Lee got to his feet. His foot wasn’t broken. He just didn’t have much of a pain tolerance.
“All right. Let’s try this again, but this time, together,” Lee said while motioning to the door.
Lee got on the left side, and Trish got on the right side.
“On three - one, two, three!” Trish said, and then they both kicked the door with all of the strength they had.
The door flew open. There, just beyond the doorway, were the two men they had been looking for. They were both pointing guns at Trish and Lee. Trish pulled her own weapon out and pointed it at them. After seeing that they were at a disadvantage and knowing that they were likely going to get hurt, Lee stepped in front of Trish to shield her from any possible gunfire.
“Step out of the way, Lee. You’re unarmed. You can just walk away from this now, and you won’t have to get hurt with me,” Trish said.
“No way! What’s going to happen to you, then? You might die.”
“So what if I do? I don’t care what happens to me, as long as that man is dead.”
“I don’t mean to break up your little lover’s quarrel, but if you don’t lay down your weapon, then we’re going to kill both of you,” Sully said.
Trish studied the men from behind Lee. The man who she really wanted to kill hadn’t even taken the safety off his gun yet. Sully’s body language said that he was ready to kill her right then and there, though. She knew that she should worry about him first.
“Lee, trust me on this one. Move, and we’ll both get out of here alive,” Trish said.
Lee reluctantly moved away. He didn’t like the idea that Trish could get hurt, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw a certain confidence. He knew that she had a plan. Trish turned her aim toward Sully, and Lee acted accordingly.
“Hey, you know that we already have people on the way to this location. I can’t wait to get you into a holding cell all to myself so I can teach you the meaning of pain, you little piece of . . .” Lee said before a shot interrupted his speech.
When Sully’s gaze had fixed on Lee instead of on her, Trish fired, and she wasted no time in turning the gun toward the other man. She fired two shots into his chest before he could even click the safety off on his gun.
“This is for David,” she said as she fired two more shots into the man’s head.
She dropped the gun to the floor, and Lee rushed to her. She had done it. The man was dead, but somehow, she still didn’t feel any different. David was still gone. The reality finally sank in for her that no matter what she did, she couldn’t bring him back. She burst into tears while grabbing onto Lee. Lee embraced her with one arm and grabbed his cell phone with the other one. He called Campbell and explained the situation.
“We’ll have a cleanup crew there soon. Sit tight, and if any law enforcement bothers you, just do what they say. We’ll clear everything up with them as soon as we arrive,” Campbell said.
The night went on in a haze, and before Lee knew it, their horrible ordeal was over. Lee drove Trish home, and they walked inside. He started to walk to his room and lay down, but he could still hear the sobs from Trish, so he turned and walked straight to her room.
“Hey, this has been a rough night. Do you mind if I hang out in here for a while?” Lee asked.
Trish only motioned for him to come inside. Lee wasn’t asking for himself, but he knew that Trish needed a friend tonight of all nights, so he made up the excuse. He held her and tried his best to console her until she was too tired to cry another tear, and then they both slept side by side.
* * * * *
The next morning, the group met at a local restaurant that had a private back room. Campbell recapped the events of the last few days, and everyone exchanged stories of what had happened in the last few hours. Jess hadn’t known how hard things had been for Trish. She felt bad that she wasn’t able to be there more for her through everything, but she was glad that Trish and Lee had grown so close.
“The office is going to be out of commission for the next few weeks. We have to evaluate the structural integrity of the building and start making repairs. For now, some of us are going to have to work a little from home and communicate through phone and e-mail,” Campbell said.
“What about the rest of us?” Sam asked.
“Well, given the fact that we now know that Markus has a private place in Paris, I want you two to leave tonight and go check the place out. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky and find him right off the bat.”
A free vacation to Paris. God, I love my new job, Nathan thought and smiled.
“Michael, you’ll continue to go to your therapy sessions. The only change will be the fact that you’ll meet Dr. Harper at his house instead of at his main office,” Campbell said.
“What about me?” Jess asked.
“You and Ms. Morris will continue to do what you do best. You will both analyze the situation and plan our next move. Jason, you’ll resume your job as a handler to Sam and now Nathan. Burt, you’ll go to Atlanta and fill in Mr. Driver and Mr. Green on the situation here. I need those two back here as soon as Zane recovers. So are there any questions?” Campbell asked.
“Yes, sir. In light of the situation, shouldn’t I be doing more? I feel that I should at least be helping someone out,” Michael said.
“You can return to duty as soon as Harper clears you to return.”
Michael was a little aggravated, but he accepted Campbell’s answer.
“What about me?” Lee asked.
“You’re a tech specialist, and since we’re going to be working from home for a short while, I would say that you can just take a short vacation like Michael.”
Lee wasn’t happy with that answer at all, and the look on his face showed his displeasure.
“Can he help us out some?” Trish asked.
“That really isn’t his area, but if that’s what you two want, then I suppose it would be fine.”
