“Do you want me to wait?” Pete looked sideways at Maxine as he stepped on the brake.

            Doctor Sorkin had to wait for the call. That left Pete to take Maxine to her house where she could work on her computer, and make the copies.

            Maxine shook her head. “I’ll get a taxi. You go back to Abraham’s apartment. And don’t leave that old man by himself. Do you understand me?”

            By the time she had scanned the pages Abraham wrote, it was after ten. She clicked on the printer icon and the computer buzzed and whirred. The teapot whistled at her from the kitchen and she left the machine to do its work. When she returned, minutes later, the printer light was blinking and a gray warning on the monitor read: “the printer is not answering.” In the output tray lay three pages, each progressively lighter.

            “Dumb computer,” she snorted. “I’d like to shake you.” Frustrated, she did shake the printer. The ink cartridge was empty. Maxine left the last of her tea and grabbed the darkest page. Albertsons had a copy machine right beside the bakery. The grocery store was open twenty-four-seven. It meant an hour standing at the machine. There wasn’t any time to waste.

***

            While Maxine fussed with Albertsons’ photocopier, Abraham and Pete Conley tried to hammer out an alliance.

            “Do you see what your crazies have caused?” Abraham’s hands shook as his volume increased. “You couldn’t mind your own business and let people live?”

            “That’s the trouble, Doc. You weren’t letting people live. You were killing them. They just couldn’t call out or defend themselves.”

            “We’re talking about a fetus, here. Not a person.”

            “When does the fetus become a person, huh?”

            Abraham shook his head, dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. “No one knows. I should try to answer? The Almighty, himself, couldn’t tell you.”

            “That’s where you’re wrong, Sorkin. It’s in the Bible, about Elizabeth’s baby. Zacharias’ son. You read that some time. But let me tell you, when my Mary was pregnant with our Daniel, I talked to the kid. Right through Mary’s stomach.”

            “Oh, so your wife ate the child.”

            “Listen, Old Goat, you know what I mean. Besides that, you know this isn’t about abortion. You admitted that. You’ve got your hands in some other dirty mess.”

            “About that, you’re right. Still, if not for the other…the abortion discussion…your Mrs. McKenzie would not have been involved. Am I right?

            Pete’s voice softened. “When Daniel was still in the womb he got scared, he got the hiccups. He would kick and turn, and I could quiet him by singing to him. He was a child. With the rights of a child. The right to life and liberty, as the Constitution says.

            “A fetus has no rights. Not until it is born. Before that, it is just a part of its mother’s body. And our job is to save the mother. Her life may not be such a great thing; a baby wouldn’t help it.”

            “You keep on thinking that, but I swear to you, even if you can’t see it, there’s a pile of tiny bodies outside your door. Bodies you put there. The devil has been trying since

 the Fall to destroy our children. And you...you collaborated with him.” Pete’s voice grew louder until his scream echoed off the walls in the little apartment.

            Abraham tried to stand, to reach Pete, but his face convulsed in pain. He sank to the floor on his knees.

            “What is it, Dr. Sorkin?”

            “It is nothing. Indigestion.” Abraham waved him away.

            Pete grabbed the phone and began to dial.

            “Who are you calling?”

            “911.”

            “Hang up.”

            “What?”

            “Have you dialed yet?”

            “No, but—”

            “Hang up.”

            Abraham felt the band of pressure across his chest. His head pounded and his vision blurred. He pulled himself into a chair and sat back, gasping.

***

            Macie sat quietly watching Paige sleep. How did she do that? Macie’s own hands were wet and her heart hammered each time the noise in the back of the clinic rose. Of course. Paige

was still on medications.

            Phil, please. You’ve got to find us. She was glad her mind was clearer now. Glad the hallucinations abated. Dehydration did strange things to people. She took another drink from her diluted cola and leaned back, into the couch cushions. Paige was stretched out on the floor at her feet.

            Her mind swam with the faces of her husband, her parents, and Doctor Sorkin. It was the doctor who caused all this. Surely he would be trying to help her. She felt tears starting and brushed them away.

            I won’t cry, Mom. I won’t.

            She imagined Karen Whitehall’s stern expression. The disapproval. Mom would handle this. They might kill her, but she’d be defiant to the end.

            Have some backbone, Macie. For crying out loud, you’re over thirty years old. Not a baby.

            She pulled herself up, straightened her spine, and crossed her swollen ankles. A sharp pain hit her abdomen. Macie sucked in her breath and panted as the spasm took control. She fought to speak.

            “Paige. Paige, please wake up.”

            Paige’s blond hair fell away from her face as she sat up.

            “What?”

            “Paige, I need help. Please. It’s the baby.”

            Paige stood and started in the direction of their captors.

            “No. They won’t help. I just need…somebody.” She held out her hand and Paige took it.

            “Dear God,” Paige began. “Dear God, please help us.”

            Macie squeezed Paige’s hand hard as the cold pain showed in sweat beads on her forehead. She could smell the perspiration and the greasy hamburger wrappers and the air freshener in the bathroom. Her stomach rolled and she tasted the sour stuff again. Macie looked up, biting her tongue and tasting blood. Someone had focused a flashlight beam on her. No. No flashlight. It was the shining man, standing at the end of the couch. Looking at her. Smiling. Macie slumped, and smiled back. Then she gave in to the tears.