Authors: Mitchel Grace
“Are you okay?” Nathan called to her.
More retching sounds were his only
answer. Sam’s phone suddenly rang on the night stand. Nathan walked over and
answered it.
“Hello,” Nathan said.
“Sam?” a confused Jason asked on the
other end.
“No, it’s Nathan.”
“Oh, okay. Where is Sam?”
“She’s a little incapacitated at the
moment.”
“Incapacitated? What happened?”
“She had a little too much to drink,
and things are a mess here right now.”
“Wait a minute. Sam doesn’t drink. She’s
never even had alcohol before. I really don’t think it was a good idea to give
her anything to drink,” Jason said.
“How did you know that she had never
had anything to drink before?”
“We used to talk a lot on the phone. We
became pretty good friends before everything in Mississippi happened.”
“Great. Well, we should definitely
exchange notes sometime so I can avoid things like this happening in the future,”
Nathan said.
“I’m just calling to tell you guys that
tomorrow morning you need to go to this address,” Jason said and then gave the
address to Nathan.
Nathan found a pen and some paper and
wrote it down.
“All right, but why exactly are we
going there?” Nathan asked.
“The man at that location can give you any
weapons you’ll need to take down Markus.”
“Okay. Thanks for everything. I really
need to go now. Things just got quiet in the next room, and I need to check on
her.”
“All right. Take care of her,” Jason
said and hung up the phone.
Nathan walked to the bathroom and saw
Sam sprawled out in the middle of the floor. What am I going to do with you, Nathan
wondered. He picked her up from the floor and carried her to the bed. He then
lay down beside her and wrapped his arms firmly around her.
“Nathan, remind me of something
tomorrow,” Sam said.
“What is it?”
“First, it was the energy drink and now
the alcohol. Remind me to never drink anything that you hand me again,” Sam
said weakly.
Nathan simply pulled her closer.
“I’m sorry. Just go to sleep.
Everything will be better in the morning, beautiful.”
* * * * *
Early that afternoon, Michael went back
to see James. After James let him inside, the two men began to talk.
“So no field trip today?” Michael
asked.
“No, I thought that we would just hang
out here and play a game or two,” James said as he turned on the television.
Much to Michael’s surprise, before he
knew it, the two of them were playing a first person shooter video game.
“So what’s with the choice of video
game? Trying to subconsciously make me into a stone cold killer?” Michael asked
and grinned.
“Nope. There’s no hidden meaning here
at all. I just got this game last night, and I wanted someone else to play it
with.”
“Okay, so what are we going to talk about
today?”
“I made a few points that I thought
were important yesterday. Today I just want you to talk to me about whatever
you feel matters,” James said.
Michael had no idea what to talk about.
Isn’t it this guy’s job to ask me the questions, he wondered.
“What if there’s nothing significant
for me to say?” Michael asked.
“Well, then tell me the insignificant
things.”
Michael told him about what he and his
friends had done the night before and about his very strange morning.
“I’m pretty sure that conversation
wasn’t about the movies, Michael,” James said.
“Well, then what was it about?”
“Do me a favor, and really think about
it. It’s freezing outside. Do you really think that your friend was going for a
jog in the cold with no shoes? Besides that, who can go to the movies too often?
I’m pretty sure the word movie was code for a little something else.”
Michael thought hard and reexamined every
single part of his morning, and that’s when it came to him.
“Oh, they were,” Michael said before
being cut off.
“Yeah.”
“Wait a minute, Lee gets to get into bed
with someone he’s just met, while I haven’t seen a feature film in months,”
Michael said while shaking his head.
James laughed slightly and then gave
Michael a piece of advice.
“Look, if you don’t concentrate on
getting to the ‘movies’ so much, and instead concentrate on Jessica’s wants and
needs, then I guarantee you that you’ll have no problem seeing as many films as
you wish to in the future.”
“Do you really think so? It can’t be
that simple.”
James paused the game and turned his
attention toward Michael.
“Look, if you don’t take anything from
our little session today, remember something that it took me three different
career changes and two wives to realize. Pay attention to what people say and
what they do. Then react accordingly. I don’t care if it’s in business or in a
relationship. When you put the needs of your significant other or your coworker
above your own needs, they start to take notice, and before they even know it,
they, too, want to fulfill you just like you’re fulfilling them. A word of
caution, however. Don’t do those things just to get the things that you want
out of people. Many people can see straight through a phony, and even if they
can’t, if your behavior is false, it won’t be sustainable. Instead, be what
they need because you love the people around you and the things that you do,”
James said and then resumed the video game.
“Wow, that was deep,” Michael said in
amazement.
James laughed.
“It’s not deep at all. I’ve just lost
enough people and things in my own life to know that if you love someone or
something, then you should do anything and everything you can to make sure that
those people never want to let you go.”
It didn’t have anything to do with
Michael’s inability to work in the field, but somehow, he felt as if with every
talk with James, he was becoming a more aware and complete person.
“Hey, thanks for the advice,” Michael
said.
“No problem. It’s my job. Now
concentrate on the game a little bit. We’re getting killed out here,” James
said while smiling.
