The Lance

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

"Some date," Selena said.

She tossed her purse on the couch. Harker had called off the cops. They were back in Nick's place.

"I'll never complain again about how you can do everything," he said. "You walk on water, too?"

"Only on a jet ski." She sat down next to him on the couch. "Why did they come after us?"

"They wanted us alive or we'd be dead. Maybe to find out what we know. Maybe some other reason. It has to be the same people."

"The Nazis."

"Yeah. But dumb ones. That was really bad planning, to try and grab us on the street like that. They're making mistakes and that's a good sign. Somebody sure as hell doesn't want us getting in their way."

"Greenwood?"

"I don't know. We might find out tomorrow when you go over there."

Selena got up, went to the liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of Jameson's. She came back with the bottle and two glasses. She handed him a glass, poured, then poured one for herself.

"I'm beginning to see why you like this stuff."

"It's all right if you don't overdo it. When Megan died, I hit it pretty hard."

Selena looked at him. He'd never told her about Megan. All Selena knew was that he'd loved her and she was dead.

"It's a lousy fix, the bottle. My father was a drunk, and I know better. But for awhile, it seemed to help, after she died."

Selena waited. Then she said, "How did she die?"

He remembered. The worst day in his life.

"I was on leave," he said. "We'd had a good week." Acid churned in his stomach. "We went to the airport."

He emptied his glass. He got up and went to the bar and poured another drink. he sat down next to Selena.

"I was rotating back to Iraq. Megan was going to San Diego. She had a new job…" He stopped, remembering.

"Anyway, her plane left before mine. I went over by the windows to watch her take off. You know those big windows they have at the San Francisco airport?"

"Yes."

"Her plane lifted off and then it did something strange. It kind of joggled. In the air. Then the nose went down, then one wing tipped down and the plane went straight into the ground. It blew up. There wasn't anything I could do to stop it. Anything. I had to stand there and watch her die."

He put his hand over his eyes. "There was nothing I could do. Nothing I could do."

Something broke inside him.

Then he was sobbing and Selena had her arms wrapped around him.