Robert did not even wait until the preacher left the chambers. "We don't have time to play games here to night," he said. He looked around the room, and to Rich it seemed as though he had gained a stature he hadn't had a few moments before.
What a difference the perception of power made. "The important thing right now is that we get the word out and make people aware that there's a vampire loose in Rio Verde. He's already killed four people, maybe more, and God knows how many animals. He'll kill again. You can believe in the Chinese stuff or not, but make sure that you and your families and your friends and your coworkers stay indoors after dark.
If you have to go someplace, run to your car, run from your car, stay inside locked buildings as much as possible. All of the murders so far have taken place outside, in the open air. I don't know if it's true that a vampire has to be invited before he can come in"--he looked at Sue, who shook her headm'but he's not going into people's homes or places of business. So far. If we take precautions and don't act stupidly, we'll get through this."
The questions were again shouted chaotically, but they were more serious, more thoughtful, more specific. Many of them were addressed to Sue, and she and her father tried to answer them carefully and thoroughly.
"I am going to need volunteers!" Robert announced. "I want to establish patrol teams to watch for the vampire each night, and I don't have the manpower for it. You'll be in pairs, either patrolling the streets or stationed in appropriate locations, and you'll be outfitted with two-way communications devices. If that thing makes a move against anyone in this town, I want to know about it. We'll be on him so fast, he won't know what hit him. If anyone's interested, come up to me afterward. I have a sign up sheet here, and I'd be glad to have you aboard."
This time the applause was unanimous, erupting simultaneously throughout the members of the crowd.
"We got to them," Rich said to Sue. "They heard us." "Maybe."
"Maybe?"
She frowned. "Your brother made it sound as though jade is an option, like they can use jade or a cross; that it doesn't matter as long as they believe in the cup hugirngs's existence. But the creature doesn't care whether you believe in it or not. It exists, and jade and willow can ward it off. Crosses and garlic and the rest of those movie things do nothing."
"But they know that now. They heard you. They listened." "Maybe," she said again.
Robert had moved to the center of the council chambers and was surrounded by a clamoring group of men and women trying to talk to him.
Rich could see that a clipboard was being passed around. Apparently, there was no shortage of volunteers.
It was late, and it was dark outside--a fact that seemed to be just below the surface of everyone's mind. People kept glancing toward the door, toward the blackness beyond the exterior lights of the building.
The crowd outside had virtually disappeared, and it was not too long before the inside crowd began to thin out. Rich sidled up next to his brother. He saw the FBI agent, who had remained unmoving in his seat until now, stand and approach. Rossiter stopped in front of Robert.
"I need to talk to you," he said. "Where's Cash?"
"Cash is an asshole."
"You're noLW'
"I believe you about the vampire," Rossiter said. "I'm willing to support you on this. The FBI's behind you." He looked toward Sue, her father, and grandmother. "I'd like to talk to the Chinese girl."
"Sue Wing," Robert said.
"What?" "She has a name. Her name is Sue Wing."
"Right." Rossiter looked at his watch. "Finish this up and meet me in your office in ten minutes." He turned to leave without waiting for a response.
"Make it twenty," Robert said.
Rossiter did not turn, did not seem to have heard him but continued walking.
Rich grinned. "I guess he'll just have to wait an extra ten minutes."
Robert grinned back. "I have a sneaking suspicion it'll be closer to fifteen." He turned back to the excited men and women in front of him ..... Rich leaned against the front counter next to Woods. The coroner was tired, and more than once had announced he was going home, but he continued to tough it out.
This was too important to miss.
Sue sat at Lee Anne desk, her father and grandmother in borrowed chairs next to her. Robert and Rossiter leaned against the desk opposite them. The FBI had been asking questions for over an hour, of all of them, but mostly of Sue and her grandmother.
"How much firepower are you going to need?" he asked Sue. "How many men should I have assigned to this case?"
She shook her head. "I told you. We don't need any of that."
"It can't hurt." ,
"Human weapons are of no use against the cup hugirng,s/. And, yes, it can hurt. We need seven men. Seven men to be chosen by my grandmother." "Because seven is a lucky number." "Right."
"But it just seems to me that it would be prudent to have some backup."
"Do you understand what I'm telling you? You can have nuclear weapons, and it won't make any difference."
A flicker of interest crossed the agent's features. "Now that would be interesting."
"Jesus."
"I think we've had enough here tonight," Robert said. "We're all tired; we're all a little cranky. Let's just go home and get some sleep." "No," Rossiter said. "I'm not finished here."
"We are." Sue stood. She said something in Cantonese to her grandmother and father, and the three of them rose. They walked around the desk and toward the gate in the front counter. She turned, looking over her shoulder, and smiled at the agent. "Keep in touch."
Rich grinned at her as she passed by on her way out:
Pastor Wheeler looked at his watch. It was midnight Exactly. He walked onto the makeshift platform and faced his congregation. They were seated before him on chairs, benches, boulders, and the hard ground of the vacant lot. Behind them, in its exquisite blackness, was the Church of the Living Christ.
In three days it would be completed.
In three days, the Second Coming would be upon them. Wheeler looked out upon his flock. There were easily two hundred people here tonight.
In the first row, he saw Bill Covey seated next to the Methodist pastor.
They were all coming around. Just as Jesus had said they would.
It was too bad that only forty of them would be chosen by the Lord to live, but, as the Savior liked to say, those were the rules of the room, love 'em or leave 'em. And, of course, those of the faithful who voluntarily sacrificed themselves on the altar or in the pits would be rewarded in Heaven and would not perish but would have everlasting life. The rest... The rest would get what they deserved, He felt exhilarated, and he breathed deeply, taking in the cold desert air.
After Jesus' rebirth, the Word would spread, and soon people from all over the state, all over the country, all over the world, would come to pay horn age to the Living Christ. And Jesus would pass judgment on them.
The preacher smiled upon his congregation. He began to speak. He spoke of the wickedness of the world and the goodness of God, and then he said what Jesus had told him to say. "Chinksl" he said, grinning fiercely. "The heathen Chinee! The Lord Jesus Christ has foreseen that the yellow race will try to prevent Him from accomplishing His goals and bringing to light a brave new worldl It is up to us, the servants of God, the Christian soldiers, to prove our love for Him by stopping this pagan plotI"
Wheeler looked upon the sea of rapt faces before him, pale blurs in the night. He lowered his voice, but it could still be heard clearly in the hushed stillness. "They will try to attack the church. They must be stopped. Go home tonight and get your guns, your knives, your axes, your hatchets. Anything that can be used to defend the house of the Lord. Bring them here to me." He grinned. "When they attack, we will be ready. And we shall overcome. We will hurt them and torture them and feed their bleeding yellow bodies to Jesus, and He will pick his teeth with their bones."