It was Joey's E.T. doll, one of his favorite toys, which had been left behind in the house. The blast had torn off both of the doll's legs and one of its arms. Its face was scorched. Its round little belly was ripped open, and stuffing bulged out of the rent. It was only a doll, but somehow it seemed like a harbinger of death, a warning of what she would find when she finally located Joey. She began to run, keeping the fence in sight, circling the property, frantically searching for her son, tripping, falling, pushing up again, praying that she would find him whole, alive.
"Joey! "
Nothing.
"Joey! "
Nothing.
The smoke stung her eyes. It was hard to see.
"Joooeeeeey! "
Then she spotted him. He was lying at the back of the property, near the gate to the alley, face down on the rain-soaked grass, motionless.
Chewbacca was standing over him, nuzzling his neck, trying to get a response out of him, but the boy wouldn't respond, couldn't, just lay there, still, so very still.
She knelt and nudged the dog out of the way.
She put her hands on Joey's shoulders.
For a moment she was afraid to turn him over, afraid that his face had been smashed in or his eyes punctured by flying debris.
Sobbing, coughing as another tide of smoke lapped out from the burning ruins behind them, she finally rolled him gently onto his back. His face was unmarked. There were smears of dirt but no cuts or visible fractures, and the rain was swiftly washing even the dirt away. She could see no blood. Thank God.
His eyelids fluttered. Opened. His eyes were unfocused.
He had merely been knocked unconscious.
The relief that surged through her was so powerful that it made her feel buoyant, as if she were floating inches off the ground.
She held him, and when his eyes finally cleared, she checked him for concussion by holding up three fingers in front of his face and asking him how many he saw.
He blinked and looked confused.
"How many fingers, honey?" she repeated.
He wheezed a few times, getting smoke out of his lungs, then said,
"Three. Three fingers."
"Now how many?"
Having freed himself from the thorn-studded rose bushes, Max Steck joined them.
To Joey, Christine said, "Do you know who I am?"
He seemed puzzled, not because he had trouble finding the answer but because he couldn't figure out why she was asking the question." You're Mom," he said.
"And what's your name?"
"Don't you know my name?"
"I want to see if you know it," she said.
"Well, sure, I know it," he said." Joey. Joseph. Joseph Antheny Scavello." No concussion.
Relieved, she hugged him tight.
Sandy Breckenstein crouched beside them, coughing smoke out of his lungs. His forehead was cut above his left eye, and blood sheathed one side of his face, but he wasn't seriously hurt.
"Can the boy be moved?" Breckenstein asked.
"He's fine," Max Steck said.
"Then let's get out of here. They may come nosing around to see if the explosives took care of us."
Max unlatched the gate, pushed it open.
Chewbacca dashed through, into the alleyway, and the rest of them followed.
It was a narrow alley, with the back yards of houses on both sides of it, as well as a garage here and there, and lots of garbage cans awaiting pickup. There were no gutters or drains, and water streamed down the width of the one-lane passage, rushing toward storm culverts at the bottom of the hill.
As the four of them sloshed into the middle of the shallow stream, trying to decide which way to go, another gate opened two doors up the hill, and a tall man in a hooded yellow rain slicker came out of another yard. Even in the rain and the gloom, Christine could see that he was carrying a gun.
Max brought up his revolver, gripping it in both hands, and shouted,
"Drop it!"
But the stranger opened fire.
Max fired, too, three shots in quick succession, and he was a much better marksman than his enemy. The would-be assassin was hit in the leg and fell even as the sound of the shots roared up the hillside. He rolled, splashing through the rivulet, his yellow rain slicker flapping like the wings of an enormous and brightly colored bird. He collided with two garbage cans, knocked them over, half-disappeared under a spreading mound of refuse. The gun flew out of his hand, spun along the macadam.
They didn't even wait to see if the man was dead or alive.
There might be other Twilighters nearby.
"Let's get out of this neighborhood," Max said urgently." Get to a phone, call this in, get a backup team out here."
With Sandy and Chewbacca leading the way and Max bringing up the rear, they ran down the hill, slipping and sliding a bit on the slick macadam but avoiding a fall.
Christine looked back a couple of times.
The wounded man had not gotten up from the garbage in which he'd landed.
No one was pursuing them.
Yet.
They turned right at the first corner, raced along a flat street that ran across the side of the hill, past a startled mailman who jumped out of their way. A ferocious wind sprang up, as if giving chase. As they fled, the wind-shaken trees tossed and shuddered around them, and the brittle branches of palms clattered noisily, and an empty soda can tumbled along at their heels.
After two blocks, they left the flat street and turned into an other steeply sloped avenue. Overhanging trees formed a tunnel across the roadway and added to the gloom of the sunless day, so that it almost seemed like evening rather than morning.
Breath burned in Christine's throat. Her eyes still stung from the smoke they had left behind them, and her heart was beating so hard and fast that her chest ached. She didn't know how much farther she could go at this pace. Not far.
She was surprised that Joey's little legs could pump this fast.
The rest of them weren't keeping back much on account of the boy; he could hold his own.
A car was coming up the hill, headlights stabbing out before it, cutting through the thinning mist and the deep shadows cast by the huge trees.
Christine was suddenly sure that Grace Spivey's people were behind those lights. She grabbed Joey by one shoulder, turned him in another direction.
Sandy shouted at her to stay with him, and Max shouted something she couldn't make out, and Chewbacca began barking loudly, but she ignored them.
Didn't they see death coming?
She heard the car's engine growing louder behind her. It sounded feral, hungry.
Joey stumbled on a canted section of sidewalk, went down, skidding into someone's front yard.
She threw herself on him to protect him from the gunfire she expected to hear at any second.
The car drew even with them. The sound of its laboring engine filled the world.
She cried out, "No!"
But the car went by without stopping. It hadn't been Grace Spivey's people, after all.
Christine felt foolish as Max Steck helped her to her feet. The entire world wasn't after them. It only seemed that way.
In downtown Laguna Beach, in an Arco Service Station they took shelter from the storm and from Grace Spivey's disciples.
After Sandy Breckenstein showed the manager his PI license and explained enough of the situation to gain cooperation, they were allowed to bring Chewbacca into the service bay, as long as they tied him securely to a tool rack. Sandy didn't want to let the dog outside, not only because it would get wet-it was already soaked and shivering-but because there was a possibility, however insignificant, that Spivey's people might be cruising around town, looking for them, and might spot the dog.