"I have some friends who are very happy to give you a place to stay for the duration. They're good people, Angel, and they have a very safe, very secluded ranch south of Tucson in Arizona."

"Arizona?! But that's..."

Grasping both of my shoulders, Donita looked me dead in the eye. "Cavallo isn't here, Angel."

"What? What does that have..."

"He's not here." Once again, those deep chocolate eyes begged me to take what she was saying at face value and to please just have faith in her explanation, poor though it was.

Now, I might not always be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but on occasion, I am known for putting two and two together and coming up with the requisite four. "So, if Cavallo isn't here," I said, putting the same emphasis on the word, "he just might be somewhere, say, to the southwest of Pittsburgh?"

Her smile was quite knowing. "It's a big old world out there, Angel. Who knows what little part of it he's stinking up?"

Faith has always been somewhat of an elusive enemy to me. Just when I think I have it in my grasp, just when I think I've been rewarded for having it, it slips away yet again, leaving me damning myself for being foolish enough to believe in its existence in the first place.

And now I was being asked to grasp hold of it again.

Or maybe not. Faith is one animal. Belief, however, is another. And even if I didn't believe in Donita-which I did, my belief in Ice, even after everything that had happened since her capture, remained absolutely bedrock.

And I knew, with every fiber of my being, that while Donita might be saying the words to me, Ice was the one pulling the strings.

So, in the end, the choice was a simple one. The mountain was high, but I knew without doubt that there would be a safety net well able to cushion the fall should I choose to damn the height and take the leap. And with that knowledge, I did the only thing I could do. The only thing my heart and soul would allow me to.

I believed.

Donita must have seen it in my eyes, or in the set of my jaw, because she smiled and squeezed my hand. "You're a very special woman, Angel."

"Yeah, well, that's not always the gift people make it out to be. I have doubts too, just like anyone else."

"I know, Angel," she replied. "And I know it's hard. If there was anything more I could do to make it easier on you, I would. I hope you know that."

"I do know that, Donita. Believe me, if I didn't, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now." After a beat of silence, I released her hand and looked up at her. "Arizona, huh?"

"Arizona."

The way she grinned at me, I got the feeling that a little time spent in warmth and perpetual sunshine just might not be such a bad idea after all.

"She's... big," I commented to my lawyer as we watched a woman the size of a small mountain make her way from the large sedan parked at the courthouse curb to the table we were currently occupying. Of obvious Native American ancestry, she had a long fall of deep black hair which ended below her waist, deep copper skin covered with intricate tattoos, intense almond eyes more black than a storm-tossed night, and the body of a female Arnold Schwarzenegger, pre-heart attack. Massive arms thick with muscle eased out from a sleeveless flannel, swinging easily with every step she took. Legs as solid and as huge as full-grown oaks strained the seams of well-worn jeans.

Staring at her as she approached, I was forced to admit the true inadequacy of my words. To call the woman simply 'big' was akin to calling my lover 'pretty'. True? Yes. But hardly fitting the grandeur of the sight presented.

Before Donita could respond, if indeed she was even planning to, the woman stopped a foot or so in front of us both, all but filling up my vision with her sheer size. The two of us stood, Donita's smile warm and welcoming. "Angel, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Rio. Rio, this is Angel."

Mirroring Donita's expression, I held out a hand. "Hello, Rio. It's nice to meet you."

The reverse, however, was quite obviously untrue.

It was almost as if I were meeting Mouse or Derby for the first time back in the Bog, such was the chill that wrapped itself around my body as she looked at me. Her flat, black eyes held not even the faintest flicker of warmth, and her expression told me in no uncertain terms that she had assessed me carefully and found me wanting.

The woman who exited the Bog, however, was so changed from the one who entered it as to be a different person entirely. And that woman had changed even more during the last year. Instead of looking down and away as I might have once upon a time, I met her stare, look for look, feeling nothing more than a vague disquiet as the seconds blended slowly into minutes.

It was Donita who finally halted the standoff by stepping in between the two of us and laying a hand on my arm while looking at Rio. "Are the bags packed?"

"They're in the trunk."

"Everything's ready, then?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. We'll be along in a minute."

