S
O TELL ME, DO YOU
prefer Sally or Jessica?”
Reel said, “How are you, Leon? Still playing behind closed doors with your little swastika?”
Leon Dikes smiled and looked toward the doorway to the room where Julie was being held. “It’s so wonderful to hear your voice, Sally.”
“Let’s live in the present. The name is Jessica.”
“All right, Jessica.”
“Next time you see Earl, tell him I said hello. It’s heartwarming to see that you two have remained close.”
“The truth is, I never really cared for your father, Jessica. He’s uncouth and uneducated. I have a PhD.”
“Yeah, in the I Love Hitler program at the University of the Demented.”
“Actually, it was political science and it was at Berkeley.”
“Now, that’s something I never knew about you, Leon.”
“But your father did prove useful. He was dying, but he was dying unfulfilled.”
“Let me guess. I was the last item on his bucket list?”
“It was a mutual goal. You cost me several years of my life in prison.”
“What you did should have
cost
you your life. You got a ridiculously short sentence because I was prevented from coming back and testifying against you.”
“But you decimated my organization. It took me a long time to rebuild it.”
“Goody for you. Let’s talk about the future.”
“Julie is a very intelligent girl. She could go far in any field she chooses. Will she get the chance?”
“Let her go and the answer is yes.”
“I would like to let her go. If my price is met.”
“I’ve got a few bucks in my 401(k).”
“You and my daughter are the price.”
“She’s not your daughter.”
“I am her biological father.”
“You raped me.”
“Your words. But in any case it does not take away my status.”
“It most certainly does. And it did. The court already ruled on that.”
“American courts do not have jurisdiction over me.”
“Not really sure how you figure that one. But I don’t want to get into that. You take me in return for Julie. It’s me you really want, after all.”
“I said you and my child.”
“It’s called compromise, Leon. You never get all you want.”
“I do. Because if I don’t I will impregnate Julie, hold her for the term of the baby. And then kill her. That way I will have my child. Those are my terms. They are not negotiable. You know me well enough to understand that.”
Reel didn’t say anything for several moments. “It will take me some time to get hold of Laura.”
“Laura? You named her after—”
“My mother, yes.”
“I told you her name was Eva.”
“I was not naming my daughter after Adolf Hitler’s mistress.”
“They were lawfully married. Eva Braun was Der Führer’s great love.”
“Yeah, he married her and then killed her. Some love.”
“I will not argue political philosophies with you. His mind was too advanced for someone like you to understand.”
“And thank God for that.”
“I will give you two days to locate ‘Laura.’ Then I will call and give you instructions on the exchange.”
“Look, Leon, I can’t just take Laura from the life she has and give her to you.”
“Then I will get to you another way. And I will have my new child with Julie. And I will send you Julie’s head nine months from now. It is simple. Do not worry yourself over it, Sally. You are female. Know your limits. Remember, I often counseled you about that.”
“Well, this female brought you and your horror act down.”
“You were lucky beyond all reasoning.”
“I was smarter than you!”
“Do you want me to send you the girl’s head now?” barked Dikes.
Reel calmed. “Call me in two days.”
“You can count on it.”
“And if you harm Julie in any way you will seriously regret it.”
“I have already struck her once. She was disrespectful. You know I do not tolerate that. Two days, Sally. Please be ready to deliver what I ask.”
He clicked off.
Reel put the phone down on the table. She didn’t look at Robie, who had listened to every word of the conversation.
“He sounds as sick as you said,” Robie noted.
“He’s a monster, Robie.”
“You said you were prevented from testifying against him again?”
“I was at CIA by then. They wouldn’t let me. I tried everything I could think of, but I wasn’t even twenty. They intimidated me into just ignoring it. I’ll never forgive myself for that, Robie. Never.”
“I get that, Jessica. I really do.”
“And Dikes is a pathological liar and he has no intention of letting Julie go regardless of what I do.”
“I never thought he would voluntarily let her go.”
“Well, then what do we do?”
“We get Julie back safe. You walk away alive. And we nail this scum to the wall.”
“That sounds like a plan. How exactly do you propose doing that?”
“I bet he still thinks you’re in WITSEC.”
“He may.”
“Jessica, this guy has no idea
what
you are, does he?”
“You mean a stone cold killer?” she said grimly. “No, he doesn’t.”
“No, I mean a highly skilled government operative who knows how to take care of herself.”
“Okay.”
“And he doesn’t know about me, does he?”
“No. Well, we were undoubtedly spotted at the prison. So he knows you were with me.”
