Riptide

knew media vans would be parked in the yard and microphones
    would be sticking through the windows of the house.
    As it was, everything was quiet. The agents posted all around the
    house and the neighborhood checked in regularly, reporting nothing
    suspicious.
    Ex-KGB agent Vasili Krimakov--who he was exactly, where he
    was at present, what his motives were, anything and everything that
    could possibly be tied to him--was discussed fully, exhaustively, on
    every news show, every talking-head show. Ex--CIA operatives,
    ex--FBI antiterrorist agents, and three former presidential aides spoke
    authoritatively about him with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts,
    Tim Russert, and William Safire. The question was: Why did he
    want Thomas Matlock so badly? The question remained unanswered
    until there was some sort of anonymous release from Berlin about
    how Thomas Matlock had saved Kemper's life and in the process accidentally
    killed the wife of the Soviet agent,Vasili Krimakov, who'd
    been sent to present-day Belarus to assassinate Kemper. The press
    went wild. Larry King interviewed a former aide to President Carter
    who remembered perfectly and in great detail the incident when
    CIA Operative Thomas Matlock had a face-off with Krimakov in
    the faraway land, killed his wife by accident, and the resulting
    brouhaha with the Russians. No one else could seem to recall any of

it, including President Carter himself, and everyone knew that President
    Carter remembered everything, including the number of rubber
    bands in his Oval Office desk drawer.
    An ex--United States Marine who had served with Thomas Matlock
    back in the seventies spoke authoritatively about how Thomas
    had refused to be intimidated by the enemy. Which enemy? Didn't
    matter, Thomas would go to hell and back before he'd ever break.
    This wasn't at all relevant, but nobody really cared. The bottom line
    was that all the folk interviewed were ex-or
    former somethings.
    The current FBI and CIA directors had put a seal on everything. The
    president and his staff weren't saying a word, at least officially.
    Everything was working as it had always worked. Speculation was
    rife, theories were rampant, but nothing could be proved.
    As for Rebecca Matlock, the governor of New York was quoted
    as saying, "She was an excellent speech writer with a flair for humor
    and irony. We miss her." And then he'd rubbed his neck where
    Krimakov had shot him.
    NYPD continued with their "No comment" when there was
    any question from the press about her. There was no more talk
    about her being an accomplice to the shooting of Governor Bledsoe
    Thank God, Becca thought, that no one had found out about
    Letitia Gordon. She'd bet Detective Gordon would be glad to
    trash-talk her.
    Every murder Krimakov had committed was brought out and
    examined publicly and exhaustively. There was public outrage.
    But no one knew where Rebecca Matlock was.
    No one knew where or really who Thomas Matlock was, but
    the world was coming to believe that he was a dashing, quite romantic
    James Bond sort of guy who had kept the world safe from
    the Russians and was now being hunted by a former KGB agent
    who didn't hesitate to murder people to draw him out.

Becca wondered aloud later to Adam about what the United
    States Marine had said about Thomas on TV. Adam, who was
    cleaning his Delta Elite at the kitchen table, said,"It means that this
    ass got paid maybe five hundred bucks to say something so the ratings
    would spike."
    "The guy said Thomas would never break. What does that mean?"
    Adam shrugged. "Who cares? I just hope that Krimakov is
    watching. Talk about misdirection. Maybe he'll come to believe that
    Thomas is invincible." Adam snorted, then buffed the handle of his
    pistol. "We couldn't do it better if we scripted it ourselves."
    "I wonder if Detective Gordon still thinks I'm somehow responsible
    for all of it."
    "I think once she makes up her mind, it'd take an avalanche to
    change it. Yeah, she still thinks you're a big part of it. I spoke to Detective
    Morales. I could see him shaking his head over the phone.
    He's depressed, but glad you're safe now."
    "It was the murder of Linda Cartwright that got everybody
    going."
    "Yes. She was an innocent. A very nice middle-class woman.
    Everyone wants him to fry for what he did to her. Don't forget that
    older woman in Ithaca. Another innocent. Krimakov has a lot to
    answer for."
    "Does anyone know yet how Dick McCallum was involved
    with