Bruce checked off something on his list. "Good. I'll have The Ghost set up the Great Scavenger Hunt." He looked at Alex. "Fans will come up with stuff we never thought of. You'll have your cornucopia."
Bruce checked off another item on the list. "Mike."
Mike came to abrupt attention--hard to do while slumped in a chair--and snapped a salute. "Oui, mon capitan!"
You find out about the plastic corn at Iowa State."
"Yes, mon capitan!" He looked at Sherrine. "I'll need a name," he said.
Sherrine rose. "I can call my grandmother right now. Oliver, can I use your phone?'
"Use a public phone," said Thor. "Always use public phones. Its a rule."
Fang looked at him. "I thought you were quitting this."
Thor shrugged and looked away. "Last reflex twitch of a dying brain."
"Don't do it now," said Bruce. "Wait till we're done here." He studied his list and licked the point of his pencil. "Steve. You've got to get back to California, right?"
Steve, meditating in a full lotus on the floor, answered without opening his eyes. "Right."
"Could you be our point man for the first option? Head up to Edwards and talk to Gary. Get the full picture. Fill him in on what's happening. Find out if he'll volunteer his bird."
"He'll volunteer, all right. I only met him the once; but the one thing in life he wants more than anything else is to fly that bucket."
Harry popped the lid of a beer can. "Odds are that Wade has already filled him in."
"Sure, but Wade doesn't know everything. Steve, it can't hurt to make sure."
Steve opened his eyes. "I know that. My dojo can stay closed another few days."
"We're not asking you to go underground," said Bruce, checking another item off the list. "Oliver will hide the Angels until everything is ready."
Oliver bowed. "My honor."
"Especially Gordon," added Violetta, giving the younger Angel a broad smile. "You can make Roland jealous."
Gordon said, "Well, uh…"
"Check," said Bruce. "Next item is to get the trucks--"
"Larry and Curly," said Cole.
"--to California. We need drivers." He looked at Thor, Fang and Harry.
"I told you already," Thor said. "Count me out."
Harry shrugged. "I can take one, but the bike will be more useful. You'll need scouts, and Jenny and I do that best."
Fang raised his hand and waved it back and forth. "I want Larry."
Bruce blinked. "Why Larry in particular?"
"Because I always liked him. The Forgotten Stooge. He never got the credit he deserved."
Bruce made a note on his pad. "Fine. Jenny can ride the bike--or can you drive this rig?"
Bob said "She doesn't have to. I'll drive."
Bruce frowned. "Bob? Don't you have to be back at the University?"
"I took care of that. I'm not going back."
Sherrine looked at him. "What happens to your students? I thought you told me you owed it to your students to teach them."
He met her eyes. "I will be teaching them. This will be a lesson they never forget."
"Are you contemplating going to orbit?" Alex asked.
"Sure. I'm in good shape, I have a Ph.D in physics, and the rocket seats--what? More than two."
"More than two, da," Gordon said. "But--"
"He's saying don't burn your bridges," Alex said. "Commander Hopkins may not want another physicist. Even if this Phoenix works, which isn't all that damn clear to me."
"I know that," Bob said. "I didn't quit. On the way here I called the University and told them I have typhus.
"Typhus?" Thor said.
"Why not?"
Damn you, Sherrine thought. And I'll be back at my computer console-
Bruce tugged on his beard. "Okay, then. Bob and Fang drive. Harry and Jenny scout ahead. Steve takes the train to coordinate with Hudson. Now what about Dr. Cole? Ron, what do you want to do? Stay here?"
"It may not be safe," Cole said. "It has been getting worse every year. Another year, two at most No, there is no reason for me to stay here now."
"Want to go to California?"
"No. It would be too painful," Cole said. "You may have the tank trucks. I have another, a six-wheeler. If you will help me load my still on it, I will be all right."
"I'll help," Thor said. "Ron, if you like, I'll go with you. "
Cole looked at him. "I remember you. Yes, I would like that. Thank you."
Sherrine took a deep breath. "I'm going, too," she announced.
"What?" said Bob. "Now, wait. You can't take that chance."
"You are."
Bruce brandished his list. "You've got to go back to Minneapolis to coordinate the Angels' new IDs," he said.
She shook her head. She had been wondering for days whether she was risking her job--whatever security she could count on in poor, doomed Minneapolis--or whether she was leaving it behind. Now she knew. Damn Bob, anyway. "You don't need me. The Legion of Doom can handle this. So I guess it's not so important that I get back to my job tomorrow--"
"What you're saying," Bob said, "is that you don't want to go back to your job."
She took another deep breath. "I guess that is what I said, isn't it?"
Sherrine called her grandmother from a phone booth in the candy store on the corner. She used a few tricks to shunt the call through four other trunks just to humor Thor. After she had talked to Gram, she was glad she had.
She must have looked badly shaken up when she left the phone booth because Harry, who had escorted her there, looked concerned. "What's wrong, Sherry?"
"I--" She shook her head. "Take me back, Harry."
Back in the Brown apartment, she handed Mike a slip of paper with a name and phone number. Then she turned to Bob and fell into his arms. "Oh, Bob. We made the right choice, after all." Tears ran down her cheeks. When had she started crying, for Ghu's sake? She didn't like to cry.
"What do you mean?" Bob asked.
"I mean they know about us!"
"Who?"
Bruce rose from his chair. "Who knows what?"
"The police. Gram said they came to her house asking questions. About me. About a maroon van. I--I--" She paused, took a deep breath. "I made some other calls. Tremont says they've got my house staked out and they're asking about Bob around the University."
Bob stepped away from her. He looked a little gray.
Sherrine touched his arm. "We'd both already decided we weren't going back."
"I know. It's just…"
"What?"
"Now we can't go back. It's different when somebody's following you around burning bridges."
Bruce and Mike exchanged glances. "What about the rest of us? Doc Waxman?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. But why would they have any clues that point to you guys?"
Mike let out his breath and Sherrine knew that she should be relieved for his sake, as well; but she was simply angry that he was happy to be off the hook.
"Oh, dammit. Dammit." She made fists of her hands. "I never had much; but it's gone now. My house. My car. All my clothes, except what I packed for this 'two-day' excursion. Everything."
Bob shook his head and said, yeah, he was sorry for her, too. And that made her cry even more, because, hell, Bob had lost as much or more as she had, and somehow he could smile. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned and stared into Ron Cole's crazy eyes.
"Don't worry, dear," he said. "Don't worry. You can always stay in my Titan. The sister of misfortune is hope."
"Oh, Ron Cole. That's the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me."
"Gather round," Bruce said. He sat in front of Oliver Brown's fireplace and tapped the paper against his hand. "I've got a list."