“I’m glad to hear she’s able to talk at all,” Noah said. “The way you talked last night, I thought she was paralyzed.”
“Only on the right side, but her left hand seems to be working normally. Her speech problem has to do with the fact that only the muscles on the left side of her face are responding at the moment. Like I said, it took a little time to understand her, but there’s no doubt that her mind is as sharp as ever. She’ll be back in this chair eventually, don’t you doubt it.”
“That’s good news, sir. Please let me know if your interrogators come up with anything. For now, we’re just going to proceed with the plan we came up with last night.”
“That’s fine, and keep me apprised.” The line went dead and Noah slipped his phone back into his pocket. He glanced into the rearview mirror and saw that Moose and Neil were still sleeping, then flicked his eyes at Sarah.
She was awake and looking at him. “What’s good news?”
“Allison can talk, but she’s having problems because her right side is paralyzed. Apparently it makes it hard to understand her, but she got her left hand on a telephone and called Doc Parker at home this morning. She wanted him to tell me to be careful because I’ll be walking into a trap.”
Sarah’s eyes widened and she stared at him for a moment. “I’m assuming the good news you referred to is the fact that she can talk at all, right? Because the thought that she thinks we’re going into a trap doesn’t sound like very good news at all, not to me.”
Noah nodded. “Right. Parker says her mind is as good as it ever was, and that’s the important thing. E & E can’t afford to lose her. She’s not only the brains of the operation, I think she’s also its soul. She comes off as coldhearted and dangerous, but I can tell that she agonizes over every decision on whether or not to sanction a hit. It’s not that human life doesn’t matter to her, it’s just that she’s strong enough to know that sometimes you just have to eliminate the problem.”
Sarah made a sound that Noah took for a snort. “She isn’t that cold,” Sarah said. “Sometimes, when we’re in briefing, she acts more like my big sister than a boss. I mean, look at this engagement ring. I can guarantee you the idea to have us pose as being engaged on this last mission was all hers. She knows I’m crazy about you, so she gave me a little chance to fantasize about what things might be like if we were normal. Somebody coldhearted wouldn’t even think of it.”
“As long as it doesn’t leave you dissatisfied when things go back to the way they are. I’m comfortable with our relationship the way it is, but I’m willing to explore where it could go, if you want. I just don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t feel like that fairytale ending you dreamed about when you were a kid.”
Sarah watched him for a moment, then reached across and laid her hand on his arm. “Well, it’s like you said. You ain’t no Prince Charming, but I’m not exactly Cinderella, either. I’m okay with the way things are; just don’t hold it against me if I daydream now and then, okay?”
“Everybody daydreams,” Neil said suddenly from the backseat. “What are we daydreaming about today?”
Sarah leaned into the gap between the front seats and smiled at him. “Noah and I are daydreaming about getting married and adopting you. We decided we want children, and you’re the most childish person we know.”
Neil stared at her for five seconds, and then stuck his tongue out at her. He closed his eyes and leaned against the door and was snoring again only a minute later. Sarah turned her attention back to Noah.
“So, did the old man have anything else for us?”
Noah shook his head. “Not yet. He thinks it will take a little time for the captives to talk. One of the things I like about him is that he doesn’t try to torture information out of people, or at least not in any way most people would think of as torture. He said they try to break down reluctance rather than resistance, so nobody’s trying to just say what they think we want to hear.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Sarah said. “I just wish they’d tell us something, anything to let us know whether we’re on the right track or not.” She rubbed her hand on his arm for a moment. “So, tell me about this girl we’re going to see. You said she was your best friend, but was she more than that?”
Noah glanced at her and then turned his eyes back to the road. “In a way,” he said. “We were both unusual, neither of us was the normal teenager. I was the guy who went through puberty without even noticing it, and she was so wrapped up in trying to learn everything she could that she didn’t want to take the time to deal with boys. She came up with the idea that if people thought we were a couple, they wouldn’t bother either of us, and then she had to explain to me how a boyfriend was supposed to act with his girlfriend.”