by Hinze, Vicki
A tear slid down onto Maggie’s cheek. She and Justin locked gazes through the smoky haze and smiled.
Chapter 15
Chaos finally gave way to order.
The fire was out and Santa Bella stood empty of shoppers and nearly all its employees.
For the past hour, security staff and Maggie’s team had been verifying stores empty and locking them down with the heavy steel grates that served as doors and sealed them from the mall’s common areas.
Maggie appropriated a new earpiece and was back up running communications. Additional HAZMAT teams had been called in and were working inside, decontaminating the mall, hauling snow out of the pit in sealed biohazard boxes. Phil and Harry Jensen were dazed by their part in Kunz’s capabilities demonstration and giving statements to FBI agents. It was clear within the first five minutes of interrogations that neither of the owners had a clue what they had on their hands, or that the valve Maggie had found in the elevator had been replaced by a crew member working for Kunz with one designed to release the encapsulated virus only at the appointed time into the already frozen snow. Darcy ran a comparison check between the snow crew members and nonattributed intel file photos, and came up with a match, moving yet another man from the Persons of Interest list to the Known GRID Operatives list. That greatly enhanced their odds of catching him, and greatly hampered his ability to move freely inside the U.S. or to cross its border.
Colonel Drake had driven down from Regret and was running interference, keeping the press focused on the locals, specifically working through the Providence police department’s Information Officer, and keeping all mentions of any S.A.S.S. member out of the media.
“Maggie? Justin?” Colonel Drake paged them. “Meet me at the food court.”
They walked over and saw her waiting for them at a table near the Wee Bit O’ Pub entrance.
“Have a seat.” She dropped onto a chair and waited for Maggie and Justin to sit. When they had, she began. “Keeping that fire hose in the secret room out of Linda Diel’s hands and the waterproof canopy with those flags prevented a major disaster here tonight.”
“I’m just glad I saw her,” Maggie said.
“Me, too,” the colonel agreed. “HAZMAT’s verified what you’d already told us, Justin, that the mist getting on the shoppers, who had any snow whatsoever clinging to their clothes, would have released the virus.”
He nodded.
“We were lucky the DR-27 wasn’t disbursed until just before closing. I just wanted to make sure you knew it hadn’t been, and you two doing your jobs so well saved a lot of lives.”
“It took a lot of people doing a lot right to prevent this disaster.” Justin wasn’t playing at being modest; he was being honest and blunt.
“That’s right, Colonel.”
“True. But even with all those right things, when crunch time came, it was the absence of that hose and the presence of those tarps that prevented a tragedy and an epidemic.”
Seeing a flash of movement, Maggie swerved her glance. Two men and a woman wearing FBI jackets were leading Linda Diel out in handcuffs. Donald Freeman was walking three paces behind them. Maggie smiled at him and he saluted her. “Diel intended to take me to Kunz,” Maggie said.
“I heard.” Colonel Drake shuddered. “I’m glad we avoided that.”
“We all are,” Justin said.
“He’s got Judy Meyer,” Maggie said. “He has a romantic interest in her. She was apparently working with Linda—and has been for the entire year Kunz has been planning this operation. That’s according to Linda. She says Kunz was at Santa Bella a year ago, and that’s when he and Judy got close. I doubt the real Barone knows anything about anything.”
Colonel Drake dragged a hand through her hair. “I was in on most of the operation, but we’ve got a gap—when you went into the short-stack after Diel and your communications equipment went down. Are you up for debriefing?”
“Sure,” Maggie said, then launched into it.
Justin added his comments, they answered Colonel Drake’s questions, and then Maggie disclosed her supposition on the yellow jackets with the handled shopping bags. “I think their purpose was twofold. To enter the mall as decoys to divert our attention from the snow machine, and to remove the antidote from the premises, which Kunz obviously hoped would go unnoticed by leaving the empty boxes. The missing antidote vials might have gone unnoticed, if Justin hadn’t been positively anal about checking up on them every few minutes.” She smiled at him to let him know that his being anal on this was a very good thing and she was grateful for it.