"Fine."

And with that, she turned on her heel and started back the way she had come.

"If that's a taste of things to come, Donita, I think I'll take my chances with Cavallo," I half-whispered as Rio took up a stance beside the car and stared out into the light traffic as if daring someone to hit her.

"I'm... not sure what's wrong with her, Angel. Normally, she's one of the sweetest people I know."

"Maybe she has something against green-eyed blondes."

"No. Not at all. She's a little reserved at times, yes, but..."

"Reserved?! I don't know if you've noticed, Donita, but that woman makes Ice seem like a regular Chatty Kathy!"

With a somewhat rueful smile, she turned to face me. "Just give her a little time to get to know you, Angel. She really is a good person, and before you know it, she'll be joining your fan club just like everyone else who meets you."

"I don't need fans, Donita. What I need right now is someone who doesn't look at me as if I'm something they just stepped in on the sidewalk. Believe me, I have no desire to find myself being scraped off the bottom of her shoe somewhere."

"That'll never happen, Angel. I promise. Please, just give it a chance?"

After a moment, I shrugged. "Why not? Worse comes to worst, I still have Corinne and her magic teakettle on my side."

Laughing, Donita threw her arms around me and pulled me close, kissing me on the cheek. "You're one in a million, Angel," she whispered into my ear. "And Ice is one hell of a lucky woman."

"You just remind her of that when you see her again," I said, only half-joking. Giving her a final hug, I pulled away. "Thanks, my friend. Although it might not seem like it right now, I really do appreciate everything you've done. I don't know where Ice or I would be without you."

"It's my pleasure," she replied, her dark eyes sparkling. "You just be careful and stay safe, alright?"

"Will do."

"Let's go then."

Side by side, we walked over to the huge silver sedan, a car that might have been all the rage prior to the oil crisis, but was now, in these days of streamlining, big enough to qualify for its own Congressman. Though I had no wish to be treated like a passenger in a taxi, Rio's body language spelled out explicitly that I was either going to ride in the back with Corinne, or be forced to brush up on my hitchhiking skills if I ever intended to see Arizona.

Never having hitchhiked, I wisely opted for the former and slid into the back of the gigantic car with alacrity, pulling my feet in quickly lest they be amputated by a swiftly slammed door. "Service with a snarl," I remarked softly to Corinne as I tried to adjust clothing rucked up into uncomfortable crevices by my abrupt entry into the car.

"So I noticed. This behavior is rather unlike her."

I turned round eyes to her. "You know her?"

"Indeed I do."

Which, of course, could mean only one thing. "The Bog, right?"

"It's not as if I've been making friends and influencing people anywhere else, Angel," Corrine replied, nudging me a bit. "Not for the past forty-some-odd years, at any rate."

"Please don't tell me I have another Derby on my hands," I moaned.

Corinne snorted. "As if Ice would allow someone like that within a hundred miles of you."

My reply was abruptly silenced as the driver's side door opened and Rio slid her massive bulk behind the wheel. Nary a word was passed between us as, with a roar of the engine and the squeal of rubber against road, I found myself moving forward into yet another unknown future. Only this time, the miles weren't leading me into a future ripe with almost limitless, wonderful possibilities. They, rather, were leading me away from the only possibility I wanted-needed-in my life.

Ice.

It took every single atom of waning strength I possessed not to jump across the seat and wrestle the wheel away from the behemoth babysitter I'd so recently-and reluctantly-acquired. Even the thought of what my face would look like after I failed miserably in the attempt didn't sway me.

The remembered look in Ice's eyes as she silently asked me to have faith did the trick, however, and with fists clenched and jaw set, I slumped back against the worn, soft leather of the back seat and watched through weary, saddened eyes as the miles sped by.

Somewhere about three hours later, by my inadequate reckoning, too many nights of too little sleep combined with the soothing sway of the big car and made my eyelids grow heavy and drooping, the way they used to when I was a young child riding in the back of my father's station wagon.

With that strange clairvoyance she always seemed to possess, Corinne read my mind like one of her precious library books and, giving me a warm grin, patted her lap. Well past the point of playing dentist to a gifted stallion, I took her up on her invitation without a second's passing. Letting the comforting scent of her fill my senses, I felt myself drifting off into what I hoped would be a peaceful slumber.