Trish didn’t really care about whether or not Lee would be helpful with their work. She was in a fragile state of mind, and somehow having him around was comforting to her.
“All right, let’s get to it then, people,” Campbell said.
Chapter 13
As the group departed, Campbell had his own secret worries. He had addressed every important piece of information with the group except one. What were they supposed to do about Markus’s son? Campbell didn’t feel comfortable using a little boy as bait to get to his father, and he didn’t even know if the information that Jess got out of Chloe was true. If it was true, it could definitely help them take down Markus in a much more efficient manner. Ultimately, for lack of a better option, Campbell let the newfound information fall by the wayside, and he decided that exploring the option of potentially using Markus’s son should only be used as a last resort. He got into his car and drove away from the restaurant. I just hope my own conscience won’t cost thousands of more people their lives, he thought as he was driving away.
* * * * *
Michael drove Jess, Trish, and Lee back to their home and then drove to the address that he had been given by Campbell. Once he arrived, he rang the doorbell. He expected James to let him in and for them to have a regular session, but he was in for quite a surprise. James opened the door and stepped outside with him.
“Where are you going?” Michael asked.
“We’re taking a little field trip. Follow me,” James said.
The two men walked to James’s truck and got in. As they were leaving, Michael couldn’t help but ask the most obvious question.
“Where exactly are we going? I thought that you were going to help me out with my issues and stuff,” Michael said.
“I am. Last night, I finally got around to reading your profile. It seems that you were quite the shot in the army. You were the best in your class.”
“Yes, I was,” Michael said proudly.
“Why exactly did you have a problem with shooting on the battlefield then?”
�
�It’s different when you’re shooting at a person instead of a target.”
“That’s understandable, but let me ask you something. Why are you so proud that you can shoot a target better than most people?”
“Shooting is the only thing that I’ve ever been naturally good at. It’s not that I didn’t work at it to get better, but unlike the rest of my squad, I just seemed to be naturally gifted at it. If I had never even tried to be good at it, I would still be well above average.”
“I see. So you’re proud that you have a skill that no one else you’ve ever met has. Let me ask you a question then. What good does that skill do you if you can’t help or protect anyone with it?”
“Are you saying that the only thing I have ever been good at is worthless?” Michael asked in offense.
“Not at all. I’m simply saying that maybe, just like you were letting your girlfriend help you with her own gifts, you may have also been allowing your fellow soldiers to help you with their gifts, without ever thinking to use your one talent to protect them. You have to know that God gives us our talents, and He gives them to us for a reason. Mine occasionally allows me to help people fix things that were once broken inside of them. Your gift is even greater than mine. You can protect people in life or death situations.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but it’s never right to kill someone, and I can barely live with what I’ve done in the past, so I don’t know if I can do the same types of things in the future and still keep some small thread of sanity alive in myself. At the same time, I cannot stand that all my friends are working on these important things that I should be helping them with, but instead, I’m sitting in this truck with you and talking about myself.”
James paused for a second to think.
“Let me ask you something. How did last night go?” James asked.
“Well, I had never cooked before, so everything that I cooked was pretty much terrible. You gave me really bad advice,” Michael said.
“I’m sorry, but how did your friend react to the dinner?”
“Well, she didn’t like it. I suppose that her eyes really did light up when she saw how much effort I put into it, though.”
“Then it doesn’t really matter how it tasted. You made an effort. That’s all I wanted you to do, and truthfully, that’s probably all she wanted to see out of you, too.”
“All right. I see your point, but you never did answer my question. Where are we going?”
“Oh, I guess that I didn’t answer you. We’re going to a gun range just outside of town.”
Michael was shocked and a little bit scared. The last thing he wanted to see was a gun after he had frozen up back in Atlanta.
“What kind of shrink are you? Do you actually think that’s a good idea?”
“We aren’t going to be shooting at anything that’s living, and besides, I thought I should see if you really are this big time sharp shooter.”
Michael only laid his head back on the seat. Aren’t you supposed to try to keep the gun out of the crazy person’s hands? This guy is crazier than I am, Michael thought.
* * * * *
Back at the house, Jess, Trish, and Lee were hard at work on the computer.
“What are we looking for?” Lee asked.
“We’re looking at everything that we know about the facility in Atlanta. Zane and Dan may have failed at capturing the place, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to have to strike there again at some point in the future,” Jess said.
“Nathan and Sam’s strategy of just trapping everyone in the basement and burning the whole place down worked out pretty well. Why can’t we just use the same strategy?” Trish asked.
“Well, from what I’m reading here about the facility, it doesn’t have a one way elevator exit. Instead, it has a large stairwell in the back of the building. I don’t think that we could trap them underground,” Lee said.
“You’re right, but the question we should be asking ourselves is, even if we did have a plan, who would lead a group of men into that place? Zane is a little incapacitated at the moment, and I don’t think it would be fair to send Dan in there twice,” Jess said.
