“He told me about someone, Gabriel did. I think it's an interesting idea.”

“Let's go with his thoughts then,” Harris said, nodding.

“Agreed.”

“Let's pray for his successful mission.”

Their eyes closed tightly as they dropped to their knees and the three men that made up the council of elders of the New Putnam Pentecostal Church of Christ Revealed, known — though only to themselves — as the Sword of Jesus, prayed. And they prayed so fervently, their grim lips moved with silent words and tears came into their eyes.

Ten minutes later they rose from the floor, feeling refreshed and cleansed, and John placed a call to Gabriel, waiting for their message in the terrible city of Sodom.

Sam Healy didn't sound quite right.

Rune wasn't sure what it was. Maybe he was standing next to a five-pound wad of C-4 or a land mine.

“So. What's it going to be? Sunshine and sand? Mountains? I need fresh air and wildlife, skunks and badgers, even worms and snakes. Where're we going?”

The rush-hour traffic sped past the phone booth. It was eight a.m.

“Uh, Rune...”

Oh, boy. Do I know that tone.

“Something's sort of come up.”

Sort of, yeah.

“What? You on an assignment?”

Silence.

Healy said, “I want to be honest with you...”

Oh, shit. She hated that word: Honest. It was like Sit down, dear. Right up there with There's something we have to talk about.

“Cheryl called,” Healy said.

Hey, not the end of the world.

Not so far.

“Is Adam okay? Is anything wrong?”

“No. Everything's fine.”

Another pause.

"She wanted to see me. To talk about... our situation.

He's told her about me? A warm burst of pleasure in her stomach. Rune asked, “Our...”

“I mean, Cheryl and me,” Healy said.

“Oh.” That our."

“I know we made plans but I thought I ought to... I wanted to be up-front with you.”

“Hey, not a problem,” Rune said cheerfully. I'm not going to ask. No way in the world am I going to ask... Where they go, what they do, that's their business. I will not ash. Rune asked, “Is she going to spend the night?” Oh, shit, no, no, no... “I'm sorry, it's none of my business.”

“No, she isn't. We're not even going to have lunch or anything.” He laughed. “We're just going to talk. On neutral ground.”

Discuss their situation? The bitch dumped him. That's not a situation; that's warfare.

As politely as possible: “Well, I hope you both get everything resolved.”

Big grin on my face. I'm so proud of myself.

“I'll call you tomorrow,” he said.

“No phone, remember?”

“You call me?”

“Will do.”

“You don't sound pissed...”

Don't I? I'll try harder...

“... but you probably are. The thing is, I like you a lot, Rune. I didn't want to lie to you.”

“Honest, yeah, I appreciate honesty, Sam. That's very important.”

They hung up.

“Fuck honesty,” she said out loud.