"If I'm being honest?" 'Honesty was good.' "I'm spinning my wheels."

Whistler swirled the coffee, enjoying the sploosh, careful enough not to spill. He took one final drag on his cigarette before butting it in the ashtray. "I was in Tokyo before this; kind of a semi-retirement. Keeping the balance isn't as easy as it sounds. Sometimes ya gotta do... awful things. My plan was to pop in, convince Holiday -- yes, that's her name -- to get out of town, and make a hasty retreat. But I felt the tug again, and you kept popping up in mirrors, and then for real in Searchlight."

He paused a moment as a young couple and their squabbling two year-old sat down in the next booth. "You're... connected. You feel it? 'Cuz I don't think that's coincidence."