Page 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

T HIRTY YEARS AGO.

Four days. It would all happen in four days, the Thursday night before spring break. The Planner’s father had been nagging him to transfer to a different college, preferably his alma mater, and the Planner had agreed to interview with them on Friday. Since his mother and sisters would be out of town, he and his dad would make a whole weekend out of it. They’d leave for Boston Thursday night. Not until they were out of the state would he tell his father what had happened.

At that point, his father would demand he transfer, probably in exchange for establishing the Planner’s alibi. He’d agree and then back out later, unless he could get the Crusader to transfer with him.

One step at a time.

They’d already moved the device into his car, so the Builder’s part was finished.

The Crusader’s gaze darted around the room as if evaluating threats. “I did what you asked. Michael?—”

“No names,” the Planner hissed.

“Sorry,” she said. “He likes the place. He calls it ‘our overlook.’ Isn’t that sweet? We’ve been back there a few times. He’ll know where to meet me when I call him.”

Squelching jealousy, the Planner slid his hand over her arm. “But you haven’t told him anything?”

“Of course not. Of course not. He’d stop us.”

“Okay then. Thursday night, you’ll pick me up. I’ll park near the new development. We’ll go to a pay phone, and you’ll call him and ask him to meet you at the overlook.” He couldn’t bring himself to call it their anything. “Then you and I will do it. It’ll only take a few minutes. You’ll drop me at my car, then go up to the overlook and meet him. He should already be there. If we do this right, he’ll have left the house right away. Will he have the baby with him?”

“Maybe. Depends. Sometimes, his parents stay with us, so they might be there to watch her.”

“Good. I hope they are. Then they’ll say he wasn’t home at the time of the bombing, lend credence to the idea that he could have done it.”

She nodded along. They’d gone over the plan a hundred times already, but her mental state worried him.

“I can do this by myself,” he said. “Maybe you should stay home?—”

“I have to be there.” She spoke with both vehemence and volume. “I have to see it happen. I have to!”

“Lower your voice.”

She leaned in and whispered, “We’re going to take them down. We’re going to protect our home, the earth. We’re going to protect the forest that gives us life for ourselves and for our children. For Aspen.”

He wasn’t sure he’d go that far, but he loved the forest too.

Mostly, he loved her. He’d do anything for her.

The Builder pushed back and stood. “You don’t need me.” A glare at their mutual friend prompted a low remark. “She’s going to blow the whole thing if she doesn’t keep quiet.”

“I’ve got it,” the Planner said. “You and I won’t talk again until after.”

The Builder gripped the Crusader’s shoulder and squeezed, then walked out.

It was just the two of them. He took her hands and leaned close. “I’m worried about you. I think maybe it would be best if you stayed?—”

“I have to be there.” She quit the fidgeting, though it seemed to take great effort. She met his eyes and bent toward him. “I’m under control. You don’t have to worry about me.”

That she felt she had to convince him scared him more than anything. She was self-aware enough to know she was spinning out.

But he was doing this for her. He wasn’t about to rob her of the joy of seeing her dream come true.

“Meet me Thursday at nine o’clock. We’ll go together from there. We can’t take the back way in.” The Builder had told him the device was stable, but he wasn’t about to go bouncing on an old logging road with it in his arms. “We’ll take the main entrance, make sure the lot is empty, then set it up where the Builder said.”

The Crusader’s eyes sparkled in anticipation. Her complete lack of fear was as admirable as it was terrifying.

Did she really understand what they were doing?

Of course she did. This whole thing had been her idea.

“We’ll take the logging road when we leave. We should be out of the woods before it goes off. We’ll go straight up to the spot. You drop me at my car and then meet him.”

“It’s perfect.”

“You remember what to tell him after?”

“That he has to say I was with him. If he doesn’t, my partner”—she kissed the Planner’s cheek and giggled—“will send the evidence to the police, and he’ll be implicated.”

She seemed to understand. Despite the wild look in her eyes—some combination of glee and excitement—she comprehended the gravity of the situation.

He hoped.

“We won’t see each other over spring break. You’ll be questioned. When they come to talk to you, you only need to remember one word.”

“Lawyer.”

“Exactly. You have the number I gave you?”

She nodded.

“He’s good. If your husband won’t pay him, I will.”

There were benefits to having a trust fund.

“He’ll pay.” Her confidence in her husband only irritated him, though it was probably merited. Despite everything, it seemed her husband loved her.

After she left, the Planner finished his beer, tipped the bartender, and made his way out. It was dark by the time he reached his car, so he didn’t see the figure leaning against his driver’s door until he was almost to it.

Hiding his surprise, he stopped and crossed his arms.

“I think you should call it off,” the Builder said.

“Why didn’t you say that inside?”

“She’d have blown a gasket and alerted the whole bar.”

The Planner made a show of looking around the nearly empty lot. “It’s not like anybody was there to hear.”

“It wasn’t empty. That bartender and a couple of the customers have been here every time we’ve met. When our pictures are on TV?—”

“ If they are.”

“—they’re going to recognize us. Her, at least. She doesn’t exactly go unnoticed.”

She did turn heads everywhere she went. And once she got to talking, she was impossible to forget.

“Somebody could report these meetings,” the Builder said. “Even if not, you know they’re going to question her. Do you really think she’ll be able to keep her mouth shut? I’m not sure she has any idea what we’re doing.”

“She knows. She gets it.”

A loud sigh filled the space between them. “You know I’d do anything for her. For you too. But I’m not ruining my life over this. They’re going to know it was us.”

The Planner’s lips stretched into a smile. “Knowing it and proving it are two different things.”