“Yeah, I noticed the wig.”
I pouted.
“Why do we have to do this to ourselves?”
“I don’t know,” he said then repeated, “You should go.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to you when I talk to you, I guess.”
As I rode the elevator downstairs, anger boiled up inside me, ready to burst. The poor doorman must have thought I was such a bitch as I left the building in a rage.
Fuck men, and especially fuck Cooper.
He might have been fuckable, but he wasn’t worth the trouble.
THIRTY-FIVE
Cooper
I went to see an attorney the next day. The prick had the nerve to ask what I’d been smoking before I came in. His eyebrows came together in confusion as he realized I wasn’t kidding.
“If you’re being investigated under the Patriot Act, I’m not sure I want anything to do with you. Why didn’t you work with the feds?”
“We were. They came after us a few hours later. I imagine someone higher up told them to go after us and is trying to cover for the ones still doing the shit.”
He shook his head.
“I’m afraid my hourly rates…”
“Fuck your hourly rates,” I said, cutting him off. “Can you help me or not?”
“If you have the money, I can help you.”
“I have the fucking money.”
“Good, good,” he said, actually rubbing his hands together.
Can I trust this guy to keep Jade and I safe?
After I told him the rest of the details concerning Jade, his expression changed to fear and loathing once again.
“Do not, under any circumstances, go anywhere near that story on the record or off.”
“That’s what I told her, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Don’t think with your dick.”
“Excuse me?”
“Calm down. I’m not going to sugarcoat things because you’re paying so much.”
“What are your rates, again?”
“Four…” He studied my reaction. “Fifty per hour.”
“Fine. You’re the only one who didn’t kick me out of their office today.”
“I bet. For now, I recommend you go home and lie low. If you’re not working, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Right.”
I stood, looking down at him as he sat behind his expensive Mahogany desk.
“I’ll call you when I learn something new.”
“See my receptionist out front to put down a retainer.”
“Ten grand work?”
His eyes widened.
“Wait. I thought you said you weren’t involved in this smuggling operation.”
“I was in the past, but I’m not anymore. Don’t you even listen? This is my life we’re talking about here.”
“You unloaded a lot of information for the first meeting,” he said, rubbing his moustache.
I headed to the door of his office, ready to pay and go prepare for whatever awaited me next. Between the feds, Max, Jade, and everyone else, there was no telling what it would be, but I wanted to be ready.
After swiping my Visa Black Card in the lobby of his office in a rubdown strip mall, I headed to catch the Staten Island Ferry back to the city.
THIRTY-SIX
Cooper
I headed straight to her apartment, still hoping I could talk her out of doing the story. If the feds tried to stop me, they could talk to my attorney.
During my trip to her place, I kept replaying things in my head. I had thought it best for her to trash the story, but maybe I was wrong. I started to understand her point of view.
Once I admitted to myself she was right, it all made sense. The story going public would direct a lot of attention toward us providing some level of protection. It would at least keep us from disappearing into a holding cell in some bunker unnoticed.
By the time I reached her building, I had my mind made up. The feds could fuck themselves for all I cared. I had served my country, and I deserved to be allowed my freedom of speech.
Doing so would likely end up with me prosecuted or perhaps losing my military pension, but as long as I had Jade by my side, nothing else mattered.
I walked straight up to the front door of her building and pressed the buzzer for her apartment.
“Yes?”
“It’s me,” I said.
“What are you doing here?”
The door buzzed and clicked. I opened it and went inside. On the way up to her floor in the elevator, I thought again about my decision to be honest with her about what I’d been a part of during my time while serving in Afghanistan.
My mind and my heart battled the whole way up. When I stepped out of the elevator, doubts hit me hard. Was I making yet another mistake?
I pushed the self-doubt aside and made my way to her apartment. She stood in the doorway, waiting as I approached. I saw a look of concern on her face.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, stepping back into her apartment.
“We’ve got to talk. I don’t like the way our last conversation ended,” I said, walking in and closing her door.
“Me either.”
“Wow, you’ve really been working,” I said, glancing at all the papers scattered around her living room.
“You don’t know the half of it. It’s been crazy, but it’s all coming together.”
I took a deep breath.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’ll allow you to use me as a named source.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I put a hand on her waist. “If we’re serious about our relationship moving forward, we need to work together.”
“You’re sure, you’re sure?”
I nodded.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Answer some questions and let me connect the dots. You need to read what I’ve written so far.”
She pointed to her laptop on coffee table in her living room. I walked over and sat down. After scrolling up to the top of the long article, I read what she had compiled so far.
The words on the screen moved me emotionally, something I wasn’t accustomed to happening. As I read, she sat down on the couch next to me, our legs touching.
“Damn…” I muttered.
