John Miller - Smoke and Mirrors

“No. It’s still a local matter.”

“I wish you were here,” Sean said. “I wish you were here in our bed with me. I could use some of that special Massey attention.”

“I’ll bring you a few pounds of that when I get this done. Word of honor.”

“Should I worry?”

“No, you definitely should not.”

Winter heard Olivia crying in the background.

“I have to go. Sleeping Beauty is awake. Call me in the morning?”

“Of course I will.”

“Massey, you know what?”

“No, what?” he asked, smiling.

“When you get back, I’m going to show you what.”

“I love you, Sean,” he said. “Tell the gang I said I love them.”

“Even Hank?”

“Don’t tell him .”

Winter closed the phone after Sean broke the connection. He formed a picture in his mind of Hank and Millie Trammel and felt his eyes narrow into slits, as he pictured them run down and shattered in that rain-soaked New Orleans street.

Winter looked over his shoulder and what he saw stopped him cold. There through the partly opened kitchen door Winter was treated to a view of Brad and Leigh. They were embracing, her head against his chest. As he watched, Leigh leaned back, looked up, and instead of stepping back, as Winter expected, the two looked into each other’s eyes and put their lips together.

When their kiss finally ended, they tightened their embrace, and when Leigh opened her eyes, they met Winter’s and enlarged in the same sort of embarrassment that one might expect from a teenager caught singing to her reflection in a mirror. He wondered, as he turned away, if she’d seen the same expression on his face.

As soon as Roy Bishop and another deputy arrived to stay at the house with Estelle and Hampton, Winter, Leigh, and Brad prepared to leave. Four other armed deputies would caravan to the casino and wait until Leigh’s business was concluded, then stick with them until the papers were signed. Billy Lyons was going to meet them at the casino at nine o’clock to make sure the documents were legally binding and correctly signed.

Before the trio filed out of the house, Leigh embraced her son and told him to mind Estelle and the deputies. He agreed easily. All Hampton and Estelle knew was that Leigh was going with Winter and Brad to a business meeting.

Brad drove them in Winter’s Jeep since it was being monitored. They’d decided they wanted the cutouts to know if Styer made an attempt on Winter.

The drive to the casino was uneventful. Winter wondered if Brad knew he’d seen the couple kissing in the kitchen. He supposed Leigh might have said something to him, although he didn’t act any differently than before.

Winter couldn’t help but wonder if this trouble had broken down the icy wall between them. As far as Winter could tell, the years they were apart had been unnecessary, due to their youth and misunderstanding. He supposed that Leigh’s stubbornness had played a big part in their lengthy split. It was Winter’s experience that successful relationships depended on open communication, mutual respect, and forgiveness, but he figured they understood that now.

At the casino, the cruisers parked and the deputies stepped out to their assigned posts, where they would await further orders. Billy Lyons waited under the portico, briefcase in hand.

Leigh’s cell phone rang and she looked at the caller ID. “It’s Cyn!”

She flipped open the phone. “Cyn, where are you?”

She listened for a few seconds.

“That’s great. We’ll see you later at the house and you can tell us all about it.” She hung up and smiled.

“She’s being dropped off at a public place as soon as the deal is done,” Leigh said. She wiped a tear from her eye. “She’s fine.”

“Did she say where she was?” Brad asked. “Who had her?”

“No,” Leigh said. “But she said she’s fine. She sounded fine. She said to call her phone as soon as the papers are signed.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Winter said, relieved.

After the deputies were in position, Brad cut the motor and said, “Showtime.”

They walked toward the casino, Winter’s and Brad’s eyes scanning the crowd like two cowboys headed toward the only saloon in a lawless cow town.

Alexa sat in the extended cab of Leigh’s pickup parked in a dark pecan orchard a mile from Six Oaks, waiting for whatever Styer was waiting for.

“Can we go home now?” Cynthia asked. “I told Mama what you said to.”

“Sit quiet and let the adults talk. We’ll be going in shortly,” Styer said. He continued thoughtfully, “I should have been an athlete. My father was a gymnast, a gold medalist for East Germany. My mother was a chess player, a grand master who was a cryptologist for Stasi. When I was eight, I had an IQ of over one hundred and sixty, amazing physical strength and agility.”

Styer smiled, his eyes far away. “My parents were good Germans. Hitler and his generals were giants, conquering an entire continent one country at a time. Few complained while they were winning because their stomachs were full and they could feel proud again.”

“Good Germans,” Alexa said, not knowing what else to say.

“My parents let the KGB take me from them when I was nine. I remember them telling me how wonderful it was that I would be trained as so few were. How fortunate I was to have been born so special that such very important men and women would prove my greatness to the world. They were so proud.” There was a distinct note of bitterness in the last words.

“When they came for me to take me to the school, it was winter. I recall how the exhaust pipe smoked in the dark, how the snow crunched beneath my shoes. I was taken by plane to a base at the foot of the Ural Mountains, and out from there, by military helicopter.”

“What kind of academy was it?” Alexa asked, curious.

“It was a school for assassins, but of course I didn’t know that at first.”

Styer stopped talking when three sets of headlights came into view. “There they are. Massey and the others. Jeep and two cruisers. Let me remind you, Alexa, before you try to turn on the lights, that I have the cell phone in my hand.”

“I know that.”

After the caravan was out of sight, Styer set down the binoculars. “Where was I?”

“You were talking about your parents.”

“Last year I dropped in for a visit with them. Not a word had they had from me in twenty-nine years, and they begged me to stay. But we were no more than strangers. My mother said she was sorry she ever let them take me, but had no choice. She and my father were just being good Germans who showed their appreciation by giving their beloved only son to the state. I became no more than an instrument for others to use to their own ends, instead of something else like a doctor, a musician, even an Olympic gold medalist.” Styer smiled strangely. “You can’t imagine all those nights I cried silently in my bed so no one could sense my weakness and use it against me.”

“I know there must be something of the boy you were deep down inside you,” Alexa said. “None of this is necessary. If you leave, Winter won’t be a threat. His children need him. His wife needs him.”

Styer put the truck in gear, then turned it off and looked at her. “It will be less suspicious if you will drive again from here, Alexa. Cyn, no warning looks or I will kill the deputy and cut your throat. Come around, Alexa, and I will slide over.”

Alexa got out and climbed back into the cab to find that Styer had adjusted the seat forward for her. She cranked the truck, deciding to keep him talking if she could. She wanted to reach the little boy who had once loved his parents.