CHAPTER FIVE

AS A MOTHER WITH HER CHILD

It made sense. It didn't make sense.

If Alexandra predicted an event, you had better listen. That waspartly why she was a growing force in the Tower. She could anticipateany sudden catastrophic event that threatened the Nobles.

Now she was telling me the name of my future murderer. At the sametime, I couldn't imagine why Layla would kill me...

Well, she did hold a knife to my throat, right?

But that was because she didn't know what was going on.

And what if she becomes that confused again?

But...

I quickly sat up. "How?" I asked Alexandra. "Where?"

"With a gun," she said softly. "I'm not sure where. But I saw theact clearly."

"Do you know why?"

"You know that it is the one area where I always fail, Jacob."

Right. Alexandra was a woman who could summon the whole world towalk through her mind. She could trace the movements of every person,find out where they came from, learn where they were going. But shewas also a woman who had very little contact with other people. Shehad little understanding of the rationales people used for theiractions. This recluse could navigate easily the outside world. Shegot lost in the realm of the human heart.

That was the flaw which hampered her gift. When her father hadgiven her a rare collection of Keats poetry as a birthday gift, shedid not see that the gift had been obtained through blood. Poetry wasone of the few indulgences in her ascetic life. I was one of herindulgences as well. Could our love be interfering with her gift aswell? The very fact that she lost control could be a sign of a flawedprediction.

Or a sign that her prediction was correct.

I crawled over to Alexandra. I placed my hands on her shoulders.Her expression was distant, but she didn't flinch from my touch.

"I can't understand what's it like to have this gift. And I don'tknow how I would react if I...saw the thing you did. But this getsback to our original problem."

"Meaning you can't love a killer," she said in a blunt voice.

I quickly embraced her to my naked chest. She kept her hands toherself for a few moments, then reached around my back. Her tornblouse fell open, and I could feel her breasts against my skin.

"I came here," I whispered, "because I want you to come back tothe Tunnels. I want them to see what I love about you."

"How?"

I reached and picked up the book she had been reading. I showed itto her.

"Will you come?" I asked.

She looked at the book, then nodded. I kissed her on her forehead.I felt an urge to continue what we had almost done last night, whatour lovemaking should have been a few moments ago.

Then I remembered that her father was in the next room. It wasn'tjust his unsettling proximity. He was a reminder of everythingdangerous in my affair with Alexandra. I had to keep perspective andnot lose myself in intimacy, no matter sweet it might be.

I gently pulled her away. She did not try to hold me.

I found my shirt and jacket. As I put them back on, I said, "Canyou tell me why you...came on so strong there?"

"Because I've been thinking about losing you," she said.

I walked over to her and kissed her again on the forehead. "I'mnot easy to get rid of," I said with a smile. "Ask anybody."

She didn't smile back.

"Tonight, then?" I sighed.

"Tonight."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I passed by Bradbury as I left Alexandra's room and headed for theelevator. He had the receiver of his old-fashioned phone pressed tohis ear. He nodded to something being said on the other end. Heshowed no hint that he had heard anything from Alexandra's room orthat he noticed my departure.

After I pressed the ground floor button in the elevator, Isuddenly got the shakes. I had to sit down in a corner of theelevator. When the doors opened for the ground floor, I couldn't getback up. A well-dressed couple outside of the elevator stopped in themiddle of laughter and stared at me. None of us moved. The doorsclosed.

I took several deep breaths. Then I stood and pressed the groundfloor button again. The doors opened. The couple had gone. I left thebuilding.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I needed to talk with Father. I needed to talk with someone. WhenI entered Below, I immediately headed for my father's chambers.

As I got closer, I heard something peculiar. It was music, but notthe kind I usually expected to hear from Father's room. Instead ofstring quartets and orchestras, I could hear fiddles and a southernvoice declaring, "Right or wrong, I'm still in love with you."

Then I remembered that Father had exactly one country album in hiscollection of vinyl records. He would only play this on hisgramophone if he had a certain visitor.

I ran the final steps to his chambers. As I burst into the room, Irealized that I might be acting like Gareth did last night in myroom.

Fortunately, the couple here was not engaged in real hanky-panky.A fully clothed Father was seated on his bed with pillows piledbehind his back. A woman lay against his chest with one hand casuallyplaying with a strand of his hair. They were both looking at thegramophone. I think she enjoyed the music more than he did, but hewas smiling.

They turned to me as I ran into the room and said, "Diana!" Sherose from the bed, walked over to me and shared a hug.

I said jokingly into her ear, "Shit-kicking with my dad, Isee."

