'Can we ever be anything else to each other?'
'No…... I suppose not.' His face went gentle and he took her hand. 'Funny how two people who had so much going for them couldn't find it in their hearts to fall in love.'
'In my case, it was because of someone else.'
'The fickleness of women,' he said. 'They fall for the guy who treats them like trash, and yet they wind up marrying John Q. Square.'
She avoided his gaze and stared out the window. 'We've never learned to deny our feelings.'
'Does Shaw love you?'
'I doubt it.'
'You love him?'
'I'm not my usual practical self when it comes to Brian. Yes, I love him for all the good it'll do me. We consumed each other. He had his reasons, I had mine. If he wanted me, I'd run to him like a shot. But it'll never happen.'
'There comes that sad face again,' Pitt said. 'I refuse to send a whimpering female on board an airplane. You leave me no choice but to cheer you up with one of my magic tricks.'
Heidi laughed softly through watery eyes. 'Since when did you practice magic?'
Pitt took on a mock hurt look. 'You've never heard of Magnificent Pitt, the Illusionist?'
'Never.'
'All right for you, nonbeliever. Close your eyes.'
'You're joking.'
'Close your eyes and count to ten.' Heidi finally did as she was told. When she opened her eyes, Pitt was gone and Brian Shaw was sitting in his place.
The cry that she had kept bottled away burst from her as she embraced him, and the tears rolled down her cheeks and dropped from her chin.
'I thought you were locked away,' she blurted between sobs.
Shaw lifted the folded raincoat that was draped across his lap and revealed the handcuffs. 'Pitt arranged for me to come.'
She tenderly touched the bandage that showed beneath a tweed cap. 'Are you all right?'
'My double vision is almost gone,' he answered, smiling.
The airline attendant behind the check-in counter announced that Heidi's plane was ready to board.
'What will happen to you?' she asked, afraid to release him.
'I suspect I'll spend some time in one of your federal prisons.'
'Would you think me maudlin if I said I love you?'
'Would you think me a liar if I told you the same?'
'No,' she said. And she felt a rush of relief because she knew he wasn't lying.
Shaw said, 'I promise you that someday we'll be together.'
That part could never be true. It tore painfully, deep in her chest. She pulled away. 'I must go,' she whispered.
He read the hurt in her eyes and understood. He lifted her up and onto the crutches. A helpful flight attendant came over and took Heidi's travel bag and the flowers.
'Goodbye, Heidi.'
She kissed him lightly on the lips. 'Goodbye.'
After Heidi had disappeared through the boarding gate, Pitt walked up and stood beside Shaw.
'An awfully good woman,' he said. 'Be a shame to lose her.'
'A good woman,' Shaw agreed wistfully.
'If you don't hurry, she'll leave without you.'
Shaw looked at him. 'What are you talking about?'
Pitt shoved a packet in Shaw's breast pocket. 'Your boarding pass and ticket. I fixed it so you have adjoining seats.'
'But I'm under arrest as an enemy agent,' said Shaw, his thoughts at a loss.
'The President owes me a favor.' Pitt shrugged.
'Does he know what you're doing?'
'Not yet.'
Shaw shook his head. 'You're asking for trouble, setting me loose.'
'I've been there before.' Pitt held out his hand. 'Don't forget, you promised me a backgammon lesson.'
Shaw shook with both his hands. Then he held them up, displaying the steel bracelets. 'Most aggravating, these things.'
'Picking the lock should be child's play for a secret agent.'
Shaw made a series of movements under the raincoat. Then he held up the cuffs, his hands free. 'I'm a bit rusty. I used to do it much faster.'
'James Bond would have been proud of you,' Pitt said dryly.
'Bond?'
'Yes, I hear you two were quite close.'
Shaw exhaled, his breath in a long sigh. 'He exists only in fiction.'
'Does he?'
Shaw shrugged, then stared at Pitt for a long moment. 'Why are you doing this after the pain I've caused Heidi?'
'She loves you,' Pitt said simply.
'What do you get out of it?'
'Nothing that will add to my bank account.'
'Then why?'
'I enjoy doing things out of the ordinary.'
Before Shaw could reply, Pitt had turned and mixed into the flowing crowd on the concourse.
The rain had stopped, and Pitt put down the Cobra's convertible top. He drove toward the lights of Manhattan that glowed ghostlike against the low-hanging clouds. The breeze whipped his hair, and he deeply inhaled the sweet fragrance of wet grass that rose from the fields beside the highway.
Pitt tightened his grip on the wheel, pressed the accelerator to the floor and watched the tachometer needle as it crept slowly into the red.
