"I can pin it tight to my head," she said, though it would be a challenge.

"I think you'd be a fine-looking blonde." Marty tipped his head to a.s.sess her. "And you'd wear a mask. Tell the wife a name other than CeeCee. She'll never know who you really are."

"Is there a phone at the cabin?" she asked. "How would I know what's going on between y'all and the governor?"

"There's no phone," Tim said. "Which is why we can't stay there for our negotiations."

"So, how will I know-"

"You won't, at least not right away. We're going to give him, like, three days. My guess is it'll only take a few hours."

Marty laughed. "Who knows, though? The dude might like having some time away from his old lady."

Tim didn't smile. He glanced at her list. "What else do you need to know?" he asked.

"Would I have to keep her tied up or something?"

"No," Tim said. "I mean, we might have to cuff her in order to transport her if she doesn't...cooperate. Once she's in the cabin, there are dead-bolt locks and you'd have the keys, so you wouldn't have to worry."

"She could scream, though. Neighbors could hear her."

"It's a very isolated area," Tim said.

"Ain't n.o.body for miles." Marty took a swallow of beer. "Might be bears, though. How d'you feel about bears?"

"Shut up, Marty," Tim said. "You're not helping."

"What if I fall asleep?" She couldn't believe she was asking questions as though she might actually agree to help them. "If it turns out to be two or three days, I'll have to sleep sometime."

"Well, yeah, you'll need to sleep," Tim said. "She might have to be handcuffed to something then. To her bed or something. You're smart enough to be the judge of what you need to do."

"She'd fight me, though, wouldn't she?" She could just see herself getting into a fistfight with the wife of the governor of North Carolina.

"You'll have a gun," Marty said.

Tim shot his brother a look. Marty had crossed some kind of line.

"I don't want a gun, gun," she said.

"We'll give you an empty one," Tim said. "Just to use as a threat."

The fact that Tim had a gun bothered her more than anything. She didn't want to lose sight of who he was: the man she was sure had given her five thousand dollars and who treated her like a gem and who loved her more than anyone had since her mother was alive. The serious graduate student who wanted to advocate for people who had no power of their own. Suddenly she gasped.

"Your degree!" she said. "If you do this...underground thing, how will you finish your degree?"

"Some things are more important."

"But you've worked so hard."

He smiled at her as if she were too young or too naive to understand. "It really doesn't matter all that much, CeeCee," he said. "It's a piece of paper versus my sister's life."

Marty leaned toward her. "The government kills innocent people all the time," he said. "Andie got f.u.c.king railroaded, and we're not going to let her be one of them."

"We won't be in this alone, CeeCee," Tim said. "Some other SCAPE people know what we're planning and are behind us one hundred percent and are ready to help. They live underground, so I'm not going to tell you much about them yet. Not that you'd tell anyone," he added quickly. "I know you wouldn't."

She shook her head.

"They live near this cabin we're talking about, so we can stay with them 'til we're ready to move on the whole thing," Tim continued. "We'll make sure the cabin has food and everything you'll need. They have an old car you can use, so the day of the..." He seemed suddenly hesitant to use the word kidnapping. kidnapping. "The day we do it, you'll drive to the cabin and we'll drive to Jacksonville where the house with the phone is and then meet you back at the cabin. Make sense?" "The day we do it, you'll drive to the cabin and we'll drive to Jacksonville where the house with the phone is and then meet you back at the cabin. Make sense?"

"How will you do it?" she asked. "How will you be able to get to her?"

"We know her schedule," Marty said. "She teaches an evening Spanish cla.s.s at Carolina. It's dark when she gets out, so we'll nab her in the parking lot."

She pictured the scene: a woman walking alone to her car at night, two men jumping out of the darkness, m.u.f.fling her screams with a hand over her mouth as they drag her into the rear of a van. "You'll terrify terrify her," she said. her," she said.

"Well, yeah." Marty laughed. "Brilliant deduction."

"We'll make it as easy on her as we can, babe," Tim said. "We won't hurt her. Our whole objective is to prevent prevent people from being hurt." people from being hurt."

She looked down at her plate, translucent with grease around her uneaten slice of pizza. Both men were quiet, as though they knew she needed a minute to absorb what they'd told her.

"When would you do it?" she asked finally.

"A few days before Thanksgiving," Tim said.

"And what if the governor says he'll commute Andie's sentence and then goes back on his word once his wife is home?" she asked.

