“We’re a used car dealership,” Dirk said.
Puck nodded. “Good choice.”
“Let’s sit,” Liza suggested. Puck sat and pulled Marion down so she was smashed up against his side, despite the ample room on the sectional sofa. To Liza’s surprise Dirk did the same to her and then put his arm around her for good measure.
Marion noticed and gave Liza a look like, “I see what you mean.” The most affection Dirk had ever shown Liza in front of her friends was some occasional hand holding. Pulling her half onto his lap and putting his arm around her was leaps and bounds ahead of any other display he had shown.
“Did you guys hear about all those dead birds in Oregon today?” Dirk asked. Liza knew it was his attempt at finding a neutral topic of conversation, but it was the worst thing he could have said.
“H.A.A.R.P. is at it again,” Puck said.
“H.A.A.R.P?” Dirk made the mistake of asking.
“It’s the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program. It’s the government’s baby up in Alaska, and it has single-handedly caused some of our more deadly weather and earthquakes in recent years, not to mention all these bird deaths.”
Awkward silence followed his announcement. “What about the F?” Liza asked.
“What?” Puck sat forward and brushed his hair out of his eyes.
“You said High Frequency, but they call it H.A.A.R.P. What do they do with the F?”
“They had to leave it out,” Marion said. “H.F.A.A.R.P. just doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way.” She and Liza giggled, Dirk cracked a smile, but Puck remained stoic.
“I hope you guys will still be laughing when a tsunami strikes us,” he said.
“Since we’re a thousand miles inland I would probably find it more shocking than humorous,” Dirk said dryly.
Puck clasped his hands together in a pose Liza and Marion knew well. “You think you’re safe, but that’s what they want. They want everyone to feel nice and cozy and then BAM!” he yelled, and Liza jumped. Marion had probably been expecting it because she looked unfazed. “That’s when they strike. They turn on their weapons and wreak havoc on the innocent. The only sure way to beat them is to be prepared.”
“How are you preparing?” Dirk asked. His tone was somewhere between mocking and curious. Most likely he had never encountered someone like Puck before. He was probably both fascinated and skeptical. That was how Liza had been at first. Now she was used to him. Conspiracy theories were his favorite topic, but he wasn’t as crazy as he seemed. Sometimes she thought he said things just to be lively and get a rise out of people.
“Knowledge,” Puck said, tapping his temple. “Knowledge is power. You have to be able to adapt and survive. You need to know how to live off the land.”
“Like MacGyver,” Marion supplied. Puck was a big fan of the old show.
“What about money?” Dirk said. “You’ll need lots of money in the new world order.”
“Yes, but the banks aren’t safe. Rothschild made sure of that,” Puck said. He sat back with a frown.
Liza squeezed Dirk’s knee, but he either didn’t get the message or he was too curious to contain himself. “I’m not familiar with what you’re referring to,” he said, and then sat back to listen to Puck’s rambling explanation of how a few families control all the world’s wealth thanks to their central banking system.
“And the Federal Reserve, it’s not even federal, man. Every dollar they print illegally is a dollar in Rothschild’s pocket.”
“But if the banks aren’t safe, then surely Wall Street is,” Dirk said.
“Wall Street,” Puck exploded. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Who do you think controls our gas prices?” He launched into another narrative that lasted until Liza’s stomach growled.
“We were thinking of getting pizza,” Dirk surprised her again. “Can you join us?” He looked expectantly at Puck. Was he waiting for him to offer up some crazy pizza-associated theory?
“Pizza sounds great,” Marion answered. They spent a few minutes deciding what to order then Marion and Dirk bickered over who was going to pay. In the end Dirk won and ended up treating everyone.
You can let him get this one, Liza wanted to tell Marion. He’s a multi-millionaire. She bit her lip and studied Dirk. Where had that money come from? She had no idea how much he made, but three million seemed an enormous sum. Had he really saved it all from his wages?
He used his index finger to coax her bottom lip from between her teeth. “Why are you staring at me with a worried frown?” he asked when Marion and Puck went to the kitchen for drinks.
“Lots of reasons,” she said evasively. She looked around and leaned in to whisper. “What do you think of Puck?”
“He’s either really crazy or really smart, or both. He’s sort of funny, but between you and me I think Marion could do better. Don’t tell her I said so.”
“She wouldn’t believe me if I tried,” Liza said. Marion and Dirk were almost like a brother and sister duo who had been estranged their entire lives. They weren’t close, but they bickered affectionately with each other most of the time they were together.
The pizza arrived and they made normal, pleasant small talk while they ate. Dirk asked Puck about his many majors, and the conversation lasted until long after the food was finished.
“And now I’m majoring in criminal justice again,” Puck finished when his saga came full circle.
“Admittedly I don’t know you well, but that seems like a strange choice for someone who thinks our government is corrupt,” Dirk said.
“But that’s why we need people fighting on the inside. Corruption can’t be brought down from the outside.”
“What about the Berlin Wall?” Dirk asked. “It was the influence of the West that changed things and eventually brought about the collapse.”
