He shrugged. “You’ll have to trust me on this one,” Slater said. “Because his side of the same story paints me as the one with sticky Fingers.”
Slater looked her directly in the eyes and made sure he didn’t flinch as he continued. “This is the same brother I found spending a distinctively unbrotherly weekend with my wife. We fought. Bad. I nearly killed him. About then I decided to bail out on everything – the divorce fight, the legal charges against me. I ran. I’ve been living on funds I’d shifted to Switzerland. I bought a false ID and started over as Slater Ellis. And I made sure I haven’t once stopped feeling sorry for myself.”
When she didn’t comment, he added, “But these last few weeks have shown me bigger things to worry about.”
“I knew about most of it,” Paige said. “From Van Klees.”
He hid his surprise.
“I needed to hear it from you though. Makes it easier to think about trusting you.”
He grinned.
She did not. “I said think. Look. I need to see who Paige Stephens is, see if she’s really got some of the toughness I was surprised to find in Los Alamos. After I’m convinced I can be my own person, maybe I’ll be ready to think about someone else.”
“Pick a place for sixty days from now,” Slater said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve got my own stuff to go through. I’m going back to face what I should have faced four years ago. I’ve already talked to a lawyer, and it appears I’ll have a good shot at leniency. Not only that, there’s the triplets. I talked it over with Austad. The general arranged for us to get some of the Van Klees funds. Austad and I are going to find a way for the boys to get good schooling and good parenting. That’s going to take time, too, even if my mother has already fallen in love with the one she’s met. What I’m saying is, let’s meet in two months for another cup of coffee.”
Paige was studying him, her expressionless face giving him no way to judge how well he was pleading his case.
“You pick the place and time of day,” Slater said. “I’ll meet you there. No promises, no expectations, just a date. If that works out, we pick another time and place, try another date.”
Paige suddenly stood. “I’m going to catch a cab.”
“Why?”
“You’re too contagious. I’m not sure I want someone in my life again.”
“Sure,” he said. He wasn’t going to beg. Not yet.
He watched her walk between the tables. Watching her, he wasn’t sure he could handle being alone anymore. Not when it felt so good to just be near her.
He watched her very closely, hoping she might change her mind. At the door, she turned around, caught his stare. She began to walk back to him.
He grinned, feeling it stretch to the point of hurt.
She ignored his grin and picked the bill off the table. “Nobody pays my way.”
He stopped grinning.
“I definitely like that,” she said. “You can be rattled. I’m tired of men who try to play Superman.”
She reached down to lightly touch him on the shoulder. She let her fingertip rest there, a decision playing across her face. “London, England,” she finally said. A small smile returned. “Five in the evening, local time. Not for coffee. Dinner and a show. My treat, not yours.”
She straightened and lifted her head.
Slater fought the grin he felt inside, trying to be cool about his elation. “Could you be more specifics London’s a big town.”
“Westminster Abbey. I’ve always wanted to see it.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good.” She touched his shoulder again. They locked eyes at the physical contact. Only briefly. Yet the touch and glance were enough of a promise. “Don’t be late.”
AFTERWORD
The Institute, TechnoGen, and the Jemez Mountains Silo Base are fictional.
However, very little of the biotechnology presented in this book is fictional speculation. One major exception is the existence of humans cloned from the same embryo – genetic experts predict this will be possible by the end of the decade. As for the fictional Van Klees’s goal to clone himself from one of his own cells, this too is considered theoretically possible, and rapidly growing more possible on a practical level.
Currently in the United States, there are no legally defined ethical guidelines for experimenting in human genetics.
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