At last I was clear of town and rising toward the Los Alamos laboratories. I couldn’t risk taking the main road in, not with that guard shack positioned square in the middle of it. Possibly at night it wasn’t manned, but I wouldn’t chance it. When I was a little less than a quarter-mile away, I pulled over onto the side of the road and shut off the engine, then got out.
The wind hit my face in a blast that felt as if it had blown in straight from Antarctica. I gasped, but that was a mistake, as all it did was force more freezing air into my lungs.
You can do this, I told myself. This coat is rated up to minus thirty. Now get moving — you’ll warm up.
Hands jammed in my pockets, I clicked the remote to lock the Cherokee, then began trudging up the hill. Out here, the snow was up to mid-ca
