Chapter 44 - Observant Conscience

"Ouch!" Christie awoke in her bed screaming. "Get it off of me!"

"What's the matter? Are you ok?" her husband, David replied as he turned on the lights to see what was wrong.

"The spider..get it off! It bit me."

David pulled back the covers and searched through the bedding at Christie's direction.  Soon he began to realize that the spider bite was likely a nightmare as he was unable to find any bite mark on his wife's naked body.

"Are you sure it wasn't a dream?  You look fine... and I mean really fine to me!" David stated with little subtlety to hide his now awakened desire for Christie's sexual attention.

"It was a daddy-long-leg and it was biting me.  I could die." she responded with angst and disgust for David's advances while she was in crisis.

"Honey, daddy-long-legs aren't poisonous and their teeth are too brittle to break human skin.  You have nothing to worry about." David replied with an undertone of amusement in his wife's ignorance while holding the covers open for her to rejoin him.

That's not true. Christie thought to herself.  The poison was real and highly toxic and she was depending on it to realize her plans to ascend her husband to the presidency.

Chapter 45 - Circus Act

Finne turned off Canal Road onto Arizona Avenue heading north from the river.  Prior to MacArthur Boulevard he turned left into a quiet but exclusive neighborhood of small brick houses built in the 1940s and parked the armored (and likely tracked) SUV along the street.  Grabbing the envelope given to him by Jack prior to the assault on the CIA bunker, he turned to Sarah and commanded, “Let’s Go!”

Sarah exited the tattered truck on the passenger and saw the extent of the damage caused by the barrage of gunfire they had just escaped.  “There must me a hundred bullet holes in this thing. How did we get out alive?”

“It’s well armored,” Finne replied, “and likely tracked by GPS, so let’s ditch it quickly.”

Sarah followed Finne through the neighborhood up to the business district along MacArthur Boulevard where Finne hailed a taxi heading west out of the city. Once inside the cab, Finne explained in a consoling but serious tone, “we need some cover for the night.  I know where we can go.”  With that assurance, Finne instructed the driver to go to The Three Rings which was part restaurant, part pub, and fully a halfway-house of sorts for a regular clan of society’s dregs that Finne knew all too well.

The cab made the short journey west and back toward the river in just a few minutes and pulled into the tree-lined gravel parking lot that surrounded ‘The Rings.’

“Are you sure you want to go here?” The driver asked with a sense of concern for their safety.

“Yep. This is the place.” Finne responded handing the driver a twenty dollar bill – four times the price of the fair registered on the meter.  “Keep the change.”

‘The Rings’ was very much an oddity in the area.  It had once been a TGI Fridays and had retained the red and white striped outside decor that was a signature of the restaurant chain.  Unlike most of the restaurants associated with the TGIF brand that are fronted with the traditional striped awning, ‘The Rings’ appeared to be a shoddily constructed wooden deck covered by an eye-sore of a tent that resembled that of a traveling sideshow.

“What is this place?” Sarah asked as they approached the rear entrance.

“This place is safe. No one here is out to get us.” Finne replied as he led Sarah up the wooden staircase.

“But…everyone here knows me as Charlie, not Finne. It’s one of my cover IDs. I’ll call you Cathy while we’re here.” Finne instructed.

Finne opened the door without waiting for Sarah to acknowledge him.

“Chuck! You son-of-a-bitch, where have you been hiding?” was the greeting they received from a portly middle-aged bar matron upon entering.

“Just got back in town, Helen. How the hell are you?” Finne responded without hesitation.

“Still here, living the dream.”

“Helen, this is Cathy and we’d like to duck our heads for a bit.  Is the back house occupied?”

“Occupied, no. Ready for guest definitely not.”

“We don’t need anything special, just a place to be alone.” Finne said in a teasing voice as he pulled Sarah close to his side.

Helen held a questioning stare for several uncomfortable moments before replying. “Well if you just want a place to shag, fine. But, I need a few minutes to open up the room and ready it.  Grab a seat at the bar. Sammy will get you a drink while I freshen up the room for you two lovers.”

Finne and Sarah proceeded into the darkened tent towards the well-aged mahogany bar and several familiar patrons from Finne’s under-cover past.  After shaking hands and greeting several colorful characters posted up at Sammy’s bar who called Finne Charlie, Charles, or Chuck, the two chose a pair of barstools towards the end where Finne knew he could watch both entrances – just in case.