persistent nudgings. Working quickly now, he made his way to the end of
the files listed on the paper. Then he reached inside his coat and
withdrew a three-and-a-half-inch micro floppy disk and placed it in the
computer’s disk drive. A couple of minutes later, Jason withdrew the
disk, turned off the computer and left. He walked quietly back through
the maze of security, said good-bye to Charlie and moved out into the
night.
CHAPTER THREE
The moonlight drifted through the window, giving shape to certain
objects in the darkened interior of the large room. On a long, solid
pine bureau a number’ of framed photos stood in three tiers. In one
photo, set in the back row, Sidney Archer, dressed in a dark blue
business suit, leaned against a gleaming silver Jaguar sedan. Next to
her Jason Archer wore a smile along with his suspenders and dress shirt
as he looked lovingly into Sidney’s eyes. Another photo showed the same
couple, dressed casually, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, their
fingers pointing up, mouths opened in spontaneous laughter.
In the middle row of photos, Sidney, some years older, her face bloated,
hair wet and clinging to the sides of her head, reclined in a hospital
bed. A tiny bundle, eyes scrunched shut, was clutched in her arms. The
picture next to that showed Jason, bleary-eyed and unshaven, wearing
only a T-shirt and Looney Tunes boxer shorts, lying on the floor. The
little one, the eyes now wide open and the brightest of blues, formed a
small and contented hump on her father’s chest.
The center photo in the front row had clearly been taken at Halloween.
The little bundle was now two years old and dressed as a princess
replete with tiara and slippers. Mother and father hovered proudly
behind, eyes staring into the camera, their hands cradling the little
girl’s back and shoulders.
Jason and Sidney lay in the four-poster bed. Jason tossed and turned.
It had been a week since the last late-night visit to his office.
Now the payoff finally was here, making it impossible to sleep.
Next to the bedroom door a fully packed, large and particularly ugly
canvas bag with blue crisscross stripes and the initials jw^ sat next to
a black metal case. The clock on the nightstand limped to two a.M.
Sidney’s long, slender arm reached out from under the covers and glided
around Jason’s head, slowly pushing his hair around.
Sidney propped herself up on one elbow and continued to play with her
husband’s hair as she moved closer to him, finally matching his contours
with her own. The flimsy nightgown clung to her.
“Are you asleep?” she murmured. In the background the muted creaks and
groans of the aged house were the only sounds to break the silence.
Jason rolled over to look at his wife. “Not really.”
“I could tell–you’ve been moving around a lot. Sometimes you do it in
your sleep. You and Amy.”
“I hope I haven’t been talking in my sleep. Don’t want to give any
secrets away.” He smiled weakly.
Her hand dropped to his face, which she gently stroked. “Everyone needs
to keep some secrets, I guess, although I thought we agreed not to have
any.” She gave a little laugh, but it was hollow.
Jason’s mouth parted for a moment as if he were going to speak, but he
quickly closed it, stretched his arms and looked at the clock. He
groaned when he saw the time. “Jesus, I might as well get up now.
The cab will be here at five-thirty.”
Sidney glanced over at the bags by the doorway and frowned.
“This trip really came out of the blue, Jason.”
Jason didn’t look at her. Instead he wiped his eyes and yawned. “I
know. I didn’t even find out about it until late yesterday afternoon.
When the boss says go, I go.”
Sidney sighed. “I knew the day would come when we’d both be out of town
at the same time.”
Jason’s voice was anxious as he looked at her. “But you worked it out
with the day-care center?”
“I had to arrange for someone to stay past the regular Closing, but