Dream Park

screams of joy.

The Game was over.

PART THREE

Chapter Thirty

THE FINAL TALLY

Hoarse cheering could be heard from within the cabin section of the Spruce Goose, even before the Dream Park attendants opened the door to let the Garners out. Lady Janet was the first to place a foot on the ground. Her legs were wobbly. She shook her head and said, 'Wow.'

Six more Garners followed. Holly Frost, last out, bowed grandly to the cast and crew. Chester lifted his arms and cried, 'And let's have a big round of applause for the best performance in an expiring role... Holly Frost!' Ragged cheers. 'And for all the surviving members of the team!' This time the energy ran higher, and the attendants joined in.

Griffin walked at Tony's side. McWhirter's smile was as honest as the others'; it faded slightly when he sighted Bobbick approach­ing with two security men. He stopped before they reached him and shifted his pack off his shoulder. He brushed a straggling hair

off his forehead with a steady hand, then extended it to Alex. 'Thanks. You've really been decent about this. I promise you won't have any trouble out of me.'

Griffin took it, and was surprised at the ferocity of Tony's grip. 'We'll see how it goes, McWhirter.'

'All right, Chief. We can handle the prisoner now.'

'Thank goodness.' Alex shrugged off his backpack and let it thud into the ground. 'Marty, escort him to Detainment. Are the County cops here?'

'You know it. We've got a lot to get done here.' Marty was steering him along toward a side door, while the other Garners headed for the main exit. Ahead of them, the two security men guided Tony.

Griffin turned to watch the Garners leave. Most of them looked back over their shoulders to watch Tony taken away, but no one said anything, until Chester raised his voice.

He sounded tired. 'Griffin. You coming to the Tally Party?'

'I'm sorry, Chester. I'm going to be pretty busy.' He turned to go, but Henderson raised a beckoning hand.

'You're invited. You earned it. Tonight in my suite at the Sheraton.'

Alex waved at him and turned back to Marty. 'You're going to have to help me through this. I'm really tired.' Bobbick made sympathetic sounds.

Griffin caught one last glimpse of Acacia. She had paused by the gate, almost as if she were about to turn around and speak. Then her shoulders sagged with fatigue and she walked on. Tony caught that pause and turned his head away, the remnants of his smile dying altogether.

Griffin watched her go and felt something sharp and hot prick­ing at his gut.

He handed his backpack to Marty, who took it without com­ment, switching a wad of gum from one side of his mouth to the other. 'Come on, Grill. We've got a car for you.'

Alex nodded wordlessly, responding more to nudges than to words. The textured plastic seat of the hovercar seemed alien to him, and he dropped into it hard, as if testing its reality. He leaned back and let his eyes close, his body jolting forward a half-inch as the car started to move.

They were tired, they were dirty, their shoulders sagged under

the weight of their packs. They looked like walking dead as they stumbled into the Hot Spot. They stopped, looked about them blearily, and found all tables full.

Alone at a table that might barely hold five drinks, a tall black woman beckoned cheerily. She looked familiar, somehow, Gina thought. She smiled and started that way, tugging on Chester's backpack strap, knowing Gwen and Ollie would follow.

They stacked their packs against a wall. Ollie headed for the Orders window while Chester looked for empty chairs.

'Good Game,' the stranger said. 'I'm Gloria Washington.'

Chester performed introductions. Gina was wondering where she had seen her before. Suddenly the memory dropped into place, and Gina swayed in place, vision blurring.

The tall woman saw it. She snatched an empty chair from the next table over-moving stiffly, a bit clumsily, but fast-and slid it into place behind Gina. 'Here, sit down, love. I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you'd recognise me.'

Gina sat down hard. 'You were missing an arm and a leg the last time I saw you. And the make up. .

Chester smiled suddenly. 'Aha. The demon undead, undead 0! That was a very effective piece of misdirection.'

'It was, wasn't it?'

'How did you, urn... ?'

'I picked the wrong time to visit Antarctica Ciudad. I was lucky they thawed anything. These prostheses are... well, I can use them, but I've had a hard time getting used to... anyway, when Mrs. Lopez suggested this walking dead gig, my doctor thought it would be great therapy. Get me used to the idea.' She was slowing down, having trouble getting words out. 'That I'm a person who has one leg and one arm. But still a person. You know, I think he was right.'

Ollie arrived, carrying a tray. Hands converged on mugs of Swiss Treats before he could reach the table. Gina savored the heat and sweetness in her mouth; her own hunger, suddenly stronger than her fatigue; the moment of revelation. You're real again.

She said, 'Right or wrong, it was hellishly effective. I couldn't believe you weren't a hologram. It was like you came straight out of a grave.' She laughed, but it was shaky. 'I'm glad we met. It was bothering me.' She knocked her mug against Gloria Washing­ton's. 'Skoal.'

'Confusion to our enemies,' Gloria answered.

Alex crumbled a sheet of paper into a tiny ball and bounced it off the wall into the recycler. He wanted another cup of coffee, but it would have turned his stomach into an acid-scarred wasteland.

'What's left?' His voice sounded like a stranger's, tired and thin. A stack of printout paper leered back at him from the top of the desk, and he groaned.

'My God.' Numbly, he touched his computer screen to life and asked it for a second printout of 'Urgent' material only. As ex­pected, a mere four sheets folded up out of the desk.

One was a synopsis of the McWhirter briefing. It would be sent to all concerned department heads on a need-to-know basis. Griffin nodded as he read. Tony had kept his promise. His de­scription of the woman who had contracted him for the job might do them little good; she'd have changed both name and descrip­tion.

But they probably had enough information to nail the pick-up man. With the stakes as high as they were, someone had to try for the hiding-place.

He initialed the sheet at the bottom and set it aside.

Two pages were a condensation of Park business for the last four days. He set it aside after a brief skim. He and the computer had differed before on what was urgent and what wasn't.

The last sheet was a query into the status of Albert Rice's per­sonal belongings. That needed thought, and a clearer head than the one he carried at the moment.