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—
The approaches tothe Albuquerque airport were easily made into a vehicle trap, with the help of the state police. The approach was uphill and flattened out and actually tipped downhill at the turn to the parking garage and at the arrivals and departure areas. Checkpoints in the downhill areas couldn’t be seen by the cars arriving until it was too late to turn back. A long traffic holdup might warn Scott away, but the cops were processing cars as quickly as they arrived, so there was no unusual traffic jam. There were also cops stationed inside the terminal doors, in case they should see somebody leave a car at the sidewalk and try to slip inside on foot.
As Letty and Hawkins walked through the night, or waited at the exterior doors to the baggage claim area, Cartwright found an empty space in the Lost and Found room, filled it with fake leather cushions taken from airport chairs, and went to sleep.
Nothing at all happened during the night, and the next morning, Cartwright found Letty and Hawkins slumped in chairs facing the glass doors leading outside. They were both awake, but grumpy.
“Nothing,” Hawkins said. “Haven’t heard anything, nobody’s seen anything…”
“Go get some sleep,” Cartwright said. “You can shut and lock the door, and it’s dark inside. But, no sex in the airport. Apparently it’s some kind of FAA rule.” Letty and Hawkins stared at her, moving from grumpy to hostile, and she cheerfully amended, “Just kidding.”
“Sex seems unlikely, whatever the rules are,” Hawkins said. “We’re both exhausted but still wired from whatever that dreadful drug is, that you gave us.”
“I got another one that’ll bring you down,” Cartwright offered.
“But what happens if we take it and Scott shows up?”
“I’ve got another that’ll bring you back up.”
Letty: “Screw it. Let’s go sleep.”
“I’ll call, whatever happens,” Cartwright said.
—
They’d both lefttheir duffels in the Lost and Found room, got dopp kits, and hit the restrooms to brush their teeth before going to sleep. The Lost and Found room was lockable, as Cartwright had said, and not entirely uncomfortable; they’d both slept in much worse. “I’d like to get undressed,” Letty said. “But…if we really had to run…”
“I’m not sleeping in my clothes,” Hawkins said. “I’ll sleep badly enough as it is. If worse comes to worst, all I need is my undershorts and a gun.”
“That’s the old British colonial spirit,” Letty said. “I’m with you.”
After five minutes in the dark, Letty said, “These cushions are damp. Kinda nasty.”
Hawkins muttered something unintelligible; he was already mostly asleep.
—
They were downfor four hours when Letty’s phone rang. They both lurched up, and Hawkins said, “What?” and Letty picked up the phone and looked at the screen.
“It’s Dad,” she said. “And he knew we’d be asleep. Something’s up.” She poked the “answer” tab.
“What are you doing?” Lucas asked.
“Iwasasleep on the airport floor, having been up all night. What time is it?”
“Noon. I’ve got some ambiguous news for you,” Lucas said. “Rae and I killed Catton. Actually, I did. Unfortunately, we were too close, she had already infected an entire church full of people, which we’ve now got surrounded by cops and Army. Rae and I are going to be quarantined to make sure we weren’t infected. Never got closer than fifteen or twenty yards, and the wind was at our back, but Underwood doesn’t want to take any chances.”
“Details,” Letty said. “Give us some details.” He gave her all the details, finding Wong’s body in her bathroom, hearing the church bells, drawing the conclusion.
“So if you hadn’t guessed right on the bells, the world would be over,” Letty said.
“Not the whole world, just part of it.”
“How are they planning to quarantine you?” Letty asked. Hawkins elbowed her, and she turned the phone so he could better hear.
“They’ll find a house for us, some place a little isolated, maybe out in the sticks. We’ll sit there for ten days or two weeks, watching television, reading the Internet. They’ll drop food for us in the yard, books, whatever. If we’re clean, we go home. If we’re infected, we join the folks in the church. The church is more or less being converted into a hospital.”
“Ah, Jesus, that’s awful. But you think you’re okay?”
