Someone to Watch Over Her Ch. 02

"I don't know, Fallon. I'm at peace with dying if that's what's going to happen. I'm tired. I've been scratching and clawing my whole life to get to where I am now. Now that I'm here, none of it seems very important when I'm with you. I just want to see where it might have gone. I'll die a happy man if I can have you in my life for a year."

That made her cry and she clung to me. "I don't want you to die," she said. "Won't you fight for me? What if you could have twenty or thirty years with me instead of one year? Wouldn't that be worth fighting for? If you won't do it for you, will you do it for me?"

"I'll do anything for you," I told her.

"Good," she said. "Does that mean you'll tell me the truth about us? Will you tell me the truth about my father?"

I laughed. "I'll make you a deal. You said you had something to tell me and you would tell me if I was alive in two years. If I'm alive in two years I'll tell you everything you want to know. If I'm dying before then, I'll tell you anyway. But, if I do that, you have to work. You have to take the Thorpe case, and if I come up with others before the two years, you have to take them, too. Will you make that deal?"

She stopped and stood in front of me. "I'm confident you're going to be alive in two years," she said. "I'll take that deal. Now kiss me and promise me you'll keep your word."

I did, and kissing my daughter nearly killed me. She was all trembly and shaking. I held her tightly and she gradually relaxed. She looked up at me and wiped away her tears.

"Did you have plans tonight?" she asked.

"No, what do you want to do?"

"I want to go to the cigar club and talk. I want it to be just me and you," she said.

"I can't think of anything I'd like more," I told her. "I was going to take you to a charity event here. There would be dancing and a crowd of celebrities. Are you sure you don't want to do that?"

She didn't, so we collected Fredrick and went home to change. She wanted to go to a charity event sometime, but she said tonight was special and she just wanted to be with me.

We talked about the Thorpe case over cigars and a good brandy. She was excited about the case, but there wasn't much to do until they actually swore out a warrant. She wasn't even sure they would. She suspected they would just try to snatch him and make him disappear down some black hole. Her first move was going to be challenging the official secrets part of his contract. She felt that if she could prove that the Defense Department was up to unconstitutional shenanigans, she could get any actions against Thorpe dismissed. I was skeptical, but I agreed to help her any way I could.

One of my young friends wanted to join us, and I introduced him to Fallon. His name was Andrew Morgan, and he was a banker. I pulled his chestnuts out of the fire on an SEC violations case. He had broken the rules, but he hadn't known it at the time. I made some moves and they knew they couldn't prove motive. He was never charged, but he was very grateful. He sat down and told Fallon how I had saved his bacon.

"How much did you pay him?" she asked.

He laughed. "Not nearly enough," he said. "I don't think I paid him a third as much as I paid my lawyer. He mostly helped me because my father did him a favor. What was that favor, exactly, Canton?"

"I'll never tell," I told him. "It happened a long time ago."

He was obviously smitten with Fallon. He couldn't take his eyes off her and I didn't blame him.

"Fallon, are you involved with Canton? I mean are you two a thing?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm involved with him, but not like you think," she said. "I love Canton, but we're not a thing. Why do you ask? I don't want to be rude, but why is that any of your business?" she asked him.

"It... It's not," he stammered. "I just wanted to ask you out. Is that okay, Canton?"

"She doesn't need my permission and neither do you," I told him.

"No, but you two seem close, and I wouldn't do it if I thought you didn't approve," he said. "I owe you too much for that."

Fallon was a little flustered. She blushed a little. "I wouldn't go out with you if he didn't approve. Do you approve, Canton?"

"Well, you aren't going to be arrested in the near future, are you, Andrew?"

"No, no; nothing like that," he assured me. "I don't do anything without checking with the legal department, these days. How about it, Fallon? Will you go out with me Friday?"

"No, I'm doing something with Canton," she said. "I'll go out with you Saturday night. I need to be back home by midnight though. Canton and I go to church on Sundays."

He assured her that was fine. He said he would enjoy going to church sometime, too.

"Let's go out and see where it goes," she said. "Now if you don't mind, Andrew, I'm here with Canton, and I want to be alone with him. I want you to go away."

