Split Second

the chute and with a shove from Michelle rocketed down, screaming all the way.

'You're next, Michelle,' said King.

She climbed into the chute and disappeared.

As King, carrying Joan, climbed into the chute, the detonation timer clicked to five seconds.

The Fairmount Hotel started to implode right as King and Joanlanded in the Dumpster. The force of the hotel's disintegration knocked the Dumpster over, which was probably a good thing because the metal bottom shielded them from the brunt of the concussive force, smoke and debris. In fact, it pushed the heavy container a good ten feet across the pavement where it came to a stop a few feet from the electrified fence.

After the dust cleared, they climbed out and looked at the pile of rubble that used to be the Fairmount Hotel. Gone were the ghosts of Arnold Ramsey and Clyde Ritter, as well as the specter of guilt that had haunted King all these years.

King glanced over as Joan groaned, then slowly sat up and looked around, her eyes finally focusing. She saw John Bruno and snapped back. She swung around and spotted King, her expression one of complete astonishment.

He shrugged and said, 'Better start taking catamaran lessons.'

He looked over at Michelle. She smiled weakly and said, 'It's over, Sean.'

He gazed at the rubble once more and said, 'Yeah, maybe it finally is.'

Epilogue

A few days later Sean King sat on a charred hunk of wood that had been part of his beautiful kitchen as he surveyed the spot where his home had been. He turned when he heard the car pulling up.

Joan got out of her BMW.

'You look fully recovered,' he said.

'I'm not sure I ever will be.' She sat next to him. 'Look, Sean, why won't you take the money? A deal is a deal. You earned it.'

'With all you went through you deserve it more than me.'

'All I went through! My God, I was drugged. You went through a nightmare fully awake.'

'Just take the money and enjoy life, Joan,' he said.

She took one of his hands. 'Well, will you come with me? At least that way I can support you in the lifestyle you've grown accustomed to.' She attempted a brave smile.

'Thanks, but I think I'll stay here.'

She looked around at the devastation. 'Here? What's here, Sean?'

'Well, it's my life,' he said, and slowly removed his hand from hers.

She rose, looking embarrassed. 'For a moment there I thought the fairy-tale ending would actually happen.'

'We'd fight all the time.'

'And that's a bad thing?'

'Let me know how you're doing,' he said quietly. 'I do want to know.'

She took a long breath, dabbed at her eyes, then looked at the mountain vistas. 'I don't think I thanked you for saving my life.'

'Yes, you did. And you would have done the same for me.'

'Yes, I would have,' she said earnestly. She turned away, looking so miserable that King rose and held her. She kissed him on the cheek.

'Take care of yourself,' she said. 'Be as happy as you can be.' She started to walk away.

'Joan?' She turned back. 'I didn't say anything about you being on that elevator, because I cared for you. I cared for you a lot.'

King was alone for a while until Michelle drove up and joined him.

She said, 'I'd ask how's it going, but I guess I know the answer to that.' She picked up a hunk of drywall. 'You can rebuild, Sean, better than before.'

'Yeah, only it'll be smaller. I'm in a downsizing phase of life. Clean, simple lines, maybe even a little clutter here and there.'

'Now, don't go crazy on me. But where are you going to stay for now?'

'I'm thinking about renting a houseboat from the lake marina and docking it here. Spend the winter and maybe the spring on the water while I rebuild.'

'Sounds like a plan.' She glanced at him nervously. 'So how's Joan?'

'She's off with her new life.'

'And her new millions. So why didn't you take your cut?'

'Indentured servitude isn't all it's cracked up to be.' He shrugged. 'She's actually a good person, if you look behind the titanium exterior. And I think she really loves me. Under different circumstances maybe it could have worked.'

Michelle looked as though she wanted to know what circumstances had prevented such a result but decided it was best not to ask.

'So where have you come from? D.C.?' asked King.

'Yes, closing out a few things. Bruno withdrew from the election, luckily for America. They caught up to Jefferson Parks at the Canadian border, by the way. So you suspected him?'

'Right near the end. This whole thing started when Howard Jennings was relocated to Wrightsburg and came to work for me. Parks was his handler. He was the only one who could have arranged that.'

'Well, that one was staring me in the face, and I never even saw it.' She shook her head and continued, 'Parks recruited Simmons and Tasha Reed, the woman I shot at the hotel; they were both formerly in witness protection. Morse paid them all to help. The warrant for Bob Scott was a phony. Parks stashed it in the box he gave Joan so we'd be led to the bunker that Morse bought in Scott's name. They found Scott's body in the rubble.'

'All in the name of love,' said King wearily.

'Yeah, Sidney Morse's sick, twisted version of it anyway.' Michelle sat down next to him. 'So what's next for you?'

'What else? Back to being a lawyer.'

'Are you telling me that after all this excitement you want to go back to drafting leases and wills?'

'It's a living.'

'Yeah, but it's not really living, is it?'

'Well, what about you? I guess you've been reinstated at the Service.'

'Actually I resigned this morning. That's what I really went to D.C. for.'

'Michelle, are you crazy? You just threw away years of your life.'

'No, I saved myself from more years of doing something I really didn't want to do.' She rubbed her chest where the slug meant for Bruno had hit her. 'I've been a human shield. Not the healthiest way to spend one's time. I think I bruised a lung.'

'So what are you going to do?'

'Well, I have a proposition for you.'

'Another proposition from a lovely lady. What did I do to deserve this?'

Before Michelle could answer, another truck pulled up. It was an A-1 Security van. Two men clad in work clothes and tool belts climbed out.

'Jesus, Mary and Joseph,' said the older of the pair as he looked around at where the house had been. 'What happened here?'

'Really bad timing on my part, getting that A-1 system,' said King.

'I'll say. I guess you won't be needing us today.'