3

They drove. Because of increased security at airports due to terrorist threats, Cavanaugh was leery about trying to get to Carmel by air. At the numerous checkpoints, he would have had to show a picture ID, but Edgar had taken the fake driver's license and credit cards that Karen had created for him. Moreover, Rutherford and the FBI presumably had an alert out for persons resembling Jamie and him. Everything considered-the ease of traveling with weapons was another factor-driving had a lot to recommend it.

Plus, it gave Cavanaugh a further chance to heal. To passing drivers, the Taurus seemed just another car on the road with an ordinary couple inside, although injuries to the man's face indicated that he had recently been in some sort of accident. Those injuries probably explained why the man was letting his beard grow.

Interstate 80 took them through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.

In Nebraska, studying the flat open countryside, Cavanaugh said, "Reminds me of Oklahoma."

"Oh?"

"I spent a couple of years there as a kid."

Curious, Jamie glanced at him.

"My father had the bad luck to drill oil wells after the boom was over."

He hesitated.

"I had a dog. Nothing fancy. A mutt. About the size of a miniature collie."

Jamie studied him, waiting for him to continue.

"My dad and mom and I moved around a lot while my dad looked for work. Sometimes the only job he could get was the most dangerous. Once, when I was a kid, I saw him put out an oil-well fire. He wore a suit that made him look like an astronaut. He used a bulldozer and dynamite. Afterward, he got drunk. He did that a lot. He came home that night and argued with my mom. When I tried to keep him from hitting her, he hit me. Then my dog starting barking, so my dad showed everybody who was boss and kicked the dog to death."

The only sounds became the drone of the engine and the hum of the tires.

"My mom left him after that," Cavanaugh said. "It took a lot of courage for her to face up to his anger. She and I were even poorer than when we'd been with him. But somehow she made do, found a decent man, even managed to send me to pretty good schools. I think my mom and my stepfather expected I'd be a lawyer or something. But I had too much anger in me. I wanted to get even for all the beat-up moms and kicked-to-death dogs in the world, so I joined the Army and went through special-operations training. I had plenty of chances to put terrorists and other bullies out of business. But I realized I eventually had to plan ahead. There's not much a special-ops soldier can do with his skills in civilian life. Become a mercenary, work for the CIA, join law enforcement, or get into private security. When one of my former Delta Force instructors offered me a job as a protector, I jumped at it. I guess it's not hard to understand why. I've got a thing about victims. I'm still trying to help my mother. I'm still trying to protect my dog."

Jamie finally spoke. "That's the longest I've ever heard you talk about your past. In fact, it's one of the few times you've ever talked about your past."

"Prescott pretended to be a victim and turned out to be a bully. Because of him, now I'm afraid of bullies. I won't let him get away with it."

Driving through Wyoming, neither of them commented when they passed an exit that would have taken them north to the Teton Range, to Jackson Hole and their home.

4

After four days, Interstate 80 brought them to San Francisco. They followed the Pacific Coast Highway south to Carmel and spent the night in a motel. But Cavanaugh had trouble sleeping, too preoccupied with what needed to be done.

"Where do you want to look first?" Jamie asked the next morning over a ham and cheese omelette in the motel's diner.

Cavanaugh had only coffee. "How can you eat so much and stay so thin?"

"I've got a high metabolism. Besides, when I'm worried, I need to eat."

"We're safe for the moment."

"That's not what I mean." They were at a corner table, their backs to a wall. The nearest tables were empty. A television droned behind the counter. Even so, she lowered her voice. "You're not being hunted any longer. This isn't following orders in combat. This isn't self-defense. It isn't protecting a client. You're the hunter now. If you get what you want, I'm worried about how it'll change you."

"Prescott raised a similar issue."

Jamie looked puzzled.

"After I rescued him from the warehouse, we nearly got trapped at a shopping mall. The team chasing us left a car outside. I managed to sneak up on it and shout to its driver to run away. The driver was too startled to move. I had to shoot through the car's roof before he got his legs to work. Later, Prescott asked me why I hadn't just killed the man."

"And what did you answer?"

"That the man hadn't given me a reason, that I was a protector, not a…"

Jamie didn't need to say anything further to make her point.

"I wonder if Prescott's counting on that," Cavanaugh said bitterly. "He can't be sure I died in the fire at Karen's house. I wonder if the son of a bitch is betting that my personality's essentially defensive, that I won't come after him for betraying me and my friends."

Jamie stayed silent.

"He'll have changed his appearance," Cavanaugh said. "He'll probably wear glasses now. He's had enough time to grow a mustache or a beard. He might even have had some plastic surgery. His heaviness will be hard to disguise, though."

Troubled, Jamie started eating her omelette again.

Cavanaugh glanced at the television behind the counter. A commercial for a weight-losing product showed before and after photographs of a formerly bulky man who was now amazingly thin. He turned toward Jamie. "When I first met Prescott, he had shelves of the most carbohydrate-heavy, calorie-rich foods imaginable. Macaroni and cheese. Lasagna. Ravioli. Potato chips. Candy bars. Chocolates. Classic Coke."

"That would put the pounds on all right."

"Suppose he went on a crash diet."

Jamie looked up.

"It's been almost three weeks since I last saw him," Cavanaugh said. "If he starves himself, if he drinks tons of water to flush his system…"

"A man as determined as Prescott…" Jamie nodded. "It wouldn't be healthy, but I bet he could lose a pound or two a day."

"Jesus," Cavanaugh said, "at that rate, he'd soon be unrecognizable."

"But even with that beard you're trying to grow to disguise your appearance, you'll be very recognizable," Jamie said. "Prescott could blend with a crowd and see you coming."

"Not you, though," Cavanaugh said.

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't know you're with me. He could look straight at you and not be aware you're hunting him."

"Hunting him is what you're doing," Jamie said.