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I watched Musgrove reorganize the bones into circles, then center one skull in each.
Thatwas wrong.
Moving quickly, Musgrove placed all the long bones in a row and swapped the positions of the two right ulnae.
No, I thought. That’s not how you do it.
A jagged bolt ripped across the sky.
Flash!
In the blinding glare, I saw a figure, off to one side. Imposingheight suggested it was a male. The figure’s right arm rose, to beckon, to wave, or to warn me away.
I called out.
What? What do you want?
No sound left my lips.
The figure started in my direction, a one-armed cut-out against a black horizon.
Flash!
The figure wore a white shirt and orange pants. Darkness concealed its features.
I swiveled to see if Musgrove was noticing. She wasn’t there.
I turned back.
The figure was now standing in the middle of a lush green field. No. Not a field. A soccer pitch. The sky was blue, the sun buttery yellow. The painted lines and center circle gleamed white as fresh snow on summer grass.
Other players jogged onto the pitch.
Faces blazed clear.
I recognized the one-armed figure as Delroy Monck. Monck moved to the left center forward position. Musgrove joined him at the right.
Quentin Bonner, Ryder Palke, and Bobby Galloway arranged themselves as midfielders. RTCIPF cops Rigby, Gardiner, Stubbs, and Kemp went to the backfield. Oddly, the fifth defender was SPVM Constable Plante.
Each team member was uniformed in blood red. Except for the goalie. Instead of a crimson jersey and shorts, he or she wore a neon green and yellow tee with a striped emblem on the front. There would be no confusing that player’s position.
I was now sitting with other spectators high up on steep bleachers. I turned to the man beside me to ask a question. The man was Ryan.
Le gardien est la clé, he said. The goalkeeper is the key.
Since the goalie’s face was obscured, I asked who it was.
La clé.
Out on the pitch, Monck crossed to speak to Musgrove. She threw up her hands and strode off the field.
What’s happening? I asked.
“Decoy run,” Ryan said in English.
30
SATURDAY, JULY20
