by Dave Hazel
“Great. Where are you?”
“I’m in Minot.”
“Are you at your house?”
Mykal wasn’t sure if he was just being paranoid but it sounded odd the way he asked that question. “No, no one knows I’m here. I’m actually calling from a grocery store. I’m going to get a motel room, cuz I don’t want anyone to know I’m here. Only a few people know that I left Towbar’s world.”
“Don’t do anything and don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way.”
“When are you going to get here?”
“Give me about five, maybe six hours. I could get there sooner but there are just a couple of things I must take care of. I have a personal jet at my disposal so I will try to get there sooner than later. Are you going to your house?”
“No. I don’t want anyone to know I’m here, cuz if it’s not the right case I gotta go back right away and I don’t wanna break any hearts and stir any shit by being here.”
“Good, good. Good idea. Good thinking Mykal. Get yourself a room at the Ramada Inn and then I’ll come right to you--”
“No. I don’t want anyone to know I’m here and just about everyone here in Minot knows who I am. As soon as you get here you get yourself a room at the Ramada Inn and I’ll keep calling to see if you checked in yet. Then I’ll come to you. I’m not taking any chances with this package that I’m carrying around.”
“That’s fine. Not a problem here. But you’re sure no one else knows you’re here, right?”
“That’s right,” Mykal answered and he knew by the question Jill had bad intentions for him should he produce thee package.
“Good, good. I’ll do as you say. As soon as I get to Minot I will check into the Ramada Inn. Come to me right away so we can deliver the package to the rightful owner.”
“Like I said, if, it’s the right one. Will you be able to tell if it’s the right one?”
“Yes. I’ll know just by looking at the contents.”
“Okay, and if it’s not the right one, I’ll go back and keep looking,” he added so Jill wouldn’t try to take him out without making sure he had what he wanted first.
“Does anyone else back in Towbar’s world know you have this package? Did anyone ask you about it?”
“No, but we’ve suffered some casualties?”
“What? How bad and who?”
“Listen, we’re in the middle of a friggin war there,” Mykal replied strongly. There are gonna be casualties.”
“You’re right. I will see you later tonight,” Jill said.
“So if it is the right one, then I’m done with our arrangement and my obligation to you and the military, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Jill said. “We will honor our agreement,” he added and it sounded disingenuous. “I will see you in a few hours,” Jill said with finality and hung up without giving Mykal an opportunity to say any more.
6.
Mykal knew he had some time to kill, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He desperately wanted to see his wife and kids but he wasn’t sure if that would be a good idea. He wanted to go see Jake’s and Larry’s wives to let them know that they were alive and well, but he knew that would create more problems.
While he walked around inside the supermarket he tried to decide what he wanted to do, another concern struck him. ‘Is there any danger to using this ring?’ He wondered while looking at the gold band around his right middle finger. ‘Will it run out of power? Will it give me cancer for using it for so long? I noticed my emotions go wacky and I’ve been so sad and depressed and my anger seems to fly off the handle at times. I wonder if it will have a bad effect on me.’
Concerned about the unknown, he left and went to his car and made himself visible. His gut feeling told him there would be danger to himself if he kept using the ring but he didn’t know what kind of danger. “Wait a minute,” he spoke out loud. “Maybe I’m just spooking myself. But to play it safe, I’ll use it only when I have to.”
Mykal was glad the days ended early in the winter months. It was dark shortly after 5:00 and he could drive around without worrying about someone seeing him or noticing him. He used caution when approaching his house, but as far as he could tell there was no one to see him pull into the garage. “Damn it, I’m tired of this. It seems like every damn time I turn around I’m afraid or worried about something. I just want this to end.”
He paced all through the house debating whether he should try to call Pam. If he did and her parents answered he could easily hang up. If she answered, what would he say to her? Should he risk having her come over? Would he be putting her in danger by being with her?
“Oh no, even though Jill isn’t going to be here until later tonight sometime he could have contacts here in Minot that could be watching the house,” he said and then ran to every window in the house and looked at every possible angle to see if he could detect someone spying on the house.
“Wait a minute,” he huffed and plopped down on the couch. “I’m getting so damned paranoid. I know they’re out to get me but this is ridiculous. Ahhhh, I wonder if paranoia is a side effect from using this ring too much. Jill wouldn’t have any idea I would be coming back so soon.” He gazed at the gold band while twisting it on his finger. “But I’m not parting with this for anything.” Mykal sounded like a junkie holding tightly to a bag of heroin.
He jumped up off the couch without much mental debate and rushed to the phone. He nervously dialed the in-laws telephone number. Anxiety struck when the ringing started. He wasn’t sure what he would say or do. He felt like a crush-crazed teenager calling the girl of his dreams for the first time.
“Hello, Thompson residence.” The soft, sweet familiar voice of Pam made him sigh. The tone of her words was music to his desperate ears. “Hello?” She asked when there was no response.
If he didn’t say anything she would hang up. “Pam, don’t say a word, don’t say a word until you hear me out,” he paused at the gasp of excitement that came through the earpiece. “It’s me but I can’t let anyone know I’m here, so don’t say anything. Are your parents there?”
