Veilleur shrugged. 'What else can we do besides watchful waiting until-'
'Damn!' Jack said. 'That's all we do! Watch and wait. Which is the equivalent of doing nothing. Why do we even bother with these meetings? To find more things we can't or won't do anything about?'
He saw Weezy roll her eyes.
'Don't do that, Weez.'
She shrugged. 'Sorry. But we seem to be having this argument every time we meet lately.'
Frustration burned in Jack's gut. 'Because all we do is sit around and talk and let the One and his toadies do whatever the hell they want. I'm sick of it.'
'But your alternative is too risky.'
'I disagree.'
Veilleur spoke up. 'Remember your promise.'
'I remember. I want you to release me from it.'
Veilleur shook his head. 'I'm afraid I can't.'
'Why the hell not? The One is human, right? Flesh and blood like you and me, right?'
'Not quite like us. He has tremendous healing ability.' He sighed. 'Like I used to have.'
'So you've said, and a few other tricks that make him something more than human. But he's not invulnerable and invincible, right?'
'No. Not either.'
'That means he can be taken down.'
'Only with an enormous amount of deadly force.'
'I can bring that. Cut me loose.'
Veilleur shook his head again. 'You might never find him.'
'At least I'd be doing something.'
The constant passivity of waiting for the other side to make a move… that lay at the heart of Jack's frustration. Defense wasn't how he solved problems.
'And even if you did find him, and even if you brought this deadly force to bear, what if you failed?'
'Then I'd try again.'
'But then he'd be on to you. He pays no attention to you now. But he would then. And through you he'd find me. And then he'd know that I'm simply an old man who is no longer a threat to him. He must never learn that. The consequences would be catastrophic.'
Veilleur had presented this argument to Jack last year. It had made sense then, but less and less sense since. He bitterly regretted his promise then to keep away from Rasalom.
'As I've said before and I'll say again: I think the potential benefit outweighs the risk.'
He caught Weezy staring at him with that look. He wasn't sure what 'that look' meant, but he'd glanced up and seen it often enough when she'd been staying at his place. She seemed to be looking through his skin, seeing his core. It made him a bit uncomfortable.
He checked his watch. Almost one o'clock. Where did the day go? He bottled his frustration. 'Gotta run.'
Nearing the time to pick up and Gia and Vicky and hustle them out to the airport.
One more reason to hate LaGuardia.
6
Eddie hadn't gleaned much from his eavesdropping-or would that be ventdropping? The sounds of conversation had been muffled and distorted. He'd picked up a word here and there, but nothing of any consequence except 'jihad.' He'd caught it twice, and was pretty sure he had that right, but without context it was meaningless.
He was back in his chair when Fournier returned.
'Come,' he said, standing in the doorway. 'The Actuator will see you now.'
A few doorways down he was ushered into a high-ceilinged office where a man in a white suit sat behind a desk, scribbling in a notebook.
'Mister Drexler,' Fournier said. 'Brother Connell is here.'
As the man looked up, Eddie froze in the doorway. His saliva vanished and he was suddenly a pudgy teenager again. Drexler's slicked-back hair had streaks of gray in the black, and time had added a few wrinkles to his face, but the hawk nose, the cold blue eyes, and the white suit were the same.
'Is something the matter?' he said in a lightly accented voice.
Eddie struggled for words, found them. 'Mister Drexler?'
'Yes. Have we met?'
'Y-' He would not stammer. 'Yes. In Johnson, New Jersey, way back in the eighties.'
'Ah, yes. The summer-fall of eighty-three. A problem at the local Lodge.' He frowned. 'Connell… that does ring a bell.' He snapped his fingers. 'I recall a rather impertinent girl with that name. She caused more than her share of trouble.'
Eddie had to smile. 'That would be Weezy.'
Drexler pursed his lips. 'An odd name.'
'It's from Louise.' From Eddie himself, really, who'd mispronounced her name so often as a toddler that it had stuck.
'I recall a male friend who was equal trouble.'
Another smile. 'Yeah. That would be Jack.'
Immediately he wished he hadn't said anything, because the name seemed to spark something in Drexler.
'Ah, yes. The Lodge's groundskeeper for a while. What is Jack doing these days?'
Eddie fought to maintain a neutral expression. According to Weezy, Jack had killed maybe half a dozen men who had been after her last summer. She swore they were members of the Order, but Eddie wasn't convinced- yet. But if she was right…
'I hear he's some sort of repairman.'
'Interesting. He did appear to like working with his hands, but I'd have expected more from him.' He steepled his fingers and fixed Eddie with his sharp blue gaze. 'So then, you are telling us that the Louise Myers we seek is actually your sister, Louise Connell. Am I correct?'
'If the drawing on the fax is accurate, yes.'
'It is quite accurate. Brother Fournier says you are unaware of her whereabouts.'
'As I told him, we haven't been on the best terms since she learned I'm a member of the Order.'
Drexler's thin lips curved into a small, tight smile. 'Does she still believe that we stole some petty artifact from her?'
We both know you did, Eddie thought.
But that wasn't important.
'Weezy never forgets. Anything.'
'Be that as it may, I understand you are willing to help us find her.'
Eddie took a breath. Now the hard part: defying the Order, setting conditions and laying them out for Drexler, of all people.
'If I know why you're looking for her.'
Drexler leaned back. 'I can't answer that because I don't know. Word came from… on high to locate her.'
'I need to know that you mean her no harm.'
Another thin smile. 'The Order is not in the business of hurting people.'
Eddie wished he could be as sure of that now as he had been a year ago.
'That doesn't answer the question of why you're looking for her. Get me a satisfactory answer to that, and I'll help you find her. And I'm sure I can find her. If not, you're on your own.'
'But you're a brother of the Order. You have an obligation-'
'I'm a brother to my sister. I have a bigger obligation there.' Now for the ultimate defiance: He turned his back
