Have you ever flown in a helicopter?” the pilot asked. Sam shook her head.
The pilot went through some basic instructions about safety and then started the engine. The noise from the rotating blades became a physical presence; it shook Sam’s entire body.
“You guys OK?” the pilot shouted over the noise. He caught Sam’s eyes in his rear mirror. “You look a little green.”
“Long few days,” she answered.
“You’re not gonna hurl, are you, miss?”
“No guarantees,” she said.
“We’ll have you on the ground before you know it. No worries.”
They lifted off and Sam tried to focus on something other than her propensity to vomit in new and stressful situations. There were few options available. As they flew over the facility, she could see the police cars with their bubble lights flashing below. It would be a miracle if Beth and her dad avoided arrest, and she probably could include herself in that sentence as well.
“They’ll be fine,” Tom said. “The police know the score. Kendall and the police commissioner spoke to them.”
“Beth has a record and she isn’t the most stable person on the planet.”
“As long as she doesn’t hit anyone, they’ll leave her alone… probably.”
Sam started a sentence a few times before she got the whole thing out. “Thank you for coming up here.”
“You’re welcome. It probably would’ve been better if you had told me a few of these things along the way.” Sam thought Tom sounded more hurt than angry. “You know? The small stuff like the sick dogs in the shelter, the cholera toxin adjuvant?”
OK, maybe a little angry. “I’m sorry. But I had no reason to trust you with something like that.”
“But what—”
“And if I had told you about the dogs? What would you have done? Your job, right?” Sam pointed to the broken watch on his wrist. It was suddenly important to her that Tom understand her reasons. “For you that would have been the right thing to do. But it wasn’t my right thing.”
“Maybe. But maybe it’s more complicated than that. Maybe loyalty has something to do with it too. Maybe I also make decisions because I care about someone. Maybe if…” Tom stopped himself.
Sam suddenly had that “uh-oh” feeling she usually experienced in awkward personal situations. “What are you…?”
Tom waved the question away before Sam could finish. “Whatever your reasons, it may not change the outcome for those dogs now. It’s become politics.”
“It always was. Who gave the directive to eradicate rabies from Central Park in time for the convention? That wasn’t a public health decision.”
“No, it wasn’t. And that’s all the more reason why the governor and his people won’t back down now.”
“And what about your boss?”
“She’ll try to do the right thing… until she can’t. She won’t give up the dogs unless there’s no choice and she definitely won’t want to give them over to the governor so he can pretend he was right all along.”
“So right result but for the wrong reason?”
“At the moment I’ll take that over a wrong result. Wouldn’t you?” Tom tapped the pilot on the shoulder. “Where are we putting down? The heliport on the West Side Highway?”
The pilot shook his head. “They just called in a change. My instructions are to touch down in Central Park—near the Great Lawn. The NYPD will meet you there. Stuff is happening.”
“You think there’s any chance this turns out OK?” Sam asked Tom.
He didn’t answer.