The queries and answers went back and forth for another half hour and then the briefing was done.
“Maggie, you did a hell of a job under very difficult circumstances.” Colonel Drake’s pride shone in her eyes. “It’s dawn now, and you’ve been going full-out for two days straight, Darcy tells me, without even power naps.” A small chastisement laced with concern thread through the colonel’s voice. “Overt forces—local authorities and FBI—can take it all from here.” She looked back and forth between Maggie and Justin. “I want you both to go home, rest and have a wonderful Christmas.”
Christmas. It was Christmas. And while Cynthia Pratt’s family and friends mourned, a nation had been spared. “Merry Christmas, Colonel.” Maggie stood, seeking solace in that, but finding little. Those who loved Cindy were grieving. And grief and loss, Maggie Holt understood too well to minimize.
Justin stood, too, a light stubble shadowing his chin. “Merry Christmas, Colonel.” He extended his hand. “It’s been a privilege.”
“All mine, Dr. Crowe,” she said, shaking warmly. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Maggie and Justin walked outside together, then wound through knots of people and around the decontamination equipment area to the section of parking lot where Maggie had left her Jeep. She glanced up at the sky, at the tinges of pink and lavender streaking all the way to the horizon. “Merry Christmas, Justin,” Maggie said, feeling as if tons of weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
He eased his arm around her, pulled her close and dipped his head until his lips brushed against hers. “Merry Christmas, Maggie,” he whispered against her mouth, then kissed her soundly.
When he parted their mouths, he almost smiled, and swept her hair back from her face. “Magical.”
“Yeah.” She smiled up at him.
They got into the Jeep and she cranked the engine. “How can I be dead on my feet but still feel wired for sound?”
“Adrenaline’s still pumping.” Justin clamped his seat belt. “How about some breakfast before the sleepfest?”
“Sounds good to me.” The sleepfest was hours away, at least, hours away. She just couldn’t change gears and drop off high alert any more quickly. “What’s open on Christmas?”
“I don’t know. Let’s ride until we find something.”
Maggie eased the car into reverse, backed out, then took off. “Don’t you have plans for today with someone?”
“Um, actually, no, I don’t. I’m on my own.”
“Me, too.” She said it and felt that inescapable sadness that came on every holiday she spent alone while everyone else spent it surrounded by family.
“I hate being on my own on Christmas. Let’s be on our own together,” he suggested.
Maggie chuckled and looked over at him. Charming. Totally. Her feelings for him had changed so much since she’d first seen him in the S.A.S.S. bunker at Regret. He wasn’t the man she’d thought, and the man she’d seen him to be intrigued her. Infinitely pleased, she adjusted her rearview mirror and bit a smile from her lips.
On Highway 98, she spotted a shiny aluminum diner. “Lights are on. They must be open.”
“Two cars in the lot,” he said. “Appears they are.”
Maggie whipped into the parking lot, gathered her keys and purse and they went in. It was warm and dry and friendly inside, pleasant and, thankfully, quiet.
Maggie slid into a booth on th
e outside wall and Justin sat across from her. A waitress in pink and white and a ponytail that hit her mid-back walked over with plastic-coated menus and a coffeepot.
“Merry Christmas.” She filled their cups, cracking her chewing gum.
They repeated it back to her and took the menus she extended to them.
“I’m going to be really bad,” Justin warned her. “Double stack of pancakes, strawberries, sausage and the biggest glass of orange juice you have.”
Maggie laughed. “I’m going to have to roll you out of here.”
“Probably.” He grinned.
“I’ll have two eggs over easy, bacon, grits and blueberries. Oh, and whole wheat toast. And juice.”
She jotted down their orders on a little thick pad. “There was a big ruckus going on down at the mall all night,” she said, passing along the latest gossip.
“Really?”