"He'd d.a.m.n well better not," Marty said in a threatening voice. "Or then we go to plan B and I don't think you want to know about that."

Alarmed, she looked at Tim. "What's plan B?"

"He's jiving you," Tim said. "We're not going to need a plan B. Plan A is foolproof." He pushed his plate away and lit a cigarette. "Don't decide right now, CeeCee," he said. "We'll finish up here, then have a nice relaxing night. In the morning, you can see how you feel about it."

After dinner, she and Tim went upstairs to his bedroom. They made love without uttering a word about the kidnapping, and she put it out of her mind as best she could, pretending that things would always be this easy between them. She lay awake after he'd drifted off, though, thinking. Other people were ready and willing to support Tim and Marty in their scheme. She found that rea.s.suring; it made the plan seem less crazy. She thought of the photographs of Andie displayed around the house. Her beautiful smile. The brutal rape that had driven her to murder her attacker. She imagined how frightened Andie must have been during her trial as she concocted alibis to try to save herself. She'd failed miserably. Now it was up to her brothers to do whatever they could to save her. No one would be hurt. The objective was to prevent prevent people from being hurt, Tim had said. And Andie's life would be saved. people from being hurt, Tim had said. And Andie's life would be saved.

Listen to your heart, her mother had written. Make a decision and dive in.

And that was exactly what she planned to do.

Chapter Eight.

I want you to know what happened between your father and me. I met him at a high-school dance my soph.o.m.ore year and he swept me off my feet. He didn't go to my school. I didn't find out 'til much later, but he was a dropout. He was a good liar and very handsome and charming. He had hair just like yours. Dark and wavy and kind of out of control and beautiful. As a matter of fact, he was kind of out of control and beautiful himself, and I think that's why I fell for him. He was just so different.When I got pregnant with you, I was afraid to tell him. I was almost three months along before I got up the nerve. I had this fantasy that when I told him, he'd ask me to marry him and then he'd take care of me. I went over to his house-he lived with his parents-and we were hanging around in the rec room playing Ping-Pong while I tried to figure out what to say. He was in the bathroom when the phone rang. No one else was home, so I answered it. It was a girl asking to speak with him. Her name was Willa, and I knew she was pretty just by her voice. When he came out of the bathroom, I told him about the call and his face lit up. He didn't even try to hide it. We started playing Ping-Pong again, but I knew his mind was on Willa, because he was. .h.i.tting the ball any old way. We finished the game and he said he didn't feel well so maybe I'd better go home. I left, and I knew I'd never hear from him again. I was right.

Once she told Tim and Marty that she would help them, she felt as if she were on a roller coaster. The ride started out nice and easy, as the brothers perfected their plan with little involvement from her, but she knew it was going to speed up quickly and she would have no way to get off.

Her role now was to set the stage for her breakup with Tim, so she began fabricating problems to discuss with Ronnie.

"He got a phone call from another girl while I was there last night," she confided to Ronnie as they dressed for work one morning. It was very early. Still dark outside.

"How do you know?" Ronnie pulled on her jeans, then peered over her shoulder to check them in the mirror, making sure they were flattering to her backside.

"I answered the phone," CeeCee said. She tugged a wide-toothed comb through her hair. "There was this pause. Then a girl's voice asked for Tim. He sounded happy to hear from her and went in another room to talk."

Ronnie turned to look at her, hands on her hips. "Did you ask him who it was?"

"No." CeeCee set down her comb. "I don't want to be clingy."

"You have a right to know." Ronnie was indignant. "You're in a serious relationship, not some fling. You should know everything."

CeeCee flopped down on her bed. "He seems...kind of distant all of a sudden," she said.

"CeeCee." Ronnie sat next to her. "You've given him the idea you're his, no matter what. It's really time you act like other guys are interested in you. And that you're interested in them. You've got to let him know he can't take you for granted."

"I don't want to pretend I'm interested in someone else," she said. "I just want Tim."

She was surprised when tears filled her eyes. It was easy to imagine how she would feel if she lost him, because that was currently her biggest worry. How were they going to continue their relationship with him in hiding? She'd raised the issue a few times since their meeting with Marty, and each time he would hold her close, rea.s.suring her that they would work it out.

