Never Love A Stranger Part 29

"Neither have I," James said. "But I was aware of our geographical location. I hoped it would be the rainy season, but I am fairly certain it's not."

The air was sizzling hot and utterly dry. They were surrounded by miles and miles of saguaro cactus, rocks, and sand. "I'm pretty sure you're right," Annie said at last. "I'm hot and thirsty. But I think I'm going to stay that way."

Chapter 23.

"There is a huge city beneath us," Annie said as they walked away from the elevator shaft. "What used to be Phoenix, right'"

"We are actually some distance away from the site of Phoenix," James said. He had been eying the landscape carefully, looking for cameras, but without success. They were probably disguised by holo-images, Annie thought, remembering the way the metal grating had disappeared from sight the moment Gar had clanged it back into place. "We are in the middle of the Sonoran desert, in what used to be called Arizona. There are approximately ten million people living in the cylinder city beneath us."

"Well, they're getting water from somewhere. We just need to tap into their water supply."

"Pipes far below the surface," Gar said. "The water supply is a very long distance underground. We can't tap into that."

Annie scowled. Terrific. They'd made it out of a desperate situation, just to die of thirst. At least, she thought, James would survive. She was pretty sure he could make it without water a lot longer than she and Gar could.

They trudged onward across the sand. The desert was far from the vast wasteland that she'd always imagined deserts to be. They were apparently in a valley, with reddish mountains rising on either side of them. The soil was sandy, but studded with rock formations, and there was spa.r.s.e green vegetation scattered everywhere. It was actually very beautiful, in a stark sort of way.

It was a nice place to visit, but she wouldn't want to die here.

They hiked past an enormous, two-armed saguaro cactus, and an idea flashed into Annie's brain. "What about getting water from a cactus'"

James frowned. "A cactus'"

She remembered that James and Gar had never been outside. They probably didn't know a whole h.e.l.l of a lot about plants. "I read somewhere that cacti store a lot of water. Even in the summer. Those saguaro cacti are pretty big and tough-looking, but if we can find a way to break into them, I bet they have water inside."

"That sounds like a good idea," Gar said. "James, do you think you could'"

James froze and raised his head, and Gar fell silent. Alarmed by James' sudden stillness, Annie spun around. "James, what'"

He lifted his hand, and she went quiet. Suddenly there was a snarling growl, and a cougar leapt from behind the cover of some rocks, straight at her.

Annie stumbled backward and saw James jump in front of her. He grabbed the beast in midair, despite its outstretched claws, and managed to get hold of its throat. He flung it away, and it went sprawling onto the sand.

It bounded to its feet and charged, slamming into James' chest. This time its momentum was enough to knock him over.

Annie saw James' hands grapple for a hold on the animal's throat and fasten onto the tawny hide, despite the cougar's struggles. There was an audible snapping sound, and James flung the dead body away and stood up.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Annie whispered, looking at the dull glint of metal in his arm where his skin had been torn away. "You're hurt."

"It is nothing," James said dismissively. "We need to hurry."

"Hurry'" Annie repeated. "It's dead, James. And I want to take a look at that arm."

"Dead is not precisely the correct word," James said.

Annie looked over at the cougar, remembering the snapping sound she'd heard. Just as she'd suspected, the cougar's head was at a peculiar angle to its body. Its neck was broken. "It's definitely dead, James."

"No," Gar said. He walked over to the cougar and nudged it with his toe, then bent and looked at it more closely. "It was never alive to begin with."

Annie saw the dull gleam of metal at the same time he did. It looked precisely like the wound in James' arm. She went cold. "It was a machine."

Gar nodded. "The Bureau uses them to track and hunt down anyone who escapes to the surface. Their 'eyes' are cameras, so they're often used for surveillance. But they are designed to be able to destroy or incapacitate humanoids as well as humans."

"Fortunately this one failed in its mission," James said dryly. "But the fact that it was here waiting for us, and evidently was told to destroy us on sight, is not a good sign. We don't have time to look for water right now. The Bureau obviously wants us dead."

Annie stared at the cougar's broken body. "You're saying there will be more of them."

"Most likely."

"So what do we do now'"

James gave her his flas.h.i.+ng grin. Despite the fact that their lives were in mortal danger, despite the ugly gash in his arm, he looked like he was having the time of his life.

"We run like h.e.l.l," he said.

A year before, Annie had been able to run five miles without breaking a sweat. After a year of grief and doing little besides watching TV all the time, she felt herself grow winded after a few hundred yards. She couldn't expect to keep up with James anyway, but she knew he wouldn't outpace her. He would go as slowly as necessary. So she kept running as fast as she could, knowing his life depended on it as much as hers did.

