by Slaton Smith
“She looks like that and eats this shit? That’s $18.71, by the way.”
“She works out a lot,” he replied and handed her the $20 bill.
“Your girlfriend?” she asked, grabbing a $1 bill, a quarter and four pennies from the drawer and handing the change to him. He put it in his left front pocket.
“No. I am just sleeping with her,” Sean said, with a big smile, looking for a reaction.
“In your dreams,” she answered, handing him the coffee. She was partially right. “It will be a couple minutes on those sandwiches.”
“Thank you. Oh, one of the bulbs behind the second translight box looks like it’s out. Might be the ballast,” Sean said gesturing with the two cups in his hands. She looked up at the menu board and shrugged.
Sandy watched the whole exchange. She was used to watching. She had done it for nearly eighteen months. He was still acting like Sean, still talking to anyone that would listen. Sean stood next to the counter looking at the menu board. The girl returned with a bag. Sean stuffed several napkins in the bag, turned and walked back towards Sandy. He placed one of the coffees in front of her and took the seat opposite.
“Change?” she asked.
“Change what?” he mumbled, his mouth full of food.
“For the meal.”
“You have got to be kidding!” he said standing up and reaching into his pocket. She held out her hand and he placed the change in her hand. She put it in a pocket in the backpack.
“Thank you, Sean,” she said and took a bite of her sandwich. She smiled to herself.
“Please tell me we did not just spend all of our money at Dunkin Donuts,” he said. She laughed.
“No. We have plenty.” She smiled at him. It was the same smile he had seen at Starbucks. The same one from the garage. It made him feel like the smile was just for him and no one else.
They continued eating in silence. Sean ended up eating three sandwiches. His body was burning through fuel at an incredible rate. He thought about everything that had transpired. The first and foremost was how could I have gotten her pregnant? “Great!” he thought. “I don’t remember it - and I know I would have remembered it. Now, I don’t have a job, I am on the run and have no idea where are going. On the plus side, I can fly a chopper pretty damn good. Maybe I can get a job with a news station doing traffic reports? That’s not too bad. Fly around all day. I’d need a cool name . . . .”
He wadded the wrappers up and stuffed them in the bag, still daydreaming.
“What were you two talking about?” Sandy asked nodding in the direction of the Dunkin counter. More and more people were wandering into the student union.
“I told her their menu board had a problem,” he paused. “Oh, I also said we’re sleeping together.” She looked at him as he laughed.
“I did not get you pregnant by shaking your hand,” he laughed again.
She shook her head – he hadn’t changed. She was worried about the people following them. However, she was warming to Sean’s hide out. The kids coming into the student union were not dressed much differently than she was. Jeans. Fleece tops. Boots. There had been a large event on campus the night before and the union was filling up more than on a usual Sunday. Parents, alumni and students were running in and out as the minutes passed. Anyone who entered that looked like a cop or former commando would really stick out. Waters would expect them to go back towards D.C. on I-68. She would take Sean south through West Virginia. Sandy reached under the table and picked up the backpack and placed it on her lap. She pulled out a driver’s license and passport. She looked at it briefly and handed both to Sean.
“Here you go Mason.”
Sean took both and flipped through them.
“Mason? Why Mason?”
“Mason Masterson. I like it. It seemed like a good fit,” she said, putting the bag back on the floor. “You need to memorize that.”
“Got it. Who are you?”
“I’m now Andrea Smithson. I’m from Scottsdale, Arizona and graduated from Arizona State with a degree in Art History,” she rattled off without hesitation.
Sean just looked at her.
“And since you like your Starbucks so much, I work there. The opportunities for Art History majors are slim.”
“And how do we know each other?”
“Some friends set us up. Our first date was after I got off work. We sat on the patio at Starbucks and shared a scone. You had forgotten your wallet, so I had to pay. Just like today.”
“You think you are funny?” Sean replied.
“A little.”
“Ok. I guess I have to just go with it,” he said and slid the ID into his back pocket.
“Yes, you do need to ‘just go with it.’”
It was warm in the student union, plus the coffee was hot. She reached up with her left hand and unzipped her red fleece to mid chest. It exposed her slim neck and smooth skin all the way down to the edge of the tank top. The tight tank top accentuated her breasts.
Sean noticed. She was one of the most physically perfect women he had ever met. Everything was symmetrical, in proportion. Her lips curved exactly the same on both sides of her mouth. Her eyes and eyebrows were perfectly placed on her face. Although, she tried to down play it, it was clear to Sean that she was gorgeous.
“Let’s sit here for a couple hours and then get going,” she said to Sean.
