The End Of Desire: A Rowan Gant Investigation (38 page)

“I know you are,” she replied. “And, I
understand why. I really do… And, you’re right… It has… I’m just
ready for this to be done.”

“Me too… So, how do we make that happen?”

“To start with, we don’t run from it.”

“I’m not so sure I agree.”

She shook her head. “You’re only saying that
because it’s me she’s after. If it were you then you’d be rushing
headlong into it. I know you would. You’ve done it before.”

“I suppose I have,” I agreed. “But…”

“That’s different?” she interrupted.

“Yes, it is,” I said. “But, actually what I
was going to say is, at least I was dealing with someone who lived
in the same plane of existence as me. Miranda is another story
entirely.”

“She is,” Felicity said with a nod. “But, I
think Annalise is the answer to dealing with that.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” She blinked and shook her
head.

“Then why do you…”

She spoke up before I could finish the
question. “A feeling.”

“A feeling,” I repeated.

“Aye. Sound familiar?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“I thought it might.”

A soft knock came from behind me, so I put
further comment on hold for the moment.

“Hey,” Ben said, a questioning look on his
face as I swung open the door. “You two about ready?”

“Close,” I said. “Probably just a few more
minutes.”

“‘
Kay,” he replied. “Get a move on. We
need ta’ go soon.”

“Ben?” Felicity spoke up.

“Yeah?”

“I really am sorry about your hand.”

He held up his bandaged paw and gave it a
quick glance. As it turned out, the wound had initially looked far
worse than it really was. Once cleaned up, it had only taken a bit
of homegrown first aid in the form of antibiotic ointment, a gauze
pad, and some tape.

“Yeah,” he grunted. “Remind me not ta’ really
piss you off.”

“Aye, like that would work?”

“Yeah, right,” he replied. “Listen, Row, can
I see ya’ out here for a minute?”

“Needing to talk about me behind my back, are
you?” Felicity quipped before I could respond.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the plan,” Ben
returned, a joking tone in his voice. “Actually, I really just need
ta’ verify some stuff.”

“Go ahead,” Felicity said, looking up at me.
“I’ll finish up here.”

“Okay,” I told her. “I’ll be right back.”

My wife stood up and returned to her prior
task as I left the bedroom, swinging the door shut behind me. I
followed Ben out to the living room where Constance was waiting for
us, a concerned look creasing her features.

“So, how is Felicity doing?” she asked.
“Honestly.”

“She says she’s fine,” I told her.

“Do you believe that?”

“For the time being, I think so,” I replied
with as much confidence as I could muster, given that I wasn’t
entirely sure if I believed my own words. “The real truth is, she’s
had enough. We both have.”

“What about her episode? Do you think it will
happen again?”

I shook my head. “Hard to say. I
thought she would be safe from that sort of thing here, but
obviously I was wrong. The salt water helped. The
Lwa
seems to have a fear of it, which
is good. So, we’re going to try it as a preventive as
well.”

“I called Helen, Row,” Ben interjected. “We
can move Firehair back to the hospital instead of the safe house if
ya’ want.”

“I’m not going to do that to her,” I replied,
shaking my head. “And, I think you’d be hard pressed to get her to
agree to it. You’d probably have to arrest her.”

“I already told you full blown protective
custody had been seriously considered and was always an option,”
Constance chimed in. “And, I’ll be honest, after what happened I’m
still not ruling it out.”

“That won’t fix the problem,” I objected with
another quick shake of my head.

“But, will it keep you both safe? That’s the
real issue here.”

“In the short run, sure,” I said. “In the
long run, it’s just more hiding.”

“There’s no shame in that, Row,” Ben
offered.

“It’s not shame I’m concerned about,” I said.
“What I want is to make this all stop.”

“We all want that,” Constance said.
“But, even though we both believe you about the
Lwa
, we’re completely out of our element where
that is concerned. We have to deal with what we have at hand, and
that is Devereaux.”

