Nightrise

took one policeman, paid the right amount of money, to make sure that none of them were ever seen again.
    They shot through a tunnel that had been bored through a huge mass of rock. Ahead of them, the road twisted to the right.
    And then Jamie heard it. A whisper in his head.
    "Stop the car…"
    Three words. But he hadn't heard them. Nor had he imagined them. With a thrill of excitement, he realized what had happened. Scott had sent them. He had finally made contact.

    "Stop!" he shouted.
    Alicia was driving.
    "Alicia! Stop the car! Now!"
    The urgency in his voice made itself felt. Daniel was already twisting around, looking at him as if he were mad, but she slammed her foot on the brake, and the car sliced across the road and skidded to a halt in a turnoff The engine stalled. Somewhere behind them, the scream of the siren filled the air.
    "Jamie…" Alicia began.
    She was on the edge of tears, blaming herself for what had happened. But looking around him, Jamie realized something.
    He knew where he was. He had been here before.
    Four or five years ago. Before Don and Marcie. Even before Ed and Leanne. Derry, their social worker, had brought them to this exact spot because she had wanted to show them where they had been found. It was this turnoff, right here. This was where the two babies had been abandoned in a box intended for grass seeds.
    And she had told them something about the area. According to Derry, the Washoe Indian tribe had been living here as much as ten thousand years ago. It was the main reason she had assumed that Scott and Jamie were Washoe themselves. Lake Tahoe was the very center of their universe, and somewhere below them there was a cave so sacred that tourists weren't allowed anywhere near it. Even the shamans wouldn't go there.
    The Washoe called this place de'ek wadapush.
    In English, that translated as Cave Rock.
    "We're getting out," Jamie said.
    "Jamie…" Alicia knew from his voice that there was no point arguing. They had only seconds left. The police car was still out of sight but it would be thundering toward them.
    "I think this is good-bye, Alicia." Jamie didn't know how he knew. He just did. "Thank you for helping me. Thank you for everything."

    "You did it all, Jamie. Not me…"
    "Good-bye, Danny." Jamie reached forward and shook hands with Alicia's son, then opened the door. He slid out and waited for Scott to follow. Alicia had also gotten out. They had no time. She seized hold of Jamie and kissed him briefly on the cheek, then pressed something into his hand. The scream of the police siren had disappeared. For a brief instant she thought it might have gone a different way or even broken down — but her hopes were dashed almost at once. The car had simply entered the tunnel, and the bulk of the mountains was blocking any sound. As she looked up the road, it burst out. Worse still, a second police car had joined it. Both cars were racing toward them.
    A sandy trail ran through the fir trees and past a series of boulders. Jamie and Scott had broken into a run, heading away from the road and down toward the lake. The ground tumbled unevenly all the way to the water's edge. A wooden platform had been built for tourists, and the view was certainly awesome, with the lake a dazzling blue in the afternoon sun and a range of mountains, some of them snow-peaked even now, spread out on the other side. There was nobody else around. Jamie leaped over a fence and breathed a sigh of relief as his brother did the same.
    "Scott — are you with me?"
    He sent the thought without opening his mouth.
    "I'm with you.
    " The words were indistinct, as if transmitted by a faulty radio. But Jamie heard them and felt a surge of hope that carried him on. He had no real idea why he was doing this. He wasn't even sure what he was doing. The very fact that they were here at all was surely some sort of crazy coincidence. But at the same time he knew that it was meant to be. They were doing the right thing.
    "This is the police! Stay where you are! If you don't stop, we'll open fire!"
    The words rang out, amplified through a bullhorn. Jamie almost laughed. They weren't going to stop now. Did the police think that having come so far they would turn around and give themselves up? But the smile was wiped off his face a second later. There was a gunshot and a bullet ricocheted off one of the boulders just a few yards away. A warning shot? Or were the police really prepared to shoot them in the back?
    He didn't