“I could go if we had a reasonable plan,” Trish said.
“First of all, no you couldn’t. You just got through with a very traumatic situation, and I don’t think that it would be a good idea for you to go stomping straight into another one,” Lee said.
Jess quickly agreed with him.
“I’m fine, and as Lee can testify, I’m a great shot,” Trish said.
The truth was that Trish still wasn’t fine, and she wouldn’t be for a long time, but she just felt like she had to throw herself into something fast or she was going to sink in the sadness that was enveloping her.
“Yeah, you are a great shot, but you aren’t going in there alone,” Lee said.
“Who said that I was going in there alone?” Trish asked while looking at Lee.
“I know you aren’t thinking that I’m going into that war zone. No, thank you.”
“Fine. I guess that I am going in there alone then.”
“Stop arguing, you two. We haven’t come up with anything yet, so what does it matter?” Jess asked.
“What is this place posing as anyway?” Lee asked.
“It’s a distribution center,” Jess answered.
“A distribution center?” Lee asked in confusion.
“You know, a place where they stock pretty much anything. It could be anything from simple groceries to high-end electronics,” Jess answered.
“How about we make a delivery?” Trish suggested.
“What do you mean?” Lee asked.
“I think that someone should deliver a load of fake cargo, and we should place enough explosives within the truck to blow the whole place sky high,” Trish said.
“It would be a little loud, and I’m pretty sure that it would get the attention of the local authorities,” Jess said.
“We could put the explosives in crates that looked ordinary and set them on a timer to go off late in the night. The explosion would never come back to us or the CIA. The authorities are so focused on terrorism that it will just be assumed that this was another act of terrorism,” Trish said.
“I like it, but who’s going to run point on this one? All of our faces have already been exposed to the enemy, and no offense, but I don’t think that you look like a very convincing truck driver, Trish,” Jess said and smiled.
They all thought for a second. After a minute, it finally came to Lee.
“Burt! He’s going to be in Atlanta anyway,” Lee said.
“It actually sounds like a good plan. I’ll give Campbell a call,” Jess said as she grabbed the phone.
* * * * *
As Nathan and Sam left the restaurant, Nathan asked a question.
“So we don’t have to leave for Paris until tonight. What are we going to do all day?”
“I think that we should go pack for the trip right now, and after that, I really don’t care. It’s up to you,” Sam said.
“How about we drop by and see how Lee and the others are doing?”
“Sure, that sounds good to me.”
When the two of them made it back to their house, they went straight in and began to pack. A few things that Nathan was packing caught Sam’s eye.
“Are you actually bringing that camera?” Sam asked him.
“All we have on this camera so far is each other sleeping. If we’re going to Paris, then I’m definitely going to take that opportunity to get some pictures. In our downtime, we can go to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame . . .” Nathan said before being cut off.
“You know that this isn’t a vacation, right? We aren’t going to the Eiffel Tower. We aren’t tourists,” Sam said harshly.
“Well, you may not be going to the Eiffel Tower, but that’s where I’ll be,” Nathan mumbled.
“I heard that, and why are you packing beef jerky?”
“I don’t know w
hat kind of food they have in Paris,” Nathan said while showing a slight hint of a smile.
Sam chuckled slightly and shook her head.
“You are so strange, Nathan,” Sam said as she took the jerky out of his bag.
“They serve a lot of the same foods that we eat here, and if worse comes to worst, we can just eat fast food while we’re there,” Sam said.
“Wait, how do you know that? You knew absolutely nothing about the culture in Memphis. How do you know so much about Paris?”
“Back when I was learning French, I studied up on the culture in France, and I fell in love with it to an extent.”
“Oh, so you know French? I’m glad to hear that I’ll have an interpreter on this trip.”
“Hey, I’m going to be more than an interpreter when we get there,” Sam said cryptically.
In her own mind, she had meant for her words to imply that she was going to be Markus’s executioner, but Nathan didn’t get what she was saying. He just stood there looking a bit confused by her comment until he felt that he should say something.
“I know. You’ll be my date to the Eiffel Tower,” Nathan said and smiled.
“We are not going to the Eiffel Tower,” Sam said as they walked out the door to load their car and drive to their friend’s house.
The truth was that she was just as excited to go to the supposed most romantic place on earth as he was, but someone had to be the adult and focus on their goal in this situation. I wish he was more serious . . . but maybe we can make time for a few things, she thought as they drove away from their home.
* * * * *
Once Michael and James arrived at the shooting range and exited their car, James grabbed a weapon and some binoculars from his back seat, and the two men walked inside. After James paid the man for the use of their range, he and Michael walked outside and set a target up a couple hundred yards away. Back at the shooting area, Michael was a little bothered and even insulted by something.
“Why did you set the target up so close? That will be an easy shot for someone like me,” Michael said.
“The goal here isn’t to wow me with your shooting skills,” James said.
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