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followed their gaze and saw a tattered silhouette standing beside Jon's van. "I saw that guy outside your house."  
    "That's not a guy," Echo said. "It's a woman."
    "We should call the police," Payton said. "She may be another kook with a gun."
    No one took out their phones. "Why can't people leave us alone?" Macy asked.
    I stepped in front of them. "Jon, I'll check it out. Don't worry, buddy. I won't let anything bad happen to you."
    Jon glanced me. He seemed startled and pleased.
    Macy took his arm. "We'll wait inside by the front door. You guys bring the van around." Jon tossed his keys to Echo.  
    "We should call the police." Payton repeated.
    It seemed like a reasonable suggestion for seat-belt people but the others ignored him again. Echo started toward the van. "Come on."
    Jon and Macy retreated inside. Payton and I hurried after Echo.  
    The stranger side-stepped away from the van. As she entered the light, I saw by the shape of her face that she was indeed a woman, though I had no idea how Echo could tell from so far away. She had red hair cut very short and wore a black fireman's jacket with reflective green and silver stripes. At first glance I thought she was homeless, but then I saw her hiking boots were expensive and looked fairly new.  
    Then I came close enough to see that her neck and wrists were covered with tattoos. Beneath her big jacket, she was tiny, almost frail. It was hard to judge her age at night and at that distance, but I guessed she was around 40. Maybe she was another terminally-ill patient trying to get her hands on Jon's mysterious cure.
    She watched us approach, her posture tense; I could see we weren't going to have a friendly chat.  
    Payton held out his hands. "Can I help you?" His voice was deeper than usual. The woman didn't seem intimidated.  
    She opened her fireman's jacket. I froze. If she started shooting, we were too far away to rush her and too close to run.
    But she didn't take out a gun. She wore a vest covered with ribbons, all alligator-clipped to her clothes and grouped by color. She plucked a white one free and threw it at Payton.  
    The clip struck his chest and bounced off. He caught it and held it up. The ribbon was decorated with the same design I'd seen on the tree outside Jon's house.
    "You aren't infected," the woman said. Her voice was small and girlish, but also strangely flat.
    She plucked another white ribbon and threw it at Echo, who snatched it out of the air. The design immediately flared, turned black, and gave off a jet of black steam and iron gray sparks. Echo threw the ribbon onto the asphalt.
    "But you are," the woman said.

CHAPTER FIVE

    Payton's anger was quick. "Hey! You could have hurt her!" He stepped toward the woman and reached for her arms.
    The tiny woman grabbed him with both hands and pressed him over her head. It wasn't some kind of judo move--I'd seen plenty of those. She simply muscled Payton into the air.  
    Then, in the same motion, she tossed him aside. He landed hard on the parking lot, six feet away.
    "What the hell?" I blurted out. I couldn't have picked up Payton that way but somehow she had done it. It must have been adrenaline. Must have been.
    Echo crouched low, facing off with the woman. They looked as if things were going to get deadly serious.  
    Hadn't I just gotten out of prison for a fight that got out of hand? I stepped between them. "Let's calm down a minute."
    The little woman didn't like that advice. She stepped toward me and threw a punch. I slipped it easily. She threw another punch, then another, but I danced away from her. She had a hitch in her shoulder that telegraphed her swing and she kept aiming up at my jaw--she'd have had better luck going for my stomach. It was closer to her level.  
    I tried not to think about what she'd done to Payton, and how it would feel if she did it to me. "Come on, lady, calm down. Calm down."
    But she kept coming, her face grim. Then I struck something with the back of my