He wore a silk scarf tucked into his shirt collar, no doubt to conceal the scar that encircled his throat.
“I appreciate it, Mr. Secretary,” I responded. “But you didn’t have to.”
“It was the least I could do, and please call me Eli,” he said. “I owe you my life. If that doesn’t put us on first-name terms, I don’t know what will.”
“You don’t owe me anything, sir,” I began, but I registered Carver’s raised eyebrow, “Eli, I mean,” I continued without skipping a beat, “I did what anyone in my situation would have done.”
“Well, let’s just agree to disagree about that,” Carver said with a smile. “If there’s ever anything you need, you call me.” He handed me a card. “My cell number and my private line.”
“I appreciate it, Eli,” I replied.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Washington. We’re still dealing with the fallout from this thing,” he said, moving toward the convoy of town cars.
“You take care, Mr. Secretary... Eli,” I corrected myself.
I joined Mo-bot, Sci and the others as Secretary Carver and his detail got in their cars and drove away.
“Thanks for everything,” I said to Jessie and Rafael.
“Just doing our jobs,” the lawyer replied.
“We’ve got our weekly call next Wednesday,” Jessie reminded me.
I smiled, grateful for a return to the mundane. “I look forward to it,” I said.
“Have a safe trip,” Rafael responded.
He walked toward the red Nissan, and Jessie took the black one Justine and I had arrived in.
“Shall we?” Mo-bot asked, gesturing at the airstairs.
“After you,” I said, and she and Sci headed into the aircraft.
I took Justine’s arm, and gently pulled her toward me.
“I owe you an answer,” I said, when Mo-bot and Sci had climbed aboard. “I’m not a fan of confusion, but I am a fan of forgiveness. If I’ve treated you badly in the past, I apologize and I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“Jack,” she began, but I hadn’t finished.
“I hope we can start fresh.”
“I’d like that,” she replied.
She hesitated.
“We never got a chance to finish our drink,” she said.
“No, we didn’t,” I remarked as we walked toward the jet. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”
She replied with a smile that brightened my day, and we boarded the aircraft that would take us back to Los Angeles.
We were heading home.
Acknowledgments
We’d like to thank our editor, John Sugar, and the team at Cornerstone for their wonderful work on this book. We’d also like to thank you, the reader, for coming on this adventure. We hope you’ll join us for the next one.
Adam would like to thank his wife, Amy, and children Maya, Elliot and Thomas for their support, and his agent, Hannah Sheppard, for her sound advice.