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55.
Linsey sat in the Highway Patrol helicopter and watched intently as Cleve drove the patrol car with Annette toward the 32nd Street Navy facility. She could clearly see the dark hulk of the Lima Voyager civilian cargo ship at her dock amid all the gray Navy vessels and cranes. She watched through borrowed binoculars as the patrol car rolled slowly along the tortuous gravel path amid wire fences. When the patrol car came to the dock, it stopped. Cleve got out and led a compliant Annette up the gangway. Dark figures came out to meet them. Cleve and Annette vanished into the ship. One of the figures—not Cleve—walked down the ramp, got into the cruiser, and took off.
Linsey got on her phone to Louise and explained what she had just seen. "I think we should follow this guy and see where he goes. He might lead us to another location of theirs. Before we pounce, maybe we can identify all of their main locations."
"Okay," Louise said doubtfully. "I'll give you another day, but I'm getting an awful lot of heat from the city, state, and Feds. We can't just stand by while this thing explodes out of hand. Neasrly 100 people have died from the yellow fungus alone."
"Is that still a growing concern?"
"I think the numbers have shrunk. Shaun Nolan says he's more sure than ever the yellow fungus is some kind of agitator. There is a far more sinister purpose at work here, and the huge mushrooms are a direct result of that."
"So we need to focus beyond the crop dusting thing."
"Yes. We have sealed off the Volcan Mountain plant and we're waiting for an Army Chemical NBC team to go in." Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical, Linsey understood.
The car below headed toward the nearest on-ramp and then north on I-5. Near Morena Boulevard, it crossed through the maze of exchanges and ended up heading East on I-8.
"What's he doing now?" Louise asked.
"Heading east on I-8. Louise, with Cleve missing, and now his patrol car, this business is coming to a boil."
"Another one of your colleagues is missing—Joe Walesky."
"Ernie's brother! Let me guess. Ernie called Joe, did this black air thing to him, and Joe in turn did it to Cleve, who begat the new-Annette, and so forth. Ernie is at his house now, making a new Aunt Joanie, so Jack tells me."
"There had to be at least another one involved, because it appears to be a one-to-one thing. The mushroom person walking around is a spore, according to Shaun. The spore deteriorates in a few days and has to pass the genetic material along to another victim."
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