He laughed. "Well, I've been dismissed. Thanks for going out with me, Fallon. It's good to see you, Canton. Call me and I'll take you to lunch."

He left and Fallon wanted to know what I knew about him. "He's very hot," she said. "He seems nice, too."

"He is nice," I told her. "I'll take your word about the hot part. His mother and father are old friends of mine. They came here from Nebraska and they're old school good people. They're very conservative, and they are very moral. I've known Andrew all his life and I only know good things about him. He was engaged a few years ago. He found out his girl was involved with a guy in his office before they met, and the two of them got together for a last fling the week before she was supposed to marry Andrew. He broke it off and never saw her again. He's very loyal and he expects the people around him to be that way, too. The fling crossed his lines and he felt betrayed."

"Wow," she said. "That's impressive. I like him even more now. Are you sure you're okay with this? I won't go out with him if you don't want me to."

"I want you to do what makes you happy," I told her. "Don't take this wrong, baby, but I haven't earned the right to approve or disapprove of what you do."

"Bullshit," she said. "You saved my life. Do you think I've forgotten that? I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you. At the least, I would be a rape victim. There were three of them, Canton. Even if they hadn't killed me, I'd be scarred for life. I'm alive and, well, they're dead and it's because of you. I think that's quite a bit of earning rights."

"Yes, but I'm dirty and you're clean. You're a much more moral person that I am, Fallon. I've made a mess of my life. You're young, beautiful, smart and successful. You've got it all going on, and you should make your own choices. You're obviously better at making choices than I am."

She thought about that for a minute. "Okay, I see your point. My point is that you're changing, Canton. I know what's inside of you. You're a different person with me than you are with other people. You take care of me and I know you'd never give me bad advice. You're ruthless and almost sociopathic with other people. I think you've become like that in order to survive doing what you do. That's good for me. You use that for me and people you care about. Look at Andrew. Evidently, you're the same way with him you are with me. You just don't know very many nice people. You don't like very many people. You're kind and generous to the people you like. That's no different than other people. I'm like that, too. I just know more people I like."

"Maybe so," I told her. "I don't meet many people like you, baby; or, Andrew either, for that matter."

"I know. How am I going to get in contact with David Thorpe, Canton?"

"I'll give you a number. You're going to have to use a burner phone."

"What's that?" she wanted to know.

"I'll give you one. You use it and then throw it away. You call from off the street somewhere; far from anyplace you usually go, and discard it."

She giggled. "This is all so cloak and dagger. I always wanted to do this."

"Take it seriously, Fallon. This isn't a game," I told her.

"I will," she said. "Are you through with your brandy?"

I was, and I took her home. She got in touch with Thorpe the next day. I had told him to expect her call. He was very much the civil libertarian like she was. I thought they would get along, and they seemed to hit it off right away. He wasn't to tell her where he was, in case someone was listening. We were able to discover that a complaint had been filed against Thorpe in a Virginia federal court and he was going to be charged with conveying classified information to an unauthorized party, disclosing communications intelligence information, and theft of government property. Fallon was outraged. She believed that the complaint was a violation of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. I agreed with her, but thought it ultimately wouldn't matter.

She worked on some motions for two weeks. I was in Texas beginning the strangest set of cancer treatments imaginable. Dr. Zebenski was a very eccentric gentleman, indeed. I had to listen to him rant about the FDA for hours, and it never changed. He put me on a diet and began injecting me with some sort of treatment. He called it peptide therapy. Fallon did the research and explained to me what a peptide was, but I wasn't enough of a scientist to understand much of it. I was expecting nothing, and I was only doing it for her, anyway.

When she began filing motions on the Defense Department's official secrets policy, I began to get more involved. I wasn't expecting trouble, but I kept a close eye on her. Getting together became much more problematic. I was in Texas much of the time, anyway, and my reports were all third hand as to her activities. I called her twice a week on burner phones and kept her abreast of my treatment progress. She updated me on the status of her case, and we talked for hours. She was under surveillance, and when Maria did a sweep and found bugs in her apartment she got an injunction. The bugs were traced to the Defense Intelligence Agency and they were charged with crimes and got a cease and desist order. Of course, no one would go to jail and they would just be sneakier, but she showed them that she wasn't playing games.

