Chapter 25

"Do you know who this is?" Pete Hershey said on the telephone.

"Yes," Gordon Wilson said.

"Call me back on a payphone." Pete gave Wilson the number to call and hung up.

Pete Hershey wasn't happy. Wilson calling him in the middle of the night, probably not on a payphone, infuriated him. Wilson knew the rules. Not for the first time, Hershey wished he'd never accepted Wilson's contracts.

He sat and stewed, becoming angrier at each passing second. When the phone rang, Pete was ready to ream Wilson a new one.

"The next time..." Pete started to say.

"I called to cancel our contracts. Return my money in full. You have a problem in your organization, Pete," Wilson said.

Wilson's statement momentary took the wind out of Pete's angry sails.

"Oh, I'll cancel the contract all right, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I refund a penny," Pete said. "I've spent a small fortune on your contracts. Eight-vehicle surveillance teams don't come cheap."

"You didn't hear me, Pete. I haven't breathed a word to anyone about our deal, but at least two individuals know everything, every fucking detail, a man and a woman, and over the last few days, both of them demanded that I cancel the contracts, not once but many times."

"That's not possible," Pete huffed.

"Like hell it isn't," Wilson said. "You've got a traitor in your midst, Pete. I want a full refund, or I'll put the word out that you and your organization can't be trusted."

He's making this up for the money, Pete thought.

"What details does this so-called traitor know?" Pete said.

"He knows that we planned to lure my wife and daughter out of the estate where they're living so you could kill my wife and kidnap my daughter. He knows the ransom I'll pay for my daughter's release will actually be the second-half payment for the contracts."

No way, Pete thought. I've told no one that much.

"Let me think about this and check around. I'll get back with you later."

"A full refund, Pete. I won't accept anything less. You know the consequences."

Pete listened to a dial tone and with a curse ended the call. He sat and considered the list of operatives available, selected the right man for the job, and dialed the phone.

"Do you now who this is?" Pete said.

"Yes," Greg Bastille said.

Bastille was Pete's most capable assassin. He could kill using household objects as weapons, or one thousand yards away with a sniper rifle.

"Call me on a pay phone," Pete said and gave Bastille a phone number. "I have a job for you."

Threaten me! The crazy fucker threatened me! No one threatens me and lives! I'm an assassin's agent for Christ's sake. Wilson has got to be out of his mind.

David returned to his body, which was slumped unconscious in the passenger seat of Darla's Hummer. Darla had stayed with her mother, and Nora wanted to hang around and spend some time with her father, so only Flint occupied the vehicle with him when David opened his eyes.

"Shit," David muttered.

"What?" Flint said.

"Wilson just canceled his contract with Pete."

"That's good. Why the curse?" Flint said.

"Because he demanded a full refund instead of paying whatever penalty the assassin's agent stipulated."

"I still don't understand why you're upset," Flint said.

"Wilson threatened Pete, Flint. Told Pete that if he didn't receive a full refund that he'd put the word out that Pete and his organization couldn't be trusted," David said.

"Shit," Flint muttered. "Wilson is a dead man walking."

"Yeah," David said.

I went too far, David thought. I made Wilson believe that Pete or one of his men was hassling him, which emboldened Wilson to demand a full refund.

"This is terrible," David said. "I wanted to stop Wilson, maybe put him behind bars, and help June get a good settlement in the divorce. I didn't want him killed. If one of Pete's assassins murders him, I'll be responsible. Worse, I can't even take responsibility, not with June or Patty. They can't know about my flights of consciousness."

"You're not thinking straight, David," Flint said. "You're not responsible. You..."

David suddenly realized that Flint didn't know about the previous night, so David related the details of his last few connections with Wilson. "I'm responsible, Flint. I went too fucking far."

Flint shook his head. "You told him to accept any cancellation penalty incurred. He ignored you. That makes him responsible, not you."

"That's a rationalization, and you know it. I went too far, and I'm doing the same with Hummel. Last night, I used Hummel's home computer to send the e-mails to the Tucson cops about two of Hummel's perverted friends. Clever, huh?" David said with a snort of self-disgust. "Sometimes I'm too clever for my own fucking good."

Flint smiled and said, "Actually that was clever. To protect himself from retaliation from his sick friends, you can force Hummel to confess his crimes to the authorities."

"That was my plan, but the plan can and probably will go haywire, which could get Hummel killed," David said.

"That wouldn't be all bad, David," Flint said. "Dorothy would inherit, and she and Eileen could live happily ever after. For that matter, if Pete has Wilson murdered, June and Patty will inherit, too."

