Falling For The Enemy

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. What happened is his parents suddenly announced they were coming to visit him. And they wanted to see their grandson. So there’s no real problem, it’s just that everything happened awfully fast.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, tell Max I hope he has a good time.”

“I will. And thanks. Bye.” She hung up, then looked at Sloan.

“Good,” he said. “That was perfect.”

“Now, let me talk to my son,” she demanded.

He nodded, dug a cell phone from his pocket and punched in a number.

She watched him, unable to keep from thinking that something awful had happened and he was going to hear about it right now.

“It’s Sloan,” he said when someone answered.

“Put the boy on. His mother’s waiting to talk to him.”

After listening for a few seconds, he passed her the phone. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost dropped it.

“Max’ll be a minute or two,” he said. “He was watching TV in another room.”

She exhaled slowly. He was all right, then.

He’s all right so far, a voice inside her head whispered.

“Don’t ask him any questions about where he is or the men he’s with,” Sloan warned her.

A moment later, Max’s reedy little voice said, “Mommy?”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Yes, I’m here, darling.”

“Is your leg okay?”

Her leg? Oh, Lord, what did they tell him? “My leg’s fine, Max. Did someone say something was wrong with it?”

“Uh-huh. The policemen you sent to get me. I said I couldn’t go with them ‘cuz they didn’t know the secret word. But they said you forgot to tell them ’cuz you fell and hurt your leg. And they were gonna take me to the hospital. But then they said it would be better to come here and wait for you. So when are you comin’ to get me?”

“Well...I can’t come just yet. But you’re okay? The...policemen are being nice to you?”

“I guess. They gave me ice cream. Chocolate. And one of them said he’ll play catch with me after. But I want to go home. So when are you gonna come?”

She closed her eyes against more tears. “Darling, I’m going to come just as soon as I can. But I have something very important to do and—”

“More important than me?”

“No,” she said, wiping her eyes. “No, nothing’s more important than you. But it’s something I just have to do. So I really need you to stay where you are for a little while.”

“With the policemen?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Well...at least until tomorrow.”

There was a silence. Then, his voice quavering, Max said, “You mean sleep here? Without you?”

“Yes.”

“But I don’t want to. Why can’t I stay at Mrs. Kelly’s?”

“Because she’s going out tonight.”

“But I don’t have my jammies,” he whined. “And Satchmo won’t have me to sleep with.”

“Max...darling, I know it’s scary to stay in a strange place, but you’ve done it before, remember? When I went to that conference a few months ago? And you stayed with Peggy and Pace?”

“Yeah,” he admitted slowly. “But that was different.”

“Well, it was kind of different but kind of the same. And I need you to be brave and do this for me. Okay?”

There was another silence before he said unhappily, “I guess.”

“Good. And I’ll phone you again just as soon as I can.”

“In the morning?”

She looked at Sloan, blinking back tears, and said, “Can I call him in the morning?”

“I’ll have them phone you at home. Early. Before you leave for work.”

Leave for work. It suddenly struck her that they expected her to carry on as if everything were normal. But she’d have to, of course, if she was going to help Billy Fitzgerald. The question was, would she be able to function even seminormally?

“Max?” she managed to say. “The policemen will let you phone me in the morning, okay?”

“And then you’ll come get me?”

“As soon as I can, darling. I love you. Bye.”

“Bye, Mommy.”

Her heart feeling as though it were in a vice, she handed the phone back to Sloan.

“He’s fine?” he asked.

“Fine? He’s a six-year-old child. He’s in a strange place with two men he doesn’t know and he isn’t sure when his mother’s coming to get him. How fine do you think he can be?”

Sloan raked his fingers through his dark hair. “I’ve arranged to visit Billy first thing in the morning.”