I flew to San Jose, in Costa Rica, she flew down to Leon, Mexico and my plane picked her up and flew her to me. I had a 310 acre property there with a house on a cliff looking down on the forest. I was waiting on the front porch when she arrived. Francis opened her door, and she flew across the lawn and flung herself on me. Her head was buried in my chest and I held her tightly.

"Hello, gorgeous woman," I told her. "Is this the excitement of being in a new place? I'll have to take you to new places more often."

Her little fist thumped my arm. "This is the excitement of getting to see you after nearly a month," she said. She looked up at me with those huge blue eyes. "How are you feeling, Canton?"

"Remarkable," I told her. "I'm in a fantastic setting, holding a beautiful woman in my arms, she obviously likes me and life is good."

"She loves you, and that isn't what I was asking and you know it," she said.

"I'm no worse than the last time you saw me," I told her. "My morning headaches seem a little better and the scans show that the size of the tumor hasn't changed since I started with that idiot. I've told you this a dozen times."

"Yes, but I can't tell if you're lying over the phone," she grinned at me mischievously.

"And can you tell now?" I asked.

"No, you're a very good liar," she laughed. "I don't believe you would lie to my face though. You're not lying are you, Canton?"

"No, baby, I'm not lying." I said. "What do you want to do today?"

"Show me around and I'll decide," she said.

When she saw the pool and the waterfall, she wanted to go swimming and lie in the sun. She wanted dinner by the pool and to spend a quiet evening talking. She went in to change, and I did the same. I was quicker than she was, and when she came out I was swimming laps.

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" she called when I stopped.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked.

"I don't know, forget it. I'll join you," she said.

She was a very good swimmer, slicing cleanly through the water, and we swam side by side. She gave me quite a workout, and I was exhausted when she finished. We climbed out and sat in the hot tub for a while before getting out. She pulled two lounges together and we ate some fruit and drank juice. She looked spectacular in her bikini. It left very little to the imagination and I needed a distraction.

"I hear you've been going out with Andrew," I said.

"Yes, he's asked me four times," she said. "He's a lot of fun. I don't date that much, you know."

"Yes, I know," I said.

"Well, it's nice to have someone to do things with who isn't constantly trying to feel me up. Since a certain distinguished, older man isn't available, I go with him."

"Well, that's nice," I said. "Given my unavailability, I'm glad you're consoling yourself with the young Adonis."

"I'd rather be with you, Canton." She took my hand in hers. "You know that, don't you?"

"Since you told me, I guess I do," I said. "No romance there?"

"Maybe," she said. "I like him and he's hot, but nothing beyond the casual. I'm not ready for that."

"When will you be ready?" I asked her. "Not that I'm pushing you, but what's holding you back?"

"Well, I spend a lot of time on my job," she said. "I'm not where I want to be yet. There's something else I'm not going to tell you about yet."

"So, at some point you're going to tell me?" I asked.

"Yes, in two years," she said. "If I think you're getting worse, I'm going to tell you before then. That's why it's so important to me for you to be honest with me about this. If you're getting worse, I need to know it right away before it gets debilitating. I want you healthy still. I can't stress how important this is. Promise me you'll tell me if things start going downhill."

I petted her hair. "I promise, Fallon."

She got up and came over to my chair. "Scoot over," she said. "I need you to hold me."

I scooted over and all that silky loveliness settled down half on top of me. I put my right arm around her and she lay with her cheek on my chest. She giggled.

"I can hear your heart beating," she said. "Most people who know you would be surprised to learn you have one."

"Who's been telling tales out of school?" I asked.

"That would be telling tales out of school," she laughed. "You're not the only one who knows things or can find things out."

"No, I believe you're quite the resourceful young lady," I told her. "I'm very proud of you, Fallon."

She stretched up to kiss my cheek and then snuggled back down. "That makes me very happy," she said. "Canton, where were you born?"

"How is this something you need to know?" I asked her.

