The four shots were all that had been fired. That didn't encourage me to poke my head up. The Chrysler backed out and pulled into traffic without much benefit of navigation. I put our lives into the hands of the other commuters, hoping that their aversion to the cost of auto repairs would keep them from plowing into us. Ann said something under her breath that I didn't catch. If she was praying, I didn't want to know about what-or to whom.
At the summit of Olive, I peeked up to look in the rearview.
Tom raced away from Sunset, crouched low behind parked cars. A white, late model DeLorean Vendetta sedan squealed around a corner.
'Here comes the chase scene!' I hit the accelerator. The car raced to catch up. Other drivers blared their horns. Pedestrians jumped out of the way. Bystanders grinned. They were probably looking for the movie cameras.
'Brace yourself!'
Ann wedged herself farther down into the space under the dashboard.
I tested the other driver's reaction time by ramming the brake pedal into the floorboard. The Chrysler skidded.
The other driver failed the test. The DeLorean's tires screamed in unison. I fought to stay loose and resilient. Then they hit us.
The roll down the hill outside Auberge had been worse. The sedan slammed into us while it was still braking. I took my foot off the brake and let the impact shove us forward. I floored it while the other car skidded sideways. A couple of sharp turns deposited us downhill on La Cienega. Ann sat up and looked around. After a couple miles, I checked for the DeLorean. No sign.
'Ecclesia?' she asked.
I shrugged. 'Lead is lead. I don't care who fired it-it's impolite.'
'What now?'
I cut over to Crescent Heights and turned toward the Valley. 'Let's go shopping.'
'This,' the man in the lab coat said, 'is the Theta Wave Amplifier.' He rubbed one pudgy hand against the light blue enameling of the device. His body described the general outline of a small mountain. Or perhaps a large beachball topped by red hair and beard that framed a ruddy face.
'We've been working on it here at Peripherals for the past ten years.'
I wasn't interested in a history lesson. Ann was off talking to the owner.
He reacted to my lack of response by clearing his throat just enough to stuff a Twinkie into it. His extremely off- white smock served as his napkin.
'The Theta Wave Amplifier increases the activity of the brain in the four-to-eight Hertz region-the frequency associated with dreaming and creativity. At the same time, it maintains a corresponding balance in the Delta and Alpha region. We use it mostly to intensify dreams in thought-mapping of test subj-'
'Sold.'
'Huh?' he said.
'I said, '
' I'll give you the delivery instructions and a check. If you have no objections.'
'Uh. . . why, no.' It was probably the quickest deal he'd ever made. Staring at me from under puffy eyelids, he asked, 'What sort of research will you be using it in?'
'Something involving a twelve-year-old telepathic hooker.'
He blinked a couple of times and reached for another Twinkie. The plate fell to the floor without his noticing.
We took a trip down to the trading floor of Auberge. Even though it was well after midnight, all the shops were open. Our destination was Selene Pharmaceuticals.
An alluring sky-blue dress enwrapped Ann in a disturbingly sexy manner, yet no one on the trading floor noticed her. I asked her about it. She shrugged, though her coolly flip reply contained a good deal of caution.
'I must have applied the wrong makeup.'
