“But you didn’t respond.”
“No. We have to be careful. The Unity works among, and against, some bad types. We have our enemies, and they have no scruples.”
“So I’ve gathered. I swear to you, uh, Miss Macandal, this group I belong to is decent. In fact, we were alerted to your existence because two among us do human rehabilitation themselves. And we are few. Oh, very few,” he ended.
“Nevertheless, you must give me time to consider this. You’ve learned about us. What do we know about you?”
Tannahill sat silent for the better part of a minute before he nodded. “That’s reasonable. Ask anything you like.”
She lifted her brows. “Do you guarantee to answer every single question, truthfully and in full?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “No. Good for you!” Turning serious: “Not before we fully trust each other. Let me do whatever I can toward that.”
“For the moment, nothing. I want to run an independent check on you. Read a few issues of your magazine. Find out how you live, what your neighbors think of you, that sort of thing. What you did to us. It shouldn’t take long. Then Rosa and I will plan our next move.”
He smiled, visibly easing. “What you’re telling me is, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’ Okay. On my side we have both time and patience. We know how to wait. Nothing will happen till you want it to.”
He reached in a pocket and offered his card to her. “That’s my New Hampshire address. My friend and I—I’m not in town alone—we’ll return there tomorrow. Phone whenever you wish, or write if you prefer. If we go away, I’ll tell the staff how to get in touch with me, and should be able to come back here oh a day’s notice.”
“Thank you.”
He came near winning her over at once by promptly rising and saying, “No, my thanks to you. I look forward to hearing at your convenience.” He paused. “Please tell my fable to Ms. Donau, and add the happy ending. The man in it stopped long ago being angry at the woman. He hopes she’ll enjoy meeting him again.”
“I’ll tell her,” Macandal agreed. They clasped hands afresh, a touch that clung the least bit, but neither spoke while she saw him to the door.
Her gaze followed him till he had disappeared down the mean street, walking briskly and fearlessly. Well, she thought, he can take care of himself, he’s been in worse places than Harlem by daylight… Damn, what a charmer!
Or am I just reading that into him? Aliyat may well be right, an immortal man is not necessarily a good man.
If he is, though—if they are—She still hasn’t explained to me exactly what she’s got against him—
What am I waiting for? Why am I hanging back? My God, he’s a man. There are probably other men.
Cool it, girl!
The flood of lust receded. It left her atremble, but able to laugh at herself, and that was a cleansing. Celibacy had been the price she must pay; Mama-lo could not take a series of lovers and dared not take a husband. She thought: I was proud of my self-control, and overlooked how self-important I was getting. Dowri underneath, honey, you’re just another raunchy, limited, woundable human being.
One who’s got responsibilities, though.
She went inside again and upstairs to a room that served as a private office. Its prosaic furnishings and equipment brought her further down from dizziness. She had work to do.
Macandal settled at the desk and reached for the phone. Among the numbers keyed in were three for certain police officers and one for a middle-rank agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Unity had saved those men when they were children. Restless, they had not stayed, but by then it had equipped them to handle the world and they remembered. Not that any of them would betray his trust; nor would she ever ask him to. However, more than once they had looked into matters for her, taking for granted that her unspecified reasons were legitimate. Through them she could quickly find out a great deal about Kenneth Tan-nahill—perhaps even some things he himself didn’t know.