Chapter 25: Revelations

I called Bob around ten o'clock to try and set up a meeting. This was certainly not a conversation I wanted to have on a phone the killer may have cloned, and I didn't want to wait until tonight on the chance that Rene might want to talk some more. Bob wasn't at home so I left a message on his recorder saying that I was from the video store and calling about a late movie return. There is one particular chain that he hates with an unnatural passion so I knew he'd get the message. I finished up my regular chores and was just getting started washing Mom's car when Allison came out in her bathing suit to join me. Several of the neighbors were engaged in similar activities, so we had to behave ourselves. I squirted water at her foot, she threatened me; you know, the typical brother-sister ritual you expect to see. Then we both got started soaping the car down.

"Busy night?" She asked.

"Very. You?"

"Not so much, a very nice night, but not what I'd call busy."

"Really? That's surprising after what Shannon said about their time together."

"Yeah, I thought so at first but then it occurred to me; that's what Shannon wanted. Easy..."

I sprayed her with the hose and she shrieked but then said, "Thank you. Lizzy, would have seen what Shannon wanted and given it to her. Just as she saw what I wanted, and gave it to me. Just as, when the time finally comes, she will see exactly what you want, or rather what you need, and that's what she will be for you. Shannon was right, back when she was all worried about Lizzy stealing you away," she looked at me to make sure I wasn't going to take that wrong and interrupt, "not about that of course, but when she said Lizzy is the perfect lover."

"I'm glad she could make it special for you."

"Not going to ask what happened?"

"Nope, not my business; something I've learned recently. It's not Amber, but it's close enough that it's something you have to want to tell me, not something I'll ever ask about. Shannon will, but that's girl talk and the rules are different."

She stopped and looked at me, "You are so good at this. I don't know two other guys that would understand that."

"That as your lover she can't ask but as your best girlfriend she can? What about Bob?"

"He's the other one I was thinking of. Yeah, Shannon is going to want all the juicy details. She already called to invite me over to spend the night. If you need someone to chaperon you around you better hope Lizzy gets to bed early because I doubt we will. So how did it go last night, did you and Shannon go see Hendricks?"

"Started to, but just as we were leaving the guy in the cell became available so I went there instead. Shannon wanted to come along..."

"You didn't take her did you?"

"Actually I tried, and I got her to the hallway outside, but she couldn't get past the door."

"Really? That's pretty unusual."

"Yeah, I was really leery of taking her in the first place and that cinched it, I sent her to the beach right away after that. She spent the night studying."

"So how did it go?"

"Very well, we talked most of the night. I found out his name, who Katia was, and I got an idea how I might be able to break him out of there. I'm waiting for Bob to call me, then I'm going to meet him somewhere so we can talk. I have some ideas I want to bounce off him. I also want to know if he's heard from Rebecca. I'm really getting worried about her."

"Yeah, me too. It's just not like her. I mean, she's real serious about her work but ... I don't know. There's no real reason to see you until it's over, but I can't believe she went a whole week without going to see Mr. Shelby. Have you thought about contacting Mr. Rodriguez to check on her?"

"Yeah, I've thought about it but then I may have to explain other things. He'd have questions about things he can't know. He knows about the two of them, I'm sure if something happened to her he would make sure Bob was told. So if he hasn't called Bob then we have to assume that she's okay."

"Yeah, you're probably right, but you know what Lizzy said about assume."

Bob called while we were washing the truck. He asked me if I would like to help him pick out some terrain courses for the cross country team to practice on. I told him I had to drop Allison off at Shannon's and that I would meet him at the school. Allison was just finishing drying the truck off when I went back out to give her the news.

"Okay, I'm already packed. I just need to throw something on over this and we can go."

I rolled up the hose and put everything away while she ran in to change and get her bag. She brought my wallet and some shoes and socks for me back with her. I dropped her off at Shannon's and then met Bob in front of the school. I tried to keep an eye on the cars around me but it was tough to do that and drive at the same time. There must be some trick to it. I'd ask Rebecca first chance I got. Well, maybe not first chance, but soon anyway.

"Hey, Jimmy, glad you could make it. Listen I can't believe I'm asking you this but could we use your truck, I forget to get gas and, well, there's really nothing close."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, get in coach, but you owe me." Really it was just a cover in case his car was bugged. Granted my truck could have been too, but so far, nothing had indicated that anyone had been inside our house and I was pretty confident they would go for the house before the car.

"You already know the tracks we use," he said. "So just kind of cruise around those and point once in a while. We'll stop a couple times along the way to make it look like we're discussing something."

"Well that part should be easy since we will be discussing something. Bob, have you heard from Rebecca yet?"

"No, and before you ask, yes, I'm worried."

"Have you thought about calling her boss?"

"Yeah? And tell him what, that I miss her visiting me in my dreams. As far as he knows that's not possible and I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to know more than they have to."

"Just asking, I came to the same conclusion myself. I'm sure he would have called you if anything had happened to her, so for now we'll just go on the assumption that no news is good news. Meanwhile, I met with the guy in the cell last night and we talked almost all night.

