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When Savich walked back into the living room a few minutes later, he said, “All done. Everything’s fine now. We’ve got a lot of relieved people out there. Now, you guys got a good babysitter?”

They both stared at him. Janet nodded. “Well, yes, my mom. She lives in Rockville. She loves having the girls. When Martin had the second breakdown, I made an excuse and they stayed with her for three days.”

“Good. Both of you are coming with me now, back to Washington. We’ll drop the girls off at your mom’s. You’ll be staying tonight at the Jefferson Dormitory at Quantico. You’ll be safe there, Martin. If something pops again in your brain, there’ll be people there to control things.

“Where do you work, Martin?”

“I work in the IT section at the Giant corporate office.”

“Really? I have some interest in computers myself. Maybe we can talk about that later. Anyway, we can call your boss and get you some leave.

“After what’s happened here, I’ll have to take you into my own custody. We’ll call it a temporary commitment. That should keep Chief Gerber from filing any charges.

“Tomorrow morning, you’re going to meet Dr. Emanuel Hicks. I’d like him to try to hypnotize you, see if we can learn anything more about what happened to you when you were six years old. And he’ll be recommending a psychiatrist to you who’ll know all the facts. Sound okay?”

“It sounds like a miracle,” Janet said.

Martin searched Savich’s face, and slowly nodded. “Yes, it sounds okay to me, too.”

Janet looked at Savich, held his eyes, and said simply, “Thank you so much for coming into our lives, Dillon. I’ll go get us and the girls packed and call my mom.”

Savich said, “Maybe the one to thank is Samantha Barrister. Yeah, I know how strange it all sounds, and maybe I dreamed some of it. But I’ll tell you guys, she was as real to me as it gets. I’ll tell you more about it after we get to Quantico.

“Right now, I’m going to bring in my wife—she’s the one who found you, Martin—and Detective Raven and Ms. Markham. They’ll help get us on the road. The thing is, I’m heading up the investigation of Justice Stewart Califano’s murder, and I’ve got to get back to Washington.”

They both stared at him. Janet walked over to him and hugged him. “Bring on your wife. I can’t wait to meet her.”

CHAPTER

31

GEORGETOWN WASHINGTON, D.C.

SATURDAY NIGHT

IT HAPPENED SO fast that Sean, playing with Legos on the floor, didn’t have time to react. Fleurette was sitting on the sofa, laughing at something Callie had said, when suddenly, one of the front windows shattered and a bullet slammed into the wall not six inches above Fleurette’s head.

Savich was just coming through the kitchen door, carrying tea and coffee on a tray. “Everyone down! Sherlock, get Sean!” He dropped the tray, ran to Fleurette, and dragged her off the sofa. He fell on top of her, drawing his gun at the same time. He looked toward the shattered glass in the front window. Close, too close. He said, “Nobody move. Sherlock, you’ve got Sean. Ben, yeah, kill the lights, then pull all the drapes, call 911.”

“Got it.”

“Callie, get your nose pressed into the floor.”

Callie was already down, in front of the sofa, not moving.

Sherlock had Sean beneath her. He was howling under her, but she didn’t let him up, kept pressing him into the carpet, covering all of him. Ben crawled to the switch, went up on his knees, and punched off both light switches. There was still light arrowing in from the kitchen. He was crawling to the front windows to pull the heavy drapes when another shot rang out, shattering what was left of the front glass window, hitting low, then another and another.

Finally it was silent, except for the breathing in the living room. Savich said, “Everyone okay?”

Sean’s yell was muffled from beneath his mother, “Daddy!”

“Sean is, but he sounds pissed,” Ben said, and punched 911. They heard him give fast, terse instructions.

“They’ll be here soon. Savich?”

“I’m dialing my boss right now.” Jimmy Maitland answered on the first ring. Then another