“Do you think, maybe, this proves we aren’t alone in the universe?” Ray asked, a surprising note of longing in his voice.
We had it in our hands—the cure for the ills of the world—and we let go of it, Peta thought as the lights came back on in the suite. She knew without looking that the monitors were back in operation, and that downstairs in the casino and out on the Strip, it was business as usual. “And so the world goes on,” she said.
“Time for our meeting?” Frik was apparently trying to resume command of the situation.
“We’ll meet, all right, but without you.” Arthur took a step toward him. “You’re out of here.”
The others chorused their agreement.
Frik didn’t move. Almost in pantomime, Ray walked over to Arthur’s side. Frik backed up to the exit. “You’ll be sorry, you bastards.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Arthur said. “What do you think, guys?” His glance included Peta.
Reserving judgment on the issue of whether or not she wanted to be one of the boys, she joined the Daredevils as they walked Frikkie out of the penthouse.
Epilogue
GULF OFPARIA, JANUARY1, 2001
At the base of the abandoned oil rig in the Dragon’s Mouth, off the coast of Trinidad, Manny Sheppard cut his engine. In the absolute quiet of the Caribbean night, he watched a strange glow hovering over the water.
Beneath it, a rippling began, like waves from a dropped stone. Once, twice, and again, as if in a three-gun salute to Obeah, and to the dead and finally buried, the glow faded and returned. Then it began a slow ascent into the heavens.
About the Authors
Kevin J. Anderson has written twenty-six national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and theScience Fiction Chronicle Readers’ Choice Award. He lives in Monument, Colorado. Janet Berliner, author of many novels, including the Bram Stoker Award–winningChildren of the Dusk (with George Guthridge), lives in Las Vegas. She has also edited many anthologies, includingPeter S. Beagle’s Immortal Unicorn . Matthew J. Costello lives north of New York City. He is the author of numerous novels, includingUnidentified , a recent Literary Guild Selection, and has teamed up with F. Paul Wilson on two previous novels. F. Paul Wilson has written more than twenty novels, including the bestsellerThe Keep and the Repairman Jack novels. Twice winner of the Prometheus Award for best libertarian fiction, he lives in Wall, New Jersey.