Page 28 of Johnny

“Why?” she asks. “Why are you here?”

“I’m looking for a woman named Charlotte Kane. Do you know her?”

“Know her?” Megan laughs. “Heard of her, of course. Everyone’s heard of Charlotte Kane. But if

she was on that island I didn’t see her.”

“You’re sure?” I ask. “Because she went missing almost a year ago and her last known location

was on a boat in the Straits of Florida.”

Megan takes another bite of her sandwich. Eyes darting around now, like she’s thinking.

“That’s not very far from here,” I continue.

“There’s more than just one island facility,” Megan says.

“How many more? I only know of this one. How do you know this? Where did you get this information? Who do you work for?”

She stops chewing and stares at me. “I guess it’s safe to assume I didn’t tell you my last name

then?”

“No,” I say. “You didn’t. Just Megan.”

“What else did I tell you?” she asks.

“That doesn’t matter. It wasn’t what I was looking for.”

“Well, it matters to me,” she says. “Because what you basically did was rape my brain. I’m a very

private person, mister… whoever you are. And while I might not look like I’m enraged over being

mentally mauled by a predator, I am. I’m quite pissed off about it. So how about you tell me

something first? Hmm? Like your fucking name for one.”

I crack a smile. Not because I think she’s funny, but because I know that level of arrogance and

came to terms with its absurdity a long time ago. But she hasn’t. She is someone important, I know

that now. Someone with power. Someone who lost that power very recently because she thinks she

still has it.

“OK,” I say. “I get it. Little quid pro quo? Little tit for tat?”

“Just tell me your fucking name.”

I’ve only been in this situation a few times over the course of my life. Everyone back in the city

knows who I am. And typically when I’m in a tense conversation like this I have the upper hand

because of that name. They know what I’m capable of and they know my past history. They know

what I’ll do if they don’t start telling me what I want to know.

So this is a twist in the narrative of my life.