by Jonas Saul
She frowned and turned to Parkman.
He shrugged. “To save my life, he needed to shoot me. Whitman saved our asses.”
“Who’s Whitman?”
“That’s me,” Drake said. “New identity after what happened in Toronto.”
“New name, new game,” Spencer said, then shrugged.
“You’re going to fill me in, right?”
“As much as I can.” Whitman and Spencer exchanged a harsh look.
“You saved Aaron and Parkman?” she asked Whitman. “And just saved me when you jumped on Jane as she shot at me.” Sarah let go of Aaron and stepped to Whitman to give him a hug.
“I owed you after Toronto,” he said. “I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. When I heard you were in trouble in Mexico, I just had to come.”
Sarah pulled away and looked into his eyes. “Was that you who followed us from the border to the hotel in Rosarito?”
“Yup.”
“Fucker.”
He shrugged.
“Thought you were an enemy,” Sarah said.
“I would’ve too. Just didn’t want to approach until I had you alone. Like in the lobby. I mean, you thought I was dead. There might be a certain level of confusion.”
“And there was.” Sarah eased away from him in the water, nodded at Detective Collins, and examined them all.
“So good to see you all together. Collins, thanks for taking my message seriously and bringing everyone to the Venetian. I know you did a lot of good here, too, Casper.”
He winked at her. “But we need a break, okay? No more fucking around. I’ve exhausted a lot of favors.”
“I agree. No more favors.” She gave him a wry smile, then touched Parkman’s bandage gently. “What the hell were you guys doing while I was away?”
“Long story,” Aaron said. “What happened to your face?”
“The heel of Jane’s shoe.”
Detective Collins edged closer. “Sarah, the FBI’s here. They’re going to want to have you examined at a local hospital and then take a statement from you.”
“Aaron will take me to the hospital. I want Drake to come, too. And Parkman. Right now I need to be surrounded by them.”
Collins nodded his understanding. “I’ll let them know.” He moved away to talk to Agent King.
They had done it. Lived through another nightmare. Where had Vivian been in all this, though? Maybe she was trying to show Sarah that she could do it on her own.
They piled into an SUV provided by the FBI with Special Agent King driving.
“There’s a warehouse we need to stop at before we go to the hospital. There’s a bag of mine I have to pick up.”
“Sorry, Sarah,” King said. “Straight to the hospital. I have my orders.”
“Change them. It’s Darnell’s Car Repair or I get out here.”
“Warehouse,” Aaron said.
“Warehouse,” Parkman added.
“Warehouse,” Drake said.
King slapped the steering wheel and pulled away from the curb.
“Fine. Where’s this warehouse of yours?”
Chapter 62
After being checked out in the hospital, her wounds tended to with nothing more than a few bandages, Sarah was driven to the FBI building where she gave her statement. She covered everything from Blair’s love for Hank Olsen, to Jane buying the devices made into Kevlar vests and how Sarah was tricked into putting it on. She described Boris and his men as best as she could.
As the day waned, she was told the FBI might have more questions tomorrow. In the event they did, they offered to put her up in a Vegas hotel for the night. She accepted their offer and told them she wanted to stay at Caesar’s Palace with Aaron. After some cajoling, Caesar’s Palace was approved. For two nights.
She waited in a sitting area with Aaron, just outside the interview rooms where she had given her statement. Agent King had asked them to wait as a dirty bomb specialist was eager to explain a few things to Sarah.
On the ride over to the FBI building, Vivian had finally shown up. Before Sarah could shun her or try to extricate Vivian from her head, her sister had explained her stance. Within seconds, Sarah understood everything. It made so much sense. Sarah wondered how she couldn’t have seen it before.
Then Vivian was gone again.
Parkman had left with a toothpick in his mouth and the spares in his pocket, headed back to Santa Rosa. He’d done his time in Mexico and in Vegas and needed to get back to work.
Sarah rested her head against the wall and said, “We’re going to get a vacation after all, Aaron. But there’s something I need to do first. Is Blair still here?”
“As far as I know he is. I’ll ask.”
Aaron got up and crossed the waiting room toward an office where he motioned for Agent King’s attention. She had been talking to Casper. King and Aaron chatted for a moment, then Aaron headed back toward Sarah.
“Blair’s in interview room three. He should be out soon.”
“We can’t leave without seeing him.”
“Okay,” Aaron said, his tone revealing he didn’t know why but wasn’t about to ask.
Whitman and Spencer said they’d stay the night and talk to Aaron and Sarah tomorrow when they were clear of the FBI building. There was so much catching up to do and Sarah wanted to learn more about the new man Drake had become.