“It gets worse. I told you it went high up.”
“They made tens of billions of dollars.”
“You can kind of see why they’ve kept the war going for over ten years now, huh?”
I shook my head, furious at myself for having been involved at the lower levels.
“How could I have been involved in this? The money was good, but we’re talking a couple hundred thousand dollars in return for risking my life over there…and these guys walk away with billions?”
I felt her hand rubbing my back. It helped me remain relatively collected.
“That day I saved you in Afghanistan…”
She moved her hand away.
“Yeah?”
“It wasn’t just me who saved you.”
I frowned as the truth got ready to surface.
“What do you mean?”
“There was this old Afghan guy who helped me.”
“Go on.”
“He hid me and you while the Taliban searched for us. If it wasn’t for him, neither of us would have walked out that day. I didn’t tell you because I really wanted to impress you… to fuck you.”
I stared into her eyes, searching for forgiveness.
“Yeah, I could tell you had one thing on your mind, but I’m an adult. I made a decision, the right one. I think I know the old man you’re talking about. Before they dragged me away, he offered to help, but I didn’t trust him.”
“I should have gotten his name.”
“You and me both,” she said then sighed. “Let’s get back to work. Who knows how much time we have”
Over the next two hours, she questioned me about the smuggling operation, including a
ll the people I knew were involved. She got into the zone afterwards, typing away on her laptop.
I went into her bedroom to lie down and rest my eyes. Minutes later, I was fast asleep.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Jade
With the story posted online at DC News Heroes, the only website that was willing to work with me, I crawled into bed, exhausted. I fell asleep the moment I closed my eyes.
Suddenly my phone rang, waking me up. Confused, I reached for my phone and answered.
“Hello,” a heavily accented male voice said.
“Hello? Who is this?”
I sat up, rubbing my eyes with the back of my left hand while I held my phone in the other.
“This is Abdul-lateef,” he said cheerily.
“Who? How did you get this number?”
“Please go slower. One question at a time.”
“Who are you?”
I stood up and walked over to my laptop on the small desk in my bedroom. Cooper continued snoring from the bed, oblivious to the world.
“You refused my water and did not trust me in Samangan.”
“How did you get my number?”
“My nephew is on the internet site called Facebook, and he found your name. The rest, he said, was easy-peasy.”
That’s scary.
“Why are you calling me?”
“I saw your article, and I have information you might want.”
“Yeah?”
“The hesitation again!”
“Look, this is awfully strange. I’m being careful.”
“You didn’t trust me before and look what happened. Will you trust me now?”
“Okay…” I replied, hesitantly.
I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Good. Your friend, Cooper, gave you wrong information.”
“What do you mean?”
I glanced over at his naked body on the bed.
“Some of the names he gave were wrong, and I can prove it.”
“Prove it? How?”
“It’s not safe to discuss on the phone, as you know. You must come to Afghanistan.”
“I’m not sure…”
“Trust me,” he interrupted. “You can find me in Samangan. You know where.”
The call ended. I stared at the phone a moment, still stunned. After waking up the laptop, I checked my email and saw thirty-two new messages – all about my story. And it had only been up for two hours.
Thanks to the internet, the story had spread far and wide. I turned and looked at Cooper on the bed. Should I wake him?
THIRTY-EIGHT
Jade
As I watched him sleep, Cooper opened his eyes. When he saw me watching him, he smiled and patted the mattress next to him.
“Come and rest,” he said.
I walked over to the bed and laid down next to him in my pajamas.
“You’re a bit overdressed,” he teased, putting his hand on my stomach.
“We need to talk,” I said seriously.
He rolled over, propping himself up with his elbow.
“What’s wrong?”
“That man you were talking about earlier?”
“Yeah, what about him?”
“He just called me.”
“How?”
“He saw my article online after I posted it an hour or so ago. It didn’t take him long to find me.”
“Yeah, I guess it would be afternoon over there right now, early evening maybe.”
“He said you got some of the names wrong and that he can get the feds off your back by proving our innocence.”
“But I’m not innocent. I already told you I was involved.”
“Yeah, but he said he could help us. We have to go see him.”
“Whoa, hold on a minute. That’s crazy. We don’t know this guy or even what supposed information he has for us. Sounds like a trap to me.”
“I didn’t trust him before, and it blew up in my face. I don’t want to make the same mistake again, Cooper.”
He sat up. I placed my hand on his back, wanting to make love to him in that moment and let the cares of the world fade away.
“Let’s do this. I can pay for us to fly there in the next few days. It’s not going to be easy.”
I sat up, my arm draped around his back.
“Believe me, I remember my last trip to Afghanistan. This might be our only chance to clear your name.”
“If your story keeps spreading, I’ll have to do something. All eyes will be on me. We’ll have to make sure they are seeing the full story.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said in a consoling tone.
