Paradox (FBI Thriller 22)

Lulie grinned, couldn’t help it. She whispered to Ty, “That’s my girl.”

Ty smiled. “No, that’s her mother.”

When it was obvious the well was dry, Savich nodded to Dr. Hicks, who took Leigh’s hand.

“Leigh, it’s me, Dr. Hicks. I want you to tell me something. When you were thinking back in time, you spoke many times of yourself as Gunny, as if she were a different person. Can you explain that to me?”

Leigh looked thoughtful, as if considering an interesting experience. “I know full well Gunny is me and I’m Gunny, but I’m not really, am I? My eyes see differently now, more like yours do, Dr. Hicks.”

Dr. Hicks said, “A lovely way to say it. When you wake up, Leigh, you will continue to feel no pain. You will remember everything. Three, two, one. Wake up, Leigh.”

Leigh’s eyes opened. She looked thoughtfully at each person in the room, then turned back to Dr. Hicks. “How is it possible? I don’t have any pain at all. And I remember your telling me I wouldn’t.”

“Think of me as your own personal magician,” Dr. Hicks said.

“Will you marry me, Dr. Hicks?”

“If my wife ever leaves me, I’m yours. Now, do you remember which guitar Elvis traded in for his new Martin D-18?”

“Of course, in Memphis in 1955, he traded in his Martin 000-18. To be able to impersonate the King. That’s amazing. I want to come and see you perform.”

He leaned down and lightly kissed her cheek. “I’ll be sure to let you know about my next Elvis gig. You’re an amazing young woman. I’m very glad I met you and I look forward to seeing what you make of your life from here on out.”

65

* * *

FORT PESSEL, VIRGINIA

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

I didn’t want to come back to this pissant town, Victor. Nothing good ever happened here, well, except you came.

“I had to beg my parents to leave me here. You remember I couldn’t stand to be around them, with my old man knocking my mother around and the stupid woman never doing a thing about it. And then my dad wanted to move back to Jordan to be with his fricking foreign relatives? Can you imagine what that would have been like? For me, an American? Even your mama hitting me on the head with a hammer wasn’t as bad as staying with those two pathetic losers.”

You hit me sometimes, Victor.

“Only when you riled me, Lissy. You know I never hit you hard. Now, you said you hurt really bad after Cindy kicked you in the belly, right in the staples. We need to get you some pain pills, and this is as good a place as any, plus I know where old Mrs. Kougar keeps them.”

You can’t waltz into Kougar’s Pharmacy like you did last time, Victor. Don’t you remember how she showed up and nearly shot you?

“Yeah, yeah, she surprised me. I still got you pain meds, enough to last you, didn’t I? We’ll hunker down at your mom’s house and wait until it’s dark. Maybe we can stay until they stop looking for us. I looked up the house on the Internet. No one’s bought it, so the bank still owns it. It’s all empty, waiting for us.”

Listen, Victor, I want to go with you to the pharmacy when the old witch is still there. You can tie her up, and we’ll take the pills and listen to her whine and threaten and then WHAM! I’ll shoot her old head off, watch her few brains run all over.

“It’s broad daylight, Lissy. There’ll be people in and out until she closes.”

Didn’t matter last time, did it? She came back after closing and nearly killed you. She deserves to have her brains splatted. I deserve to be the one to do it. Hey, you hear that siren, Victor?

“Don’t speed up, Lissy! We’re only a couple of young people driving around. The cops aren’t after us here. Listen, they’re peeling off. Go slow, now. Head for your mom’s house.”

Yeah, all right. We can lie low for a while. I’ll take the meds and feel better. But you know that little bitch Cindy described our car to the cops, maybe she even got the license plate. So you know Savich is looking for us.

“Sure, let him look. Why would he come down here? They’ll go haring around some other state parks. Look, Lissy, I know we need another car, but I’m running a little short on cash. Everything I had to do in Washington to get Savich’s house plans, all that research on how to disable that alarm of his, the bomb and the gun, all the Willicott arrangements, the two cars I bought—it cost a whole lot.”

That’s easy, Victor. Let’s steal us a car, no more shelling out our money to buy another butt-ugly one. Maybe this time we can spot a nice little Fiat. I like racing stripes, you know that.

“It’s way too dangerous. I’ve still got enough money to buy another car, but I’d like to have a cushion left. Don’t forget we’ll need enough of a stake for a new life, Lissy. It would be easier if you told me where your mama hid the bank robbery money.”