by Mike Ryan
It didn’t take long for that next move to come to fruition. The next day, as Cain and Heather were eating lunch, his phone rang. He was somewhat shocked that he was hearing back from the person so soon and that he was actually calling and not just giving him a message.
“Hello,” Cain answered, hope evident in his voice.
“Mr. Cain, are you somewhere where you can talk right now?” the digitally altered voice asked.
“Yes. I’m at home,” he replied, looking at Heather, who was intently watching him as he conversed.
“Good.”
“How do I know I can trust you? I mean, deception seems to be a fact of life for me these days. How do I know you’re any different?”
“You don’t. And you shouldn’t. At least not right now. I wouldn’t trust anyone right now if I were you either.”
“You said you had all the answers that I’m looking for.”
“I do. Not now though.”
“Why not?” Cain asked.
“I’m trying to stay off the phone as much as possible. The longer we talk the more they’ll be able to trace me through you.”
“Who are you?”
“We don’t need to go into that. Let’s just say I’m on your side,” he told him.
“If you really do know everything, why are you doing this?”
“Because I don’t like what’s been done to you. You deserve to know the truth. You’ve been deceived from the moment you had your surgery in that army hospital.”
“So who’s behind it?” Cain wondered.
“You already have your suspicions. In a few more days you’ll have your answers and the proof.”
“When can you tell me everything?”
“In two or three days. First, I’m working on a backup plan to ensure my survival if this gets found out. I’ve contacted a reporter with the New York Times and am meeting with him tomorrow to go over all of my findings. Not just of you, but the entire Specter Project. If something happens to me I will instruct him to contact you so you can pick up where I left off. His name is Roger Falk.”
“I can help you now.”
“No, they might be watching your place right now. That’s all I can say for the moment. I have to go before they get a beat on me. I’ll be in touch,” the man told Cain.
Cain stood there for a few moments, his phone still pressed to his ear as he struggled to comprehend everything he was just told. Heather was still watching his every move and could tell he just received some major news.
“So what’s going on?” Heather asked.
“He said I’d know everything in two or three days. That’d he’d have proof of everything.”
“That’s great. Finally a break.”
“He said he was contacting a reporter in case anything happened to him,” Cain added.
Waiting for a few days was going to be excruciating for Cain, knowing that all the answers he’d been looking for could be laid out in front of him. Heather did what she could to keep his mind from locking in to that and tried to keep him relaxed, no matter how difficult it was. Cain avoided all contact with anyone other than Heather because he didn’t want to get distracted from the meeting and possibly get caught up in something else. He simply told Lawson he was going to be unavailable for a couple of days so he and Heather could relax and get some rest. Whatever he did worked as the time seemed to fly by. Three days had gone by and he woke up that morning hoping he’d hear from the mystery man. Cain had just finished taking a shower and was drying off when he heard his phone ringing. He bolted into the bedroom, not even bothering to put clothes on, to answer the call.
“It looks like today’s the day,” the man told Cain. “Are you able to meet?”
“Just name a time and place and I’ll be there.”
“Train station at twelve. Get on the train that’s headed for Baltimore. I’ll be in the third car wearing a white Mets hat, blue David Wright jersey, and a copy of yesterday’s New York Times.”
“I’ll be there.”
“I’ll give you three minutes. If you’re not there three minutes after twelve then I’ll assume there were complications and I’ll be gone,” he warned.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there,” Cain guaranteed.
Cain finished getting dressed and told Heather what was going down. They spent the next hour going over plans to make sure Cain got there in time. He was starting to feel paranoid that maybe the apartment was being watched. They’d have to come up with a diversion to make sure that when he left he wouldn’t be followed. They anxiously watched the clock, seemingly watching every minute tick away. Once eleven o’clock came around they started getting ready. They left the building with the assumption that Cain would be followed. Cain noticed a car across the street with two men sitting inside.
“All right, let’s stick to the plan,” Cain told Heather.
“OK.”
“Sure you’re up for this?”
Heather answered him with a kiss. “Be careful.”
“Always.”
The two of them got in their SUV and drove off.
“They’re on the move,” one of the men radioed in.
“Stay with them,” a man replied.
They continued following the pair through several streets, side streets, and detours. Cain could see the car tailing them the entire way. He toyed with them for about ten minutes before he decided they weren’t going to lose them this way. He stuck to the plan and drove to a nearby cab company. They parked and went into the office.
“My name’s Cain. I called earlier,” he told the person at the desk.
“We’ve been waiting for you. We have five cabs ready to go,” the person replied.
“Fantastic. Thank you,” Cain said, handing over a credit card. “I really appreciate it.”
“Thank you, sir. It’s not everyday we get to charge a thousand dollars.”
“It’s worth it for what I need. Two hundred per driver for a ten minute drive.”
