Soon (34 page)

Nearly an hour later Paul rushed from the car and into Jae’s arms, full of questions. She held him fiercely and kissed him deeply. “I don’t ever want to be apart from you again, Paul.”

He put her bag in the car, and they pulled away from the airport. “I have so much to tell you,” she said.

“I’m glad to see you, Jae. But what brings you here? And why now?”

“Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”

As Paul drove, Jae told him about the kids and described the fun they were having in Washington. “But they miss you, Paul.They keep asking when Daddy will come visit. I’ve told them that you had to work after being out sick for so long. They’re afraid you might get hurt again, and I promised you’d talk to them about it.”

“I will.”

What about my father’s letter? Did you take it?
Paul strained to detect anything unusual in Jae’s tone.
What is this visit about?

Finally he pulled into the parking lot of a fancy restaurant a few miles from Allendo’s. He waved off the parking valet, then flashed his badge to rebuff the security guard who came to shoo them away. When they were alone, Paul turned to face Jae.

She took both his hands in hers. “Paul, I amso sorry. I didn’t trust you. I was convinced you were cheating on me.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I was tormented by that letter from Angela. I couldn’t believe it was innocent—not after the last time. The detectives never confirmed who you were seeing in Toledo, but you didn’t even offer an alibi—not that I would have believed it. Still, I didn’t really want to leave you. If I had, I would have filed for divorce, not just moved to D.C.”

“That’s what I kept telling myself.”

“I knew Angela Pass Barger had to be Andy Pass’s daughter. Remember how you refused to let me come with you to his funeral? That made me sure my suspicion was justified. I knew the NPO had taken pictures at the funeral, so I begged Daddy to get me one.”

“And he did? That’s way out of line.”

“I’m his daughter, Paul. It’s not like I asked him to track her down or intimidate her. When I saw how young and beautiful and vivacious she was, I thought our marriage was over. And then she was with you on TV after that Las Vegas bust.”

“This is all circumstantial, Jae.”

“Well, it made a good case. But still, I couldn’t let our marriage die. She mentioned the Library of Congress in her letter, so I tried calling her there. They said that she had quit a few months ago. So I flew to Las Vegas to find her and confront her.”

Paul smacked himself in the head. “ Oh, boy. Did you find her?”

“No. I showed the picture around at the Babylon, where you made the arrest. One of the hostesses—or whatever they are—knew about her. Said she was doing some kind of social work with the prostitutes.”

“That was some detective work, Jae.”

“That’s when I put it all together.”

“You did?”

“I figured you’d met her at the funeral and realized she could be a great source. Even if she wasn’t a zealot herself, she might know her father’s associates. Then I remembered something in the letter, which I hadn’t paid much attention to, about handwriting samples or something. That helped clinch it for me—you were using her to get information. No wonder you wouldn’t tell me about her.”

“A lot of what I do has to be secret. . . .”

“Oh, Paul, I know. I guess jealousy got to be a reflex for me. So I decided that—whatever she was to you, even if you fell for her—I was going to fight to save our marriage. Ten years is a long time—too much to throw away. Do you love her?”

Paul sighed. “I can’t deny I found her attractive. But I swear, Jae, I was never—not ever—involved with her.”

“For the sake of the kids, can we put the past six months behind us? Can we try to make each other happy again?”

“Jae, that would mean the world to me.”

But Paul couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a little too tidy.

35

WHEN PAUL FINALLY PULLED UP
to the Allendo mansion, the man at the gate said, “General Decenti asked to be informed when you arrived. He would like a word.”

“It’s three in the morning,” Paul said.

“He said the hour was of no concern.”

“Give us a few minutes,” Paul said, “and do me the favor of not informing him that my wife, his daughter, is with me. I want to surprise him.”

“I’ll ask him to meet you in the parlor in ten minutes.”

Once inside, Jae said, “Paul, I’m so sorry for my part in all this. I hope you can forgive me.”

“I was wrong too. I haven’t been a model husband for years.”

“I wasn’t a model wife, either. I was obsessed with your fidelity—or lack of it. And then when you were hurt, I felt you shut me out and I resented it. I didn’t take into account how devastating it must have been to be blind.”

