Jennifer Government Part 49

"Please, I must see her." Hack started to leave. Buy grabbed him with his good hand. "Hack. Thank you."

Hack looked embarra.s.sed. "No problem."

Buy closed his eyes. He was going to faint soon, and that wasn't good. There was something he had to do first. He had to hold out.

"Buy! Buy!"

He opened his eyes. Everything was hazy: he couldn't see Kate properly. Then something wet fell on his face and he realized she was crying.

"Hey. I will be fine. Really."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm really sure."

"Okay."

"Now, Kate..." Someone started wrapping something around Buy's arm. He felt dimly grateful, but it was starting to hurt a lot. "There's something I need you to do. It's very important. You have to do it straight away. All right?"

"What?"

"Call your mother," he said, and pa.s.sed out.

84 Procurance

Jennifer looked down at her pocket. Her cellphone trilled again.

"Don't answer that," John said. "Justjust slide it over here. Come on."

She pulled out her phone.

"I'm serious! Drop the phone!" He was spraying spittle. "Don't f.u.c.k with me, Jen. I'll do it!"

She considered. Then she flipped open her phone. "h.e.l.lo?"

"Mommy?"

A surge of emotion rocked her. She couldn't speak. She looked at John. "Hi, sweetie."

John dropped his phone and backed away, his palms raised. "Okay, now, Jen, let's not do anything rash." His eyes flicked from side to side. "I think there may have been some kind of miscommunication..."

She started walking toward him.

"JenJen! Listen to me. Let's not make any snap decisions! Let's not make any value judgments!"

He broke and ran. Jennifer leapt and caught his jacket at the neck, swinging him into the guardrail. His breath whooshed out of him and then she had him bent over the railing, staring down at the cars below. She forced his arm up his back.

"I wasn't going to hurt her! I swear!"

She whispered, "She'll be better off without a father like you."

"No! Jen, please!"

"Like the view? Want to see what I saw in a mall like this one, when you killed a schoolgirl?"

"No!"

"You were wrong about me," she said. She took her arm off his neck. It felt better than she had imagined. It was surprisingly satisfying. "John Nike, you are under arrest for the murder of Hayley McDonald's and up to fourteen other people."

"What? What What?"

"You will be held by the Government until the victim's families can commence prosecution against you." She hauled him up and marched him toward the escalators. He was a pain to move. His legs kept slipping out from under him, as if he was drunk.

"You're arresting arresting me? Are you serious? I don't belong me? Are you serious? I don't belong in jail in jail!"

"And yet," she said.

85 Completion

By the end of the flight, Jennifer felt ready to murder someone. She shifted and fidgeted; she glared at the flight attendants.

"Shhh," Calvin said. "Settle."

"A stopover in Auckland Auckland," she said. "It's unbelievable."

"Read the magazine," Calvin said. "Or watch the movie. They have computer games; why don't you play one of those?"

"I want to get home."

"You want me to ask if you can go up and meet the captain, look at the controls?"

She looked at him.

"Thirty-five more minutes," he said.

"All right," she said. "All right right." Calvin flicked through a few pages of his magazine. After a while, she said, "By the way..."

He looked up. "Hmm?"

"It's Malibu Barbie. My tattoo. It's the product code for a Malibu Barbie."

Calvin blinked. "Really?"

"I was the Mattel account manager. Plus I lived in Malibu. So I got the tattoo."

"Oh. Huh."

"You think it's stupid."

"No, no. Not at all."

"It was very hip at the time."

"I'm sure it was."

Jennifer eyed him. "You won't tell anyone this, right? It's a little embarra.s.sing."

"Sure thing," he said. "Your secret is safe with me, Barbie doll."

"Please don't call me Barbie doll," she said.

Jennifer deplaned feeling like she'd been beaten, and walked down a long white corridor where sliding doors opened onto a ma.s.s of people. For a second all she could see was a jumble of color. Then Kate was running toward her. Her legs weakened.

"Mom!"

She dropped to her knees and Kate cannoned into her. She felt tiny arms around her neck. "Oh, Kate!"

"I missed you."

"I missed you, too, sweetheart." She closed her eyes. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

"Watch Mommy's shoulder," she said. "Let me look at you. Wow! Buy must have taken good care of you." She looked up, and there he was. He looked awkward. He smiled as if he were trying to stop himself.

"Hi."

"Come here," she said.

"Down there?"

"Yep."

Buy crouched and she hugged him, too. "Ow," he said.

"Watch Buy's arm."

"Oh! Sorry."

"It's okay."

She touched his face. He looked like he wanted to kiss her, so she leaned forward and they kissed. "Thank you so much," she whispered. "Thank you"

"It's okay." He looked embarra.s.sed. "I'm...happy to have you home."

"Me, too." Her voice was a whisper. She hugged them both as tightly as she could. Kate's small hand wrapped around her own. Jennifer's face pressed against Kate's hair, and its familiar smell suddenly squeezed a sob out of her. She cried for a while, and n.o.body moved.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"Jim GE?"

"Who is this?"

"It's Jennifer Government."

"Oh"

"Jim, I'm calling to tell you the Government has identified and located the perpetrators in your case. I'll be sending you my case file in the next few days. You should choose a legal firm so you can prosecute."

"You know...you know who killed Hayley?"

"Yes."

"Oh, G.o.d. Thank youthank you so much"

"You're welcome. Goodbye, Jim." She put down the phone.

Buy was looking at her. "All done?"

"Yes," she said.