Dark Rivers of the Heart

suggested.
        "You find even this funny?"
        "On one level."
        "Not me. Jesus. If the attorney general knows," he said, "then the next link up the chain-"
        "The President of the United States."
        "I don't know what's worse: that maybe the president and the attorney general sanction an agency like you described… or that it operates at such a high level without their knowledge. Because if they don't know, and they stumble across its existence-"
        "They're dead meat."
        "And if they don't know, then the people whore running this country aren't the people we elected."
        "I can't say it goes as high as the attorney general. And I don't have a clue about Oval Office involvement. I hope not. But-"
        "But you don't rule out anything any more," he finished for her.
        "Not after what I've been through. These days, I don't really trust anyone but God and myself. Lately I'm not so sure about God."
        Down in the concrete aural cavity, where the agency listened to Las Vegas with a multitude of secret ears, Roy Miro said good-bye to Eve Jammer.
        There were no tears, no qualms at being separated and possibly never seeing each other again. They were confident of being together soon.
        Roy was still energized by the spiritual power of Kevorkian, felt all but immortal. For her part, Eve seemed never to have realized that she could die or that anything she truly wanted-such as Roy-could be denied her.
        They stood close. He put down his attache case to be able to hold her flawless hands, and he said, "I'll try to be back here this evening, but there's no guarantee."
        "I'll miss you", she said huskily. "But if you can't make it, I'll do something to remember you by, something that will remind me how exciting you are and make me even more eager to have you back."
        "What? Tell me what you're going to do, so I can carry the image in my mind, an image of you to make the time away pass faster."
        He was surprised at how good he was at this love talk. He had always known that he was a shameless romantic, but he had never been sure that he would know how to act when and if he ever found a woman who measured up to his standards.
        "I don't want to tell you now," she said playfully. "I want you to dream, wonder imagine me, Because when you get back and I tell you-then we'll have the most thrilling night we've had yet."
        The heat pouring off Eve was incredible. Roy wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and melt in her radiance.
        He kissed her on the cheek. His lips were chapped from the desert air, and her skin was hot. It was a deliciously dry kiss.
        Turning away from her was agony. At the elevator, as the doors slid open, he looked back.
        She was poised on one foot, the other raised. On the concrete floor was a black spider.
        "Darling, no!" he said.
        She looked up at him, baffled.
        "A spider is a perfect little creation, Mother Nature at her best.
        A spinner of beautiful webs. A perfectly engineered killing machine.
        Its kind have been here since before the first man ever walked the earth. It deserves to live in peace."
        "I don't like them much," she said with the cutest little pout that Roy had ever seen.
        "When I get back, we'll examine one together, under a magnifying glass," he promised. "You'll see how perfect it is, how compact and efficient and functional. Once I show you how perfect arachnids are, they'll never seem the same to you again. You'll cherish them."
        "Well," she said reluctantly, "all right," and she carefully stepped over the spider instead of tramping on it.
        Full of love, Roy rode the elevator to the top floor of the high rise.
        He climbed a service staircase to the roof.
        Eight of the twelve men in the strike force had already boarded the first of the two customized executive helicopters. With a hard clatter of rotors, the craft lifted into the sky, up and away.
        The second-and identical-chopper was hovering at the north side of the building. When the landing pad was clear, the helicopter descended to pick up the four other men, all of whom were in civilian clothes but were carrying duffel bags full of weapons and gear.
        Roy boarded last and sat at the back of the cabin. The seat across the aisle and the two in the forward row were empty.
        As the