Chapter 24

Jack surveys ruined Dezi from Sophie’s old balcony, haunted by film memories and fatalism, when Ayden Hestin arrives and insists Jack continue the larger mission. Hestin hints knowledge of the fleeing redheaded pair and what Jack must do next, jolting Jack from despair with the phrase “It’s five minutes before nine in Paris.”

The group spends the night in Rosewood Hall. In the morning they retrieve Oriza plates from the ambush site and recover their dead. Richard the billy-bumbler drives plunja birds from fallen Ladies of the Plate. They find many severed redhead heads and confirm the women’s deadly accuracy. Among the dead are Haffe Stines, Feony Jacks, and Mason Downey.

Alice claims her own Oriza and the ka-tet loads sixteen bodies—thirteen women—into trucks, placing them together in the Long Wind vault. Jory Fields appears seeking execution for spoiling the ambush. Despite the others’ fury, Jack urges mercy, and Alice spares Jory, assigning him to collect Dezi’s dead as atonement.

Back at the Hall, Alice nearly collapses from pain and exhaustion. Jack defers explaining Hestin’s revelations, learns where Youngblood’s U.S. currency is stored, and retrieves a Spider-Man lunchbox full of 20s and 50s. Seeing Jory begin his grim rounds, Jack flips America-side.

In Nebraska, Jack visits Damon and Helen Cornell. While CNN covers Hemingford Home’s devastation and mysterious weapons, Jack eats, secures antibiotics, and leaves a large stack of 1970s cash. He gives them a supply list—especially battery-powered AC units and extra batteries—insisting time is short. He vanishes from their bathroom after writing “THANKS I’LL BE BACK,” then returns to Dezi’s balcony and falls into exhausted sleep, dreaming of the Gullet widening.