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and she turned her head to look at me. But her gaze went through me and she stayed silent, and all I got was a small nod before she closed her eyes again.
    I shut the door quietly, then went to the sitting room and turned down the air conditioner. In the bathroom I found some cleaning supplies under the sink and cleaned up the red paint smeared on the porcelain and tile. Finished, I found my way back to the kitchen, poured a mug of tea, and drank it sitting at the kitchen table. The air conditioner cycled, peacefully sucking me dry, the refrigerator humming with it. No noise other than appliances, no movement other than air and me, and I watched the steam curling out of my mug. The mug was black with a Star Trek insignia on it. Alison’s late father had bought it, 1 had been informed.
    I could cover Romero and her daughter. With additional help, with Rubin and Natalie, and, say, Dale, I could do it. I could possibly even keep them alive, but there are no guarantees in this business. Dale was at least as well trained as I; we had done the Army course together. Natalie had been trained by her father, and was probably better than I at this sort of work. Rubin had learned at my knee. He wasn’t professional, but he was amateur in the way that Olympic athletes are amateurs, and we had been close friends forever. Rubin’s learning was through osmosis, I supposed, and he had absorbed a lot.
    Including me, that’d give us a four-person, twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week rotation. Two people to stay with Romero at the clinic when she worked; two people at her home while she slept; leave one person to stay with Katie during the day. Alternate that, have the remaining person cover Romero’s clinic ingress and egress, and the protection would be fine, giving that person room to investigate and perform the advance work, what little would be needed.
    I could do that, and thinking about it, I realized I wanted to do it. If nothing else, I wanted to give back a little of what I’d had to take this morning.
    After draining the cup I called Rubin. He took a few rings to answer, and I pictured him in our apartment, dropping his pad and pencils, swearing as he picked up the phone in his room. When he picked up I asked if he was busy.
    “Nothing I can’t put down; the art’s on spec, anyway. How’s Alison?”
    “She’s sleeping. I need you to call Natalie and Dale and have them meet me here, and I need you to bring me my gun. Can you do that?”
    “I know Natalie’s free, we were going to have dinner tonight. Dale’s in your book?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Okay, I’ll be right over.”
    “Don’t ring the bell. I’ll be watching for you.”
    I cut the connection and pulled the sheet from the clinic across the counter, thinking. I wasn’t committed yet; dialing the number on the page would change that. “Women’s LifeCare, may I help you?”
    “My name is Kodiak. I’d like to speak with Dr. Romero.”
    “Hold, please.” Classical music for forty seconds, then a click and, “I’ll transfer you.”
    “Mr. Kodiak? Dr. Romero. Is Alison all right?”
    “She’s asleep. I think she’s fine. Have you contacted Sentinel Guards yet?”
    “Not yet.”
    “I’ll take the job,” I said.
    I heard her light a cigarette before she said, “When can you start?”
    “Tonight. We’ll pick you up when you leave work and go from there. I’ll need to hold a meeting at your place, and two of my people will stay behind and spend the night there. I’d do it but I don’t want to leave Alison alone for too long.”
    “Commendable.”
    “Starting tonight you’ve got your twenty-four/seven.” 
    “Who are these other people?”
    “Colleagues. I can vouch for them.”
    “I’ll have a check ready for you.”
    I told her what else I required and she asked a couple of questions and agreed to my terms, and I said I’d see her at six and bring a contract with me. She said thank you, and we got off the phone. As I hung up, I thought I