"Yeah, and I'll have Wilson and Hummel's blood on my hands," David said. "Wilson is Patty's biological father, Flint. There has to be some feelings between them, and my good-intentioned meddling might get him killed. Fuck!"

A mile down the road, David said, "The truth behind the saying, 'No good deed goes unpunished, ' just bit me in the ass."

Flint laughed and said, "Sorry. I wasn't laughing at you. I... ah, hell, you know why I laughed. Boss, regarding Wilson and Hummel, some other sayings apply. In Hummel's case, 'Be sure your sins will find you out, ' applies big time. 'Live by the sword, die by the sword, ' is relevant for Wilson. He did, after all, engage a hired killer to murder his wife. If I thought about it, I could probably come up with a dozen more sayings that fit. You're down, depressed, and I know why. Yesterday, you were in the thick of a civilian version of hand-to-hand combat. You witnessed violent, bloody death up close and personal. I've been there, done that, so I understand. But know this. Whatever happens to Wilson or Hummel will be on their heads, not yours. Your depressed state might not allow you to acknowledge it, but intent counts; intent is what it's all about, and considering intent, you're not at fault." He sighed. "I wish our time on the lake hadn't been interrupted. Oh, I understand we had no choice but to return to the city, but you needed some time away from the stress you're under. You still need the healing time, David."

"I'll be fine," David said.

"Argh!" Flint groaned.

David chortled.

"Another thing," Flint said. "As powerful as your weird abilities make you, they don't make you perfect, but for some reason you expect perfection from yourself."

"I strive for perfection, Flint. I don't expect it."

"Then cut yourself some goldurned slack," Flint said.

"Goldurned?" David said with a grin.

"Yeah. Good word; picked it up from Joe."

"Janice, did you hear that my mother lost her baby last night?" David said. His housekeeper had arrived at his home office at his request.

"Yes, and I'm so sorry. I lost a baby that way," she said. "Miscarries can be rough to handle," Janice said, her expression full of sympathy.

"You've got the compound shining," David said. "I want you to spend the next two days making the big house at the ranch shine. I haven't hired a housekeeper for the ranch yet, and I don't want my mother doing the work. We'll make do here until you return."

She nodded and smiled. "All right. Two days, you say? Does today count?"

"Why?"

"Gotta pack. Need to know how much to pack," she said.

"Oh. Plan on two nights and three days, counting today. Track down Dwayne when you're ready to leave. He'll drive you."

"Tell June I'll be gone so she can plan how to make do," she said.

Another mistake, David thought after Janice left. I went around June directly to Janice. Dammit. One mistake after the other. Shit!

His phone rang.

"David, it's Joe."

"Hi, how are you doing?" David said.

"All right, considering. Listen, I appreciate you sending out your handyman to take care of my honey-do's, but he's more trouble than he's worth, and not because he's on crutches. He's trying very hard to please, and I like him. Hell, he's probably a good handyman, but every time I turn around, he's asking for a tool, which interrupts what I'm trying to get accomplished. You need to buy him a set of tools. Also, he arrived here in a borrowed car. From what I understand, you plan to use him for the ranch, the compound, the shelters you're taking over, and that apartment project you're buying for the homeless. He's going to need a pickup truck, David."

David groaned. Yet another mistake. "You're right all around, Joe. I'm sorry. I'm not functioning on all cylinders today, and I probably just made another mistake. I'm sending our housekeeper to the ranch for a few days to make sure my mother doesn't try to keep house."

"I like that, David, but talk to Carol about it first."

"I will. No, I'll have June call her. I need to clear this move with June anyway, and June will know what kind of cleaning paraphernalia Janice will need."

"That'd work."

"About Phil, send him back to the compound..."

"David, I've got him on a job that'll take him the rest of the day, and he has the right tools on hand. If I send him back now, no matter what I tell him, he'll think he's in trouble. Leave well enough alone, and set him up so he can do his job before you send him out anywhere else."

David sighed. "All right. Thanks, Joe, and again, I'm sorry."

"Hey, I understand. Nora told me what you went through yesterday. I wouldn't be doing as well as you under the same circumstances."

After bringing June up to date and asking her to call his mother, David returned to his office and called Gloria. Gloria, he remembered, had some sort of connection with a Chevrolet dealer.

"The world is too much with me," David said to his accountant.

"Then slow it down, buckaroo," she said.

"It's not a matter of speed, Gloria. I've got too many balls in the air, so occasionally I drop one of them. I hired a handyman and sent him out on a job without the tools to do the job. He wanted to please me, so he didn't say anything. Instead, he borrowed a car to get to the job."