She pressed the transmit."Copy all.Maintain positions."
Her stomach growled in reply.She ignored it.The coffee in the thermos was long cold, and the power packs had died an hour ago.Even her thoughts felt sluggish, as if the batteries in her head were failing too.
A sound behind her—boots on flagstone.
Marcus.
“Nothing?”he asked quietly.
“Nothing,” she said.“Torres’s last report came through twenty minutes ago.No movement anywhere near the perimeter.”
He exhaled slowly, rubbing his hands together.“Seven hours.You’d think even a lunatic would keep better time.”
“Cox doesn’t run on time,” Kate said.“He runs on theatre.”
“Maybe the curtain’s down,” Marcus muttered.
She gave him a look.“We can’t call it off yet.”
“I know.”He crouched beside her, pulling his coat tighter.“But it’s looking like a no-show.The teams are half-frozen, and Rodrigues—”
A wet cough echoed from the transept, as if on cue.
“—is driving me oobatz,” Marcus finished.
Kate’s mouth twitched despite herself.“Oobatz?That’ll be Bensonhurst for…”
“Crazy.”
“Crazy.Well, you’re not the only one.If he keeps it up, we’ll have to shoot him, just to put him out of his misery.”
Marcus grinned faintly.“He’s been hacking like that since five.You’d think he’d have learned to cover his mouth.”
“Don’t,” Kate said, suddenly sharp.“Don’t make me consider what’s in that handkerchief.”
“Why Friday?”Marcus asked, suddenly, after a long pause.
“What?”She’d almost dropped off.
“He said Cox calls him Man Friday.I just wondered why.”
Kate pulled her coat tighter; the mention of Cox could do that, lower temperatures by two degrees.“From Robinson Crusoe?”
“Never saw it.”
“It was a book.C’mon, you must have read it in sixth grade.”
“Nope.Mind you, I didn’t pay too much attention back then.”
She smiled.“Whatdidyou pay attention to?”
“Mandy McQuorqudale.She was Scottish.Actual Scottish.Beautiful long red hair.We used to get her to say words in recess.Likewerreld.That’s—”
“I know.It’s how they say ‘world’.”
They fell quiet again.Outside, the rain was heavier now, drumming on the boards that sealed the old stained-glass windows.A rasping snore came from the area presently occupied by Tommy Rodrigues.Marcus shook his head.
“There is no sound on this earth more irritating than some guy getting a good sleep while you’re awake.”
