by Brian Cotton
Chapter .28
Paxton looked into Boler’s eyes and saw a look of fear he never saw before. His mole had always suffered from anxiety, but there was something different this time. Maybe the USR finally caught onto him? Nonsense, Boler probably got spooked by something that shouldn’t spook him. His face was a mess of perspiration, he kept looking around, his hands looked like they were convulsing.
The anxiety attack started to get to Paxton, as well. When Traci placed her soft hand on his shoulder to take his order, he grabbed her skinny wrist with applied pressure. She looked down at him in shock, but didn’t say anything: she still thought he was an Agent. Once he realized who it was, his thoughts of snapping the wrist passed. He apologized before Boler mumbled his order to her. She turned with hesitation to Paxton.
“And…for you, sir?” Traci asked.
“The usual,” Paxton replied. “Sorry again.”
“It’s okay, I’m sure that being an Agent is stressful.”
Their food arrived minutes later and Boler still had said nothing to Paxton. The old veteran played around with his food. He entertained thoughts about actually eating some of it this time, but again, thought better of it. For Boler’s part, he seemed to be in a hungry mood, taking in spoonful after spoonful of his soup. Paxton placed his fork down and peered into the mole’s eyes.
“Greg,” Paxton said, “I appreciate you coming out here and everything, but if we don’t have anything to talk about…”
“Look, man,” Boler blurted out, “they know.”
“What?”
“The church you guys saved, they know someone inside CA tipped you off.”
“How do they know that?” Paxton asked. He took a bite from his bitter salad.
Boler started to look around, again. Paxton reached up and touched him on the shoulder which Boler promptly brushed off. For the first time, a bit of sympathy over putting the kid through this swept over. There were other times before when he would feel sorry for his rat, but never sympathy. Back when Boler first agreed to this job, he was so overwhelmed with excitement about being on the inside. He must have felt like top dog amongst the resistance. Now, he was a pitiful man who wanted nothing more than to go home.
“You said to be patient,” Boler replied. “But, I can’t wait any longer.”
“Listen, Greg, just stay cool and you’ll make it through this.”
“No, you listen,” Greg dropped his spoon and wiped the sweat from his brow. “I’m done, all right? I asked you to get me out of this and all you said was to be patient, but I can’t do this anymore. I don’t even know why I’m meeting with you right now.”
“I’m sorry for any trouble I’ve caused…”
“Sorry? Sorry’s not going to cut it this time, they are onto me!”
The lunch crowd inside the diner looked directly at Boler. He looked straight down and it was Paxton’s turn to grow nervous. Paxton held up his right index finger over his lips. What he wanted to do was smack Boler over the head. How stupid can one be? It would be one thing to think the USR was onto you, but a simple phone call would have been fine. Instead, the silly son of a bitch wants to meet face to face. He grabbed his cup of water, took a large gulp, and placed it back down in front of him.
“Okay,” Paxton said in a low voice. “You want out? You’re out. We’ll figure something out, but you can’t join with us again. Not right now, anyways.”
“What am I supposed to do, then?”
“Pack up your things and get out of here.”
“What? That’s it.”
“That’s all we can do right now. You’ve been saving your credits, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Pull them out of whatever bank you have, they’re going to freeze your accounts once they realize you’ve skipped town.”
Boler leaned forward. “Fine, that’s great, just skip town, then they’ll know for sure?”
“You can’t stay here. You know what they would do to you?”
“Yeah, they’d rip out my finger nails with an Army knife till I spilled my guts.”
Paxton’s curiosity piqued. He sat up straight in his chair. “What are you saying?”
“It was something they told me today…what I wanted to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“They’ve got this guy named Travis Forte. He works in the RU. Apparently, he takes his combat knife and rips out his suspect’s finger nails, one by one, until they tell him what he wants to know.”
Those bastards, Paxton thought. The scowl on his face scared even Boler a little bit. Of all the tactics to use, this was one of them? Torture…it had its place, but it was to be reserved for the truly evil, not innocent men and women. He made a mental note of Forte’s name. He must have been a prominent Agent within the RU. Forte would have a wealth of knowledge that the team could use. Paxton turned his attention back to Boler.
“Do they know anything, Greg?” Paxton asked.
“No, they don’t. Not from what I was told, anyway.”
“Who was this guy who questioned you?”
“William Sullivan, from the RU.”
“You got anything on this Forte guy?” Paxton wondered.
“Sure, I looked into his file. You know they keep detailed records on all their people right?”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing Clarke’s got you covered.”
“He eats lunch at the same place every day, a place downtown called The Red Horse.”
“The Red Horse?”
“Yeah, that’s where he’d be most vulnerable. Take him then.” Boler said.
“We’ll get him, what about you?”
“I’m out of town today, as soon as my shift is over, if I can make it till then.”
Paxton patted Boler’s shoulders again. “You’ll make it, just keep your eyes peeled and don’t act suspicious.”
“They are going to know for sure it was me when you guys take out Forte.”
Paxton sighed, “I know.”
“I wish I could help you guys out more…I really do.”
“You’ve help out enough…probably more than you should have. I’m sorry again.”
“The best of luck to you guys. I mean that.”
“I’m going to make this up to you, I swear to God I will.” Paxton lowered his head and rubbed at his hair. “I don’t know how, but when this is all over, look me up.”
“When this is over?” Boler said with a hint of laugh. “How much longer do you think you can keep going like this? How do you expect to take them all out?”
“I don’t…I don’t know, yet. But, once people become more informed…”
“Yeah, good luck with that. The public, they hate you. Why keep going?”
“Because…it’s the right thing to do.”
“The right thing to do? Do you still believe that?” Boler demanded.
“With all that is within me…yes. You don’t know what it was like before…you don’t know how much the USR has taken from you. All you know is what I’ve told you, you’ve never experienced it for yourself. If you did, then you’d know what I’m talking about.”
“Well,” Boler stood. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am.”