“If you feel in any way that you can’t handle this, tell me now. Because there’s a good chance that the next time my phone rings, you’ll have an appointment with Dr. Lewis.”

  “No,” J.J. said emphatically. “I know I can do it. Notre Dame may be a Jesuit school, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of guys with over-zealous hands on campus. I’ve learned how to stop things from happening.”

  “Except that in this case, ‘things happening’ are what we need to prove the guy is what Darlene concluded he was. Now listen carefully, because I’m not going to talk about this with your father yet. I’m hoping that even though Lewis and Conrad aren’t necessarily in direct contact, I can get to the bastard through him. It will be a little tricky, as I don’t know everyone Conrad has working for him at this point. I don’t know who the liaison is.”

  “Tricky,” J.J. repeated. “Yes, that sounds like the right word.”

  Nicole smiled. “I said a little tricky. That’s not the same as tricky.” She paused. “You don’t have to do this, J.J., but if you do, I believe you’ll do it perfectly.” She watched as her daughter scrunched up her face in a way that reminded her of J.J.’s reaction the first time she saw a caterpillar. Enchanted and revolted at the same time.

  “Sometimes I’m right with you, Mother, and sometimes you fly above my head.”

  “Hmm. I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I just meant that I believed in you and even though this is, as your father has explained in at least six different ways, something far too dangerous for me to ask you to do.”

  “So… let’s say you didn’t ask. Let’s say it was all my idea.”

  “And who are we saying this to?”

  J.J. shrugged her shoulders playfully. “That’s not the point, Mom. Listen, I give you and Dad a lot of crap and call you weird and all that, you know?”

  “I am familiar,” Nicole replied, neutral-sounding, she hoped.

  “Well, the truth is I love you both very much. And I have already seen what you’re willing to do to protect me. I guess… I guess I have something inside of me that says I’m the same way. Anyone who tries to hurt you… or anyone who already has, is going to have to deal with me.”

  “I love you too, Little Bug.”

  “Shit. That’s even older than ‘J.J. Porter, cub reporter!’ You haven’t called me that in a long time. Not since…”

  “Not since before you started saying ‘shit’ in front of me.”

  They both laughed quietly.

  “And listen,” J.J. said, “all that stuff I said doesn’t alter the fact that you two are weird.”

  16

  Confirming Your Appointment With…

  Later that morning, after Nicole and J.J. had gone back inside their room, wanting to get back out of sight, as it was nearing the time the area’s few residents and any other interested parties might begin to take notice, Cole’s phone rang, and when the call concluded, J.J. did, indeed, have a doctor’s appointment.

  Earlier, Nicole had been sensitive to Dan’s opposition to her idea. That was why she’d turned on baseball and stepped outside.

  But now the time for gently tiptoeing through the Land of Fragile Feelings was over. Still, she tried not to make it an assault. She didn’t attack Dan’s reticence; she just went about the task at hand… as if there was no contrariety at all.

  For several hours, Nicole poured into her daughter every bit of relevant knowledge that she could wrangle. This was not the first time she had to train somebody quickly, and she knew that with a capable trainee and a delicate balance of the intelligence needed for the task and the awareness that someone with absolutely no trade experience could only hope to absorb so much, she could get that someone ready, hopefully for anything, and do it fast.

  Yes, Nicole was familiar with intense training. But J.J. was not. Time after time, Nicole expected her to become overwhelmed, crushed under a data overload. It should have happened. Perhaps her daughter was too strong to be defeated by the training, but some sort of crack in the dam was bound to appear.

  Yet it didn’t. J.J. seemed to be consuming the information… no, that wasn’t quite accurate. She was devouring every word, every tactic, every concept. She memorized a floor plan of the office in which she’d be seen. She learned the best way to get away from the building and back to a predetermined meeting point. And then she learned an alternate, in case the best route fell to shit. Interspersed in the hard data was some softer information… more of the philosophy of CUC, a few case studies (these, for the most part, were by request, as J.J. would often ask her questions about past assignments) … all in all, more information than Nicole had ever attempted to impart, certainly more than she would expect the trainee to retain.

  But she never faltered. She asked intelligent questions. She made insightful suggestions.

  Eventually, however, Nicole decided she’d told J.J. as much as she could, not just as much as she could hope her daughter would remember. The resulting lull was the moment for which Dan had been waiting.

  For the entire time the women had been working, he’d sat silently, watching baseball news and pretending not to hear what was being discussed. But now he stood.

  “I’d like the floor for a moment or two, if possible?”

  Nicole was pleasantly taken aback by the apparent restraint he was managing. She didn’t expect it to last. But she encouraged him to speak with a nod of her head, hoping she wouldn’t regret it.

  “Thank you. First of all, I’d like to commend you. Your play of ‘I do not recognize your opposing opinion, therefore I shall proceed as if it did not exist’ was magnificent.”

  J.J. was aware that her mom had just agreed to let him talk, but she was still in data-sponge mode, and she said to her father, “I was under the impression you’ve only worked with Mom the one other time. Yet you seem to have a pretty well-tuned awareness of her methods.”

