by Mike Ryan
Sanders was in The Room watching everything unfold. He watched as the events in the airport went down via the airport cameras. They were able to tap into the parking lot feeds but couldn’t see every inch of the lot. Sanders anxiously waited for word from his agents, hopeful that they’d inform him of Cain’s demise. After a few minutes of silence he got tired of waiting.
“Somebody talk to me about what’s happening,” Sanders said.
“We have three agents down.”
“I’m not concerned with that. What about Cain?”
“It looks like he’s escaped, sir.”
An obviously angry Sanders took a step back and looked up at the ceiling as he sighed.
“Can someone please explain to me how we managed to bungle this?” Sanders calmly asked, controlling his anger.
“He’s a world class agent, sir.”
“Don’t give me that! We knew where he was, we knew where he was going, we had men in place to take him out, tell me how we didn’t get the job done. I don’t want excuses.”
“We have no explanation, sir.”
“And can someone please tell me why the first shot was to kill the reporter? Why was Cain not the first target? I can kill a reporter any day of the week. You might only get one chance to take out Matthew Cain.”
“It was just a poor decision, sir.”
“Well, all isn’t lost. We have a couple hours until the plane is over the Atlantic,” Sanders grimly stated. “Get everything cleaned up there and try to find him.”
A frustrated Sanders quickly left the room, irritated by the turn of events. He went back to his office to try to form a new plan. Cain, meanwhile, was still flying down the highway trying to figure out where to go. He wasn’t sure what to do now. He figured the only person who might be able to help him now was Lawson. He told her he’d check in with her anyway, so he was about due. He dialed her number, hoping she was available.
“Hello,” Lawson answered, picking up on the first ring.
“I need help.”
“What’s going on?”
“What happened to keeping an eye on Heather for me?” Cain asked, referring to the incident at Cassie’s house.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did something happen to Heather? After we talked last I went to Sanders and tried to get some information but he shot me down completely. He told me to take a few days off so I’m completely out of the loop.”
“Oh.”
“Did something happen to Heather? Is she OK?” Lawson worried.
“She’s fine. They tried to take them all out but luckily I got there in time.”
“Thank goodness. Where are you now?”
“Driving down the highway.”
“Who’s with you?”
“Nobody. I just came from the airport. I sent Heather and her sister to Europe. Raines will hide them and keep them safe for now.”
“Are you sure about him?” Lawson asked.
“About as sure as I am about anybody.”
“Did you ever find that reporter?”
“He’s dead.”
“Oh.”
“He was at the airport with me. Somehow Sanders found out our location and a sniper got him,” Cain said.
“Oh no. Did he have the information you were looking for?”
“Yeah, I have it.”
“Well, that’s good at least. Where are you heading now?”
“I don’t know. I’m just driving,” Cain replied.
“Just lay low for a few days. Take whatever documents you have and fax them to every government official and newspaper office there is.”
Cain thought about the documents and suddenly realized where it was he needed to go. Virginia. His last known address according to the records. Where his wife and son still lived.
“I figured it out. I know where I’m going,” Cain said.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to the office.”
“No. Somewhere much more important.”
“Which is where?” Lawson wondered.
“I’ll call you later, Shelly.”
“Matthew,” Lawson said, before hearing the silence of the phone. She thought about where he might be headed and had an idea where it was.
It was about an eight hour drive from New York to Virginia, giving Cain plenty of time to think about what he was going to do once he got there. It was a quiet ride for Cain, not a government man in sight. Once he finally crossed over the Virginia border his first order of business was to find a hotel. He was pretty tired and just wanted to rest for a couple of hours since he seemed to be out of immediate danger. He found a Sheraton and checked in under an alias. Once inside the room Cain placed his bag on the floor and put his phone on the table. He then plopped down on the bed and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. As soon as he closed his eyes his phone rang. He sighed and took a few seconds to get up, wondering what the issue was this time. It was a private number, which whittled down the prospective callers.
“Yeah?” Cain answered, thinking it might be Sanders.
“It’s Raines.”
“Oh, hey. Are you at the airport?”
“Have you heard the news?” Raines asked.
“What news?”
“There’s been some complications.”
“What complications? What are you talking about?” Cain asked, getting worried.
“The plane you put Heather and her sister on never arrived.”
“Why not? Where’s it at?”
“I guess I’m stalling and trying not to say the inevitable,” Raines sorrowfully said.
“Please just say it,” Cain stated, getting a hint of his news.
“The plane Heather and her sister were on blew up over the Atlantic two hours ago,” Raines informed him, barely able to keep his composure. “Reports are saying everyone on board has been killed. No survivors.”
