by Mike Ryan
“OK. I’ll go. But you need to go too.”
“I’ll stick around a little while,” Cain said.
“What? Why? Why would you stay here if you know they’re coming?”
Cain didn’t respond and simply looked at her. The cold, icy stare he gave her indicated he had something else in mind. Lawson knew what he was planning.
“You’re not planning on walking out of here are you?” Lawson asked.
Cain smiled at her. “You should go.”
“Think about this for a second.”
“I have thought about it,” Cain replied.
“There’s another way. It doesn’t have to end like this.”
“Shelly, I’m tired of everyone close to me getting hurt and I don’t want it to happen anymore. This whole thing has to end. The longer it goes on the more people will get hurt. I can’t let it continue.”
“You’re talking crazy.”
“I’m talking sense,” Cain said. “I can’t get my wife and son back. I can’t have Heather. People are dead because of me. The missions, the kills, I don’t wanna live with it anymore. There’s really no reason for me to keep on with this.”
“Except that you’re a fighter. And if I know you, the reason you’ll keep on, is so they won’t do this to someone else. Do you want someone else to feel what you’re feeling?”
“Why should I care?”
“I know you’re hurting and I know you want the pain to stop. But there’s another way. We’ll find it,” Lawson explained.
“The best thing you can do for me is to go back to New York and tell Sanders you found me here and turn me in.”
“What?!”
“You’re my handler; he’s already having doubts about you. If you tell him you found me and tried to get me to come in and tell him where I’m at then you’ll probably be safe. If I make it through this I can use your help from the inside.”
“I’m not turning you in and telling him where you are.”
“Please just do it.”
Cain reached into the back seat and grabbed his duffel bag. He pulled out the files from Heyward and handed them to Lawson.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“I think you know what it is.”
“Why are you giving it to me?”
“You’ll probably know what to do with it better than I will,” Cain stated.
“OK,” Lawson replied. “When you’re done here, you call me.”
“Sure.”
Lawson reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Cain. He looked at it, unsure what it was.
“What’s this?” Cain wondered.
“Address to the cemetery where Justin’s buried. Thought you might want to visit,” she said. “It’s in the northwest corner of the cemetery. I put some purple and yellow flowers, with one red rose, on his grave this morning so you’d know which one it was. You know, in case you wanted to visit.”
Lawson took the folders and got out of the car. She had a nasty feeling that it’d be the last time she ever saw him. Cain continued sitting, and waiting, and watched as Lawson drove past him out of sight. Half an hour later Cain sat up at attention as a car pulled past him and into Deanna’s driveway. He watched eagerly as a blonde haired woman got out of the car. It was Deanna. She was even more beautiful than in Cain’s visions or in the picture he had. He felt his heart skip a beat as he watched her reach into her car and pull out a few bags of groceries. Cain kept watching her until she brought all the bags inside the house. He was a little sad once she was done and disappeared from his sight.
After some angst and soul searching, Lawson wrestled with Cain’s wishes about telling Sanders where he was. As much as it sounded like Cain was giving up and wanted to end everything, she thought maybe he actually had a plan, and he needed her to get it activated. As much as she hated doing it, she picked up her phone to call Sanders. She prayed that Cain had something else in mind.
“Shelly, what can I do for you?” Sanders happily greeted.
“Umm, I just wanted to talk to you about Cain.”
“We’ve been over this already. I can’t change what’s been done.”
“I know,” she responded. “I just wanted to tell you that I know where he is.”
“What?”
“I was just with him an hour ago.”
“Oh?”
“I thought I could get him to come in before he got hurt,” Lawson told him, hating herself for what she was doing.
“And?”
“He won’t.”
“I’m not surprised. Well, I respect your feelings for him Shelly, I really do, but by calling me you’re showing your loyalty to this agency. And I appreciate that.”
“It’s my job, sir,” she said, barely able to get the words out.
“So where is he?”
“Sitting outside his wife’s house in Virginia.”
“Glad to hear you say that.”
“Why’s that?” Lawson asked.
“Because we already knew that and have a team moving in his direction as we speak.”
“What?”
“We actually got surveillance of him at a gas station just inside the border,” Sanders revealed. “But I really do appreciate your calling and telling me. Just reaffirms my trust and belief in you.”
“Well thank you.”
“I’ll admit after our last conversation I wasn’t sure which way you were going. But calling in with his location means that you put our organization first and foremost above any personal feelings you may have and that’s an important characteristic.”
“Thank you. One other thing,” she wanted to know. “Was that plane crash in the Atlantic our doing?”
“Unfortunately the cost of doing business.”
“All those innocent people.”
“Sometimes collateral damage is unavoidable. Besides, one of the first things you learn in this business, to make things more digestible, is that there are no innocent people. They all have skeletons.”
