# # #
"I'll do it, Max. I'll do it for you."
"Great! I knew you wouldn't let me down." The tension drained from him, and he smiled triumphantly. "We make a great team, Lisa. When your clerkship's up, you should come into the airline's legal department. Pete Flaherty's going to retire in a couple of years. How would you like to be general counsel?"
"Max, please stop planning my life. Let's just get through this."
"Whatever you say, darling."
His smile was still in place. He had done it. And he hadn't even used his trump card: the truth. If Lisa knew that his life was tethered to such a slender thread, she would have rushed to help him. But this way was better.
She's doing it for love, not pity.
Max felt invigorated. Oh, there was much more to be done. She had to get the job, and she had to convince her judge-the swing vote, according to Flaherty-to go their way. But he had great confidence in Lisa. He would trust her with anything, a thought that made him smile, for he was doing just that. He was trusting her with his life.
# # #
Late that night, lying in bed, staring at the liquid numbers of the digital clock melting into the enveloping darkness, as she listened to Max snoring alongside her, Lisa confronted the stark, bleak truth. Yes, she would do what Max had asked. Not because she loved him, for at this point, she didn't know what she felt. Not because she owed him, because that was never part of the bargain.
She would do it because her loyalty to Max outweighed her newfound principles. Max had been right all along.
She didn't believe in the words carved into stone.
Her soul was as barren as his, her heart as icy.
Deep inside, she was just like him.
#
"Impact" and all of Paul Levine's novels are available on Amazon Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.
About the Author
The author of 14 novels, Paul Levine won the John D. MacDonald fiction award and was nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber prizes. A former trial lawyer, he also wrote more than 20 episodes of the CBS military drama "JAG" and co-created the Supreme Court drama "First Monday" starring James Garner and Joe Mantegna. The critically acclaimed international bestseller "To Speak for the Dead" was his first novel. He is also the author of the "Solomon vs. Lord" series and the thriller "Illegal." His next novel, "Lassiter," will be published in hardcover-and as an e-book-by Bantam in Fall 2011. Visit Paul Levine on the Web at http://www.paul-levine.com.
Flesh & Bones by Paul Levine
Copyright © 1997 Paul Levine
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