When they were done eating, and the cleanup was over, Slick took charge. “We’re going to go to a hotel, Sam. You need some time for yourself to come to terms with everything. We’ll be back in the morning bright and early with a game plan. Try and get some sleep if that’s possible. We’re here for you.”

Sam watched them go, grateful to Slick for giving her some private time. The tears started to flow the moment she shut and locked the door. Alpha was immediately at her side as she curled up on the sofa and turned on the TV.

It was so weird, everything looked exactly the same as it had almost twelve months ago when she left. There was no dust anywhere. The carpets had been vacuumed, fresh towels hung in the bathroom. Even the refrigerator had what she thought was the exact same food, but fresh. Even the windows looked like they had been washed. How weird was that?

Sam mumbled and muttered as she tried to make sense out of what had just happened to her. Her failing to make the cut was personal, she felt it in her gut. There was no other explanation. The kiss the previous night wasn’t something she’d initiated even though she’d responded. With gusto. She’d been kissed hundreds of times but never like that. Even Douglas Cosmo Rainford, III, who had been a superb kisser, couldn’t come close to evoking the kind of response Pappy had evoked. Did Pappy use that kiss as proof of her breaking the rules? One slip, that he’d initiated, on the eve of departure, was reason enough to bounce her from the program. She started to cry again. Alpha snuggled against her. “And then he lets me keep youuuu.” Sam sobbed as she led Alpha to the door and walked him around the complex until he was ready to go back indoors.

Sam slept then, curled up on the couch, because she was too tired to do anything else.

At the Airport Marriott, the remaining members of Team Three gathered in the lounge. It was relatively quiet, most of the cocktail-hour patrons on their way home. Hawkins eyed two young guys who were jabbering on cell phones. He was off his chair in an instant and motioning to the two yuppies. When he had their attention, he said, “I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you let me make one or two long-distance calls on your cell phone. The airline lost my luggage, and my phone was inside. What do you say?”

“Sure, I have free long-distance. Wait, you’re not calling out of the country, are you?”

“Nope. California. They’ll be short calls, so your minutes won’t add up.” The yuppie nodded. Money changed hands.