Go to beginning of book Novel View Brian is disillusioned with Joshua, and he phones Lori.Derek and Rom speculate on the scream and almost become cat food.Rom and Derek speculate on the scream, and almost become cat food.The scouts are re-captured.Jack delivers the video tapes, steals a look at the letter, and eats a croissant.Joshua broadcasts the tape of Steiner's death, and indicates to the negotiator that he is ready to surrender the zoo.Fact: The state animal of California is the California Grizzly Bear. However, the California grizzly is extinct.Polar bear signGo to chapter 19 of Brian's ViewGo to chapter 21 of Brian's view

Chapter 20 Wednesday, 1100 hours (11:00 AM)

Brian popped the videotape in the editor. He didn't have time to do a good edit, but he did have time to think. It was hard to know what to think about Joshua. Sometimes Joshua seemed a great man who worked in realms far beyond Brian's level of understanding. Perhaps, thought Brian, part of it was the special relationship between the two of them. Brian shook his head. Maybe everyone who dealt with Joshua thought there was a special bond. "No. That's nonsense. There is something special between us."

Brian tried to keep Joshua's charisma out of consideration. "What we did was wrong. Forget about 'we'. What I did was wrong. And I've got to be a lot more careful in my choice of heroes."

Brian finished his raw edits and made copies of the tapes. He played one back and while watching the videotaped murder, realized he'd have to face it. Special bond or not, Joshua was evil, and propagating more evil, and he, Brian would have to figure out some way of stopping him. "Stop Joshua? Yeah, Right." Brian sent out to find someone to take the tapes to Joshua.

Brian needed a shoulder to lean on. Until now, that shoulder was Joshua's, but no more. Brian went to the phone, hesitated, and then dialed Lori. Since she'd left the zoo with Roger, he'd tried not to think about her. He looked at his watch. 11:25. It was unlikely she'd be there,but...

Lori answered, and Brian had a vision of her - a normal college student, in her normal college dorm - and he wondered how he'd managed to get so entangled in this bizarre nightmare. Brian started speaking. He apologized to her, for what, he wasn't quite sure. He told about the hostage sacrifice, and his realization of what Joshua really was. He was going on, scarcely pausing for breath, when he heard a click on the line. Lori was gone. Had she hung up on him? Brian clicked the receiver, but there was no dial tone. The phone was dead. For a moment Brian had the notion that Joshua was listening to the call and had cut him off. "No. That's impossible. The police must have cut off the phone service."

As he really needed to talk to someone, Brian left the TV room to seek out Evan.

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