While looking at the windows both Lex and I was sure we saw somebody watching us behind the curtains.Anna-Lena's driving license was cancelled for spe...eding and as I owned her car we let it remain in the garage. Back at the house we changed all locks before we left for the next town, which was Lex's current hometown where he had rented the Ford Transit. After a short stop at his home we went skiing for a week in the mountains where our two friends already were waiting for us in a rented. The tracker showed up in only a few minutes, and I shouted at him. "HEY, WAIT! I WON'T HURT YOU! I JUST WANT TO TALK!" Naturally, he was uncertain about me when I showed up. "Hello, I am Hank King. I ran away about a year ago with my wife. We are the ones you are hunting. We rescued the torture victims last night and took them to our home where they are safe. Please tell me what is going on. Come closer so that we don't attract a lot of unwanted attention."The man walked closer and said, "I am. You know?’ She raised her gray-green eyes to his. ‘I wish it was me he was making love to, not just a body with my face on it.’ He was watching the first time Nick hit her. It was a fact he could never confess to anyone. The next day it was nothing, an accident on a doorframe. It was nothing to worry about, she assured them, nothing at all. ‘Really?’ he said. ‘That’s three of them in as many weeks.’ Her look of astonishment melted slowly into a bittersweet smile. ‘Yes, Jacob, it’s nothing. But. This didn't really seem necessary, as there was no apparent sign of hostile activity. The military robots that trundled close to the artefact were completely ignored. All the artefact seemed to be doing was gather together the grit and gravel of the desert to generate an exact copy of itself.There was no end of conjecture not only about what the artefact might be and where it came from, but exactly how it was able to take the unpromising sand and dirt of the Arizona Desert and convert them into.