“All I could think of was my own misery, Jae. I didn’t consider the effect of my blindness or my anger on you and the kids. I want to be a better husband, a better father. There’s a huge change I want—need—to explain to you. But I’m not sure I can find the words right now with all that’s going on. It’s a battle zone here.”

“As long as it’s not a change in your love for me, Paul, I can wait.”

“Trust me, it’s a change that makes me value you more than ever. I promise you that.”

As Jae unpacked, Paul headed downstairs, wondering if he had a right to be happy, relieved, or suspicious. This had all happened so fast.

He found Ranold in a burgundy smoking jacket, pajamas, and slippers.

“Where in the world have you been?”

“I was not under the impression that I reported to you.”

“Maybe not, but you will answer to me. I myself was out this evening. I’m not too shockable, Paul, but tonight I got hit with a bombshell—a bombshell about you.”

Paul’s blood slowed. His head buzzed. He felt his eyelids twitch—imperceptibly, he hoped—struggling to slam shut against Ranold’s stare
.

This is it.

Paul forced himself to stay focused on his father-in-law. He willed his voice to stay even and strong. “About me?”

“I met a woman named Grace Dean. Heard of her?”

The cat-and-mouse game.
Paul’s answer could mean life or death for her and for himself. He did not flinch or respond.

“She’s a hydrologist for Los Angeles Water and Sewer. But you knew that, didn’t you, Paul?”

He can’t wait to see if I’ll break down.
“This is your story, not mine, Dad.”

“This afternoon Grace was asked by an acquaintance she knew only as Lois to come and talk to her group, a terrorist zealot cell, about the layout of the L.A. water system. Grace was afraid, didn’t know what to think. She had visited a similar group near Stone Canyon Reservoir off and on, but this was the first time she’d been asked to aid in what might be a terrorist act. She called a few friends from her own group to accompany her. One happened to be our informant.

“Our plant was heading out for a business meeting. Grace said not to worry and got someone else. Of course, our informant called us. But by the time we got someone to Grace’s office to follow her, she was gone.

“She lived alone, so we just waited at her home. Potential sabotage of the Los Angeles water supply was too big for an NPO underling to handle. So Chief Balaam, who has a talent for this, went personally. I didn’t want to miss a thing, so I went along. And what do you think happened?”

Paul pursed his lips as if he couldn’t care less. “Pray tell.”

“I’ve always wondered why people who slit their wrists tend to do it in a full bathtub. Do they
want
to watch the water turn redder as their lives ebb away? That’s the end Grace chose. She even left a note describing her despair at being duped by religious extremists who offered friendship to a poor, desperately lonely spinster but in fact wanted to exploit her knowledge for their own illegal ends. She slit open both arms vertically from wrist to elbow—that’s when a suicide means business, you know. Of course, she needed some assistance. She squealed like a pig, by the way. Just like a pig.”

Paul fought to stay impassive.
Monsters!

“Here’s where you come in, Paul. Before opening her veins, Grace was repeatedly submerged to, shall we say, aid her memory. Balaam blindfolded her with a silk scarf—a nice touch. Each time Grace came up she gave us a little more about the cell near the port. She only had first names, but she had a good description of the ringleader, the one who had all the questions for her about the water. Seems he was from Chicago—an outside agitator. Get this. He called himself Paul and told her he had been blinded but that God had restored his sight. She even saw his navy blue sedan.”

Paul’s memory flashed to Stephen Lloyd hugging him and gasping, “Man, that was the first time my faith was tested. I almost didn’t make it.”

“Paul, do you deny being that man?”

“No,” Paul said. He stood with fists clenched, trying to keep from erupting.

“No, you’re not? Or no, you don’t deny it?”

“Hi, Daddy!” Jae said. She rushed to her father, flung an arm around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek.

“Jae! Honey, I—”

“You both seem so serious. What’s going on?”

“Just business. What are you doing here?”

“I missed my husband. I hope it’s all right with the host if—”

“I’m sure Tiny will be delighted. I’ll clear it with him in the morning. But, Jae, this is a working investigation site. It’s not as if you can spend time with Paul—”

“I’ll stay out of his hair. And I’ll likely have to head back before he does anyway. But I just wanted to see him.”