Cain’s eyes immediately filled up with tears and he had no words to reply back with. He simply let the phone drop to the ground as he fell onto the bed. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling and he didn’t even care to try. Everyone close to him was being eliminated and there was nothing he could do to prevent it no matter how hard he tried. The stress was overwhelming and he fell asleep crying within a few minutes.
New York— Sanders was sitting in his office watching TV, switching between channels to see what they were saying about the plane incident. His aides were bringing in reports every few minutes as they gathered more intelligence of it.
“So what’s the verdict?” Sanders asked.
“All 230 people were killed.”
“And the cause?”
“It’ll go down as engine failure,” his aide replied.
“Excellent. Let’s see what kind of response we get out of Cain once he hears about this.”
Chapter 7
Cain did a search on the internet and wrote down the address and phone number of every public and private school within the area that Justin could’ve possibly gone went to. His plan was to call every one until he found out which school he attended. He picked up the phone and put his plan in motion. Cain called thirteen schools, each of whom told him they had no student by that name. The fourteenth school on his list was a Catholic school about three miles from the Baldwin home.
“Hi, I was wondering if there’s a student named Justin Clifford enrolled there?” Cain asked.
“I’m sorry sir, we don’t give out student information to strangers,” the secretary replied.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not a stranger. Let me explain my predicament. My name is Matthew Clifford, I’m his uncle.”
“Hold on a second, let me get the principal for you.”
The sound of the secretary’s voice gave Cain some hope. It sounded unlike any of the other calls he made, like someone who knew the answer but just wasn’t allowed to say. It was only a minute before he found out.
“Hello, Mr. Clifford?” a woman asked.
“Yes.”
“Hi, I’m Mrs. Sadowski. I’m the principal here. I understand you’re inquiring about one of our students?”
“Yes, Justin Clifford. I’m his uncle,” Cain told her.
“Can I ask why you’re inquiring?”
“Well, I know you typically don’t give out student information and I totally understand that. It’s just that I’m his uncle and I’m in the military and I’ve been gone for two years so I was hoping to surprise him by picking him up from school.”
“You’ve not talked to his parents?”
“I’ll be honest, I was in a Special Forces unit in deep cover and I wasn’t allowed contact with anyone. I just got home on leave, arrived last night, and I wanted to surprise everyone letting them know I was back. Justin’s almost like my own kid, we’re best buddies. I figured he’d be super stoked once he saw me,” Cain said, hoping his lie worked.
“I see. That’s a really sweet idea but I’m afraid it’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think I can really say. I think it’s best if you talk to Justin’s parents,” she replied.
“I don’t understand. What’s the problem?”
“I just don’t think it’s appropriate for me to say.”
“Please just tell me. I really would appreciate just being honest with me,” Cain said.
“I’m afraid Justin is no longer with us.”
“He’s not there anymore? He got transferred to another school or something?”
“Well, not quite,” Sadowski stumbled. “Justin passed away about eight months ago.”
“Excuse me?” Cain asked, sure he misunderstood what she said.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. Justin died.”
Cain’s mouth fell open, unable to formulate words for a response.
“He had a rare form of cancer. It consumed him quickly.”
“I’m uhh…well, thank you for telling me.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Cain hung up and sat back in his chair, stunned and at a loss for words. His eyes immediately started tearing up as he thought about the son he couldn’t remember. He wiped his eyes, trying to control himself, but was unable to stop the flow of tears. He folded his arms and put his head down on the desk as he bawled his eyes out. For the next half hour Cain sobbed uncontrollably. He couldn’t believe his son was gone before he even got a chance to know him. Once the sadness began wearing off, anger started to set in. He grabbed a few things off the desk and threw them across the room. Cain then went over to pick them up and looked at the wall for a moment before proceeding to put three holes in it with his fist. He walked around the room for a few minutes to compose himself, the anger slowly leaving his body. Then Cain figured it was time to see some of the things he’d been missing and left the hotel.
Once Cain pulled onto Deanna’s street, a little nervousness started setting in. It was a feeling he couldn’t remember having before. He drove down the street, still unsure what exactly he was gonna do. He pulled alongside the curb on the other side of the street and stopped a few houses away. He was still able to get a good look at Deanna’s house without being seen. He just sat there as he contemplated his next move.