“But it was the people on the eastern side of the wall who pulled it down,” Puck said. “They may have taken their cues from the West, but they did the hard, dangerous work from the inside.”
It was the most reasoned, intelligent thing Liza had ever heard him say.
“What does ending corruption from the inside mean to you?” Dirk asked him.
“It means I’ll have to follow my gut, sometimes when it runs contrary to what the government is telling me to do.”
“But what if your gut is wrong? You’re prone to all the same passions and prejudices as any other man. What if instead of following your gut you end up following your greed, or lust, or rage?”
Puck shook his head. “Not me, man. I won’t fall prey to any of those things.”
Dirk smiled, but it was an odd sort of smile that made everyone at the table go silent. “Better men than you have fallen prey to their baser instincts,” he said. He stood to throw his napkin in the trash.
Across the table Marion caught Liza’s eye. Liza didn’t need a translator to understand Marion’s silent questions. Was Dirk talking about himself? If so, what did he mean?
Chapter 14
Dirk, Marion and Puck seemed to be playing a game of “who can stay the longest” at Liza’s house. Finally Dirk, who was an early riser, couldn’t take it anymore. He said goodbye to Marion and Puck and took Liza’s hand to lead her to the door.
“We haven’t had much time alone together lately,” he noted.
Liza didn’t point out that he had never seemed to care about alone time before. “No,” she said instead.
He put his arms around her and pulled her close. “Some day very soon we’re going to have to talk.”
“We are?” she croaked. Did he know the truth about Link and the investigation? “About what?”
“Us.”
“Us,” she echoed. “What about us?” Was he breaking up with her?
“Our future.”
“Our future,” she said.
He lightly tapped her forehead. “Are you stuck on repeat? You keep saying everything I just said.”
“I’m surprised,” she told hi
m.
“Why? We’ve been together five years, Liza. It’s time we made some decisions about our future. Don’t you think?”
She nodded dumbly. He laughed, most likely at her star-struck look, and then he kissed her goodbye and let himself out.
“What’s wrong with you?” Marion asked as soon as Liza walked back into her living room.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about Dirk in front of Puck.
“I liked him,” Puck announced as if the two women had been waiting on his judgment with baited breath. “He’s a little too obsessed with money for my tastes, but otherwise I thought he was a straight shooter.”
“A straight shooter?” Marion said. “You’ve been listening to my rat pack CD’s again.”
“What do you mean he’s obsessed with money?” Liza asked. She sprawled on the couch, hoping Puck and Marion would get the hint and go home soon. They were both night owls. She was an early bird, like Dirk.
“All that talk about what I’m going to do with my life,” Puck said. “He produced job statistics for every major I’ve ever had.”
Liza hadn’t been paying much attention to what Puck and Dirk were talking about, but now she remembered their conversation about Puck’s future. In retrospect it sounded almost parental on Dirk’s part, but that was nothing new. He was a responsible, conscientious person who couldn’t stand to see people fritter their lives away. He had probably been unable to stop himself from trying to give Puck advice. But what was most surprising was Puck’s reaction to it. He sat back and bit his cuticles, looking deep in thought. Liza had never seen him so quiet for so long before. Had Dirk gotten through to him when he tried to explain about the interest on Puck’s school loans? He didn’t actually say that Puck would be paying off his loans the rest of his life, but he had hinted at it.
Marion must have noticed Puck’s worried frown, too. “Are you okay?” She laid a gentle hand on his arm.
He nodded, but he didn’t smile. “It’s just a lot to take in, you know? How did I get to be thirty with no future and nothing to my name but a sound system and fifteen year old car?”
This wasn’t a discussion Liza wanted to be a part of. Thankfully Marion rescued her.
“Let’s go home,” she said. She stood and held out her hand to Puck. “Thanks for the night, Liza. Talk to you later.”
“Later,” Liza called. Normally she would have followed them to the door, but she sensed they needed to be alone right now. After they let themselves out she carried their glasses to the kitchen, rinsed them in the sink, and got ready for bed.
She wanted to think about what Dirk had said, to replay the words in her head and search for possible meanings, but she was too tired. As soon as she closed her eyes she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Three hours later she woke and stared at the clock. What was she doing awake at three in the morning? Her eyes drifted closed again and then she remembered what woke her in the first place. A sound. She searched her fuzzy mental memory until she recalled the sound. It was the same sound her nightstand made once when she bumped it and sent her lamp tumbling to the floor. Had someone bumped her nightstand?
She opened her eyes again, slowly this time, and allowed them to travel around the room. She didn’t really expect to see anything. Certainly the sound had been the product of her overactive imagination. Only it wasn’t. There, standing at the foot of her bed, was a man. The only light in the room came from the moon filtering in through her window, but it was enough to see that he was wearing night vision goggles. She opened her mouth, to scream maybe, but before any sound could come out he put his finger to his lips, shook his head, and then he was gone.
She waited until the front door closed, and then she fumbled for her cell phone on her nightstand. Thankfully her practical nature had prompted her to put Link on speed dial. She pressed the button for his number, but when he answered she couldn’t speak.
