'' if you can regress sam to see what he looked like as a child , if we can match his picture to a database of cold child abduction cases from fifteen or twenty years ago , if we can prove he was born on earth -- '' '' that 's a lot of ' ifs ' , '' he says . i do n't know what to say . he 's right . the odds are astronomical , at best . '' and let 's say you find sam 's picture in the database

if the soldiers stop you , just tell them you were out with a girl . act sorry and apologize , and they might let you go . '' jamie smiled , '' all right . '' '' and thanks for your help tonight . '' '' sure , '' jamie nodded and ran back to the alley . he paused at every house corner to watch for soldiers

'' open the door . '' pope rose slowly to his feet , turned , and crowded into ethan 's airspace . close enough now to smell the coffee on his breath . see the stains on his teeth . he had four inches on ethan and probably forty pounds . '' do you think i ca n't make you sit down , ethan

'' and he knows better than to fight it . '' david came to stand behind my right shoulder . the darkling studied me in the torchlight . for a moment , all was silence . twilight had gone , and the moon had risen , bright and full . the glade seemed suspended in stillness . '' open your coat , '' said the
darkling