When the Wind Blows - James Patterson [105]
Max winged past him. She disappeared amid the maple and fir trees and thick brush. She was safe. She didn’t get shot. She screamed Yessss, yessss!
She was flying again, remembering how much she loved this.
Just let me fly for sixty more seconds, she made a wish.
Just let me fly one more time.
Chapter 112
I WOKE with my face inches from Kit’s, and I liked being there, close to him like this. I was pressed against his body, holding him tightly. Strange, but it was the first morning in a long time that I hadn’t come awake in the middle of a terrifying nightmare.
But of course, I really had.
He was awake. Kit was looking at me. His blue eyes were more dazzling than ever up close. How unexpectedly sensitive and sweet he had turned out to be. How easy to be with. I’ll bet you were a really, really good father.
“Hi,” I whispered, and smiled, and felt warm and fuzzy for the first time in ages.
“Hi, back at you. I guess it wasn’t a dream that we made wild and passionate love last night.”
Suddenly everything seemed so simple and right and the irony of it just killed me. Kit and I were falling in love, or maybe we had already fallen. Our situation couldn’t have been any worse. Our chances of surviving were nonexistent. We were witnesses. We had seen the atrocities committed at the School.
There was a light tapping at the door. We looked at each other. Was this it? Had they come for us? Thomas and his band of goons.
Kit and I exchanged looks again. We heard a key slowly sliding into the lock, metal against metal. We climbed out of bed and hurried into some clothes.
The door opened, and I couldn’t believe who it was.
“Hello, Aunt Frannie. It’s me, Michael. I came to rescue you.”
Chapter 113
THERE WAS SOMEONE ELSE THERE, too. A man in a blue summer suit stepped into the room right behind Michael. He had a semiautomatic in his hand and the gun was aimed at Kit. Inexplicably, he smiled.
“I came to rescue you, too,” he said. His voice was soft. Very quiet. It really made you pay attention.
“Who are you?” I asked. I’d never seen him before. I was pretty sure he wasn’t from Boulder Community Hospital. I didn’t think he was one of the guards either.
Kit spoke up. “His name is Peter Stricker. He was my boss at the FBI, the regional head. Peter ordered me off this investigation, said it was going nowhere. He threatened to fire me when I wouldn’t give up the case. And now, here he is. Hello, Peter. I see the case finally has your attention.”
Stricker was tall and well muscled; he had slicked-back, light blond hair. He was a smug-looking yuppie, if ever there was one, with an easy, well-oiled smile.
“Who can you trust these days?” Stricker said in his whispery voice. “Nobody, I guess. Not your closest friends. Not even some of your old buds at the FBI.”
“Does that mean there are still some people I can trust at the Bureau?” Kit asked.
“Oh sure. A few dinosaurs here and there. The Director happens to be one of them. Actually, only a couple of us are lucky enough to be involved in this. Plus a few very trusted stalwarts from the army. Everybody who found out about this wanted a piece of it. It’s the American Way. You were right, though. This is big stuff. The biggest I’ve ever seen.”
“Does this mean the U.S. government is involved?” I asked.
“No, let’s not get carried away. No need for too many paranoid fantasies or conspiracy theories. Certain people in the government are aware of what’s going on here in Colorado, and before that in San Francisco and Boston. We’re involved as private citizens only. There are only about fifty of us and we have a great deal at stake. There was a little insurrection among a few of the doctors, attacks of conscience, but we’re past that now. We eliminated the problem.”
“You’re greasing the way for progress, and being paid for your efforts?” Kit said. “That is the American Way.”
“Very well paid. But don’t forget, our work is important. I stopped you from interfering, didn’t I? Did my part for the Cause. I happen to believe in it, by the way. I think Dr. Peyser’s work is critical