  Dan had to smile. “That trick predates Cleanup Crew,” he said. “That’s just one of the ways your mom has handled me over the years. And you, darling daughter, are not going to prevent me from speaking my mind by appearing to be interested in hearing my stories of intrigue and action.”

  Nicole leaned toward J.J. as if she was going to whisper something to her, then spoke at a conversational level, clearing intending for Dan to hear her. “He’s onto us. You see? He’s actually very good at the mental part of the gig.”

  “I deeply regret ever having said that.”

  “Can I take that as an apology?” Dan asked, only half-kidding.

  “No, you can take it as I’m tired of being reminded of my mistake. Dad is an analytical genius.”

  Continuing to mime whispering while speaking normally, Nicole said, “Remind me sometime when we’re just shooting the breeze to give you my theories on the nature of genius.”

  J.J. demonstrated that she’d inherited the Southern Scoff gene. “Yeah, okay, Mom. Let me put a reminder in my phone. ‘Ask Mom to talk about genius… the next time you can’t sleep.’”

  “Smart. Ass,” Nicole said. The women shared a chuckle, but in the middle of it, they heard Dan deliver a Broadway-caliber stage throat clearing. Nicole turned to him. “I’m sorry, love, for the interruption. Please start again. Well, you don’t have to do the part about being onto my and J.J.’s manipulative ways.”

  “That’s the only part I’ve done so far!” Dan said, his irritation becoming evident to an almost comical degree. Nicole pushed a mental button on a mental stopwatch. She knew Dan couldn’t remain Buddha-like indefinitely.

  “Then, please, move on to the next part.”

  “The next part is I am still one billion percent against this insane scheme.”

  “Daddy, the concept of ‘one billion percent’ is non-tenable…” J.J. began, but her father quickly held up a finger to stop her.

  “Nope, Jayj. I’m not going to fall for that twice. Fool me once, shame on me… fool me twice, won’t get fooled again.”

  Nicole choked back a spasmodic laugh. She was desperately trying to allow Dan to speak his peace, but she couldn’t let that pass. “Um, was that Dubbya?”

  Dan was so pleased that someone caught the reference that he was a little less prickly as he continued.

  “So let me say it this way: I’m as against this nut-job masterpiece as I could possibly be. I am driving a bus-load of my antimatter-like disagreement into a crowd at MatterCon against this.”

  Again, Nicole could not remain silent. “Danny, come back down to earth, baby! We get that you’re against the plan. You don’t have to do… whatever the hell that was with MatterCon and the lightly veiled terrorism reference. Just say what you have to say, Danny. I truly want to hear.”

  Nicole’s sincere tone anchored him. With a deep breath, he resumed, determined to remain under control. “Alright. So we’ll say my feelings have been noted.” He paused and let out a puff of air that was heavy with resignation. “The real problem for me is that I realize that as awful and stupid as this plan is, it may very well be the only one that has a chance of working.”

  Her attempt to hide her surprise failed. Dan chuckled at the brief clash of two emotions on her face before she quickly regained her composure. Both women were fully attentive to what he was saying now.

  “I heard the discussion of the building floorplan. Can you just go over that part for me again?”

  Nicole returned to her tablet and reopened the file that Darlene had emailed her of the official floorplan of the building in which Doctor Nathan Lewis did his consulting visits. She pointed to the supply closet in which she’d be posted, and explained that she’d take that position several hours before the building opened for the day. From there, she had access to the outer part of the office. There were two examination rooms, and there was no way of knowing which he would choose, but Nicole wasn’t concerned, explaining that if J.J. spoke the code phrase, she could kick two doors off the hinges in only a tiny bit more time than it would take to just do one.

  Dan realized that, in all of this discussion, J.J.’s actions were examined and Nicole’s positioning and response plan were clearly explained. But he’d heard nothing about where he was to take up position during the exam. “Um, I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention, because I feel like I missed the part where you tell me what I’m going to be doing.”

  Nicole braced herself. “I just thought it might be best if you stayed here while we did this.”

  Dan was poised to explode, then checked himself at the last moment. He thought his wife might be trying to sway his behavior through some sort of reverse-psychology ploy. So instead, he offered a thought that had just come to him during what he was now almost certain had been hubby-baiting.

  “I’m not going to be able to sit here, knowing what you two are off doing. I’m going to be involved somehow.” Dan snapped his fingers. “I know! I’ll accompany her to the appointment. That will look way more legit than her showing up by herself. You’d expect that if someone came in from out of the area to consult with this guy, the parents of the student/patient would no doubt have made the trip with her.”

  Nicole rubbed her chin and considered what Dan said, letting a quiet “Hmm” escape as she thought it all through.

  “It might be risky if you take her, Cole. We still don’t know if he’s going to be alone there or if there’s a nurse available in case the doc needs one. You said that Cleea recognized you easily. If there is someone helping him, it could be a local. It could be someone who knows you. Besides, you want to be ready in the closet. Can’t do both.”

  That thought had already occurred to Nicole and she was a little miffed, oddly, that he’d realized it as well. Maybe he was better at the mental part than even she realized.

