The room seemed very quiet, just the sound of two men working to two very different ends.
I folded the edge of the rag over into itself, then folded it again, and then used it to protect my fingers as I fitted the plate back into position over the thermostat. Then I folded it a final time and tucked it carefully back into my pocket. The buttons glistened slightly from the WD-40, but against their own almost-white, the powder was nearly impossible to see.
I cleared my throat, and when he didn't respond, said, "Pardon me, sir?"
He straightened in his seat, half turning. "Yes?"
"I've done everything I can, but I don't have the parts I need with me. I'm going to have to go back downstairs to get them."
"I see."
"If I can bother you for a moment to come over here, I'd like to show you the reset, though. That way, if it starts working, you'll be able to get it set how you like without me needing to come back up here."
Even from across the room, I heard his sigh. Then he capped his pen and pushed back his chair, got to his feet, and started over towards me. I turned away, to face the thermostat.
"All right, go ahead," he said.
I indicated the two buttons on the faceplate. "Once it's in reset, you need to reinitialize it. The way you do that is by holding these two buttons down together for about five seconds. You do that, you should hear a click. You want to try it, you should be able to hear it now. Won't do anything, but you'll know what I'm talking about."
"Both of the buttons at once, like this?" He pushed his index and middle finger of his left hand against the buttons, depressing them firmly.
"Just like that, now you hold it."
He held them down for several seconds, then released, saying, "I didn't hear anything."
"I'm sorry, sir, are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Sometimes it doesn't work first time."
He shook his head slightly, finding me tiresome, and again depressed the buttons with his index and middle fingers. He held them longer this time, and I could see the circulation in his fingertips diminishing from the pressure he was applying. After almost ten seconds, he released.
"Nothing." He looked at his fingers, searched for a place to wipe them, then gave up. "Don't you clean your work surface after you're done with it? It's covered with oil."
I pulled the rag again, still folded, and used it to wipe the faceplate down, saying, "Sorry about that. I forget sometimes."
"I didn't hear anything that time, either."
"Must be something in the power source, then, like I was afraid of." I replaced the rag in the same pocket as before. "I'll see if I can't find a replacement, bring a whole new unit up here."
"If you could. It's getting stuffy in here."
"Shouldn't take me too long, sir."
I turned to face him, and Jason Earle was looking at me, and our eyes met.
I thought about everything I wanted to say to him. How I wanted to tell him that he was a dead man and he didn't know it yet and that I had killed him. I wanted to tell him why I had done what I had done to him. I wanted to tell him that Elliot Trent had taken my bullets with a smile all in the hope of this moment. I wanted to tell him that he had taken my best friend from the world, and that I didn't care who the hell he was or thought he was, she hadn't been his to take. That he shouldn't have done it, he should have let it all go, because I would have been happy to do the same. I wanted to tell him that I almost had, but that, like Elliot Trent, I had someone who was precious to me, even more than Natalie had been, and he had threatened her, too, and that I wouldn't-I couldn't-let that stand.
I wanted to tell him that there were some things that had to be answered, and that I knew one day I would have to answer for this.
All the things I wanted to say to him.
I didn't say any of them.
Because Jason Earle looked me in the eyes, and he didn't know who I was.
He had no idea who I was.
"Sorry to have disturbed your work, sir," I said, and I closed my toolbox, and I walked out of the suite.
I didn't look back.
CHAPTER
An ambulance crew was rushing through the lobby when I came out of the elevator, and I had to sidestep them as they rolled their gurney into my car before I was even all of the way out. I'd changed back into my earlier clothes, replaced the toolbox and radio where I'd found them, stuffed the coveralls into the duffel I had in my hand. I rubbernecked until the elevator doors slid closed, then turned to find Panno waiting for me. We headed out together, into the warmth of the evening.
"She called three minutes ago," Panno told me. "She says she'll meet you at the Jefferson Memorial."
"No trouble?"
"None. You?"
"He didn't know who I was. I think, even if I looked exactly as I did four years ago, he still wouldn't have known."
"You're probably right," Panno said. "C'mon, I'll give you a lift."
She was exactly where she said she would be, and Panno walked with me to where Alena stood waiting, watching the last of the daylight reflecting off the river. There were cherry blossoms still in the trees, and the air was heavy with the scent, and she turned when she heard us approaching, watching as we came closer.
"You did it?"
"It was on the radio on the way over," I told her. "It's done."
"So are we," Panno said. "The IDs you're carrying will work another two days, should be long enough to get you both wherever it is you're going. After that, they'll be useless. Danielle and Christopher Morse will be discovered, dead, before the end of the week, and when that happens, Interpol will update their entries on Drama and Patriot to reflect the same thing."
"Thank you," I said, still looking at Alena.
"It's what you wanted? That's what you wanted in return?" Panno asked.
"I want one more thing," I said.
"What's that?"
"I want to go home," I said, and I took Alena's hand in mine, and together, we walked to the car, to begin the long trip back to Kobuleti.