Patterson, James - Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice

Warren Griffin laughed out loud. That's right. I'm just muscle. And artillery. I'm the one who eats guys like you for breakfast."

I didn't move a muscle. Neither did Sampson. We continued to stare at the three of them. “I am curious about one thing, Starkey. How do you know about us? Who told you?”

His answer shook me to the core.

“Foot Soldier,” he said. Then Colonel Thomas Starkey smiled and tipped his ball cap.

Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice

Chapter Eighty-Five

Sampson and I rode the Interstate back to Washington late that afternoon. I was really starting to dislike, or at least tire of 1-95 and its thundering herd of slip-sliding, exhaust-spewing tractor-trailers.

“The circumstances could be better, but it's good spending all this time with you,”I said as we tooled along in the passing lane. “You're too quiet, though. What's up? Something's bothering you.”

He looked my way. “You remember a time you were about eleven -I came over? Spent a couple of weeks with you and Nana?”

“I remember a lot of times like that,” I told him. “Nana used to say we were brothers, just not flesh and blood ones. You were always at the house.”

“This time was different, sugar. I even know why you don't remember. Let me tell it.”

“All right.”

"See, I never used to go home after school. Reason being, nobody was there most of the time. That night I got home around nine, nine-thirty. Made myself corned beef hash for dinner. Sat down to watch some tube. I used to like Mission Impossible back then, wait for it all week. There was a knock at the door.

“I went to see who was there, and it was Nana. She gave me a big hug, just like she still does when she sees me. Asked me if I had some corned beef hash for her, too. Said she liked hers with eggs on top. Then she cackled her cackle, you know.”

“I don't remember any of this. Why was she at your house so late at night?”

Sampson continued with his story. "That afternoon my mother was convicted for possession of heroin to sell. She'd been sentenced. Social Services came by, but I was out. Somebody called Nana Mama.

“So Nana came over, and she actually ate a little of the hash I'd cooked. Told me it was pretty good. Maybe I would be a famous chef one day. Then she said I was coming over to your house for a while. She told me why. She had done some of her magic with Child Welfare. That was the first time that Nana saved me. The first of many times.”

I nodded. Listened. Sampson wasn't finished with his story.

“She was the one who helped get me into the Army after high school. Then into the police academy when I got out of the service. She's your grandmother, but she's more a mother to me than my own flesh. And I never had a father, not really. Neither of us did. I always thought that held us together in the beginning.”

It wasn't like Sampson to go on and open up like this. I still didn't speak. I had no idea where he was headed, but I let him go as much as he wanted to.

“I always knew I didn't have it in me to be a father or a good husband. It was just something I felt inside. You?”

“I had some fears before I met Maria,”I said. “Then they just went away. Most of them anyway. I knew Maria and I would be good together. First time I held Damon the rest of the fears pretty much disappeared for good.”

Sampson began to smile, then he was laughing. “I met somebody, Alex. It's strange, but she makes me happy and I trust her with my secrets. Look at me, I'm grinnin' like a goddamn Halloween pumpkin.”

Both of us were laughing now. Why not? It was the first time I'd seen Sampson in love, and we'd been friends for a long time.

“I'll mess it up somehow,” he said. But he was still laughing. We joked and laughed most of the rest of the way home. Jesus, John Sampson had a girlfriend.

Billie.

Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice

Chapter Eighty-Six

Nana Mama always used to say, “Laugh before breakfast, cry before dinner.” If you raise a family, you know there's some truth to that, crazy as it sounds.

When I got back to Fifth Street that night there was a red-and-white EMS truck sitting in front of our house.

I shut down the Porsche and bounded out of it.

It was raining, and the bracing wind and water whipped at my face. Partially blinded by the rain, I hurtled up the front steps and entered the house. My heart was hammering and a voice inside whispered no, no, no.

I heard voices coming from the living room and rushed in there expecting the worst.

Nana Mama and the kids were sitting on the old sofa. They were all holding hands.

Across from them sat a woman in a white lab coat. I recognized Dr. Kayla Coles from the night with Damon's sick friend, Ramon.

“You missed all the excitement,” Nana said as she saw me enter the room.

“Imagine that, Daddy,” said Jannie. “You missed the excitement.”

I looked toward the doctor sitting in the easy chair. “Hello, Doctor.”

She had a good smile. “Nice to see you again.”

I turned to Nana. “Exactly what excitement did I miss? For starters, what's the EMS truck doing outside?”

She shrugged. “I thought I had a heart attack, Alex. Turns out, it was just a fainting spell.”

Dr. Coles spoke. “Nana doesn't remember passing out. I was down the street at the time. I work with a group that brings health care into the neighborhoods of Southeast. Makes it easier for some people to get good care. More personal, and definitely more affordable.”

I interrupted. “Nana passed out. What happened to her?”

“Damon saw the EMS truck and he came and got me. Nana was already up on her feet. She had an irregular heartbeat. Rapid, threading. The pulse in her wrist wasn't as fast as the actual heart rate, so there could be some diminished circulation. We took her over to St. Anthony's for a few tests.”

Nana shrugged the whole thing off. “I fell down, went boom, in the kitchen. Always hoped it would be there. Damon and Jannie were just great, Alex. About time they started taking care of me for a change.”

She laughed, and so did Dr. Coles. I was glad they both saw the humor in the situation.

“You're still here. It's past nine,” I said to the doctor.

She smiled. Good bedside manner, or whatever this was. “We were having so much fun I decided to stay for a while. I still have one more stop, but Mr. Bryant doesn't get off work until ten.”

“And,” I said, 'you were waiting for me to get home.“ ”Yes, I thought that would be the best idea. Nana says you work late a lot of nights. Could we talk for a minute?"

Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice

Chapter Eighty-Seven

The two of us stepped out onto the front porch. Heavy rain was pelting down on the overhang and the air was damp and cool. The good doctor pulled a gray car sweater around herself.

“I've already had this chat with your grandmother,” she said. “Nana asked that I talk to you, answer all your questions. I would never go behind her back, or condescend to her in any way.”

“That's a good idea,”I said. “I think you'd find that she's awfully hard to condescend to.”

Kayla suddenly laughed. “OK, I know. I Had your rvarva sorry, Mrs. Regina Hope Cross in eighth grade. She's still probably the most inspirational teacher I've had. That includes undergraduate at Brandeis and medical school at Tufts. Thought I would flash my resume by you.”

“Okay, I'm impressed. So what's the matter with Nana?”

Kayla sighed. “She's getting old, Alex. She admits to eighty-two. The tests we took at St. Anthony's won't come back until some time tomorrow or the next day. The lab boys will call me, then I'll call Nana myself. My concern? She's been having palpitations for several weeks. Dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath. She tell you?”