Page 141 of Nash Falls

And now my soul has gone through the ultimate metamorphosis.

Because one minute ago I just lost my humanity.

Forever.

CHAPTER

68

AMONTH AFTER LEARNING OF HISdaughter’s death, Nash looked down at his hands. When he had been hired at Sybaritic, FINRA regulations required a fingerprint-based background check. Now whatever he touched with his hands could leave behind a trace that could then be compared to his fingerprints in a database. And his real identity would be revealed regardless of how much the rest of him had changed. He could not bench-press his fingerprints into a different mass of arches, loops, and whorls.

To counteract that he had used first a brick and then a pumice stone on the finger pads of his hands. Shock had told him that his prints probably would be no good for the authorities to take for up to two weeks, because the pumice and brick rubbings temporarily reduced or even erased the ridges necessary for adhesion of the printing ink. It was painful, but far less painful than being in prison. However, the skin would grow back, requiring him to keep doing it.

If he were caught he would have to explain about the condition of his fingertips, and his ready explanation was that he was a bricklayer. He had learned how to do that at Shock’s direction. Apparently, there was little that the man had not done in his long life. However, the better strategy obviously was not to be caught at all.

The days were growing shorter, and gloomier. And his daughter’s meager remains were long since buried. He had watched on TV as a local station covered the funeral service. He saw Judith walk into and out of the church, the same one where his father’s service had taken place, then watched her at the cemetery. She lookedheavier and older, like a ghost of herself. He also saw many people from Sybaritic Investments.

Including Rhett Temple. He was right next to Judith, his hand on the small of her back, guiding her where she needed to go. A staunch friend, the news anchor said, since her husband—the cause of all this misery—had gone on the run.

Yes, staunch friend. And lover. And criminal. And all-around piece of shit.

Then Shock had walked in and turned the TV off.

“Enough,” he had said to Nash. “Enough, Walter.” And Nash had not disagreed. Itwasenough, all of it.

Nash now had a new driver’s license, an American passport, a Social Security card, a checking account, and credit and debit cards Shock had made up for him, all under the name Dillon Hope.

“These are as solid as they come, Walter. You can fly with these babies, even international, no lie.”

“How were you able to do that?”

“You think folks in the right places can’t be bribed? They make government wage, man. Not much left over in the kitty for fun. Some computer clicks on the old databases and, presto, you got Dillon Hope, a living, breathin’ man with a past. Don’t matter the background checks they do, whatever level, you will be good to go. Cost a packet. That’s why I asked for some of the money the government paid you, so I could get the best stuff out there.”

“Speaking of, I need to pay you for all this.”

“No, Walter. I ain’t lookin’ to profit off this. And hell, your daddy already left me a quarter million bucks. I was already set for retirement. Now I’m more than set. And Byron’s got himself a nice federal pension. We good, man, but thanks for the thought.”

“Where’d you get the name Dillon Hope?”

“Knew a dude named Dillon back in Mississippi. Good man.”

“You still in touch?”

“Naw, some assholes killed him when we was in high school ’cause he was gay.”

“And the surname, Hope?”

“I thought that would be self-evident.”

Shock gave him a flash drive with his full background from birth to present.

“You got a personal security employment background with all the certifications, clearances, bells and whistles. And, hell, with all I taught you, Walter, you can do that job no problem. Now, anybody calls or emails to verify anythin’, you are good to go. Don’t ask how, but let me just say that AI has been a boon to those lookin’ to jack up fake CVs and backgrounds. Just memorize what you need to and then get rid of the flash drive. Your old man once told me you got a photographic memory, so it should be no problem.”

“Thanks, Shock. And speaking of photographs…”

He took out one from his wallet. It was the picture he’d found in the safe, of his father and Shock in Vietnam.

He handed it to Shock, who grinned and said, “Damn, I remember that day. We’d taken back a pile of high dirt the North Vietnamese had grabbed from us the day before. And they’d take it back the next day, and on and on it would go. But right when this picture was taken, for just those few minutes, life was good. Life was sweet, man.” He turned the photo over and read off the words written there.