Both she and Daddy Bliss exploded with laughter.

I was still busy replaying Daddy Bliss's promise about her "...starting the festivities", so it took a moment for me to realize that, once they stopped laughing, both of them were staring at me.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I drifted off for a moment."

"You're cute," said Ciera. "I kinda hope you get stuck here."

"Now, now," said Daddy Bliss. "No flirting-at least, not right now. I, too, think the pair of you would make a handsome couple, but that's neither here nor there." He looked up at one of the wall clocks; there were several of them, covering different time zones. "I believe that Lexington beckons us, does it not?"

Ciera blew me a little kiss, ran her tongue quickly over her upper lip, then sat back down in her chair and rolled over to one of the computers with a 40-inch monitor. "About one minute."

"I still get gooseb.u.mps" said Daddy Bliss. "Imagine that. After all this time, and I still tingle when this happens." He looked at me. "You need to see this, Driver."

"I'd rather not."

"But I insist, really I do."

Not wanting to find out what happens to someone who refused his insistence, I moved over, the three of us cl.u.s.tering around the monitor.

"Can you split the screen?" asked Daddy Bliss. "I don't know that Driver will be able to follow otherwise." He looked at me. "No offense intended."

I said nothing. It seemed the smart thing to do.

Ciera typed in a single command, hit the return key, and the image on the screen split in two; on the left side, a schematic of a section of highway (presumably somewhere in Lexington, Kentucky); on the right was a live feed from a camera mounted atop what I a.s.sumed was a light somewhere along the same highway shown on the schematic.

"Okay," said Ciera, turning a smaller desk-top monitor toward us. Its screen showed a middle-aged man sitting in his living room, running two HO-scale cars around a large track that was an exact replica of the schematic. Beneath this image was a series of changing numbers and the words Bloomington, Indiana.

The man onscreen stopped for a moment, looked at the clock, then carefully placed two more cars onto the track at different locations; after that, he picked up a second control handset and squeezed the triggers on both. The cars on the track began moving, and at the same time four blinking lights appeared on the schematic, each one following the same path as its counterpart on this man's track.

"You might want to step back a little bit," said Ciera. "The idea is to take all this in at a glance. It'll be easier for you to see everything if you move back a foot or two."

I did as she said, and watched as Bloomington, Indiana increased the speed of the HO-scale cars.

As he increased the speed, the blinking lights on the highway schematic began moving faster.

As the blinking lights on the schematic moved faster, two cars became visible in the distance from the live-feed camera.

Daddy Bliss wasn't looking at the screen any longer; he was watching me. "I do believe that our Driver has figured something out."

"Oh, G.o.d..." was all I could get out.

When it happened, it happened quickly.

Two cars approached the camera, a Ford Explorer and a Chevy Corvette. They were one lane apart, both going at roughly the same speed. As they drove closer to the camera, two cars traveling in the opposite direction on the other side of the concrete divider zoomed into view; a Pontiac Bonneville and a Saturn Ion Sedan. The Pontiac and Saturn were going well over the speed limit. The Pontiac veered into the lane directly behind the Saturn and flashed its brights. The Saturn increased its speed, as did the Pontiac. I wondered what the h.e.l.l the Pontiac driver was thinking, what he (or she, I couldn't tell) thought was going to be accomplished by this. Maybe the Saturn had done something to p.i.s.s him off, and the Pontiac driver was just acting on impulsive anger. Or maybe the Pontiac was trying to get in the Exit lane and the Saturn driver was just f.u.c.king with him.

A few moments later, it didn't much matter.

The Saturn suddenly hit its brakes (or had its brakes. .h.i.t for it). The Pontiac slammed into the back of the Saturn, crumpling its own front end and upending the Saturn, which flipped over the divider just as the Explorer came up from the other side. The Saturn landed on the hood of the Explorer, crumpling it and forcing the Explorer to slant-skid right and side-swipe the Corvette, causing the driver to lose control and spin out, the rear of the car smashing into the divider and sending the thing spinning even harder, coming to a screeching halt a second before the Explorer slammed into its side and the Saturn came off its hood to smash squarely onto the Corvette's roof.

It couldn't have taken six seconds.

The man on the smaller monitor dropped his handsets and walked over to his HO tracks, examining the four smashed, piled-up cars.

The schematic showed a single blinking light now, this one bigger than the others, and flashing a bright red.

The live feed showed only a ma.s.s of smoking, twisted, smashed, b.l.o.o.d.y metal and gla.s.s. The Saturn had run halfway up the divider after rear ending the Pontiac, and looked like a sick beast trying to climb over a rock.