Chapter 16
Back in Atlanta, Burt had just picked
up his eighteen-wheeler and trailer, and he was driving over to the facility to
make a special delivery. In the back of the trailer, they had loaded many of
the larger boxes with timed explosives and filled large drink bottles with
gasoline. They had given him certain invoices that would look legitimate, and
now he was pulling up to the store. Burt was very thankful that the truck was an
automatic. He could barely keep the trailer straight on the road, so if he had
been having to shift gears, it would have been a complete disaster. He pulled
around to the back of the store to find that there was already a line of trucks
there. He parked and walked inside. There, he handed the person at the counter
the invoices.
“I didn’t think that we were getting
any more shipments today,” the woman said.
“What are you talking about? There’s a
line of trucks in front of me,” Burt said.
“Yes, and they’ve all checked in with
me. I don’t have any more scheduled shipments today.”
Burt panicked a little, but he knew that
he had to say something soon or this whole plan was going to be ruined.
“Look, someone probably just forgot to
tell you about me. You can refuse the load, and I can take it back where it
came from, but all that’s going to do is make your boss mad at you and make
mine furious with me, so do me a favor and just accept it for me,” Burt said in
a last ditch effort to convince the woman that everything was legitimate.
The woman thought for a minute and then
grabbed a pen and signed the papers.
“It may be a little while before we can
get to you,” she said.
“That’s fine, and thank you for making
my day a lot easier,” Burt said and started out the door.
After waiting in his truck for what
seemed like an eternity, they were finally ready to unload him, but there was
one problem. Burt had to back the truck up to the loading dock. One thing that
you have to understand about Burt is that he’s the type of guy who has a hard
time backing his car out of the driveway in the mornings, so the challenge of
backing up a long trailer in a vehicle that was foreign to him was almost too
much. After many attempts and more than a few mistakes, he finally succeeded in
his task. As he exited the truck, one of the workers walked up to him.
“You finally got it,” he said.
“I’m kind of new at this. Sorry about
that,” Burt said.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have you
on your way in no time.”
After a little while, the task was completed,
and Burt was on his way.
“Well, that was easy,” Burt said to
himself as he drove out of the facility.
Once Burt had returned his truck, he
immediately went to the hospital to pick up Zane and Dan. When he went in and
found Zane’s room, he was surprised to see both of them packed and ready to go.
“All right, we’re going to do this, but
you need to promise to keep your mask on at all times,” Dan said while looking
at Zane.
“Okay. Just lead the way,” Zane said.
Dan began to walk away, and Zane
grabbed him by the shoulder.
“No, seriously, I mean lead the way. I
can’t see anything with the mask on,” Zane said.
“Oh, right. I’m sorry,” Dan said as he
led Zane out of the room.
Despite the doctor’s warnings, Zane and
the rest of them were able to fill out the proper paper work, and Zane was
released and gone from the hospital inside of twenty minutes.
“So how did everything go at the
facility?” Zane asked Burt as they all got into the car.
“It was incredibly easy. It was almost
too easy.”
“Great. You’ve done a good job, Burt. I
only wish Campbell would have given us the time to come up with such a plan.
Maybe we wouldn’t have lost so many good men and women,” Zane said sadly.
Burt didn’t really know what to say. It
was true that Campbell’s actions had been hasty at best, but he could
understand why a man under such pressure would make an emotional decision.
“Well, we can let him have it when we
get back to Washington, but until then, just sit back and try to relax,” Dan
said.
Zane sat back to appear relaxed, but
inside his mind was racing. To win their future battles, they would need
more clever
planning like the kind that brought about Burt’s
role in destroying the Atlanta facility.
“Who came up with the op that you just
carried out?” Zane asked.
“I believe it was Jess and Trish,” Burt
answered.
“We need to work with their ideas more
often.”
Burt pulled up to the airport, and the
three men made their way inside.
* * * * *
Michael had stayed with James until it
was fairly late, but he was finally driving home. When he arrived and walked
through the door, he saw Lee and Trish, and he simply couldn’t contain himself.
“You two! You weren’t talking about a
movie at all,” Michael said while literally pointing at them.
Lee and Trish’s day had already been
odd enough. They worked together all day long, and if the odd tension between
them wasn’t enough to ruin the day, the looming fact that Jess obviously knew
what was going on, but was going out of her way to pretend that she didn’t,
hadn’t helped things. Now here was Michael making their day even weirder.
“Let’s get out of here for a while,”
Lee said while turning to Trish.
Later Lee would say he was getting her
out of the house that night because she looked so uncomfortable, but the truth
was that he was every bit as uncomfortable as she looked.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,”
Trish said.
“Oh, come on. I’m still your friend,
aren’t I? Would you rather sit here and explain things to Michael or go with me?”
Lee whispered to her.
“Fine,” Trish said and followed him to
the door.
“They just left without giving me any
answers,” Michael said in disappointment.
“You didn’t have to make them feel
weird about it,” Jess said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s all right, but I wonder how all this
will end up. I hope those two can work through this.”
“Me too, but we should take this
opportunity to spend some quality time with each other while they’re out of the
house.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I could pop some
popcorn and we could watch a movie,” Michael said.
