Written by Scooplet
Concept by Cheryl and Scooplet
Scarecrow and Mrs. King characters are the property of Shoot the Moon Productions and Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended. Not for commercial use. Sarah Stetson and Matt Granger are my creation, however, so please respect my right to claim ownership of them—I do not authorize permission to use them in stories not authored by me.
I Know He Watches Me, Part Three
Chapter Twelve
Matt was tired. His sisters' excited chatter had given him a headache. He almost asked his mother to drive so she could sit in the front seat with Lauren and Emma. That way their voices would project away from him, instead of into the back of his head. As if sensing his mood, Sarah rested her hand on the back of his neck, massaging the base of his scalp with her fingers. If they were alone, he would be forgetting about the headache and finding a secluded spot to pull off to the side of the road.
But that would probably trigger some kind of awful memory. Matt put the thought out of his mind and concentrated on the traffic. When Sarah finally pulled her hand away, he reached for it and quickly planted a kiss on her knuckles before mouthing "thank you" to her.
After stopping to purchase the ready-to-bake pizza, it was past six o'clock when they finally pulled up the driveway at the Granger home. Ranger bounded up to meet them, and by the time Matt had wrangled the suitcases out of the back of the truck, the women had already greeted David and taken the pizzas inside to bake.
"Let me help you with those, son. We'll put them in the garage. Your mother won't have them in the house until she can be sure the girls haven't brought anything home."
"Oh, yeah." Matt nodded in acknowledgement. He could not blame his mother. It had been his mission trip years ago when three of the youth had come home with cockroaches in their luggage. Thankfully it had not been Matt's suitcase, but his mother had never taken any chances since then.
Hoping to have a chance to talk with Sarah at some opportunity, Matt was frustrated all evening. He knew he needed to indulge his sisters' need to tell stories about their adventures. He also knew Sarah would not want to offend them by going off alone with Matt. The two girls, who should have been exhausted by a lack of sleep and a nonstop schedule, did not wind down until late. His headache had gone away after dinner, but now he felt it coming back.
Sarah had already said her good nights and gone to bed and Matt was trying to follow her when Lauren stopped him in the hall and dragged him out to the kitchen once again.
"How are you both doing, really? Sarah looks like she's getting better."
"She is. She's been catching up on sleep since we left New York."
"But you look like crap."
Matt rolled his eyes obligingly. "Thanks, Lauren. I was going to go to bed just now."
"But how are you both, really?"
Matt stared at Lauren, weighing his words. He was too tired to have this talk, but if he gave the answer she wanted, he would not have to dread having it at a later time. "It takes time. It's hard seeing other people with their babies, or pregnant. I guess we'll get used to it."
"Well, I'm praying for you."
"Thanks, Lauren. I really need to get to bed. Sarah is waiting for me."
"Try not to make too much noise in there, being newlyweds and all."
"Don't be disgusting, Lauren." Matt tried to force some kind of laugh to lighten his comment. But Lauren had touched a nerve.
She appeared to be chagrined. "I'm sorry. I should joke so coarsely. It drives Brian crazy."
Matt regarded his sister. "He never seemed to let your sense of humor bother him before."
"I guess he thinks it's not becoming at my age or for someone who's a registered nurse. He's thinking about me being a nice, married lady sometime soon."
"Is he finally going to pop the question?"
Lauren smiled, but it was not completely genuine. "Maybe soon. I need to let you get some sleep." She reached out to hug Matt. "Love you, bro. Good night."
Matt returned the hug. "Good night, Lauren. Love you, too."
As he expected, Sarah was in bed when Matt came into the room. She was asleep. And no wonder. Her morning had been an ordeal, no thanks to Matt. As he stooped down to kiss her forehead, he thought about the last time he had seen her lying there. He had no qualms about sleeping there with his wife. In fact, when they had planned this trip, he had secretly enjoyed the idea of making love to her in his old bed. His mind had definitely been there this morning, and his body had been happy to cooperate, until he had flashed on the nightmare. Why was God allowing these nightly intrusions? They had been bad enough by themselves, but now they were affecting his marriage.