After a moment, one of the Saturn's doors opened and a woman who was nothing but blood from head to heel fell out onto the highway. A moment later, several bulky shadows dislodged themselves from the night and swam toward the wreckage.

I couldn't watch any more. I turned away, closing my eyes.

A few moments later, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay now," said Ciera. "It's over."

I opened my eyes and saw Daddy Bliss moving toward me.

"So," he said, "you've some idea now?"

I could barely find my voice, but somehow managed to do so. "One question."

"Of course."

I pointed toward the screens. "Is this...do you..."

"Take your time, Driver. Take a deep breath. There you are. Now, once more?"

"These accidents...they're not accidents at all, are they?"

Daddy Bliss sighed. "I think the answer to that should be obvious, dear boy. But that's not your real question, is it?"

I looked right into his unblinking eyes. "Is it just certain accidents like this one, or is it all of them?"

"Ah, direct and to the point this time. Splendid. Allow me to return the candor, Driver." He moved closer to me. "It is all of them. It has always been all of them. All of them."

"...oh, G.o.d..."

"So you believe?"

"...yes..."

"You've no idea how much that pleases me. It will make the rest of this so much easier."

I looked at the destruction on the monitor once more. "Says you...."

11.

Daddy Bliss decided to skip the tour of the Repair Unit itself. "You've already seen the 'before' and 'after' of the process. The 'during' portion would be a bit of overkill at this point, I think."

We were back in the holding room, having re-traced our route through the halls and elevators. I'd almost looked in on Pinto again but closed my eyes at the last moment and just kept moving.

Someone had prepared a lovely meal for me; broiled pork chops in garlic-and- b.u.t.ter sauce, steamed vegetables, homemade rolls, a nice side salad with parmesan cheese and no dressing, and a generous slice of pecan pie topped with an even more generous portion of real whipped cream for dessert. A large, frosty mug of A&W Root Beer sat on a coaster, the ice cracking and rising to the top, thin beads of condensation running slow rivulets down the sides.

When we'd first entered the room, all I could do was stare at everything. If it were possible to have all of my favorite foods in one place at one time, prepared exactly the way I preferred them, then this meal was it.

"How did you know?" I asked him as I picked up the mug and sipped at the root beer.

"How did we know what?"

I stared at him. "Please don't be cute with me, sir."

He grinned. "Apologies. You want to know how we knew what to prepare, and how to prepare it?"

I looked at the food. "Or you could just tell me that you already know all there is to know about me and be done with it."

"We already know all there is to know about you. We've known since the moment you took that map from Road Mama's apartment. I'm sensing more questions coming, am I correct?"

"You have to admit, this is an awful lot to take in."

"Agreed." He glanced at the clock on the wall-a clock that had not been here earlier. "We have some time-not much, but enough. Ask your questions but, please, do eat your food as you do so. Nova prepared the meal herself, and she is by far the best cook in town."

I picked up the knife and fork and began carving up the first pork chop. I paused with the first piece halfway to my mouth and said, "Some people might look at this-all their favorite foods prepared just how they like them-and think, 'This is a last meal.'"

His only response was to stare at me.

"I did nothing to deserve this." I popped the piece into my mouth and chewed. It was perfection.

"On the contrary," said Daddy Bliss. "The moment you took that map, you put yourself in this position-wait, that's not entirely correct. The moment you asked Mr. Dobbs to take a close look at everything on Road Mama's bedside table, you were already on your way here, you just didn't know it-ooh, that sounds so ominous, doesn't it? I would apologize, but I so rarely have the opportunity to indulge my flair for the dramatic."

"You were watching, even then?"

"The Highway People were watching, dear boy. They are always watching."

I stopped carving up the pork chop and stared at an empty s.p.a.ce in the middle of the table. It wasn't quite as effective as staring at my feet, but it got results. "The bowl and the prescription bottles."

"Yes...?"

I looked at him. "I was right. They were left there on purpose, weren't they? You-or the Highway People-wanted someone to figure it out."

"'Needed' would be the more applicable term but, yes, it was the will of the Road that those items be left in plain sight. Had you kept quiet when Mr. Dobbs came back into the room, had you said nothing at all, then there might have been some doubt as to whether or not you had known. But fortunately for us, you did not keep quiet." He smiled. "But even if you had, you still took the map off the wall. Either way, you'd marked yourself."

"So the coroner, the mayor, the chief of police...all of them knew that Miss Driscoll-that Road Mama-had committed suicide?"