Jess only gave him a strange look.
“Don’t worry. I mean a literal movie.
Maybe we could rent a romantic movie from pay per view. You didn’t get to see
what you wanted last night, but there’s nothing to stop you now.”
“All right, that sounds great.”
The two of them sat on the couch and
ate popcorn and watched a sappy movie. Even if it was simple, somehow it was
amazing to Michael. For once, he and Jess seemed like they were just a normal
couple. No issues and no distractions; just them. It was perfect.
After Lee and Trish left, he drove them
to the same parking lot where they had previously eaten ice cream together.
“Why are we stopping here?” Trish
asked.
“We need to talk about things. How do
you feel right now about everything?” Lee asked.
“I would feel more comfortable if you
answered that question first.”
“Fine. I’m a little confused, scared,
and excited. I’m confused because things have happened so fast, and I don’t
really know where you stand on everything. I’m scared that what happened last
night will ruin what has become the best friendship I could ever ask for, but
at the same time, I’m scared of ignoring a connection that I don’t feel every
day. I’m always happy around you, and I have never felt like I connected with
someone more than we did last night. I’m excited about that. I can’t wait to
see what could be next for us.”
“I think that things are too complicated
right now. With everything that’s happened, I was really confused, and I made a
very rash decision, but even in spite of that, I really don’t regret that
decision. I needed you last night, and maybe that’s the problem. Lately, I
always need you, and I don’t know if I can give you what you need. I don’t know
if I can be the woman you described to me before. I don’t know if I can be a
good friend to you. I don’t even know if I can be a good person again after
everything that I’ve done,” Trish said.
“First of all, you’re a great person. I
like being there for you, and you’re always there for me. I don’t need anything
from you besides for you to just be with me. That could be as a friend, or it
could be as more than a friend, but either way, I want you beside me.”
Trish stayed silent for a long while. She
wanted this, but she was scared. If she didn’t go for it, a part of her knew
that she would regret it forever. Finally, Lee broke the silence between them.
“I want to be more than just your
friend, but I’ll be satisfied with whatever you have to give. What do you
want?” Lee finally asked.
“I would like to be more, too, but I’m
still very confused with everything that has happened. Maybe we could take
things slow for a while.”
“Slow is good,” Lee said and smiled.
“Okay, good. Just don’t be expecting to
go to the movies again anytime soon.”
“Hey, that’s fine with me. I’m satisfied
sitting in the car and eating celebratory ice cream with you for now.”
For the first time, that night they
were an official couple. All of the awkwardness was finally gone.
* * * * *
When the morning came and Sam woke up,
Nathan was already in the shower. Her head was pounding, and all light seemed
to hurt her eyes. She remembered the night before, and she immediately felt as
if she was going to die of embarrassment. When she rolled over, she saw three
welcome things. Two aspirin and a cup of water sat on the night stand. She
reached over and got them. After swallowing the pills, she attempted to stand
up. Her balance still didn’t seem quite like it should. She wasn’t drunk, but
she had the worst possible hangover that one can have, and considering how hard
her head was pounding, it was probably normal that she wasn’t very well
balanced that morning. She struggled to the bathroom door and knocked on it.
“Nathan, are you almost done in there?
I really need to take a shower, and I need to brush my teeth,” Sam said from
outside the door.
“Sure, I’m almost done. Just one
minute.”
He turned off the water and dried as
quickly as possible. Then he threw on some clothes and stepped out of the
bathroom.
“I didn’t get a chance to brush my
teeth, so call me when you’re decent,” Nathan said.
“Okay. I will,” Sam said weakly.
“Are you all right?”
“No, I feel dead,” Sam answered and
walked into the bathroom.
Once she was through showering and was
dressed, she called Nathan into the bathroom, and the two of them shared the
sink.
“Do you feel any better after the
shower?” Nathan asked.
“A little bit. Did Jason ever call last
night?”
Nathan recapped what Jason had told him
they needed to do.
“Thank you for getting the phone for me
last night and for taking care of me,” Sam said.
“No problem. You would have done the
same for me.”
“So did I kind of throw myself at you
last night?” Sam asked.
“You might have come on a little strong,
but it was okay with me,” Nathan said while smiling.
“I’m really sorry. I promise you I
won’t ever put you in that situation again.”
“I was enjoying where things were going,
so never say never.”
Sam gave him a playful push after his
comment, and Nathan returned her push with a quick kiss on the cheek. Before
long, they were both out the door and were on their way to see the man who
would be their supplier.
Once they arrived at their supplier’s
small apartment, Sam knocked on the door. The man opened it, Sam told him who
they were, and they all went inside.
“What will you two be needing today?”
the man asked.
“We won’t need too much. We just need
two pistols with silencers, some ammo, and maybe a couple of smaller combat
knives,” Sam said.
The man walked to a back room in the
apartment and emerged with a bag.
“Here you are,” he said.
Sam took the bag from him, and with a
simple nod, Nathan and Sam left.
“So now what do we do?” Nathan asked.
“Now we go get Markus,” Sam answered.
Nathan called a cab, and they were on
their way to the place where the man behind all of their trouble just might be.