Overcome, he sat down on the floor near the bed and leaned back against the wall, watching Sarah sleep. He had not even thought about praying for help, and he was ashamed. He continued to watch his wife for a moment before bending his head and sending up an appeal.
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The room was still dark when Sarah awakened. Matt had made some kind of noise—had he been crying in his sleep again? Why was he doing that? She listened for the even breathing that would indicate he was asleep, but he seemed to be awake. Perhaps he was trying not to disturb her. She could roll over and kiss him, but after what had happened the morning before she was afraid to initiate any kind of affection. With Lauren and Emma home, they would not have much privacy at their end of the house, but the two sisters were likely to be asleep at this time of day. They had been exhausted the night before. It would be a nice time to be affectionate with Matt.
It was the one-year anniversary of the day they had met. She remembered the look of desperation on his face, the rain dripping out of his hair and onto his sodden white sweats. She had wondered how he had been able to run fast enough to get away from his pursuers. But she knew now that he was more athletic than they were—and the adrenaline rush of fear had surely helped.
There was no doubt she had been afraid of Matt at first. Not knowing who he was or for whom he worked, all of the safety training she had undergone over the years as the child of operatives had come into play. He had found her on the Georgetown campus, but she had done her best to evade him. However Matt was too smart for her—he had told her later that he had no doubt saved her from the thugs who had come to her apartment when he had disabled their driver. Then he had been so good to her when her mother had been taken hostage by that terrorist. He had shown her more sincere concern in their first few interactions than Jeff had ever shown her in the four years they had been a couple.
For much of the last year or two of her relationship with Jeff, they had not really been that close. Jeff had been going through the motions. She knew she could never have married him—although everyone thought they were headed that direction, including Jeff. But Jeff had no idea what marriage and commitment really meant. He could never follow through on showing up to any family activity, and he had even left Sarah stranded, waiting alone at a table in a restaurant, more than once. She doubted he had cheated on her—it was always pretty clear each time that Jeff had been distracted by some kind of discussion with his teaching assistants or students.
Sarah lifted up a brief prayer of thanks for Matt's faithfulness. While things were strained between them, it was not because his heart was wandering. She felt her stomach tighten. Or maybe it was. But if so, had she not brought it on herself? She had failed to care for herself properly, and in the process she had lost their baby. If not for Richard Wong's dislike for her, Matt would not have been transferred from his dream job.
She wished he would just come out and tell her what was bothering him. He was definitely awake now. She sat up, but he did not move—not even to reach out a hand in greeting. She got up to use the bathroom, but he still did not stir when she came out to change into her running clothes. Finally he made a show of "waking up" and offered to go running with her.
Sarah knew she would not be good company for him in her state of mind. She was irritated with Matt for his behavior and she felt that she had no right to make an issue of it. They needed to talk and she needed to plead for Matt's forgiveness, but it would need to happen when she was able to do it in a respectful manner. For now, she could go on a run by herself while he dressed and left with his father to go to the feed store in Georgetown.
Before Matt could stop her, she left the room, hurriedly grabbing her water bottle on the way out. She would not get anywhere with Matt if she repeated her foolish behavior of the day before. Sharon would likely lose patience with her as well, if she fainted or had more dizzy spells.
The sun was well up in the sky by the time Sarah finished her third circuit of the horse path. Ranger, always glad for a companion, had probably run twice as far as she had. No wonder the dog was so healthy for his age. As she stretched at the bench, he came over, his tongue lolling. Sarah poured out some water into her hand and offered it to the thirsty dog. When she finally sat down, he settled so close to her that he was sitting on her foot. She smiled down at him, enjoying the benefits of their fast friendship.
Ruffling his fur with her hand, Sarah murmured, "I wish things were like this with Matt, still." Even though she was only talking to the dog, Sarah could not voice her deepest fear. That Matt would not be able to forgive her, and that things would never again be the same between them. They had enjoyed a closeness she had never known with anyone else before. Now he seemed to be physically repulsed by her. He was upset, too, if his dreams were any indication.
Sarah tried to tamp down the sobs that welled up within her. But her grief for her relationship issues with her husband and the unborn baby they had lost, on top of the tension from things at the Agency were overwhelming. She drew up her knees to her chest and gave into her tears.
