Relic

The doctor pushed past Coffey, sliced open Cuthbert’s shirt, then inspected his face and eyes.

“There’s blood here,” he said. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t know,” said Cuthbert.

“Respiration thirty, pulse one-twenty,” said a paramedic.

“You’re okay?” the doctor asked. “Is this your blood?”

“I don’t know.”

The doctor looked swiftly down Cuthbert’s legs, felt them, felt his groin, examined his neck.

The doctor turned toward the paramedic. “Take him in for observation.” The medics wheeled the stretcher away.

“Cuthbert!” said Coffey, jogging beside him. “Did you see it?”

“See it?” Cuthbert repeated.

“See the fucking creature!”

“It knows,” Cuthbert said.

“Knows what?”

“It knows what’s going on, it knows exactly what’s happening.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It hates us,” said Cuthbert.

As the medics threw open the door of an ambulance, Coffey yelled, “What did it look like?”

“There was sadness in its eyes,” said Cuthbert. “Infinite sadness.”

“He’s a lunatic,” said Coffey to no one in particular.

“You won’t kill it,” Cuthbert added, with calm certainty.

The doors slammed shut.

“The hell I won’t!” shouted Coffey at the retreating ambulance. “Fuck you, Cuthbert! The hell I won’t!”

= 57 =

Pendergast lowered the radio and looked at Margo. “The creature just killed the better part of a SWAT team. Dr. Wright, too, from the sound of it. Coffey withdrew everyone else, and he won’t answer my summons. He seems to think everything is my fault.”

“He’s got to listen!” roared Frock. “We know what to do now. All they need to do is come in here with klieg lights!”

“I understand what’s happening,” said Pendergast. “He’s overloaded, looking for scapegoats. We can’t rely on his help.”

“My God,” Margo said. “Dr. Wright ...” She put a hand to her mouth. “If my plan had worked—if I’d thought everything through—maybe all those people would still be alive.”

“And perhaps Lieutenant D’Agosta, and the Mayor, and all those others below us, would be dead,” Pendergast said. He looked down the hallway. “I suppose my duty now is to see you two out safely,” he said. [411] “Perhaps we should take the route I suggested to D’Agosta. Assuming those blueprints didn’t lead him astray, of course.”

Then he glanced at Frock. “No, I don’t suppose that would work.”

“Go ahead!” Frock cried. “Don’t stay here on my account!”

Pendergast smiled thinly. “It isn’t that, Doctor. It’s the inclement weather. You know how the subbasement floods during rainy spells. I heard someone on the police radio saying the rain outside has been approaching monsoon strength for the last hour. When I was sprinkling those fibers into the subbasement, I noticed the water was at least two feet deep and flowing quickly eastward. That would imply drainage from the river. We couldn’t get down there now even if we wanted to.” Pendergast raised his eyebrows. “If D’Agosta isn’t out by now—well, his chances are marginal, at best.”

He turned toward Margo. “Perhaps the best thing would be for you two to stay here, inside the Secure Area. We know the creature can’t get past this reinforced door. Within a couple of hours, they are sure to restore power. I believe there are several men still trapped in Security Command and the Computer Room. They may be vulnerable. You’ve taught me a lot about this creature. We know its weaknesses, and we know its strengths. Those areas are near a long, unobstructed hallway. With you two safe in here, I can hunt it for a change.”

“No,” said Margo. “You can’t do it by yourself.”

“Perhaps not, Ms. Green, but I plan on making a fairly good imitation of it.”

“I’m coming with you,” she said resolutely.

“Sorry.” Pendergast stood by the open door to the Secure Area expectantly.

“That thing is highly intelligent,” she said. I don’t think you can go up against it alone. If you think that because I’m a woman—”