by Mike Ryan
Recker was planning on calling it an early night and go home around nine or so. With Bellomi out of the picture now, he didn’t have to worry about possibly being spotted by someone anymore. Just before he was about to leave the office for the night, Recker’s phone started ringing. Even Jones jumped a little once he heard it, startled by the sudden noise amidst the silence. Recker looked at the caller ID and seemed a little surprised at who it was. He gave a weird glance to Jones before answering.
“Up a little past your bedtime, aren’t you?” Recker answered.
The man laughed. “Amusing fellow you are.”
“So what can I do for you? Or Vincent?”
“Vincent would like a meeting with you in the morning,” Malloy informed him.
“What for?”
“Didn’t exactly say. I think he just wants to go over certain events that may or may not have happened recently.”
“What’s to go over? What’s done is done. Everybody did their part.”
“He didn’t tell me the specifics. He just wants to meet.”
“Where and when?”
“Same place as usual. Nine o’clock.”
“I guess that’ll work.”
“So you’ll be there?”
“I will.”
“What was that about?” Jones asked as soon as Recker hung up.
“Vincent wants to meet in the morning.”
“Hmm.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Taking out the only witness?”
“I don’t know. I kind of doubt he’d do it in a diner he goes to frequently.”
“You must be cautious.”
“I will be. This ain’t my first rodeo.”
The following morning, Recker didn’t even bother going to the office first. He got up about seven and checked in with Jones to let him know he was about to head down into the city for the meeting.
“Wait a minute, I just realized you still don’t have your car,” Jones stated. “You left it down there yesterday, remember?”
“I got it covered,” Recker replied.
“Covered? How?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you taking a cab? A bus?”
“You know I don’t like taking public transportation.”
“I know, that’s why I said it.”
“Well all right then.”
“The question still remains though. How exactly do you plan on getting down there if you’re not using public transportation and since you haven’t asked me….I assume it’s someone else.”
“Good deduction skills.”
“You asked Mia, didn’t you?”
“Now don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Recker joked.
“You really think you should be getting her involved in this?”
“She’s not involved. She’s just taking me to get my car.”
“When did you ask her? Last night? Late last night?”
“Yeah, I mean, she was laying next to me in my bed, so yeah, why not?” he sarcastically said.
Jones was dead silent, not knowing how to respond to his insinuation.
“I’m joking, David. I just sent her a text message a few minutes ago asking if she was available to take me. She’s not working till the afternoon, so she said she could. All right?”
“You say you don’t want to get involved with her but you keep bringing her closer.”
“What do you want me to do? Never talk to her again? Ignore her for the rest of my life? Pretend she didn’t exist?”
“Of course not.”
“She’s proven to be trustworthy. She has medical skills that are vital to my health in case something happens. I can’t shut her out completely. If we want to have her available in emergency situations, especially me, then I need to have contact with her on occasion.”
“I know that. You make it sound so businesslike.”
“Cause that’s what it is,” Recker insisted.
“If only I believed that. I just want you to be cautious.”
“I am. I’m not gonna get her involved in something that would jeopardize her. That includes me,” Recker said.
“OK. Just let me know when the meeting’s over so I know it went OK.”
“Will do, dad.”
“Really?”
Recker let out a laugh, seemingly in a better mood than he was the previous day. A good night’s sleep seemed to help alleviate some of the feelings he had the day before. Mia was eager to spend more time with Recker, even if it was only for a few minutes, and jumped at the chance to take him somewhere. She got to his apartment about 7:45. Recker was already outside waiting for her, standing near the entrance of the parking lot.
“Going my way?” Mia pleasantly asked.
Recker smiled. “I think I just might be.”
“So is your truck OK?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Something came up yesterday that made me have to leave it.”
“Oh. Everything OK?”
“Everything’s fine.”
“So this is where you live, huh? Looks like a nice apartment from the outside,” she said, pulling out of the lot.
“Yeah, it’s not too bad.”
“Maybe I could see the inside of it someday?”
“Maybe.”
“You sure don’t make things easy, do you?” she chuckled.
“I try not to. Thanks for taking me, by the way.”
“No problem. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“So they say.”
“After you get your car, do you wanna grab some breakfast somewhere?” she hopefully asked.
“Today’s a bad day. I have to meet someone at nine.”
“Oh. Something important?”
“Might be,” Recker nodded.
“Client or something?”
“Uhh, something like that.”
“Oh my gosh, I have never met someone who tells as little information as you do,” she frustratingly told him. “Do you ever just answer a question?”
“I did.”
“No. You have an uncanny ability, some kind of weird magical gift, that you answer a question without really answering it,” Mia gushed. “Every time I ask you a question, I feel like I still don’t know what you said in return.”
