Nick let the magnum answer for him, not trusting his voice. In the few seconds that followed Nick, in his nervous excitement, emptied the revolver at Brice, but never even grazed him. He cursed and began thumbing cartridges into the Ruger. He was almost finished, when Nolan caught onto the maneuver and decided to come in closer. He stood up and began sprinting toward the house. Nick had just yanked the hammer of the gun back to fire as Brice came into the open but he never made it. Suddenly, in the middle of the yard, Detective Lieutenant Nolan Brice disappeared into thin air! Nick heard him yell for help, but he could see nothing. The yelling kept going straight up into the air until it grew faint in the distance. Nick stared dumbfoundedly at the area where the cop had suddenly faded out of sight. What the hell was going on in this screwy place? Then he heard the shout below him and he twisted to stare at the borders of the small creek. It was the two men from Andy Hocum's gas station - the blond giant and the sandy haired guy. Panicky, Nick snapped off a shot and the blond dived for cover. "The dumb bastard is shooting," the blond yelled to his companion several yards away. "Let's get the hell out of here, before he hits something!" He got a brief glimpse of them as they took off through the brush and snapped a shot at them to hurry them along, just as Beth's car rocked up the rutty road and braked beside the police car. She leaped out yelling for him and he went down the stairs to meet her, the gun still in his hand. Her face was drained of color as she came into the house, the red of her lips looking even more red against the pale wash of her face. "Nick! Where's Nolan?" "I..." "Oh, my God, Nick! Have you killed him?" "I couldn't hit him," Nick told her. "I emptied the magnum at him and he disappeared into the air." His eyes had a wild look in them, "Right into the air," he added inanely. Everything was so balled up. Everything was crazy. He wasn't Nick Danson ... he didn't know his name ... Brice vanished into thin air ... the two guys were dogging his tracks ... women came out of the woodwork to make love to him. What the hell else could possibly happen? Beth was staring at him. "You killed him," she breathed. "No, no! He vanished. He vanished ... honest to God, I never even came close to hitting him. I might as well have thrown rocks." "Men do not disappear into thin air," she said. "Listen, forget that for a minute. How'd he know I was here?" She sank wearily onto a chair and looked at him. "He found the watch I gave you a few years ago. It was lying at the crash site. He came to the office where I work and asked about you. I denied that I knew you were back and he began to yell at me about my life being in danger and that I should stay away from you until he had a chance to put a bullet into you. My God, Nick! What have you done?"