"It isn't, I just know hardly anything about you," she said. "Tell me a story about Canton as a young boy."

I cast my mind about for something I had never told her mother. "Okay, here goes," I said. "I remember going duck hunting with two of my cousins. We lived in a rural area and there were a bunch of farm ponds around. We would sneak around behind the dams of the ponds and then peek over the edge to see if there were any ducks there. If there were, we would talk about which one of us was going to shoot at which duck. We'd pop up, wait for the ducks to take off and then shoot at them. There was one pond that typically had several ducks on it but we had to approach very cautiously.

"There was a very cantankerous bull that lived in that pasture. Thankfully, he had a weakness. He was bad at geometry. We would sneak out into the pasture, pop up and shoot, grab any ducks we managed to kill and run for the fence. It was about two hundred yards to the fence from the pond. The bull was usually hanging around the gate on the far side of the pasture. He would hear the shots, see us scrambling around and head for us with bad intentions on his mind. He had a little farther to travel, but he was faster. We'd be running for the fence at a right angle to him. He would always head for the pond where we were, adjusting the course of his target as we ran toward the fence. His track was always a long curve and ours was a shorter straight line. We always beat him to the fence by about ten yards. If he had just had the brain power to go straight for the fence he would have been able to work his mayhem on us.

Once he caught my oldest cousin climbing the fence. He had waited just a little too long trying to get a duck that he shot. That bull gave him a shot in the butt with its head, and he must have flown 15 feet through the air. Luckily it didn't have any horns or my cousin would have enjoyed his first anal penetration. That came a few years later when he decided he was gay."

She burst into laughter. "Oh, my God! I can't imagine you running away from a bull. I figured you would just shoot him."

"The neighbor didn't mind us shooting his ducks, but I'm afraid he would have taken a rather dim view of us shooting his bull," I told her.

That made her laugh even harder. She hugged me. "God, I love you, Canton. Tell me more."

"Well, as much as that would be delightful, I think dinner is about to be served," I said. "We had better rinse off and get dressed a little."

There was an outdoor shower by the pool and we stood under the water together. She pressed herself against my back and hugged me under the warm water, laying her cheek against my back. I appreciated the gesture but inappropriate things were about to happen to me, so I disengaged and got towels. We went and changed into shorts and t-shirts, and Fredric served us dinner on the veranda.

We had cigars and some very old English whiskey after dessert, and I cuddled her on the sofa. She told me her plan for the Thorpe case and we discussed the ramifications of the electronic age on privacy.

"You know, don't you, that unless you're willing to give up all your gadgets, you really have no privacy," I told her.

"Yes, I suppose I do know that, but I think there's a difference between what I choose to give up willingly for the convenience of having my gadgets and information that is stolen from me without my knowledge or consent," she said.

"I suppose I might liken that to someone being dragged to the executioners' block or walking willingly," I said.

"Why is it an execution if Google knows where I am?" she asked.

"That's not all they know," I told her. "Be that as it may, if Google knows where you are, that knowledge is also available to any alphabet agency that wants to know where you are."

"I have nothing to hide, why should I be concerned?" she asked.

"Fallon, that is the most asinine argument that you could possibly make," I told her. "Do you know who first used that saying?"

"No, who?" she asked.

"Have you heard of Joseph Goebbels?" I asked her.

"Wasn't he a Nazi?"

"Exactly, are you a Nazi, Fallon?"

"No, but just because a Nazi used it doesn't mean it isn't true."

I laughed. "Well spoken. In this case, untrue, but well spoken. The problem with the 'if you have nothing to hide' argument is: I don't need to justify my position. You need to justify yours. Come back with a warrant; because I don't have anything to hide, but I don't have anything I feel like showing you, either, and it's about things not being anyone else's business. My information is mine. I own it. I was here first. No one else can claim it without my permission because I already own it. Do you see?"

"I think so," she said. "This is a problem of information processing. It's the storage, use or analysis of data, not information collection. The use of that information affects the power relationships between people and the state. They make the individual helpless and powerless. That also changes how people relate to the institutions that make important decisions about their lives."