“Come with me and I’ll introduce you to your driver,” he told Cain.
He led Cain to the garage, where all five cabs were waiting for the go ahead. All the drivers were standing against the driver side door of their cabs, ready for their instructions.
“I know you’ve all been informed of what’s happening but I just want to reinforce how critical it is that you all head away from the train station. If you’re stopped or pulled over, you don’t know me, never met me, and have no idea what they’re talking about. Don’t worry, you’re in no danger. Any questions?” Cain asked.
The drivers all got into their cabs, ready to execute their missions. They were all pretty excited about it; it was something more interesting than their usual mundane routines of picking up fares and dropping them off.
“This is Mike Patel.”
“Glad to know ya,” Cain said, shaking his hand.
“Mike knows the best ways to the train station. Short cuts, alternate routes, he’s the best man to get you there quickly.”
“Excellent.”
“Ready to go?” Patel asked.
“Let’s get it done,” Cain replied.
He turned to Heather and gave her a kiss.
“I wish I was going with you,” she told him.
“I’ll call you when I’m done. You’ll be OK?”
“Don’t worry.”
Cain got into the back seat of the cab and laid down on the floor.
“If you see a black Cadillac following us, let me know,” Cain said.
“Don’t worry. This isn’t my first rodeo trying to lose someone,” Patel responded. “We’ll give them the slip.”
The two men in the car were still waiting outside the cab company. They called in to let Sanders know what was happening.
“They’re still inside,” one of them stated.
“Give it a few more minutes then go in and check,” Sanders replied. “He’s up to something.”
They never got the chance to check as a few minutes late
r all the cars came zooming into the street. One by one they raced off. Heather was in the lead in the SUV, followed by the five cabs, with Cain in the second one.
“Oh, shit,” the man bellowed.
“What’s happening?” Sanders wondered.
“The SUV and five cabs just came roaring out. Who do we follow?”
“Who’s in the SUV?”
“Looked like just the girl.”
“Forget her. He’s in one of the cabs.”
“Which one do we pick?”
“Just pick one and hope you’re right,” Sanders told them.
“Pick that one,” the man told the driver, pointing to the fourth one. He figured Cain wouldn’t be in the last one as it’d be the easiest to follow. The plan worked to perfection as there were too many cars moving in different directions for their followers to keep up with them. Patel got Cain to the train station in about twenty minutes, plenty of time for Cain’s meeting. Cain got out of the cab and thanked Patel for his service.
“My pleasure,” Patel said, writing his number down on a piece of paper. He handed it to Cain.
“What’s this?”
“If you ever need me again this is where you’ll find me.”
“Thanks again,” Cain replied, putting Patel’s number in his pocket. “I’m sure you’ll hear from me at some point in the future.”
Cain immediately went to the ticket booth and bought a pass to board the train. He looked at the time and he still had ten minutes to wait. He kept looking around, almost waiting for someone to jump out at him. He stayed alert until the time hit noon. They called for the final boarding on the train to Baltimore and Cain got on. He boarded the second car and instantly looked for his contact. His gun was stuffed inside his belt and he kept one hand on the handle just in case he would need to use it in a hurry. He walked the length of the car until he spotted a man wearing the Mets hat and jersey. He was seated at the end with his arms folded and head down as if he was sleeping. Cain sat down next to him and started talking as he looked at the rest of the passengers.
“You have something for me?” Cain asked.
Cain waited for a minute for him to respond but got no answer. He looked over to him, wondering why he was staying silent. He put his hand on the man’s forearm and instantly felt some type of liquid on his fingers. Cain pulled his hand off the man’s arm and rubbed his fingers together. The blood dripped down off his fingers and Cain took a closer look at the man. He unfolded the man’s arms which were becoming redder by the second. The man’s arms flopped down to his sides and Cain noticed two bullet holes in his chest. Cain took the sunglasses off the man’s face, flipped his hat off, and tilted his head back to see his identity. He was taken aback when it was revealed to be Bill Heyward, the analyst whom he’d worked with several times. Cain went through Heyward’s pockets and looked around him to see if he had any documents with him. He came up empty. If he had anything with him, whoever killed him took them with them. Cain was so intent on trying to find something that he didn’t notice the onlooking crowd. He was finally alerted when he heard a nearby woman scream in horror at the scene in front of her. Cain saw several people staring at him and heard a couple people calling 911 on their phones. He knew the police would be there any minute. He knew he couldn’t stay. He was going to become the prime suspect and he’d have a hard time talking his way out of it. With Heyward’s death, he knew that the agency wanted him gone. If he stayed he knew that they’d see to it that he hung for this. The only thing he could do was flee.
