ch out through space to snatch her life; if he tried teleportation,
she was steeled to resist. The lifeless, glittering windows, the dull
glare of overhead and curb lights, the shuttle movement of traffic, the
heavy, motionless air--all these combined into bristling menace. Her
foot strained against the accelerator; her muscles ached over the wheel.

She hoped she had confused him. Now she streamed for the open highway.
She settled the car into a traffic slot on the north-bound coast
super-highway. She switched the car on automatic and tried to relax.

The road curved gently toward the west to pick up the coast line. Soon
the moonlit breakers hissed on white sand beaches. The ocean lay dark
and mysterious toward the far horizon.

She prayed that Walt would not guess for long minutes that she had left
the city; that he would lose more precious minutes locating the
super-highway.

San Francisco was six hours ahead of her.

* * * * *

Walt was continually losing himself in a maze of Los Angeles streets.
Ones that seemed to promise to deliver him cross-town to interrupt Julia
in her erratic course twined away in improper directions. Occasionally
he neared her. But she darted away each time: as if with the primeval
instinct of a hunted animal.

At last he stopped the car and cried to a pedestrian across the street:
"Is there any place I can get a map of the city?"

"Ask inna filling station."

Walt snarled. And five minutes later he found the map. He memorized it
carefully; it required scarcely more than a minute. During that time, he
let his body rest and relax. He threw the map onto the driveway. He grew
increasingly more confident of catching her as the information settled
into his brain. He visualized the map.

He was ready for her now.

She was already on the super-highway. He left the filling station. He
was in no hurry. He was waiting for her to return.

It soon became apparent that she would not.

He grunted and spun his car in her direction.

He lost several minutes in a traffic jam downtown. He got on the wrong
lane in a clover leaf beyond the city limits. He had now passed beyond
the boundaries of the map he had memorized. He took the ridge
super-highway instead of the one Julia had taken. After twenty miles, he
realized his mistake and had to cut over. He bounced along an east-west
road that was so rough-surfaced he had to reduce his speed.

When he finally arrived