He did his best to ignore her nagging persistence as he sat in his car and watched the house. After a few moments, a single policeman stepped out. He was a tall African American man, fairly young. He turned to say one last thing to whoever stood on the other side of the dooreither the ailing woman or her husband, he supposedand then made his way down to the patrol car. This excited him because he figured it meant the officer would be leaving. But after thirty seconds, the car was still there. It still remained a minute later, and then three minutes after that.

When the police car was still sitting there ten minutes after the policeman had come out of the house, he had a very bad feeling as to what was happening. It seemed the woman was being placed under police protection.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and kept a shout of frustration from rising up out of his throat. Sure, hed expected some police interference at some point, but not this soon. If this woman was being protected, what about the others? Were there truly enough expendable police officers to send out to protect everyone he had in his sightseveryone the voice insisted needed to be done away with?

He glared at the police car, as if willing it to burst into flames. This was going to make things so much harder, and she was going to be so disappointed in him. Shed be mad as hell, too, but the disappointment was what he feared the most.

You screwed around and waited too long and now look what happened, she said as he stared at the car. He could just see the shape of the cop inside as he tried to figure out how he could adjust his plans.

He could still get it done, but he was going to have to take some very drastic measures.

But as long as it made her happy, he was willing to try just about anything.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Rachel sat behind the wheel of their parked car, once again studying the transplant list. It was starting to feel more like a puzzle of some kind than a list. She had a new print-out and was starting over with her selection process. But before she committed by marks to the page, she looked over to Jack and shook her head.

Dont take this the wrong way, he said, but you look like youre looking for the answer to a crossword clue right now.

I was just thinking thats exactly how I feel.