CIA - The Slave Traders

by Joe Bob Newman

and jumped up into his arms, then scrambled down.

  She said, “You’re sweaty!”

  They went into the house and found that Ted had turned on the television and was watching cartoons. Everyone laughed. Tasha picked up her little brother and held him as he squirmed. Marcus and Lynda went and showered together. While in the shower, she said, “No!”

  Marcus said, “No what? Is this another game?”

  She said, “You asked me if I wanted you to leave. The answer is no.”

  He said, “It sure takes you a long time to answer my questions.”

  She said, “Then stop asking such hard questions.”

  He shook his finger at her. “It is a good thing that you have children, I wouldn’t put up with you otherwise.” Then he laughed and picked her up. He sat her under the shower, and it sprayed her hair. She shook her hair around and it smacked him in the face. He sniffed her hair and had to get out of the shower. He was drying off as she washed her hair. He put some clean clothes on and sat on the bed. She came out of the shower with just a towel on her head. She sat in his lap and put her arms around him. Marcus was surprised.

  He said, “My God, I love you, Lynda.”

  She bounced up and put her clothes on, and went and checked on her kids. They were both playing together. She went back into the bedroom. Marcus was lying on the bed with a grin on his face. She said, “What?”

  He said, “It is so nice to be home, I think I will stay. I can leave the Navy shortly, and I have an idea for a business that we can run!”

  Lynda said, “Careful with the ‘we,’ big boy.”

  Marcus added, “We can start a gun shop; I know how to fix them. We can also sell guns and ammo.”

  Lynda said, “Marcus, have you lost your head? I can’t sell guns. I barely know how to shoot one.”

  He said, “Just let me deal with it.”

  She wondered if he knew that she had a half million dollars.

  The next morning she went to work. She had been with the CIA for three years now. Tom gave her another promotion and raise. She was making more money than seemed possible. She knew that she could support Marcus if he moved in with them. If he started a business, she might have to support the business too. She wasn’t sure what to do. She needed to talk to her dad.

  She thought about her kids. Ted had just turned two, and Tasha was about to be a teenager. They were both growing like little weeds. Tasha was nearly as big as kids in her class. Tasha now spoke perfect English and was smart as a whip. Lynda knew that big Ted would be proud of his kids.

  She talked to Tom about Marcus adopting her kids. He volunteered the Attorney General’s office again. She filled out all the paperwork, even signing Marcus’s name where it had to be signed. She wanted it to be a surprise for him.

  That night they had put the children down and she was about to tell him about the adoption, when the front window was shot out. Marcus grabbed Lynda by the head, pushed her down and said, “Crawl to the kids, get them between the wall and the bed. Where’s your gun?”

  She said, “Okay, it’s in the nightstand by my bed. There are two extra clips with it.”

  A second bullet slammed into the wall above them. Marcus picked Lynda up and carried her into the hall and shoved her into Ted’s room. He grabbed Tasha out of her bed and threw her onto Ted’s bed. He ran into their bedroom, and found two guns and two clips in the nightstand. The clips just fit the bigger gun; good, he thought. More bullets were coming in through the front windows.

  Marcus threw the second gun to Lynda as he passed by her door. He then headed for the back door. He opened the back door and slipped into the backyard. Without a rifle, he had to get close to these guys. He wanted to catch one alive. He ran down the house to the fence. As he came to the gate he realized that he did not have shoes on.

  He slipped through the gate and eased down the side of the house. He could see a car in the street. Two men were behind it. Another man was at the house, looking in the shot-out window. He had to get this man. He knelt down; it was a long shot for a handgun. He fired once, aimed again and fired a second time. The man went down.

  Marcus was now getting shot at from the street. He moved back behind the edge of the house. His position was now known; it was time to move to another spot. He ran to the back of the house and looked both ways. He decided to go to the right behind the next neighbor’s house. He jumped over the fence. The neighbor’s dog chased Marcus to the far side of the house. He went through their gate and came out between the houses. He needed to make friends with that dog. The dog had not bitten him, but had tried.