A door opened at the end of the corridor and an odd-looking man walked down the hallway. His pants were too high, his shirt pinstriped, and his glasses had the nerdy, stereotypical tape between the lenses. He walked side to side, his shoulders thin and bony.
Agent King stepped out of her office and met him in the hall. They approached Sarah together.
“Sarah,” King started. “This is Carl Wingerton. He’s our resident expert on all things that glow in the dark. Think Reed from Criminal Minds.”
Carl laughed like he was hiccuping. Then stopped abruptly.
“He has a few things to tell you,” King added. “To put your mind at ease about the vest.”
“I’m all ears. I’d love to hear more.”
Carl fumbled with a pen in his pocket.
“It was from smoke detectors,” Carl said, punctuating each word with a whirl of the pen.
“Smoke detectors? I don’t think I’m following you.”
“All smoke detectors come with a radioactive isotope, americium-241. It’s a small amount. Exempted from regulations applied to larger sources.” The pen made Sarah think of a conductor at a concerto. “It produces radiation outside the device. Collect enough smoke detectors and add the radioactive isotope to the vest, it’ll read as if it’s radioactive, but it really isn’t dangerous. At least not like a nuke or something.” The pen didn’t stop bobbing.
“Who knows this stuff?” Sarah asked, her mouth agape. “Is that common knowledge?”
“It’s all over the Internet,” Carl said, almost losing the pen on the last word. “Some European countries have banned smoke detectors for this reason.”
“Because it could be used in dirty bombs?”
“No.” He suddenly appeared upset, like she wasn’t following his logic fast enough. “Radiation.”
“Right.”
“I think that’s enough,” King said as she turned to go. When Carl didn’t move, she turned back. “Carl?”
“It’s okay,” Sarah said, looking at King. She turned her gaze to Carl. “I’m interested in what he has to say.”
“Me too,” Aaron chimed in.
“Old clocks, too,” Carl said.
“Old clocks are interested in you?” Casper asked from the side. He had come out of the room where he’d been waiting for King to come back.
Carl didn’t look his way. He kept his eyes on Sarah.
“Old clocks, before the 1960s, were painted with radioactive luminous paint. Basically radium. Highly radioactive with a half-life of 1600 years. Even if the dials aren’t luminous anymore, that’s not the radium.” He smiled when he said that,
almost like he was enjoying his chemistry lesson because he held an audience rapt. “It’s because the fluorescence of the zinc sulfide medium has been worn out by the radiation of the radium.”
“Wow,” Sarah said, genuinely surprised by what Carl was saying. “That’s crazy. So I can guess they discovered how dangerous radium was and stopped using it on clocks?”
Carl shook his head with vigor, then stopped. “They have used radium in toothpaste, hair creams, and even several food products but that got stopped when it was deemed dangerous. Radium was used in cancer treatment, but it causes cancer. The human body responds to radium like it would calcium. It deposits it into the bones where it destroys cells and mutates them, causing cancer. Radium can also—”
“Okay,” King stepped in front of him. “I think that’s enough. Sarah’s vest wasn’t radioactive. We’re good now, Carl.”
“Thanks for the lesson, Carl,” Sarah said.
It took a little persuading, but Agent King got Carl to follow her down the hall and out the far door.
“That was something else,” Casper said. “Out of my league.”
“Mine too,” Sarah added. “But I got the gist of what he was saying. Casper, can you give us a few moments.”
“Sure.” Casper headed back to the office he’d been in, then stopped. “Just one more thing. Aaron, there’s news for you.”
“What’s that?”
“The manhunt for you and Parkman and Whitman has been canceled in Mexico.”
“Really?”
“What manhunt?” Sarah asked.
“Long story.”
“Stop saying long story,” Sarah muttered. “I hope you’re going to tell me all these long stories soon.”
Aaron nodded her way, but stayed focused on Casper. “How did that happen?”
“Someone left an iPhone recording at the scene of a rundown shack. It was found among some rocks, the battery dead. Once it was charged, they found a video. It’s all over the news down there how several cops had tried to kill you guys. The use of deadly force to escape, even leaving one cop alive, was quite evident on the camera, even though the video was taken at night. Whoever did that was brilliant. Saved your asses. Just thought you should know.”
“Wow. Thanks.”
“iPhone?” Sarah asked. “Was that you?”
“No,” Aaron looked down at the floor as he thought about it. “Must’ve been Whitman.”
“If it was, he saved all of you. Twice.”
“So true, Sarah. So true.”
Aaron and Sarah waited for another five minutes before Blair exited the interview room. He looked better, less frazzled, even though his mother was being brought up on some kind of terrorist charges that looked like all her properties and assets would be seized. Blair would have nothing to start his life on unless he went back to the drug business.
