Infiltrator

Sarah and John exchanged a look, and she gave a slight jerk of her head toward the barn. John hesitated and she gave him the look. He rolled his eyes and moved off; after a few yards she and Dieter could hear muttering.

Now Sarah and Dieter looked at each other. She lifted her hand to brush back her hair, then dropped it when she saw the caked blood on her fingers.

'Are you really that naive?' Sarah asked. She put her hands on her hips. 'Maybe you are. After all, you've never had to fight machines that think before.' Sarah drew in a deep breath and then let it out, her eyes on the fire for a moment. 'You put my name out there. They'd be watching for that.' She looked up at him.

'And, obviously, they can interface with other machines like no human being.

Maybe this one was just sent down to check out the possibility that you had seen me. But it isn't going home, and that, I assure you, will alert them to our whereabouts.' She held up a finger. 'And let's not forget that Victor wasn't too happy with either one of us when he left Villa Hayes the other night. Who knows who he's told.'

Von Rossbach drew his mouth into a tight line and, frowning, stared at the bloody dirt beneath his feet. She was probably right. Worse, he didn't know the enemy the way she did. But she had learned and so could he. He nodded once and looked at her.

'I am going to help you,' he said. 'And I am going with you. I have contacts that you can use and, forgive me—this isn't a criticism—I have credibility that you do not.' He shook his head. 'Don't throw away a good tool before you've even examined it, Sarah. I can help you.' He looked toward the barn. 'And him.'

Sarah's expression was troubled. But all she said was, 'Why don't you drive your car down to the barn so we can hitch you up.' Then she turned and walked away.

He would have preferred a direct answer, but he decided to believe that she was thinking it over. By the time the trailer was hitched and the horse loaded, she would have an answer for him. It had better be the right one, he thought.

Because I can be just as stubborn as she is.

'Dieter, we can't go to your estancia,' Sarah began after shutting Linda into the trailer.

'Sarah,' he interrupted, not letting her continue.

'Of course we can't go to your place,' John cut in, with the eye-rolling exasperation that only a sixteen- year-old can show for adult obtuseness. 'First of all, we can't drag a whole bunch more people into this without someone getting hurt. Second, we are like, wanted fugitives, on the run again. That doesn't stop, Dieter. That just goes on and on and on. Do you really want to taint your pristine reputation by associating with us?'

'I want to help you,' von Rossbach said. 'You need my help. The entire world and the human race in general need my help, if what you have said is true.'

'We've done okay until now,' John said, sounding cocky.

'You did okay until your enemies came back and started up the Skynet project at Cyberdyne.'

Dieter stared at him with no expression on his face and John shuddered at how much he looked like the enemy.

'There's a good chance that I can get you in there,' Dieter said. 'Their facility is on an army base, underground. And they'll have backup, Sarah, just like the last time. I can help you find those locations.' He leaned in close to her. 'You need me, Sarah.'

She looked at him and they stared into each other's eyes for a long time. 'You'd follow us if I said no, wouldn't you?' she asked.

'And I'd find you.' He straightened. 'I was the best the Sector had, Sarah.' He held out his hands. 'Use me.'

She gave a single, explosive laugh. 'How could any girl resist that offer?' she said.

'Mo-om!'

She held up her hand and John subsided, reluctantly.

'Look,' Dieter said, 'I know you can't just come over and stay in my guest room. But there's a cottage on my property that you can use. It's primitive, but it should be safe for one night. Especially since it's over a mile from the house.

Tonight we can discuss our options and tomorrow we'll hit the road.'

Sarah raised her brows, looked up at her house, burning merrily, glanced at John, whose arms were folded across his chest and whose frown spoke of his resistance, then smiled at Dieter.

'Sure,' she said. 'Sounds like a plan.' She looked around, then gestured toward his Land Rover. 'Just let us grab our gear and we'll go.'

LOS ANGELES: THE PRESENT

Frowning, Tarissa Dyson put down the phone. She'd been disconcerted by the disconnect message she'd gotten when she called Jordan. But she was more troubled by the fact that, according to the phone company, he no longer seemed to have a number in Delaware.

Either he'd moved or he really, really didn't want to talk to her. He could be using a cell phone, I suppose, she thought. That way he could stay in touch with friends and work. Aha! Tarissa thought, and started dialing again. It didn't

connect.

She put down the phone again and rattled her fingernails on the coun-tertop as she thought. Well, if there's one place on earth that I can get in touch with him sooner or later, it would be at work. Tarissa was reluctant to do it; she thought calling someone at work, especially Jordan's work, was rude. But this is kind of an unusual situation. She tapped out the number, her mouth set.

'FBI.'

'Agent Jordan Dyson, please,' Tarissa said crisply.

'I'm sorry, Agent Dyson is no longer with the FBI, ma'am. Can I direct your call elsewhere?'

Tarissa found herself taking in a breath that wouldn't stop, as though some internal valve had become stuck. At last she managed to choke out a feeble,

'What?'

'Can I direct your call elsewhere, ma'am?'

Tarissa thought frantically. Who had Jordan mentioned that he worked with?

'Paulson!' she said after a moment's thought. 'Pat Paulson.' She identified herself to the secretary and in a few moments the phone was picked up.

'Paulson.'

'Uh, Agent Paulson, this is Tarissa Dyson, Jordan's sister-in-law.' Tarissa bit her lower lip. 'This is a little embarrassing,' she said with a little laugh, 'but I don't

have his current phone number and I was wondering if you could help me out.'

Pat felt the corners of her mouth tugging down in surprise. Jordan had always made himself out to be a family man, with his nephew and sister-in-law more or less at the center of his life. Could there have been an argument? Shit. If that was the case he wouldn't thank her for telling where he was.

'Agent Paulson?' Tarissa said anxiously.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just surprised… that you don't know… his number or anything.' Pat winced. That was smooth.

Tarissa felt her scalp tighten in apprehension. Whatever was going on here, she didn't think she was going to like it.

'Well, he said he had a surprise for us the last time he was here,' she explained.

'I just need to talk to him about something and I can't find the stupid number.'

Oh. Pat thought about that. Maybe Jordan just choked when it came to telling his sister-in-law that he was going to work for Cyberdyne. She could understand that. In which case he might be glad that someone else broke