"That's Bob Wills," she replied. "Be respectful."

We pulled apart, but our hands remained touching. "I thought youwere out of town on a case," I said.

"I was. The case is over."

"Ah, solved it with your usual Holmesian panache."

"We got a lucky break. The FBI doesn't need me anymore, so I havesome free time. And where better to spend it than Below?"

"Well, I'm glad to see you."

"Same here. So what's been going on?"

I stopped smiling. "You, uh, don't know?"

Diana Bennett stopped smiling as well. She turned to Father. "Whatdon't I know?" she asked him.

Father rose from the bed and said, "There have beensome...incidents that have occurred since you've been gone. I thoughtit best that Jacob explained them to you."

She looked back at me. "What happened?"

I suddenly realized that I needed Diana's help more than Father's.He could give me strength and moral support. Diana, however, had aspecial talent perfectly applicable to my dilemma.

Father knew this. He walked over to Diana and squeezed hershoulder. "I will leave you two alone," he said, then left hischambers.

Diana slowly pulled her hands from my touch and placed them insideher pockets. Her face took on that cautious expression when it wastime for her to analyze, interpret, and profile. "Well?" shesaid.

I motioned to two chairs. We each sat on one. I told her aboutAlexandra and Masilela. Her distant face showed some surprise when Itold her about meeting Layla for the first time.

"Layla Mubarak?" she said.

"You know her?"

"A bit. Remember that I was working for Joe at the time of hisdeath."

"That's right. I forgot."

"I met her once at his office." She paused, then said, "And sheheld a knife to your neck?"

"Well, you have to admit that I would look suspicious to anoutsider."

Diana frowned. "Especially to someone who has a habit of lettingher self-righteousness overwhelm her better judgment."

"That's your profile of her?"

"That's what Joe told me about her."

"Oh. Huh. Did you know..."

"I know. They were lovers. But that doesn't excuse her going offhalf-cocked."

I raised my hands and smiled. "Remind you of somebody youknow?"

"I won't argue about distinctions between you and Layla,but...watch yourself around her."

I coughed. "Funny you should say that..."

"Why? And what does Layla have to do with this?"

"Thus starts the second act..." I told her about the incident inthe Library. Diana leaned forward with a rapt expression. I couldsense her imagination digging into my story. Alexandra once said thatDiana had a gift similar to hers. Both of them could penetrate thesurface of things and see a deeper truth. Their talents differed inwidth and objective. Alexandra's gift was so quick and far ranging asto be supernatural. Diana could only focus on one person at a timeand learn things in small portions. She could also see, unlikeAlexandra, the reason why an event happened. It was how she caughtmurderers.

And now I was asking her to look into the soul of my love.

I was understandably hesitant about pushing Diana into doing this.This wasn't some serial killer that needed to be caught; this wasAlexandra. I was equally hesitant about relating what had happenedbetween me and Alexandra today, but Diana needed to know everything.It was the only way she could help me. And if I couldn't tell thewoman who had practically been my mother, who could I tell?

When I was done, she turned her eyes to my shoulder and remainedstill for several moments. Then she leaned back and said, "I thinkshe's right about Layla."

"You do?"

"Jacob, she threatened you with a knife."

"But we're okay now."

"Now you might be 'okay.' But what's going to happen in thefuture? Your girlfriend did try to kill Layla. How is that going toaffect things?"

I grimaced. "Is this going to be one of those sci-fi deals when aprediction causes people to do the thing predicted?"

"I don't know. I do know that a woman with precognitive abilitieshas predicted that another woman will commit murder. And the latterseems capable."

I scratched my palms with my fingernails as I considered Diana'swords. I eventually said, "I trust your gift. And I trustAlexandra's. But I'm not going to accuse Layla of doing something shehasn't done yet."

"I'm not saying you should. I'm saying you should be careful."Diana paused, then added, "Besides, I suspect there was more toAlexandra's vision than what she's told you."

"Really?"

"Remember how uncontrollable her anger was. Something unique hadto set it off."

"Yeah. Me getting killed."

"There had to be more."

"Uh, that's not enough?"

"For Alexandra, yes. She's not like you or Vincent. She rarelydoes anything on impulse. And why would she be shocked so badly bythe realization that somebody wants to kill you?"

"Oh, thank you."

"You know what I mean."

I did. For much of the past year, I had been alienating my closestfriends and family. Who knows what my enemies wanted to do? And I hadmade plenty of those in a year of kicking the asses and taking thenames of criminals, thugs and general bastards.

