Day Three
July 23, 1952
Wednesday Morning
Wilde went to the law firm to find that London hadn’t shown up for work, to the puzzlement of the receptionist. Wilde found her at home, packing a suitcase. Her face was stressed. Her eyes wouldn’t look into his for more than a heartbeat.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
“It’s over, Wilde.”
“What’s over?”
“Everything.”
He lit a cigarette, blew smoke and said, “Last night was close, I’ll admit. You’re alive though.”
“This time,” she said.
He tilted his head.
“So you’re going on the run?”
She nodded.
“As far and as fast as my legs will take me.” She looked into his eyes, then away. “You can come with me if you want.”
The words rolled through Wilde’s brain with the force of a freight train. He pulled up the image of them getting into her car, heading down the road and never looking back.
“That’s quite a statement,” he said.
She walked over, put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.
Her body trembled.
“I have some money saved up,” she said. “We’ll go down to Mexico and find the treasure. I’ll cut you in. We’ll be fifty-fifty partners.”
Wilde pictured it.
The picture was intoxicating.
Secret would be history, but London was every bit her equal. The only reason he hadn’t fallen for London yet is because he’d let Secret in first.
He’d made no commitments to Secret.
If he left, it wouldn’t be a violation.
There was chemistry with London.
He couldn’t deny it.
It was the same as with Secret, maybe even more so.
Finding the treasure and getting it out of Mexico would be dangerous, in fact damn near impossible. In all probability they’d be caught and end up in rat-infested prison cells, either that or dead. But if they actually pulled it off, if they actually got away with it, the math would be fun.
“Come with me,” London said. “Say you will. After we get the treasure we’ll buy an island and spend the rest of our lives on the beach.” A beat then, “Or first we can travel. I want to go to Hong Kong.” She pulled her stomach tighter to his and looked into his eyes. “How about you, Wilde? Have you ever wanted to go to Hong Kong?”
He grinned.
“I never really thought about it.”
“If we get the treasure, that’s what our lives will be,” she said, “thinking about things we never thought about before. Not just thinking about them, either-actually doing them. We’ll make the world ours. Everyone else will just be a trespasser.”
He kissed her forehead.
“When you think you don’t mess around, do you?”
“No I don’t.”
She kissed him on the mouth.
Her lips were soft and moist.
“So what do you say?” she said. “Are you in?”