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remember... and somebody asks questions.
I won t argue with that, Benjy. See you soon. She blew a kiss into the phone.
So long, sweetness. Meet you in a couple of days.
She put the phone back in its cradle. It was quiet in the room, far enough from the highway so that you
didn t hear the traffic. The weather was calm and you couldn t hear the lapping of the water against the
bay shore unless you went out onto the little porch. She stared at the lamps, the vinyl-covered chairs, the
TV bolted to its table, and she wanted to scream.
But Benjamin thought her presence here was necessary, at least until they picked the old man up
tomorrow. Then this foolishness would be at an end and she could return home to her condo, her lover,
and some serious work. No telling what was piling up in her office.
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But as she rolled over and considered what to have for breakfast she kept thinking about the story
Benjamin had told her, about the truck and the three men and the four wheels all coming off at the same
time, and she found her gaze returning regularly to the curtained windows as though there might be
something there, peeking in on her. Something better left alone....
Arriaga Ramirez s opinion of his daughter normally would have stood up to examination. Usually
Amanda was clearheaded, did think things through. But that morning she had panicked a little. After all,
she was only sixteen, and the sight of the bug unnerved her more than it might have an adult.
At least, she thought it was a bug. The legs which held it tight against the wall were made of metal. It s
body was plastic instead of chitin, and it sent out its messages by methods rather more complex than
rubbing hind legs together.
She wouldn t have seen it at all if she hadn t bumped the telephone with her hand the first time she d
reached for it. She was going to call Nancy Sue down the street and see if maybe she wanted to come
over and gossip and do some homework together. Amanda was assigned the same homework as the
rest of the kids. She had the option of attending class or working at home. She d elected to stay home
for the last several school days, pleading fatigue.
When she d reached for the phone and bumped it the back part had slipped away, exposing the small
strip of grey plastic. Leaning close she d been able to see where it had been fastened to the wall behind
the phone, had been able to see clearly the tiny wires that ran from the plastic to places she didn t think
they were supposed to go.
She knew the plastic and wires weren t part of the phone system. She knew because she hadn t seen
the grey plastic before. There were two other telephones in the house and when she found the plastic and
the wires attached to them too, she started getting really worried.
Her mom was out shopping. Her dad was working on the boat. She was all alone in the house, a house
suddenly filled with nasty little grey spies. The house backed onto a sidearm of the bay and fronted on a
quiet, tree-lined street. There were vacant lots on both sides and it was a long walk to the nearest
occupied home, Mr. and Mrs. Coxley s.
Being alone had never bothered her before. There was about as much crime in Port Lavaca as in the
middle of the bay. But the two deputies didn t patrol very much, especially when it was hot out, and
when they did make rounds they kept largely to the business district way out by the highway.
Everyone knew what went on in a small town like Port Lavaca, but that didn t mean they d know when
some strangers came slipping in through an unlocked back door or open window. And she was trapped
inside the house, unable to call for help without a mysterious Someone knowing about it immediately
because of the omnipresent grey bugs -
Calm down, she ordered herself. You re getting all excited over nothing. No one was crawling through
the window to get at her. No hand appeared around the kitchen doorway leveling a gun at her.They
didn t know that she knew.
She made a thorough check of the rest of the house. In addition to the tapped telephones she found
clones of the grey bugs in her mom and dad s bedroom, under the bed, and in the dining room under the
lamp.
She was careful only to look and not touch. Any disturbance might alert whoever had planted the
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devices. She didn t want to alarm them. Her mother and father were out together much of the time, but
she was almost always home. Still, someone had slipped inside and planted the bugs. The thought made
her skin crawl. Someone had entered her sanctuary and done something illegal. Someone had invaded
the privacy of her family. What was worse, she knew that if someone could get in to monkey with
telephones and light fixtures, they could get in to do other things, too.
But why would anyone want to? Her father was a fisherman. Her mother worked part time at a dress
shop. It didn t take an hour to figure out that it all had something to do with Uncle Jake.
Those people who want to test him must know about his family, she thought. About us. They must be
worried about him coming here and them checking up to see what they can find out. What could she do
about it? Not a damn thing.
Tears started from the corners of her eyes. Whatcould she do? There was no place else for Uncle Jake
to run to. This was the only family he had. She d been right to suggest meeting him in College Station. But
if they were watching the house, they d see her leave with her mom and dad, and they d follow, and it
might not make any difference.
Should she explain what she knew to her mom and dad? Maybe they d believe enough to at least alert
the Sheriff. Would that matter to these people, as powerful as they seemed to be?
Just get here, Uncle Jake, she thought. Once we re together we ll work it out. I know we can. She
loved her Uncle Jake like a second father, and he loved her like the daughter he d never had. She wasn t
going to let these mean people hurt him, no matter how omnipotent they seemed to be. As long as she
had an ounce of strength left in her body they weren t going to get what they wanted. Uncle Jake didn t
have much longer to live. He knew that and he didn t try to hide it from her. She appreciated that, his
honesty. She appreciated everything about him. She wasn t going to stand by and watch somebody
make a guinea pig out of him during his last days.
She told him so later that night.
What do you mean, he thought at her, your house is bugged? .
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