Recker laughed, knowing full well it was true. He wasn’t sure, though, if it was something he just did naturally, or was a byproduct of all the years he spent in the CIA. Saying as little as possible was something that was drilled into the agents to prepare themselves against saying something that would jeopardize their missions...and their lives. Old lessons died hard. He was basically still in the same line of work. He just had a different employer these days. The secrecy in his life was still there, maybe even more so nowadays. Before, he had the government behind him. Now, he was basically on his own, outside of Jones and Mia. Answering a question truthfully, without somehow evading it, was something he probably would never do.
“Sorry about all that,” Recker said. “I know I can be a frustrating person to deal with for some people.”
“It’s OK. I’m not mad. I just wish you’d let me in a little. You have that wall around you that you don’t let anyone penetrate.”
“Habit I guess.”
“But why? Why won’t you let it down for anyone?” Mia asked.
“If I put the wall down then people get hurt. Innocent people. It’s as simple as that.”
“I’ve never met someone as much as you who seems like they have a whole other life inside them that they don’t show.”
“After you drop me off, if you would rather not see or talk to me again, I completely understand. I wouldn’t bother you again,” Recker offered.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I lo…I like you, we’re friends, I just feel like there’s a wall between us that I’d like to somehow bypass. After what I did for you, I feel like I should’ve earned a little bit of trust from you.”
“I trust you completely. That’s why I came
to you that night to begin with. Wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t trust you.”
“Then give me something. Something that tells me who you really are. I feel like you know everything about me and I know nothing about you. Other than you’ve been shot before you met me, I feel like I know very little about you, and that I only know cause I saw the other bullet hole. Friendships, relationships, they can’t just be one way. It’s a two way street. I feel like right now it’s just me going down a one way street chasing after you. And you keep turning every time I get close to you,” Mia explained.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m not easy. But the less I tell you, the less you know, the more you’re protected.”
“Protected from what?”
“People that would hurt you if they knew you knew me.”
“Don’t you think I should know that so I can be aware of that? I mean, would you rather me walking around blindly not knowing something could happen when we’re together or something?”
Recker didn’t respond for a minute. Instead, he took his time to think about what she just told him. She had a point. He knew she did. Anybody who was with him was always in jeopardy. Bad things happened to people who were near him. It was usually him dishing out the punishment, but that was a byproduct of what he did.
“You’re right,” Recker finally responded.
“What? I am?”
“It’s probably not a good idea for us to be seen together anymore.”
“What? No, that’s not what I was trying to say.”
“But it’s true.”
“Oh my God, you are so frustrating. Instead of pushing me away, why don’t you just tell me what’s really going on? What are you so afraid of?” Mia asked.
“There’s only one thing I’m really afraid of. Losing people I care about.”
“So if you care about me…which I hope you do, then why are you trying to push me away?”
“I mean losing them permanently.”
“Oh.”
“Listen, Mia. You’re a great girl. I trust you completely. I like being around you. But there’s things about me that I just can’t tell you.”
“I know. For my own safety,” she sighed. “Don’t you think that my safety should be my call?”
Recker was starting to tire of the questions and the conversation in general. Doubts started seeping into his mind about whether he should tell her a few things, even if they were minor. Just to give her something. Not that he was trying to blow her off, as her concerns were legitimate, and her reasons were valid. Recker let out a couple of deep sighs, loud enough for Mia to hear him.
“What’s that for? Am I annoying you?” Mia huffed.
“No.”
“Sorry for pestering you about it. I know whatever it is you can’t talk about, you have your reasons for it, and I should respect that. If you don’t feel like you can talk to me about your past, that’s fine. I understand. I won’t ask you again.”
“I’m not mad,” Recker replied, gazing out the window. “You have the right to ask and wonder.”
“How about we change the subject?” she asked, trying to change the tense mood in the car.
“No.”
“Uhh…what?”
“Fine. If you want some answers about me then I’ll give them to you,” Recker finally relented, even if it was against his best judgment.
“Mike, it’s fine. You really don’t have to. If it’s something you’re uncomfortable doing or just can’t, then I don’t want to force you.”
“No, you’re right. You deserve to know some things about me if you’re going to be near me.”
“OK?”
“There’s a few ground rules,” he told her.
“OK?”
“No follow up questions to anything I say. I’ll tell you what I can tell you and that’s it.”
“All right.”
“I’m an ex-CIA agent. I used to work for a top secret black ops department inside the CIA in which my assignments usually had me going to foreign nations and eliminating targets that were deemed a threat to U.S. interests.”
Mia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. So much so that she almost lost total concentration on the road. She just narrowly avoided crossing the road and having a head on collision with another car.