“Fine by me,” he answered, raising his eyebrows after getting a good look at her breasts. He pretended to look around the room. She couldn’t tell if he was checking out every girl that walked in or looking for anyone that did not belong. Sandy leaned forward in her chair, holding the coffee between both of her hands, her eyes were looking directly into his.
“Sean.”
“Yes,” he turned towards her as he answered.
“Did you really like Jennifer?” she asked softly. His eyes locked on hers.
“Who?”
“The flight attendant from the USAir flight on Friday.”
“Oh, her. Um . . . why are you asking me?” he sensed a trap coming. He could not figure out how to answer. He felt like a giant bear trap was about to snap on his leg and tried to change the topic.
“How do you know she came off a USAir flight? He diverted, hoping she would change the topic.
“Remember, I have been following you for a long time. You flirted with her for eight hours. I saw you come off the plane and talk with her when Brian picked you up.”
“Of course you did,” he remarked. She remained silent.
She was still looking straight at him, hands on the coffee cup.
She was unsure if he was remembering anything about her. She felt insecure. She never felt insecure. She was always in charge. Sean put his hands around hers.
“Look. I don’t know if you have looked at yourself. Women are jealous when they see you. That girl over there hates you. She didn’t really believe me when I said were we sleeping together.” He paused, “and I’m a fantastic catch!”
Sandy laughed. Still holding her hands, he looked into her eyes.
“Jennifer will never be truly beautiful. She works to make herself beautiful. You don’t have to.”
Looking into her eyes, he slipped into Frenchand said,“You are beautiful. . . . . Your eyes are stunning. . . .”
“Merci,” she said, suddenly off guard. “Your French is impressive.”
“I didn’t know I had it in me. It just kind of happened.” He was genuinely surprised.
“You know, I meant what I said.” Then he paused and in Italian said,
“You are gorgeous.”
“Ok. Ok. That’s enough,” she said pulling her hands away. She sat back and pushed a stray bit of hair out of her eyes. “Hmmm. Italian too,” she said to herself. She looked back at him and found his eyes still locked on hers.
“What?” she asked. Her hands were in her lap. He was making her nervous.
“Where’s your red wig?” he asked. She jumped. Her heart was
racing. She instinctively wanted to reach for her gun. She knew that even as fast as she was, he was faster. She would never get it in time. What was he beginning to remember? Was he going to just reach out and kill her? She didn’t know. She had no idea how he would react. She kept her hands in her lap and tried to stay calm.
“You were at Doc’s on Friday. I saw you. You had red hair. You might be able to change that hair, but you can’t change those blue eyes. They cut right through me. My heart skipped a beat when I looked at you,” he said slowly.
Sandy blushed. She was not going to fight it now.
“You took off. I ended up going home anyway.”
“Thank you, Sean.”
“For what?”
“For what you said. It was very sweet,” she said leaning across the table. “Oh, I also kind of scared Jennifer off.”
“You did what?”
“Just scared her off your porch. That’s all. No big thing. I told her I was your sister, Bailey.”
“She was at the house? She just left when you asked?” he asked, taking a sip of the coffee.
“Well no. I pulled her hair and asked her to leave,” Sandy said with a sheepish grin.
“You know Bailey is my dog,” he said smiling as well.
“Yes, I figured she would have done the same if she’d had the chance.”
Sean laughed out loud. “I see you have pegged Bailey. She hates women.”
“True. I know she doesn’t like me. Bailey is the only one who knew I was watching you.”
They sat silently for the next several minutes and watched people coming and going. They had plenty to catch up on and Sandy was very mindful of the time. She had a meeting to make in a little more than twenty-four hours.
VI
Damage Control
Boston – Sunday Morning
The Blackhawk hovered above the LifeFlight chopper, eventually landing. A group of commandos got out and cautiously approached the other chopper. They found nothing. One took out his phone and made a call to Robert Waters.
“Yes,” Waters answered. He had now moved into the situation room. He had a team of eight in the room. There were three large screens on one wall displaying various bits and pieces of data. Sandy and Sean’s photos were up on the screen on the right. Each analyst had a workstation with an eight-line telephone and a dual monitor. They all wanted this situation to end quickly.
“They set the chopper down on a soccer field and fled. Either they had help or one of them was a hell of a planner, or both,” the man said looking into the chopper. “Look, we will check in from the air. We have local cops on the way.” He hung up, turned and signaled to the pilot. The group of commandos got back into the Blackhawk and lifted off as the Morgantown police pulled into the parking lot. Waters handed the phone to an analyst, stepped up to the front and turned to the group gathered in the room.
“I need ideas on where they are heading and scenarios on what they are up to and what they will do next.” He turned to the analyst next to him and ordered, “Get Doctor McFarland on the phone and send the call into my office.” The analyst nodded. Waters went into his office, sat behind his desk and waited for the call to be sent through. He was drumming his fingers on the desk when the phone rang. He answered it on the first ring.
