Capture Tomorrow
Page 24
Zach followed her gaze to the screen and froze in place as Arianna replayed the scene of him and Tony walking in the marketplace.
“That’s you,” she said. “That’s you and Tony. Tell me I’m seeing things.”
Zach dropped the towel and began slipping into his shirt and jeans, not answering.
“Oh, my God, Zach. YOU did it. You kidnapped me. It all makes sense now, but why? What were you doing there? Why are you in disguise?” She threw the remote down on the bed and ran her hands through her hair. “All this time… I, uh...” She began pacing back and forth, mumbling to herself. Suddenly, she stopped and stared at the screen. “Oh! Wait! I get it. Fasi.” She turned and looked at Zach. “Y- you assassinated Fasi?”
Zach ignored her and finished getting dressed.
“Zach, say something. You’re scaring me. Tell me what’s happening here.”
He walked over to the computer and hit the eject button. “Where did you get this video?” he asked.
She just looked at him.
“Answer me,” he snapped, causing her to jump.
“Kevin. Kevin sent it.”
Looking down, he saw the UPS envelope with Kevin’s return address on it. He strode toward Arianna, took her by the hand, and led her out onto the balcony. “Here. Wait here for me.”
“No,” she protested. “What are you doing? Zach, we have to talk. Who are you? What are you? I need answers. I—.”
“You shot this film?” he interrupted and waved the disc in front of her. “Kevin? Who? Where’d this come from?”
She nodded. “I shot it. This came from the camera I had in Afghanistan. I think Kevin just found it, but...”
“Sit down. Over there.” He pointed to a sofa on the balcony.
She balked, and he walked toward her, firmly setting her down on the couch. Pressing a number on his phone, someone picked up, and he stepped inside to talk.
Arianna was shaking inside. She was in love with an assassin. She remembered how Fasi’s death was all over the news. No wonder Zach never shared anything about his life. Who is this man I’ve fallen in love with?
As she sat there, she heard Zach talking to someone, giving him Kevin’s address and saying something about a camera and some film. Is Kevin in danger? It seemed preposterous to think about, but—was she in danger? Surely not, but by Zach’s response, he was clearly disturbed by what was revealed on the DVD.
Finally, the balcony door slid open, and Zach came out. Arianna jumped up from the sofa and stood there nervously twisting the hem of her pajama top. “You assassinated Fasi?”
Zach moved over to the balcony rail, his back to her, not answering. After several minutes of silence, he turned and said, “Me, Tony, Juan and three other men. I had a whole team of men with me. We’re all former Navy SEALs working as private contractors.” He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair. “What I’m about to tell you, can never be repeated.”
She nodded. “Go on.”
“Along with Tony and Juan, I perform covert operations for the CIA and other entities from time to time.” He studied her reaction as he began to reveal the details of his life. “These missions are vital to national security, but there’s never any official acknowledgement of what we do. All our ops are classified.” He leaned back against the rail and folded his arms across his chest.
“When I met you on the side of the road in Afghanistan, I discovered you were an American woman. I knew once the assassination went down, your chances of getting out of the country unharmed, or even alive, were slim. My conscience wouldn’t let me leave you there, so I drugged you and took you out of country with me.” He stepped away from the balcony and began pacing. “You were supposed to wake up in that hotel room and go home—but you didn’t.”
She stood there shaking her head back and forth. All the pieces were coming together for her. All the things she’d wondered about—speculated about, finally made sense.
“And the FBI agent who tried to kill me?” she asked.
“Wasn’t an agent. He was a mole in the CIA who thought you could lead him to me. He would have killed you to protect his identity if I hadn’t kidnapped you again.”
“Wow! And Clare?”
“CIA agent. Nut case.” He stopped and idly picked some dead leaves off a plant and tossed them over the railing. “I executed a burn notice on her, killing her career in the Agency. That’s why she was so pissed at me and wanted revenge.”
Arianna stared at him, dumbfounded, a bit overwhelmed by everything she was hearing.
“Has Kevin seen what’s on this disc?” Zach asked, changing the subject. “Did he recognize us, too?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Hmm,” he said, looking down at his phone which was buzzing. “Just the same, this recording has to be destroyed. People are on their way to his house even as we speak to find and destroy the original video.”
“Oh,” Arianna gasped. “They’re not going to hurt him, are they?”
“No, of course not. We only need the film. He won’t know why or maybe even if, we were ever there.” He moved close to her and put his hands on her shoulders, causing her to look him directly in the eye. “You were never supposed to know this. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This information can get you killed. Sharing this information with the wrong people can get me killed. Do you understand?”
“Yes, absolutely. Zach you can trust me. You know you can trust me, right?”
He released her and walked to the other end of the balcony and looked out to sea.
“You know you can trust me, right?” she asked again.
He nodded. “I do.”
She came up behind him, reached for him, pulled her hand back, then finally laid her hand on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
He slowly turned and looked at her. “For what? For dragging you into the middle of all this? I hate that you know all about my life. Hate the danger this information puts you in. Hate the danger it puts me in.”
“I understand, but I’m glad I know. I feel closer to you than ever before, and I’ll be forever grateful to you for saving me. Thank you.”
He shook his head. “Right. Saving you. You’ve been in danger ever since our paths crossed. And just so you know—the attack on the estate here. They weren’t coming after you. They were here to kill me.”
Arianna’s eyes popped wide open.
“You blamed yourself for the incident,” Zach continued, “and selfishly, I let you, all the time knowing damn well they had come looking for me. I’m the one that almost got you and everyone killed.”
She started to say something, but he stopped her.
“And – while we’re getting this all out, you need to know, it was me who killed your Sixty Minutes interview, so maybe you’re thanking me for nothing.”
She shook her head. “Why? Why would you do that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? For your safety and mine. Too much information about you could endanger your life as well as link me to Fasi’s assassination. Turns out I was right. Should have killed the last interview, too.”
He turned his back and stared off in the distance, and no one spoke for several seconds.
Finally, Arianna stepped up beside him, and said, “I feel like you’re trying to shut me out. Zach don’t you see that no matter how this happened, it happened because we were destined to be together. I’m glad our paths crossed.”
He continued to stare out to sea, ignoring her.
Frustrated by his silence, she said, “Zach, please talk to me. Don’t shut me out.”
He slowly turned and looked at her. “This is a conversation I hoped to never have… the tomorrow I hoped to never face.”
Slowly, tentatively, she reached for him again. “Zach, I’m so in love with you, it hurts. Please tell me you love me. Tell me that my knowing all this doesn’t change anything between us. I can’t bear to be without you.” Her voice faltered, and she suddenly felt close to tears.
“Never doubt m
y love, Arianna. I’ve risked everything in order to be with you… to bring you into my world, and I’m not letting you go now.”
He stepped up and kissed her with an overpowering sense of urgency she’d never felt before. A kiss that said they were destined to be together for a very long time.
With sincere thanks to all my friends of the Wannabe Writers group of The Villages... too many to mention by name. Couldn’t have done this without your input.
Thank you.
Ann is a former English teacher who currently lives in sunny Florida. She spends her time training dogs, writing, and enjoying the company of her own two dogs, Georgia and Duke. She has always had a special affinity for the written word, especially her own. “I have to admit. I love to see what I write in print. It is so much fun to paint a picture or evoke an emotion with words.”
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