Unable to leave the bench, Sarah stayed there for perhaps an hour. She would dry her tears on her sleeve and sip some water, but then a wave of sorrow would come over her and she would begin crying all over again. With the day warming and the fatigue of a run before breakfast, Sarah was growing exhausted. She pulled her knees to her chest once again and leaned sideways against the back of the bench, fighting to stop her tears.
Ranger had long since wandered off, but he was back again. Human footsteps could be heard behind him. Sarah sat up and tried to dry her tears. Matt could not see her this way.
But it was not Matt. He was in Georgetown. It was Lauren.
Her sister-in-law did not speak, instead sitting down next to Sarah, handing her a packet of tissues from her pocket, and wrapping an arm around her.
After a few minutes, Sarah shifted position and placed her feet on the ground. Lauren pulled back, but remained facing Sarah. It was Sarah who spoke first. "I'm sorry. I just can't seem to stop."
"You probably needed this. Weren't you working nonstop in New York for weeks on end? When have you had a chance to process everything?"
"I haven't really had one." Sarah blew her nose. She wet down a couple of tissues with the water bottle and cleaned her face. "Your brother and I haven't had a chance to really talk—we've been going from one thing to another."
"It seems like you've been busy since I met you. Between planning for a wedding and your new job…"
"It was going on long before that, too. Being here at your parents' house is the first time Matt and I have relaxed together in a while."
"What have you two been doing? Has he shown you the wildflowers?"
"He was going to yesterday." Sarah felt her lower lip tremble and she looked away.
"Oh, gee. Then our flight was messed up. That's our bad."
"It's okay." Sarah sighed and placed a hand on Lauren's arm to reassure her. "I'm afraid my problems go deeper than spending time looking at wildflowers."
"Well, of course. You lost a baby. I can't imagine what that would be like."
Sarah was quiet for a moment. She turned and stared at Lauren. "It's my fault. I'd still be pregnant if I'd taken better care of myself. I don't know how your brother can really forgive me for that."
Lauren grabbed Sarah's arm. "Where are you getting this? Matt knows better than to blame you. Did he say that? He told us that you were under a lot of pressure at work, but the doctor really doesn't know why you lost the baby."
"I overdid it, Lauren. Matt's just being a good man and making excuses for me. I didn't take proper care of myself."
"I heard you did. Sure, you worked long hours sometimes, but I know something about pregnancy. You're a young woman. Women have done what you did and carried a healthy baby full term for centuries. It was called running a farm, or whatever."
"I guess I'm not cut out for squatting in the middle of a field to deliver." Sarah frowned and looked away again.
"Oh. That's not what I meant. I'm sorry." Lauren made a frustrated sound. "Brian's right. I have no bedside manner. What I mean to say is that most pregnancies like yours end because the baby had some kind of health issue. Matt said everything was fine until a week or two before the miscarriage. You can't even blame your hormone levels. It's a tragedy if the baby has some kind of medical issue, but it's certainly not the mother's fault. If you think about all that has to happen for a baby to come to full term, it's a miracle any of us are ever born at all. You can't blame yourself, Sarah. Please believe me."
Sarah sat silently, processing Lauren's words. Finally, she responded, but not in the way Lauren had hoped. "Brian criticizes your bedside manner?"
"Not really. He's just given me a hard time when I've been too abrupt. I deserved it. But I wasn't talking about me."
Sighing, Sarah stood. "I know. You make some good points. But I don't know where Matt stands on all of this. I just feel like I've disappointed him, dragged him down. I think he's starting to resent it, and I don't know what to do. We need to talk, but I'm afraid…" Sarah brought a tissue to her eye. "I should take a shower. Matt is probably back already."
"Maybe. They were going to bring breakfast tacos. You need to eat."
Smiling wanly, Sarah watched as Lauren stood and joined her on the path. The two young women made their way back to the house, Ranger bounding ahead of them.
Matt was standing outside on the driveway, watching for them. Before he could say anything, Lauren spoke up. "Ranger came and led me to your wife. If he was a girl, we could call him Lassie."
He was solicitous to Sarah. "Did you have a good run?" Despite his casual question, Sarah could see the anxiousness in his eyes.
