Unforgettable (31 page)

Oscar drove six more blocks. I counted.
I’m not sure why.

And then he turned left behind a vacant
furniture store. He pushed the garage door opener and the large
door cranked up.

Once we were in the warehouse Robert
helped me out.

Oscar and Eddie went to get a beer. It
was obvious they had been living there and that they had enough
weaponry to blast the entire Los Angeles police force.

Robert put his gun down.

He offered his hand.

I walked to him.

“
At last,” I said. “At last
we are together.” The words I’d rehearsed for so long came out
sounding human.

I was surprised.

“
I am your Lilith. Your
warrior queen. The mother of your son.”

He kissed me and the taste of his
yellowed teeth nearly made my gag.

I slowly removed his knife from its
sheath. He grabbed it angrily.

I shook my head and took my shirt
off.

His eyes were wide as he stared at the
scars.

“
Touch it, my lord,” I said,
and guided his hand over my belly.

He was panting. I tried not to think,
tried to only plan my next move, when I could strike.

He kissed the scar and pulled my pants
down, feeling me, playing.

I jerked every time he touched me but
he didn’t seem to notice.

I took his hand, now holding his knife,
and sliced myself down the center of the pentagram. I winced but
made no sound.

He gasped when he saw the blood. I ran
my left hand through the blood.

“
Come to me,” I whispered
and slunk to the floor.

He knelt down on top of me, pulling his
pants down.

Suddenly the fear left me and I
realized the future didn’t matter, that I just had something I had
to do.

I put my bloody finger in his mouth. He
sucked, his eyes closed.

I sat half-way up, reached into my
boot, pulled out my knife, and struck his neck. And then I pushed
further.

Blood gurgled out as he crumpled to the
ground.

His alive eyes held mine. He was
desperate, so frightened. In that instant I felt all of his pain,
the agony of his tortured life. And I was engulfed in
sorrow.

“
It’s okay,” I whispered,
feeling like I was holding a puppy who’d been hit by a semi.
“Lilith loves you.”

His eyes died, pulling me down into the
depths of his hell. I had killed him. It was over, finally
over.

The plate glass window shattered and
Silverman jumped through.

Eddie was screaming, running towards
me.

He fired just as Silverman shot
him.

I screamed, the power of the hit was a
shock.

Oscar dropped to the floor, his hands
above his head.

I felt another hit, this one taking my
breath and I fell to the floor. It didn’t make sense. Eddie was
down.

Then Silverman was holding
me.

“
Princess, come on now. You
hang in there with me.”

I wasn’t afraid. Peaceful
really.

The wound was bad. I knew. The struggle
was finally over. Blood bubbled out of my chest like a little
fountain. He pressed it with his hand.

I
smiled at him.

“
Thank you. Tell my sweet
Jack I…”

…
and I died.

I saw Fritz and Roger and Jack running
in the back door. I was so happy they were okay. I lifted higher,
the euphoria stronger.

I watched Dennington walk out to Fritz
and Roger and Jack. It was like watching a movie. It was
fascinating. I worried about the blood on Silverman’s nice suit.
What would his wife say?

“
She’s dead. Eddie shot her.
She killed Robert Welsh. They’re doing CPR on her,” Dennington was
almost laughing and I knew where the second bullet had come
from.

She said to Fritz, “Don’t get your
hopes up, cowboy,” and smiled.

Fritz slapped her. Two agents were on
him, handcuffing him.

“
Let him go,” she told them
rubbing her jaw. “He’s distraught.”

The three of them stared into the
crowd, looking for me.

“
There she is,” Roger
pointed to the ambulance. I saw my body on a stretcher and they
were still doing CPR. I was covered in blood, my chest bare. They
closed the doors and were off. Eddie was taken away in another
ambulance and Robert had a blanket over him.

Jack took Fritz’ gun away from him and
stomped over to the body. He pulled the blanket off, stared at
Robert’s face, and fired into Welsh’ silent chest.

“
I hope you felt that, you
goddamn son of a bitch!”

Silverman, drenched with my blood, took
the gun away from him.

“
Go to the hospital, Jack.
Say some prayers if you got ‘em. It’s over here. Go.”

He walked away.

I saw my body and the paramedics
working on me. I saw Dennington in the background.

Slowly at first and then at a
tremendous speed I moved into a white light. Amazingly I felt no
more pain but complete, excited peace.

My mother was before me and I wept to
see her. She was glowing, smiling, tears in her dark sweet
eyes.

“
It is not time,” she said
and instantly I was back.

George sat in the office of
the powerful Senator Ward.

The Senator was flirting
with an aid at the door. He winked and closed it, then poured
himself a drink.

"I see you helped
yourself."

"Glen Levit. How could I
not?"

Red Ward was nearing
forty-five. He was no longer the boy wonder and he knew his time in
Washington was running out.

"Hear you got the
Governor's endorsement."

Red nodded. "Finally.
Bastard. He's on the road to the White House, for sure."

George nodded.

"So what's this shit about?
Why are you back here?"

George put a thumb drive on
his desk.

"I have it all. Testimonies
of what happens. What happened. And, more importantly, where
sixty-two percent of that money is going. The wonderful schools and
roads and hospitals. Made of crap, aren't they? Next earthquake
they'll tumble. I even managed to get your Hong Kong account
numbers. Nearly impossible, right?"

