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on another rampage.
I retreated as well, and waited in the car until Patrick returned.
Patrick didn t look good when he joined me.  Something is
seriously wrong with my dad, he said.
 Yes, I said.  Something is.
 This thing you re doing& we re doing, I guess. Will it& will it
make him better?
He didn t look at me. It made it easier not to lie.  I don t know.
I don t& think so. The most we could hope for is stopping them
from taking any more of him.
 Any more? Patrick said, and I let him pretend he didn t
understand.  Any more, he repeated himself.  He s dying.
 Yes.
Patrick took a deep breath, but let it out without saying
anything. I put my hand on his shoulder.  Did you get what you
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were looking for? he asked, but his voice stayed dull.
 I hope so. I showed him the card.  We re running out of
time.
Patrick took it, turning it over and over in his hand.  You re
running out of time, he corrected me.
 Yes.
Patrick shook his head.  And they re going to kill you if you
fail.
 Probably, I said. Hopefully. I didn t want to think of the
alternative if I failed.
 And if not this time, then the next job. Or the one after that.
They ll always be threatening you with death if you fail.
 Yes.
Patrick swallowed.  Let me out here.
 Patrick  I began.
Patrick turned on me, suddenly furious.  Let me out here!
 We re not moving, I said.  You can just open the door and
walk away.
Patrick hesitated. Then did just that.
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CHAPTER 11
Most people have a  things to do before they die list. I have a
 things to do before I die today list. Well, actually, it s on my
computer and I print off a new one when I need to. I hadn t
updated in a while, and that meant a trip to my lawyer. There was a
reason I paid her a ridiculous amount of money as a retainer.
Still, I had to wait a couple hours before Amanda s secretary
saw me into the twenty-ninth floor office. Amanda has always
been pretty, girlish even. She still is, even in her mid-forties. Her
button nose and wide eyes still hid how cunning her brain worked.
I d never been fooled. I just want that on the record. But if
you d been tied up as much as I had with Amanda s pink skipping
rope so that she could talk on the phone with her boyfriend
unbothered, you wouldn t be fooled, either.
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 Well, hello, little brother. In trouble again? Amanda asked.
 Just making sure my affairs are in order.
She nodded. Amanda, as my lawyer, never asked me what I
did. But as my sister, she knew that she d gone away to Ryerson in
Toronto on a very tight scholarship, but it hadn t been enough to
go to class, buy books and eat. She d come home over Christmas
break ready to quit, and by New Year s she had money in her
account for her to go back for the second semester.
She nodded, and reached into her desk for my file.  How are
things, otherwise?
I shrugged.  Is the saying  it s better to have loved and lost, or
 loved and tracked them down and make them pay ?
 Loved? Amanda asked.
It had been a figure of expression. But the word hung out there
and I couldn t& didn t want to take it back.  It doesn t matter
now.
 Are you changing your beneficiary? she asked, reaching for
her fountain pen.
 No. God, no. But you get the house, you take the cat.
 Of course, Amanda said.  Anything else?
I took out another slip of paper. Numbered offshore accounts,
registered to dummy corporations. All of them chosen to be easily
transferable to cash.  Add these.
She did, cautiously.  Maybe you need an accountant.
 No. The money is clean.
She nodded.  Anything else?
 That s it. You and& Chris? Still together?
She nodded.  But we re both working a hundred and ten hours
a week. That s not really together together. If there is anything else
I can do for you, Sidney, I ll be& I owe you.
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My name, my real birth name cracked in the air between us.
 There s nothing you can do, I said. I d made my bed.
 But you don t have to lie in it alone, Amanda said. Did I
forget to mention that sometimes, when she concentrated really
hard, Amanda could read minds? She concentrated really hard. I,
naturally, got the hell out of there.
I didn t have Patrick s number, any of them. I didn t even have
his email. I could have waited outside his
condo/apartment/townhouse whatever, but that seemed a bit
stalkerish. I went home, got all Sergeant Pepper s things together,
and then worked out until just before seven. I showered, got into
my car, and drove to the address on the card.
The coffee shop, despite Pan s misuse of an ellipse, actually
sold coffee in a shop full of donkeys dressed in Hawaiian gear. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]