Dawn Patrol

122

“Do you have her now?” Boone asks.

Thinking, you're a total fucking idiot, Daniels. You read both these people so wrong, it's pathetic. You're not looking at a dumb, dishonest stripper and a pervert plastic surgeon. You're looking at two heroes. And the late Angela Hart was a third.

Tammy drops her face into her hands and starts to cry.

Teddy says, “No, they said if everything went well, they'd call late tonight or early tomorrow morning and turn Luce over to us. The deal is that Tammy takes Luce and never comes back.”

Dan gets away with having Angela killed, but what's more important? Justice, or a girl's life? If we could talk to Angela, she'd tell us to make that trade. We can't save them all-hell, we can't save most of them. But we can save one. One girl gets a life.

What's the life of one little girl worth? Boone asks himself.

Alot.

Everything.

“I can call John Kodani,” Boone says. “He'll understand. He'll-”

“No cops,” Tammy says through splayed fingers.

“Silver said that if he as much as smells the police,” Teddy says, “he'll kill Luce.”

He'll kill the three of you anyway, Boone thinks. A man that evil won't keep his word, not to you, not even to Red Eddie. A man who sinks that far into darkness fears nothing, no one, not even God or eternity.

Tammy lifts her head and looks right at Boone. Her emerald eyes are wet with tears, swollen, and rimmed with red. She's been crying a lot since Boone last saw her. What I've seen. “I'm begging you,” she says. “I'm begging you. Leave it alone. Let the girl have a shot at a life.”

“He's going to kill you.”

“I'll take the chance,” Tammy says.

Boone says, “I'll go with you.”

“No,” Tammy says. “He said just me. Not even Teddy.”

“He's setting you up, Tammy.”

She shrugs. Then says, “Promise me.”

“Promise you what?” Boone asks.

“Promise me you won't call the police,” she says. “Promise me you won't interfere.”

“Okay.”

“Promise.”

“I promise.”

Boone starts to leave. He stops at the door, looks back, and says, “I'm sorry. For what I thought about you both. I was wrong and I'm sorry.”

Teddy lifts the martini glass and smiles.

Tammy nods.

Boone looks back through the window at them as he walks to the car. Teddy stands behind the chair with his hands on Tammy's shoulders. They look like worried parents in a hospital waiting room.

Below the house, the ocean smashes against the bluffs in a fit of rage.