"I'm leaving for Seattle tonight to ensure the takeover proceeds smoothly in the weeks ahead." The Old One scanned the crowd. "I want you to go back to Miami."

"Father, please-"

"Seattle is rainy, my son," said the Old One. "You might catch your death of cold there. I would never forgive myself."

CHAPTER 45

"How can you drive in this slop?" said Baby as the rain beat against the windshield, the wipers barely able to keep up. "It's raining cats, dogs and every other animal on the ark."

Rakkim leaned forward, blinking in the glare from the oncoming headlights.

Baby gnawed a pork rib thick with meat, takeout from a barbecue joint about ten miles back. "Might as well look for a motel. Even if we made it to the airport tonight, no way they're going to have flights leaving for Miami in this mess."

"You're probably right."

"Baby's probably right? That's a first." Seat tilted back, Baby propped her long legs on the dash. She tugged at her short shorts, the inside of her tanned thighs glowing in the red light from the instrument panel. "I must be getting to you, Rikki."

Rakkim glanced at her, then back at the road.

"You can admit it." Baby scraped her front teeth along the curve of the rib, peeling off meat. She had a tiny smear of barbecue sauce above her lip. "I won't tell anyone."

Rakkim smiled.

"I saw that," said Baby. "I got you now."

Rakkim reached over, snatched the last chunk of cornbread from the basket in her lap. She went to slap his hand, but he was too quick.

Thunder crashed in the distance, lightning zigzagging across the night. The rain came down even harder now-a red neon sign flashing Kim's Cabin shimmered through the downpour as though it were underwater. Like one of the inundated restaurants in New Orleans that Moseby had talked about, sea urchins pincushioning the stools and counters, moray eels curled up in the open cash registers. Rakkim was sorry he never had a chance to dive in the sunken city. Moseby promised to take him some day, promised to show him the spots-shopping mall grottos alive with iridescent fish, and coral reefs festooned along miles of parked cars. Beautiful, terrible things, Moseby had said. Never going to happen now. Another thing Rakkim was sorry for.

"I wish we had been able to get Moseby to a real hospital," said Baby. "I wish he was here with us now."

"I…I was just thinking about him too."

"Really?" Baby shook her head, choked up. "I didn't know him like you did…but the man…he made an impression."

Rakkim watched the wipers slap back and forth, the rain coming down so hard he could see the fat droplets falling through the high beams. "Moseby told me this story once…about when he was first courting his wife. It was love at first sight, for him anyway. Annabelle was more practical."

"Women have to be." Baby's tongue snaked out, licked the barbecue sauce from above her lip. "We give in to foolishness, the consequences are much worse than for a man."

Rakkim cracked his window, just enough to let the cool, moist air in. "Moseby was a shadow warrior…sent to check out reports of the Belt manufacturing biotoxins in the delta." He shook his head. "He found out within two weeks it was a pharmaceutical plant. Most dangerous items coming out of it were these aphrodisiac pills made from stingray cartilage-Chinese men swore by them." He could barely see the road. "Moseby said they worked too." He drifted off, listening to the rain, steering by instinct more than anything else.

Baby put her hand on the back of his neck. "I like hearing how folks fell in love."

Rakkim felt the heat of her touch as the wipers kept their steady stroke back and forth. "Moseby was supposed to be invisible, the kind of person you notice only after they're gone…but after he saw Annabelle he started showing up where she was…always being in the right place at the right time. One thing led to another. Moseby had a good cover job, salvage diver, and he was patient, never pushy, had that deep voice…drove women crazy…but Annabelle, she was tough, and her father was even tougher." Far ahead of them, taillights blinked in the rain. "Moseby made her a deal. Told her to hide one of her earrings in her house. Hide it anyplace she wanted, and he'd find it within one hour. If he couldn't do it, he'd leave and never come back, but if he found it…she'd marry him."

"Just one hour?" said Baby.

"Took him ten minutes." Rakkim looked at her. "Annabelle cheated. Her eyes led him right to the earring. He knew she would if she really wanted to marry him."

"I like that story," said Baby. Thunder clapped closer, seemed to be right inside the car, the air sizzling, and Baby cried out, clung to him.

Rakkim put his blinker on, turned off into the Castaways Motel parking lot, barreled through a huge puddle, water shooting out both sides of the car.

"Leo!"

Leo jumped, tripping over his own feet. "You scared me."

"Pardon me, it's just that I've been hoping to run into you," said the Old One.

"Well…this must be your lucky day," said Leo, his face still red. The afterwork crowd in the Zone broke around them, security blimps ringing the sky over Seattle. Leo was edging toward Wally's Game Emporium. "Harry Voigt, right? Harry Voigt Investments. Geneva, Shanghai, Nairobi."

"Very good, Leo. Not that I'm at all surprised at your memory." The Old One listened to the music pounding from the Kit Kat Klub, felt it through his shoes. It had been too long since he had been in the capital. He might keep it the capital of the reunited nation when the time came. From the palace he planned on building, he would look out at the snow-covered mountains…

"How did that encryption problem work out for you?" said Leo.

"Everyone was quite impressed with your solution," said the Old One. "Overwhelmed, actually. I wish you could have been there."

Leo blushed.

"I really hope you'll consider coming to work for me," said the Old One. "I like to think that one of the secrets of my success is my ability to recognize and nurture talent, the best and the brightest. I can guarantee you, Leo, that you will never feel unappreciated were you to work with me. Note, I didn't say work for me. I see us as equals, collaborators, as it were. We're adults, aren't we, you and I?"

Leo's face shone like the full moon. "I guess…yeah."

"Of course we are, and that's the beauty of our friendship: I respect you. You don't mind if I consider you my friend, do you? I hope I'm not being presumptuous."

"No…no, it's nice. Most people…I get on most people's nerves."

"Nonsense." The Old One clapped Leo on the back. "I've heard Hop Singh's has the best noodles in the Zone. Let's get dinner and discuss adequate compensation for your service." The Old One hooked his arm in Leo's, the two of them strolling down the crowded sidewalk. "I'm sure your father is generous, but a man who wants to be married needs his own money."

"That…that's true." Leo sniffed. "So did you actually try out my solution on your encryption yet?"

"Not yet," said the Old One as the crowd parted before them, "but any day now."

Rakkim lay in the bathtub, bubbles up to his chin, listening to the thunder. The light in the small, blue tile bathroom was dim, the water warm, and he half closed his eyes, giving in to the fatigue in his body. Been days since he had slept…He heard the door between his and Baby's adjoining rooms open, started to get up, then sank back under the bubbles, recognizing her footsteps. "Did you get lost?"

Baby stood in the door to the bathroom wearing a long-sleeved shirt, white lace panties peeking out from between the shirttails. Her hair was still damp from her shower. "I was just checking on you."