“Understood.”
“So when are you coming back to New York?” Sanders asked.
“I’m on my way back now.”
“Excellent. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Once Lawson hung up she closed her eyes and shook her head, hoping the violent and painful visions she was imagining with Cain wouldn’t come to fruition. A few minutes later her phone started blowing up with texts from different office personnel as well as field agents. Something big was going on. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Then she started making calls to confirm what she was being told.
Sanders was still in his office when he got the word. His secretary brought him the memo. He uncomfortably shifted in his seat as he read it. He then crumpled it up and threw it on the floor.
“Why is it so hard to kill one woman?!” Sanders shouted.
He dialed the number of one of his top aides, John Parry, to get the lowdown. Parry had just finished up at the airport and was leaving the premises. He was the first to figure out that Heather was still alive.
“John, what the Hell is going on down there?”
“Looks like her and her sister got off the plane two minutes after they originally boarded,” Parry explained. “They weren’t on the plane that took off and blew up.”
“How many times do we have to try to kill one woman?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Well I’ll tell you how many. Two times too many. It shouldn’t take three tries to kill one female civilian. It’s unacceptable. We’re looking like a third rate organization here,” Sanders told him
“I understand your concern.”
“So where is Ms. Lloyd off to now?”
“Same as before. She took the next flight to Paris an hour later,” Parry informed him.
“Wonder what the point of that was?”
“Don’t know, sir.”
“Well we can’t blow up two planes in one day and get away with it.
One looks like an accident. Two looks intentional. What’s its status?” Sanders asked.
“Should touch down in about an hour.”
“You’re positive she’s on this plane?”
“Absolutely. I watched the airport footage of her getting off the first plane. Then they got off like they were looking for someone. They waited a few minutes in a coffee shop and then got tickets for the next plane. I watched them board and they never got off.”
“Good. We’ll be waiting for them.”
Sanders immediately got on the phone to a couple agents they had stationed in France. He directed them to meet Heather and her sister when they stepped off the plane. His instructions were to take them away from the airport to a secure and remote location to promptly put a bullet through each of their heads.
Heather and Cassie were discussing their situation aboard their flight. Cassie urged Heather to call their contact.
“Shouldn’t you call this Raines guy to let him know we’re coming on a different flight?” Cassie asked.
“Yeah. I guess I should.”
“What’s wrong with you? Ever since we left something’s been bothering you.”
“I guess I wasn’t ready and prepared to hear stuff,” Heather said.
“Like what?”
“The reporter told me what was in Matt’s files.”
“Oh. Was it that bad?” she asked.
“He’s married,” Heather said, her eyes tearing up. “And he has a son.”
“Oh no,” Cassie replied, putting her arm around her sister. “I’m so sorry.”
“Things will never be the same.”
“Give him time to sort things out.”
“How could he choose me over a wife and son that were taken away from him?” Heather asked.
“Give him a chance.”
Heather shook her head. “I know him. He couldn’t live with himself if he chose to be with someone else after knowing he had a family.”
Heather wiped her tears away and made the call to Raines. As much as she was upset about losing Cain, she knew she had to look after Cassie and Emma. At the very least, she had them to look forward to.
“Hi. Is this Eric Raines?” Heather asked.
“Yes it is.”
“This is Heather, Matt’s girl…well, he told you we were coming.”
“Uhh…yes, he did,” Raines replied, stunned. “Forgive me for, well, I’m a little bit at a loss for words.”
“You knew we were coming right?” Heather asked, concerned he wasn’t going to meet them.
“I did. I’m just somewhat surprised and confused.”
“About what?”
“You were supposed to be on an earlier flight. That plane blew up and crashed a couple hours ago over the ocean. So you see, I was operating under the assumption that you were no longer among us,” Raines told them.
“What? I got off the plane and took the next flight.”
“How fortunate for you.”
“I think we should be there in about an hour. What should we do?”
“Exactly as we planned. We must assume that they know you’re on that plane. If they blew up one then it’s a fair bet that they will try to eliminate you again. Let’s go under the assumption that they will be waiting for you once you arrive.”
“So what do we do?” Heather wondered.
“Nothing. I’ll take care of everything. If they’ll be there to meet you, so will I. I gave Cain my word I would take care of you and I will. You can count on me,” Raines responded.
“I’m scared.”
“Fear is what keeps people going. I’d be more worried about you if you weren’t. Try not to think about it.”
“That’s a little easier said than done.”
“I know.”
After Heather hung up, Cassie could see that she looked a little rattled.
“What is it?” Cassie asked.
“Umm,” Heather stammered, unsure of whether to tell her sister the truth. “It looks like the original plane we were supposed to be on blew up.”