Gar, fortunately, was in better shape than she was. She supposed that as this time's representative of a cop, he had to be. He kept up a lot more easily than she did. After fifteen minutes of running over uneven, sandy ground, Annie felt her lungs laboring like bellows. James, of course, set an even, steady pace and maintained it easily, although she noticed the gleam of sweat on his amber skin. She recalled that he had perspired when they made love, too. She wondered if he needed to sweat, or if it was just something his designers had added to make him look more human.

G.o.d knew she was sweating. She was accustomed to the relatively moderate temperatures of the Piedmont of North Carolina. Even the hottest summer day in Carolina didn't bear the slightest resemblance to this baking heat. She could feel the moisture evaporating from her body by the gallon, could feel the sun beating down on her pale skin, probably turning it a lovely shade of ripe tomato.

Redheads, she thought, really had no business being in the Arizona desert in the summertime.

Suddenly James slid to a halt. His golden eyebrows drew together in a frown. "Wait," he said.

Annie frowned as he stared at the desert, a vast stretch of sand and rocks studded with saguaro and p.r.i.c.kly pear cactuses, along with an a.s.sortment of odd-looking flora she couldn't begin to name. At first

she thought he'd spotted another cougar, but after a moment she decided he must have called a halt for a rest. "James," she said, trying not to gasp. "I'm fine. Really."

"You look like you're about to fall over," Gar retorted.

"I am not stopping to rest," James said. His forehead wrinkled. "There is'something'directly ahead of us."

Gar stepped up and stood next to James, staring at the landscape intently. "Something' What'"

"A whole lot of desert," Annie said. She had pretty much resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die of heat and thirst. Not a terribly pretty way to go, but perhaps better than being mauled by a mountain lion.

"No," James said. "It is'." He looked puzzled. "I have never seen anything like it before. The air appears

distorted."

Annie stared at the open desert, noticing the faint rippling distortion, now that he'd pointed it out. "Heat waves, James," she said. "I guess you've never been outside on a really hot day before. That's nothing but an optical illusion."

James shook his head, more firmly. "No. It is no illusion." He walked forward, his hand outstretched. A moment later the whole desert appeared to undulate like waves in front of them.

Annie gasped. "What the h.e.l.l is it'"

Gar walked up and stretched out his hand. The desert s.h.i.+fted and'. bounced, just like a bowl of Jell-o on a trampoline. "A holo-image," he said. "It's an enormous holo-image."

Annie frowned. "The picture window in your mother's house. She called it a holovideo. Was that a

holo-image'"

Gar nodded. "The Bureau uses them on the outside too, to conceal cameras and maintain the natural appearance of the outdoors. But I've never seen anything like this. It is on a vast scale. I'm not even sure how something like this could be generated. It must draw a h.e.l.l of a lot of power."

"Why is there a holo-image in the middle of the desert'"

"There is only one reason I can think of," James said. "The same reason the Bureau uses holo-images."

"Concealment'" Annie asked. "You mean, this is intended to hide something'"

James nodded.

"But what'"

"Perhaps a structure of some kind," Gar suggested. "There is only one way to find out," James said. "We must pa.s.s through the holo-image."

Chapter 24.

Gar stepped forward. He immediately b.u.mped into something and stumbled backward. "d.a.m.n," he said, rubbing his nose. "Can't get through."

"Is there a wall there'" Annie said.

"I don't think so," Gar said. "Just a force field. Like the one we used to hold you, but set to repel instead of attract."

Annie tried to extend her hand, but found that it was impossible. She could touch the surface of the illusion, setting it rippling and bouncing, but her hand couldn't pa.s.s through it. It was like pus.h.i.+ng against a brick wall. "So we can't get through'"

"Apparently not." Gar stared at the holo-image in angry frustration. "I don't know of any way to break down a force field, d.a.m.n it."

"What if we walk around it'" Annie suggested. "Doesn't there have to be a door somewhere'"

"Unfortunately, no," James said. "Anyone who is authorized to enter this field might simply drop the force field when they want to enter, or they might have it calibrated to their DNA so they can enter and exit at will."

If there was a structure behind this force field, it might offer shade, perhaps even water. Annie discovered she wanted both of those things rather badly. "Can't we change the way it's calibrated'"

"Not unless we can get at the mechanism which generates the field."

"Which is probably behind the force field."

Gar nodded glumly.

James tentatively extended his hand. Annie gasped when it disappeared. "James! Your hand!"

"It's all right," he said, drawing it back and showing her his perfectly intact hand. "It simply disappeared beyond the boundary of the holo-image."

"If your hand can pa.s.s through it, can you'"

James nodded. "It appears to be calibrated to let me through."

Annie stared at him, running the implications of that through her mind. The force field was calibrated to

let James through. Was it calibrated to let all humanoids through, or just him' Either way, it seemed