Then I straightened up. “Okay, here’s the way it’s going to be. You can be involved with us, but only so long as you obey whatever orders we giv... you. You are completely free to opt out at any time you want, but the first time you disobey an order, you are out. Understand?”She dropped her eyes, and thought for a time, then said, much more quietly than before. “I understand.” Then she sighed deeply. “I accept.” She thought for a few more moments, then said, “May I ask a. I'd stumbled inafter meeting her at an office party downtown. We started dating andbefore long we were engaged. A year later we were married. As life started getting easier I started learning about her father'scheckered past. And although he was mainly legitimate now he stilldabbled in shady dealings, still had connections and was still a verypowerful man, a man never to be crossed! I quickly learned my place andplayed by the rules and until I had, shall we say "disappointed" Debbiethings. She was like a little girl,who had spent all her life indoors and then found that there wasa world outside all along. It was her innocence that was her onlyvulnerability. She had never really been hurt before and itshowed in her absolute trust in me. One night, I guess it would besix months after we'd started dating we sat, my arm around hershoulder, on a bench looking out over a nearby lake, and watching themoonlight shimmer on the still waters. She pulled herself closer in, as if to keep. "Don Luis mastered his horror. After all it was impossible that the villain had poisoned Florence in that way, at that place, without anything to warrant so great a hurry. No, it was more likely that he had employed a narcotic, a drug of some sort which would dull Florence's brain and make her incapable of noticing by what new roads and through what towns he was taking her."And then," he repeated, "she decided to step in?" Yes; and he shut the door and got into the driver's seat. I went away.