ingle great heap. They backed off,
shifted direction towards the center police lane and began shoving the
debris, foam and snow out of the green lane. At the edge of the police
lane, both cars unshipped cranes and magnalifted the junk over the
divider barrier onto the one-hundred-foot-wide service strip bordering
the police lane. A slow cargo wrecker was already on the way from
Pittsburgh barracks to pick up the wreckage and haul it away. When the
last of the metallic debris had been deposited off the traffic lane,
Martin called Control.

[Illustration]

"Car 56 is clear. NAT 26-west green is clear."

Philly Control acknowledged. Seven miles to the east, the amber
warning lights went dark and the detour barrier at Crossover 85 sank
back into the roadway. Three minutes later, traffic was again flashing
by on green lane past the two halted patrol cars.

"Pitt Control, this is Car 119 clear of accident," the other car
reported.

"Car 119 resume eastbound patrol," came the reply.

The other patrol car pulled away. The two troopers waved at Martin and
Ferguson in Beulah. "See you later and thanks," Ben called out. He
switched to intercom. "Kelly. Any ID on that woman?"

"Not a thing, Ben," she replied. "About forty years old, and she had a
wedding band. She never was conscious, so I can't help you."

Ben nodded and looked over at his partner. "Go get into some dry
clothes, kid," he said, "while I finish the report. Then you can take
it for a while."

Clay nodded and headed back to the crew quarters.

* * * * *

Ben racked his helmet beside his seat and fished out a cigarette. He
reached for an accident report form from the work rack behind his seat
and began writing, glancing up from time to time to gaze thoughtfully
at the scene of the accident. When he had finished, he thumbed the
radio transmitter and called Philly Control. Somewhere in the bloody,
oil and foam covered pile of wreckage were the registration plates for
the two vehicles involved. When the wrecker collected the debris, it
would be machine sifted in Pittsburgh and the plates fed to records
and then relayed to Philadelphia where the identifications could be
added to Ben's report. When he had finished reading his report he
asked, "How's the woman?"

"Still alive, but just barely," Philly Control answered. "Ben, did you
say there were just two vehicles involved?"

"That's all we found," Martin replied.

"And were