Moon - New Moon Part 50

But before he could put that plan into action, Haig must find the d.a.m.n woman. And it wasn't just a matter of tramping through the badlands. She had escaped into that other universe.

Falcone clenched his hands into fists. He'd finally tortured the old man into compliance. Then Avery and Bellows had thrown him a curve.

They'd given him the bad news that it wasn't going to be so easy to get into that other world. After closing the portal farther west, they couldn't just open it again because the reversal would take a great deal of energy. The only portal left was at the commercial establishment.

Much too public a place to bring through fifteen or twenty men.

Now he was waiting for Avery to come up with an alternate plan.

When the old man returned, Falcone tried to read his face.

"You have something for me?" he demanded.

Avery s.h.i.+fted his weight from one foot to the other. "I think so."

"You don't sound too positive."

"I have a way to get your troops through without being seen."

"What?"

"An invisibility charm."

"That would work," Falcone mused, then focused on the other man's eyes.

"But something's wrong. What are you hiding?"

"n.o.body has ever tried to make so many men invisible."

"Well, you'd better hope it works," Falcone growled. "Because if it doesn't, your head is on the chopping block."

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE LAB WAS backed up. So while Jake Cooper waited to find out if the prints from the door handle matched the ones on the can of pork and beans, he ordered patrol cars to drive past the convenience store every few hours. None of the officers had reported any unusual activity.

But Jake couldn't rid himself of the conviction that there was something weird about the place. Starting with the clerk's strange story about men bursting from the back of the store and ending with the pile of clothing the patrol officers had found in the woods.

Too bad Tony Blanchard, the guy who'd tried to rob the place, was in no shape to talk about the experience. The small-time crook was in a coma in the hospital and hadn't spoken word one since the incident.

Because Jake couldn't deal with his curiosity any other way, he had gotten into the habit of having a look-see when he was in the area.

If he'd still been living with Annie, he would have gone straight home and climbed into bed with her. But she'd cleared out months ago, and he hadn't known how to make things right between them-not when she couldn't deal with the reality that his job always had the potential to put him in danger. So he'd been drifting along on his own, looking for excuses to stay out of the house.

Tonight he made a detour from the citizen's a.s.sociation meeting where he'd given a safety lecture and swung by the Easy Shopper, which sat between a fast food restaurant and a stretch of woods that hadn't been developed yet.

When he reached the location, he slowed, staring at the large gla.s.s windows at the front of the low building, where posters advertised everything from lottery tickets to the featured monthly sandwich and drink combo.

A couple of lights burned inside, but it was obvious from the lack of activity that the place was empty. He started to drive on by. Instead he pulled into the far end of the empty parking lot and cut his engine.

He patted the pocket of his sports jacket, then remembered that he'd given up smoking over a year ago. Too bad. He could could use some nicotine.

He was dead tired from putting in a full day of investigations, and as he sat in his unmarked, he leaned back against the headrest. Then he closed his eyes. Just for a moment, he told himself.

Instead, he drifted into sleep-until something snapped him abruptly awake.

His eyes came open and he stared at the darkened silhouette of the store, feeling a sudden tingling sensation at the back of his neck. The place looked as empty as when he'd arrived, yet he couldn't shake the conviction that somebody or something was inside-and up to no good.

Something?

Like a paranormal being?

That thought had been teasing the back of his mind for days. Even though he couldn't explain it to anyone else.

Which was maybe why he didn't call for backup. And what the h.e.l.l was he going to say-that he'd seen a ghost at the Easy Shopper store, and he wanted guys at the ready with their guns?

Yeah, sure.

He could drive away. But he knew he wouldn't be doing his duty if he left. So he climbed out of the car and drew his service weapon but stayed twenty yards from the building, keeping to the shadows.

For a long moment he saw nothing. Then a sound inside made him rivet on the door.

It slid open, and he prepared to watch someone step out, someone up to no good. All he saw was empty air, but he heard more than one set of footsteps.

He ran back to his cruiser and turned on the headlights, aiming them directly at the entrance of the building, but still he saw nothing.

Again he approached, then stopped short as something came flying out of the air toward him.

Instinctively, he ducked, feeling a missile whizz past him. It landed with a clank against his right front fender.

He ducked behind the car, staring at the thing that lay on the ground. It could have been a spear from a costume drama.

Only the eight-inch point looked like the genuine article-forged steel that would go right, through a man's body.

As he hefted the spear in his hands, the gla.s.s door of the store slammed shut. From Jake's vantage point, it looked like it had glided closed on its own.

To his right, in the patch of woods beside the store, he heard someone shout what sounded like a military order. Again, there was no sign of who had spoken and who he was talking to.

Now Jake wished to h.e.l.l he'd called for backup. Someone was out there, all right. Several someones. But he still couldn't see who they were.

It was like in those Harry Potter movies when the kid put on an invisibility cloak. Only this cloak was big enough to cover what sounded like at least a dozen men. Which didn't make sense.

After half a minute of silence, Jake ran from his position behind the car to the side of the building, keeping low, trying to figure out how he was going to fight an enemy he couldn't even see. Or maybe he wasn't going to have to fight at all, because it sounded like the men who had come out of the store were moving rapidly away from the building.

Leaning around the corner, he peered into the woods, trying to see something. In the trees, he thought he detected shapes flickering but there was nothing he could point to and identify.

The whole thing was too weird to describe. But he was going to figure out what the h.e.l.l was going on.