  Marcus eased down the edge of the neighbor’s house. He noticed that neighbors were turning on lights. He had to take a chance. He ran out to the street. The two men had gotten into the car and were going to pass right by Marcus. Marcus knelt down behind the car that he was using as cover. Sure enough, the car came right by him. He shot at least eight rounds through the passenger door. The car swerved and hit another parked car. Marcus was on the car quickly. The passenger looked dead. The side of his face was missing. The driver was fighting the airbags. Marcus stuck the gun right up to the man’s head and said, “I am out of time. Tell me who sent you, or I kill you.”

  The man looked at Marcus. He looked Arabic. He said, “Go to hell, boy.”

  Marcus shot him in the head. Brains and blood splattered all over Marcus. He went around to the passenger. He was not dead, but would be quickly. Marcus asked him the same question.

  This man spat at Marcus. Marcus backed up and let him die in peace. He ran to the house to check on Lynda and the kids.

  She finally opened the door. This was the second time that her house had been shot up. She was certain that her neighbors would throw her out of the neighborhood.

  Lynda asked Marcus, “Who were they?”

  Marcus went out and looked at the man in the front yard. He was dead. He looked Arabic.

  Police cars began to arrive. Marcus was questioned continuously why he had shot the driver. Marcus could not or would not tell them. The detective in charge of the scene was the same one that had been to Lynda’s at the last shoot-out. He questioned Lynda at length. He wanted to know who was shooting up his town.

  After everyone left, Marcus took a shower and then told Lynda, “I think they were Iranian. I think they must have believed that you were responsible for the attacks on their country, and wanted to make an example out of you.”

  Lynda called Tom and told him about the attack. Tom did not have too much to say, but did ask, “Want to go to a safe house?”

  Lynda thought about that. “No. Marcus and I can take care of anything that comes up.”

  That night the kids slept with Lynda and Marcus. They were scared again. There wound up not being room for Marcus, so he sat up in a chair and slept. Lynda wound up sleeping in the middle with a child on either side of her. She did not sleep well.

  The next morning Marcus had a cleaning service come and remove the glass. They could not get it all, and Marcus decided to replace the carpet. The flooring company removed the carpet in the living room, and a window service repaired the broken windows. When the cleaning crews were gone, Marcus went to a gun shop and bought a special rifle. He found a machine shop and had them thread the end of the barrel. They would make him a silencer. It would be ready in two days.

  The month that he had off went by too quickly, and he was back in Pensacola.

  The day after Marcus left, Lynda called Max. Max had no plans to be in Dallas. He would have to take a few days off. The following week, Max got a flight to Dallas. He found a motel near Lynda’s and got himself a room. Lynda took the afternoon off and stayed with Max at the hotel. She did not see any way that Marcus could catch her.

  She took the next day off and spent the day with Max. She knew that she was pushing her luck, but didn’t care.

  When she went back to wo
rk the day after, Tom called her into his office. He got up and shut the door. “How’s your marriage going?” he asked.

  She said, “My marriage is none of your business, but it is doing fine. Why do you ask?”

  Tom walked to the window. “Sometimes my job sucks. I have to check up on my employees. I checked up on you. I know what you are doing.” He let a long silence develop.

  When Lynda could speak, she said, “How dare you, Tom!”

  He grimaced. “I know, it sucks, but I have to keep my guys honest.”

  She said, “What do you want from me, my resignation?”

  Tom sat back down and looked at her. “Lynda, you are the most beautiful woman in the agency, no doubt about it. But you can’t keep this up. You have to pick one or the other. It is your choice. But you are playing with dynamite, and it will blow up on you.”

  She looked down. “He rushed me into marriage. I wasn’t ready. I had things to sort out. They never got taken care of. This is one of those things.”

  Tom said, “Lynda, if I can find out, so can Marcus. He is a smart man. I suspect that he already has an inkling that something is going on. These things never work out.”

  She said, “You know, Tom, everybody loves Marcus. I don’t. What do I do? I love Max.”

  Tom rubbed his head. “I can’t tell you what to do, just that you have to do something and it has to be done today. If Marcus finds out, Max might just disappear. Is that what you want?”

  Lynda began to cry. It was just too much for her. Tom stood up and handed her Kleenex. She said, “The right thing to do is to go with my marriage. But that is not what my heart tells me.” She added, “Tom, if Max asked me to run off with him, I would go!”

