Earl grinned expectantly. “I bet you did. Yessiree.”
“And even now I’m not sure what is right or what is wrong.”
“Just wanted to give you a chance to make a choice about it, that’s all. Ain’t no more thinkin’ I done put to it than that. Never even finished high school. I’m a dumb shit.”
“They tell me you’re dying.”
Earl waggled the end of one of his IV lines at her. “Just been hanging on to see you, sweetie.”
“Well, you can stop hanging on.”
She turned to leave.
“Hey, ain’t you want to say your piece to me?”
She looked back. “You’re not worth the time it would cost me, Earl. See, to get mad at you would mean I have to think about you.” She paused. “And I don’t.”
She walked out, leaving Earl looking bemused. He glanced at Robie.
“You her friend?”
“Yes.”
“She’s complicated.”
“Yes.”
“You want to say something to me, you know, like you taking her place?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Just die and get it over with. Let the world have a laugh, Earl. Let ’em have a laugh. You were a badass when you were killing people who couldn’t defend themselves. Even in your prime you couldn’t take down your daughter. You were never in her league.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking ’bout. Tell me off.”
“Yeah, whatever. If I see you on the other side at some point, I’ll kill you all over again. If I want to take the time on a small fry like you.”
Robie turned and followed Reel out.
With a deeply self-satisfied smile Earl dropped back onto his pillow, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Reel was already at the car when Robie showed up.
She said, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
“The important thing was you did it. You saw him. You said what you said and now he’s out of your life. Forever.”
“Thanks for coming with me.”
“On your six, like I said.”
“Did you say anything to him after I left?”
“A few things. Like you said, he’s not worth the breath.”
“He was a monster to me as a little girl. Now he’s just pitiful. I can’t believe I was ever afraid of that pathetic bastard.”
“That’s what growing up does for you. Destroys a lot of monsters.”
“I guess you’re right about that.” She looked off.
“Let’s get out of this hellhole.”
“Sounds good.”
Robie climbed into the car and they drove off.
They didn’t see anyone on the drive back to the airport.
They couldn’t have.
The long-range cameras were too far away. But they took shot after shot of the pair, more than enough, in fact.
And now it had truly begun.
Chapter
36
ARE YOU STILL GOING TO be doing your job?” Julie asked.
Robie and Reel sat across from her. They had been back from Alabama for several days now and Reel had suggested taking Julie out to dinner to celebrate leaving that part of her past behind. Finally.
They were at the back of a restaurant in Georgetown. There were few patrons in the place, but they still talked in low voices.
“At some point,” said Reel.
“But right now we’re taking a break,” said Robie. “An authorized one this time.”
“Does that mean your last mission went okay?” Julie wanted to know.
Reel and Robie exchanged glances. Reel said, “As well as those sorts of missions go.”
Julie focused on her. “Are you going to take the time to figure some things out?”
“I think I’ve got some of them figured out; at least I’m getting there.”
Robie looked between them. “Am I missing out on something here?”
Julie kept her gaze on Reel. “Just girl stuff.”
Reel cracked a smile at this but then said, “I understand you were in foster care.”
Julie nodded.
“Me too,” said Reel. “Didn’t really work out for me.”
“Me either.”
Reel looked at Robie. “Can you give us a minute?”
Robie slowly nodded. “More girl stuff?”
“Something like that.”
“I’ll take my time in the men’s room. You know, guy stuff.”
After he left Reel moved over next to Julie. “I went to see my father in Alabama. Robie went with me.”
“Where does he live in Alabama?”
“Max-security prison. He was supposed to be executed but he got cancer so they couldn’t carry out the death sentence.”
Julie accepted this matter-of-factly and asked, “What did he do?”
“Among other things, he murdered my mother.”
Julie reached out and gripped Reel’s shoulder.
Reel said shakily, “I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this, Julie. One, I don’t really know you that well. And, two, it’s a lot to dump on a kid.”
“I’m old for my age, like I said.” She waited for a few seconds and added, “Why did you go see him?”
“He got a message to me that he wanted to see me before he died.”
“Why?”
“To try and make amends, or so he said. I didn’t believe him. He’s evil, Julie, and evil never changes. It just is.”
Julie had started nodding before Reel finished. “So he didn’t want to make amends. What, then?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe to taunt me. He just grinned and was spewing this simpering crap. I think it was his last shot at me before he croaked.”
“An evil man killed my parents,” said Julie. “Robie knows about it. He stopped the man from killing me.”
“I’m glad he was there for you, Julie.”
“I’m glad he was there for you too.”
“I guess we’re both lucky to have him.”
“But watch out for super agent Nicole Vance. She’s got a thing for him. He won’t believe me when I tell him, but that’s because, despite all the cool stuff he can do, he’s just a clueless guy when it comes to women.”
Reel smiled and then laughed.
“I’ve never heard you laugh before,” said Julie.
“I don’t do it very often,” replied Reel. “But it felt really good.”
