Saving Faith By: David Baldacci

model.

“See anybody watching us?” Lee asked. Faith shook her head.

He walked over to the car and held the tennis ball against the key

lock, the hole in the ball facing the lock’s opening.

Faith looked at him as if he were insane. “What are you doing?” In

response, he slammed his fist against the tennis ball, driving all the

air out of the ball and into the key lock. Faith watched in amazement

as all four door locks popped open.

“How did you do that?”

“Get in.”

Lee slid into the car, and Faith did the same.

He poked his head under the steering column and found the wires he

needed.

“You can’t hot-wire these new cars. The technology-” Faith stopped

talking when the car started.

Lee sat up, put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. He

looked at Faith. “What?”

“All right, so how did the tennis ball unlock the car?”

“I’ve got my professional secrets.”

While Lee waited in the car with his eyes sharply on the lookout, Faith

entered her bank, explained what she wanted to the assistant manager

and managed to sign her name, all without falling over in a dead faint.

Steady, girl, one step at a time. Fortunately, she knew the man.

The assistant manager looked curiously at her new appearance. “Midlife

crisis,” she said, responding to his stare. “Decided to go for the

youthful, streamlined look.”

“It’s very becoming, Ms. Lockhart,” he said gallantly.

She closely watched him as he took her key, inserted it and the bank’s

duplicate key into the lock and pulled out her box. They left the

vault and he set the box inside the private booth across from the vault

reserved for safe-deposit box tenants. As he walked away, Faith

continued to watch him.

Was he one of them? Was he going to slip away and call the police or

the FBI or whoever was running around killing people? Instead he sat

down at his desk, opened a white bag, extracted a glazed donut and

proceeded to devour it.

Satisfied for the moment, Faith closed and locked the door. She opened

the box and stared at the contents for a moment. Then she swept it all

into her bag and closed the box. The young man put the safe-deposit

box back in the vault and Faith walked out as calmly as she could.

Back in the car, Faith and Lee headed down Interstate 395, where they

exited on to the GW Parkway and headed south to Reagan National

Airport. Going against the morning rush hour, they made good time.

Faith looked over at Lee, who stared straight ahead, lost in thought.

“You did really well back there,” she said.

“Actually, we cut it closer than I would have liked.” He paused and

shook his head. “I’m really worried about Max, as stupid as that

sounds under the circumstances.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid.”

“Max and I have been together a long time. For years it’s been only me

and that old dog.”

“I doubt they would have done anything to him with all those people

around.”

“Yeah, you’d like to think so, wouldn’t you? But the fact is if

they’ll kill a man, a dog doesn’t have a chance.”

“I’m sorry you had to do that for me.”

He sat up straight. “Well, a dog is still a dog, Faith. And we’ve got

other things to worry about, don’t we?”

Faith found herself nodding. “Yes.”

“I guess my magnet trick didn’t work so well. They must have

identified me through the video. Still, that was awfully fast.” He

shook his head, his expression a mix of admiration and fear. “Like

scary fast.”

Faith felt her spirits sink. If Lee was scared, at what level of sheer

terror should she be operating? “Not very encouraging, is it?” she

said.

“I might be a little better prepared if you tell me what’s going on.”

After the man’s heroics, Faith found herself wanting to confide in him.

But then the phone call from Buchanan came flashing back, ringing in

her ears, like the shots last night.

“When we get to North Carolina, we’ll have it all out. Both sides,”

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