The waitress nodded again. “Some shopper got bored, waiting in line, and started a fire. They had to evacuate everybody. I heard all the stuff in the whole place got wrecked.” The gum cracked. “Smoke damage.”
“Goodness,” Maggie said. “Guess we should turn on the news now and then, right, honey?” She looked at Justin.
“I guess we should.” His eyes twinkled.
“Food’ll be out in just a minute.” The waitress went to the kitchen, turned their order in. “Hey, Frankie. Order’s in.”
In a few minutes the food arrived. Smelling it had Maggie’s stomach growling and her mouth watering.
They ate and chatted through half their meal, about everything, about nothing, starting the mental and emotional transition of coming out of crisis.
Justin poured more syrup on his pancakes. “May I ask you something, Maggie?”
“Sure.” She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, then took a bite of blueberries.
“Well.” The look in his eyes warmed. “Actually, I guess it’s a comment I want to make more than a question I want to ask.”
“Go ahead. But remember, it’s been a long two days and I’m a little punchy and short-fused.”
“You’re armed, too.” He smiled. “Maybe I’d better wait until another time.” Justin set down his fork, looked at her over the edge of his chilled water glass as he took a drink, then set it down. “What the hell? What’s life without risks?”
“Safe.”
“Ah, yes, but you miss so many opportunities. Some that are so rare you never have a second chance. They’re lost forever.” The ice clinked against the sides of the glass. “There will be another time, right?” His voice, both hopeful and uncertain, wasn’t quite steady.
Her heart rocketed into overdrive and her own hopefulness and uncertainty surfaced. “You mean, for us to get together on a personal basis?”
“Yes, I do.” He dragged his thumb down his glass, leaving a streak on it. “I’m going to leave myself wide open here and hope I don’t regret it.” He dragged his teeth over his lip. “Hell, I can’t regret it. It’s honest.”
How did she feel about that? She had no idea what to think about an opening like that, much less any idea what to feel.
He reached across the table, lifted her fingers and placed his under them, then curled his fingertips around hers. “The truth is that there’s something about you that just does it for me. The way you look, the way you talk, the way you say what you think even when it’s not politically correct or it’d be easier on you to just say nothing at all. Even the way you eat—just watching you, makes me feel good.”
“The way I eat?”
He nodded. “You eat all of your eggs before touching your toast. All of your toast before touching your berries. You eat the outside of a sandwich, all the crust on the bread, before you eat the center of it. And when you eat a slice of pie, you start at the point and eat your way to the crust. It fascinates me to watch you eat. It appeals to me, Maggie. Everything about you speaks directly to me—” he touched his free hand to his chest “—and something so deep inside me I don’t even know where it is, or what it is, answers.” The look in his eyes turned tender. “I knew it the first time I saw you, and I feel it every time I see you. You do it for me, Maggie. All of it. Everything.”
Humbled, awed, honored and stunned, she couldn’t find the words to share all she was feeling. Her emotions were in riot, tumbling one on the other, and a joy so sweet and unexpected welled in her chest. The back of her eyes burned, her nose tingled and she blinked hard to not let a tear fall. “Justin, you awe me. You…awe me.” Never, not in her wildest dreams, had she believed for a second that a man would come into her life and feel about her as Justin clearly did. Never, not in her most secret fantasies, did she dare to dream for even a sliver of all he had shared.
The confusion about him disappeared and her feelings suddenly seemed so clear. The past, their histories, were insignificant. They were no longer the people they had been then. Experience had changed them. They were wiser now about their own parts in creating the challenges of their pasts, and because of that, they were more aware, more invested in creating their futures. Better futures.
“Will there be other times for us, Maggie?” he asked again.
She brought his hand to her lips, kissed his fingertips. “Absolutely.”
He smiled, then turned serious. “I know you have concerns.”
