“ I'll keep a low profile.”
“- that you're on the case, Matisak's going to be on his way. But you know that…”
I'm counting on it, she thought. “I'm a big girl, Paul.”
“ You don't make protecting your ass an easy chore, Jessica Coran.”
“ Maybe that's the way it should be; besides, it's my ass, Paul, and it's been damn near six months. Could you live this way for two? I can't and I won't, not anymore. I'm sick to death of dancing to his fiddle.”
“ Got it all figured out, do you?”
“ No, not entirely, but one thing's for sure. It's either him or me now, and if New Orleans is to be the O.K. Corral, then as the song says, 'Let it be.' “
“ Bob Waite and Greg Thatcher'll be glad to hear it put so eloquently. Maybe you can sing the tune to them.”
“ I got Archer on my own. I suppose I can do the same with Matisak, if he gives me the slightest opportunity.”
“ Christ, you talk about it as if it were a bloody tennis match or a game of chess.”
“ Maybe it is.”
“ With your life in the balance? You've got some nerve, Jess, I'll give you that.”
“ I'm still the best shot in the division.”
“ When your nerves are steady.”
“ I'm absolutely in control of my nerves.”
He came around to her and put his arm around her shoulder in a fatherly fashion. “Kiddo, this monster is enough to unnerve anyone, and knowing he's watching your every move, stalking you like a friggin' werewolf… don't tell me it doesn't eat away at you. I know you too well for that.”
“ I'm ready to have an end to it, Paul. One way or another, I'm exhausted and I want my life back!” She pulled away from him, knowing his reputation for pawing the ladies in the department.
“ Don't expect me to like it, Jess, or to approve of this foolish behavior. I can't authorize this, and Santiva's crazy if he does. It's against all policy. If you go without an escort, it won't be my ass they fry in the end. It'll be Santiva's, the new director who should've known fucking better.”
“ True to form, Paul, ever the 'company' man, clawing your way to the top. I think you like the idea Santiva's gone out on a limb for me. I knew I could count on that. Now you listen to me: I'm ready to face the satanic son of a bitch today, tomorrow, when he comes, but I'm not willing to let it drag on another six months, another year and another. I just can't live like this another day.”
He swallowed a large dose of resignation while her eyes bored into him. “No matter my aspirations in the company, less, you've got to know how much I care about you. I'm only thinking of your safety.”
“ Give it up, Paul. It's not your concern anymore. And promise, whatever you do, don't let it get around where I am, Paul, okay?”
“ Everybody's going to know, Jess. Soon as the New Orleans press gets wind.”
“ Just keep it as quiet as possible for as long as possible then, okay?”
He wondered at both her reasoning and her madness. “You: an't keep information like that quiet for very long.”
“ I don't want Jim Parry knowing.”
“ Ahh, now the truth comes out, I see. You know that he'd be just as upset with you as I am if he knew.”
“ More so.”
“ Look, I won't spill it to him, but he's going to learn about it and soon.”
“ I know that.”
Again the look of resignation and veiled disgust wafted across Zanek's features. “Santiva had no right stepping into this,” he complained, his eyes narrowing as if hatching some way to get back at the senior man.
“ It wasn't his fault. I pushed him into the middle. Let it be, Paul.”
He dropped his gaze, played a moment with straightening (lis desk blotter, in disarray since Kim Desinor's psychic ruminations over what Stephens had placed before her. Under (lis breath, his voice growing in intensity as he spoke, Paul finally said, “Good luck in New Orleans then, and Jess, be careful down there. Watch your back and stay outta the shadows and hang with the crowd, okay?”
“ What's that, water buffalo wisdom? Around the pond? Herd mentality and safety in numbers may not apply. They say in New Orleans you're always in a crowd, that your back is always exposed. That's why so many people go there, to become a part of the 'mob' mentality of the parades and the Mardi Gras and to purposely expose their breasts, remember?”
“ And you?” he challenged. “You going there to expose yourself to Matisak is just crazy, Jess.”
She smiled across at him and said, “New Orleans is the crazy capital of the world. Come on, stop worrying about me, Paul, and start watching out for yourself.”
“ And what's that supposed to mean?”
“ Whatever you want it to mean. But just you be careful too, Paul. Watch the knife to the back yourself. I'd like to know you'll be here when I get back. I'd like to know some things in life are permanent.”
“ Hate to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but there just ain't no such animal as permanent, not in this life.”
“ Maybe not in the next either,' she countered, halfway to the door now. “All the same, be here when I get back, okay? I'd hate to have to break in a new guy, or gal.”
He only chuckled at the suggestion, saying, “After Theresa O'Rourke sat in this chair? Don't count on another female chief here in your lifetime, dear, unless maybe you're bucking for the job?''
Now she laughed a hearty belly laugh, something she'd not done in a long time. For all his faults, Paul was quite human, and he made her laugh, and that was a good balm. “I wouldn't touch your job with surgical gloves and forceps, not even if they threw in my own personal yacht and my own island to sail it around, not for all the perks and bucks in the world, Paul, ever.”
“ Hey, it isn't that bloody bad…” He stopped to consider what he was saying. “As for the perks, hell, I earn every single one of 'em daily.”
She playfully patted his cheek, stepped briskly toward the door and turned for a final wave, saying, “I'll just bet you do.”
“ I do!” she heard him shouting from behind the closed door as she passed his secretary's desk, anxious to be finally escaping Quantico, wondering if maybe she'd have time to stop at the local bookstore in town for a guidebook on New Orleans. She knew next to nothing about the city. She'd never visited before. It would prove to be quite an adventure, most interesting and pleasant, she desperately tried to convince herself.
9
Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
He'd finished with the old woman whose body weight made the overhead beam in the barn irrrrk with a disagreeing give and sag. Matisak busily put away the last of the blood-filled canning jars into the ice-laden foam cooler which he'd earlier prepared. Teach, as he liked to call himself, had found the canning jars in the old lady's fruit cellar. He'd emptied the jars of their tomato, blueberry and strawberry contents, throwing the sugary muck to the hogs, and had washed each jar thoroughly. The jars amounted to a good dozen, more than enough for his needs.
Earl and Hillary Redbird had been gracious to open their hearth and hearts to Matisak, kind to allow him to stay with them for these many weeks now.
He'd returned to Oklahoma after escaping FBI authorities not far from here by kidnapping a pilot at a regional
