Sharon rolls her eyes. “I did our girls, didn’t I?” Then, addressing me, she adds, “Men. They all think they’re the only experts.” She plants a kiss full on her husband’s lips. “Don’t you worry, honey. I’ll love you ’til you’re dead. Maybe a while after that.”

She works with the same steadiness on Jackie’s counter as Lin did when trepanning the chimpanzee. “You might get a little buzz, girl, but don’t say a word unless you want both of us knocked on our asses. Del’s good, but his key isn’t the same one those goons who put this on you used. Okay. Ready?”

Jackie nods, then looks directly at me.

“There!” Sharon says, a note of triumph in her voice, and moves on to Lin.

The first words out of Jackie’s mouth are exactly what I expect.

“Holy fuck. That was worse than that fucking meditation retreat I went on twenty years ago.”

Same old Jacko, I think, and talk to her—really talk to her—for the first time in two decades.

Chapter Seventy-six

SEVENTY-SIX

By the time we turn in to the Rays’ dirt track that passes for a driveway, Del and Sharon have sketched out everything: Poe’s successful undercover work, Del’s staged arrest, and Steven’s rescue.

“That part was easy,” Sharon says. “He was one floor below the lab. Along with a few army guys who thought they could take over the building. Didn’t work. Those boys have more brawn than brains.” She looks over at Petroski, who’s staring blankly at the air in front of him. “Sorry. I don’t mean you, soldier.”

By the way her eyes move up and to the left, it’s clear this is exactly what she means.

“He did just fine, Sharon,” I say, watching a glimmer of confidence brighten Petroski’s eyes.

Poe cuts the engine and circles around to let us out. When he helps Lin down, her tiny hand disappears into his. The two of them together make a ridiculous sort of King Kong tableau. Lorenzo hops out and reaches up for me with both arms.

“Jean?”

Patrick’s voice cuts through the still night air at the same time I let myself fall against Lorenzo. I break away and walk across the dirt road to my husband, feeling a pull in both directions, sensing that I’m being ripped in two.

“Thank god, babe,” Patrick says, folding himself around me. When Steven appears, the three of us stand in a three-way embrace until Poe has to break it up.

“Later,” Poe says. “Some of us have a long night.”