"Jimmy, that's great, so you're making headway."

"To some extent yes, I discovered a few things that gave me an idea, and I wanted to bounce it off you..."

As we drove around I laid out what I had discovered and what I had in mind. We stopped several times to point out different things along the routes we usually used. If anyone was paying attention it would look like we were doing exactly what we had said. We even appeared to be writing down the mileage readings each time.

"So what do you think?" I finally asked.

"I think you're going to be teaching me soon. Jimmy, the rate you pick stuff like this up is staggering, you seem to have this ... intuitive grasp of things that experts study years, decades even, to learn. My biggest concern is force of personality."

"You think the primary has been so beaten down for so long that he just won't have the drive or will to succeed."

"See what I mean, you're doing it again. Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Jimmy, he's still suffering from the pain of Katia's death, not to mention the suggestion of betrayal that she knew his secret and may have been helping whoever was in charge to use him."

"I don't think that was it. I think they told her something when they sent her in, maybe that they had done this by hypnosis or something, but I don't think she knew it in advance, and, I think she genuinely loved him right up to the moment he killed her."

"Really? Why would you think that?"

"Because it's the only reason I can think of to justify going through everything she had to endure when all she had to do was denounce him to the group as a double agent and they would, most likely, have killed both of them immediately rather than risk them getting away. Let's face it, they knew how good he was, they probably were more than a little afraid of him. But she didn't, she knew in her heart that the man she loved was not the one doing this to her, she kept faith and hope that he would find a way to save her, and even if he didn't, she died to let him live. What's that verse in the Bible? 'Greater love has no man than that he lay down his life for another?' or something like that."

"And you think he knows why she did it, because she trusted him to save her, and he now lives with the guilt because he couldn't?"

"Right. Bob, he wants to die, but only if he can take the dark persona with him. Otherwise he probably would have given up ages ago. Let's face it; the dark side in this case is pretty damn formidable."

"Yeah, no kidding. So what do you propose to do?"

"I want to work on wearing down the walls from the inside until they are paper-thin and struggling to stand. Then, when the time is right, wake him up and let him help us fight. If nothing else the experience should really shake up the killer, disrupt whatever he is doing to the point that he may have to focus on the internal struggle and ignore us. We have to be sure we're in a position to take advantage of that. But if we do it too soon the alternate may decide he doesn't really need the original and wipe him out. We'll only get one shot at this so we have to make it count. I've got one other idea that may help but I need to talk to someone else about that. Let me know right away if you hear from Rebecca, otherwise I'll see you tonight."

With Allison spending the night at Shannon's it was going to be very lonely in my bed. I had gotten so used to her being there that I actually had trouble getting to sleep. I guess I could have used one of my triggers but I didn't want to start relying on artificially induced solutions. Bob had warned against that as soon as we discovered we could do it. The brain goes to sleep in stages, the stages are triggered by chemical mixtures, and we weren't sure what the long term consequences of changing that progression would be. Besides, from the sound of things none of the girls were going to be available for a while, Allison and Shannon would be occupied, Lizzy had a date, and Bob was waiting around to see if Rebecca showed up, so it looked like I may have a boring night ahead of me, at least at first. Then I had an idea.

When I reached the lagoon the sun was shining brightly, the sand was sparkling clean, and the water was about as blue and clear as you could want. Just another perfect day. It only needed one thing.

"Zeus, Hera," I called softly. I didn't wait for them but turned toward the little changing tent and thought of Amy. It was only a moment before she emerged, already in her bathing suit.

"Hi Jimmy! Where are Allison and Shannon?"

"Uhm, they should be along later. Allison is sleeping over at Shannon's and you know how girls are ... They'll probably be up half the night giggling."

She giggled and said, "I know! Whenever Sylvia would come over and stay with Rebecca they were always waking up Daddy. He used to get so mad! So what's up?"

"Nothing," I said. "Nothing at all, I just had some free time on my hands and it's been a while so I thought maybe you and I could spend a little time together. That is of course if you don't have anything more important you need to do?"

She giggled again, "No silly, of course not."

"Good, because I invited some friends over to play," I took her hand and started walking toward the water. Out at the breakwater where the lagoon opens to the sea you could see the dolphins swimming in and it looked like they had brought the whole pod. "I hope you don't mind." Before she could answer I switched into my troll suit, scooped her up in my arms and bounded into the water. When I was about waist deep I took her by one arm and one leg and swung her out over the water calling, "One! Two! Three!" And on three I flung her out over the light waves to splash into the crystal water. She of course giggled and screamed the whole time, she would have flailed her free arm but it was busy holding her nose.

Just as she popped up out of the water and yelled, "Do it again!" Hera swam up underneath her, catching her little legs in front of her flippers, and she shrieked as the big dolphin lifted her up out of the water and swam up to me so I could pick her up and toss her back into the waves, and quickly swam back out to retrieve her.

"She's so soft," Amy said when I picked her off of Hera's back again.