The Prophecy

36

When it came to sleep, Payne and Jones were polar opposites. Payne had always been a troubled sleeper. Even as a child, he had struggled to turn off his brain at night, constantly thinking about all the things he had accomplished during the day and all the stuff he had to do tomorrow. Jones, on the other hand, could flip an internal switch that allowed him to power down like the Terminator. In fact, the MANIACs always teased Jones about it, claiming he would be the best prisoner of war ever because he could sleep through all the torture.

Therefore, it was no surprise that Payne was still awake at 2.13 a.m. when he heard a soft tapping on the connecting door from Megan’s room. There was no urgency to the sound, so Payne didn’t leap out of bed with his gun drawn. And Jones didn’t flinch, either — although one of his eyes popped open, just to make sure everything was all right. Payne told him to go back to sleep, and just like that, Jones closed his eye and slipped back into robot mode.

Wearing tracksuit pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt, Payne crept across the dark room and put his ear to the door. ‘Are you okay?’ he whispered.

‘I’m fine,’ Megan said. ‘Are you decent?’

‘I think so. And you?’

Instead of replying, Megan opened her door, revealing the soft glow of a lamp on her bedside table. Dressed in silk pyjamas and a hotel robe, her hair was pulled back with a white scrunchie. ‘Do you have a minute to talk?’

‘Of course,’ Payne said, looming in the doorway like a palace guard. At six foot four and two hundred and forty pounds, he was a foot taller than she was and more than double her weight. ‘Do I need to wake my chaperone, or will you behave?’

‘I will, if you will.’

‘No promises,’ he teased.

She moved aside and smiled. ‘Keep in mind, I still have pepper spray.’

He stepped into her room. ‘Duly noted.’

Her queen-size bed was a tangle of blankets and sheets, as if she had been tossing and turning non-stop since she had said goodnight over three hours earlier. Her TV was on with its volume down low, barely audible above the rumble of the heater. In one corner of the room, there was a leather chair with its back against the drawn curtains. Payne pointed to it, and she nodded, giving him permission to sit down. As he did, she plopped on the soft mattress, tucking her bare feet underneath her for warmth.

‘Did I wake you?’ she asked, concerned.

‘Not at all. I’m something of a night owl. Have been my whole life.’

‘Me, too,’ she admitted. ‘But even if I wasn’t, I would be tonight.’

He smiled. ‘To be honest, I would’ve been shocked if you had fallen right to sleep. Guns and virgins rarely mix.’

‘Did you say virgins?’

‘Sorry. It’s a military term for new soldiers in the field. Rookies, virgins, newbies, fresh meat — they all mean the same thing. Whatever you call them, they rarely sleep well.’

She shook her head. ‘I can’t even imagine how scared I’d be.’

He shrugged, not sure how to explain it to someone who had never served in the armed forces. ‘If you’re interested, I have some heavy duty sleeping pills in the other room. Take one of those, and you’ll be out until Tuesday.’

‘Wow,’ Megan joked, ‘we just met, and you’re already trying to corrupt me. First it was guns, now it’s drugs. What’s next? Are we going to rob a bank together?’

‘That depends on you, Bonnie. Can you handle a getaway car?’

‘Not a problem, Clyde — as long as it’s an automatic. I’m a little rusty with a stick.’

‘A beautiful woman like you? I find that hard to believe.’

She blushed at the innuendo, her blue eyes shining in the dimly lit room. ‘There you go again. Always flirting.’

He raised his hands defensively. ‘Sorry about that. From here on in, I swear I’ll be on my best behaviour.’

She giggled at his claim. ‘Don’t become a Boy Scout just for me. Your best behaviour is probably too boring for my taste. I’d settle for pretty good behaviour with an extra side of compliments. I mean, a woman always likes to hear she’s beautiful.’

‘Strangely, DJ said the same thing about himself. He’s such a pampered little princess.’

She laughed at the comment. ‘I wish I had a best friend like that.’

‘Actually, he’s more than a friend. He’s family. The only family I’ve got.’

She nodded, envious. ‘Like I said, I wish I had a friend like that.’

The two of them talked for another ten minutes, learning about each other’s backgrounds — including Megan’s job as a hostess at one of the nicer restaurants in Philadelphia. Eventually, Payne changed the topic of the conversation, focusing on something that had been bothering him.

‘When you knocked on my door,’ he said, ‘I had the feeling that you wanted to talk about something in particular. Was I imagining that?’

‘Not at all. I actually remembered something that might be important, and I wanted to tell you guys before I forgot.’

‘Go on.’

Megan crossed her legs in front of her, resting her elbows on her knees. ‘The people who searched Ashley’s apartment were looking for your letter, right?’

Payne shrugged. ‘We think so, but we don’t know for sure.’

‘Well, if she was hiding it, I think I know where it might be.’

He leaned forward in his chair. ‘Where?’

‘In the basement.’

‘What basement?’

‘The one in my apartment building. For a hundred bucks a month, you can rent a storage closet. They aren’t very big, but they’re perfect for storing boxes and junk. They’re pretty safe, too. All of them come with a lock.’

‘And Ashley rented one?’

Megan nodded. ‘I helped her carry a table down there once. Her space was jammed with all kinds of stuff. At least it was a few months ago.’

Payne considered the information. ‘You know, the odds are pretty good the intruders wouldn’t have known about it. Obviously that doesn’t mean she hid the letter there — for all we know she might have a safe-deposit box somewhere in the city — but if she wanted round the clock access to it, that would be a lot safer than under her bed.’

‘That’s what I was thinking, too.’

He smiled. ‘I’m glad you thought of it. We can check it out first thing in the morning.’

‘And then what?’

‘Well, I guess that depends on what we find.’

‘Actually, I was hoping for more of a long-term prognosis.’

‘Oh, you meant when can you safely go back to your life?’

She nodded. ‘Something like that.’

Payne shrugged. ‘To be honest, I’m not really sure what to tell you. Right now I have some contacts researching the gunmen who attacked us in Pittsburgh. If we catch a break or two, we might be able to wrap things up in a couple of days.’

‘And if we don’t?’

He grinned. ‘There’s a decent chance we’ll be spending Christmas together.’