Exit Strategy Part 44

Evelyn again. "Fine, brood, brood, not sulk..." not sulk..."

Jack answered, still unintelligible. As I reached out to knock, Evelyn's voice grew louder, her words coming clearer. I rapped anyway, but she continued. "...need to take take what's yours." what's yours."

Another rumble.

Evelyn sighed. "...not yours, then. So change that. Do Do something." something."

I took the handle and turned it, slowly, checking whether the door was open. It was. One final knock.

Evelyn continued. "If you think he's he's going to let this blow over, and just walk away afterward, you've got a h.e.l.l of a shock coming-" going to let this blow over, and just walk away afterward, you've got a h.e.l.l of a shock coming-"

As she spoke, I eased open the door, then gave one last, loud knock, and she stopped in midsentence. I poked my head through the opening.

"Sorry," I said. "I tried knocking, but I guess you couldn't hear me. I just wanted to let you know I'm back. I'll wait over here..."

Evelyn pulled the door open and I nearly fell in. Jack stood across the room, arms crossed.

"Everything...okay?" I asked.

Jack uncrossed his arms, but Evelyn beat him to an answer.

"No, everything is not okay," she said, looking at him. "But, apparently, it won't be fixed anytime soon. Not that it matters. f.u.c.k up this chance and I'm sure one will come around again...in another twenty, thirty years."

"The plan, you mean?" I said as I closed the door behind me. "Has something gone wrong? Quinn hasn't heard from Dubois, so-"

"The plan is fine...or as fine as we can make it at this point."

"Maybe not," I said. "Quinn and I discussed something, a possible change."

I told them our thoughts on the "final" solution.

"Yeah," Jack said. "Been thinking that. It's a problem. Not just Wilkes getting off. He's arrested? He'll talk."

"About you and Evelyn. d.a.m.n it, I didn't think-"

"Doesn't matter. We can handle that. Cops know we exist. You? Still an unknown. I want to keep it that way."

"Fine, but I still say you guys are in more danger. He won't hesitate to use whatever he knows as leverage and, if that fails, he'll just give it away to make your lives difficult. That settles it, then. We can't hand him over to Dubois while he's in any condition to talk."

"Easy enough," Evelyn said. "We amend the plan so we hand over a corpse instead of a suspect. No big deal. You kill Wilkes, and Dubois will claim he did it in self-defense."

And there it was. Easy as could be. "You kill him, Nadia." I didn't even have to suggest it.

I said, "With the ambition angle, we have some leeway. Dubois might see the danger of bringing in a dead man, but he'll see the advantages, too. 'Top federal agent takes on notorious serial killer in a fight to the death...and wins' makes a lot better copy than 'Top federal agent apprehends suspect.'"

"No need to decide anything until morning, so let's take the night to think about it. In the meantime..." She glanced Jack's way.

Jack hesitated, then looked at me. "You tired? Got a smoke or two left." He took the pack from his pocket. "Should get them gone."

My gut twisted. I knew what he really wanted-to finish our argument from earlier, the one I'd walked away from.

"When the h.e.l.l did you start smoking again?" Evelyn asked Jack.

"Never stopped," he said.

"I haven't seen you light up in years."

"Don't do it in front of you."

"But you'll do it in front of Dee? You really do do know how to treat a lady. Take her outside in the middle of the chilly night, so you can blow smoke in her face? At least find someplace warm. There's a lounge downstairs. Order a drink, relax, have your smoke if you need it...." know how to treat a lady. Take her outside in the middle of the chilly night, so you can blow smoke in her face? At least find someplace warm. There's a lounge downstairs. Order a drink, relax, have your smoke if you need it...."

I shook my head. "I don't drink before a job. And I'm beat. I'm just going to go to bed, okay?"

I didn't wait around to find out whether it was okay, just grabbed my bag and headed for the bathroom. When I came out, Jack was gone.

Evelyn started for the bathroom, but I stopped her.

"You know what Quinn does, don't you?" I said. "His angle."

A small smile. "The Boy Scout?"

