All around her a confused circus of men and women shouting instructions at each other compounded the pounding in her head as she followed the woman now holding onto TJ, and walking briskly to a waiting SUV, with her eyes. Her head ached from the stress of everything that had happened, but somewhere, a kernel of her confidence in their indestructability was returning. But … Kaci? Where was Kaci?

She nervously pulled away from the person who was trying to get a hold of her arm, whirling around in circles looking for her friend. But several people grabbed a firm hold of her, and she realized she was being led out to a grassy space a hundred feet from the warehouse, where a helicopter was waiting. She struggled against their hold on her, still groggy, then someone called Cathy told Bette that they were taking Bette elsewhere because everyone except the cops needed to clear out of the place. If she hung around she’d be in danger. That sounded reasonable; didn’t she just get out of a gun-battle?

Deep down, Bette thought she knew Cathy from somewhere, and then remembered. Cathy had been the agent in charge of Kaci. But Bette continued to hesitate. Cathy wordlessly pointed at the chaotic scene inside the warehouse where bullets had been flying around and other explosions and smoke had scared her to within an inch of her life — Bette had to agree that this place was dangerous to be in.

Bette figured Kaci must be in the helo already, so she allowed Cathy and the others to take her there. Someone helped Bette mount the helicopter while Cathy continued to rapidly talk into her ear about arrangements that Kaci, apparently, had the foresight to plan for.   In staccato fashion, Cathy said the helo was flying her to St. Louis. From there, Bette would board a flight back to San Francisco where she’d have a day or two, and not more, to arrange her affairs before she’d have to leave again. Cathy was talking about Bette needing to disappear into a new life, almost like Kaci had done. She pointed again to the smoke and mess in the warehouse.  

That seemed to make sense, in a weird way. Maybe just for a month or so? After all, all the bad guys looked like they were dead.   She nodded her head to acknowledge Cathy’s repeated reminders that Bette would have to plan for how to access her money, starting from the moment she got to San Francisco, while she dropped out of sight. (“Kaci said you set up a whole bunch of holding companies, right? So, nothing is in your name?”)