“Honey, that’s actually good news.”
“I don’t understand. You don’t want to see me?”
“Of course I do! But I just found out my daughter’s on her way to Vegas to pay me a surprise visit.”
She laughs. “That would’ve been awkward.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“Damn right you will,” she says.
“I look forward to it.”
“Me too.”
54.
Bob Koltech gets us back to the private airfield. I pay him the balance I owe him, and he tries to hug me. I back away. He tries to shake hands. I bump his fist, instead. I like Bob, but I don’t allow anyone get a hold of me if I can help it.
“How’m I gonna show my love?” he says, frowning.
“By being available for me, day and night.”
He grins. “Count on it.”
Jeff and I climb in my car and I head straight for McCarran International, knowing Kimberly will be landing any minute. I find a spot in short-term parking and tell Jeff to catch a cab to PhySpa to check on George’s corpse.
“If it’s ready, what should I do?”
“Start without me.”
He smiles. “Thanks, boss.”
Jeff is at least a little stranger than the rest of us.
Moments later I’m in baggage claim, talking to Lou on my cell phone.
“Why wouldn’t you take my calls?” he says.
“I was on a plane.”
“I thought you changed your mind about needing a plane.”
I ignore the comment. I should probably be more concerned with what’s going on with Lou, but I’m so excited about Kimberly’s visit, and so happy about her friendship offer, I barely care. Lou’s after me? Big deal. Not so long ago my life was in the hands of a cage full of monkeys!
“I notice you called me three times,” I say. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to come clean.”
That surprises me.
“Go ahead,” I say.
“Darwin wanted your itinerary.”
“And you gave it to him?”
“He’s my boss. You keep forgetting. You fired me, remember?”
It’s true. I do keep forgetting. But I don’t forget why I fired Lou. He tried to kill me. But I forgave him. Not completely, but enough to let him continue working as my facilitator. Since he and I both work for Darwin, it’s not a great idea to keep the relationship going. But Lou is irreplaceable, so I can’t imagine finding someone else. Whoever I get would have to be a personal secretary type of person, with no government contacts. And he or she would have to understand what I do for a living, and…well, it’s a tough gig.
“You weren’t going to tell me about Darwin,” I say.
“I hoped to prevent it. It’s not like he’s using the information to kill you or anything.”
“Lou?”
“Yeah?”
“Darwin ordered Doc Howard to plant the chip in my brain.”
“That’s nearly true.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. But I’m the most loyal friend you have.”
I take the phone away from my ear and look at it. Then put it back to my ear.
“Did you mean to say that?”
“I know,” he says. “Like my old friend Donovan Creed used to say, it sounds stupid when you say it out loud like that.”
I smile.
“Let me try to explain,” Lou says.
“Make it quick.”
“Got a hot date?”
“Something even better.”
“Okay. Remember Augustus?”
“Of course.”
“If somehow he had survived, and the whole issue with the kidnapped girl had been resolved, would he be able to trust you from that point on?”
“Yes. But what happened with us was different.”
“I’m trying to make up for it.”
“Then give me something to convince me. Because right now it sounds like you’re in Darwin’s pocket.”
“I decided to give you a present.”
“A present.”
“Right. Something so big you’ll know you can trust me with your life.”
“What could possibly be that big?”
“I just killed Doc Howard.”
“ What? Why on earth-”
“Doc Howard was Darwin.”
As I’m about to faint from shock, I hear a young woman shout “Father!”
It’s Kimberly, heading down the escalator, toward baggage claim.
I tell Lou, “Thanks.”
“Is that all you’ve got to say?”
“No, but it’s the first thing.”
55.
After hugging Kimberly, we sit and wait for her luggage. She’s beaming. I’ve never seen her look so happy.
“Let me guess,” I say. “You found a golden ticket in your Wonka Bar?”
“Even better.”
“You’re in love again?”
“Even better. I realized I don’t need to be in love to be happy.”
I feel her forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”
She smiles.
I say, “You’re still a female, right?”
“Don’t be a shit head!”
She looks beyond me a second.
“Oh, the poor man!” she says.
I follow her gaze and see a man with two enormous bandages, one on each side of his head.
Tony Spumoni. Carrying a briefcase.
He sees me looking at him and immediately spins around and ducks into the men’s room.
“Do you know him?” she asks.
“We’ve met.”
“He seems terrified of you.”
My mind begins racing. If there really was an arms dealer, and if George didn’t come home last night, is it possible the arms dealer might have started threatening other members of Ropic’s board? Could they have coerced Tony into helping them? Like planting a bomb at the airport? I don’t know. But one thing I do know is sometimes indecision is worse than a wrong decision. I can’t take a chance on the terrorists planting explosives all over the world and setting them off at the same time with the wrist device. Even if there’s collateral damage, I’m suddenly convinced fewer civilians will die if I detonate the two hundred and twelve devices right now.
I remove the ceramic device from my pocket, take a deep breath, and press the button four times.
My head is fine, I’m happy to report, but the airport men’s room explodes.
I don’t know if anyone else was in there, but I know most of Tony Spumoni is not. One of his ears, still casted, rolls to a stop a foot from Kimberly’s shoe.
She kicks it away, and the look of shock on my face makes her laugh out loud.
People are screaming. Rushing, running around.
Kimberly’s smiling at me. Smiling!
“You’re not upset?” I say.
“Of course not.”
“A bomb just went off in an airport!”
“So?”
The noise around us becomes so loud I have to shout to be heard. “What’s going on?” I yell.
“I’m not upset because you’re not,” Kimberly shouts. She leans into my ear so the whole world won’t hear her words. “I’m also not upset because I saw you detonate the bomb. And because…”
“Yes?”
“I’m OOU.”
I give her a puzzled look. “What’s that mean?”
She points to herself, then to me, and says, “I’m one of us.”
“Tell me,” I say.
And she does. People are running around us, yelling and screaming, but as far as I can see, there’s no damage beyond what happened in the men’s room. There’s a TV monitor twenty feet away, suspended from the ceiling, and I glance at it from time to time while Kimberly tells her story. I’m trying to see if there’s any breaking news of planes falling from the sky or buildings blowing up.
So far, so good.
But it’s early.
Kimberly’s story is compelling, as is the TV monitor. She’s telling me she lied about being in school and how she hasn’t attended classes for the past two semesters. I don’t know what to think about that, because Lou obtained a copy of her transcripts. Her biology teacher’s a dick, remember?
But I don’t interrupt her.
The whole scene around us is surreal. Security guards are shouting, trying to make their way into the men’s room. People are running here and there, some have left their bags, others are stealing bags off the moving luggage belt. Someone’s making crowd control announcements, trying to get us to evacuate the building. Everyone’s yelling at everyone else, but no one seems to notice the two of us.