“Well, that’s good. So you two are patching things up.”

“Totally patched.”

“Well, terrific. Now, Jae, if you will excuse us, we need to finish some business here, and Paul will be right along.”

“Good to see you, Daddy.”

“Yes, of course. Delighted.”

When Jae was gone, Ranold swore and started in again on Paul. “We can’t have our wives joining us on operations like this. Especially like this. You weren’t here when I got back around ten, so I called the L.A. bureau chief at home—what’s her name? Johns?”

“Harriet.”

“Naturally, I told her to consider herself fired and that I’d make it official when I could reach the head of the agency in the morning. She insisted she had not authorized any undercover work for you, let alone a major sting we hadn’t approved. Of course, the locals resent us and would love to steal our thunder, but Johns persuaded me she wasn’t stupid enough to pull a stunt like that—especially with L.A.’s water supply at stake—and with my own son-in-law, no less. She said she had mentioned that you would make a good infiltrator, nothing more.”

Paul was dumbfounded.

“Paul, you have humiliated me—and even more, yourself—with your arrogance. What made you go off half-cocked like that on your own? Did you think you could compete with me? with Balaam? She’s twice the soldier you are because she follows orders—shows creativity, sure, but does what she is told.
You’re
the one who should be fired. There is no room in the agency—especially now—for loose cannons. How do you justify this?”

“I can’t, really.”

“What insults me is that I know you thought you could get away with it because I’m your father-in-law.”

“I have never, ever tried to trade on your position in the agency.”

“So you just thought you could make a big score all by yourself? You thought you had to go an extra hundred miles because you failed in San Francisco and Gulfland? I can understand that, Paul. But we all have missions that go belly-up. A real soldier accepts it and moves on. Or was it your bleeding heart? You disapproved of our tactics and thought you’d bring in these renegades in cuffs instead of coffins. Well, that’s not how it works with terrorists.” He shook his head. “You’re self-righteous and naive. It makes me sick—and it could have cost you more than just your job. You’d deserve to rot in jail if these maniacs had sabotaged the water and you had let them slip through our fingers.

“Fortunately, Grace said she told you there was no way they could do it without a miracle. She had no reason to lie by then.”

“Then why was she murdered?”

“You think she could have told us more? Anyway, reluctant as she was, she was part of them. And I told you, it was clearly a suicide.”

“With one arm slit from elbow to wrist she managed to slice the other too?”

“We left no tracks, Paul. Don’t worry. Some may wonder how she managed it, but no one will suspect us.”

“What about the cell at the port?”

“Took forever to find it, but we raided the place, of course. No one was there, but we found an ancient printing press, computers, lots of contraband books and tracts. Think about this, Paul: Had you been there with those people, trying to pull your big lone-wolf ruse on them when the raid went down, you might have been killed. At the very least, you’d have some explaining to do.

“We’ll watch who comes and goes there tomorrow. Then on Sunday it will be the first target of a major strike. Intelligence uncovered seven other large cells, and we’ll see if Grace’s friends have anything to add. Sunday is these people’s big meeting day, so we can likely catch all of them at once. Even if massive simultaneous strikes don’t knock out the underground, they will certainly cripple it.

“The question now, Paul, is what I should do with you.”

“Whatever you see fit.”

“It’s hard to assess the degree of harm you’ve actually done. Your meddling did put us onto a new target and give us insight into the kind of attacks the terrorists might plan. Only Balaam and I know what a fool you made of yourself. It would appear a conflict of interest if I were the one to discipline you. I won’t humiliate you further by letting Chief Balaam mete out your fate. Rather, I am going to report you to your superior, Chief Koontz, and place your punishment in his hands.”

Paul felt as if he could melt into a heap. “Seems fair,” he said.

“I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself Sunday. You will stay at my side during the raids and, I hope, acquit yourself enough to mitigate the severity of my report to Koontz. Until then, you’re suspended. You may not use an agency car. Perhaps if Tiny is kind enough to help you with transportation, you can take Jae out for a little sight-seeing tomorrow.

“Now I’m going to bed, and I suggest you do the same.”