  Tom massaged his face with his right hand. “When did this relationship start? Was it going on before you married Marcus?”

  She quickly replied, “No, it started a few months ago. We were friends for a long time, then one night it went too far, and I fell in love with him.”

  Tom asked, “So, you only see him when Marcus is gone?”

  Lynda answered, “Yes!”

  Tom said, “Okay, what are you going to do? Let me help you.”

  She said, “The marriage wins out; everybody says so.”

  He replied, “This is not about everybody, it’s about you. Which do you pick?”

  She said, “I am going with my marriage. I will call Max and break it off.”

  “Do you remember the first day you came in here?”

  She said, “Yeah. I was scared to death.”

  He said, “You were full of wide-eyed innocence. We all fell in love with you. I knew you were perfect, you were so honest. I want that girl back. I don’t like you sneaking around.”

  She said, “Tom, that girl is dead. She died with Ted.”

  “No, Lynda, I still see her sometimes. I miss her. Find her and bring her back.”

  Lynda said, “Yes, sir. Will there be anything else, sir?”

  He did not smile. “No, but I want to see you again Friday. Okay?”

  Lynda went to her desk and took a deep breath. Could she do it?

  She called Max and he answered, “Hello?”

  Lynda did not waste her breath. She said, “Max, I got caught. I have to stop. I am sorry.”

  Max was solemn. He said, “Can we still be friends and talk sometimes?”

  She bit her lip and began to cry. “No, it will be too tempting for me.”

  He said, “Okay, goodbye, Lynda.”

  Lynda hung up the phone. She couldn’t say it. She sat back in her chair and everyone around her knew that something important had just happened to her, they just did not know what.

  Lynda spent the rest of the day staring at her computer, but her mind was a million miles away. Could she live with what she had done?

  On Friday, she was back in Tom’s office. She looked beaten. Tom was concerned for her wellbeing.

  He said, “How are you, Lynda?”

  She seemed extremely depressed. “It is done, Tom. I gave him up.”

  He asked, “Lynda, would you like to see the company shrink?”

  “No. I will be fine; it will just take some time.”

  He asked, “Have you talked to Marcus lately?”

  She looked confused, “Marcus, ah, no.”

  Tom said, “Follow me, Lynda.” He got up and led her out of the office.

  He took her straight to the psychologist. The doctor took one look at Lynda and had her lay down on his sofa. Tom told him what was going on, and what he suspected.

  The doctor said, “Lynda, tell me what you feel?”

  She said, “I feel nothing, absolutely nothing.”

  He looked at her chart. “It says here that you have two children, Tasha and Ted.”

  Lynda said, “I miss Ted.”

  The doctor read some more. “Tell me about Ted!”

  She told him about Ted, how much she missed him, and how cheated she felt.

  They talked together for three hours. Then Tom picked Lynda back up and took her to his office.

  Tom said, “Oh, Lynda, what did I do to you?”

  Lynda looked at him and smiled wide-eyed innocence.

  It was obvious that she could not drive home. Tom couldn’t call Marcus; he had to deal with this himself.

  He drove Lynda home and found that she had a maid. The maid agreed to spend the night. Tom stayed and put Lynda in bed. He let Tasha and little Ted get in bed with her. He sat on the edge of the bed, not knowing what to do. He gave her the pills that the shrink had given her. They did not seem to make any difference at all.

  About midnight, Lynda woke up. Tom was sitting in a chair watching her. He gave her another pill and a drink of water. She wanted to talk, but was not making sense.

  Then the worst thing that could have happened did happen. Marcus walked through the front door. Tom was quick to see who it was, as was Wanda.

  Marcus looked at Tom. “What are you doing in my wife’s house?” He was holding his temper carefully.

  Tom said, “Lynda had a problem at work today. I brought her home and put her in bed. I had Wanda stay to help. She is having some mental issues.”

  Marcus walked into the bedroom. He sat on the bed, and said, “Honey, what is wrong?”

  She smiled at him and said, “Where did you come from?” She didn’t appear to know who he was.

  Marcus softened. He said, “Honey, I am here with you. Everything is going to be okay. Go back to sleep.”

