The man ran the fingers of his free hand through his shock of snowy-white hair. The muzzle of the magnum remained absolutely steady. “No, no, my boy. We’re strictly freelancers. We work for ourselves. I’m Gennady Larkspur, and this is my wife, Miriam.”

“I do alterations,” the kindly little old lady explained helpfully. “You know; take in sewing? Gennady pretty much runs the dry-cleaning business by himself.” She gave her husband an admiring look. “Gen’s very efficient.”

Caroline’s gaze narrowed. “You sure you’re not from some super-secret government agency that we’ve never heard of?”

“No, we’re from Indiana.” The woman looked past them. “It really is pretty out here. Quiet, too.”

“What is it you want from us?” Afraid he knew the answer all too well, Ross Ed still felt compelled to go through the formality of asking the question.

“I think you know that, young man.” The grandmotherly figure gestured with the .25. “We want your alien corpse, of course.”

“Oh, great,” muttered Caroline. “More saucer people.”

Gennady Larkspur corrected her firmly. “You misunderstand us. We’re not part of or party to any organization or cult. We are strictly independent.”

“We’ve been tracking you ever since you left El Paso,” the woman explained, “waiting for just the right opportunity to relieve you of your luggage. Those army people you’re so concerned about kept getting in the way. Clumsy, aren’t they? Everyone’s always in such a rush these days, unwilling to wait until the right moment. Like those unfortunate young men you encountered in Lordsburg, and then those poor, deluded saucer folk.”

“Localized meteorite storms, telekinesis or something like it we have no name for, and then the appearance of real, if cantankerous aliens.” The man’s eyes sparkled. “Yes, indeedy, we’re very impressed with your deceased little companion.

“We thought our chance had come when you left it behind while you went out to dinner in Tuba City.” The woman frowned. “But for some reason, as soon as you left, the night clerk went into your room and didn’t come back out until you returned. Gen and I could have gone in anyway, but our success all these years has been predicated on protecting our anonymity and avoiding confrontation whenever possible. So we restrained our impatience and continued to shadow you after you checked out the next morning.”

“Actually, it was fun following you down here.” He looked pleased. “Gen and I are great walkers.”

“I thought we got the last cabin,” Ross Ed remarked.

“You did, my boy, but I’m sure you won’t mind letting Miriam and I use it.” The man’s voice was fiat and matter-of-fact.

The color had drained from Caroline’s face. “You … you’re not going to shoot us?”

“Why, luv, what do you think these guns are for?” The woman was apologetic. “Besides, fit though we are, I’m not sure Gen and I could keep pace with you two going uphill.”

Ross Ed staned to fumble with the pack straps. “You don’t need to do that. We’ll give you the alien.”

“Yes, you will, sonny.” Again she gestured with the pistol. “‘Jed,’ I believe you call it.”

“I don’t understand. How do you know all this?”

“We have our sources.” Gennady Larkspur smiled thinly. “In Washington. Even in the army. Whenever anything crops up that they think we might find interesting, they let us know. As to how we’ve managed to keep in touch with you, well, when appropriately modified, cellular phones are wonderful tools for listening in on other folks’ conversations.”

“We have to get out once in a while,” his wife added. “As you can imagine, dry cleaning and sewing doesn’t make for a very exciting life.”

“It doesn’t pay as well, either.” Her husband shifted the heavy pistol to his other hand. “You’d think the IRS or someone would ask how we can afford the town house in Zurich and the condo in the Caymans, but they never have. I guess they’re too busy prosecuting the poor schnook down the street for his last hundred-dollar underpayment.

“Gen is very efficient,” his wife reminded them.

“But why do you have to kill us?” Looking from one elderly face to the other, Caroline found intelligence and wisdom, but no sympathy.

“Oh, all right, I suppose we don’t.” Gennady Larkspur might as well have been discussing a stained shirt collar with a customer. “Though if you don’t do exactly as we say, I promise you that we’ll do exactly that. Both Miriam and I have killed before.”

In the increasing darkness they no longer looked so kindly, Ross Ed decided. Ghostly now; ghoulish even, their Midwestern twang fraught with menace.

“If you shoot us, the campers at the ranch will hear your guns,” Caroline pointed out.

“I don’t think so, luv. Why do you think Gen and I waited until you hiked over here? That was very thoughtful of you.” She glanced to her left. “Just listen to that river! Isn’t that magnificent? And loud. You could fire a rocket-propelled grenade down here and no one would hear it back at the ranch.” She gestured with her free hand, indicating that it was time for Ross to hand over his inanimate companion.

Caroline nudged him. “Go on, Ross Ed. There’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry.”

Resigned, he resumed fumbling with the pack. “If you’re going to shoot somebody, shoot me. Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this.”

“Why, she has everything to do with this, luv.” Miriam Larkspur pursed her lips. “Like you, she’s seen both our faces. But we’re inclined to be compassionate, Gen and I. What are you going to do? Go to the police and tell them that a parr of senior citizens from Indiana held you up at gunpoint and stole your dead alien? I don’t think so.”

Ross Ed had the pack off his shoulders and was removing the thin blanket. Gennady Larkspur leaned forward slightly, tense with expectation.

“Doesn’t look like much, does it, to have caused so much consternation in Washington and Langley?”

“Kind of scrawny,” his wife agreed.

Removing Jed from the backpack, Ross Ed worked to gently unravel the tangle of limbs.

“Quit stalling.” Holstering her pistol, Miriam Larkspur extended both arms. As Ross Ed took a step forward, her husband gestured warningly with the magnum.

“Just throw it. I don’t want those big arms of yours anywhere near the missus.”

“Okay, just take it easy.” Ross prepared to pitch Jed to the waiting woman.

A burst of light flared from the suit and he promptly did something he’d never done to Jed before: he dropped him.

“Ow … dammit!” Tucking both hands under his arms, he tried to squeeze away the pain.

Gennady Larkspur raised the pistol warningly. “No tricks, now!”

“Tricks, hell!” Shaking both hands, Ross blew repeatedly on his fingers. “Look how red they are. The damn thing burned me! Lousy, stinking, ugly alien mummy!”

“You’re not being funny, son.” Larkspur gestured with the magnum. “Pick it up and toss it to my wife.”

“But I’m telling you, it burned me! You think I’m making it up?” He held up his right hand, which was indeed a flushed, angry red. Blisters were already visible, forming beneath the skin of his palm and fingertips.

The dry cleaner hesitated, then glanced at his wife. “Keep them covered, Miriam.” She nodded and once again drew down on their prisoners with her tiny but highly efficient pistol.

Removing his flannel shirt, Larkspur wrapped it around his right hand and approached the alien body. He was bending and reaching for it when the laser-bright bolt of light exploded from the suit. The bolt was dark on one side and bright on the other, as if half the beam had been painted black. It was unlike anything Ross Ed had ever seen before. He had no explanation for it, but needn’t have felt inadequate. No dozen physicists on the planet could have explained it, either.

It temporarily blinded the Larkspurs. A second, much more powerful bolt lanced from the suit to the river. This was accompanied by a voice speaking in English. Reverberant and profound, it vibrated the air.

“Behold! This I do for my people!”

Where the beam struck the water, the river curled backward in a vast reverse wave, as if it had suddenly slammed up against a great and invisible dam. The result was a clear path across suddenly exposed riverbed. A few flopping fish and marooned soda cans floated in isolated eddies.

“Go now!” thundered the voice. “Sinai awaits. Ye of evil intent, be warned! Do not attempt to follow my people!”