The naked edge

13

"By the time I concluded that you and Aaron Stoddard were the same person, I'd learned a lot about your alter-ego," William said in the cabin. "Aaron Stoddard is part of Jackson Hole's search-and-rescue team. He volunteers to coach basketball at a local school. He teaches children's groups about wilderness camping."

"A hell of a swell guy," Cavanaugh said. Knowing that he'd been investigated made him feel vulnerable. If William could find him, others could. In fact, they had.

The cabin-a hunting retreat that Garth leased from the government-had a living/cooking area, a bedroom, a hand-pumped well, and an outdoor toilet. After scouting the perimeter, Cavanaugh had waited in the woods, listening, satisfying himself that the night was quiet.

Meanwhile, Jamie had closed and locked the interior shutters. When he entered, he saw her put a lamp in a corner, where it wouldn't help a gunman who peered through cracks in the shutters and tried to use its feeble light to guide his aim. Mrs. Patterson (tireless, wonderful Mrs. Patterson) used the cabin's Coleman stove to heat cans of soup that she found in a cupboard.

"You're going to get your wish," Cavanaugh told Jamie after a long silence.

She looked confused by the apparently out-of-nowhere reference.

"I'm accepting what Duncan gave me in his will. I'm assuming control of Global Protective Services."

The stove hissed. William and Mrs. Patterson watched him.

"I think the only way to catch whoever's responsible is to offer myself as bait," he continued, "and that's an awfully good reason to own Global Protective Services. It'll give me access to the best operators in the business."

The stove kept hissing.

"All my life, I tried to protect people," Cavanaugh said. "Even when I was in Delta Force, I thought of it as protecting. Against terrorists. Against all the cowards and sadists who think they can kill anybody in the name of God or because they believe they're God. But this is something new for me. This is the first time I've needed protecting."