“But he has no idea what I do, and I sincerely doubt he can find out in two days.”
“Agreed.”
“Well, you know what I think?”
“What?”
“That
he
should be the one who’s afraid.”
Reel took this all in and nodded. “I’m an idiot, I really am.”
“No you’re not. You’re stressed beyond belief and feeling incredible guilt. Most humans aren’t equipped to deal well with that combination.”
“But I’m not most humans, am I? I forgot that for a bit. I guess it seemed to me that I was still a teenager dealing with this piece of filth. But I’m not.” She stood. “I’m not.” She paused, choosing her words with care. “This actually might be a blessing in disguise, Robie. He used my old man to get to me. But he never looked at it the other way around.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he never thought that this was the only way
I
was ever going to get to
him
. And trust me, I’ve wanted to for two decades. And now he’s given me a shot. I’m going to make him regret the day he ever thought about coming at me or hurting someone I care about.”
“Now that’s the Jessica Reel I know. And this time the guy is going to prison for good.”
“If he ever makes it to trial,” replied Reel quietly. “And I wouldn’t bet the farm that he does, Robie. I really wouldn’t. Because this son of a bitch…is mine.”
As she left the room, Robie had one overriding thought.
He was very glad he was not Leon Dikes.
L
EON DIKES SAT DOWN ACROSS
from Julie, who was just finishing up a plate of food. She wiped her mouth, took a drink of water, and sat back watching him. Her face was swollen from where he had struck her.
“You want something?” she asked.
“How did you meet Jessica?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because it is better to know things than to not know things.”
“She’s just a friend I met through another friend.”
“The names they gave at the prison were Jessica Reel and Will Robie. I have had them checked out. There is very little known about them. Very little. In fact, really nothing.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“But I think that you do. Did you know that Sally, or Jessica, was in Witness Protection?”
“Because of you, right?”
“Now, I believe that this Will Robie might also be in Witness Protection, or else he might be a U.S. marshal assigned to protect her.”
“Maybe he is.”
“That answer is really not good enough.”
“Like I said, we’re just friends.”
“Simple friends do not risk their lives for one another. Jessica offered to give herself up to me in exchange for your safe release. Why would she do that, I wonder?”
“Because she’s a good person,” replied Julie in a casual tone. “That must be hard for you to relate to. Probably why you find the concept so puzzling.”
“Your arrogance in the face of imminent harm is really deserving of both admiration and puzzlement, a most unusual combination.”
“I’m a complicated person.”
“I want you to tell me everything you know about Jessica Reel and this Will Robie.”
“I’ve told you what I know about Jessica. I don’t really know Will Robie.
Tonight was the first time I’d met him.
”
Dikes did not appear to be listening. “Are you yourself perhaps in Witness Protection? Is that how you met?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I have also made inquiries about you, and the results have been, shall we say, scant, which is problematic to me.”
“Well, I’m not in Witness Protection, and even if I were I don’t think they make a habit of putting different people in the program together or letting people in the program know the identities of others in the program.”
“You are too young to have been placed in the program when Sally was.”
“Jessica.”
“To me she will always be Sally Fontaine.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” replied Julie curtly.
“Her father was able to reach her through Witness Protection. Whether she is still in the program or that was merely a conduit to deliver a message to her, wherever she is now, I do not know.”
“Well, neither do I,” said Julie.
“I think that you’re lying.”
“Think what you want.”
“I will ask my questions and if I receive no answers I will have to ask more persuasively. It will not be pleasant for you, but if I have no choice…?”
Dikes clapped his hands together. The door opened at once. The person now in the doorway must have been waiting there for this command, Julie thought.
He was huge, but his uniform fit him. Apparently, Dikes’s group had more money to spend on uniforms than the Alabama correctional system did.
The prison guard Albert stared down at her. In one hand he held a fireplace poker, which was glowing red at one end. In his other hand was a whip that looked well used.
Dikes said, “This is my chief interrogator. I will allow him to take charge of you for a while, unless there is something you wished to tell me.”
Julie looked from Albert and his poker back to Dikes.
“What do you want to know?” she said fearfully.
“What I want to know is everything.”
Julie said, “Then I’ll tell you what I know.”
I
WANT TO TALK TO
her,” said Reel.
“No, I don’t think so,” said Dikes.
“Then you can forget it. Knowing you like I do, she’s probably already dead. And so I’m not putting myself or Laura in danger if she is.”
“You are so tiresome,” said Dikes with an exaggerated sigh. “It was one of your least attractive features.”
“I want to talk to her. Now!”
