'I'll put up the do not disturb sign, and you don't open the door for anyone. Do you understand?'

'Without a doubt.'

I did a double take.

'You making fun of me?'

'Without a doubt.'

It wasn't that busy on the street, and the rain had eased. I got more clothes for us both--jackets and coats, jeans and shirts--enough to see us through the next two appearance changes at least.

Once done, I walked over to the burger joint. As I stood in line I thought how weird this all was. One minute I'm at Vauxhall being briefed for a job, the next I'm trying to remember what flavor milk shake to buy for a child. I wondered if she'd approve of the shirts I'd got her.

On the way back I checked my watch. It was 9:20; I'd been longer than I expected. Time to turn on the phone. I waited in a shop doorway out of the drizzle.

It rang right at 9:30. I was excited, but at the same time nervous.

It might be for Kev. I hit the Receive button.

'Hello?'

'Hi, it's me. I've got something for you.'

'Great, wait...' I put my finger in my other ear. I didn't want to mishear this.

'Go ahead.'

'It's one-twenty-six Ball Street. It's in the old part of Crystal City by the river--between the Pentagon and National Airport. Got that?'

'Yeah.' I let it sink into my head. I'd been to the Pentagon before, and had used the domestic airport a couple of times. I had a rough memory of the area.

'Are you going to phone me tomorrow?'

'Yeah.'

'Same time?'

'Same time. Stay lucky, mate.'

'Cheers.'

And that was it. I turned off the power and repeated the address to myself to keep it in my head. I wasn't going to write it down. If I got lifted, I needed to be sterile.

On the way back to the hotel, I was feeling quite upbeat.

Up until now I'd been in the wilderness. I didn't exactly know what I was going to do with this new information, but it was a start. I felt more in the driver's seat.

We ate and I watched some television with Kelly, but she looked more interested in talking.

'Hey, Nick, do you watch TV at home?'

'Some.'

'What's your favorite show?'

'I don't know. The news, I suppose. We have different programs from you. What's your favorite?'

'Clueless.'

'What's that, a detective show?'

'You moron! It's about a girl.' She did a very good impression of a Valley girl.

'What does she do?'

'She goes shopping.'

By 10:45 she'd fallen asleep. I got out the city guide I'd forgotten to give back at the Latham and looked for Ball Street.

I followed the river south until I saw National Airport. The target really was very close to the Pentagon, on the west bank.

I had a little laugh to myself. If it was a PIRA location, they had a lot of balls; they probably drank at the same bars as the boys from the National Security Council. There was not a lot I could do at the moment. Kelly was lying on her back, imitating a starfish. I covered her with the comforter, moved all the shit off the other bed, and got my head down. A saying from my infantry days, a lifetime ago, roared in my ears: 'Whenever there is a lull in battle, sleep.

You never know when you are going to get another chance.'

At last I was doing as I'd been told.

* * * When I woke up it seemed like the same cartoon was on. I must have left the TV on all night. I was dying for some coffee.

I got up, wet my hair, and looked out the window. The rain had gotten a bit more intense. I went downstairs and collected enough food and drink for three people--which was just as well, seeing the amount that Kelly ate.

'Wakey wa key I said.

Kelly still wanted to be marine life but woke up yawning, stretching, then curling up into a ball. I went into the bathroom and started to run a bath.

She appeared in the doorway with a towel. She was starting to catch on.

While she was splashing around, I sat on the bed flicking through the news channels. There was nothing about us.

There had been so many other murders in the homicide capital of the USA that we were old hat.

She came out, got dressed, and combed her hair, all without a single reminder from me. I opened an eat- from-the-pack carton ofF root Loops for her and poured in some milk, then headed for the shower.

When I reappeared, all clean and presentable, I said, 'We've got to move from here today because the woman wants the room back.'

Her face lit up.

'Can we go home now? You said Pat was going to help us go home.'

I took her coat off the hanger and slipped her shoes on.

'Really soon, yes we will. But Daddy needs more time to rest. Pat will find out when it's OK,' I said.

'But first, we've got to do some stuff. It's really difficult for me to explain to you what's going on just now, Kelly, but it won't be long. I promise you will be home soon.'

'Good, because Jenny and Ricky are missing me.'

My heart missed a beat. Had I fucked up? Had there been other people in the house?

She must have read my mind.

'They're my teddy bears,' she explained. Her face went serious.

'I miss them. And I want to go to Melissa's party.'

I started patting the top of her head. She looked at me; she knew she was being patronized. I changed the subject.

'Look, I'll show you where we're going.'

I got the map out.

'This is where we are now, and that's where we're heading--just by the river. We'll get a taxi, find a nice hotel, and we'll make sure they've got cable so we can watch movies. If they haven't, maybe we could go to the movies.'

'Can we see Jungle 2 Jungle?'

'Sure we can!'

What the fuck was that? Never mind; at least we'd gotten off the subject of family.

After checking out and, to my surprise, being offered a one-night rebate, I went upstairs to collect Kelly and the blue nylon sports bag. I left the USP in the toilet tank. It had only one 9mm magazine; I was carrying three .45s with the Sig.

Leaving the hotel, we turned left and immediately left again. I wanted to get out of sight of the reception desk before somebody thought of asking, 'Where's his wife?'

We hailed a cab, and I asked for Pentagon City. The driver was an Asian in his sixties. He had a map on his seat but didn't bother to look at it. We seemed to be heading in the right direction. Kelly had her hat on; I thought of teasing her that she looked like Paddington Bear, but it would have taken too long to explain.

The driver asked where exactly I wanted to be dropped. 'The Metro station, please.' I didn't have a clue

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