Chapter 18

Epilogue

David West searched for a label to describe his state of mind and settled on "boredom". Not since childhood could he recall such a prolonged loss of motivation and interest. West longed to return to Los Angeles, to rest and visit with old friends. By court order, however, he could not leave the area before his hearing, still two days away. Findings of sufficient evidence to convict him of criminal damage or at least criminal mischief seemed likely. The Navy had not taken kindly to his wanton release of every dolphin in the program. Talking with a friend from the research facility, West learned about the recovery of several dolphins, all of which failed to respond to commands, an apparent total loss of conditioning. Neither Kozyrev nor Vasto were among the recovered animals.        "Cheer up, it could be worse," West told himself. At least he had avoided an assault charge for his mad dive at Colonel Vise. The Colonel dropped the charges in exchange for a personal, candid interview with David West on the subject of Adam MacArthur. West smiled at the memory of commanding such rapt attention from an NSA official. Unfortunately, West could provide little information that Colonel Vise had not already gained from other sources. Especially disappointing had been West's ignorance of MacArthur's current whereabouts. Vise presented him with a computer printout listing ten A. MacArthurs, all of whom had contacted government facilities in the previous 24 hours. West scrutinized the list and cooperated fully, but he could recall nothing in his conversations with the fugitive that would make one location more likely than another.        Cruising downtown, West impulsively turned off the highway. He pulled up to a familiar dock along Cinco Bayou where he had last found the errant Kozy. David was embarrassed by his own naiveté that led him hopefully to the end of the dock. A thorough search of the water revealed no sign of dolphins in the bayou. The chatter and splashing emanated from dolphin therapy holding pens adjacent to the dock. Standing outside the fence was a woman engrossed in observation of a therapy session. She looked familiar. As David passed by, she faced him and smiled.        "Hello Mr. West."        "Hi," he paused, embarrassed. "I'm sorry but I can't recall your name."        "Sally Crane." She continued to smile expectantly.        "Right!" David turned to the pens, "And that must be Joshua in there. How's he doing?"        "He's having a pretty good session," Sally replied. "I guess we owe you some thanks for taking that poor, disturbed dolphin away from this area."        "Me?" West replied quickly with a pained look. "No, don't thank me."        Sally's smile changed to a frown. "Did everything go okay? I never heard from Adam."        West looked away, hesitating. "It's a long, complicated story."        "Mr. West," Sally placed a reassuring hand on his arm, "would you consider joining us for dinner tonight?"        David started to give his regrets but became distracted by the pressure of Sally's hand against his arm. Making eye contact with her once again, he realized he would accept the invitation.        Craig Van Patten and Nicholas LaRue sighed simultaneously. With the airline door secured, the empty seat between them looked like a sure thing. The extra space would be welcome on their two-stop, bargain flight back to Washington.        "Oh man, some vacation!" Van Patten was first to bridge the space between them.        "Right, Craig," LaRue answered without looking up from his magazine. "How about you warn me the next time you plan on going off for some 'touchy-feely' experience? Tagging along with you could be bad for my professional reputation, you know."        "Well it wasn't that bad, was it?" Van Patten's voice acquired a faint whine of protest.        LaRue interrupted his reading. "Let's put it this way. There's no chance I'll be listing our latest assignment on my resume."        "Colonel Vise is one tough old guy," laughed Van Patten, shaking his head. "Looks like he just had the wind knocked out of him on that platform. But it sure didn't soften his outlook. I mean, he didn't cut us any slack for losing MacArthur."        LaRue raised his eyebrows and buried his head in his reading.        "For all our trouble, though, I learned something," Van Patten persisted in the silence. "Mother was right. Adam MacArthur is just exactly who he says he is. It's Mother we ought to be looking for."        "Hush, Van Patten!" LaRue was finally goaded into a response. "Just stop with all this nonsense, already. I'll take the first good position that comes along and so will you. It might even be in private security work, but that won't have nothing at all to do with MacArthur's little suggestion."        "Hey! We should contact Wilcox. Maybe he's heard something about Mother."        Van Patten had no further success conversing with his partner. The flight led uneventfully away from the Emerald Coast. Somewhere below them, the Visitor was also leaving the Gulf coast, sleeping soundly across the back seat of a kindly person's car.

The Visitor/Adam MacArthur John Corbett

Colonel James Vise Steve Railsback

Constance MacArthur Lola Glaudini

Mother Marte Boyle Slout

Jason MacArthur Eric Don