Icarus

TWENTY-TWO

That's funny," Jack said. And when Kid looked at him curiously, Jack asked, "What time is it?"

"A couple of minutes after nine. Damn, I gotta get going. I got a session at Hanson's."

"What's Hanson's?"

"A gym down in SoHo. I train people there sometimes. Good facility." He swept his hand over Jack's home gym. "Not everyone's got the setup you've got here, you know."

"I'm worried. It's not like Mattie to be late."

"Maybe she's sick."

"She'd call."

Kid shrugged. "Traffic, maybe."

At ten, really worried now, Jack pulled out his Palm Pilot and used the stylus to click on the name Mattie Strickland. He dialed the number on his cordless phone and when a woman's voice answered, he said, "Mattie?"

The woman on the other end of the phone was crying and he couldn't understand what she was saying.

"Is Mattie there? This is Jack Keller. She was supposed to be…"

And now the woman started crying even harder. "Oh, Mr. Keller," the woman said. "Mattie was always goin on with the nicest things about you…"

"What's going on?" Jack said. "Is her husband there? Could I speak to him?"

"He's here," the woman answered, still sobbing. "But he can't come to the phone. He can't talk now. I'm their neighbor," she said. "I'm not talkin' too good myself but I'm answerin' the phone for a while. Until the children can get here."

"Please tell me what's going on. Is Mattie okay?"

"Mattie's dead. Killed," the woman cried. "Mugged right on her way to work. They took the money in her purse and killed her…"

The woman went on, giving as many details as she could, but Jack barely heard another word. He was only vaguely aware of saying good-bye, saying that he'd be in touch and would do whatever he could to help. And when he hung up, dizzy from the news about the woman who'd been so kind to him and had cared for him for so long, the only thing he could think about was how many dangerous people there were out there in the world, how many Slashes desperate to take whatever they needed.

Whatever they wanted.