Without remorse - Tom Clancy [223]
'Nothing illegal, I promise,' was the best he could do.
'You're sure?' A very awkward moment developed out of thin air. Kelly just stood there, right inside the door, suddenly oscillating between anger and guilt, wondering why he'd come here, why he'd asked Admiral Maxwell for a very special favor, and not really knowing the answer now.
'John!' Sarah called down the stairs, saving both from their thoughts.
'Hey, doc,' Kelly called, and both were glad for the distraction. '
'Have we got a surprise for you!'
'What?'
Dr Rosen came down the stairs, looking as frumpy as ever despite her smile. 'You look different.'
'I've been exercising pretty regularly,' Kelly explained.
'What brings you here?' Sarah asked.
'I'm going to be going somewhere, and I wanted to stop over before I left.'
'Where to?'
'I can't say,' The answer chilled the room.
'John,' Sandy said. 'We know.'
'Okay.' Kelly nodded. 'I figured you would. How is she?'
'She's doing fine, thanks to you,' Sarah answered.
'John, we need to talk, okay?' Sandy insisted. Dr Rosen bent to her wishes and went back upstairs while nurse and former patient drifted into the kitchen.
'John, what exactly have you been doing?'
'Lately? I can't say, Sandy. I'm sorry, but I can't.'
'I mean -I mean everything. What have you been up to?'
'You're better off not knowing, Sandy.'
'Billy and Rick?' Nurse O'Toole said, putting it on the table.
Kelly motioned his head to the second floor. 'You've seen what they did to her? They won't be doing that anymore.'
'John, you can't do things like that! The police -'
' - are infiltrated,' Kelly told her. 'The organization has compromised somebody, probably someone very high up. Because of that I can't trust the police, and neither can you, Sandy,' he concluded as reasonably as he could.
'But there are others, John. There are others who -' His statement finally penetrated. 'How do you know that?'
'I asked Billy some questions.' Kelly paused, and her face gave him yet more guilt. 'Sandy, do you really think somebody is going to go out of his way to investigate the death of a prostitute? That's what it is to them. Do you think anybody really cared about them? I asked you before, remember? You said that nobody even has a program to help them. You care. That's why I brought her here. But do the cops? No. Maybe I could scratch up information to burn the drug ring. I'm not sure, it's not what I've been trained for, but that's what I've been doing. If you want to turn me in, well, I can't stop you. I won't hurt you -'
'I know that!' Sandy almost screamed. 'John, you can't do this,' she added more calmly.
'Why not?' Kelly asked. 'They kill people. They do horrible things, and nobody's doing anything about it. What about the victims. Sandy? Who speaks for them?'
"The law does!'
'And when the law doesn't work, then what? Do we just let them die? Die like that? Remember the picture of Pam?'
'Yes,' Sandy replied, losing the argument, knowing it, wishing it were otherwise.
'They took hours on her, Sandy. Your - houseguest - watched. They made her watch.'
'She told me. She's told us everything. She and Pam were friends. After,- after Pam died, she's the one who brushed Pam's hair out, John.'
The reaction surprised her. It was immediately clear that Kelly's pain was behind a door, and some words could bring it out in the open with a sudden speed that punished him badly. He turned away for a moment and took a deep breath before turning back. 'She's okay?'
'We're going to take her home in a few days. Sarah and I will drive her there.'
'Thanks for telling me that. Thank you for taking care other.'
It was the dichotomy that unsettled her so badly. He could talk about inflicting death on people so calmly, like Sam Rosen in a discussion of a tricky surgical procedure - and like the surgeon, Kelly cared about the people he - saved? Avenged? Was that the same thing? He thought so.
'Sandy, it's like this: They killed Pam. They raped and tortured and killed her - as an example, so they could use other girls the same way.