George laughed.

"If this checks out, what
do u want?"

"One mil to start. And your
help to bring a man to justice. The man responsible for the death
of the woman I loved. Frank McMorris."

Red's eyebrow went
up.

"Prague. I've been doing a
little spy work of my own since we talked last."

George began to rub his
fingers together.

"Prague."

"Why not just remove
him?"

"The great Frank McMorris?
No...I wanted him paraded through the streets. Then...I'll kill
everyone he cares about in this world. But I'll let him live a
good, long, miserable life."

The Senator glared at him.
He sighed.

"Where do you want the
money?"

Tuesday

“
Sam,” he whispered. “It’s
Jack, sweetheart. You’re going to be okay.”

I felt his hand. I knew it was Jack. I
tried to squeeze it but I wasn’t sure I moved.

“’
Saw my mother,” I tried to
say.

I realized I had a tube in my
throat.

“
You’re ice cold.” He pulled
the blankets over me. “’Wish I could climb in there and hold
you.”

I opened my eyes. It seemed like a
monumental amount of work.

The pain hit like a car door smashing
your hand.

I moaned desperately.

He took my hand and held it, holding it
to his chest, kissing it.

I wanted to tell him I loved
him.

“
Sam, relax. You have to
rest. You’ll be better soon.”

Another blast of burning pain. I moaned
again.

The nurse came in and put an injection
into my IV.

He smoothed my hair and I drifted into
a stuporous limbo.

“
I love you so much,” he
wept. “Stay here with me, stay with me, stay with me…Please God,
let her stay with me.”

And I knew that I would.

Even though Frank was under
cover he took the call. He was surprised at the number.

"Where are you?" his
brother asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Can't a brother ask his
brother to a little dinner party?"

"Howard, you never call me.
What the fuck is the problem?"

"Where are you?"

"San Diego."

"I'm fixing a nice pot
roast on Sunday."

Frank paced, heading
outside the tech company.

"What's going on, Howard?
You're in trouble."

"I was planning on inviting
a few friends. I need a few friends, Frank. One I'd like you to
look up because I've lost his number is Detective Hershal
Silverman. I hear he's great at pot roast. He's shy, Frank. Will
take a special invitation."

"I understand. He's the one
with the Hollywood star's wife. Saved her life..."

"He is a very social man,
Frank. He has lots of friends."

"Yes. I noticed that on the
press conferences. I'll take care of it. Sunday."

"And Frank, Mom and Dad,
they're not invited."

Frank rubbed his forehead.
Something bad was happening. Something too bad.

"Of course. Dad's not fond
of pot roast."

"That's right."

"Should I bring anything?
You love those olives of mine."

"No. Not a thing. Just
you."

He hung up, walked back
into the building to an empty office, and searched for Silverman,
Hershal.

He punched in the
number.

"Now if I only knew what
the fuck I was inviting him to...Detective Silverman...you don't
know me but I would like a few minutes of your time..perhaps this
Sunday....I'm Leonard Miller...."

Thursday

Fritz was flirting with Tess, my nurse,
as usual. Tess was making the final preparations so that I could
finally go home. It had been three days in the ICU and five days on
the surgical floor. Tess had agreed to work private duty for me and
no one was more pleased than Fritz.

It took us an hour to get checked out,
get the final doctor orders, and pick up all of my
prescriptions.

The radio reported that Senator Ward's
aid, a woman named Cindy Wolff, had been killed when her brakes
failed in the Sequoia National Park.

"Damn," Jack said. "I've met her,
several times. Damn. That's a shame."

"This tragedy is beyond
understanding. Such a beautiful spirit, a loving spirit. She will
be missed. Our deepest sympathies...."

Senator Ward finished the
press conference. William Finley walked with him back to his
office.

"That went well," William's
voice was calm, quiet, cautious. "I love it when problems are
resolved."

"So unnecessary..if she'd
only been reasonable. But, always pays to hire the best," the
Senator smiled.

William nodded.

At last we drove up the curved driveway
and I was home.

Sarah, and Roger had decorated with
balloons and flowers. I walked into the den, my new bedroom, and my
legs were shaking by the time I made it. David sent a hilarious
singing telegram.

“
Time to rest,” Tess
demanded. “Everybody give her one more hug and it’s off to nap
time.”

“
I’m home,” I kept
whispering to Jack.

“
You don’t know how good it
is to hear you call this place home. Finally, I have my Sam home.”
He kissed me and Tess ordered him out of the room.

Later Jack and I ate dinner together by
the koi pond.

“
Remember when we first ate
out here together?” he smiled. “You were unbelievably
hungry.”

“
That seems like a life time
ago.”

“
I thought I’d stay down
here with you tonight.”

“
Where’s Tess going to
sleep?”

“
The green room
upstairs.”

“
But my bed is so
narrow…”

“
I’ll manage. Maybe tomorrow
we can try going upstairs.”

After dinner we walked around the
grounds watching the sun journey down the horizon in paths of
brilliant golds and purples.

For so long I had been afraid of the
sun setting and the dark. But now it was comforting.