"Is that his other pro name?"

She moved back into the room and sat on her bed. "Yes, but I wouldn't suggest you use it unless you want to p.i.s.s him off. Seems vigilante types have this odd aversion to having it thrown in their face."

I ignored that and pressed on. "But if this is his angle, vigilantism as you call it, and he's obviously far more into it than I am, why not take him?"

She grinned. "If I were thirty years younger, Dee, I'd take him in a second. But that's just libido talking. As a student? He'd be...adequate. Nothing more."

"But he is is a vigilante. And a true believer, not just some guy taking advantage of an underserviced wedge of the market." a vigilante. And a true believer, not just some guy taking advantage of an underserviced wedge of the market."

"Still trying to wriggle out of this without making a decision, Nadia?"

"Of course not," I snapped, a little harder than I meant, annoyed by her switch from Dee to Nadia. I covered it by continuing. "You said you want me because you're interested in this 'angle' of mine. But Quinn has it, so I think I'm ent.i.tled to ask a question or two."

"And make sure I'm not misleading you? Tricking you into something?"

"I'm being careful."

"Good girl. So why you and not him? Fair question. For Quinn, it's all up here-" She tapped her head. "Cerebral. He sees injustice and, as a cop, as a moral man, he's outraged. But there's no fire here-" She patted her stomach.

"But Quinn's good. Even Jack admits it."

"Technical skills, attention to detail, creativity, brains, all that can make you a d.a.m.ned fine hitman, and Quinn has it all. But to be better than fine, to be legendary, legendary, you need that drive. Me, I had some, but not on your scale. I've only ever seen that kind of fire once, a different sort-the worst case of 'f.u.c.k the world' rage you've ever seen. Without training? Suicide. You take too many chances, trying to dowse those flames. You burn yourself up." She met my gaze. "Seen any symptoms of that lately, Nadia?" you need that drive. Me, I had some, but not on your scale. I've only ever seen that kind of fire once, a different sort-the worst case of 'f.u.c.k the world' rage you've ever seen. Without training? Suicide. You take too many chances, trying to dowse those flames. You burn yourself up." She met my gaze. "Seen any symptoms of that lately, Nadia?"

I said nothing. She pushed to her feet, muttering about her knees, then wished me good night and headed to the bathroom.

I didn't sleep. Couldn't. That never fails. If you have a big day coming, and you know you need your rest, then you won't be able to find it, and the longer you lie there, the more anxious you get, which only keeps you awake.

What really kept me awake that night, though, was my conversation with Jack. I believe in honesty. Always have. But brutal honesty is, well, brutal. It rips the scabs off wounds you've tried so hard to heal.

He hadn't said anything I didn't already know. No matter how hard I'd worked to get my life back on track after Wayne Franco, that track was closed to me forever now. I'd never be a cop again. Marriage, kids, a house in the suburbs-none of it had ever ranked very high on my list of life goals, but there's a difference between not wanting something and not being able to have it.

Sure, I could find a guy willing to overlook my past-I'd had plenty who'd offered-but I wasn't as willing to let anyone try, not after Eric. And I was never bringing a child into this world to grow up under the shadow I'd cast. If I really wanted those things, I could move to another country and start over, under a new name, but that was something I'd never more than fleetingly considered.

There were people who would give a d.a.m.n if I didn't come back from this trip. Emma and Owen and a handful of friends, like Mitch and Lucy. A pitiably small group, none of the ties as close as those I'd once had. I no longer let people get close, not after everyone who should have stuck by me didn't. My mother, my brother, my lover, my friends, my extended family-some tried to hang on after "the Incident," but none tried very hard and when I'd finally packed up and left, I'd heard a collective sigh of relief.

If I died on this mission, I couldn't help wondering whether my funeral would be like Kozlov's, where news cameras outnumbered the mourners. That's a s.h.i.+tty thing to realize...and a s.h.i.+ttier thing to make someone realize.

d.a.m.n Jack.