  “Now I’d have to stay in the waiting room, but from the looks of these drawings, I should be able to go from out there to the exam rooms in just a few seconds.”

  Nicole finally weighed in. “Nope. Waiting room is no good. You have to go wait in the car. In fact, you have to announce that you’re going to do that.”

  Dan nearly heated up again but inhaled quietly before saying, “It would take me a lot longer to get from the parking lot than it would from the waiting room.”

  “Obviously, honey. But let me try to explain. There are many vital components to every mission, and most of them are far removed from the assault team. You’re important to our chances of this working. You’re just not on the assault team this time around. If the doctor knows you’re in your car in the parking lot, he may be more likely to try something bold.”

  Dan looked at his wife, then turned to his daughter, and then let out another sigh of surrender. “That makes sense, damn it.”

  “And besides,” J.J. spoke up. “If he tries to make a break for it, he’s probably going to be running right in your direction, Dad.”

  “That’s right!” said Nicole. “You’re going to be our last line of defense. If he somehow gets past me and makes it outside, you’re the only thing between him and freedom.”

  Dan was certain that the two of them were working together on him now, but despite that knowledge, he felt a small swell of anticipated pride at the notion that he might be the one who got to take down the mark. Perhaps appearing to be the most clueless, inept parent in history might pay dividends, as much as it irked him to play the role.

  “Alright, then. Since I’m obviously not going to be able to stop you two from doing this, then I’m in also. I’ll come in, make some small talk, offer my insurance card…”

  Nicole nearly gasped. “No! We don’t have any insurance cards issued to our aliases.” She paused a moment in reflection. “Hmm. I need to remember that, though. It’s not a bad idea…”

  “I don’t have any intention of producing an insurance card. I heard you tell J.J. that whatever witchcraft Darlene used to get the appointment included the visit being prepaid from an account that presented itself as belonging to the bursar of Jackson County Community College, so he’s not going to give two shits about my insurance card. It will just make me look a little dorkier to him, and when I tell J.J. I’ll wait in the car, that will complete the picture. He’ll assume he can do as he pleases.”

  “That sounds solid,” Nicole said, impressed both that he’d remembered the details of the payment arrangements and that he’d fleshed out the character he was to play so completely. “Oh, but of course don’t say ‘J.J.’ Her name is going to be Britney Darrow.”

  “Britney!” Dan snorted, doing an imperfect but enthusiastic impression of the Southern Scoff.

  “What’s wrong with that name? I thought you liked Britney Spears,” J.J. joked.

  Her father, trying to exercise the skill he was developing for settling into unsettling ideas, picked up the joke and ran with it. “Oh, I don’t like Britney. I LOVE Britney, bitches. I could never take the chance of naming you Britney. What if you turned out to be a big disappointment? From that point on, whenever I had an all-day Britney marathon, I know I’d feel a little sad that I named you after her and you let her down so badly.”

  The depth and level of detail Dan had just ad-libbed at the prompting of a silly joke caught his daughter off guard. Her stunned silence provided the dramatic pause Dan needed.

  “Bottom line, darling, is you just aren’t good enough to be named Britney.”

  There was a moment of open-mouthed silence, then Nicole and J.J. burst into laughter. As they continued to guffaw until they had to gasp for air, Dan brought the forefingers and thumbs of both hands together in a pinching motion, saying, “And… scene!”

  J.J. was the first to regain a measure of composure, and she asked, “Do you two always have this much fun when you kill people?”

  The collective mood sobered instantly. Dan felt the proper response to that would have been, “Honey, a brief moment of laughter here and there never diminishes the horror of what we’re doing.” But he opted to pass on the heavy hand.

  Instead, he answered, “Yeah. We have a ball.”

  17

  The Waiting is the Hardest Part

  They spent the remainder of the day resting, talking about unimportant things, and watching television. There were one or two more details that Nicole thought important enough to add to J.J.’s mental textbook, but for the most part, she was content to keep the mood as light as possible.

  And outwardly, it was working like a charm. Not only were they able to share a little more laughter, but Nicole thought to turn on Jeopardy, which, like the ubiquitous Reference Game, was a favorite family activity. While the contestants on the show always maintained their civility, things got pretty raucous when the Porters played along. In the end, it was determined that J.J. was the big winner, as she was the only one, even counting the TV contestants, who knew the Final Jeopardy answer in the category “Islands,” in which an island had to be identified based on the name of some feature of that island. The answer, being “The Cliffs of Mohr,” did not help either parent come up with a question, but J.J. responded loudly, “What is Ireland!”

  “How the hell did you know that, Notre Dame education or no?” Dan asked, playing the role of sore loser.

  “The Cliffs of Mohr was the setting of the climactic scene of a book I read a couple of months ago. You’d probably like it, Mom. Lots of action.”

  “Sounds fun,” Nicole said.

  “If I had my Kindle, I’d loan it to you, but that’s with the rest of my luggage, waiting for me in South Bend.”

  “You’ll be reunited with your luggage soon enough,” Dan said. “And maybe I’d like to read it too.”

  “Doubt it, Dad. There’s no baseball.”

  “Baseball isn’t the only thing I’m interested in!”

 

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