Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine, #1)(117)

“Hell, buy all-new stuff for this place, Carol. Your office included. And send me the bill.”

“Thank you, SAIC Dobbs.”

Dobbs and his men left.

Now it was just Pine and Blum.

Pine sat in her rickety chair while Blum perched on the edge of the desk.

“Well, thank God that’s over,” remarked Blum.

“Is it over, Carol?”

“Well, for tonight it is.”

“I’ll take that,” said Pine. “And by the way, you can’t retire. I need you.”

Blum smiled sweetly. “Oh, I’m not retiring, Agent Pine. Unlike you, I was just bluffing.”





Chapter

62



HOW’S THE COUNSELING GOING?”

It was around ten at night and Pine and Kettler were once more sitting in his Jeep in her parking lot drinking beer.

“Not bad, actually,” he said, taking a swig from his bottle. “The place isn’t that far away. And I like the one-on-one sessions. The group ones not so much.”

“I can relate. But it’ll get easier, Sam.”

“You think?”

“It’s what I believe.” She reached out and gripped his hand. “I’m rooting for you. Any guy that can get us out of the Grand Canyon like you did, can do anything.”

“Oh, by the way, Colson and Harry are back at the Grand Canyon.”

“Yeah, I thought that might happen,” said Pine.

“So, how did things turn out with the nuke and stuff?” he asked.

“For now, good. Down the road, who knows?”

They sat for a few moments in silence, staring at the star-filled sky.

“If I get better—” he began.

“When you get better,” she corrected.

“Right. When I get better, can we sit and have some more beers like this?”

“In your Jeep? Damn straight. That night was pretty much in my top three of all time.”

“What were the other times?”

“Our date at Tony’s Pizza.” She paused. “And right now.”

He smiled and then his grin faded. “Thanks, Atlee. For everything.”

“I’m not sure I did all that much.”

“You did more than anyone else ever has.”

She smiled. “That’s nice of you to say, Sam.”

“So, are you doing therapy, too?”

“In a way, I am,” Pine replied. She finished her beer and said, “I better hit the sack. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

She kissed him on the cheek and started to get out of the Jeep.

He blurted out, “I’m not nuts, Atlee, I swear.”

Pine leaned over and stroked his cheek with her hand. Smiling tenderly at him, she said, “Didn’t you get the memo, Sam? We’re all a little crazy. But there’s strength in numbers.”

*



Pine and Blum flew back to the East Coast and retrieved her Mustang from the long-term parking lot at Reagan National. While there, they visited the Priests in Bethesda.

Ben Priest was also convalescing at his brother’s home.

When they had arrived at the home, Mary Priest answered the door. Though she had been informed of their visit, she looked in astonishment at Carol Blum.

“I know, dear,” said Blum, patting her hand. “I felt awful deceiving you the way I did, but it was necessary to getting your husband back.”

In reply, Mary put her arms around both of them and wept.

As they headed up to see Ben, they had seen the boys, Billy and Michael, coming out of their uncle’s room. Ed was sitting in a chair next to the bed waiting for them.

Both brothers looked like they had been physically abused, but they appeared to be on the mend. Ben seemed to be in worse shape than his brother. He was pale and thin, and his expression was one of complete exhaustion.

Mary closed the door to give them privacy.

Pine sat on the edge of the bed, while Blum stood next to her.

“You saved our lives, Atlee,” said Ed.

“After putting them in danger,” she pointed out.

“But everything’s good then?” said Ed.

“Until the next time the leaders in this country decide to do something stupid,” replied Ben. He turned to look at Pine. “I heard about Simon and Oscar.”

Pine nodded slowly. “I think the guys behind this would call that collateral damage. I would just call it murder. At least Simon’s killer paid the price. The best I could get for Fabrikant was money for his family and dollars for the Society.”

Ben said, “At first, when David Roth came to me, I thought he was nuts. But then I learned that certain parts of our government had gone nuts.”

“And so you helped him do the right thing,” said Pine.

“It was completely fortuitous that I had scheduled that mule ride. But it worked out perfectly.”

“Not so much for poor Sallie Belle,” said Pine. “But for the rest of humanity it worked out okay.”

Ben put out his hand, which Pine took.

He said, “I underestimated you. I thought I was the pro and you were the amateur. Turns out, I got it backward.”

“I will never understand the world you live in, Ben. And I never want to.”