I nodded. “I understand that. What I need you
to understand, however, is that this is coming to a head. And, I’m
afraid it’s going to take some sort of collision between the three
of them to resolve it.”

“You mean, Annalise, Felicity, and Miranda?”
she asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“And, how do you think that’s going to
happen?”

“I wish I knew.”

Constance shook her head. “If you’re talking
about a physical confrontation, Rowan, we simply cannot allow that.
It’s our job to protect you, not put you in harm’s way. Truthfully,
right now, I’m not even willing to put Felicity back on the phone
with Devereaux again.”

“Believe me, I’m no more in favor of a
physical confrontation than you are,” I replied. “But it just might
be necessary. Perhaps even inevitable.”

“Why?”

“To get Felicity clear of Miranda.”

“How?”

“That’s an answer I wish I had, believe
me.”

“And, that’s the only way?”

“It might be.”

Constance fell quiet, a deeply thoughtful
look on her face. After a moment, she amended her earlier
statement. “Maybe once Devereaux is in custody, we can work
something out. But, not before then, that’s for sure. It’s far too
dangerous.”

“This some kinda
Twilight Zone
thing, Row?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, but not mine,” I said with a sigh.
“It’s Felicity’s.”

“So she’s doin’ la-la land too,” he
huffed.

“Not exactly,” my wife’s voice came from the
end of the hallway, right where it emptied into the living room.
“It’s just a feeling.”

I turned and saw her standing there, arms
crossed. Her expression was actually one of mild bemusement.

“Sorry,” she said. “But, you did admit you
were going to talk about me behind my back. You didn’t really think
I wouldn’t listen in then, did you?”

“So much for reverse psychology,” Ben
muttered.

“So, this feeling… Is it like the visions
Rowan gets?” Constance asked, apparently unfazed by the fact that
Felicity had been eavesdropping.

“Aye, I suppose so. Yes.”

“You gettin’ anything specific from it?” Ben
asked.

“Just that Annalise is somehow key to me
getting free of all this.”

“I assume you heard what I just told Rowan?”
Constance asked.

“I did,” Felicity answered with a nod. “But,
it’s really my choice then, isn’t it?”

“No, I’m afraid it isn’t.”

My wife sighed, looked at the floor for a
moment then back up to Constance. “All right then. I know I don’t
have the right to ask this, but I’m going to anyway. You’ve both
already been breaking the rules. Can’t you break just one
more?”

“Felicity,” Constance breathed, shaking her
head. “I understand what you must be…”

“Please?” my wife appealed.

Constance sighed heavily and looked at me
with a pained expression before finally turning back to her. “What
are you asking us to do?”

“Give her what she wants.”

“She wants you dead.”

“Yes, I know, but what she really wants is
Miranda back.”

“How do you propose we give her that?”

“Simple. You give her me.”

“Not happening!” I objected immediately.
“We’ll find another way to get through this.”

“Jeezus,” Ben interjected. “Are you nuts,
Firehair? No way.”

“They’re right,” Constance added, shaking her
head vigorously. “That’s just insane.”

“I don’t mean literally,” she explained. “I
mean set a trap for her with me as the bait.”

“I’m sorry, but that isn’t even an option,”
Constance told her. “This is real life, not a mystery novel.”

“Aye, then what do we do? Sit around waiting
for her to knock on the door?”

“No. We make certain that the two of you are
safe, and we keep looking.”

“You can’t protect me from Miranda, then.
Nobody can.”

“Felicity,” Constance said. “This simply
isn’t how things are done.”

My wife shook her head. “I need this to
be over… I need it to be over
now
.”

Constance dropped her forehead into her hand
and massaged it for a second before huffing out an exasperated
breath and looking back up at Felicity. “It’s not going to happen.
But, maybe I can compromise with you if I can get it approved.”

“How so?”

“Again, this hinges on approval from my SAC.
If I can get that, when and if she calls again, I’ll let you talk
to her. We’ll have you try to set up a meeting if you can,” she
said. “But, I’m the bait. Not you.”

