Life Blood ---XVII---Page No--57

Though I had a lump-in-the-throat moment, I didn't say

anything, just stood there glorying in the feeling of being together. It was so wonderful to have him with me and so difficult to think about pressing on without him.

There was a long, awkward pause, and then he glanced at his
watch. "Blast, I've got to hit the road if I'm going to get back in
time to set up for tonight's shoot. I just pray I can beat the rain."
Then he pulled me around and circled me fully in his arms.
"Please, Morgy, I really don't like the sound of this. I'll move
heaven and earth to get back here by Friday night, and if you still
want to check out this 'Baalum' place, then we'll figure out a way
to do it together."

"Just you stay safe." I hugged him back. "Nothing I do is going to mean much if I don't have you. Don't worry. I'll be okay."
        Alan Dupre had abruptly taken an even deeper interest in the
darkening sky. I got the feeling he was uncomfortable being
around two people capable of caring.

"It's only for a couple of days," Steve went on. "We'll both be okay if we just stick together."

"Right," I said, and kissed him harder than I ever had.

Five minutes later, my heart and my head still at war with

each other, I was alone in the virtually empty park with my brandnew best friend. Watching Steve's Jeep blend into the smoggy haze of the avenue made me feel like half of me had just
disappeared into another dimension.

"So that's that," I declared finally, turning back and taking a deep breath. I had to find Sarah before something else truly
horrible happened to her. And the one thing I was determined to do was keep Steve as safely distant from my search as I could, even though it meant I was going to be terribly lonely for the next few days. "When can we leave?"

"Hey, get real." Dupre choked, whirling around. "We can't go today. Case you hadn't noticed, there's a storm coming. If you really want to go . . . and I mean really want to, then maybe in a day or so. Preferably when Steve—"

"I don't want to drag him into this," I said evenly. Truthfully, I
was sounding braver than I felt. But then I remembered once
going down into the four-hundred-year-old subterranean harem
quarters of the Red Fort in Agra, seemingly miles underground
and pitch black, with nothing but a flashlight, surrounded by
screaming bats and knee-deep in guano, for no better reason

than I was determined to see how the women there once lived. So how much scarier could this be?

"Well, I say no way," Dupre told me. "Not today. Correction, make that no fucking way." He had removed his aviator shades and was cleaning them with a dirty hanky. "Besides, I don't think you have any business going up there in the first place. If you're not scared shitless, you ought to be."

"Alan, I think you 're the one who's afraid to go."

He almost reached for another cigarette, but then stopped himself. "I will definitely plead guilty to a deep-seated disquiet about the people who rule this placid paradise. But if it'll square things with Steve, then I'll take you up to have a quick look, for my sins. But it's got to be after the weather clears."

I finally realized he was already thinking about his next loan. Steve, beware.

"Tomorrow then?" I wasn't going to blink, because the Peten was where Sarah had ended up the first time and I was sure that was where Ramos had taken her now. Baalum.

Dupre stared at the sky a moment longer, then caved. "Maybe
we can shoot for tomorrow late. If I can convince myself this storm
has done its worst." He looked back at me. "But I gotta tell you
one thing, Ms. Morgan James. We blunder in up there and end up
getting ourselves 'disappeared,' we won't even get our pictures in
the papers. You'd better tell your immediate loved ones where
you're going, and it wouldn't be the worst time in the world to think
about making a will."

The way he said it, I was sure for once he meant every word.