Grandfather touched his arm, looked Kier full in the eyes. Kier had never before witnessed such calm in the face of such danger.
'I should go now,' Grandfather said.
The old man squatted and duck-walked into a patch of young fir, seeming to get very small. The forest fell deathly quiet. Even the birds sounded muted. After a moment, Kier heard the faintest snap followed by a rustling sound a little farther off. Men were coming.
'You go. I'll do the best I can to hide.' Jessie stood close to him.
'This time, he'll torture you. He's worse than we imagined.'
'I know.' Tears filled her eyes. 'Go now. You've got to get away.'
Another snap came, much closer.
Kier hesitated. 'I can't leave you,' he said simply. 'Let's go. If we get away, we'll find you some firepower, more ammo, and come back for Doyle.'
Moving low to the ground, they passed through some manzanita, oaks, and patchy fir, then came to an opening. Several men, he thought at least seven, were spread out in a line behind a stand of fir trees, all within 150 feet. It looked tough. He pushed Jessie back into the brush. The throbbing sound of a helicopter emerged from the distance. Seconds later, it hovered directly over them, just above the trees. They retreated, moving to the left, staying low and out of sight. As if it had eyes, the chopper hung squarely over them. Kier knew it must have infrared sights. Even Grandfather could not hide from this.
He caught a glimpse of the helicopter's belly, and his mind began to spin. In giant letters, fbi read obscenely across its underside. He pointed.
'They'll save us,' she said.
Now there was no good answer. Kier reasoned that the Feds were either on Tillman's side, or they had been misled. Whichever, they were being used to track them more surely than any man could ever accomplish.
'They aren't saving us. They're following us. They're killing us.'
'You can't know that,' she said. 'We're saved, I tell you.'
He considered shooting the rotors with his newly acquired M-16. It was the only way to escape the chopper. But doing so would put him squarely at odds with Jessie and the government. It could turn them into criminals. Again he moved left and motioned to Jessie. With a dubious look, she followed. But the giant bird would not back off. If he didn't do something, they would be captured. He brought the gun to his shoulder. Through the trees he aimed at the whirling rotors. His finger went to the trigger.
Jessie grabbed his arm, swinging the rifle away. 'Don't. They're trying to save us.' She was screaming in his ear now.
He knew her mind as if she had an hour to speak it.
'For once in your life trust the government.'
It was her expression that filled him with indecision. She was so certain, and she wanted so much for him to believe in her and her FBI. For whatever reason, the men back in the clearing did not seem to be following. He looked up. The copter was lowering two harnesses, offering to lift them out. Once in the harness, they would have no escape. He looked at Jessie, could see the hope written in her eyes.
'Please,' she said simply. 'You aren't the only justice for the Tiloks.'
He nodded, wanting to believe she was right, but almost certain she wasn't. He walked woodenly beside her into the tiny clearing, where they fastened themselves into the harnesses. In an instant, the helicopter began to rise, hoisting them above the treetops before whisking them straight for the Donahue ranch and Tillman's men. It broke his heart to watch Jessie's face as the horror became real to her. They were being delivered to their tormentors.
The men in the woods below marched back to the house, where more men stood waiting in the yard. One was righting a fire. Kier's gut tightened as he watched a man with a coiled rope. The copter delicately lowered them into a circle of at least a dozen men, all aiming their automatic rifles at Kier and Jessie from point-blank range. Kier looked for Tillman. Not surprisingly he remained safely out of sight.
Kier could shoot, but only at the drones. And they would kill him and Jessie long before he got them all. Leading the pack was Doyle, waiting for them with a sly smile. When they hit the ground, one man took Kier's rifle and the pistol. In seconds, he and Jessie had their hands and feet shackled. They could only move in a slow, shuffling walk. Kier wondered how long it would take for them to die. Tillman, he knew, would make it as slow as he could, especially after deciding they couldn't or wouldn't deliver to him the sixth volume.
Chapter 34
A man knows the goodness of life when he would sacrifice his own for the village.
' I wish we had more time, Kier. I'd enjoy giving your girlfriend a little thrill. But the old man seems to have vanished. For some reason, the heat-seeking stuff hasn't picked him up. Leaves us with a big problem.' Tillman spoke above the noise of the landing helicopter. 'Putting federal bureau of investigation on the chopper was another great Doyle suggestion.'
Doyle still grinned, but there was something about his eyes. Like he wanted in the worst way to send a signal. Kier ordered himself not to believe it. Then he asked himself what exactly he had to lose.
'Hang her in the tree,' Tillman said.
There was an oak not twenty feet away. Three strong men shoved Kier to the ground and dragged him to it.
'I want you to watch this very closely,' Tillman said.
Kier lay on his back, immobile, as they hung Jessie by her hands, then tied her feet to the base of the tree so that she was stretched taut against it. Her breathing was labored. It was like a crucifixion. If she hung that way long enough, she would suffocate under her own weight.
'Begin with a toe,' Tillman said casually.
Kier just stared, hating himself for trusting Jessie's judgment. They brought out a giant pair of bolt cutters. It would take off the toe like a twig. A man thrust an iron into the newly lit fire.
'That's to cauterize it after it's cut. We want her to last a long time. Without that, she'd lose one hell of a lot of blood. Unless, of course, you want to tell me where the old man is and get me the book.'
'The book's on its way to the New York Times.'
Now they had her shoe off. Kier glanced at Doyle and something came to his mind.
'Doyle told me you were cloning babies for research and then destroying their minds.'
'Enough,' Tillman said, turning to Doyle with a shocked expression.
'You mean your men don't know that you're destroying babies' brains to get rich? They don't know that in a few days the whole damn country is gonna know, and they're going to be accessories? They don't know you're going to turn a virus loose that'll make AIDS look tame, just so you can get rich on the cure?'
'He said shut up,' Doyle cut in. He reached down and grabbed Kier's coat. 'Shut up or die now.'
Kier could see Tillman's men looking at each other, edgy but not yet agitated.
'Did anybody tell these men about the virus they were exposed to as a result of the plane crash? Any of you guys-'
Doyle clubbed Kier with the butt of his gun, but not hard enough to do any damage.
Sensing what Doyle was doing, Kier curled up fetally and feigned unconsciousness.
'Wake him up,' Tillman shouted. 'We aren't gonna get anything out of him this way. Damn it, Doyle, I thought you were smarter than that.'
'He's talking too much,' Doyle shot back. 'You want the whole world to know?'
Through half-closed lids, Kier saw Tillman coming closer. Then he felt Doyle leaning over him. Doyle put something in his hand. A key! Could it be…? Was this another-