“Aye, but I still need to see her, or I won’t
be able to get free of Miranda.”

“Once she’s in custody, I’ll see what I can
arrange,” Constance said. “No promises. But, I’ll do what I can.
Take it or leave it.”

Felicity nodded. “Fair enough then.”

“Okay, let me make a call and see if my SAC
will even go for the idea.”

“You’d best get yourself a wig if you plan on
pretending to be me,” my wife added.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Felicity.
Even if I get this approved, I don’t think it will work. Otherwise
I would have already suggested it. I really doubt she’ll even agree
to a meeting, much less show up.”

“Oh, she’ll agree,” Felicity assured her.
“And she will show, I can guarantee it.”

“How?”

“You have absolutely no idea what Miranda
gives her. Unfortunately, I do.”

“Is it really that good?” Constance asked, a
mild curiosity in her tone. “I mean, I’ve studied sexual predators
before…but to risk being caught, all over sexual release?”

“Like I said…” Felicity replied. Her voice
was a half whisper filled with an almost wistful longing. “You have
no idea.”

* * * * *

A
nnalise finally called
just before three in the afternoon. As expected, the verbal
exchange between Felicity and her was heated for the duration.
However, my wife played it well. Of course, when it came right down
to it, there was really no acting required. Everything that came
out of her mouth was real and uncensored.

Just as Felicity had predicted, it didn’t
take much for Annalise to agree to a meeting between them. Still,
as expected, she remained cautious and unwilling to relinquish
control. She refused to commit to a time or place, except to say we
should expect another call when she was ready.

The wheels spun quickly into motion, and I
could feel the situation gaining speed. Even though Constance and
the resources of the FBI were now on deck, deep inside I could feel
that none of this was going to go according to any earthly plan,
theirs or Annalise’s.

I only hoped that when the crash finally
came, we would all be walking away from it in one piece.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t shake the feeling that some breakage was
about to occur.

“H
ow do I look?” Constance
asked, inspecting herself in the large mirror hanging over our
dining room buffet.

Agent Parker had just finished helping her
pin a long, bright auburn wig to her head, and she was primping the
spiral curls into position around her face and across her
shoulders.

She was clad in a pair of jeans and a button
down shirt, much like Felicity would normally wear for a casual
night out. The notable exceptions were that my wife customarily
didn’t have a bulletproof vest beneath her clothes, a wireless
transmitter on her belt, or a 40-caliber Sig Sauer riding in the
small of her back.

“Close enough,” I said. “At a distance,
definitely passable. But, once she gets close to you though, I
don’t know.”

“Once she gets that close,” she replied. “It
doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Aye,” Felicity added. “Don’t worry. You look
good.”

“So,” I asked. “What if she’s seen Felicity
since she changed her hair?”

“Then we’re screwed,” Constance answered in a
purely matter-of-fact tone. “The choice on the wig was a judgment
call. They did a psych analysis on the recorded conversations and
determination was that she probably would have mentioned something
about Felicity’s hair if she knew. The behavioral analyst said she
would have felt empowered by causing Felicity to make a change in
her appearance and therefore would have felt a need to gloat about
it.”

“I hope they’re right.”

“They almost always are.”

“Almost?” I asked.

“Nobody’s perfect,” she replied.

The front door opened, and Ben stepped into
the house, shoving his cell phone back into his pocket as he
entered.

“Hmmmm… Firehair junior,” he said once he set
his eyes on Constance.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Can you maybe keep it for later?” he
quipped.

“This isn’t really the right time for jokes,
Ben,” she replied.

“Who says I’m jokin’?” he said then turned
serious and asked, “She call?”

“No,” Constance replied. “Just getting
prepared.”

“Yeah, okay.” He made a show of heaving his
shoulders and feigning a shiver. “Friggin’ cold out there.”

“Aye, you should have worn your coat,”
Felicity told him.

“Wasn’t expectin’ it ta’ take that long.”

“Problems?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. Just stuff.”

“Stuff?”