Chapter 3
Cain spent the hour after Heyward’s death wandering around the streets, trying to stay low. He knew his picture would be up everywhere as a person of interest since there were cameras at the station. He wasn’t sure where he could go to lay low but knew he couldn’t go home. He walked to a nearby clothing store to buy a baseball hat, sunglasses, and new shirt, hoping that would help to disguise him, at least for a little while. It was only temporary until he could figure things out more clearly. He figured he should call Heather to let her know what was going on.
“Hey sweety, how’d it go?” she asked.
“It didn’t.”
“What? He didn’t show?”
“It turned out to be Heyward. He was dead when I got there,” Cain informed her.
“Oh my God.”
“I can only assume the agency knows what was going on and killed him before he had a chance to tell me anything.”
“So what are you gonna do?”
“If they knew what Heyward was gonna tell me I have to assume they’re coming after me next. They’ll pin his murder on me since I was there at the station,” he said.
“This can’t be happening,” Heather cried.
“I can’t go back home. I’m gonna have to figure something out. I’m gonna need to get a new phone too or else they’ll track me down through this,” Cain explained.
“So when am I gonna see you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how I’ll get in touch with you but I will soon. Just wait for me, OK?”
“What if they come after me?” Heather worriedly asked.
“Go to your sister’s.”
“I haven’t seen or talked to her in over five years.”
“Just explain to her what’s going on and see if you can stay there for a while,” Cain told her. “Leave as soon as you can.”
“OK. I love you.”
“Love you too. I’ll find a way. I promise.”
Cain walked to the park and sat on a bench to contemplate his next course of action. He kept his head down just in case there was a roving patrol that came by. He wondered how it could’ve come to this so fast. Just a short time before that he was hopeful of getting all the answers he needed to figure out his past and who was after him. Now, all that seemed to be gone. Now there were even more questions. He was a little startled when his phone started ringing. He hesitated to look at it, not sure he wanted to see who it was. He figured it wasn’t Heather since they’d just spoken, but checked anyway, just in case it was her. It was Lawson. He wondered if she was in on everything. Cain thought about not answering and letting it go to voicemail but picked up at the last minute, curious on what she knew.
“Hey,” Cain answered.
“What the Hell is going on?!” she asked.
“Don’t you know?”
“I just got a call from Sanders saying you just went rogue. That you killed one of our analysts inside a train and now you’re on the run,” she hurriedly stated.
“The mysterious text I got was from Heyward. He instructed me to meet him at the train station where he’d give me all the information about what was going on. I went there to meet him and he was dead when I got there,” Cain told her.
Silence swept over both ends of the phone as Cain wasn’t sure what else to tell her and Lawson wasn’t sure what else she could do to help.
“Were you in on this, Shelly?” Cain bluntly asked.
“What?”
“I need to know.”
“How could you even ask that?!” she defiantly asked.
“I don’t know who I can trust now.”
“When you went missing in Syria, I was the one who kept looking for you when nobody else did. I was the one who kept on tracking down leads for you on Kurylenko. I was the one who went to check on Heather when you weren’t there. I have always been the one constant who’s always tried to help you. How could you even think that I’ve turned my back on you and had a hand in setting you up or framing you?”
“I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to think now.”
“It’s OK. We can talk about that later. Let’s just use our heads and think.”
“Wait a minute,” Cain stated.
“What? You got something?”
“Heyward said he was contacting a reporter in case he was killed. I need to find him.”
“You better do it quickly. If they know who he contacted, and if they don’t, they will soon enough, the
y’ll kill him next,” Lawson warned.
“Do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“I sent Heather to her sister’s. Can you just keep an eye out on her and make sure nothing happens?”
“Of course. Don’t worry about her. If I hear something, I’ll move her.”
“Thanks.”
“What are you gonna do?” she asked.
“Find this reporter. I’m gonna have to ditch this phone. I’ll contact you later when I have some answers.”
Cain figured his only other option at that point was to find the reporter and see if Heyward had already given him the documents he had. He knew he had to do it quickly as he knew Sanders would have the reporter killed as soon as he learned of his involvement. Because he knew he probably didn’t have a lot of time at his disposal he figured the surest way to keep Sanders away from the reporter was to create a diversion. Give him something else he wanted more. That would be him. He took out his phone once more and scrolled down to Sanders’ name. He sighed before his thumb hit the call button. It only rang two times before Sanders picked up.
“I must admit I’m a little surprised at this phone call,” Sanders began, motioning to an analyst to start tracing it.
“Not as surprised as I am.”
“Are you looking to turn yourself in?”
“So why’d you do it?” Cain asked.
“Do what?”
“Set me up.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sanders replied.
“Oh yes you do. You’ve been behind everything, haven’t you? The entire time.”
“I think all the excitement has gone to your head and giving you delusional thoughts.”
“I don’t think so. When you suggested having Heather killed, that was a warning to me, wasn’t it? Eliminate her or eliminate the both of us,” Cain stated.