Split Second (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 1)

She said, “I’d ask how’s it going, but I guess I know the answer to that.” She picked up a hunk of drywall. “You can rebuild, Sean, better than before.”

“Yeah, only it’ll be smaller. I’m in a downsizing phase of life. Clean, simple lines, maybe even a little clutter here and there.”

“Now, don’t go crazy on me. But where are you going to stay for now?”

“I’m thinking about renting a houseboat from the lake marina and docking it here. Spend the winter and maybe the spring on the water while I rebuild.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She glanced at him nervously. “So how’s Joan?”

“She’s off with her new life.”

“And her new millions. So why didn’t you take your cut?”

“Indentured servitude isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” He shrugged. “She’s actually a good person, if you look behind the titanium exterior. And I think she really loves me. Under different circumstances maybe it could have worked.”

Michelle looked as though she wanted to know what circumstances had prevented such a result but decided it was best not to ask.

“So where have you come from? D.C.?” asked King.

“Yes, closing out a few things. Bruno withdrew from the election, luckily for America. They caught up to Jefferson Parks at the Canadian border, by the way. So you suspected him?”

“Right near the end. This whole thing started when Howard Jennings was relocated to Wrightsburg and came to work for me. Parks was his handler. He was the only one who could have arranged that.”

“Well, that one was staring me in the face, and I never even saw it.” She shook her head and continued, “Parks recruited Simmons and Tasha Reed, the woman I shot at the hotel; they were both formerly in witness protection. Morse paid them all to help. The warrant for Bob Scott was a phony. Parks stashed it in the box he gave Joan so we’d be led to the bunker that Morse bought in Scott’s name. They found Scott’s body in the rubble.”

“All in the name of love,” said King wearily.

“Yeah, Sidney Morse’s sick, twisted version of it anyway.” Michelle sat down next to him. “So what’s next for you?”

“What else? Back to being a lawyer.”

“Are you telling me that after all this exci

tement you want to go back to drafting leases and wills?”

“It’s a living.”

“Yeah, but it’s not really living, is it?”

“Well, what about you? I guess you’ve been reinstated at the Service.”

“Actually I resigned this morning. That’s what I really went to D.C. for.”

“Michelle, are you crazy? You just threw away years of your life.”

“No, I saved myself from more years of doing something I really didn’t want to do.” She rubbed her chest where the slug meant for Bruno had hit her. “I’ve been a human shield. Not the healthiest way to spend one’s time. I think I bruised a lung.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Well, I have a proposition for you.”

“Another proposition from a lovely lady. What did I do to deserve this?”

Before Michelle could answer, another truck pulled up. It was an A-1 Security van. Two men clad in work clothes and tool belts climbed out.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” said the older of the pair as he looked around at where the house had been. “What happened here?”

“Really bad timing on my part, getting that A-1 system,” said King.