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“He doesn’t know I’m here”
“Right” There was a bite to Stone’s words that surprised him
“He doesn’t,” she said emphatically
“So why are you really here? And it’s not just to check your cover Or see if I was okay”
She looked at him curiously “A deduction based on what?”
“Based on the fact that I have you pegged as a multitasker”
She sighed “I just wanted to see you again Make sure you really were okay, despite what I was told You were blown up, after all”
“And why is that important to you?”
“It just is”
“I’ this”
She drew closer to him “Well, then let me be uncharacteristically frank We’re actually a lot alike, John Carr There aren’t many people who do e do” Her features softened and she seemed
to be looking past him “I’ve lived so many years of my life as someone I’m really not” She refocused on hier period of time I’ve never met anyone like me That is, until I uess just to convince myself that I’m not alone That there are others like ical to you”
“No, it actually doesn’t It makes a lot of sense, in fact”
She drew closer to him “It’s a lonely life”
“It can be, yes”
“I can tell you’ve been alone a long time”
“How?”
She slowly lifted her hand and touched it against his cheek “It’s in the face The face doesn’t lie, if you kno to look” She paused “And we both do kno to look, don’t we?”
She removed her hand and Stone looked away
“I’m sorry if I’ve embarrassed you,” she said “I just wish…”
“What?”
“That we had o”
“It wouldn’t have worked a long tio”
“Does that mean it could work now?”
Stone looked away again “Nothing ith me”
“You’re choosy?”
“It’s not that Even if I were choosy, you would be… Well, it doesn’t matter now”
“It can always matter Even for two old warriors like us”
“I’m old You’re not”
“In this business we’re all old” She paused “If we’re still alive”
She stood, slid a hand down his cheek and then bussed her lips against his face
“Take care of yourself,” she said A one
CHAPTER 73
STONE AND CHAPMAN WERE DISCHARGED fro held for observation Stone had to ad knocked unconscious tithin a short period of ti et out of his bed and take up the hunt onceevent was close to happening He could feel it in every nerve he had
As Chapman drove off in a new ride provided by the FBI, Stone looked across at her “How many stitches?”
She touched the bandage across her forehead “Six here and two more on the cheek Doc said I’d be healed in plenty of tiet off without any? I distinctly re out”
“They probably figured what’s the use? And the major cut was on my scalp There’s a Band-Aid up there but you can’t see it”
“I guess we are very lucky”
“Luckier than Judy Donohue”
“So they roped her into this whole thing How? Money?”
“I would assu”