Джеймс Паттерсон - Ambush

The doctor was mildly annoyed, but she seemed like a doctor used to dealing with stubborn cops.

It was all worth it to see Brian and ease my mind. Even if only temporarily.

Now I was ready to spend an extra couple of days with the family, who seemed to like having me around during the day.

Chrissy, the youngest, still liked to lay her head on my lap while I read to her or she watched TV. Shawna, a year older, was content to just hang near me. I liked that.

Trent and Eddie tested my ability to play rough. They quickly realized I was more fragile than usual when a stitched wound on my stomach started to leak blood. The wrestling match ended quickly, but I appreciated that my boys still enjoyed roughhousing with me.

The twins, Fiona and Bridget, were involved in a project on the dining-room table. It was some kind of quilt that Bridget had started, but she had quickly gotten in over her head. Mary Catherine rescued her and recruited Fiona to help her finish.

Ricky enjoyed making me special lunches that always had a decidedly Cajun flair. For a kid who’d been raised in New York City, Ricky knew his way around jambalaya and gumbo. If you would’ve told me one of my kids would get upset because he couldn’t find fresh okra in the city, I would have thought you were crazy.

But I had slowly reconciled myself to the fact that both Jane and Juliana, my pretty teenage girls, had their own lives. All I asked was that they remain good students and study during the week so that they would have time to go out on weekends.

Juliana had been sitting quietly in the recliner at the end of the couch, petting our cat, Socky. I could sense that she was waiting for a chance to talk with me without an extra set of ears around.

Her long dark hair twisted over her shoulder and made me realize just how beautiful she was. When we adopted her, she was only two months old, and even when she was just a toddler, her bright brown eyes and brilliant smile always lit up a room when she walked in.

I stood up, gently nudging Chrissy to the side. I said to her and Shawna, “You can watch TV for thirty minutes.”

Chrissy’s eyes lit up. “Anything we want?”

“Within reason. If you’re going to go off our usual routine of TLC or public TV, try sticking to a cartoon or something that won’t make you stay up at night.” I knew that would be enough to hold these two in place.

I caught Juliana’s eye and motioned her out to the balcony.

It felt good to step out into the fresh air. The wound on my head was healing, and the cool breeze on my face made it feel better. I wrapped an arm around Juliana. Holding my daughter near reminded me of her mother.

Maeve had built this family. There was no way I would ever let it fall apart.

I started the conversation. “I know you want to talk to me about your TV job. And I want to say how proud I am of you and how lucky that producer is for having found you.”

Her smile was enough reward for holding back my five hundred questions. She wrapped an arm around me and gave me a quick hug.

Juliana said, “Thanks, Dad. With everything that’s going on I was worried what you thought about it.”

“I heard about your audition. They picked you out of two hundred young actresses.”

“I did the audition on a whim. I couldn’t believe they picked me. All the filming will be in Brooklyn, and it won’t interfere with school in any way.”

“You know I’m going to be visiting the set, right?”

“Come on, Dad. It’s not like I’m a baby.”

“You’re my baby.”

“So I’ll be the only member of the cast who has a chaperone?”

“I don’t know about that.”

She looked at me, thinking I meant I wouldn’t be visiting the set. Instead I said, “Maybe other cast members will have chaperones as well.”

You can’t always be the fun dad.

No matter how annoyed my children might be with me, it was a rule that we eat dinner together as a family every night. We were lucky to have an excellent chef in Mary Catherine, and recently she had been assisted by Ricky.

Tonight Ricky had shown her how to make a lovely lasagna. I could tell who had made the dinner before they said anything. Mary Catherine focused on meat and potatoes, reflecting her Irish upbringing, while Ricky was developing a talent for seasonings. It was a miracle that I didn’t weigh six hundred pounds.

The other family tradition was my grandfather’s grace before every meal. He had a knack for hitting just the right tone and subject. He spent his days as an administrator at Holy Name, but occasionally he would deliver a sermon, and there were few priests who could match him — though I would never flatter him by saying so.

We all joined hands around the long table, which held an empty chair for Brian. He would stay in Buffalo for at least another few weeks, and I planned to visit regularly.

Seamus started the prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful meal. Thank you for letting us all be here together. Thank you for looking after Michael on his dangerous job and safely bringing him back to us once again.

“Please protect our Brian as he recovers from his injuries. And dear Lord, please look after our beautiful Juliana on her grand adventure.”

Everyone mumbled, “Amen.”

When I raised my eyes, I saw that Juliana was smiling broadly at her great-grandfather. When you’re one of ten children, any extra attention is a big deal.

When she looked across to me, her face returned to a scowl. I understood that. Someone had to be the tough guy.

Sitting next to Juliana, her sister Jane had her back and gave me a similar look. Why not? Whatever they could talk me into letting Juliana do, Jane would be able to get away with soon as well.

At least the acting gig was scheduled around her school and counted toward a course in acting.

I avoided the silent confrontation by looking at Seamus and saying, “Anything big going on at Holy Name? Have to perform any exorcisms? Anything unusual?”

Being a subversive himself, Seamus rarely reacted when I prodded him. As he had often told me, I was a good person, if not necessarily always a good Catholic. That was the important thing.

He said, “Now that you mention it, I do have a new assignment along with all my other duties.”

Mary Catherine said, “What’s that?”

Seamus said, “I’m mentoring a new priest at the church. He was transferred from Bogotá, Colombia. He’s green, but he has some interesting ideas about handling the kids. And I like being able to shape people’s attitudes when they’re new to the priesthood.”

He looked across the table as if challenging me to comment. I refrained from saying how much he liked shaping people’s attitudes about everything.

Alex Martinez was tired of wasting time on the cop. These big jobs with multiple hits could be draining. She didn’t like juggling hits like this, but she was in it for the money, and this job paid well.

Taking a break from Bennett, she focused on another hit. One of the Canadians she’d been hired to deal with was back in town. She’d spent the day understanding where he went and what he liked to do. There wasn’t much planning to this particular job.

Alain Coush was a young French Canadian in his early thirties who lived just outside Quebec. During the day he wore shorts and sleeveless T-shirts, obviously trying to show off what weights and a decent amount of steroids had done for him.

But now, out on the town for the evening, he looked more like a character out of a 1980s comedy. His shirt was open at least three buttons, and he wore several thick gold chains. He didn’t appear to be as interested in his job as she was in hers. If he really had been brought to New York to scare some of the Mexican cartel members, Alex would’ve expected him to do some surveillance of his own. Instead he just looked like he was trying to meet women.