We went along the hall to their rooms. Both doors were closed. I rapped at each door. 'Charles. Winona. You guys come here.'

Winona 's door quietly opened, and she stepped into the hall. Charles's voice came muffled from behind his. 'Eff you!' He'd been listening, all right.

Teri said, 'Charles, we're going away for a few days. We have to pack.'

'Eff!'

I smiled at Winona. 'Hi, honey.' Mr. Friendly. Mr. Don't-Be-Scared-of-the-Man-Who's-Going-to-Take-You-Away.

'Hi.' She smiled back, but it was uncertain. It was the first time I had seen Winona as anything but bubbling. I guess if my dad had blown in and out without warning I would've been uncertain, too. The little troll key chain was clipped to her belt loop. Guess if you couldn't have Daddy, you might as well have the troll. Maybe, sometimes, the two were one and the same.

I said, 'Teri, why don't you help Winona with her things. I'll talk to Charles.'

Charles yelled, 'I ain't goin'!'

Teri said, 'C'mon, Winona. You help me pack and I'll help you.'

They went into their room, and I tapped at Charles's door. 'C'mon, bud.'

'Eff!'

I tapped again, then opened the door, and when I did he ran over and pushed against it as hard as he could, shouting, 'Eff you! Stay out of here! Eff!' He was red-faced and crying, and I felt like a turd.

I forced the door, Charles on the other side, crying louder and pushing hard, sobbing from the mucus in his throat, thin chest heaving, shouting 'You get outta here!' until I had the door open, and then he ran at me, butting head first into me, punching and spitting and screaming for me to get out and I pulled him close and held him, and after a while all the yelling and crying subsided into a sobbing hack. It was a barren room, holding only a single frame bed and a chest, with none of the posters and toys and things you'd expect to see in the room of a twelve-year-old boy. Maybe Charles didn't think he'd live here long enough to bother. I said, 'It's okay, kid.'

'I hope he never comes back!'

I held him.

'I wish he was dead!'

I held him tighter.

Teri said, 'Charles?' She was standing in the door.

I said, 'We're okay, Teri.'

Charles and I stood for a very long time, and when the sobbing subsided I tried to let go, but by then Charles was holding on to me, arms locked tight around my ribs, face buried in my chest. I could feel the wet soaking through my shirt. 'It's okay, kid.' I said it five or six times. Maybe I said it more.

I let Charles hang on to me for another couple of minutes, and then I told him to pack enough for two nights. I told him that we were going to my place, and that when they were safe I would find his father. Charles turned away without looking at me, wiped his nose on the back of his hand, and packed. He said, 'Eff'm.'

Maybe I would kill Clark if the Russians didn't.

CHAPTER 17

I phoned Joe Pike while they packed. ' Clark 's gone.' I said. 'Again.'

Pike didn't say anything for a moment. 'You're going to move the kids.'

'That's right. I'm going to take them to my place, but I don't want to keep them there overnight. Sautin and Dobcek could show up anytime.'

'Okay.'

'Think you could come up with a safe house?' Pike knew people, and he'd come up with safe places to stay before. Once an abandoned mansion in Bel Air, once an Airstream trailer in the high desert near Edwards Air Force Base. You never knew. Maybe he owned these places and just didn't bother to tell me.

'Let me make some calls. I'll meet you at your place later.'

By the time I was off the phone, Teri and Winona and Charles were ready to go. Guess they didn't have much to pack, or maybe it was because they'd had so much practice.

We locked their house, put their bags behind the seats, and the four of us made the drive up Laurel Canyon, the three of them bunched together in the passenger seat. Teri had offered to drive their car, but I said no. I wasn't worried that she'd have an accident; I was more concerned that when we got wherever we were going she would simply drive away. Charles said, 'I'm all squished up.'

Teri said, 'Live with it.'

I took it slow because no one was wearing a seat belt. Elvis Cole, the not-quite-responsible parent, looking over his shoulder for a load of Russian hit men.

Teri and Charles were quiet, but after a while Winona began to chatter about how much she liked riding in the convertible. The top was down and the wind blew through our hair, and Winona said that it made her feel like she was in a parade. Charles neither glowered nor flipped off anyone, and Teri seemed lost in herself. I guess everyone had their own way of dealing with what was going on.

Pretty soon we left the city behind and wound through the trees, and a little bit after that we turned into the carport. Winona said, 'Is this your house?'

'Yes.'

'It looks like a tepee.'

'It's called an A-frame. It's tall and steep and shaped like the letter.'

Charles slunk out of the car and peered at the trees and natural hillsides. 'Are there bears?'

'No bears. Just a few coyotes and rattlesnakes.'

He glanced at the ground, then made a sour face. 'What's that smell?'

Winona giggled. 'Charles cut the cheese.'

Teri said, 'Don't be rude.'

'It's the eucalyptus trees.' I pointed them out to him. 'The sun splits their bark, and their sap smells like mouthwash.'

They followed me inside through the kitchen to the living room. I told them to put their bags on the stairs, and I opened the drapes and the big glass doors to let the breeze in from the deck, then checked my answering machine. Lucy had left a message, asking me to call. Teri said, 'Is that Ms. Chenier?'

'Yep.'

'Aren't you going to call her?'

'As soon as we get squared away. You guys can go out on the deck if you want, but nobody climb on the rail. You can play on the slope, just watch out for the snakes.' Summer camp at the Cole residence. They stood in the door and looked at the deck and the slope, but nobody went outside. The snakes.

'There's soft drinks and milk and water in the fridge. You can help yourself. After we get settled, I'll make dinner.'

Teri said, 'You don't have to cook for us.' She hadn't come to the deck. She was standing in the living room by the stairs with her arms crossed.

'Of course I do. But you can help if you like. Is meatloaf okay?'

The three of them shrugged at each other, and Teri said, 'That would be nice. Thank you.'

Charles eyed the loft. 'What's up there?'

'That's my loft. Come on. I'll show you.'

I showed them the downstairs bathroom, then took them up. Charles and Winona wandered through the loft, but Teri went to the rail and looked down into the house. From the rail you can see the living room and the dining area and through the glass out to the canyon. She looked at the big glass triangle of my back wall, then up at the high pointed ceiling. She looked at my bed, and the built-in dresser, and then down at the living room again. 'Do you live here alone?'

'Yes. Except for my cat.'

She let her touch drift along the rail, and then she looked around the room again. 'It's nice.'

'Thank you.' I thought of my house as ordinary, but I realized then that it was probably a different world to her. Life for them had been a series of temporary furnished rentals, other people's homes and other people's furniture, just a place to stay until their father decided it was time to leave, no more permanent than a daily newspaper.

I showed them the upstairs bath, and then we went downstairs. When we got down again, Joe Pike was standing silently in the entry. Just standing there.

Charles yelped in surprise and shouted, 'Jeezis, you scared me!'