A few moments later Reel heard Julie’s voice.
“I’m okay,” Julie said.
“I’m so sorry about all this, Julie. Have they hurt you?”
“Nothing I can’t handle. And they’re standing right next to me in case I say something wrong.”
“I know. I just want you to know that things will turn out okay, Julie. No matter what happens, you’re going to be safe, okay?”
“Okay,” Julie said in a small voice.
Reel heard a gasp from Julie, and Dikes said, “All right, you’ve confirmed that she’s just fine.”
“And she better remain that way,” warned Reel.
“You are in no position to make demands. And don’t attempt to employ your U.S. Marshal friends in WITSEC.”
“What?”
“Your little friend told me all about you. That you’re still in WITSEC. And that you are engaged to marry her guardian, Jerome, who is a very rich man.”
“You bastard,” snarled Reel. “Did you torture her to get her to tell you that?”
“The mere threat was enough. She’s only a child. A precocious one, but still only a child. And she apparently lives in a fantasy world. She tried to feed me a cock-and-bull story about her being kidnapped by a Saudi prince, as if I’d believe that. But the mere sight of my, uh, chief interrogator, and she confessed all. It was rather pathetic.”
“She’s just a kid, Leon,” barked Reel.
“Then she should act her age rather than wasting my time with stupid stories. And she also informed me about your friend, Mr. Robie. Or should I say Marshal Robie? Do not think of bringing him along. We will be able to see you coming from a long way off. And all you’ll find when you get here is Julie’s body.”
“How do you want to do this, then?”
“Did you contact Laura?”
“I wouldn’t be talking to you unless I had,” retorted Reel.
“She will come with you. No tracking devices. No weapons. I recall that you were adept with a knife.”
“Where am I going?”
“You mean where are you and Laura going,” corrected Dikes.
“Just tell me, Leon.”
“Don’t let your nerves run away with you, Sally. It’s unbecoming. How you were able to keep them in check when you were so young, I can’t imagine. Luck, like I said before.”
“Give me the instructions,” Reel said flatly.
They were elaborate and well thought out, she had to admit.
They would first take a commercial aircraft to Atlanta and then a puddle jumper to Tuscaloosa. There they would board a Greyhound bus that would take them to an even smaller town. A car would be waiting in a parking lot next to the only grocery store in the town. The keys would be on the front seat. Directions going forward would be in the glove compartment. They would drive to a prearranged spot and they would be picked up from there. After that they would be driven to their final destination.
Dikes added, “Keep in mind that this is my country down here. I know every nook and cranny of it. I have the local police both in my back pocket and in my ranks. I own the town.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“People in bad economic times look to any savior possible,” replied Dikes. “I can give them what they want. Order, safety, jobs. We’re even venturing into other parts of the country. Some of our groups are buying up entire towns in the Midwest and the Dakotas. It is a good platform for growth and the spread of our unique ways.”
“You mean your sickness?”
“They obviously do not see it that way, do they?”
“You may think so. But you’d be wrong.”
“Nevertheless, when you come here you will be in my power, lock, stock, and barrel.”
“Which means you have no intention of letting Julie go.”
“I give you my word, Sally.”
“Your word means nothing to me.”
“Then why come at all?”
Reel fumed for a few moments, trying to regain her composure. “Because you’re not going to do to her what you did to me.”
“Well, we’ll see, won’t we? And we’ll see very soon.” He told Reel when she would be expected and hung up.
Reel clicked off and looked at the notes she had written down with the travel directions. Then she looked up at Robie, who had, again, listened to the entire conversation.
“This complicates things,” said Reel, tapping the paper.
“But it’s not unexpected,” noted Robie. “It’s not his job to make it easy.”
“Yeah, it’s his job to make it impossible.”
“But it’s not impossible,” observed Robie.
Reel looked down at her notes and suddenly smiled. “No, it’s not. You remember Jalalabad?”
“How could I ever forget? Is that how you want to play it?”
“Yes, I do,” said Reel firmly. She looked at the notes again. “I see two, maybe three possibilities.”
Robie nodded. “Same here. I’ll head out early.”
Reel nodded thoughtfully at this. “Recon will be important. Like he said, the area is under his control. You’ll need cover.”
“Two birds with one stone, Jessica.”
She looked excited. “I can see that. I can absolutely see that.”
“Once they pick you up you’ll be cut off from communications.”
“You lose me, we’re lost.”
“So I don’t plan on losing you.” He tapped the table. “And Laura?”
“I got that covered, Robie.”
“Really?”
“Really.”