marauding lion who threatened their livestock. The female cougar, though fatally wounded by a rifle bullet, had gotten away but then had turned and moved slowly back down a rock face to meet the pack of baying dogs that had been trailing her. She had managed to seriously maul two of the fierce dogs, but the relentlessly circling pack had proved too much for the weakened lioness. The dogs had had her down before the hunters had arrived and fired a bullet into her head, stilling her. Later the men, who were trying to understand her return down the rock face, had discovered that she had made her stand between the hunters’ dogs and her den. The dogs had found the den, and the men would have let the animals kill her twin cubs except that Paul had raised such a fuss, the lion hunters had spared them. Aaron and Paul had turned them over to the game warden a few days later. Paul had never discovered their fate.
Paul’s subconscious had conjured up the big cat. An Indian, having the same dream, might have thought the cat was a spirit guide appearing to give him warning or to show him the way to a victory over an adversary. Paul supposed that, figuratively speaking, he was the cat standing between his own den and the dogs-Martin Fletcher.
He moved to the window, parted the curtains, and looked out at the traffic on the street. He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and stood there in the dark waiting for the first inkling of daylight that would put him one sunrise closer to Martin Fletcher.
20
Reid Dietrich arrived in Laura’s driveway a few minutes after midnight. He opened the garage door with the remote as he approached the back of Laura’s house from the alley. The door rolled open, the light came on, and he entered, closing the gate behind his Jaguar. He parked it beside Laura’s Jeep and locked it.
He didn’t switch on the light but instead used his penlight as he passed a wall where there was a workbench. He moved a piece of plywood, slid a short pile of bricks out from the wall, and pulled out a pair of tape recorders that were joined together. He popped them open, removed the tapes, and put them in his pocket. He reloaded the recorders and dropped the tapes into a compartment in the flight bag.
Then he walked through the rear gate to the kitchen door carrying his flight bag. He set the case down and tried to insert his key in the lock, but it wouldn’t fit. Upon inspection he saw that the lock was newly installed and looked far more substantial than the other one. He stepped back from the door and looked at the key, then peered around the corner of the house to the windows of the ballroom studio. The lights were on, so Laura was working. He went to the first window and rapped at the glass with a key.
“Laura, it’s me!” he yelled at the ghostlike shape that appeared on the other side of the sheer curtains covering the glass. Laura opened them and looked out, and when she saw him, her face lit up. “Reid, come around,” she yelled, and pointed toward the front of the house. “Front door.”
She opened the kitchen to him standing there holding his suitcase in one hand and his suit coat in the other. She kissed him and pulled him inside.
“Key didn’t work. Just wanted to check in before I head home.”
“The locks were changed,” she said.
He walked into the kitchen and poured himself half a glass of red wine and sipped it. “That’s better,” he said. “I’d imagine it would take a very skilled burglar to pick the old one, wouldn’t you? You weren’t trying to give me a message, were you?”
“I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
Wolf ran down the stairs and jumped up on Reid. “Okay, boy. Down.” Reid pushed him to the floor. His tail ticked off the measure of his excitement.
“So I’m listening,” he said as he poured another half glass.
“The DEA found out the house was bugged. They got two in this room. Five in all. In the phones and in the lights.”
The glass fell out of his hand and shattered against the marble countertop. Wine ran across and cascaded off, dripping onto the floor. He grabbed a towel, and Laura joined him in the cleanup.
“You mean they’re listening to us right now?” he said after she told him everything she knew.
“Yes,” she said.
“Even in the bedroom?”
She reached over to his ear and whispered. “Not the bathroom. Especially with the water running.”
“That’s something, I guess,” he whispered. “I hope I can,” he added. “I’ve never performed for an audience. And they found two listening devices in this room?”
She nodded. “And one in the studio. They’re going to try to find the receiver but don’t want to draw attention to their presence by searching wholesale. Besides, it might be anywhere. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Don’t be silly. The important thing is that you’re all safe. A little inconvenience is a small price to pay for that.”
Reid was seated on a bar stool. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. “Sorry I shocked you with the news.”
“Thank God they didn’t jump out of the bushes with their guns drawn. I might have ruined a perfectly good pair of pants. Cops make me nervous. I know it’s irrational, but-guns and all that.”
“They know you already. They’ve been watching us since the first of September.”
“How did the kids take all the excitement?”
“The agents don’t show themselves. We know they’re there and the house is covered. I really hadn’t thought about it all day. Remind me to give you a new key. So how was your trip?”
“Nothing compared to yours. I looked at a lot of new equipment and listened to a lot of boring discussions about digital imaging and other tiresome claptrap.”
“I wasn’t expecting you back until tomorrow.”
“Early flight out. No reason to stay.”
“You look tired.”
“A shower would fix me right up.” He raised his eyebrows and smiled suggestively. “But I don’t have the energy. I should go over to my place. I have some paperwork to do and my plants to water.”
“Another time?” she said.
“No problem,” he said, kissing her. “You want me to sleep over-to protect you with my life?”
“No. I’m perfectly safe,” she said, smiling. “There’s heavy firepower two seconds away.”
“Yes, I imagine you’re safe as milk. So I’ll stay.”
She giggled. “Fine. Water your plants tomorrow. I’d like company.”
“I’ll just get that shower,” he said, picking up his bags.
She hooked her arm under his and they went up together.
21
Later Laura tried to sleep. Having the protective ring around the outside and Wolf in the house should have made her feel perfectly safe, but it didn’t. She wasn’t just afraid Martin Fletcher would get them if he put his mind to it-she was dead certain he would. Her instinct said run and hide. But Martin would find them, and he might find them when they were alone. Besides, how long could they hide from a man like that, who was driven by hate and a thirst for revenge? It was far better to wait here and pray Thorne was as good as Paul had always said he was. She stood and checked in the closet for her gun and found it in an old purse where it had been for five years. Paul had given it to her fourteen or fifteen years earlier. For protection. She was relieved that it was loaded. She didn’t know what had happened to the box of bullets he had given her. She had fired the weapon once. One shot at a can. Paul had fired the other four rounds. Then he had cleaned it, and she had never picked it up again except to transfer it from one closet to another each time they moved.
Martin Fletcher was a terrifying man. She remembered the first time she had met him at a DEA function.
