General

Max left in the morning. Gault didn’t think he needed
him anymore. Gault had what he wanted. It looked silly
actually, like a cartoon prop–a couple of sticks of
dynamite, some wiring and an electric clock. Max had done a good job, but Gault couldn’t help wishing it didn’t look
better.
Gault carefully removed the device [...]

Johannsen thought it was funny. Beck considered Scott’s butt an affront to the dignity of The Bureau. But then it had been Beck’s eye on the telescope.
"Okay, so he knows we’re up here," Johannsen said philosophically.
"So he won’t try anything," Beck spat out.
"Hey, that’s okay with me," Johannsen said.
"We’re here to arrest people," Beck reminded [...]

Steadman opened his file drawer. U.S. Geological Survey maps were stuffed in the back. Steadman found the one he was looking for and spread it on his desk. He located the road and calculated where the cabin would be. There was no use going out there again, not the way he’d done it before. The [...]

Kerry waited alone in her room for nearly an hour before Gault came. That was part of it–he had no consideration for others and Kerry was no exception.
Still, she planned to tell him everything she knew and had seen. But Gault talked first.
“There’s too much going on here,” he said. “You should get out while [...]

“Wait a minute,” Steadman said, picking up the next picture. “Maybe…”
It was a photograph of a protester, in plaid shirt and jeans, in the act of hurling a rock. Shot on Main Street, in black and white, it looked like something out of a different time.
“That’s me,” FBI agent Raymond Beck said.
Steadman looked from Beck [...]

Deputy Steadman parked the patrol car on the old logging road at the back of Tilson’s Ridge. Much of the mountain was bare now, a victim of clear-cutting. Steadman followed what used to be Tilson’s Creek, now a dried mixture of dirt and memories. He’d come here with Susan, when it was a forest, before [...]

“I’m just telling you what they told me,” Scott told Steadman.
The lawman paced his office, trying to understand.
“That they’re from the future?”
“That’s what they said.”
“And they’re here to collect plants and animals.”
“That’s right,” Scott said.
The deputy sheriff sat at his desk. He took out a small notebook and a pencil.
“Okay, three of them, right?”
“That’s right,” [...]

Scott crept from his cabin at 1:10 in the morning. His backpack held the camera and tripod, extra rolls of film and a thermos of hot coffee. Scott clutched the shotgun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. He would use the flashlight sparingly. Don’t want them knowing you’re out here.
Scott stepped down [...]

Deputy Sheriff Jack Steadman wondered if Sheriff Lane had ever dealt with anything like this. Of course not. Lane’s only responsibility was to make it in time for breakfast at Dinah’s, break up a fist-fight now and then and write tickets on out-of-town speeders.
There were other responsibilities too, like picking up campaign contributions from Growth [...]

The light and sound show began at precisely two o’clock. Scott squinted against the flashes. He smelled burning. Not wood. Chemical maybe.
Scott held the shotgun closely. He clicked on the tape recorder and watched the camera shake, hoping the movement wouldn’t destroy the image recorded on film.
When the lightning stopped fifteen minutes later, Scott took [...]