Austin swerved through traffic in downtown Seattle, Cowboy in the passenger seat and the radio playing in the background. The city was Armageddon. The final showdown between good and evil was well under way, people running along the sidewalks, cars swerving madly to escape.

It was chaos.

Four bombs had gone off in Seattle that day, all in heavily crowded public places. The first had been at the Pike Place Market with casualties numbering more than twenty, including young children.

He had to get to Cassidy before something happened to her. He’d once let her slip from his life as easily as sand through his fingers. Now he desperately needed to keep her in it.

He wouldn’t let himself imagine life without her. Not now. Not after he knew how much she meant to him. Not ever again.

“Another bomb has gone off, this one in the aquarium, sending millions of gallons of water through the crowded structure. At least five people are confirmed dead. That number’s expected to rise.”

“Son of a bitch,” Austin said. “Why hasn’t he made a statement? If he’s not going to tell the public why he’s doing this, what’s the fucking point?”

“Maybe he’s like the Son of Sam,” said Cowboy. “The voices are making him do it.”

Austin and the others went back to Longwood Ranch at dawn but David and Cassidy were already gone. Austin felt like his entire world was slipping off its axis, about to tumble through space. He looked for The Community’s helicopter.

It was gone.

He’d taken her.

David had taken Cassidy.

Austin shattered a window with a single kick, his emotions under pressure and needing to escape.

Where the hell had they gone?

As soon as he posed the question he knew the answer, his memory pulling up the map of Seattle from David’s office.

He could only remember a few of the places marked. The Space Needle. Pike Place Market. The Great Wheel.The Art Museum.

And the aquarium, apparently.

He wished he’d paid more attention or written them down, and he berated himself during the whole chopper ride to Seattle for failing to realize the map’s importance. It had been spread out before him and he’d damn near ignored it.

He swerved to miss a Toyota stopped in the middle of the busy street, no driver in sight, as he spoke to Cowboy. “Where the fuck is she? He brought her here, but I can’t imagine he dragged her all over town setting charges.”

“That could have been done weeks or days ago by any member of The Community,” said Cowboy.

“He’s here to watch his masterpiece as it unfolds,” said Austin. “He needs to be part of it. Needs to see it with his own eyes.”

“He might even need to be a part of it.”

“But where? That’s the question. It’s a big city and we’ve got nothing to go on.”

“Cassidy Lane, a reporter from the Washington Post, is believed to be with The Community and has issued a statement on their behalf. It reads, ‘The people of Seattle must repent their sinister ways. More people will die before the fires of hell are cleared from the earth, and only the righteous will be guided through the darkness as if on rails.”

“‘As if on rails,’” Cowboy said. “That’s awkward as hell.”

It really was, but Cassidy was a journalist. She could write better than that. Going through the darkness on rails reminded him of his earlier conversation with Cassidy about the roller coaster Space Mountain at Disneyworld. His eyes widened. “It’s deliberate. It’s a clue for me.”

Cowboy turned toward him. “Come again?”

“We were talking about Space Mountain the other day. She knew my mind would go right there.”

Noah chimed in from the backseat. “I hate that ride. The whole thing’s in the dark. You never know when the turns are coming.”

“I don’t know about you,” said Cowboy, “But when I’m trying to decide between major Seattle attractions, Space Mountain makes me think of Space Needle.”

“Me too,” said Austin and Noah at the same time.

Austin pulled over and cut people off making a U-turn in chaotic Doomsday traffic. “That’s where he’s taking her. The Space Needle.”

It was a incredibly tall tower in downtown Seattle known for its circular observation deck overlooking the city, Elliott Bay, and several mountains in the distance.