“No. No one is here,” Pam answered jubilantly. Her voice was filled with happy laughter. “I just walked in the door from shopping. How long have you been back?”
“Just a couple of hours. I’m only here by myself so I can’t let anyone know that I’m here. So if you love me you can’t, I mean you can not, say a word to anyone.”
“I won’t, I won’t. I promise. Can you come over?”
“No! No honey, I can’t take the chance of being seen.”
“Where are you at?”
“I’m at the house.”
“Can I come over there?”
“Where are the boys?”
“They’re with Ma and Pa and they went to the mall to buy them a toy while I went shopping. They said they’d take the boys to a movie too, so they’re going to be gone for a while.”
“Alright, you can come over but only for a little bit and I’m serious, you can’t let anyone know that you saw me. And while you’re here do not answer the phone at all. As a matter of fact once we hang up, I’m unplugging it.”
“Why? What is going on?”
“Honey, it’s a long story, but I think I might have completed my mission, I just have to iron out some details.”
“So are you finished? Will you be home for good?”
“No. I have to go back. I can’t leave everyone there. Just hurry, cuz I don’t have much time.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 12/18/1983
1. Sunday, December 18th 1983
0018 hours, Home, Minot North Dakota
“No, no, nooooooo,” Mykal woke up in a panic from a nightmare and bolted upright. “Damn it.” He let out a sigh when he realized it was just a dream. He forgot where he was.
“Another bad dream honey?” Pam rolled over to look at him. She reached out to touch his arm to comfort him. She bolted up as well. “Oh no, you didn’t want to fall asleep,” she reminded him. “
What time is it?”
“Ah damn it, it’s after midnight,” he raised his voice and scrambled to look at the clock on the night stand which read 12:18AM. “Honey, you gotta go,” he said and secretly feared people would be watching the house. It was one thing to be worried about being killed, but another thing completely to be worried about his family.
“Myk, I’m sorry,” she said as she jumped off the bed. “What am I going to tell my parents? They’re probably wondering why I haven’t called,” she fretted while dressing.
Looking at her in the darkness he wanted to take her again. He had missed her so much. He couldn’t resist. He grabbed her before she put her bra on. “Let me just hold you for a second,” he said and pulled her slender naked body to him. “I missed you like crazy,” he whispered and wished he could relay all that he had been through.
“I missed you too. I wish this would be over,” she whispered back with her head on his chest. Her body melted into his. “I feel so secure when you hold me.”
“I know. I’ll make this end soon. I promise. I wish you knew how much I love you,” he whispered and kissed the top of her head. The scent of lilac from her hair put a calming ease over him. Her thin frame and soft flesh felt so comforting. He wanted to lay down with her and forget about everything in the world and everything in Towbar’s world. ‘Why can’t they understand I’ll never do anything to hurt them,’ he wondered and thought of Jill and William’s plan to silence him. ‘All I want is to be alone with Pam and my boys.’
“I love you too,” she replied and snuggled closer to him.
He squeezed her tighter. “At times like this I wish we could just run away from the rest of the world,” he whispered and vowed to himself that he would not allow Jill or the President to kill him.
“Me too,” she replied with a smile and kissed his chest.
“Alright, you gotta go. Pam, remember, you never saw me. It’s important, cuz you might get asked. I’m not trying to scare you but my life might depend on it,” he said in hopes that if he was killed that she would remain quiet if questioned. He feared that ‘They’ might think he passed information to her and thus she could potentially become a target for elimination as well.
They both scrambled to get dressed. Their intent was to just relax and hold each other for a few minutes, but sleep over took them. Mykal had no regrets. Intimacy with his wife was far more important and far better for his mental frame of mind than rushing to meet Jill. Jill could wait. Mykal hoped Jill didn’t get impatient and send someone to snoop around his house.
He stood at the door and watched in all directions while Pam started her car. The temperature was a biting cold, minus 12 degrees straight temperature. The wind had stopped blowing or it would be worse than a “miserably cold” night.
Mykal regretted allowing her to park on the driveway, but his car and the military Jeep were inside the garage. She looked funny with his old military parka on. She grabbed the parka because of the large fur lined hood. Suddenly a vision flashed through his mind of a sniper standing beside a neighbor’s house and shooting her in the head thinking she was him. His body jerked with fright at such a horrible thought.
She rushed back to the house without incident. “Hurry up and get that damn thing off,” he barked.
Pam was stunned at his sudden mood change. “What’s wrong? Why are you snapping at me?”
“I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean it like that,” he said and grabbed her to hug her tightly. “I can’t let anyone know that I’m here, and if someone was watching or people were sticking their nose where it don’t belong, they might think that it was me starting your car. I’m sorry I snapped at you honey.”
“Do you know when you’re coming home?”
“I wish I did,” he said with a pout and watched the sadness form on her pretty face.
“You know a week from today is Christmas, right?”
“Yeah,” he dragged that word out. “I don’t think I’ll be back by Christmas as much as I would like to.”
“Do you know when you’re going back to Towbar’s world?”
“I don’t know. It could be before the night is over or it could be a couple more days.”
“Will I hear from you?”