It was a warm summer's day.

The kind so perfect that it seemed to have been made just for me.

The sky, a brilliant, untouchable blue, seemed the perfect playground for the newly-born sun.

I found myself sitting beneath the welcoming shade of a towering pine, ostensibly writing in my journal. What I was really doing, however, was watching the splendor that was my lover as she laid out on the wooden raft which floated, buoyed up by empty oil drums, about fifty yards into the center of the lake.

Resting back on her elbows, her head tipped back so the wet, inky mass of her hair trailed along the weathered wood, eyes closed and lips parted just slightly, and both long, tanned legs stretched out to their fullest, she seemed the poster child for every boy's first solitary foray into nocturnal bliss.

I felt a surge of jealousy as I watched the sun make sweet love to her bronzed and beautiful form.

My journal dropping unnoticed to the fragrant nest of pine needles, I stood and shucked off the long T-shirt which was covering my bathing suit, tossing it thoughtlessly god knows where as I ran down over the narrow beach and into the tepid water, suddenly unable to stand one more second separated from her.

My arms warmed to their task quickly, pulling me easily along through the water. Having long ago memorized the exact number of strokes needed to get from shore to raft, I stuck my hand out blindly at number forty, pulling up in surprise when it encountered nothing but air.

Blinking droplets from my eyes, I tread water, trying to discover if what I thought I was seeing was really what I was, in fact, seeing.

The raft was exactly as far away as it had been when I started swimming.

If I hadn't known for absolute truth that the raft was anchored to the lakebed with a secure cement plug, I might have thought Ice was having me on.

"Ice?" I asked, well knowing she would hear me over the still waters of the lake. We were the only ones there, after all.

If she heard me, she chose to ignore my summons, seemingly content with the sun's relentless seduction of her body.

Shrugging mental shoulders, I struck out once again, carefully counting my strokes and willing myself nearer with each one to the woman who was my heart.

Something brushed against the bottom of my foot, but I took it for an inquisitive fish and continued on unafraid.

When the contact was repeated, I kicked out strongly, my foot landing against a soft, giving surface. A surface which was most definitely not a fish. Unless I'd missed the biology class which would have let me know that fish had suddenly developed the ability-not to mention appendages-needed to grasp a person's ankle and yank. Hard.

Just managing a startled breath before I was pulled under, I kicked for all I was worth, using every trick Ice had taught me in our years together, as well as a few panic induced ones that she hadn't.

Finally able to break free a split second before the need to take a breath would have resulted in a rather rapid drowning, I rose to the surface and filled my lungs with sweet, sweet air instead.

"Ice!" I screamed when I had the lungs for it, hearing the sheer panic in my voice as my lover's name echoed over the lake.

Any chance at seeing her response ended abruptly as the hand, joined now by others, found purchase on my flailing legs and again pulled me swiftly beneath the now frigid water.

Forcing my eyes to remain open, I looked down and almost screamed again as I saw the grinning, water-bloated corpses of Carmine and his minions gathering around me like sharks to a bleeding whale. Blood oozed out from the bullet holes each had suffered, turning the water murky and dark as their hands, slimy and rotting, wrapped themselves around my ankles, wrists and waist.

Twisting with all of my strength, I was able to break away, using the bodies beneath me to push off and shoot to the surface.

My relief was short-lived, however, and after one quick gasp, I was pulled under yet again. And I knew without doubt that my first taste of freedom would also be my last.

Just when the lack of oxygen began to become a seductive Siren's call to death, another hand reached for me, from above this time, and I felt myself being yanked toward the lake's surface by a strength known and loved only too well.

"Ice!" my mind screamed with the last of its energy, my lungs already preparing for their first clean breath in what seemed eons of tortured waiting.

"I've gotcha, Angel," came the blessed contralto purr of my lover. "Hold onto me. I've gotcha."

Hold onto her I did, with both arms and legs, as I took in great, heaving breaths and tried to meld our bodies together.

"It's alright, my love. It's alright. I've gotcha. You're safe now."