“Which logically means you should try and do it more often.”
“I’m not sure logic has much to do with it.”
The two sat in silence for a minute.
“So you went into foster care after what happened to your mom?” asked Julie.
Reel nodded. “But not for long. I got mixed up with some really bad people. Not my fault. They were involved with my foster parents. I didn’t want to be part of it so I worked with the FBI to bring them down.”
“The FBI? How old were you?”
“Not much older than you.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“Every minute of every day, but there was no alternative. The FBI finally busted them and I got put in Witness Protection. From there I went to CIA. That’s my whole life in a nutshell. And for the record, only a handful of people know.”
“Then I’m flattered you trust me enough to tell me.”
“I don’t trust easily.”
“Neither do I,” said Julie. “But I trust you.”
A minute later Robie returned to the table and sat down. He found both women looking at him so intently that he finally said, “What?”
“Nothing,” they both said together, though Julie giggled and Reel snorted.
They drove Julie home and watched her go inside. When the door closed behind her, Reel said, “That is one special young woman.”
“I got that a long time ago. You two really seem to have hit it off.”
“We’re a lot alike in many ways. When I first saw her you know
what I thought?”
“What?”
“That she could be me, only twenty-some years younger.” Reel gazed out the window. “And I thought something else.”
“What was that?”
“That she might make a great recruit for the agency.”
“Not what we do?”
Reel glanced at him and then shrugged. “Maybe not. But she’s got the brains and the intuition to excel as an analyst. She could serve her country well.”
“Maybe. But that’s up to her.”
“What, like it was up to us?”
“We had choices.”
“We had bad choices, Robie. And we picked one. Or at least I did. You know far more about my past than I know about yours. In fact, I know nothing of your past.”
“You know some of it,” he corrected.
“Some,” she agreed. “But far from all.”
“There’s not much to tell. Hardly worth listening to.”
“And how much of that was a lie? All of it or just most?”
“I don’t look back. I look forward.”
“I looked back in Alabama.”
“But not for long. Now you can look forward.”
“And it’s scaring the crap out of me. My future.”
When they got back to Robie’s apartment, Robie made some tea for himself and, at her request, poured out a tumbler of Scotch for Reel. They sat and talked until it grew quite late.
“I need to find a place to live,” Reel said as she took a last sip of her drink.
“You’re welcome to stay here until you do.”
“I’m not sure how well that would work.”
“Why not? We just bunked together at the Burner for way too long.”
“There were cameras there, people watching.”
He looked at her curiously. “Not getting your point.”
“I propositioned you on a flight one time, Robie. And got turned down. I don’t like getting turned down. It hurts my pride. I’ll try again. It’s just how I’m wired.”
Robie stared at her. “The refusal had nothing to do with you. I explained that.”
“Exactly. That’s looking in the past. You said we needed to look to the future.”
She rose and held out her hand. “How about we try this again?”
“Are you sure about this?”
“No, but I want to do it anyway.”
Robie was about to stand when his phone buzzed.
“Shit,” exclaimed Reel. “I don’t care if that’s Marks, Tucker, or the president himself. Don’t answer it.”
Robie looked at the phone screen. “It’s Nicole Vance.”
“Then really don’t answer it.”
Robie clicked a key and said, “What’s up?”
He grinned at Reel, who was making a slicing motion with her finger across her neck. Then Robie’s grin disappeared.
“On my way.”
He clicked off and looked at Reel, who was now looking deadly serious.
“What?”
“It’s Julie.”
Reel’s mouth sagged. “Julie? What happened?”
“She’s been taken.”
Chapter
37
NICOLE VANCE MET THEM OUTSIDE the town house where only hours before Robie and Reel had dropped off Julie. Police cars lined the street and Robie could see FBI wheels parked along the curb. Yellow tape was up everywhere and police officers were holding back curious folks who craned their necks and jostled their neighbors trying to see.
“What happened?” Robie asked.
Vance looked at Reel and then at Robie. “Were you two together when I called you?”
“Yes,” said Robie. “We had taken Julie to dinner and dropped her off. We watched her go inside. Everything seemed fine.”
“Well, it wasn’t,” replied Vance, with another sharp glance at Reel. “Jerome Cassidy managed to call the police.”
“Managed?” said Robie.
“They nearly killed him. I wonder now why they didn’t. The cops in turn called us because it was a kidnapping. We have an Amber Alert out but nothing so far.”
“How did they get to her?” asked Reel.
“Apparently they were waiting for her when she got home. Cassidy was already unconscious.”
“So they broke into the house after we picked Julie up?” said Robie slowly.
“Apparently so,” replied Vance. “They subdued Cassidy and then waited for her to return.”
Reel added, “That means they were watching Julie’s house.”
“Looks to be the case,” said Vance. “We know she might have some enemies,” she added, looking at Robie.
Robie briefly returned the stare and then looked away, his gut suddenly full of acid.
“Any clues to who might have taken her?” asked Reel.