She wanted to be quick to dispel any concerns about her fainting. "Yes. I remembered water this time."
"But she needs to eat and so do I. Did you and Dad bring plenty of breakfast tacos?"
It was clear that Matt had more to say, but he only replied, "I think there's plenty. Let's go dig in."
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After breakfast, Sarah excused herself and went to take a shower, while Matt sat with his laptop in the family room. Emma had gone to the garage with their mother to unpack her suitcase and his father was working in his study. Matt glanced up briefly when Lauren joined him in the family room. She sat down in the easy chair next to him and waited until she had his full attention.
"What's up?" he asked.
Lauren did not waste time getting to the point. "Is everything okay between you and Sarah?"
"Yeah, why?" Matt knew he was fibbing a bit, but he did not think it was right to talk about his marriage issues with his sister.
"It's just that… Oh look, I've never been one to beat around the bush, so I'm not going to now. This is none of my business, but I just can't help saying something."
Wary now, Matt narrowed his eyes in response and did not say anything.
"You two were so head over heels when you were engaged. Even now I can see the way you look at her when you think she won't notice. And she's been so sad. And then there's the physical thing. You all are supposed to be newlyweds, and you hardly touch her."
"You're right, it isn't your business, Lauren." Matt moved to get up from the couch. Sarah could come down the hall any minute. She never took long in the shower.
"Wait, Matt." Lauren reached out and put a restraining hand on her brother's arm. "You guys are really hurting and I want to help."
Figuring Lauren had a point and would not leave him alone until she made it, Matt sat back against the cushions and waited silently.
"Didn't Sarah's doctor give her the all clear? It's been two months since…"
Since she miscarried. Matt was grateful Lauren did not say the words. Since Sarah had rushed from their room that morning, his nerves had been raw. Now a frisson of pain ran through his middle. Because of his negligence, he had almost lost his precious wife. Now he could not seem to treat her with the love and affection she deserved.
"I know you're hurting. We all are—although I can't imagine what it's like."
Sighing heavily, Matt passed a hand over his face. "What's your point, Lauren?"
"Well, you won't stop mourning the loss of your baby, but you shouldn't stop loving each other."
"We do love each other." Matt stared out the windows so he would not have to look at Lauren. "I almost lost my wife, Lauren. She practically died."
"But she's well now. And you won't touch her."
His body stiffening in defensive anger, Matt leaned forward, but he did not get up to leave. "That isn't your business. Besides, how would you know what we do behind closed doors?"
"I can tell, Matt. I'm not naïve."
He started to say something about Lauren's inexperience, but something about her expression stopped him. "You and Brian…"
"We're waiting, like you and Sarah did. But this isn't about me and Brian." Lauren got up and sat next to Matt. "I just know you, Matt. You place a huge burden on yourself and don't give it to God—or share it with others." She placed a hand on his arm. "You blame yourself. You're afraid."
Matt did not answer. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor.
"Sarah blames herself. She's overwhelmed with guilt."
Matt's head shot up. "Where are you getting this?"
"I found her crying—she was sitting on the bench all by herself, crying her eyes out this morning when you and Dad drove into Georgetown."
Staring out the windows again, Matt thought back to earlier that day. He had not been careless enough to repeat his folly of the day before. One talk with Kirby had not solved that issue. Instead, he had pretended to sleep through Sarah getting up to use the restroom and brush her teeth. This time she did not come back to bed. Instead, she had dressed to go running. When she sat down carefully on the bed, he stirred and pretended to finally wake up.
"Hey. Are you going running? Wait for me to get dressed and I'll go, too."
But Sarah had been unenthusiastic about his suggestion. "I'll just go on my own this time. I promise not to get lost. Your dad wanted you to go into Georgetown with him."
"I don't need to go with my dad. What's wrong?"
"Matt, you don't have to pretend. I remember what happened yesterday morning. And I know you were awake before me this morning."
It was the nightmare. He had slept soundly all night, but just before dawn, it had awakened him. Sarah had stirred and also awakened not long after. "We need to talk…"
"Maybe later. I really need to be alone right now." With that, Sarah had finished tying her shoes and practically fled from the room.