“Don’t count on it honey,” he answered and cupped her face. “But if I get the chance I will get in touch with you. I love you so much,” he added and kissed her good-bye. “I want you to kiss the boys for me and tell them daddy loves them.”
“I will and I always do,” she said and kissed him good-bye.
He watched her car drive away and his heart sank. The red tail lights disappeared around a corner and it caused an ache in his chest. While he watched her car turn from view it made him contemplate abandoning Jill, his mission, and Towbar’s world so he could run after her. “I want this to end,” he moaned softly, frustrated that he felt like his hands were tied behind his back. Mykal couldn’t allow his emotions to get the best of him. The best option would be to complete his mission and win his freedom. While the resources were available he wanted to help Towbar in his fight against the Sosos and other forces sent by Zizmon-Tarl.
He rushed to plug the phone back into the wall. He ripped through the yellow pages of the phone book until he found the number he was searching for. He debated whether he should call from his home phone but it was too cold out to find a pay phone.
“Ramada Inn front desk, this is Julie, how may I be of assistance to you?”
“Hi Julie, I’m expecting someone to have checked in within the past few hours. His name is Jill.”
“Yes Sir, Mister Jill Graves checked in about an hour ago and he left a message that you would be calling tonight. Would you like me to connect you to his room?”
“Yes, please.” Mykal snickered and should have guessed that Jill would use his last name.
“One moment Sir, and thank you.”
“Thank you Julie.”
The phone was answered on one ring. “Yeah, Mykal is that you?” Jill asked without the normal hello greeting.
“Yeah, it’s me. What room are you in?”
“I’m in room 214. Do you have the package with you?”
“I think so, but like I said earlier, I need you to check it out, cuz I’m not sure. If it’s not, I’ll just have to turn around and go back and keep looking. I sure hope it is so we can end all this.”
“I agree, and so does a certain other party,” Jill said referring to President Edmonds. “One question though. How the hell do you people live in this damn weather?” He paused and then laughed through the phone. “It is cold out there. I heard the low is actually supposed to get 20 below zero. That’s the straight damn temperature,” Jill said.
“That’s nothing. This is swimming weather,” Mykal joked back and was glad to hear Jill’s jocular tone, but it sounded forced. ‘Maybe I’m just being paranoid. No! Maybe that’s just to keep me off guard,’ he debated himself in thought. “If you can get past the cold, it’s really peaceful here and the people are great. I’ll see you in about forty-five minutes or a little after that.” Mykal hung up before Jill could say anything.
He didn’t want Jill to push him to come earlier. His plan was to go there immediately and check out the surroundings while being invisible. He wanted to see if he was walking into a trap or any type of danger.
Within sixty seconds the phone began to ring. He froze in fear, but realized if it was Jill, Jill was at the Ramada Inn. The Ramada Inn was fifteen to twenty minutes away if he rushed. He watched the ringing phone as if it was going to do something. He wished he would have purchased one of those newer phone answering devices someone tried to sell him after his rise in fame and popularity. The man explained the machine would answer phone calls and allow others to leave a message. He had heard of such phone recording devices but in 1983 he didn’t think he would ever have a need for such a machine.
After the ninth ring the noise ceased. As much as he hated to do it he took off his jeans and put on the
dirty, odorous, uniform he had just spent the last two weeks or so in. He knew he couldn’t carry his M-16 rifle into a public building, but he could wear his holster with his .357 magnum. His parka would easily hide the handgun.
He drove his Cadillac to the Ramada Inn. The Cadillac wouldn’t draw any attention whereas the Jeep possibly could. Before getting out of the car he made sure his M-16 rifle, web belt of ammunition and decoy brief case were still covered with the blanket he placed in the back seat. Before opening the door he thought of himself being invisible and nothing felt different except for a sudden, but slight increase of hostile thoughts. It struck him odd he could tell his mood change happened so fast and he wondered if that was another of the possible side effects of using the magic ring.
“I’ll have to worry about it later,” he whispered to himself. “But I won’t hesitate to kill these bastards.”
He walked into the front door, but just opened the door enough to squeeze his body through. He walked up to the front desk to see if he could be seen.
Julie and one of her co-workers stopped talking and looked at the door that had opened slightly. They looked back to each other. “That was odd,” Julie said. “The wind stopped blowing earlier.”
“The wind would never have pushed the door open like that,” the male co-worker said. “That couple over there didn’t seem to notice it,” he nodded to the couple in their mid-forties sitting in the waiting area.
“Maybe we only imagined it, right? We’re just overly tired, right?” Julie asked and she sounded fearful. “It was nothing, right?”
“It was you and Heather who sat in the break room telling ghosts stories. Now you’re all spooked out,” he scolded Julie softly.
Mykal walked right up to the desk and stood there while the two of them quietly argued who was at fault. It relieved Mykal to know he didn’t exist. ‘The pranks I could pull,’ he pondered as he made his way to the elevator. ‘The dirt I could get on people. The money I could get,’ he thought with evil greed coursing through his brain like an alcoholic buzz. He shook the thoughts from his mind. He didn’t care about the materialistic stuff. His only care and concern dealt with Pam and the boys, and they were the only thing he couldn’t have right now.