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to the Mustang and drove back to the club. Ben found her shoes on the stre et. One of them had a broken hee l, which was nowhere to be found.
    Ba ck behind the wheel , he said, “We should call the hospital s in the area , check if a biker came in with a stiletto stuck in his chest.”
    “I hope it’s in his eye,” Keera said. “He was waiting there, engine running, and I thought it was you . I was going to kill you ! ”
    “I know you too well to try something that stupid .” He glanced over his shoulder and pulled into the road . “ And speaking of stupid, this job isn’t for you. I want you to quit.”
    Keera buttoned up her coat. “And how am I going to pay for med school? And my half of our expenses?”
    “We’ll figure it out.”
    She was quiet for a moment. “We?”
    “I’m making good money.”
    “Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t.” Keera fiddled with the radio controls, trying to clear up the static noise. “ Besides, I like my job.”
    “ You call that a job? ” Stopping at a red light, Ben turned to her. “ Dancing in your underwear in front of horny men?”
    “ A few women too. Good tippers.”
    “I’m happy for you.”
    The light turned to green, and he threw the clutch, making the Mustang squeal off the mark, racing through the next light as it turned yellow, and making 70 mph on the on-ramp to I-95. The convertible top rattled in the wind.
    She reached across and rested her hand on his knee .
    Ben merged into the late-night traffic on the highway and slowed down to match the going pace. “Was it a BMW like mine?”
    “The jerk at the club?” Keera shrugged. “Couldn’t tell in the dark. All motorcycles look the same to me .”
    “Did you get a closer look when he passed you ?”
    “Barely. He went too fast. But I think it was white, not yellow. Same with the guy’s riding suit and helmet. He flew by like a—”
    “Ghost?”
    “ Exactly ! How did you know? ”
    He hesitated. “A good guess.”
     
     
    At home, Keera went upstairs to change and Ben turned on CNN, which was showing snippets from the presidential candidates’ debate earlier . A quick post-debate poll showed Joe Mor gan six points ahead of the incumbent Democrat. A proven record as a successful business leader gave Morgan advantage over the president’s muddled economic record during his first term in the White House , and his frequent references to his deep faith resonated with church-going voters troubled by the secularist worldview of the liberal president . Noting the polarized electorate, t he moderator asked whether this election, like the previous one, would come down to voters’ participation rather than preferences among those eligible to vote.
    A writer for the Wall Street Journal , who often participated in CNN political shows, predicted that even Christian Evangelists would come out to vote for Joe Morgan despite their ambivalence about his Mormon faith . “L isten carefully to his subtle message about Christian interdenominational brotherhood!”
    A clip from the debate showed Morgan responding to a question about the Middle East . “ Our spiritual roots ,” Morgan said, “reach all the way to th at troubled region of the world . Like all Americans, I’m enraged by Islamic fundam entalists’ attacks on our fellow Christians . ” He pressed a hand to his heart. “ When a Muslim Brotherhood mob burns down a church in Egypt, I feel as if my own church was torched. When Hezbollah fanatics detonate a bomb during Easter mass in Lebanon , I feel as if my own Easter was blasted . When Palestinian terrorist s shoot at Christmas p ilgrims in Bethlehem , I f eel as if my own family ’s Christmas was fired upon . Every attac k on our Christian brothers and sisters makes me feel as if our Savior Jesus Christ is under attack . A s president of the United States, I will end the current administration’s failed polic ies of appeasement and dishonor .”
    “He’s smooth,” Keera said from the