Read The Devil's Dream: Book One for Free Online Page B

everyone, but I
just want to talk to her for a little bit. I just want to tell her I
love her."
    Jerry gripped the wheel
a little tighter.
    "Sure, babe. We
can call her. I'm sure she wants to talk to you too."
    He pulled his phone out
and dialed his wife's number.
    * * *
    Allison looked down at
her vibrating phone.
    Jerry.
    She thought it more
likely to see the President's name on her caller ID than Jerry's when
she was out on assignment. Something had to be wrong. The lawyer
could leave a message.
    She hit answer and put
the phone to her ear.
    "Hey, is
everything okay?"
    "Yeah, everything
is fine. Marley was just asking to speak with you."
    She said nothing,
letting the understanding that her family was alright sink in, her
heart relinquishing its increasing pace.
    "You're kidding,
right? You can't be serious."
    "I am." It
was all he said and Allison knew Marley was right next to him.
    "Put her on,"
Allison said, feeling like she would curse if she spoke with Jerry
any longer. She listened to the rustling as the phone changed hands.
    "Hey, Mom!"
    "Hey, honey, how
are you?" She asked, her voice automatically changing tone.
    "I'm good. Me and
Dad are just heading to school."
    "Dad and I, babe."
    Marley sighed. "Dad
and I. What are you doing?"
    "I'm talking with
someone about the bad guy I'm chasing. Why didn't you wait until I
could call this evening?"
    "I don't know, I
just asked and Dad said yes. It's not okay?"
    Allison closed her eyes
and turned her head down toward the desk. "It's okay, it's just
I'm really busy right now trying to find this bad guy. That's why we
normally wait until the evenings, right? So that I can hear about
your day?"
    "I guess,"
her daughter said, the excitement in her voice almost completely
drowned.
    "Okay, babe, I
have to get going, but I'm going to call you tonight. Is that okay?"
    "Yeah, it's fine.
I love you," Marley said. Allison thought Marley might be near
tears, but that might be what needed to happen to make sure she
didn't ask again. She couldn't call during the day. She had to
understand there were certain times they could talk.
    "I love you too.
Can I talk to Dad again?"
    More rustling.
    "Hey," Jerry
said.
    "We're going to
talk tonight about this."
    "Fine."
    "Love you."
Allison said, only habit making the words come out.
    "Love you too."
    She placed the phone
back down on the desk and waited for it to tell her she had a voice
mail, that or for Dillan's lawyer to call now. There were things she
needed to be doing beyond talking to her daughter, like waiting on
this call. Making Jeffrey Dillan and his lawyer understand the
importance of his commitment to this investigation was almost at the
top of Allison's list.
    A number she didn't
know popped onto her phone's screen.
    "Agent Moore."
    "Hi, Agent Moore,
my name is Frank Stone. I'm Jeffrey Dillan's lawyer. He said I would
be calling, I believe. How are you doing today?"
    Allison immediately saw
a fat man in her mind, someone sitting behind a large desk with a
wall of scholarly books next to him. She saw his chin shake as he
spoke, and knew that the last time he'd done any serious exercise was
probably in the nineties. His voice sounded like all that fat had
done nothing to shake his confidence, but actually built on it, as if
his greatness was validated by his ability to eat while the rest of
the world starved.
    "I'm well, Mr.
Stone. He did say you would call, right before he hung up on me. It's
important to me that both of you understand he will be helping with
this investigation, regardless of what I have to do to make it
happen."
    Frank Stone laughed.
    "Calm down for
just a second, Agent Moore. You haven't even heard what he's willing
to do yet and you're already talking about injunctions and such."
    "Go ahead."
    "Well, it's pretty
generous, actually. He's willing to help, over the phone, of course,
because he has had his current vacation scheduled for quite some
time. In exchange for access to his notes and his mind, all he's
asking