"Promise me you'll be safe," Katie demanded.

"Katie, as long as I don't leave here, I promise you I am as safe as I could possibly be."

Rainey was not lying. She could not be any safer, as long as she stayed home. The only way she would be in danger is if he lured her away somehow, but even then, she would never go alone.

"Okay, I'll just keep telling myself that," Katie sighed.

Rainey wanted to change the subject. "How are things at your house?"

"Oh fine. When the agents left your house, they descended on mine. So, I've had people to feed. I haven't seen JW. I assume he's in his study brooding," Katie said.

"So, you are completely covered by agents. That's good." Rainey ignored the JW comment.

"I've been trying to figure out what to say to a room full of first graders tomorrow, when I walk in followed by two big guys in suits," Katie said.

Rainey panicked. "You're not going to school, are you?"

"I have to, Rainey. We have a program for the parents tomorrow night. I can't abandon my babies."

"No way are you going into a public place tomorrow night," Rainey said, growing more desperate.

"Rainey, you don't understand. I have to go. There isn't anything that could stop me."

"Even, if I asked you not to?" Rainey said.

"I asked you not to hang yourself out like a piece of meat to slaughter. Okay, that was not a good illustration, but you have made yourself bait," Katie argued.

"Touche," Rainey answered, because she had become the lure.

Katie went on, "And besides, I have these goons that follow me everywhere. I'll be fine."

Rainey became dead serious, "You listen to me. Do not go to the bathroom, the copy room, anywhere without them. Do you understand?"

Rainey was frightening Katie. She could hear it in her voice, when Katie answered quietly, "Okay, okay, I understand."

"I'm sorry, Katie," Rainey said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'm worried, that's all."

"I know the feeling," Katie quipped.

Rainey did not want to waste the time they had to talk discussing how scared they both were.

"I miss you, Katie."

"I know that feeling, as well," Katie said, more softly this time.

They sat quietly listening to each other breathe for a moment.

Katie broke the silence, "I pray this will all be over soon."

"Amen to that," Rainey said.

Rainey talked with Katie for the better part of an hour. They spent the time learning things about each other, what they liked and did not like, books they had read, anything was new and exciting. They laughed at each other's stories and pretended nothing else in the world existed, but the two of them. Rainey was sorry to have it end, but Mackie was knocking on her bedroom door.

"Katie, I have to go. I'll call you in the morning, okay?"

"Can't I call you later?" Katie asked.

"I need to stay focused," Rainey laughed, "and I cannot do that, if I'm talking to you."

"I guess you're right," Katie conceded. "Be safe, I love you," she said.

"Me too," Rainey said and they hung up.

A truck had pulled down to the boat ramp, while Rainey was on the phone. Mackie did not recognize it and wanted to go down and check it out. A debate ensued as to whether Mackie should give away his presence or remain in the house. Finally it was decided that Rainey would walk out on the deck, look at the truck long enough to make the driver nervous, and if that did not make him leave, then Mackie would go down there. It worked like a charm. The two teenagers immediately backed up and drove away, as soon as they saw Rainey. Evidently, the girl and boy were looking for some privacy.

After that, there was no activity until dark. Then a few vehicles pulled down to the landing and were met by a set of powerful flood lights, Rainey's father had installed, with motion detectors. He did it to help the fisherman at night, he said, but Rainey knew he did it to discourage teenagers from making it a hangout. When the lights would come on, the cars would leave like roaches fleeing back beneath a kitchen cabinet.

Every time she saw car lights, Rainey's heart sped up. The adrenaline pumped through her veins as she gripped the Glock in her hand. Then the car would leave and she would have to breathe deeply to calm herself down. Mackie was the same way, up and down from his recliner, looking out the windows. He occasionally would check the windows and doors all over the entire house, and then return to the recliner to watch the video feeds. The agents in the kitchen kept up a steady banter with the ones outside of Rainey's house, talking into their earpieces, as the night grew deeper.

Rainey's skin began to crawl about three in the morning. The hair on the back of her neck stood up when Freddie began to growl, from his perch in the window. Rainey peered through the darkness, trying to see what he saw.

"You guys see anything in the woods out front?" she called to the kitchen.

Rainey waited for the reply, listening as the agents questioned the men outside in the woods. "Nothing on the monitors, nothing but our guys on night vision or heat signature. There is a small animal, possibly a raccoon near the road, but that's it," the agent in the kitchen responded.

"Okay, thanks," she said and rubbed Freddie's back. "It's just a raccoon, remember what happened last time," Rainey said to the cat, who was still growling at something out the window.

