"Thank God you're still here. I felt terrible when I saw him fade away. Then I felt this overwhelming joy when I saw you still on the couch. And then this terrible guilt for being glad it was Tom instead of you." She buried her face deeper against his shoulder. "Why did something like this have to happen? Why?"
Jack had no answer.
But he sensed a design here. He'd lost his father and brother—his closest surviving relatives—in less than three weeks.
But had he been the real target?
Had he been scheduled to go down at La Guardia? If he'd waited to help Dad with his bag, he'd have most likely wound up in the morgue on a neighboring gurney.
And if he'd been the Lilitongue's target, Tom had foiled that little plan at the last minute.
Why him? Why anybody?
And then Joey's dying words echoed through his head:
It wasn't them… it's bigger than them… something else going on.
What else going on?
He hoped he was just being paranoid, but he'd been warned of pain to come. Was this it? Would it stop here?
Or would…
He stared over Gia's shoulder at Vicky. These two precious people… would proximity to him put them in danger?
He closed his eyes and tightened his grip on Gia. Nothing he could do but keep close watch and take it day by day… day by day…