you want."

The restaurant was starting to fill up. An elderly woman in a mink stole eyed Carolyn's leg warmers and Steve's b.l.o.o.d.y concert shirt, then did something haughty with her face. Steve waved at her Queen Elizabeth-style, wrist only, and gave her a big toothy grin. She scurried away. "Hmm. Where to start?" He drummed his fingers on the table. "Can you really talk to Naga? Like, I mean, really?"

"I can, yeah. Animal languages are their own specialty, but I get by. My p.r.o.nunciation isn't as good as Michael's."

"How did you guys learn that?"

"Father figured it out. He took notes."

"Notes on talking to lions?"

"That, yes. Other animals too. Everything that has a language, really."

"That must have taken him a while."