“Wow. I can’t believe it,” Mia said. “So uhh…so why are you here?”
“I ended up here after something happened that jeopardized my position in the agency. That other bullet wound you saw is from them trying to take me out in London. I somehow wound up here in Philadelphia and met The Professor. He gave me a job trying to help people and save them from becoming a bad statistic.”
“So I still don’t get all the secrecy though. I’d understand if you’re still an agent, but if you’re not, then why all the secrets?”
“Didn’t I say no follow up questions?”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”
“Anyway, the reason for the secrets is that the CIA knows that I’m still alive. And I’m now a threat. They tried to take me out once. They’ll do it again. Once they know my location, they will come looking for me and they will try to kill me and whoever they think I’m close to,” Recker revealed, answering the follow-up questions that he said he wouldn’t.
“Oh.”
“That is why I’ve been trying to keep you at a distance. Because if they find me, I don’t want you to get caught up in the middle of it.”
“So is that how you got shot last week? The CIA?”
“No, that was something different. That was someone who felt I was stepping on their toes. As far as I know, the government still doesn’t know where I am.”
“Do you think they’re still looking for you?” she wondered.
“I’m not sure. Actively searching…maybe not. But I’m sure I’m still on the radar in some way. If my name pops up on someone’s computer screen, I’m sure they’ll be agents here hunting me not long after that.”
“So I take it that Jones was somehow involved with the CIA too?”
“Uhh…not quite. He worked in a different agency and I never met him before I came here. He has…I don’t know if I’d call it a similar story…but he has a story all his own. And that’s his to tell.”
“What’re you gonna do if the CIA finds you?”
Recker shrugged, unsure of his answer. “I’ll do what I always do. Improvise.”
“How long are you planning on staying here?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. Right now I’m just kind of living in the moment.”
“Well if there’s ever anything you need from me…anything I can do to help, all you have to do is name it.”
“Mia, you’ve done plenty to help me already,” Recker said.
“I’m sure it’s hard having to do what you do…and have done. What about family? Do you have any? Wife or kids or anything?”
Recker slightly turned his head in her direction without actually looking at her. “No. No family. No kids.”
“Wife, ex-wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, anyone?”
“No.”
“Must be hard being alone all the time.”
“It has its advantages,” he said.
“I’m sure it does.”
They drove the rest of the way continuing to talk about Recker’s life and his past. He was actually finding it somewhat therapeutic talking about it. It was only the second time in his life he actually opened up about it. The first time was to Carrie. He just hoped that Mia wouldn’t end up the same way. As long as he kept her at somewhat of a distance, Recker believed he had a better chance of keeping her safe. At least, that was the belief that he was clinging to. If he lost someone else that was close to him, and it was because of them knowing him, it would send him over the edge. The rampage and carnage that would follow would be the stuff of fictional action movies.
Chapter 8
Once Recker was dropped off to get his car, he immediately drove to the restaurant for
his meeting with Vincent. The entire drive there, instead of wondering about what Vincent wanted, his only thoughts were of Mia and the conversation they just had. Though he still wasn’t sure it was the best idea to tell her some of the things he did, he did feel a sense of relief, like a little weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He really liked her, and another time and place, he might’ve conveyed those feelings to her, but he had to somehow bury those feelings deeper down within himself. He said it was for her protection, but at times, he wondered if the person he was really trying to protect, was himself.
When Recker got to the diner, he started approaching the door, seeing the same guard standing there as the previous couple of times. He stood there looking at him, wondering if he wanted to do the same song and dance they usually did as far as giving up his guns. Recker made a disgusted face, not really wanting to take the time to go into it again at that moment, and simply removed his gun from his belt, showing it to the guard in an unassuming manner.
“Figured I’d save us the trouble today, pal,” Recker stated, handing the gun over.
The guard grinned and opened the door for their visitor, Recker instantly greeted by Malloy as soon as he walked in. Recker knew the routine by now and put his hand up to stop Malloy from going any further.
“I know the way,” Recker told him, walking down to Vincent’s table.
Vincent looked up at his visitor as he approached and gave him a friendly smile.
“You own a piece of this place?” Recker wondered. “You sure seem to visit often enough.”
Vincent let out a small laugh, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “No. I just like the food.”
“Fair enough.”
“Can I offer you something?” Vincent asked.
“No, I’m good,” Recker said, not really in the mood for small talk and going through the motions.
Recker wanted to get down to business as quickly as possible so he could get out of there. He sat there silently, watching Vincent take a bite of his breakfast, patiently waiting for the boss to tell him what he was there for. Vincent wiped his mouth again before beginning.
“I wanted to compliment you on your thoroughness,” Vincent said. “It was pulled off with great execution, no pun intended.”