“Blair. Come over here a minute.”
Sarah introduced him to Aaron and she got him to sit with them.
“What’s your next move?” Sarah asked.
“Not sure.” He looked at his lap and fiddled with his fingers. “I won’t speak to my mother. Or see her ever again after what she did.” He looked up into her eyes. “As soon as I’m allowed to leave, I’m going to go see Hank in the hospital back in Rosarito. Maybe now we can start our new life together.”
Sarah reached under her seat and withdrew the bag that contained the million dollars Jane had promised her. She had Agent King drive them all to Darnell’s Car Repair garage to get it in the back of the SUV claiming she had left some of her things there. Nothing had been touched in her absence.
“Take this. It’ll help you get started. It’s yours. One million in unmarked bills. No one can trace it.”
His eyes widened briefly. He placed a hand on the bag.
“Why, Sarah? Why don’t you keep it? You earned it.”
“It’s not mine to keep. It came from your family. Since everything your mom’s name is on will be government property soon enough, this is something they can’t get to. Just take it. Go, live your life now. You deserve it.”
He started to cry. “I can’t thank you enough for all that you did.”
Sarah moved around the bag to hug him.
“We did it together. It’s over. Let it out.”
Blair’s tears even brought a couple to Sarah’s face. They cried together for several moments until Agent King came to inform them that they were free to leave the building but to stay in Vegas for a few more days.
After saying their goodbyes to Blair, Sarah and Aaron took a taxi to Caesar’s Palace and settled into their room on the fifth floor. Sarah ran for the bed, dove, and landed on it, bouncing once. She gestured for Aaron to join her.
“We need time for ourselves,” she said.
He lay down beside her, the expression on his face distant.
“What’s wrong, Aaron?”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
“Really? Don’t piss me off with shit like that. Just ask.”
“How’s your withdrawal?”
“Oh that? It’s over. Done with. Jane hired some guy named Dr. Wesson to fix me up. That’s what I was doing in Mexico before she flew me up here.” Sarah leaned away from him to look into his face. “Is that what you were afraid to ask?”
He nodded. “In case reminding you would trigger the urge.”
“It’s nothing. Forget about it now. That part of my life was temporary and it’s over.”
“You lied to me, Sarah. Back at the hotel.”
Sarah stared at the ceiling, a hand behind her head squished into the pillow. “You know I had to. You were too close. I needed to meet Blair per Vivian. To stop Jane. The condition I was in, you wouldn’t have allowed it.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t have.” Two minutes went by before he spoke again. “Is this something I am to expect in the future?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“You.”
“How so?”
She turned toward him. “If you trust me, believe in me, I will tell you anything and everything. But you have to trust me. Even if what I have to do looks dangerous, or insane. If I have to do it, you can’t stop me.”
“I do trust you. I believe in you. But that’s a tough proposal, letting you do something insane.”
“See, there’s the problem. You said, letting me do something. It’s never been about letting me. It’s about you letting go.” She took in a deep breath. “Aaron, people teach you how to treat them, how to manage them. You’ve taught me to manage you by not giving you the whole truth because you can’t handle the truth. Unteach that and I’ll open up with whatever it is I’m doing.”
He seemed to have to think about things for a moment. Then he said, “Fair enough. That’s a valid point. You start an open secret policy and I’ll be there for you as much as I can, and soon you’ll learn what to keep and not to keep from me. But I suspect you’ll see that I can handle the truth.” He tried to emulate her voice on the last few words.
She smacked his arm. “Don’t mimic me.”
He laughed. “No one can mimic you, Sarah.”
“There’s something Vivian told me that I should share with you.”
“What’s that?”
“She gave me a piece of wisdom on the way to the FBI building. Because she’s in my head, I understand her in a way that’s hard to verbalize, but I’ll try.” Sarah cleared her throat. “I had asked for more of the big picture. I told Vivian that you lost a finger, I got addicted to heroin, that basically she had gone too far. If I knew the big picture, maybe there’d be a way to manage what she wants me to do without so much pain and injuries. Especially to the people I love.”
“How did she take that?”
“She explained that she couldn’t offer the big picture and gave me a list of examples. One being the radioactive vest that wasn’t radioactive. If she told me what it was before I put it on, an entire series of events would’ve changed. I w
ould’ve been shot and killed by Boris’ men for starters because there was no way I would’ve put the vest on. Had I not gone to the meet in the first place, I wouldn’t have been with Jane all the way to the end. Vivian knew the future. She knew the water would defuse the bomb and that the amount of radiation was harmless, but if she told me that, I wouldn’t have acted as afraid and angry as I did, which kept me authentic. Almost like method acting.”