Cain kept his eyes focused on Deanna’s house, periodically looking around and checking the mirrors for signs of visitors. He looked in the rearview mirror and noticed a figure moving closer to him. He grabbed his gun, anticipating he would have to use it. The person in the mirror was trying to stick to the houses for cover, though not doing a very good job at it. He continued watching the person for a few minutes as they tried to sneak up on him. The person was wearing a hat and sunglasses, but there was something familiar about them. The way the person walked and moved, Cain knew who it was without having to see their entire face. He tucked his gun away as he waited for them to show their face. About five minutes later the person made their move toward his car, sprinting from behind one of the houses towards the passenger side door. They quickly opened the door and jumped in, a gun in hand, pointed at Cain. Cain slowly and calmly looked over, not phased in the least by the sight of the gun, and smiled at his visitor.
“What took you so long?” Cain asked.
“Huh?”
“You’re a lousy spy, Shelly. I first saw you ten minutes ago.”
“Oh. Well, sneaking up on people was never really my thing,” Lawson explained.
“Is that really necessary?” Cain asked, nodding at the gun.
“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t get shot before I got a chance to talk to you.”
“And you thought that would make a difference?” Cain wondered.
“Like I said, this has never really been my thing.”
“It shows.”
Lawson put her gun on the dashboard before taking off her hat and sunglasses.
“So what do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
“Just sitting here.”
“Are you kidding? You better give me a better answer than that.”
“What else do you want?” Cain asked.
“I want the truth.”
“How’d you know I was here?”
“I’ve actually been here since yesterday. I kind of assumed you’d be here eventually,” Lawson said.
“You knew? All this time, you knew?”
“No. I didn’t find out till Heyward was killed. After I talked to you I went into Sanders’ office and broke into his safe and looked at your file. Everything was there.”
“You broke into his office? Not a wise career move.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“You never kept anything from me, did you?” Cain wondered.
“No. No. Of course not. When you were first recruited, Sanders told me how there were things in your past you were better off not remembering,” she hurriedly remembered. “I assumed it was related to your parents death or something else. I never dreamed or imagined that he was driving you away from your wife and son. Please believe me.”
“You’ve never been a good liar,” Cain replied, believing her story.
“So what exactly do you plan on doing here?”
“I haven’t really figured it out yet.”
“Well if you plan on sitting here for a few minutes to think about things, fine, have at it, but if you plan on actually going over there and knocking on the door then I’d strongly advise against it,” Lawson pleaded.
“Don’t you think I deserve to know my wife? Don’t you think she deserves to know that I’m still alive and didn’t die?”
“Yes. Of course. But what you both deserve and what can actually happen here are two completely different things and you need to realize that.”
Cain kept staring out the windshield, not looking at Lawson at all, thinking about her words.
“If she sees you, you will destroy her life all over again,” Lawson stated. “Losing you destroyed her life once. But she’s picked up the pieces. She’s found love again. She’s gotten remarried. She’s moved on. What do you think you’re gonna do to her if she sees you again? What do you think you’ll do to her life? You’ll throw it upside down again.”
“Point taken,” Cain sighed in frustration.
“And what about Heather?”
“What about her?”
“You’ve created a new life with her. She deserves to have you back,” she said.
“She deserved a lot more than me.”
“What do you mean deserved?”
“You didn’t hear the news?” Cain asked.
“Hear about what?”
“The plane I put her on went down over the Atlantic a couple hours ago.”
“Oh God no,” Lawson anguished. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe it,” she said, severely distraught.
“Just follows the pattern.”
“What pattern?”
“One by one they all wind up dead. Everyone close to me. If I were you I’d
take off now and leave me behind. You’re all that’s left.”
“Why are you so hard on yourself?”
“Because everything that’s happened is my fault,” Cain responded.
“What? That’s crazy. How could you blame any part of this on yourself?”
“Because everyone that’s gotten close to me has gotten hurt. Anyone who’s tried to help me has lived to regret it. Heather almost got killed once because of me. Because of this. Now it’s happened for real. Heyward lost his life trying to help me. Patel’s dead cause he helped me.”
“Who’s Patel?” Lawson wondered.
“Cab driver who made the mistake of helping me lose some of Sanders’ men.”
“Oh. Matt, nobody could blame you for feeling frustrated or upset about everything. But what’s happened to you isn’t your fault.”
“I wish I could feel that way.”
“You are such a stubborn, stubborn man. Over the last couple years I’ve watched you beat yourself up over every mission, every kill, what happened to Heather, that boy in Russia…”
“You know you shouldn’t be here,” Cain told her. “If they find out you’re here they’re gonna assume you’re trying to help me.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“I am. You need to go before they come.”
“We can go together. Right now. I can help you,” Lawson said.
“No. I can’t let you. If they find out you’re with me or helping me you’re as good as dead. I can’t let that happen.”