“Mr. Robert Waters, to what do I owe the honor of speaking with you this early on this Sunday morning?
“Doctor, we have another problem. Number Two, Sean Garrison, has achieved what I believe is total recall, or something close to it. He is on the run and I have lost two agents. Your program has failed. We have two loose ends that could destroy everything,” Waters screamed into the phone.
“Now. Now. Don’t yell at me. The science worked. You accomplished your goals, faster than you expected and in the process we all learned how amazing the human body is. Frankly, I am fascinated by the whole turn of events and would truly love to study the survivors if you can capture them alive. Fascinating. That’s how I would describe it.”
“Fascinating! Have you lost your mind? I have two homemade killers on the loose. One of them knows what we did to him and could turn up here at any time. The second is just now realizing it. You had to push it with these two guys! You had to take everything to the edge! We should have stayed with the plan. One mission and they die, but you had to try and extend it. You had to push the envelope with these guys. Now, I have to clean it up.”
“You have nothing to fear. I doubt they will show up on your doorstep, Robert. Remember, what motivates them. For Number One, Oscar Pasco, it’s his addictions and his thirst for money. He will only come after you if there’s something in it for him. If there’s nothing in it for Oscar, he will not act against you. Unless there is a contract on your life, you will be safe. Sean Garrison is not motivated by money and has a strong sense of right and wrong as well as a strong sense of responsibility to those who count on him and those he loves. It is hardwired into his psyche. If you don’t move against him or those he cares for, he probably will just go away. But remember what his profile says about his make up. If you do attack him, he will not stop until you and everyone around you are dead. As you recall, that was how we wound him up and turned him loose to destroy those people on your precious list.”
“Thank you for the lecture doctor. However, I do not share your optimism. Not at all. I have a feeling one or both will show up here and burn the whole thing down. These ‘subjects’ were supposed to ‘burn-up’ and die, but these two have not; they stayed alive and now they are a problem. I need solutions,” Waters said, now on his feet staring at the pristine desk.
“Can you track them?”
“Doctor, they removed the trackers and now we have no idea where they are.”
“How did they remove them?”
“Pasco discovered he was being watched and he didn’t appreciate it. He identified the handler, captured him, then tortured him and during the course of the torture, the handler gave up everything. He removed the tracker himself and destroyed it. His last known location was Prague. We recovered the body of his handler, Todd Klein, but it was missing the nose, the ears, the fingers and all of the toes. We later received the missing body parts here in our office, via Federal Express. Please don’t try and tell me he’s not coming here!”
“Robert, I stand by my conclusions. Pasco will not come after you unless there is something in it for him. Vengeance does not motivate him. I predict he will try to leverage his newly acquired skill set for profit. Tell me about Garrison.”
“His tracker was removed by his handler. It happened less than twelve hours ago and they both are on the run.”
“Interesting. Robert, if you remember, I advised against a female handler with Garrison. I told you it would not work and here we are. Again, my conclusions are spot on. I would advise you to just leave him alone and let him slip away. You can eliminate him quietly after the excitement has died down. He’ll wind down and you’ll find him sitting in the stands at a baseball game or having a beer in a bar. Either way, he has very few personal resources and should be easy to run down.”
“It’s not that simple,” Waters insisted. “He has help and like Pasco, is quickly becoming aware of his abilities. He flew a helicopter off of the roof of a Pittsburgh hospital, for god’s sake.”
“Now that is fascinating! That skill is one I never thought he would use or be able to master. Impressive. Impressive, indeed. Also, if you remember, you had lofty goals. We needed to push more into their minds and bodies to achieve those goals. Pasco and Garrison were our top candidates for a reason. My analysis concluded that they would be the best. However, I am still surprised that the side effects of the drug are not shutting down their bodies.”
McFarland paused and then slowly said, “If I remember, the agent helping Garrison is the one that you blackmailed.”
“Yes, she is the same person and I don’t care for your tone.”
McFarland ignored the comment.
“And how was she aware of
his skill set? That was classified, as you recall,” the doctor quipped.
“Of course I recall! We had a breech. We tracked the hacker to a Moscow IP address and we can only assume that she knows everything about what we have been doing here. So, we have a real problem that you will help us solve, or suffer real consequences. She is with Garrison, she helped him escape and now is executing a plan, that I feel will end right here in this office.”
“Robert, again, Garrison will not come after you unless he is provoked.”
“Well there in lies another issue. I dispatched a team to the hospital to finish off Garrison and apparently she was there waiting for them. She killed them with little effort and based on her behavior, I believe there is a relationship between the two that may have been going on for sometime.”