“Liza, Liza are you there?” he said. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Say something.”
Before she could gather herself to speak, he was standing in her room. He took the phone from her frozen hand and sat down on her bed. And then she burst into tears and threw herself into his outstretched arms.
“What happened?” he asked.
“There was a man, and he was in my room, and I woke up. I think he bumped the nightstand, and there were goggles, and I wanted to scream, and he said no, and then he left and I called you.” She said it all in one breath, so of course he didn’t understand most of it.
“A man was in your room?”
She nodded. He pushed her away from him and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?”
She shook her head. “He was wearing night vision goggles. I opened my mouth to scream, but he shook his head at me, and then he was gone.”
“Stay here,” he commanded. He ran out of her room and only then did she notice the gun in his hand. He was gone for what felt like a very long time but in reality was only a few minutes.
“He’s gone. I’m going to have to search your room,” he said.
She nodded. He stood and turned on the light. She felt like she should probably do something, anything besides lie in bed and watch him rifle through her drawers, but she was incapable of movement. The shock and fright had left her weak. He finished and turned to her.
“Everything is a mess. It’s almost like he didn’t know what he was looking for or where to look.” He perched on the edge of her bed again. She should protest, but she lacked the energy. “Are you okay?”
“Sure,” she said unconvincingly.
He patted her hand. “Well, at least you’re not having hysterics. That’s a step up from my last case.” He stood. “I’m going to sleep on your couch.”
At that she finally sat up. “You can’t. What will…?”
He cut her off. “If you’re going to ask what your boyfriend would say, you can save it.” He exited her room, turning off the light as he left.
Amazingly she slept again. Maybe it was exhaustion, or maybe it was because an armed federal agent slept twenty feet away and she felt safe. When she woke again it was daylight and she wasn’t sure what to expect. Would Link still be there?
Even though he had seen her in her pajamas the night before, she put on a robe before peeking around the corner of her bedroom. The couch was empty. Her hand pressed to her chest in relief. Of course she would have to contact him and thank him for coming to her rescue last night, but there would be time for that later. Right now she was thankful to be spared the awkwardness of a morning encounter.
A knock sounded on the door. She contemplated going back into her room to change, but she guessed it was probably Link coming to check on her. He had already seen her at her worst. She opened the door with a welcoming smile that soon faded.
“Sal,” she said.
He greeted her with his usual amused smile as he took in her bathrobe, sleep-rumpled hair and glasses. “Hi, Liza.”
She was too shocked to put up a polite pretense. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “I came to make amends. I’ve been thinking about our last couple of meetings, and I realized I may have come off rude. I wanted to apologize.”
“Liza, where do you keep your coffee?”
Please let this be a nightmare, Liza thought. She turned to see Link exiting her kitchen wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and nothing else. Hadn’t he been wearing a shirt last night? She couldn’t remember.
“Uh, hi,” Sal said. The amusement in his tone was unmistakable.
“Sal, this is my neighbor, Link.” Liza tried to sound nonchalant. “Link, this is Dirk’s cousin, Sal.”
“He knows about Dirk?” Sal asked. He quirked an eyebrow at Liza.
She knew she was blushing, but she couldn’t help it. What could she possibly say to explain the situation? She couldn’t tell him the truth, and she had never been a convincing liar. She looked to Link for help, but he seemed to
be as amused by the situation as Sal was. He came up beside her and reached out an arm as if he was going to put it around her, but then he caught the look on her face and thought better of it. He cleared his throat and dropped his arm.
“It looks like now isn’t a good time to talk,” Sal said. “I’ll catch up with you later.” He turned and walked to his car before Liza could begin to think up anything to say.
She retreated to the living room and sank into the sofa with a groan.
Link sat down beside her.
“Why is this happening to me?” she asked. She put her hands over her face.
“Maybe he won’t tell your boyfriend,” Link said. He sounded bored by the whole situation.
“Of course he will. They’re best friends. They tell each other everything.”
“Really?” Link sat up. “So you think he knows all your boyfriend’s secrets?”
“There are no secrets,” Liza snapped. She felt like crying. Everything was going to be mixed up. She stood. “This is a nightmare. I have to go see Dirk.”
“And say what?” Link asked. He grabbed her hand to stop her from leaving the room.
“I’ll think of that later,” she said. She shook him off and went to her room to take a shower. By the time she dressed and exited her room Link was gone.
Chapter 15
Despite her pressing need to see Dirk as soon as possible she took her time getting ready. After all, she would not only have to face him she would have to get by Heidi. Today wasn’t the day to feel inferior to his secretary.
When she arrived, she had to marshal all her reserves to face the overbearing woman.
“Did you have an appointment?” Heidi asked.
“No.”
Heidi smiled triumphantly. “Dirk’s very busy today.”
This was Liza’s deciding moment. Should she cower under the woman’s totalitarianism or stake her claim on Dirk? “If he doesn’t want to see me, he’ll tell me to go away.” She waited for Heidi to buzz him. Heidi made no move toward the phone. Liza gave her a sweet smile, stalked past her, and opened Dirk’s door.
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