Alex pressed her cheek to his chest as they walked. "You're not alone. Remember that."

"Alex-" He caught his breath as they stepped over a hole in the sidewalk. "Everybody faces death alone."

She shook her head. "Not you. You have Ben, and…I'll be right beside you, no matter what happens."

He squeezed her shoulder.

"But nothing bad's going to happen," she said forcefully. "We're going to find these assholes, and we're going to get you cured. Right?"

His reply was a whisper. "I hope so."

Will Kilmer sat in his Explorer, watching Thora Shepard walk angrily up and down the block beneath the AmSouth tower. She clearly meant to ambush Rusk, even if she had to wait all day to do it. Will knew that the confrontation was imminent, since one of his operatives had called and told him that Rusk was sitting in traffic only a block away.

As though she were telepathic, Thora began to concentrate on the private parking garage from which Rusk would try to leave if he had been hiding upstairs. She obviously knew what kind of vehicle he drove, for when the gleaming black Cayenne wheeled around the nearest corner and rolled up to the bar that blocked the garage entrance, Thora sprinted over, interposed herself between Rusk's window and the card reader, and started banging on his window.

Will climbed out of his Explorer and hurried across the street. Thora was hammering the Porsche's window with her fists, while Rusk gaped in shock. His only option was to back up and flee, but a Cadillac had already pulled into the lane behind him. At last, Rusk lowered his window and hissed, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Give me your key card," Thora demanded.

"What?"

The Cadillac honked behind them.

"Give me your card!"

"Get out of here!" Rusk snarled. "Don't you know what's at stake?"

"You have to call it off! This instant!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the lawyer said woodenly.

The Cadillac honked again.

Thora leaned down to the window, but by now Will was only a few feet away. "He knows," she hissed. "Chris knows everything."

"You're crazy."

"If you don't call it off, I'm going to-"

Rusk thrust his key card past her and tried to slip it into the slot.

To Will's amazement, Thora sank her teeth into the lawyer's forearm with enough force to compel a scream. Rusk yanked back his arm, and Thora grabbed the card. When the driver of the Cadillac opened his door and got out, Rusk realized how dangerous the scene was.

"Get in, you crazy bitch!" he snapped. "Hurry!"

Thora ran around the Cayenne's hood and climbed into the passenger seat. Rusk took the card from her and jammed it into the slot. When the barrier rose, he screeched into the parking garage.

Will took out his cell phone and called Alex, but again he got no answer.

Chris was vomiting in the bathroom of their room at the Cabot Lodge when Alex's cell phone began to ring. She had only plugged it in a moment ago, and now she was supporting Chris while he puked.

"You can get it," Chris croaked, dry-heaving over the commode. "I'm okay."

"You're far from okay."

"This is just side effects from the medicine. Go."

Alex let go of his shoulders and ran into the bedroom. The caller ID listed Will's phone. The detective sounded ten years younger when he answered her callback.

"Kid, I've been trying to reach you all morning. This thing's breaking wide-open."

"What's happened?"

"Thora Shepard just confronted Rusk on the street below his office. She's lost her mind. Stood right in front of his car, screaming at him to call off the hit on her husband."

"Jesus! Where are they now?"

"Up in Rusk's office, I think."

Alex thought quickly. She had already called Kaiser about checking out Eldon Tarver, but she didn't want to wait for answers. "Can you get someone to take your place and stay on Thora? I want you to meet me somewhere else."

"I guess so. Where are we going?"

"The old Pullo's restaurant."

"That place closed years ago."

"I know. It's a free clinic now."

"And you need me there because?"

"There's a small chance it could get dicey."

"How small?"

"Ten percent. But you never know, right? Isn't that what you tried to teach me?"

Will chuckled. "Okay. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes."

"Let's meet a few blocks away. The park behind the Governor's Mansion?"

"I'll be there."

When Alex turned toward the bathroom, she found Chris sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What happened?" he asked hoarsely.

She didn't want to lie, but she wasn't about to tell Chris that his wife was running amok on the streets of Jackson. Not in his present state. "Will almost got into an accident," she said.

Chris gave her a sidelong glance. "You said, 'Where are they now?'"

"I meant the people who almost hit him." Alex pulled back the bedclothes and motioned for Chris to get under them. "You need rest. Come on, get in."

He looked back at her with hollow eyes, but rather than protest, he let himself fall onto the sheet and shoved his feet under the covers.

Alex set the hotel phone beside him, within easy reach. "If it gets worse, call 911 and demand to be taken to UMC."

He nodded weakly.

She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "I'll be back soon to check on you." As she straightened up, he caught hold of her wrist with surprising force.

"Be careful, Alex," he said, his dark eyes intense. "These people don't care about anybody. Don't throw your life away."

"I know."

He jerked her wrist, hard. "Do you?"

At last his concern penetrated the buzz of excitement in her brain. "I think so."

"Good."

When Chris let go of her arm, she removed the borrowed Sig-Sauer from the shoe box in the closet, slipped it into her waistband at the small of her back, and hurried into the hall.

Andrew Rusk stopped the elevator one floor short of his office. He wasn't about to drag a hysterical Thora Shepard past Janice. Besides, he no longer felt safe discussing anything sensitive in his office.

When the doors opened, he smelled sawdust. Several walls had been knocked out on this floor, where a remodel was in progress. Hoping to find some privacy, he marched Thora down the hall, but a guy with a ponytail was patching drywall in the area he'd hoped to use. Looking around, Rusk saw that Ponytail was the only workman in the area. He dug out his wallet, handed a C-note to the workman, and said he needed twenty minutes with the lady. Ponytail grinned and headed for the elevator.

Rusk walked over exposed concrete to a tall window, then turned and spoke to Thora with all the pent-up frustration of the past hours.

"What the hell has gotten into you, lady? Have you lost what little mind you have?"

"Fuck you!" Thora shouted, shaking her forefinger in his face. "You told me this was safe! You told me nothing could go wrong. You remember that, you cocky bastard? But something has gone wrong. Chris knows everything!"

"That's impossible."

Her eyes blazed. "You think so? He called me, you stupid prick. He said, 'I might be dead in a year, but you're dead, too.' He also said I'd never see Ben again, because I'd be in prison. How does that make you feel, Andy? Does that wipe the smirk off your face?"

Rusk tried not to show how deeply her words had disturbed him.

"You have to call it off," Thora insisted. "That's the only option."

He started to explain why he couldn't do that, then stopped himself. He couldn't tell this woman that he had zero control over Eldon Tarver. "You're right," he said. "Of course we'll stop it."