Bates motioned with his pistol and Pigpen scurried into one of the chairs, still clutching the cat to his chest.
'What did you hear us discussing, Pigpen?' Bates asked.
'Not much.'
'What did you overhear? Tell me.'
'Just enough to know that Mr. Ramsey sure is messed up. People say I'm crazy, but boy howdy, he's not right. He ain't playing with a full deck.'
Bates clenched his jaw, and then turned back to the others.
'I'm open to suggestions as to what to do with him, too.'
'Shoot him,' Forrest said. 'Put him out of commission before he can scare everybody by telling them that the Grand Poobah is off his rocker.'
'Good Lord,' Stern balked, rising to his feet. 'You can't be serious!'
'He's not,' Bates sighed, 'but he is right. We can't let Pigpen tell the others. Not yet. Last thing this building needs right now is panic.
Panic is infectious, and in a situation such as this, it will spread like wildfire.'
Pigpen's rheumy eyes darted among the three of them. In his lap, God purred and then licked himself. The bum ducked his head low, putting his ear next to the cat.
'What's that, God?'
He raised his eyes and stared at Bates.
'God knows how we can get out of here. He says if you'll give me a drink, he'll tell us how.'
Bates arched his eyebrows.
'Oh wonderful. I can't wait to hear this.'
Val took a sip of coffee, even though it wasn't good for the baby inside her, and didn't notice when it burned her tongue. Her eyes were shut in concentration as she listened, totally absorbed in the voices coming from the radio. All around her, communication equipment beeped and hummed. An oscillating electric fan blew cool air on the units to keep them from overheating.
'I don't believe this,' she muttered to herself. With the headphones over her ears, she didn't realize how loudly she was speaking.
Branson tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped.
'Jesus fucking Christ, Branson! You scared the shit out of me.'
The other radioman held up his hands in mock surrender. 'Sorry, Val. Didn't mean to freak you out. What's going on? What you got?'
'Something really scary.' She ripped the headphones off her head and handed them to him. 'Listen to this. You wouldn't believe me if I told you.'
'What is it? Another group of survivors?'
'No-just listen.'
Branson place the headphones over his ears and adjusted his glasses.
Suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise.
'This can't be real, can it?'
'I don't know,' Val shrugged, her eyes serious, 'but we better tell Bates right away.'
'Shit,' Branson breathed. 'This is bad, Val. This is really bad.'
Her hands darted protectively to her belly, and the unborn baby inside.
Branson picked up another radio to call Bates. His hands were shaking.
'I know you think I'm crazy,' Pigpen said. 'But I don't take offense. I guess I'd have to be crazy, living the way I did. But I ain't. Know what I did for a living before I was homeless?'
The other men shook their heads in unison.
'I worked for the city's department of public works. Down in the sewers.
You know that people lived down there, right? Beneath the city. They lived down in the darkness and the stink, fucking and fighting and loving and dying in those tunnels just like we did up here. Children were born down there, spent their whole childhood down there.'
'You're talking about the mole people,' Bates responded.
'Mole people?' The derision was thick in Forrest's voice. 'Give me a fucking break.'
'It's true,' Pigpen insisted. 'They weren't mutants out of some horror movie. They were just folks like you or me, down on their luck and with no other place to go. When you're homeless, you live where you can; in alleyways or behind garbage Dumpsters, under railroad trestles, cardboard boxes, anywhere there's space. Down under, too. You'd be surprised at the people you find down there. Stockbrokers. Lawyers. Factory guys. Medical school dropouts and college graduates.'
Bates thought to himself, They banded together for safety in numbers, just like we've done.
'I read several books about that,' Stern said. 'And I remember some prominent newspaper and online articles about it, too.'
'Yeah, but that was just an urban legend,' Forrest protested. 'Like alligators in the sewers and all that other