"It's too good between us to just throw it away," he'd say. If she pressured him for details, he'd get annoyed. "I don't know know the specifics, CeeCee. I don't even know where I'm going to end up yet. You'll just have to trust me on this." She the specifics, CeeCee. I don't even know where I'm going to end up yet. You'll just have to trust me on this." She did did trust him, but she'd never been comfortable with uncertainty. trust him, but she'd never been comfortable with uncertainty.

He told her that the breakup had to be public. "Did you take drama in high school?" he asked one night as he drove her home after a movie.

She shook her head. "Did you?"

"Yes," he said. "So I figure, I'll pretend I'm really p.i.s.sed at you for something." He glanced at her with his full-lipped smile. "I can't imagine what you could do to p.i.s.s me off, though."

"I told Ronnie I thought you were interested in someone else."

"Brilliant!" He nodded appreciatively. "Except it makes me look like a s.h.i.thead. I want the breakup to be your fault."

"Uh-uh," she said with a smile. "It's got to be yours."

"Okay," he said. "I've already asked enough of you, so I'll take the heat. We'll make it my fault. An old girlfriend's come back into my life and being a typical male a.s.shole, I'm leaving you for her."

"What's she like?"

"She looks kind of like Telly Savalas, but she has some kind of hold on me," he said.

"What?" CeeCee laughed. CeeCee laughed.

"She can be moody, too," Tim continued. "And she's hard to get, so I've always been intrigued with her. So, now that she wants me, I just can't help myself."

He seemed so absorbed with the fantasy that CeeCee felt uncomfortable. "This is all made up, right?"

"Oh, babe, do you think I could ever leave you?" Was there a trace of annoyance in the question? She was afraid she was starting to sound as insecure as she felt. "No other woman compares to you," he said. "You've got the world's most amazing hair and you're smart and you've organized my entire house and won my brother over. Plus, you're dynamite in bed."

She blushed at that. She was not dynamite in bed; she'd still not had an o.r.g.a.s.m with him inside her. Maybe she didn't move enough or something. His fictional girlfriend was probably multio.r.g.a.s.mic. No wonder he wanted to go back to her. In her imagination, she named her Willa.

As planned, Tim came to the coffee shop two weeks before Thanksgiving. Instead of sitting in his booth, he asked CeeCee to walk outside with him. He looked appropriately troubled.

Ronnie was headed for the kitchen, and CeeCee caught her arm. "Tim wants to talk to me in private," she whispered. "Could you cover my tables for a few minutes?"

Ronnie glanced at Tim. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know." CeeCee shrugged. "Nothing, I hope."

"Go ahead," Ronnie said. "I'll cover."

She and Tim walked outside and stood on the sidewalk by the coffee-shop windows. Students walked past them in either direction, crowding them, brushing up against them, but they held their ground. This was to be a show, primarily for Ronnie's sake.

"Just remember I love you," he began.

She nodded. The sunlight gave him a halo of golden curls. She wanted to touch him but kept her arms folded rigidly across her chest.

"My old girlfriend's come back," he said. "And she made me realize that I was never really in love with you. I'm sorry. I need to break up with you."

"I knew knew it!" She stomped her foot on the sidewalk. "I knew there was someone else." it!" She stomped her foot on the sidewalk. "I knew there was someone else."

Tim started to smile at her false anger, but caught himself. "It only just happened," he said. "It's not like I've been with her all along or anything."

"How can you do this to me?" she shouted, louder than she'd intended to. A guy walking past her told her to "settle down."

"I never wanted to hurt you," Tim said. He hadn't shaved that morning; she could see the pale stubble on his cheeks.

"Well, you're doing a good job of it," she said. "What does she have that I don't have?"

"It's not you, CeeCee. It's me," he said. "You're wonderful and I just...it's completely my fault."

"d.a.m.n straight," she said.

"I'm really, really sorry." He put his hands on her shoulders, but she raised her arms quickly to cast him off. "Can you cry?" he asked.

She put her hands to her face and let her shoulders heave.

"That's better," Tim said. "I'd like to think that losing me would tear you apart. Like losing you would do to me." He pulled her toward him. "Okay, now I'll comfort you tenderly for one last time."

She buried her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Tim, I don't like this," she said.

"I know, babe." He patted her back in the halfhearted manner of a lover who's already moved on. "Me, neither. But you and I know what's really still between us. Come over tomorrow night, okay? Just be sure to show up after dark so no one sees you. And come around to the back door."