The first and last time Freddie tangled with a raccoon Rainey ended up at the vet getting him shots and stitches. From then on, he would growl when he thought one was around, but you could not make him go outside to see. He had met his match and was giving the raccoon population a wide birth.

Freddie remained on high alert. He stood in the window staring, as if he were watching someone move about. Rainey figured he saw one of the agents and finally relaxed back onto the couch. She started thumbing through a stack of Our State magazines, the state magazine of North Carolina. Rainey had been given a subscription by a former teacher, before leaving for Virginia. The teacher said she always wanted Rainey to stay in touch with her roots. When the subscription ended, she had liked it so much that her father gave her a subscription every year in her Christmas stocking. She had taken over buying it this past year, because it really was a slice of home.

She paged through the June issue, reading the article about Highway Twelve, the Beach Road that wound its way through the outer banks islands of the state. She took the state trivia quizzes, in the front of the magazines, even though she had done them before. It was usually the first page she turned to each month. She was always surprised at what she did not know about a state she thought she knew so well. She knew the eastern part of the state, but the mountain area was a bit of a mystery to her.

Rainey tried to read other articles, but could not concentrate so she got up to pace from room to room, checking and rechecking the slides and ammo of weapons around the house. There were only a few lights on, as if she had gone to bed, so walking amongst the memorabilia was tricky. She picked up a dagger and looked at it. It did not have a fancy blade or ornate handle. A plain knife, with dirty grayed cotton fabric wrapped around the base, was unusual among all the other collectables. She had always meant to ask her father about it, after she found it on the shelf one day, but she never did. Therefore, she did the next best thing, she asked Mackie.

"Your father never told you about that dagger?" his big voice rumbled.

"I never asked him," Rainey said, still standing by the bookcase.

"Well, see, we were in these fox holes, March 30, 1972, in Quang Tri province, where we were helping the South Vietnamese Army fortify the area around Hue, before we pulled out. Most of the US ground forces were gone by then, except a few of the units like ours, special guys, you know." Mackie winked, because Green Berets and other Special Forces did a lot of things no one in the media knew about.

He continued, "There hadn't been any action in days, so we were hanging out, eating, listening to music, shit like that. Generally, no one was paying attention. It was after three in the morning. Your dad was standing down in the last hole, sort of by himself. He was looking for a place to get some sleep. He chose that hole, because it was away from all the noise we were making. Out of the blue, this gook jumps into the hole with your father and tried to stab him with that very knife. Right then all hell broke loose with regular NVA everywhere and mortars raining down on us. The North Vietnamese Army had launched a large-scale assault across the DMZ."

"Dad always said they were sneaky little bastards," Rainey added.

"Your dad didn't have time to grab his gun. He popped that pajama-wearing piece of shit right in the face with his fist, took his knife and slit his throat. Billy jumped out of that hole and did a John Wayne, right through the middle of those little fuckers. He killed, I don't know how many with it, before he picked up his M1 and started mowing them down. He kept the rest of us from getting killed, until we could get back in our holes and return fire. We were air lifted out later. Billy kept that knife the rest of the time we were in country. It was his talisman, because he should have been shot to pieces running through those guys and he came out without a scratch."

"That's amazing," Rainey said, looking down at the knife. She could see now that the dark stains on the fabric were blood, not dirt.

"Your dad was a crazy fucker," Mackie said, laughing "He was always so calm and caring. I can't picture him doing that," Rainey said.

Mackie sat back in the recliner. He said, "It was a different world over there." He grew silent and looked out the window.

Rainey knew that look. Her father got it, too, sometimes. He would get real quiet and stare into space. She wondered what they saw, in the images flashing through their heads and yet, at the same time, she probably really did not want to know all they had seen. Rainey had experienced enough human depravity right here in the United States. She could imagine what they had observed, without knowing the details.

Rainey put the dagger back on the shelf. She went back to pacing and looking out windows until the sun began to rise. A shift change took place at dawn, so they could get in and out without drawing any attention. Once the fresh team was in place, Rainey went to her bedroom and closed the door. She was exhausted from little sleep and the activity the night before. Rainey crawled into bed in her clothes. She thought about calling Katie, decided it was too early, and then changed her mind. She dialed Katie's cell, so she would not accidently get JW. Katie answered before the first ring was completed.

"Rainey?"

"Yes, I hope I didn't wake you," Rainey said.

"No, I've been up since before dawn, waiting for you to call," Katie said, sounding relieved.

"Well, everything's okay. No sign of him, yet."

Katie asked, "What do you do now?"

"I get some sleep," Rainey said. "Somebody kept me up all Saturday night and I'm exhausted."

"Somebody, huh?" Katie teased.

"Yeah, this good looking blonde stopped by and took me for a spin," Rainey played along.

