The Devil's Touch by William W. Johnstone Page A

when that was accomplished. A sense of homing told them they must return to Clark County. To Logandale. To the Master.
    No one stopped them in the busy hospital. The shift that had seen the dead men come in had already gone home. The new ground floor shift were busy, and gave the pale-looking men pushing the gurney only a brief glance.
    The paramedics found an ambulance with the keys in it, loaded the young M.E. into the back, and drove off. Toward Logandale. Home. To the Master.
    Fully dressed, if a bit rumpled, Jon and Patsy walked slowly out of the woods by the river. Patsy had responded even more the second time, with Jon's being much more gentle with her. She had bitten her lips as one shivering climax followed on the heels of another. She could not understand the strange new feelings within her. But she found she did not possess either the will or the strength to fight them.
    "I'll pick you up at your house at seven," Jon told her. "We'll go to my house where we can be alone."
    "All right, Jon," Patsy said. Whatever the boy ordered her to do, she felt compelled to obey.
    "You will not go to your house," a voice spoke to Jon. He knew who it was; all the pieces were falling into place. Everything that had happened to him over the past few months now added up. Jon was a very intelligent young man, and he had silently suspected something of this nature all along. He didn't care.
    "You and your recently deflowered young lady friend will come to the Giddon house. You will be there at nine o'clock. Do not be early, do not be late."
    "As you command," Jon replied. He glanced at Patsy. She was hearing none of the conversation.
    "You do not seem to be overly concerned about silent messages, young man."
    "I'm not. I don't care."
    "Very good. I think you shall find the events of this evening most interesting and pleasant. We will have a task for you later on."
    "Tonight?"
    "That, too. But that is not the task I speak of."
    "Then what?"
    "The young woman of your dreams. The one occupying your mind while you practiced self-abuse in the darkness of your bedroom."
    Tired as he was, Jon's heart quickened at the thought. "Nydia?"
    "None other."
    "Will you answer a question for me?"
    "Possibly."
    "Are you Satan?"
    "Possibly. The Master is always close—one form or another—to those who choose to serve him."
    "The
Master!"
    "Of course, young man.
I
am now your Master. We made a deal. You said you would return a favor for a favor. My side of the bargain has been—" The voice giggled. "—Consummated. Now it is your turn."
    Jon did not give it much thought. He didn't care. "All right," he said.
    "Ta-ta, Jon," the voice cheerfully replied, then faded away.
    "If you know so much," a badly shaken Chief Draper spoke to Nydia. "If you can read minds and—whatever else it is you do, how come you didn't see all this— whatever is happening—and warn people about it?"
    "Because I was blocked out. Because Satan knows I renounced his dark faith and became a Christian. Satan rules the earth, Chief, God the Heavens. But my mother was, remember, a witch, and some of her powers did show up in me."
    "Lordy," Joe said.
    Monty shook his head in confusion and disbelief.
    Sam answered the knock on the front door. Janet stepped in, smiling as usual. "I'm a little early," she said. "But I knew you wouldn't mind." She spoke politely to Father Le Moyne, Chief Draper, and Joe. "Is something the matter?" She looked at Sam.
    "Nothing we can't handle, Janet," Sam said, returning the smile.
    All could see the afternoon had melted into dusk, with the sky overcast, already dripping moisture and sculpturing hollow pockets of gloom around the land.
    "Do you want me to leave, Sam? I get the feeling I'm interrupting some grown-up talk."
    "No, you stay, Janet. Nydia and I won't be going to the movies this evening." He glanced at Monty. "We usually drive over to Blaine for dinner and a movie on Saturday evenings," he explained. He swung his eyes to Janet. "But there is