"Of course. And they also know that there are certain protocols that must be followed if and when something like this occurs."

I thought of Barb, and how she'd told me three times to be careful.

"What is it?" asked Daddy Bliss. "You have the look of someone who's just realized his lover has betrayed him."

"Barb, my lawyer. She's in on this, isn't she?"

"This may come as surprise to you, dear boy, but no, she isn't. She knows only as much as those in authority told her. But she's a sharp one, your Barbara. She suspects there's more going on than what she's been told, but she also knows enough to not speak of it too loudly, if at all. You needn't worry, Driver. Your friend did not betray you."

My hand was shaking, but I still managed to hold the fork. "Exactly how many people do know about you? I mean, outside of here?"

He thought about this for a moment, then replied: "There's an old conspiracy theory joke about what happens when a man is elected President of the United States. It is said that, as soon as he a.s.sumes office, the president is taken to a room in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the White House where the people who really control the country sit him down in a chair and show him a film of the Kennedy a.s.sa.s.sination-not the famous Zapruder film, another film, shot at the same time, but this one taken from a radically different angle and much, much closer-so close, in fact, that some of Kennedy's blood spatters on the lens. Once this film has been shown to him, the president is asked, 'Do you have any questions?' To which he replies, 'Just tell me what my agenda is.'

"It's not so different with us and the people who hold office in this country. It doesn't matter if they're the president or a governor or simply the mayor of some backwater township. If they are in power, they are aware of us. And they are very careful with whom they choose to share this knowledge.

"This country-and arguably the world-survives because of the Road. Of course there are planes and ships and trains for transporting people and supplies, but mostly, dear boy, it is the Road that sustains us, that serves as the main artery of the economy. Delivering food, medicine, building supplies, fuel, books and newspapers, moving the sick, transporting children to and from school...ultimately, everything that enables a society to function on a day-to-day basis is made possible because of the Road. Close a single busy street in the middle of a city for even a day, and you have an immediate effect on that city's economy-people are late for work because they have to drive however-many miles out of their way, service stations see more business because of the fuel needed to make these detours, or maybe they see less, it all depends on the location of the street, doesn't it? Merchants can see either a large climb or a ma.s.sive drop in their business because of a street closing. A person who is, say, suffering a heart attack-or a woman in labor-may not be able to make it to the hospital in time because of this closing. The possibilities for loss and gain are endless. And that's with just a single street...providing it's the right street.

"Now imagine what might happen if several streets, major streets, were all closed simultaneously for a prolonged period of time. A month. Two months. Three. A year. A city's economy-not to mention the well-being of its citizens-would be adversely affected in a matter of days. Then close enough of the right highway exits and entrances on top of that, and one could theoretically make access to a particular city or town nearly impossible. People like your mayor, your coroner, your chief of police, know all too well that the economy of their city can be destroyed if we decide to close enough streets and highway access ramps for an indefinite period of time. That is why they cooperate with us. You think it's the city planning commissions who decide what streets to close for construction, or where the new mall is going to be located? No, dear boy, everything is decided for them by the Road, and the Road's orders are delivered by the Highway People, and are then carried out by us-and, of course, our emissaries."

"Like Road Mama and that guy in Bloomington?"

"Precisely. You're not eating your meal."

I dropped my fork. "I seem to have lost my appet.i.te."

"Then find it again. I will not have you return an uneaten meal to our Nova. There will be no argument on this point."

I glared at him for a moment, then picked up the fork and shoved a piece of the pork chop into my mouth. It was still perfection, and I continued to eat. It gave a sense of normalcy to things, and I needed that.

Besides, Nova was one h.e.l.l of a cook. I would have liked to have told her that in person.

"How else do you ensure their cooperation?" I asked. "I mean, a.s.suming that threatening the economy of their city isn't enough?"

"Their loved ones. Oh, don't look at me like that, Driver. No one threatens their friends or families. We protect them. As long as those in power cooperate, their loved ones never come to any harm while on the Road. In fact, their loved ones couldn't be hurt in an accident if they tried."

I remembered the way Sheriff Hummer's car had driven itself earlier, and had no reason to disbelieve what Daddy Bliss was telling me.

I swallowed a sip of root beer. "And if they fail to cooperate...?"

"Then our protection is lifted, and their loved ones' numbers are placed back into the order."

"The order?"

Daddy Bliss nodded toward my meal. "Do try Nova's rolls. Flaky on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. She uses just the right amount of b.u.t.ter."

Not looking away from his face, I took a bite from one. It practically melted in my mouth. G.o.d this was good food.

"The order...?" I said again.