'It's odd that with our chopper and all the gadgets, it was a simple wooden arrow that got him.'
Doyle watched as they carried a ghastly pale Tillman off on a stretcher.
Jessie responded first. 'It wasn't the arrow that got him.'
Doyle's bushy brows raised in a question.
'It was a Spirit Walker.'
'Yeah, well, according to my men, your Spirit Walker never did show on the infrared detector. When he left you two, he just disappeared.'
Jessie and Kier looked at each other, and the look grew until it became the beginning of a bridge big enough to span the chasm between them. They both pondered whether they would finish that bridge, and if they did, whether either of them would cross it.
Epilogue
As Jessie drove, she found herself very quiet inside. Before she left Johnson City for Washington, D.C., she had asked Kier for a photograph of Grandfather. Every morning she would stare at the eyes, and memorize the lines in the face, trying to find the man. She toyed with his last words, hearing them like a hammer on an anvil, each one falling with a jarring ring. She wondered at their audacity.
But for the memory of Grandfather, she would have been rehearsing her greeting, speaking out loud her intended conversation. Perhaps she would have looked in the mirror, stopped a second time to brush her teeth, or checked her clothes for lint. Nothing in her life to date had been as important to her as her upcoming visit with Kier.
He didn't know she was coming. Although it had been a month since she left Johnson City, she had spoken with Kier several times. Some of their talks had centered around Stalking Bear and her need to know the man who took her bullet. They talked about the upcoming prosecution of Tillman and their respective interviews with the prosecutors. Neither of them ever brought up Stalking Bear's last words, Kier's girlfriend, Willow, his marriage plans, or lack of them. The words 'Do you miss me?' were perched on the edge of Jessie's tongue during every call, but never seemed to take flight.
According to Claudie, who had insisted she come, Kier talked about her constantly. The intrigue of the unspoken romance was driving Claudie nuts, so after numerous entreaties, Jessie decided to surprise Kier. Now that she was here she felt like an idiot.
Arriving in the parking lot of Kier's veterinary clinic, her tires crunching over remnant ice and snow, she recognized his adjoining cedar-shingle house from photos and from Claudie's description. It was late Thursday afternoon, just before closing time, and according to Claudie he was always in his clinic on Thursdays. She found herself gripping the wheel. Maybe this was all a big mistake. She should have warned Kier she was coming. What if he had plans? What if he had a date with Willow? She could end up looking as if she was out here to catch Kier. After a moment's pondering, she realized that the fear of looking foolish was not the essence of her problem. It was simply that he might not be interested.
'Are you lost?' a young woman said through the cracked-open window of Jessie's rental car. She was obviously Native American; Jessie wondered if she might be Tilok. She was slender and her carefully groomed, jet- black hair was trimmed to just below her ears.
'No. I was, I was just going into the clinic.'
'Do you have a pet?' The girl asked, obviously curious.
'I don't. I came to see Dr. Wintripp.'
'Oh, he's my uncle.'
''Your name wouldn't by any chance be Winona, would it?''
'Why yes. Are you the FBI lady my uncle keeps talking about?'
'That would be me.'
''Well, come in. I know he'll be delighted to see you. Thrilled actually.' The girl flashed her a smile and led her inside, before quickly disappearing through a back door.
Jessie found Kier in the lobby of his clinic, talking to an elderly white-haired lady with a Labrador.
'Hi,' she said abruptly. 'I thought you would be tending to the animals or something.'
''I am, I mean I was,' he said. ''I was giving Mrs. Abernathy a tour of the facility. Mary Abernathy, meet Jessie Mayfield, the lady who was in the mountains with me.'
'Oh my, I can tell all my friends I met a celebrity.'
Kier gave a rare smile, watching Jessie.
'Well, you two probably have a lot to discuss. But I just want to say that in these parts we are very grateful for what you and Kier did,' Mary said.
'Thank you very much. The FBI had a lot to do with it.'
'Well, I don't know, I read that you and Kier were pretty heroic. So don't be afraid to take a bow.' The woman smiled at her. 'Come on, Shep,' she said to her dog. Waving to Kier, she said, 'I'll be back next month so you can see how he's doing.'
'Okay,' Kier said. Then turning to Jessie: 'What a great surprise.'
'Yeah, well, now that I don't have Bilotti to kick around anymore, I thought maybe I'd come and look you up.'
'He's resigned, huh?'
''Completely. He was a good man,'' she said. ''He just forgot who he was for a while. Finally told the truth. Shocked the hell out of me. Anyway, I'm done with Frank's midlife crises. I came to see you.'
Winona came back through the door from what appeared to be Kier's residence carrying a baby swathed in a tiny blue comforter.
'You remember I told you about Winona's baby?' Kier said, beckoning Winona. 'He is great. Tillman hadn't gotten around to harming him. He was too busy chasing us. The original genetic work to build the computer model was over. I guess they wanted this beautiful boy for some bizarre new experiment.'
'I don't even have to adopt him because I am his birth mother. At least that's what the lawyer says,' Winona spoke up.
''Is he you?'' Jessie blurted out as if the thought had exploded from her mind.
'No,' Kier said gently. 'He's not me. He is cloned from a man who died in an auto accident. They took the cells when he died at the hospital.'
The child had a full head of black hair and wide brown eyes. The infant's lips seemed to form a slight smile that was reflected in his gaze.
'A happy baby,' Jessie said, surprised to feel tears welling in her eyes. There was something very special to her about this child's survival. All the time they were with Tillman out in the woods, they were keeping this baby safe.
'Tillman's trying to kill himself,' Kier said.
'I heard he managed to pull out his respirator,' Winona said.
'But he didn't make it,' Jessie said.
'Been okay with me if he succeeded,' Kier said.
'They only now have everybody on the way to being cured of that RA-4TVM virus. It's a wonder we didn't get it.'
'Or something else.'
'We were lucky it was as cold as it was.' Kier led Winona over to a big leather couch as they talked. Jessie followed and settled close on the other side of Kier. She heard the phone ringing on the reception desk, but neither Kier nor Winona moved to answer it.
'You know the irony of it is that scientists say his companies did more to advance medicine than any other research group in history. Even most cancers are treatable using their methods,' Kier said.
A woman appeared from around the corner.
'Mrs. Olson is on the phone and insists she has to speak with you. Alfred's stomach is acting up again.'
Kier sighed and stepped over to the phone at the receptionist's desk.