“What?!” she replied, raising her eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Heather affirmed, faking a smile like she wasn’t concerned.
Before their plane touched down, Cassie had a few things on her mind she wanted to discuss. They’d always avoided talking about their father since their relationship started going downhill. Cassie figured it was time to change that. Being thousands of feet in the air, there was nowhere for either of them to go.
“So when are we going to get rid of the elephant in the room,” Cassie said.
“Huh?”
“Until we talk about dad there’s always gonna be something unsettled between us. We’ve been apart for too long and we need to put this behind us once and for all.”
“So what is it that you want to know exactly?” Heather asked.
“Why did you leave so suddenly? What exactly was your problem with dad?”
Heather sighed, still not really wanting to talk about it, but knew Cassie wasn’t going to let up on the subject. Plus, she figured Cassie deserved to finally know the truth about everything. She’d been shielding it from her for too long.
“Because you two always got along so well and I didn’t want to ruin your opinion of him. With mom gone, I wound up taking on more responsibility. Part of that was making sure you were safe,” Heather stated.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Dad drank a lot. Didn’t help his temper much either,” Heather said, her voice quivering. “So a lot of times when I’d get home from work he would take that anger out on me.”
“What?”
“He would threaten to do the same to you but I always egged him on enough where he was satisfied just doing it to me.”
“Why would you never say anything?” Cassie asked, horrified.
“All the makeup and staying out late wasn’t cause I was partying like you thought. It was to hide the bruises,” Heather explained.
“I can’t believe it.”
“I always thought you abandoned us.”
“Ever since mom died, you looked up to him so much, I couldn’t stand to tear him down for you. I didn’t want you to lose both parents.”
“You should’ve confided in me. I would’ve stuck with you,” Cassie said. “I can’t believe it. Why were you never around as I was going through college? I really could’ve used your help.”
“I was too busy helping to put you through it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t dancing and stripping cause I enjoyed it. You always thought it was dad that put you through college but it wasn’t. Everything I made went toward your tuition,” Heather revealed.
“Dad never told me that.”
“I know. I told him not to say.”
“Why would you do that?” Cassie asked.
“Because I knew you wouldn’t approve.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t.”
“I know. I figured if you knew where the money was coming from you wouldn’t accept it. And I was determined to get you through college. Dad couldn’t help and financial aid wouldn’t have been enough,” Heather explained.
“Dad had money saved up in investment accounts for us for school though.”
“No,” Heather replied, shaking her head. “Anything he had saved up he gambled away. His weekly casino trips cost him thousands. Including our school savings.”
“I feel like such a fool for some of the things I said and thought about you. I always thought he paid for it through his savings account.”
“I just figured it’d be better if you didn’t know the truth about everything.”
“I’m so sorry for ever doubting your feelings and intentions,” Cassie said, giving her sister a hug.
“Well, my intentions have put you in a lot of danger right now. I wouldn’t be too thankful for that.”
“This has brought us closer than ever and I feel like I finally understand you again. And that�
��s wonderful. I don’t care how much danger we’re in. Getting my sister back is bigger than anything.”
Heather gave her a sheepish smile. Though she was grateful that her and her sister seemed to be on the same page again, she thought of the danger that was probably waiting for them at the airport terminal. She wasn’t as worried for herself as she was for Cassie and Emma. As the plane came in for a landing, Heather looked over to Cassie to make sure she was ready.
“I’m not sure what’s gonna be waiting for us,” Heather said. “Hopefully it’s Raines. If it’s not though, be ready to move, and move fast.”
“I will.”
Chapter 8
Passengers started getting off the plane and Heather and her family were right in the middle of the bunch. As soon as they stepped through the gates Heather looked around for Raines. At least she had the advantage of meeting him before so she knew what he looked like. It would’ve been even more troubling if she had no idea who she was searching for. They stood there looking around for a minute, Heather’s worries increasing every minute without Raines’ presence. She was counting on him being there. Without him, she wasn’t sure what they should do next. Heather wasn’t sure exactly where they could go but she was fairly certain that they couldn’t just sit there. Eventually, she knew Sanders and his men would arrive. Heather and Cassie agreed to wait five more minutes. If there was no sign of Raines then they’d leave and take a cab to a local hotel to figure out their next move. As people moved around them, Heather started to worry that something happened to Raines. With the five minute mark approaching, Cassie held Emma tighter, as her and Heather prepared to move on their own. Just as they were about to start walking, Heather spotted a few men in suits that had earpieces. They were the type of men who looked like the ones who tried to kill them before. The three men began walking toward them. Heather tensed up and thought about running, but knew they wouldn’t get far. Cassie couldn’t run quickly with Emma and Heather wasn’t about to leave them behind. They would just have to take their chances and hope that Raines sent them.