“I’m going to swear it was me, and only me. If your superiors believe me, that’s two false arrests on your record,” I caroled.
Harley twisted the knife another turn. “I write educational games for kids. A false arrest would damage my career. I could sue for gazillions.”
Court nodded. “I’m a money trail consultant. A false arrest, and my career dies, too.” He smiled, and a wolf would know to run away from that smile. “I’ve been a money trail consultant in high places for years. Many of our friends are lawyers. Good ones. Rich ones.”
I buffed my nails on my collar and gave the official, now sweating slightly, as close to a piranha smile as my younger features could produce. “I part time in installing office software. Legal’s one of my specialties. If you don’t happen to know any good lawyers, Harley, don’t worry. We do.”
The official paled. “You’re all three in it,” she repeated weakly.
Court took a step toward her. “I swore it was me and only me, but what happened was, they screwed her conditioning up. She came back here herself, because she couldn’t help herself.”
I frowned. Court had come and gotten me. But, I remembered, he had used a false name. Was he properly covered? Then I relaxed. Court, making a mistake in something that involved computer gimmicking? Never! The records showed I had come back, most voluntarily, by myself.
The official looked at me, lips trembling. “Lady?”
“I’m sorry. That’s exactly it. I couldn’t help myself.” And was that ever the truth.
Desperate, pointing, to Harley: “He said he helped you!”
Harley shrugged. “You were going to take both of them, and throw the kids to social services. What else could I do?”
“Argh!” She threw the badge/tester on the floor and stamped on it.
“I think,” I said softly, “if I’m arrested, I’ll start my suit with the people who conditioned me.” To the officiaclass="underline" “But I’ll include you and your superiors, don’t worry we’ll leave you out.”
She was almost crying. “Did your conditioning really fail?”
I said, with every ounce of sincerity I could muster. “I couldn’t stay away from Court. I love him. I love my children. You can arrest me, but you can’t touch him. If you do, if you have our children taken away, your career will be dead. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”
Her lip stuck out. “If it really was a failure of conditioning…”
“I’m sorry. I see you’re ambitious. You can arrest me, but I doubt much will come of it. If you add either Court or Harley, you’ll regret it.”
She sighed, then knelt down and picked up the little badge/tester. Looked at it. Decided. “I wiped tonight off when I stomped on it. The nerds will have to reprogram it tomorrow.” Another sigh. “Good-hearted of you, lady, to come care for a stranger’s children.” To Harley, “Go back and play with the kids, friend of the family. Their dad isn’t going anywhere, either, even if he’s the slickest talking con man I ever ran into.” A glare. “But you three better walk the straight and narrow from now on. I’ll be watching.” Then she about faced and stalked out of the room. In seconds, we could hear the outside door slam behind her.
“Whew!” Harley sat on the floor abruptly, let his head sag. Court leaned against a wall, head thrown back, eyes shut. I sagged against the small table I had been working at, shuddering helplessly.
“Daddy?” Lizzie still sounded scared spitless. “Daddy, what happened?”
He came away from the wall to gather her in. “It’s OK, muffin. Something terrible almost happened, but it didn’t and it won’t.”
Lizzie glared at me. “She did something.”
“No, muffin. If she hadn’t been the bravest woman in the world, they would have taken me away.” He tilted her head up. “Do you understand? If not for Mary just now, I’d be gone. Forever.”
She stuck her lip out, glared at me. But it wasn’t quite the whole hearted hate glare she had produced up to this evening. So maybe there would be that at least. Lizzie had taken the first step toward accepting me.
That night I discovered another good result. Adrenaline is a funny thing. When the chemicals are raging through the body, even a rational being like Court can be helpless. He didn’t give me a peck on the forehead for goodnight, and he didn’t stop with a kiss.
For the first time since I had come home, I went to sleep happily sated. It had been a long time for him, too.
I planned my last rendezvous with the care of any woman cheating on her husband, even though there was nothing sexual involved. If Court ever found out… I didn’t even want to think about it.
Chris was about five minutes late, but she’d been late before, and I only sipped my scotch on the rocks and waited patiently.
She slipped into the chair opposite me, picked up the dry white wine I’d ordered for her, and took a grateful, hearty gulp. “God, I needed that.” I grinned. She still looked like an anonymous sales type. Or a gov desk jockey. Even an FBI agent.
“Rough day,” I commiserated.
“Yuck.” She made a face, staring into the glass. “Bureaucrats.”
“You’re a bureaucrat,” I pointed out. Today she was wearing a blue powersuit with silver trim.
“Don’t remind me.” She took a slow sip. “For the next hour, I’m a human being. No more and no less.”
“Aren’t we all?” I muttered.
“Some of us,” she said, with a sly hazel wink over the glass, “are more human than others.”
“Watch your tongue, girlo. Or I won’t tell you the good news. This is going to be our last meeting.”
“What!”
“They’ve speeded him up. Release next week, instead of in another month. Nothing else changed, he just seemed to be doing well, both medically and psychologically.”
“Oh, god!” She froze. Even her neat brown page boy hair seemed to be holding its breath. “You sure?”
“I trained under the best in ferreting through the nets. Can you move forward, or will you have to stick to the original schedule?”
“Yippee!” She threw up her arms, and the guy at the next table sputtered as he got showered with cold wine. “I’m sorry.” She jumped up and gave him a hug, which made him sputter even more. “I’m sorry, but I’m just so happy!”
He gave her a dirty look, then had to smile. “Good luck, lady. I envy him, whoever he is.”
“My husband to be.” She planted a kiss on his ear, and danced back to her seat.
I rolled my gaze skyward, and let her calm down. Then, during our meal, we discussed nitty gritty. Travel arrangements. Cover up. New Identity. As I said, I trained under the best.
During dessert I told her, honestly, “I wish we could see each other again. I owe you so much.”
“You owe me?” A spoonful of ripe cantaloupe trembled inches from her mouth. “You found Frank for me.”
“To help myself. So you’d have a reason to do what I wanted, fool my husband. You sure you won’t have problems? Frank’ll look completely different.”
Total scorn. “I know that. I’m ready. I know about your husband, he had trouble seeing it was still you inside the new body. But I won’t. He’s Frank where it counts. And we have his frozen sperm, so when we opt for kids, we’ll be able to have his. Even if his real body is—” Tears dribbled out of her hazel eyes.
“Don’t think it. Frank, your Frank, is still alive. He’ll feel the same about you as he always did. You’ll have to prove to him that it makes no difference to you what he looks like. Think of it as an accident. If he’d been in a auto wreck, and had to have surgery, he’d still be Frank.”