Matt was not going to talk about his dream with his sister. It was too personal. He would only share that kind of thing with Sarah. And Dr. Kirby.
"I don't know why you think she feels guilty."
"She told me so. Why don't you talk to her—tell her what's eating you?"
"I don't know how to tell her." He glanced at Lauren. "I can't talk with you about this."
"Then talk to Dad. Man to man." Lauren patted his knee and got up off the couch. "Sarah loves you like crazy."
"I feel the same way about her."
Lauren did not reply. She simply lifted her eyebrows and turned to go back to her bedroom.
Matt spent the next hour roaming the property. He had left the house without telling anyone where he was going, but Lauren could probably guess. Hopefully she was distracting Sarah as he neglected his wife once again. This has to stop, he thought. He directed his steps towards the shed. His father had been at work on some repair project when Matt had left the house.
"Dad." Matt paused in the doorway. The building was cooled by a single air conditioning unit that had been mounted high on one wall. It was one of David's rules that while the AC was running, the door was kept closed.
Eyeing Matt over his reading glasses, David beckoned to him. "Come in, son, and shut the door. You look like you need to cool off a little anyway."
A sense of urgency came over Matt. His marriage issues were weighing too heavily to be ignored a moment longer. He did not beat around the bush.
"I need to talk about Sarah and me. I'm hurting her, Dad, and I don't know what to do."
David put down his screwdriver and looked up at his son. "How are you hurting her? Sure, you had a fight the other day—or whatever happened." He stared at Matt. "I can't believe you'd find someone else."
"It's not someone else. Oh God, I can't imagine that. We're crazy in love with each other. So crazy that I'm scared to death she'll get pregnant and miscarry again."
David regarded Matt for a moment. "I see. You're afraid she'll end up in the hospital again and it will be all your fault."
"Exactly."
"Let's just say Sarah does get pregnant again. What makes you think she'll miscarry? Your mother and I were there when the doctor talked with Sarah. They fixed the problem during the surgery. You two should be able to have plenty of kids." David placed his glasses on the table and chuckled. "Especially if you got pregnant that easily the first time."
"That's just it, Dad. I'm afraid she will get pregnant."
David considered his son for a moment. "That explains a few things. I figured you'd jump at the opportunity to go to Fredericksburg and stay at that hotel your mother and I found. You still have time, you know."
"It's not Sarah or needing a better atmosphere, Dad. It's me." Matt walked over to the old stool that stood in the corner and after brushing it off, sat down. "I'm hurting Sarah because she wants to make love and I won't." Matt colored at his own words.
Wanting to smile at his son's embarrassment, David kept a straight face instead. It was rare that Matt confided in him about something this personal, and he did not want to ruin the moment. "Because you're afraid you'll get her pregnant. She isn't afraid. You are."
"She insists that the chances are slim, and she'd probably be fine anyway."
David leaned back in his seat, regarding Matt. "There's something else bothering you, isn't there?"
Matt stared at his father. Kirby had tried to get Matt to say the words. He had been trained to cope with shocking and stressful situations. But he was failing miserably. Blaming his nightmares on worrying over Sarah becoming pregnant was not facing the truth. That was not the problem.
His eyes dropped to the floor. It must have taken Matt a full minute to get the words out of his mouth. "I can't get the image of her—of Sarah—out of mind. I have nightmares of finding her dead in the shower. It happens every night now, and even during the day. How do you tell your wife you keep having visions of finding her," his words faltered, "like that?" Before he could stop it, a sob bubbled up and he fell back against the wall, his hand on his face.
David went to Matt and crouched beside him. "Son, surely Sarah would understand if you told her this was going on. She was there, too."
"But she doesn't remember. She was hardly conscious—she never even knew when we got to the hospital." Dropping his hand from his face, Matt looked at his father. "She almost died in my arms, Dad. They were practically running with her gurney. As soon as they got her into the treatment room, the doctor and nurses were making me leave. I could hear the doctor yelling orders—and this is one of those doctors who never loses her cool." He swiped at a tear that stood on his cheek.
David embraced his son. "You never told your mother and me all of that." He stood by Matt and placed a hand on his shoulder as he waited for the younger man to compose himself. "It's a tough enough thing to lose one of your children. I can't imagine what I'd do if something happened to your mother."
