from loving him, but only as a brother. When she lost Cale, the sealed encapsulation of her heart became hermetic.
Never again!
And Loneshark was truly alone in that valley. He was shouldered with the terrible responsibility of solving the crime that had baffled the bureaus and thrown the country into turmoil. Mick couldn't refrain from replaying the day's dalliances with Jasmine in his mind. Lying comfortably in the warm spot provided by Clint's central heating system with his fingers laced behind his neck, Mick remembered the laughs and giggles he had coaxed from Jasmine that day. And he smiled. Those pleasing moments were similarly frozen by stoic grimaces . . . equally rigid refusals . . . because Mick knew his position there was false. She would eventually learn of his duplicity. Any previous expressions of love for Jasmine that had been offered would be interpreted as part of the lie, just a treacherous trick to elicit information from her. Miss Jade would then feel violated. Mick could not bear to hurt her in such a callous manner.
Never!
Yet, in spite of their disparate reasons for self-denial, each night they both flashed provisional smiles before drifting into uneasy slumbers. Hydrated dreams allowed them to enjoy more poignant interactions, intercourses that were unfettered by their conscious constraints.
The mechanical defenders sold like Palace pancakes. Their popularity was initially spurred by Brassbuster's dramatic demonstration. King had then arranged for conservative-sponsored coffee clubs to broadcast caffeinated demands to rush toward the safe day when all the banks in America were fortified with automated defenders.
Frank and Vito, along with the majority of their fellow Pinewhittlers, became quite proficient in assembling those magnificent machines. While subsisting on heavily-taxed minimum wage, they were pushed by company-promoted, patriotic fervor to work ever harder and produce more units each successive week than they had produced the previous week. Of course, that production had to be accomplished within the week's strictly enforced time limit of forty hours per worker. During their breaks, the prodded puppets were treated with insights from taped, munificently paid conservative commentators, who caterwauled through the break room's speakers, explaining in statistical detail how the unbridled extravagances of overtime would weaken the very fabric of our capitalistic system and lead to rising unemployment and certain economic decline. Mr. Doe insisted Vito and Frank review the speeches for him every afternoon at his corner booth. He assured them the stated statistics proved the conclusions were absolutely accurate. Tony refuted Mr. Doe's assertions each following morning, pointing out that anyone could make up numbers or play with percentages. Any