"Was it worth it?" Katie continued.

Rainey answered with enthusiasm, "Oh yeah, most definitely."

"Do you think she'll be back?" Katie asked.

Rainey smiled to herself, the thought of Katie in her arms, giving her a thrill. She said, "I hope so, real soon."

Katie kept going, "Sounds like you like her."

"Yes, I do, actually. She's very nice and really hot," Rainey said.

Katie giggled and then said, "I bet she thinks you're hot, too."

"Really?" Rainey asked.

"Oh, I think she thinks you are extremely sexy," Katie said, giggling some more. "Your work outs are paying off. Your ab muscles alone are worth every sit up, if you know what I mean."

Rainey laughed. The flirting was fun and making her hornier than she already was. She had been since Katie left. She tried not to think about it, but her body kept reminding her. It craved Katie as much as Rainey did. She almost wished they had waited until the manhunt was over, because now that she knew what she was missing, she wanted it more. It was out of character for Rainey to express what she was truly feeling, but she seemed to have no barriers with Katie, no walls to keep her emotions in check.

"I want you," Rainey heard her own voice saying. It came out in a sultry whisper unfamiliar to Rainey's ears.

Katie chimed in, "Oh honey, tell me about it."

They laughed again. Katie told Rainey that she had contacted her two older sisters, both lived on the west coast, explaining what was happening at home with the stalking, because in this day and age electronic media made it a very small world. Katie also called her mother and father, who were on an extended holiday in the Mediterranean. Rainey did not have anybody to call. The people she really cared about already knew.

"Honey," Katie said, after a few more minutes of chatting, "I would love to stay here and talk to you all morning, but I have to get dressed for school."

Rainey grew serious, "You remember what I said. You don't go anywhere alone."

Katie teased her, "Yes ma'am, Special Agent Bell."

Rainey was slightly amused, but said, "I'm serious. Promise me."

Katie stopped teasing Rainey and answered her firmly, "I promise."

"Katie, please be careful and call me after school, before the program," Rainey paused, and then added, "I love you."

"I love you, too. Get some rest. Sweet dreams," Katie said, before hanging up.

Rainey knew her dreams would be sweet, because her mind was completely inundated with thoughts of Katie. She closed her eyes and was gone within minutes, dreaming of Katie in her arms.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

Rainey awoke at four o'clock that afternoon to the phone ringing on the table by the bed. She was still fully clothed, having only kicked off her black Nikes, before she lay down. Rainey was still lying in the exact same spot. She had surfaced a couple of times from the land of nod, only to have the exhaustion pull her back down into her dreams, where Katie baked pies, wearing only an apron and a little French maid's hat. Rainey sat on a stool watching her, as Katie explained her every move, like Julia Child on a cooking show.

She reached for the phone groggily and hoarsely said, "Hello."

"Hey," Katie, said, cheerfully, "Are you still asleep?"

Rainey looked at the clock. She had slept nine hours. Rainey considered five hours a good night's sleep. This had been a marathon nap. She was hungry and had to pee. Rainey sat up on the edge of the bed, wiping the sleep from her eyes, and was reminded immediately of her need for a bathroom.

Rainey managed to say, "Hang on, I have to go to the bathroom," almost forgetting she could take the cell phone with her. She made it just and time, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder. After a yawn she asked, "How was your day?"

Katie was excited, as she said proudly, "I have the smartest and most talented first grade class in the school. We are going to shine tonight."

Rainey yawned again, "Sorry about the yawning, nothing personal. I'm glad to hear your class is doing so well."

Rainey sat on the toilet, even after she had finished, quietly talking to Katie. She was still groggy as she listened to Katie relaying stories of her "babies" and the program they practiced for today. Katie was pleased with how well they had all done. Even their mistakes were cute and fixable. Katie obviously adored her job and her students. As she talked about her kids, Rainey could hear the love in Katie's voice.

Rainey's head began to clear, so she stood up and walked to the sink. She looked at her nappy hair and sleepy eyes. She had slept like the dead, one of those heavy sleeps from which it is hard to emerge. Katie prattled on about costumes and forgotten lines, while a thought crept into Rainey's head. Was Katie ready to give up her career to be with Rainey? This was the Bible belt, even if Chapel Hill was much more liberal than the rest of the state.

When Katie gave her a chance, Rainey said, "You obviously love teaching. Have you thought about what effect our relationship might have on your career?"

"Rainey, there are gay men and women, at least one, on every hallway at my school. They're good teachers and wonderful people. As long as I don't walk around with a sign saying I'm a lesbian and bring you to show and tell, I think I'm okay."

Rainey was hit with a question, "Does sleeping with just one woman make you a lesbian?"