After two hours of tossing and listening to the hitches in Evelyn's breathing as my restlessness disturbed her sleep, I grabbed a pillow and blanket, crept from the room and set up on the sofa.

About thirty minutes later, I drifted off. But when sleep came, it didn't come soundly, and the moment I lost consciousness I slid right into my nightmare.

I was out of that endless forest and running through a field. I could see the Millers' house ahead. I'd stop there, call my dad- Something flashed over my head. I looked up, and saw the wire. My hands shot up to block it, but it flew down, pa.s.sing right through my outstretched palms and into my throat.

I couldn't breathe. I kicked and flailed, but the wire only cut deeper. Then it changed. Not Wilkes's wire, but a knife point, digging into my throat.

Aldrich laughed.

No! He couldn't have followed. He'd finished with me and was busy with Amy now. I had to get help. To save her- "Save her?" His voice whispered in my ear. "You aren't saving her, Nadia. You're running away. Abandoning her."

"No!"

As the word ripped from my throat, the world dipped into black. Something whispered across my cheek. A touch, a hand, brus.h.i.+ng back my sweaty hair. Cool skin against mine. The faint smell of soap.

"Nadia...?"

I opened my eyes. Jack sat on the edge of the sofa, his hands smoothing my hair.

I groaned. "I'm making a habit of this, aren't I? How many partners have you had to comfort after nightmares?"

"Don't work with partners."

"And this is why, isn't it?"

A small smile. He traced his fingertips down my cheek, then stopped, his gaze flicking to his hand as if surprised to see it there. He pulled back and s.h.i.+fted to adjust my blanket.

"Sorry," I said. "Two nights in a row...that's not normal for me."

For a moment, he crouched beside the sofa, gaze averted, as if thinking. Then his eyes swung back to me. To my throat. To the ghost of a scar. I pulled the blanket higher. His face turned from mine. Then he pushed to his feet.

"Gotta get you to sleep."

He walked toward the minibar.

"Uh-uh," I said. "Booze isn't-"

He took out a bottle of brown liquid and held it up. "Saw this earlier."

"Yoo-hoo?" I said, squinting at the label. "What's in it? Looks like chocolate milk, but..."

"Thought it was." He looked at it and frowned. "Not sure. Huh. Ingredients..." His lips moved as he read the list. Then his frown deepened. "Still not sure."

He put the bottle down. "Let me go downstairs. Find you some real stuff. Heat it up."

"Ah, hot chocolate. Now I get it." I sat up. "Here, we'll use that. I'll just stand back from the microwave, in case it's explosive."

He waved me down. "Stay."

He poured the stuff into a coffee mug, and microwaved it for me. As he brought it over, I gestured at the cigarette pack on the table, where he'd tossed them down earlier.

"You didn't finish them, I see. Go ahead if you want."

"Nonsmoking room."

"I think you've broken worse laws."

"Yeah. But I'd feel bad about this one."

He handed me my mug and sat beside me on the sofa.

"So, you talked to Quinn tonight," he said. "He tell you? About himself ?"

"That he's a vigilante hitman? I'd already figured that."

He studied my expression. Then he grunted, fingers tapping against the cigarette pack. A hungry look down at it, then he stood, crossed the room and tossed it on the counter.

"What did you think would happen, Jack? That I'd hear what Quinn does and say 'hey, sign me up'?"

"Nah. Just..." He shrugged. Didn't finish the sentence.

"I didn't need to hear it from Quinn to know it was was an option, that there's a market for that kind of thing." an option, that there's a market for that kind of thing."

"Yeah, I know."

He sat down. I sipped my hot Yoo-hoo, and tried not to make a face.

"Tastes like s.h.i.+t?" he said.

I managed a small smile. "Yes, but it gets the job done." I took another sip. "About tomorrow. I'd really like-I know you're not the person to talk to about it, because you have problems with the whole plan, but, well, Evelyn, Quinn...I can talk to them but I just don't feel..."

I looked at Jack. "Whatever happened today, however much we disagree about that, I trust you and I'd really like your input. I plan to pull this off, Jack. Without getting myself killed."