He stood up and walked over to my laptop.
“Buying tickets to Afghanistan while naked. That has to be something new,” he said.
I laughed and got out of bed. Exhaustion still racked my body, but something felt unfinished. My story would tarnish his reputation, but knowing that he still agreed to let me use his name. To me, that said love, more than words alone ever could.
“There,” he said, spinning around. “We have two coach tickets leaving tonight at six p.m.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Exactly.”
“Should I stay up and sleep on the long flight or crash now?”
“It’s your call.”
He walked over, putting his hands on my shoulders, then moved them to my waist, holding tight as his lips pressed against mine. I pulled back.
“You need to brush your teeth. And a shower wouldn’t hurt.”
“Join me?” He asked, running his hands along my hips.
“On second thought, I’m pretty tired. Plus, we will need something to occupy our time on the long flight over,” I smirked.
“Oh, and what’s that?”
“Mile high club.”
I took his hand in mine and led him back to the bed.
We were soon laying side by side, still holding hands. Sleep overtook both of us.
My dreams were filled with mountain ranges and strange people speaking an unknown Afghan dialect.
No matter what happened on our crazy, last minute adventure, I would stay by his side.
We had each other, and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.
THIRTY-NINE
Cooper
Jade and I landed at the Kandahar airport in one piece. I had sent word to a few contacts I still had in the country. A Land Rover waited outside, ready to take us all the way to Samangan.
A man riding shotgun smelled of goats and sour cheese, but he looked tough enough to protect us. I had spent a lot of money setting up this trip to be sure nothing would happen to us.
I glanced over at Jade as she sat beside me in the back of the Range Rover. She was looking out the window at the landscape as the sun rose in the distance.
Arabic music flowed from the speakers as the driver and his security guard in the passenger seat yapped back and forth about the best way to dig a well.
“We have to be ready for anything,” I said. “You shouldn’t have come.”
She turned to face me. Her eyes were red, with bags under them.
“The man contacted me, not you. Plus, I want to be here. You couldn’t have stopped me.”
“This will all be over soon. We can put it all behind us and get on with our lives.”
As I watched her smile weakly, I realized how much I loved her. It was as if we were made for each other. A perfect fit. True love.
“I can’t think of a better plan,” she said, still staring into my eyes.
“We should arrive early enough to scope the place out before it gets too packed. Are you sure you remember where his booth was in the market?”
“It’s been so long. My memories are a little hazy, but I think so.”
“Good.” I turned to the passenger up front. “I need the gun.”
He twisted around, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Do it, do it, he’s been vetted,” the driver said in English.
The other man reached into the glove box and pulled out a revolver old enough to be in a museum.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “This isn’t what we agreed I would be getting. I’ll need more firepower than this if this turns out to be a trap.”
“That what you pay, that what you get,” the driver said.
Meanwhile, the passenger continued to stare at me menacingly.
“It’s okay,” Jade said. “We’ll be fine.”
I wanted to call her out for being so naïve, but I held my tongue in front of the strangers. Every decision I made concerned her. I couldn’t forget that now if I tried.
The two in front returned to arguing amongst themselves as we bounced around in the backseat. Outside, the unforgiving Afghanistan landscape stretched to the horizon.
Coming back to the war-torn country was stupid in so many ways, but if we wanted any chance of a future together, it was necessary.
*
At the outskirts of Samangan, the so-called escort specialists dropped us off and zoomed away, a cloud of dust rising in their wake.
“Fucking assholes,” Jade said, wiping off her baggy white blouse and jeans.
“I’m sorry. It’s the best I could get on such short notice. We’re here now. Let’s find out what this old man claims to know.”
“Thanks for supporting me with this,” she said.
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s you and me. We’re in this for the long haul.”
“I’d kiss you, but my lips are full of sand and dirt.”
I smiled, squeezing her arm briefly.
“Let’s do this.”
We walked side by side into the city which had only begun to awaken. Everyone who saw us stared. I gripped Jade’s hand tightly, increasing our pace.
At the center of the city, we arrived at the market, already bustling with vendors setting up shop and locals arriving for early bird specials and the freshest produce.
“It’s this way,” she said, leading me toward the left side of the plaza.
She stopped a few stalls down. We both peered inside, seeing nothing.
“Where is he?” she asked.
I had already turned to glance around the plaza.
“What the hell?” she asked.
“I told you it was a trap,” I said, scanning the crowd still increasing in size. “There…”
Her gaze followed my finger as I pointed across the market.
“Isn’t that Max?”
“Yeah. I should’ve known he was behind this.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked, holding onto my arm.
Mr. Charming_A Mistaken Identity Bad Boy Romance Page 28