"Well, we never did get to see the baby. I guess I shouldn't be too maudlin. I guess we'll stop crying and get over it."
"Your mother and I cried about losing our baby for months. We don't get too sad about it anymore—we have you three, after all—but it still gives me a pang when I think about who your brother might have been by now."
"My brother? You and mom lost a baby?"
"Your mom told your sisters she had a miscarriage after we had you. Hasn't she ever told you?"
"No. You knew it was a boy?"
"Yeah. She was far enough along."
"That must have been really hard. Worse than what we went through."
"You had it rough, son. It was really hard on your mom and me emotionally, but she was never in danger."
Matt stared at the floor for a long time. David waited, his hand resting on his son's shoulder.
"And you weren't afraid to have more kids?"
"You have to keep moving forward, Matt. We were kind of scared, but after a few months, your mom was pregnant again. And this time she was fine." He smiled wryly. "We both know Lauren has always been just fine."
Matt laughed—it sounded almost foreign, he had done it so rarely lately. "She was a fussy baby, wasn't she?"
"She just made it loud and clear when she had a need." David gave Matt one final pat on his shoulder and went back to his own stool. "But you were a good brother. You never seemed to mind the yelling." He chuckled. "Thank the Lord you inherited your mother's patience."
"I guess I found her entertaining enough that it was worth the trouble to figure out why she might be crying."
"You'll make a good father, Matt."
"But I'm afraid of losing Sarah in the process. What if something happens when she gets pregnant again?"
"God tells us not to live with a spirit of fear, son. We need to trust Him to take care of the ones we love."
Matt stared at his father for a long moment. "I've been hurting God, too, then."
"He wants you to learn to trust Him. He understands how you feel."
"I've hurt Sarah. I've rejected her, passed up chances to let her know how much I love her—the words don't mean much when I don't show her the same affection I used to show her."
"You mean in the bedroom." David smiled a little as his son's face reddened. "It was nice, I'm sure, and it will be nice again."
"But how, Dad? I'm afraid…"
"You still have a reservation at that hotel."
"I cancelled it."
"Are you sure about that? They called the house to confirm and I told them to keep the reservation."
Matt frowned, but his father chuckled. He knew his son well enough to see that he was not serious. "Now I don't meddle in your affairs much, but I could see you both were hurting. Your mother was quite impressed with me."
Standing suddenly, Matt once again felt the urgency to resolve things with Sarah. "I need to get in the house."
"Once you figure out you need to make things right, you can't wait to get it done. Is that it?" David's eyes twinkled.
Matt understood his implication. "I just want to talk with her, Dad. She's been hurting long enough." Matt had not said anything about the guilt Sarah had felt. He needed to talk with her about it first.
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"Are you ready to go, dear? We promised we would be there at seven."
"I'll be ready in a minute, hon." Gil Barclay finished buttoning his plaid shirt and tucked it into his jeans. "I just need to duck into my study for a second. I left my phone charging in there."
"Meet me down in the kitchen. I packed everything in the cooler."
Gil supposed their housekeeper had helped Georgette put together some kind of salad for their dinner tonight. Things were still chilly between him and their youngest son, but their daughter-in-law and Georgette had set up this dinner to help improve their relationship.
Despite the sunlight that filtered into the hallway from the foyer, his study should have been dark. Yet he could see artificial light glowing softly from the doorway. Gil did not remember leaving his desk lamp lit. As he entered the room, his eyes focused on the phone in its charger as he reached for it. Until he saw Richard Wong sitting behind his desk.
"I see you're not above breaking and entering now, Richard? Are we adding kidnapping to the list of your offenses tonight, too?"
"If you know what's best for you, Barclay, you'll stop threatening me. You didn't live up to your end of the bargain."
"What didn't I do? You're already the freshman supervisor. You're set up to take over as section chief as soon as I request Francine Desmond's resignation. You can't rush these things. People will figure it out and we'll both be out on our butts."
While Gil had been verbally sparring with Richard Wong, part of his mind had been contemplating a plan of action. Thanks to the handy app that Phillip King had installed on his phone, he was already recording their conversation. Now he needed to make sure Wong left without harming him or Georgette. And without becoming concerned about the phone in his hand.
