“Unfortunately, the Best Lord had condemned both vehicles as unsafe and instead I now leased a Pack Jeep I called Hector. Equipped with dual engines, Hector worked during magic or tech. He didn't go very fast, especially during magic, but so far he hadn't stalled on me either. As long as our high-speed chases stayed under forty-five miles an hour, we would be all set.”

“Hector? You call him Hector?”“Well, I can hardly call out, ‘Agent Chavez, oo Agent Chavez,’ When he makes me climax, now can I?”

“It's all right, dearheart," Dad assures me. "Folder three, scenario four: going into labor during a high-speed chase with extra-terrestrials.”

“I walked to Montevallo.''Forty miles?!''Forty-two,' he corrected me. 'Well. Forty-two there. Forty-two back. Eight-two miles. No. Eight-four. Yes. Eighty-four miles in forty-five hours.''What the hell's in Montevallo?' I asked.'Not much. I just walked til I got too cold, and then I turned around.''You didn't sleep?''No, the dreams are terrible.”

“Is it possible to be ticket for going too fast during speed dating?”

“They slept profoundly, desperately, greedily, as though for the last time, as though they had been condemned to stay awake forever and had to drink in all the sleep in the world during these last hours. ”