The Blonde

12:52 a.m.

Sheraton, Room 702

Will you stop?”

As she spoke, Kelly had kept inching closer to him, and Jack tried to keep some personal space. It was starting to freak him out.

“What?”

“Look, I swear I won’t walk away. You sit on your end of the couch, and I’ll sit on mine. I’ve had a long fucking day, and it’s only getting longer. I need to process this stuff.”

“Then go, Jack, go. Process away.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. She seemed upset.

Great. He was feeling guilty about a woman who had tried to kill him. No, even better—was still in the process of killing him. The poison was still running through his veins.

Kelly opened her eyes. “Look, forget everything I told you. You can believe me; you can think I’m crazy. You can write a story about this, or you can go off and never think about this again. I ask one thing of you: a night’s sleep. I’m begging you. Just lie next to me in bed until morning; then I’ll give you the antidote and you’ll never have to see me again.”

Jack looked at her. She did look exhausted. Exactly like he felt.

“What if I take the antidote from your bag when you’re sleeping? How do you know I’ll stay?”

“You haven’t tried taking it so far, Jackie boy. You’re not that kind of guy.”

“You’re so sure of that?”

“Besides, it’s a bit tricky. I dosed you with luminous toxin. Nasty stuff if not treated correctly. I need to step-dose you out of it. You find the antidote, by some small miracle, you have to know how to take it.”

“Luminous what?”

“I’m a scientist, Jack. I’ve got access to all kinds of disturbing chemicals.”

“Okay, say I get your bag and take it to a doctor. Tell them what you told me. That you gave me luminous tox—”

“Toxin.”

“Toxin. Right. Luminous toxin. You’re not the only scientist who knows how to deal with that stuff.”

“Whatever you say. But if you try to leave this room while I’m sleeping, at least linger in the hall for a few seconds so you can listen to me die.”

Jack looked at the digital clock next to the bed: 12:54 A.M. He had his appointment to keep in less than eight hours.

“I just need sleep. Please. Let me sleep.”

So did he. And for the first time all evening, Kelly sounded somewhat rational. Maybe she’d calmed down a bit by talking this stuff through. An idea formed in his Jack’s mind. He found himself saying, “Okay.”

Kelly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Instinctively, he turned his face toward her, then caught himself at the last minute. Jesus. For a moment there, he’d thought it was Theresa. He’d almost kissed her on the lips.

But even if Jack hadn’t stopped himself, her recoil would have done the trick. She pushed herself away like he’d given her an electric shock.

“You don’t want to kiss me.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

The thought was the furthest thing from his mind for a number of reasons—not the least of which being he usually didn’t kiss people who had tried to kill him. But now that she had stressed it… of course, now it was all he could think about. Kissing her.

“Trust me, Jack. It’s a very bad idea. Remember the Mary Kates?”

“I wasn’t going to kiss you.”

“Just imagine I’d got a cold. A very bad cold. That’s how these damned things work anyway.”

“Okay,” Jack said, staring at her lips. Her natural, full, soft lips.

She turned her face away, then lowered her head onto his shoulder.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for someone to believe me. Someone who didn’t think I was crazy. If I weren’t infected with killer nanomachines, I’ve give you a blow job out of gratitude.”

Jack didn’t know what to say to that. He settled for “Urn, thanks.”

Her body started shaking, as if she had started crying.

No, it wasn’t tears. She was laughing.

“What?”

“I’m glad I didn’t have to resort to plan B. You would really have gotten the wrong idea.”

“PlanB?”

“Handcuffs.”