Together, he and Abe dragged the slashed and deflated raft to the truck and threw it into the back, then they framed Gia and Vicky in the front seat, but this time Abe took the wheel. He knocked out the remains of the shattered windshield with the flat of his palm and started the engine. The sand was packed around the rear wheels but Abe skillfully rocked it out and drove through the gate Jack had rammed open earlier.

“A miracle if we make it uptown without getting pulled over for this windshield.”

“Blame it on vandals,” Jack told him. He turned to Vicky, who lay curled up agianst her mother, and ran his forefinger along her arm.

“You’re safe now, Vicks.”

“Yes, she is,” Gia said with a small smile as she laid her cheek against the top of Vicky’s head. “Thank you, Jack.”

Jack saw that the child was sleeping. “It’s what I do.”

Gia said nothing. Instead, she slipped her free hand into his. Jack looked into her eyes and saw there was no longer any fear there. It was a look he had longed to see. The sight of Vicky sleeping peacefully made all the pain and horror worthwhile; the look in Gia’s eyes was a bonus.

She leaned her head back and closed those eyes. “Is it really over?”

“For you, it is. For me… there’s one loose end left.”

“The woman,” Gia said. It wasn’t a question.

Jack nodded, thinking about Kolabati sitting in his apartment, and about what might be happening to her. He reached across Gia to get Abe’s attention.

“Drop me off at my place first, will you, Abe? Then take Gia home.”

“You can’t take care of those wounds by yourself!” she said. “You need a doctor.”

“Doctors ask too many questions.”

“Then come home with me. Let me clean you up.”

“It’s a deal. I’ll be over as soon as I finish at my place.”

Gia’s eyes narrowed. “What’s so important that you have to see her so soon?”

“I’ve got some personal property of hers”—he tapped the necklace around his throat—”that has to be returned.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“Afraid not. I borrowed it without telling her, and I’ve been told she really needs it.”

Gia said nothing.

“I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

By way of reply, Gia turned her face into the wind coming through the glassless front of the truck and stared stonily ahead.

Jack sighed. How could he explain to her that “the woman” might be aging years by the hour, might be a drooling senile wreck by now? How could he convince Gia when he couldn’t quite convince himself?

The rest of the trip passed in silence. Abe wended his way over to Hudson Street and turned uptown to Eighth Avenue, which took him to Central Park West. They saw a few police cars, but none was close enough to notice the missing windshield.

“Thanks for everything, Abe,” Jack said as the truck pulled up in front of the brownstone.