  She drifted off, and Marcus got into Tom’s face. Tom backed up. Marcus pushed Tom to the wall. “What happened to cause this?”

  Tom said, “Marcus, calm down. I don’t think it was the job. I noticed that she was having a problem Wednesday. I talked to her and she seemed fine. This morning I checked up on her, and she was clearly in distress. We got her to the company doctor and he spent several hours with her. He is as confused as we are. He thinks it may have something to do with her first husband, Ted.”

  Marcus let go of Tom. He went back to the bed. He looked up at Tom. He said, “Don’t lie to me. Are you her lover?”

  Tom snorted, “No, Marcus, I am her boss and her friend.”

  Marcus asked more softly, “Do you know who her lover is?”

  Tom said, “Marcus, I think in these cases, where women have lost their husbands violently, the past comes back and haunts them. The best thing you can do is love her and take care of her. I know that she loves you.”

  Marcus said, “Then, as far as you know, she is not having an affair?”

  Tom said, “Marcus, as far as I know, she only loves you. Just understand she may have some unfinished business in her past. You need to also understand that her first husband had not been dead too long before she met you.”

  This all made sense to Marcus. He sat down on the bed and rubbed Lynda’s hand.

  Lynda woke up. She was expecting Max, but he wasn’t here. Someone else had
her hand. She tried to pull it back. The man would not let go of it.

  She tried to slap at him with her left hand. He caught it and laid it on her stomach. He let go of her right hand. She realized who he was: he was her friend Marcus—no, he was her husband. She could not talk; she just mumbled.

  Marcus got up and shook Tom’s hand, and Tom left. Wanda came in to check on Lynda. She shook her head and went and slept with Tasha.

  Marcus wondered if his young wife was having a mental breakdown. If so, he had no idea what to do about it. He looked in the phonebook and found two mental hospitals. He knew nothing about either one of them.

  Lynda slept the rest of the night. Marcus got in bed with her and held on to her. He kept one arm over her so that if she got up, he would wake up.

  The next morning when Lynda woke up, she was groggy, almost lethargic. Marcus was scared. He called Pensacola and talked to his mother. She told him to call Lynda’s mother and have her come out. So he did.

  About an hour later, Mrs. Lassiter arrived. She sat on the bed and talked to her daughter. Lynda seemed to respond.

  Marcus walked back into the bedroom, and Lynda and her mother were having a normal conversation. As soon as she saw Marcus, she became lethargic again. Her mother could not bring her back out. Mrs. Lassiter asked Marcus to stay in the living room for a while. Marcus agreed.

  Mrs. Lassiter closed the bedroom door. The two kids climbed into Marcus’s lap. They were scared too. Marcus did not know what to say to them.

  Marcus was confused. He had been all set to catch Lynda with another man. He had planned to beat that man to a pulp, but this was something he could not fight, nor do anything about, had he caused it by pressuring her?

  When the door to her room was closed, Lynda came out of the trance. Her mother asked, “What in the world is going on, dear?”

  Lynda said, “Mother, I don’t love Marcus. I don’t know what to do.”

  Her mother was quick to say, “I know that is not true. I have seen it in your face.”

  Lynda had to be careful what she said to her mother. She said, “Okay, I am very fond of him, but I don’t want to live with him forever.”

  Her mother said, “Honey, don’t say that. He is your husband; you married him for better or worse. Maybe this is the worse, but it will get better. Trust me on that.” Her mother was getting worried.

  Marcus came to the door and knocked. Lynda regressed into her trance. Marcus came in the room. He sat in the chair at the end of the bed and watched Lynda. Mrs. Lassiter went and checked on the two kids. They were all over their grandmother.

  Marcus said, “Lynda, is this about Ted? If it is, I can help you. Talk about it with me.”

  She had no idea what he was talking about. She said, “Ted? He was my husband. He is dead now.”

  Marcus said, “That is right, Lynda. I am your husband now.”

  Lynda lay back on the pillow and closed her eyes. She was beginning to get a handle on things. Her mind was coming around. She wanted to play with Marcus. She asked, “You are my husband?”

  Marcus said, “Yes, we have been married almost a year now.”

  She opened her eyes and stared at him. “You sure are cute.”

  He blushed. “Thank you. So are you.”

  She pushed her