"You were supposed to keep the Grangers apart. My intel says you took care of their transfer yourself."
Taken aback by Wong's correct assumption, Barclay hesitated for a split second. It was enough.
"I see I was correct. I didn't know for certain, but you just confirmed it. Trying to cover for your friend Stetson, are you? I warned you that if you tried to protect his family, you would pay the consequences."
Barclay leaned back against the credenza near his desk and looked down on Wong, who still sat in his seat. He did his best to act casual, although he expected Georgette to come looking for him any moment. He may have imagined it, but he thought he had heard her soft step in the hallway outside his study just then.
"Listen, Wong. If you take me down, you won't get your job as section chief. Francine may rub people the wrong way at times, but she has a lot of credit in the intelligence community. She'll end up with my job and you'll end up out on your ass."
If Gil was hoping to antagonize Wong into making a move, he was not disappointed.
"I won't be out on my ass, because you're going to give me money to keep from spilling your story. And you'll split up the Grangers. If you don't, you won't be enjoying any more lovely dinners with your wife and son. They'll see the video on YouTube, along with millions of other people—including the major news outlets."
"Look, Wong, I've given you what you wanted. You got to send Sarah to New York after she lost the baby. That was over the top. Granger has received a demotion at the San Antonio office. They're no longer around. Can't you be satisfied with that? You'll be section chief by the end of the year."
Wong leaned back in the chair and stared at Gil for a moment. "You don't get it, do you? I want to have that jerk around. I want to be Granger's boss so I can make him miserable. If I make him miserable, I make Stetson miserable. Just like he made me."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't pretend you don't know how he passed me over for promotions and pay raises over and over again. I've been working at the Agency for seven years, and I never got a single promotion the entire time. Why do you think I slammed him during those training classes? Since I outed him as a philanderer, his reputation at the Agency has gone in the toilet."
Gil did not argue with Richard. No one in the training classes had connected Richard's stories of the womanizing agent from the eighties with Lee Stetson. But it did not hurt to let Wong think he had damaged Lee's reputation. As for Richard's failure to advance at the Agency under Lee's supervision, Gil wanted to say that Wong had only himself to blame. Lee Stetson had held a standard while section chief. Part of his standard was to not promote agents with attitudes. Despite his internal reaction to Wong's remarks, Gil kept his expression neutral.
"Listen, Wong, you've already made the man pay. Leave it. I'll finish out my end of the agreement."
"That's right, you will. Our new agreement. You're going to wire transfer half a million to my offshore account tonight. If you don't do something about the Grangers, it will be an additional half million in forty-eight hours. Or you're going to be the star of YouTube. You and your lovely little administrative assistant."
"You mean my former administrative assistant and some actor. I'll give you your money, Richard. And I'll take care of the Grangers. Just get out of my house."
Richard Wong stood and slowly strolled from the room. He stopped next to Gil. "Don't forget. When I say tonight, I mean by midnight. No later."
"You'll have your money." As he followed the man to the door and locked it behind him, Gil wondered how Richard Wong treated his wife and children. As painful as it would be for them once their father was arrested and his criminal side was exposed, he supposed it was better than being mistreated. He hoped Richard was putting up a front at home.
He was only mildly surprised to see Georgette step out of the shadows at the base of the stairs as he turned back toward the kitchen.
"That man is an animal. I don't know how you can keep your cool with him."
Gil held up the phone. "Easy. I knew I was recording everything he said. And having you listening outside the door will only help in court." He regarded his wife with concern. "If you're willing to testify. This will likely be ugly for both of us, not just Richard."
Georgette closed the distance between them and placed a hand on his cheek. "That man's words just now only reinforced my faith in you, dear. Of course I'll testify. And I'll go before the press, too, when the timing is right."
"I know we're running late for dinner. Do you think you'd mind driving us while I call my people? They need to have time to get the ball rolling."
"Certainly." Georgette was silent as she helped Gil take the food to the car. They were buckling their seatbelts when she turned to him. "Are you going to send that man money?"
"Oh, no. We're going to send him to jail. For a long time, I hope."
