FORTY-THREE
• • •
TWO WEEKS LATER
Jed, Karen, and Lilly stood in the parking lot of the hospital with Tiffany and Agent Carson. Jed’s left arm was in the immobilizer, and now he had a square gauze bandage above his ear as well. Karen’s neck was bandaged, but over the weeks the wrapping had grown smaller and smaller to its current size of no larger than a playing card. Her voice was still hoarse and raspy. The bullet had passed through Jed’s shoulder, entered her neck, nicked the carotid artery and her larynx, ricocheted off her fifth cervical vertebra, and exited her neck posteriorly. A millimeter in any direction and it would have killed her for sure.
Lilly held Jed’s hand and leaned against her mother’s hip.
Karen hugged Tiffany. “Where will you go now?”
Tiffany shrugged. “They’re relocating me, too. Got me a new job and some new digs.”
Jed hugged her too. “I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for all you did. You’ll be okay?”
“Absolutely. I’m adaptable. Roll with it, you know?” She smiled. “It might be kinda cool, starting over and everything. Like a new chance at life. I got a lot to think about, a lot to sort through. New beginnings are good, right?”
Jed scrunched his face. “Except for when your new beginnings need new beginnings. That gets old.”
“You guys will be fine,” Tiffany said. “You have each other.”
“And God is always gonna be with us,” Lilly said. “And that’s all we really need.”
Tiffany bent down eye to eye with the little girl. “You’re a true believer, aren’t you?”
Jed put his arm around Lilly’s shoulder. “We all are, Tiffany.” He kissed the top of his daughter’s head. He then leaned over and kissed Karen. Except for the bandage on her neck and the sandpaper in her voice, she was back to her old self, more alive than ever.
Tiffany reached into her pocket and retrieved a folded piece of paper. “I’m not allowed to give out my phone number or tell where I’m being relocated, but this is a secure e-mail address. You know, just in case you need to contact me about anything.”
Jed took the paper. “Thanks, Tiff. We’ll be in touch.”
She smiled. “Good. I’d like that.”
Tiffany gave them each one more hug, then turned and left without looking back.
Jed pulled Lilly close. “Well, I guess we better head out, huh?”
Carson handed Jed a key chain. “Here you go. We’ll escort you as far as Augusta; then you’re on your own.”
“Got it.” The government had provided Jed with a new maroon Honda Pilot. It would be a nice family vehicle. They’d also cleaned out the cabin in Idaho and transported the Patricks’ belongings to their home in Maine. Everything would be set up for them when they arrived.
Carson handed Jed a package. “Your new identities. Birth certificates. Social Security cards. Maine driver’s licenses.”
Jed didn’t bother opening the package; he’d have Karen do it once they were on the road. “Marriage certificate?”
“It’s in there.”
“The works, huh?”
“Your entire life,” Carson said.
Jed turned the package over in his hand. “Our entire lives wrapped up in one neat little envelope. Like we were born yesterday.”
Carson smiled, then bent to one knee before Lilly. She stepped close and he wrapped her in his arms. “You take care, little sister, you hear?”
She nodded and wiped a tear from her eye.
Carson ruffled her hair. “Aw, you guys will be just fine. I know it.”
“He sure will.”
Jed had been notified earlier that he’d been set up with a nice government retirement package. He wouldn’t have to work another day in his life if he didn’t want to. He was to tell the locals that he was a work-at-home government contractor. That’s it. No details. Karen was a stay-at-home mom and Lilly would be homeschooled.
Carson shook Jed’s hand, nodded to Karen and Lilly, then turned and got in his black Chevy Tahoe. Another agent Jed had not met sat in the passenger seat.
Lilly looked up at Jed. “Will we see Miss Tiffany again?”
“I don’t know,” Jed said. “What do you think?”
Lilly smiled.
Jed squeezed her. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He turned to Karen. “You ready for this?”
She nodded. “I’m always ready for a fresh start.”