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.Then,before the underbrush that was sliding past at an ever increasing rate could push thedoor shut again, she leaped out of the moving vehicle, taking Jules with her.The two bodies rolled free in the overgrown vegetation.Vonnie felt herself banging intorocks and catching on branches and brambles, leaving her skin with a rich assortmentof bruises and scratches.Jules's body tumbled beside her until the underbrush hadprovided enough resistance to stop their fall.Vonnie lay still for more than a minute,panting to regain her breath.Below them, the car continued to charge down the hillside like a stampeding bullelephant, gathering momentum as it flew.A hundred meters beyond the point at whichVonnie and Jules had left it, the car encountered a tree stump that caused it to flip overwithout otherwise stopping the downhill charge.The car began bouncing crazily throughthe air; it landed upside-down on a large, outcropping boulder, causing the metal of theroof to buckle inward.Any bodies that had been seated in there would have beencrushed to death at that point.And still the car bounced three more times beforecoming to rest, a battered hulk, near the bottom of the ravine.Vonnie gave a small sigh of relief that she had managed to pull herself and Jules out intime.Even after she had completely regained her breath, however, she moved verycarefully.Reorienting her body, she looked upward to the top of the hill, hoping forsome sight of the man who'd tried to kill her.It was difficult to both see and remainhidden at the same time, and the angle of her view was working against her; shethought she could make out a face peering down from the road for a few seconds, butthen it vanished.As the echoing sound of the car's crash died away, a bucolic stillnesssettled once more over the mountainside.Vonnie crept slowly through the bushes and weeds to the spot where Jules lay, somethree meters away."Julie?" she whispered, but got no answer.Bending over him, shecould tell that his breathing was light but irregular.She felt for his pulse; it wasreassuringly strong and steady.When she lifted his eyelids, she could see that hispupils were mere pinpoints and that the whites of his eyes were slightly bloodshot.Allthese were effects of a stun-gun hit; but how severely he had been jolted, she couldn'ttell.She debated what to do.The fact that the killer hadn't come down here after her provedthat he was satisfied he'd done his job successfully; he wouldn't want to hang aroundthe scene of this accident too long, or someone might come by and associate him withit.The immediate threat from him was over.But the unknown damage to Jules worriedher considerably.The stun he'd gotten must have been at least a four, which would puthim out for two hours.But if it were any higher he could be out for days, or evenpermanently paralyzed-and in that case, she couldn't just let him lie here.She'd have toget some help.But she didn't want to leave him alone here, either, if she could avoid it.She decided to wait with him for another hour or so.If it had only been a number fourstun, he would start to snap out of it by that time; if it had been anything higher, hewould be out for at least another four hours beyond that, which would give her time tobring back help before he awoke and needed her.She stood up and stretched her stiff, sore body, walking around for a while to get thekinks out and trying to discover some way of getting back to the city.She noticed ahiking trail a short distance away, but she could also tell that it was late in the afternoon;she might not have the time to walk along the trail to civilization and still return for Julesbefore the sun went down-and she'd hate to have to try finding his body in the dark.Returning to him, she sat down beside him, cradling his head in her lap and smilingdown at his handsome face.She waited for something to happen.After forty-five minutes Jules began rolling his head slightly from side to side, and withinanother five he was coughing and trying to open his eyes."Take it easy," Vonnie said,stroking his forehead with a light touch -of her fingertips."You're just coming' out ofstun.There's no immediate danger, so take your time.""Howard.ambushed me," Jules explained a few moments later as he got his tongueback into operation."He must be on to us.""Not any more.He thinks we're dead now." She explained what had happened sinceshe herself had regained consciousness.By the time she finished, Jules was able to pull himself up weakly into a sitting position.He gave Vonnie a wobbly smile and said, "Thanks for saving my life."She reached over and ruffed his already mussed brown hair."Don't worry; I have someplans for you that don't include letting Howard kill you."As soon as Jules was steady enough to stand, the two DesPlainians climbed up the hillto the road; Vonnie decided that there was more chance of their being able to hitch aride there than there was of walking down the hiking trail before it got dark.As theyclimbed, they were already turning their minds back to the case on which they wereworking."The wedding is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon," Jules said, "and Howard isassembling his gang in the morning.We don't have to be as smart as the Head tofigure out that the two events are connected.There isn't a hell of a lot of time leftbetween now and then.We'd be cutting it very fine, and I don't like taking chances likethat with the lives of the imperial family.I'm almost tempted to arrest Howard now andto hell with the consequences.It could very well be that his absence will be enough towreck the conspiracy's plans.""Except that you don't really believe that, do you?" Vonnie's eyes gleamed back at himin the late afternoon sunlight."No, I don't.They've shown themselves to be pretty resourceful so far.Either they havea contingency plan already in mind or else they'd know we were on to them anddisappear into the woodwork for a while and Bozhe only knows what nasty littlesurprises they'd dream up for us next time.We have to try to stop them here and now."They made it back up to the highway and, after a quarter of an hour, managed to hitcha ride with a young man driving into the city.Their benefactor took them to a vidicombooth where they were able to summon a cab.The taxi drove them first back to thearea near Howard's house where Vonnie had left their car parked; it was still at thesame spot, undiscovered by Howard.While she stayed there to continue hersurveillance of Howard's house, Jules continued on in the cab back to their hotel, wherehe would prepare for his own action of the evening.Howard's gang would be reassembling tomorrow morning to receive their instructions.Now that Howard thought his opposition was eliminated, he would be unlikely to alterthose plans.If Jules was no longer going to be an invited guest at the gathering, heintended to be an uninvited one [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]