But the fear inside him was drowning out her words, and the golden haze was faint in the air again.
"Okay," he said finally. "Okay, don't burn her, too, now that she's done your dirty work. I'm coming."
The haze disappeared slowly, and he started down the stairs, still holding her hand.
VI
here were men with guns in the street. He'd heard two shots as he came down the stairs, and had shoved Ellen behind him. But it was silent now. People with dazed, frightened faces were still darting into the houses, leaving the street to the men with the guns.
Hawkes marched forward grimly, perversely stripped of fear, even though he was sure some of the men out there were monsters and others were their dupes. He tapped one of the men on the shoulder.
"Okay, here I am. The girl goes free!"
The man spun around as if mounted on a ball bearing and pulled by strings. The gun fell from his hands. His emotion-taut face loosened suddenly, seemed to run like melted wax, and congealed again in an expression of utter idiocy. He gargled frothily, and then screamed—high and shrill, like a tortured woman.
Suddenly he was a lunging maniac, tearing up the street.