Kobol broke into a toothy grin. “That’s about what I would expect.”
“As long as we understand each other,” Alec said, unsmiling.
The night was different.
It wasn’t merely a turning down of the lights. It was dark. And alive.
Alec rode perched on the front fender of the laser truck, which trundled along quietly carrying the dozen men, including Kobol and himself. The driver, burrowed in the armored cockpit between the fenders, was groping along the winding road using the infrared lights and sensors. Up here in the open night air, all the ancient tales of ghosts and werewolves seemed only too real.
It’s absolute nonsense, Alec told himself.
But still, there were things out there in the dark.
Things that croaked and groaned, things that sighed, sudden cries and strange ghostly hootings.
“Bet that’s what they call an owl,” said a voice behind Alec.
The clouds had started to lift just before sundown, giving Alec and his men the most heart-catching sight they had ever seen: an earthly sunset, vibrant with reds and flame-orange that slowly paled to blue, then softest violet, and finally to star-strewn darkness.
The sky was clear now, and except for their disturbing twinkling, the stars seemed very normal.
Where the highway swung close to the trees, though, even the stars were blotted out. All that Alec could see were the twisted black branches rustling in the moaning wind, swaying across the faint brightness of the sky. He shuddered, and not merely from the growing chill.
The truck braked to a stop so suddenly that Alec almost lurched off the fender.
“What is it?” he whispered urgently into his helmet mike.
From inside the armored cockpit the driver replied, “Something moved out there.”
“Something? What?”
“Don’t know. It threw off enough heat to register on the scope. Big as a man. Maybe more than one.”
Alec swiftly considered the alternatives. “All right. We’re not going to stop. All you troopers get off the truck and walk alongside. If you see movement, tell me on the intercom. Don’t fire unless fired upon. Joe, keep the truck apace with us on foot. Let me know what you see on that ’scope.”
“Right.”
The ride down the broken, abandoned highway slowed to a walk, a crawl. Alec hefted his machine pistol and snapped its wire stock into place, so he could rest the base against his hip. He walked a few paces out in front of the truck, well off to the right shoulder of the highway. The road was broad enough for several trucks to pass side by side. But the brush and trees came right up to the edge of the cement and even invaded the cracks in the paving. An army could hide in here, Alec knew.
But he saw nothing.
“Something up ahead!” the driver’s voice sounded shrilly in his earphones.
“I saw something!” a trooper agreed excitedly.
“It went across the road from left to right. Fast.”
Alec said, “Gunner—spray the right shoulder of the highway… how far up ahead, Joe?”
“About fifty meters, I’d say.”
“Fifty meters, gunner.”
The truck stopped. The low hum of its electric motors was replaced by the high-pitched whine of the special generator that drove the laser. In the darkness Alec could barely make out the oval metal mirror of the laser as it turned slightly in his direction, catching a glint of starlight on its polished copper surface.
Then the whine rose to a harsh crescendo and the woods some fifty meters ahead burst into sudden flame. It sounded like a dull whooshing explosion, then a roaring crackle, as the invisible laser beam poured infrared energy into the brush.
In the lurid light of the flames two large animals leaped onto the highway and bounded across it and into the brush on the other side. They were four-footed, with graceful slim legs.
“Deer,” someone said disgustedly.
“Deers have horns on ’em.”
“Not all the time!”
“Cease firing,” Alec commanded.
The flames disappeared as abruptly as they had sprung up, leaving a patch of dull red embers at the side of the road. Alec smelled an oddly pleasing odor. It made him want to cough, yet it touched a cord so deep inside him that he had never known it was there. Burning wood? Why should it smell so good?
With a shake of his head, he ordered, “All right, everybody back on the truck. If there were any people there, they’ve taken off by now.”
Kobol climbed back up on the left front fender with a grunt, then said loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Well, there’s your ambush—two scared deer.”
They all laughed as the truck started up again.
But Alec couldn’t help thinking, He’s out there.
Somewhere he’s out there waiting for us. And he’s not alone.
He checked with Ron Jameson back at the airport twice over the next few hours. No activity there; a quiet night with no movement. The men were sleeping in relays.
Alec found that his own men were dozing off as they rode, clinging to various parts of the truck, sprawling wherever they could find enough flat surface. He took over the driving himself, after his second call to Jameson, and let the driver catch a nap on the fender. Even Kobol seemed to be drowsing, chin on chest, head bobbing gently as they drove.
In the infrared scope before him, the highway showed clearly as a band of orange stretching out ahead, crisscrossed by cracks and breaks. The foliage to either side was pink, except for a small scurrying animal here and there, which showed a bright red.
“Who’s on the gun?” Alec asked softly into his helmet mike.
“Gianelli.”
“You wide awake?”
“Depend on it. Got my IR goggles on—they’re so damned heavy they’re giving me a headache. I couldn’t fall asleep if I wanted to.”
“Good.”
“Glad to hear you’re worrying about me, chief.”
Alec grinned to himself. “You just keep a sharp eye out, especially to our rear. I’m watching up front.”
“Right. I’ve been doing that. Nothing moving except a few more deer.”
“You’re sure they’re deer?”
Gianelli laughed softly. “Unless men bounce across the road on all fours.”
“All right.”
Alec was still driving when they topped a rise and the heat-radiating buildings of the Oak Ridge complex came into view on his scope. Almost automatically he slowed the truck to a gradual, gentle stop. Then he glanced at his wristwatch. The Sun will be up in another hour and a half.
For a moment he debated waking the sleeping men. Instead, he fished in the pouch at his belt for a stimulant capsule and swallowed it dry, with a hard gulp. Then he swung the overhead cockpit hatch open.
Climbing out into the breeze-murmuring night, he stood on the top deck of the truck and stretched his cramped arms and legs. Sleeping bodies sprawled everywhere, barely visible in the darkness.
Another weird hooting sound floated out from the woods, sending a shiver along Alec’s spine.
Stepping over one of the dozing men, he reached the laser gun mount. “Gianelli?” he whispered.
“Yeah.”
“Take a nap. I’ll stand watch.”
Gianelli did not argue. Alec climbed into the gunner’s jumpseat and silently took the infrared goggles from his hand. The laser was humming softly, set on wide-beam scan, acting as a searchlight instead of a weapon.
The goggles were heavy. Alec had to make a conscious effort to keep his head erect as he slowly swung the gun mount around in a complete circle. The faint whine of the drive motors sounded almost comforting against the strange night noises from beyond the truck.
The trees appeared ghostly white in the goggles, the concrete buildings of the complex down in the valley below were a hotter shade of orange. The buildings were set out in an open area, with the closest trees many meters away. The land around the buildings looked dark, lifeless. Maybe some grass, but not much else.