Diana was right. Alexandra's description of her vision had beenincomplete. If it had been exactly as she told me, she would havewarned me last night, not tried to kill Layla on the spot.

"So what should I do?" I asked.

"For now, watch and wait."

I groaned and looked away.

"What's the matter?"

"There's been too much of that already. The whole damn Tunnels aredoing nothing but watching and waiting for the Tower to make amove."

"Well, maybe they're..." She stopped herself.

"What?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just assume Vincent and MisterWells know what they're doing."

"I hope they do." I paused, then said, "Alexandra is coming heretonight. So is Layla, too, I think."

"You invited them?"

"Who else would have?"

"Have you told the others?"

"I haven't, but I'm sure they'll be okay with it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No chance in hell am I letting her in again."

"Jamie, I assure you that it'll be fine."

"I heard the same thing last night. Look what happened."

Jamie turned to Grandfather. The three of us were gathered in hischambers. "I am your Head Protector," she told him. "And I'm tellingyou -- Alexandra is not putting one toe Below."

Grandfather shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Might that be alittle extreme?" he wondered.

"No, trying to kill somebody with your teeth is extreme." Jamielooked at me. "If she does that to a guy like Crown, okay. But nothere and not to somebody who did nothing to her."

"What if," I said, "I told you she did have a reason?"

I told Jamie and Grandfather about Alexandra's vision. When I wasdone, Jamie looked a bit mollified. "Well," Grandfather said,"perhaps it's Miss Mubarak who should be kept out of theTunnels."

"Actually...she's coming tonight as well."

Jamie said, "Christ, Jacob, you've got a deathwish. If you believewhat Alexandra has told you..."

"I only know that Alexandra didn't just go crazy on us. And rightnow I've got no cause to push anybody away."

"This isn't just about you. Things are very delicate right now."Jamie returned her gaze to Grandfather. "You know what's atstake."

"You don't need to tell me." Father's firm voice was a reminderabout who was in charge around here.

Jamie looked uneasy, but she wasn't backing down. "Even ifAlexandra hadn't gone crazy last night, she did a pretty goodimpersonation of a crazy person. I say err on the side of caution andkeep her out."

Jamie was one of my oldest friends, but she was irritating me atthat moment. That's why I said, "You know, it's a good thing youweren't Head Protector fifteen years ago."

She gave me a brief puzzled look, then realized what I had meant."Alexandra is not your father," she said sternly.

"No," a voice said. "She is not."

Everyone looked up to an upper level. Father had just emerged fromthe shadows up there. "I am not you, either, Jamie," he said as hedescended the stairs. "We are all different from each other in theTunnels. We accept that. And some of the Dwellers have done morallyquestionable things. We accept that as well. We don't chase themaway."

He stopped in front of us. "That doesn't mean we look away fromsin. It does mean we accept the possibility of redemption."

"But, Vincent," Jamie said, "Alexandra isn't one of us."

"That is the way many people think Above. If someone isn't 'one ofthem,' they push that person away."

Jamie sighed. "I know what you're saying. It doesn't change thefact that the Tunnels have borders. Am I supposed to guard thoseborders or not?"

"Alexandra was welcome here last night. Let's make her welcomeagain. Let's show her forgiveness. If we don't...then how are wedifferent than the Tower?"

Jamie tightened her mouth. She looked at Grandfather, then at meand finally back at Father. She knew that she couldn't argue againstall of us.

She pointed her finger at me. "I'll be watching her every step ofthe way."

"I know."

"The same for Layla. I mean, if Alexandra is right..."

"I get it."

"Okay, then."

The meeting was disbanded. "Walk with me," Father whispered in myear. I joined him on a slow trot through the connecting tunnels.

"I overheard what you said about Alexandra," he said. "Did youtell Diana about this?"

"Of course."

"What did she say?"

"She thinks that Alexandra is still holding back something. Ithink she's right. She also says that we should wait and watch."

Father nodded.

"I appreciate you standing by me on this."

"You're welcome."

"I mean, you were there, too. You saw what Jamie saw, butyou..."

"Yes, I was there." Father abruptly stopped, making me stop aswell. He looked at me with eyes that seemed darker than before. "Ihave more reason than anyone to empathize with Alexandra. And I wishvery much that you find some kind of happiness with her. But, son..."His voice deepened. "…she tested me last night. She unleasheddarkness from inside herself. I almost unleashed mine in return. Ifyou love her, tell her not to test me again."

My throat felt hollow and dry. I could say nothing. Father walkedaway from me. As he strode down a tunnel, he looked like a king ofshadows walking among weak shades.