She’d had concerns. Looking at him, she didn’t have them any longer. Still, she would like to understand the past so she could finally put it to bed and move on with her life without thinking of it again. Yet she couldn’t ask and be delicate, wasn’t sure she even should be delicate. “Justin, I’m not judging you now, but I need to understand.”
“You want to know why men cheat?”
She nodded. “Can you answer that for me?”
“I swore that after the divorce from Andrea was final, I’d never speak of this again. But for you, I’ll try, Maggie.” He paused and thought a moment, then went on. “I can’t answer for all men, but I can and will answer for myself.” Justin stopped, gathered his thoughts and then finally continued. “It wasn’t deliberate, or something I went out with the intention to do. Things between Andrea and I were really good until she got mixed up in that garden club.” He took a drink of juice, as if washing a bitter taste of out his mouth. “Going there changed her. She got darker and, well, ‘kinky’ is the only way to describe it. Sexually, I mean.” He gave himself a little shake. “This is totally embarrassing.”
“If you’d rather not, I understand,” Maggie said.
“No. No, we need to be open about everything.” He pulled in a steadying breath. “Let’s just say, I came to hate being with her.”
The truth dawned on her. “The garden club has nothing to do with gardening, does it?” Damn, she felt like an idiot. Of course, it didn’t.
“It’s a sex club, Maggie.” His face flushed red. “Anyway, that’s how it all started. She was worse, the nights she went there. I didn’t know where she was going, then. Fool that I was, I thought she was faithful. On the nights she went out with the girls, I thought they were doing chat sessions or whatever women do when they get together. I had no idea what she was really doing. But I learned quickly to stay away from her on those nights.”
“How did you avoid her?”
“I’d drive around and not come home until I knew she’d be asleep. The next morning, she’d be furious, of course, but dealing with her when she was furious was nothing compared to dealing with her when I was home. She was twisted.”
“So you just made sure you weren’t there.”
He nodded. “I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t believe in divorce, she refused to see a marriage counselor and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I didn’t want things to get violent, but she was heading in that direction fast. I just didn’t know what else to do, so I stayed away from her.”
Maggie wasn’t sure she would’ve known what to do in that situation, either. Short of leaving, what was left? He could’ve stayed, let her get viol
ent and called in the police, but would they believe this from a man? Without emasculating him? Probably now, yes. But it still would have been hard to stomach doing that. All in all, getting out seemed the best option.
“One night while I was driving, I found this park. The one on Oak and 47th streets with the Oriental garden and foot bridge.”
“I’m familiar with it,” she said.
“I like the feeling of that park. It’s peaceful and quiet.”
“It usually is.” Maggie had run there often.
“Everything home wasn’t anymore. So I stopped and stayed there awhile. There’s a bench on 47th, not far from the corner. A woman was already sitting there.”
“Is she the one?”
He nodded. “The first three or four times I saw her there, we just exchanged polite hellos. Then, one night, we started talking. Her name was Melanie.”
“And the more you talked, the more you liked her, and before you knew it, you were in an affair.”
“That’s pretty much it, Maggie. Melanie was kind and gentle and decent—everything Andrea had ceased being.”
Maggie tried to imagine, to see this situation through his eyes. “And seeing those things in Melanie reminded you of all that no longer existed in Andrea?”
“Yes. The contrast was stark. Like darkness and light, good and evil.” Justin shrugged. “I wanted goodness and light, so I divorced Andrea.”
He divorced her? Maggie sat too stunned to speak. She just stared at him for the longest time, trying to let all he’d told her sink in. “I thought Andrea divorced you for being unfaithful.”
“No, I left her.” He shook his head, his gaze fixed on the table. “I was so naive, Maggie. It wasn’t until after I filed for the divorce and she came to me begging me not to expose her membership in the garden club during the legal proceedings that I discovered the garden club—and, as you put it—that it had nothing to do with gardening. Damn, but I felt stupid. Stupid and used.”
Maggie knew exactly how he felt on that front. She reached across the table, covered his hand with hers. “I’m sorry, Justin.”
