Ben’s director put both hands on the desk and leaned over to peer at me. “Thomas, I have to ask you an important question now.”
I stared at him blankly.
“Thomas, can you face Ginny tonight and pretend like none of this happened? Can you act like you’re unaware of everything you’ve just learned?”
I looked at him like he was crazy. “Not a chance,” I said flatly.
He glanced at Ben. “That’s what I thought,” he said. “I know I wouldn’t be able to if the situation was reversed. So here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to send you out of town for a few days, get you out of the line of fire until we can have a handle on exactly what’s going on.”
“What’s the problem?” I demanded hotly. “Just go pick the bastard up and interrogate him. If you need somebody to waterboard him, I’ll be glad to volunteer,” I added.
The two of them glanced at each other. “That’s the thing, Thomas: Ameer has disappeared, and he may have left Washington. In any case, his cellphone signal is off the air and he’s not in the apartment where he was living.”
A thought struck me, and after what I’d just learned it felt strange to ask, but I did anyway. “What about Ginny? Is she in danger?”
“I don’t think so,” the director said. “She wasn’t Ameer’s real target, only a means to an end. But don’t worry, the FBI will keep a close eye on her.”
I felt a little better. What Ginny had done had left a gaping wound in me, but I still couldn’t bring myself to want any harm to come to her. I’d cared too deeply for her too long; I just couldn’t turn that off on such short notice.
I looked up at the two men. “So what do I do now?”
“You need to get home right away so you can pack a bag. Then get down to Washington National right away. We’re going to send you to Oak Ridge. Your reservations have already been made,” the director said. “The first flight available is a Southwest flight to Nashville at noon. We’ll have somebody meet you at the airport and drive you to Oak Ridge.”
While I tried to take that in, the director added, “Be sure to leave Ginny a note so she won’t be suspicious, in case Ameer gets in touch with her again.”
When I got home to our little bungalow and went inside to pack, everything seemed changed. All the furniture and decor that had been cozy and familiar when I woke up now seemed foreign to me. Our home had been full of dreams and aspirations for me; now none of those remained.
When I wrote my note to Ginny, it took everything in my power not to say the things that were in my heart. But I remembered what I’d been told about her lover, and the last thing I wanted to do was to alert him that we were onto him. So I kept my message simple and direct, and I didn’t make any dramatic gesture like leaving my wedding ring on top of it. But I did take my ring off and slip it into my pocket. The bond it symbolized was broken beyond repair the moment I heard that recording.
During the two-hour flight I tried to divert myself with the Sudoku in the in-flight magazine but I just couldn’t concentrate. My hand kept slipping into my pocket to finger the ring lying there. If only it were a magic ring I could use to go back in time before all this started. But then I remembered that whatever urge or vulnerability that had led Ginny into infidelity would still be there, ready to arise when the opportunity came. Damn, I was so fucked up that I couldn’t even generate a decent fantasy!
wpDiscuz