“I’d be pretty focused on Anna if I were them,” Bebe said, lining up her collection of pencils to the right of her pad.
“So, we let them find her,” Sadie proposed. “They injure her and I bolt out of here in a way that looks panicked but is actually carefully controlled. When Legion make their move, we take them out.”
“I hear what you’re saying,” Rapp said, “but putting Anna in harm’s way is a hard no.”
“I think your judgment’s clouded,” Sadie said. “Getting hurt is better than losing your mother, right? And there’s no way they’re going to kill her. A dead daughter lacks urgency. I mean, why would Claudia even leave the house? More likely you’d just have someone bring the body back for burial, right? I’d go for a really visceral and painful injury. Not so bad that she’d end up in a coma, though. Something that would keep her awake, suffering, and calling for her mother. Bad burns? Or what about an animal attack? Do they have chimpanzees in Uganda? I saw a news report once about a woman who got charged by one. It bit her face right o—”
Rapp held out a hand, silencing her. The images were causing a constriction in his chest that was starting to feel vaguely dangerous. “Let’s back-burner this for the moment. I think we can do better.”
Sadie just shrugged.
“What do you have in mind?” Bebe said.
“No big moves that could be noticeable. We’ll let you create an extremely predictable routine and see if you can identify anyone watching you. You’re better at that than anyone and they won’t be prepared for someone who’s incapable of forgetting a face. In the meantime, we need to figure out how to create an opportunity for Legion and funnel them into it. Maybe through Bebe, maybe through the architect or construction people. Even Anna’s not completely off the table as long as we can be sure they never get anywhere near her. We’ve got to put ourselves in a position where we don’t just have the ability to predict their moves, we have the ability to control them. Because without a face or a name, that’s the only way we’re going to identify them. Remember, they have no idea we know they’re out there. That gives us an edge.”
“What about me?” Sadie said. “What’s my role?”
“For now? Staying out of sight inside the wall. You’ve got Claudia down pretty well, but you’re not her twin. If Legion figures out we’ve pulled a switch, this whole thing is blown.”
“That’s it?” she said, folding her arms and staring straight forward. “So, endless boredom.”
“But since you’re the target, boredom is good,” Bebe pointed out.
“Not if I die of it.”
Rapp grabbed his pillow off the bed, tossing it and a blanket onto the sofa beneath the window. The house’s master bedroom was large enough that Claudia had put a sectional in one corner. Until now, it had largely served to cause arguments about him using it as a receptacle for laundry.
With no strong sense of Legion’s surveillance capability, it made sense to keep things as natural as possible. Unfortunately, that precluded him moving into the guest bedroom. With Guatemala, the new housekeeper, and the sudden reappearance of Claudia, there was already too much unusual activity. Not that he thought Legion could be spooked in the normal sense of the word, but they could be made more cautious. And what he didn’t need was for this to turn into an endless staring contest.
The only light in the room was coming from the partially open door to the bathroom. Rapp used the tenuous illumination to pour a small glass of bourbon. He dropped onto the sofa and put his feet on the coffee table before taking a cautious sip. While the idea of dulling his senses became more appealing with every minute Sadie was in the house, it wasn’t in the cards. When all this was over, though, he promised himself a proper binge.
The shower was running, and he watched the steam flow into the room. It swirled hypnotically, as though it was trying to reveal something to him. But what? Any way he looked at it, there wasn’t much time left. Every year his world felt like it got a little smaller. Maybe that was just the way things went as people aged. For him, though, it didn’t have anything to do with fear. More like a tighter focus on what was important. And at this point the list was pretty short. One: kill Legion. Two: get rid of the Cooks. Three: find a sustainable way forward.
He heard the shower go off and a moment later Sadie appeared in the doorway. She was backlit but he could see that she’d removed her brown contacts, revealing bright, strangely dead blue eyes. Her naked body was still wet enough to glisten, highlighting a series of long, thin scars next to her meticulously groomed pubic area. Unquestionably self-inflicted.