His breathing back to normal, Pappy looked around for a taxi. Traffic was light at that hour of the evening but there was no sign of a taxi. “The whole thing, Pop. All those religious people, the FBI guy bursting through the door. My first thought was it was a setup of some kind. The senator didn’t seem disturbed at all. Either he lives for food, or he has a death wish. The man was going to finish his dessert, and that was all there was to it.”

“And that means…what?”

“I don’t know, Pop. It didn’t feel right the whole time we were there. My instincts were on high alert.”

Pappy stepped off the curb, whistled shrilly, and waved his arm. A yellow cab slid to the curb. Both men climbed in. Pappy rattled off Sam’s address. Neither man spoke on the thirty-five-minute ride to Sam’s condo. Pappy paid the driver and both men stepped out of the cab.

Kyros lowered his body to the top step on the stoop while Pappy marched over to the door and rang the bell. Inside he could hear Alpha bark. The bark turned to a pitiful whine as he hovered on the other side of the door. Pappy dropped to his haunches and spoke to the door. “Fetch her, Alpha.” The dog continued to whine. Pappy knew instinctively that Sam wasn’t inside. His shoulders slumped as he continued to talk to the dog on the other side of the door.

“The moon is riding high in the sky, son. We’re going to attract attention soon. Two old men dressed like we are will be considered homeless, and someone will call the authorities. Make it quick,” Kyros said in a harsh-sounding voice.

“She’s not here, Pop. I’m talking to Alpha.”

“Write her a note,” Kyros shot back. “We have to leave.”

Write her a note. With what? He didn’t have a pen or a pencil, nor did he have any paper. For one wild, crazy moment he thought about pricking his finger and scratching his name on her door in blood. Instead, he pulled out his wallet and withdrew the driver’s license that had expired eight years ago. He slid it under the door. It was all he could do.

Pappy joined his father, and, together, the two men walked up the street to use Pappy’s prepaid cell phone to call a cab that would take them to the airport for their return to the mountain.

Kyros patted his son’s shoulders. “You tried, son. It’s time for us to go back where we belong.”

“Yeah, Pop, you’re right. It’s time to go back where we belong.”

The senator’s security detail was respectful of the religious group as they climbed out of the van and followed the senator to the elevator that would take him to his palatial apartment.