Free Cold Blooded by Bernard Lee DeLeo Page A

usually draw attention we could do without. You don’t want your skills getting rusty, do you?”
    “Surprisingly, I like waitressing. The majority of people I’ve met are real nice. I’ll talk to your friend about the job. If I get any difficult customers, I’ll have you kill them.”
    Rachel felt relieved when Nick laughed in appreciation of her needling.
    “Good one. Jean won’t be a problem either. We’ll get her into a school and I can help with dropping off and picking up. To make it all work we have to go real soon and pick up those flash drives. I’ve done business using Florida as a base of operations in the past. We’ll stay at a condo down in Sarasota I know about.”
    “Will there be any more negotiations?”
    “I don’t think so, but let’s not kid ourselves, there will always be tradeoffs, Rachel.”
    “Does Jean have to be involved?”
    “She’s a very big part of my anticipated cover. It’s not an ideal life for a kid, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative on your horizon with the US Marshalls. Give it six months. If it’s too much for either of us, I’ll set you up somewhere nice.”
    “Sounds fair, but what in hell made you decide to do this? I mean, you could quit the Diego part of your life and keep making money writing.”
    “Not to put a frown on your logical musings, but I believe you’re leaving out the psychopath part of my makeup. We don’t do well in retirement.”
    “Oh…yeah, I…I did forget.” Rachel felt the hairs at the nape of her neck stand up. She watched the pajama clad Nick smiling as he made pancakes. “Do you think it possible you could care for me eventually?”
    “I care for you already. Otherwise, I’d have dumped you at the first sign of complications,” Nick answered, meeting Rachel’s gaze. “It’s all new to me, which is sometimes a good thing. We psychos don’t like a lot of changes. We’re neat to a fault, precise in our language, good with kids and dogs, and we like our patterns. When I find something out of the ordinary I want, even with the changes in my patterns it brings, the positives usually outweigh the negatives.
    “Like being an assassin?”
    “I am an assassin. What I was referring to is my writing. It made an incredible diametrical enhancement in every aspect of my life. I had a persona and work I could talk about. I even do book signings.”
    “We’re an experiment then?”
    “Life is an experiment, full of choices. You have a choice now,” Nick stated plainly. He brought the covered dish full of pancakes to the table, along with a spouted serving cup with heated syrup. After taking the bacon out of the oven warmer, Nick called up to Jean, but didn’t get an answer.
    “Well then for now I choose life.”
    “I’ll try to keep your regrets at sixty/forty.”
    “Huh?”
    “You’ll be relatively satisfied with your choice over half the time.” Nick grinned, pointing at Deke. “Deke, go get Jean.”
    The dog streaked off upstairs, much to Rachel’s amazement. “I can’t get that damned dog to sit, let alone fetch.”
    “Deke’s already made his choice.”
     
* * * *
     
    Rachel huddled into her coat, hunching her shoulders against the cold salty-tasting breeze blowing in from the ocean. Blue sky peeked out amidst the multi-grey colored clouds roiling across the sky. Nick had ordered his two charges to dress in practically winter clothing. Walking down 12 th Street and across Lighthouse Avenue toward the ocean, Rachel and Jean quickly understood why. Nick and Rachel sat on the two fold up beach chairs Nick had brought along, watching Jean and Deke explore the rock formations on Otter’s Point Beach. The ocean surface, unlike the strong breeze, was dead calm. The waves lapped gently at the rocks. Large kelp formations covered sections of the water offshore. Nick pointed out two otters zipping around amongst the thick, green leafy vines.
    “Is it always this empty down here in the morning,