Reprisal

"That's a blessing," Re

The priest gave him a sidelong glance.

"If they know what they're talking about."

Re

None of the doctors seemed to know what they were doing in Da

Nick the professor sighed with exasperation.

"You both realize, don't you, that what's supposedly happening with Da

Father Bill smiled weakly. "Maybe it is. But it's not in Da

"Wasn't he worked up here before?"

"Completely. Everything one hundred percent normal."

Shaking his head, Nick glanced at his watch and stood up.

"I've got to run," he said, shaking hands with the priest. "But I can be back tonight if you want me to spell you with Da

"Thanks, but I'll be all right."

Nick shrugged. "I'll come back anyway."

He waved and left. Re

He ca

"How about Sara?" the priest said when Nick was gone. "Anything on her?"

Re

"Yeah," he said. "We got something. I sent for a newspaper clipping and a copy of her senior page in the U. of T. at Austin yearbook. They arrived today."

"Her yearbook? How can that tell you anything?"

"I do it routinely, just to make sure that the person I'm looking for is really the person I'm looking for."

The priest's expression was puzzled. "I don't…"

Re

"Here. They're Xeroxes of Xeroxes, but I think you'U*ee what I mean."

He watched Father Bill's eyes scan the top sheet, come to a halt, narrow, then widen in shock. Re

Neither of them bore the remotest resemblance to the woman in the photo the priest had given Re

Father Bill flipped to the second sheet, then looked up at him with a stricken, befuddled expression.

"But this isn't…"

"Yeah. I know."

The priest dropped the sheets and staggered to his feet.

"Oh, my God!"

He turned and leaned against the windowsill and stared out at the Brooklyn rooftops in silence. Re

"I really screwed up, didn't I?"

There was an impulse in Re

"You got taken. You followed the routine and she slipped through. And didn't you tell me you even went so far as to call the woman's old pastor?"

A mute nod from the priest.

"Okay. So how were you to know that the two of you were talking about different people?"

But Father Bill didn't seem to be listening. He started talking to the air.

"My God, it's all my fault. If I'd done my job right, Da

"Aw, don't start with that bullshit. It's her fault. Whoever took the real Sara's place is to blame. She's the one who took the knife to Da

"But why? Why all the subterfuge, the elaborate plotting, and most likely the murder of the real Sara?"

"We don't know that."

True. They didn't know that. But Re

"Why, dammit? Just to mutilate a small boy? It doesn't make sense."

"I stopped expecting sense a long time ago."

"And what about Herb?"

"At this point I can go either way on Herb," Re

The priest's eyes were bleak as he looked at Re

"So then it's Sara—the bogus Sara—we're after."

"Right. And we'll find her."

"I'm not so sure about that," Father Bill said softly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Before the priest could answer, a doctor walked into the lounge, one of the nameless, faceless white coats that had been trooping in and out of Da

"Excuse me. Father Ryan? I want to discuss some procedures we'd like to do on the Gordon boy."

Re

"Tests? More tests? What about his pain? All you do is tests but that child is still in agony in there! Don't come to me with more requests for tests until you've healed his wounds and stopped his pain!"

"We've tried everything we know," the doctor said, "but nothing works. We need to test—"

Father Bill took two quick steps toward the doctor and grabbed the lapels of his white coat.

"Screw your tests!" His voice was edging toward a scream. "Stop his pain!"

Re

"Cool it, Father. Just cool it, okay?"

A nasty thought slithered through Re

Jesus! Knock it off Augustino! This is one of the good guys here. Save it for the street slime.

"Why don't you go home," he told the priest. "You're cracking up from spending too much time in that hospital room."

The priest looked away. "I can't leave him. And besides, it's the only place I know without a phone."

Oh, yeah. Another sign that Father Bill might be cracking under the weight of all this craziness. He kept talking about these phone calls he was getting from Da

The priest jumped as the lounge phone began to ring.

"That's him!" Father Bill said hoarsely, staring at the phone as if it were going to bite him.