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on a daily basis. I just couldn’t do it. It would eat me up.”
    They indicated that they understood without actually saying so. Watching the series of practiced gestures, Audrey was amazed at how difficult it was to read men such as this. It was as if they had no substance.
    “You said options,” Audrey prodded.
    “We have another matter which I believe could benefit from your assistance. Something that would remove you from the LA limelight for a period of time.”
    “Such as?”
    “We have a retired agent and his family who are presently missing from the USMS witness protection program,” Duggan said.
    Audrey frowned. “Wouldn’t the USMS handle that?” she asked.
    “Not in this case,” Rosen said.
    “Why not?” she asked.
    “The personnel belong to us.”
    “Who would I be working with?” she wanted to know.
    “A Senior Special Agent.”
    “What department?”
    “Diplomatic Security,” Ops Director Duggan said.
    “What does he have to do with the missing family?” she asked.
    “He and the missing father used to be partners.”
    “Back in the day?”
    His eyes crinkled like the kindly uncle. “Yes,” he said. “Back in the day.”
    “And I’d be assigned in what capacity?”
    “I’m not sure I understand the question,” Duggan said.
    “I’d be his partner? I’m too old to fetch coffee.”
    He smiled knowingly. “Certainly.”
    She ran the possibilities through her circuits.
    “Any other options?” she asked after a moment.
    “Chicken Fried Steak,” Rosen said from behind the pile of paperwork.
    The tension once again was rising. Audrey sensed she’d asked one too many questions and was about to have to putt or get off the green. Resigning from the service was final and would surely leave a bad taste in her mouth. Audrey had never failed at anything and didn’t plan on allowing this to be the first. If she was going to resign it was going to be on her own terms.
    “Well?” Duggan pushed.
    “I’ll look for the family,” she said.
    Rosen suddenly got to his feet. “You will report to Deputy Director Duggan on a daily basis. We’ll assign you a secure channel through which to do so. I’ll have the appropriate files delivered to your apartment.”
    Duggan put a paternal hand on her shoulder and steered her toward the door. “After you’ve briefed yourself, call 3312 and Marlene will be able to tell you how to contact your new partner . ” He squeezed her shoulder. “This could go a long way toward mending your standing within the organization,” he whispered. “I sincerely hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity.”
    “Yes, sir,” she said as the door closed.

10
    Gilbert handed the adobe brick to his wife. “Hang onto that for a sec,” he said.
    She watched as Gilbert lifted the weathered piece of plywood from the top of the chimney, slipped it under his left arm and descended the short home-made ladder, one careful rung at a time. Back on the roof, he leaned the plywood against the chimney, took the brick from her hands and set it down.
    “You don’t keep the chimney covered, the creatures move in,” he said.
    He slipped a hand around her waist and leaned against her. The Kaibab Plateau spread out before them like a prickly green blanket, undulating over a series of irregular mesas and buttes for as far as the eye could follow. Too high for pine or spruce, relegated to fir and the occasional aspen grove, this part of the Kaibab National Forest looked precisely the way it had to the putrid collection of drunks and drifters, miners and misfits who had, in the name of Manifest Destiny, liberated this part of the state from the Southern Paiutes a century and a half ago.
    Gilbert pointed at a glint in the distance. “That’s Jacob Lake,” he said with a shrug. “More like a pond, but around here any water is notable water.”
    Her gaze remained distant. He wasn’t surprised. He knew her well enough to suspect that, even in these dire circumstances, the