“Oh, they were,” Michael said before being cut off.
“Yeah.”
“Wait a minute, Lee gets to get into bed with someone he’s just met, while I haven’t seen a feature film in months,” Michael said while shaking his head.
James laughed slightly and then gave Michael a piece of advice.
“Look, if you don’t concentrate on getting to the ‘movies’ so much, and instead concentrate on Jessica’s wants and needs, then I guarantee you that you’ll have no problem seeing as many films as you wish to in the future.”
“Do you really think so? It can’t be that simple.”
James paused the game and turned his attention toward Michael.
“Look, if you don’t take anything from our little session today, remember something that it took me three different career changes and two wives to realize. Pay attention to what people say and what they do. Then react accordingly. I don’t care if it’s in business or in a relationship. When you put the needs of your significant other or your coworker above your own needs, they start to take notice, and before they even know it, they, too, want to fulfill you just like you’re fulfilling them. A word of caution, however. Don’t do those things just to get the things that you want out of people. Many people can see straight through a phony, and even if they can’t, if your behavior is false, it won’t be sustainable. Instead, be what they need because you love the people around you and the things that you do,” James said and then resumed the video game.
“Wow, that was deep,” Michael said in amazement.
James laughed.
“It’s not deep at all. I’ve just lost enough people and things in my own life to know that if you love someone or something, then you should do anything and everything you can to make sure that those people never want to let you go.”
It didn’t have anything to do with Michael’s inability to work in the field, but somehow, he felt as if with every talk with James, he was becoming a more aware and complete person.
“Hey, thanks for the advice,” Michael said.
“No problem. It’s my job. Now concentrate on the game a little bit. We’re getting killed out here,” James said while smiling.
Chapter 16
Back in Atlanta, Burt had just picked up his eighteen-wheeler and trailer, and he was driving over to the facility to make a special delivery. In the back of the trailer, they had loaded many of the larger boxes with timed explosives and filled large drink bottles with gasoline. They had given him certain invoices that would look legitimate, and now he was pulling up to the store. Burt was very thankful that the truck was an automatic. He could barely keep the trailer straight on the road, so if he had been having to shift gears, it would have been a complete disaster. He pulled around to the back of the store to find that there was already a line of trucks there. He parked and walked inside. There, he handed the person at the counter the invoices.
“I didn’t think that we were getting any more shipments today,” the woman said.
“What are you talking about? There’s a line of trucks in front of me,” Burt said.
“Yes, and they’ve all checked in with me. I don’t have any more scheduled shipments today.”
Burt panicked a little, but he knew that he had to say something soon or this whole plan was going to be ruined.
“Look, someone probably just forgot to tell you about me. You can refuse the load, and I can take it back where it came from, but all that’s going to do is make your boss mad at you and make mine furious with me, so do me a favor and just accept it for me,” Burt said in a last ditch effort to convince the woman that everything was legitimate.
The woman thought for a minute and then grabbed a pen and signed the papers.
“It may be a little while before we can get to you,” she said.
“That’s fine, and thank you for making my day a lot easier,” Burt said and started out the door.
After waiting in his truck for what seemed like an eternity, they were finally ready to unload him, but there was one problem. Burt had to back the truck up to the loading dock. One thing that you have to understand about Burt is that he’s the type of guy who has a hard time backing his car out of the driveway in the mornings, so the challenge of backing up a long trailer in a vehicle that was foreign to him was almost too much. After many attempts and more than a few mistakes, he finally succeeded in his task. As he exited the truck, one of the workers walked up to him.
“You finally got it,” he said.
“I’m kind of new at this. Sorry about that,” Burt said.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have you on your way in no time.”
After a little while, the task was completed, and Burt was on his way.
“Well, that was easy,” Burt said to himself as he drove out of the facility.
Once Burt had returned his truck, he immediately went to the hospital to pick up Zane and Dan. When he went in and found Zane’s room, he was surprised to see both of them packed and ready to go.
“All right, we’re going to do this, but you need to promise to keep your mask on at all times,” Dan said while looking at Zane.
“Okay. Just lead the way,” Zane said.
Dan began to walk away, and Zane grabbed him by the shoulder.
“No, seriously, I mean lead the way. I can’t see anything with the mask on,” Zane said.
“Oh, right. I’m sorry,” Dan said as he led Zane out of the room.
Despite the doctor’s warnings, Zane and the rest of them were able to fill out the proper paper work, and Zane was released and gone from the hospital inside of twenty minutes.
“So how did everything go at the facility?” Zane asked Burt as they all got into the car.
“It was incredibly easy. It was almost too easy.”
“Great. You’ve done a good job, Burt. I only wish Campbell would have given us the time to come up with such a plan. Maybe we wouldn’t have lost so many good men and women,” Zane said sadly.
Burt didn’t really know what to say. It was true that Campbell’s actions had been hasty at best, but he could understand why a man under such pressure would make an emotional decision.
“Well, we can let him have it when we get back to Washington, but until then, just sit back and try to relax,” Dan said.
Zane sat back to appear relaxed, but inside his mind was racing. To win their future battles, they would need more clever planning like the kind that brought about Burt’s role in destroying the Atlanta facility.
“Who came up with the op that you just carried out?” Zane asked.
“I believe it was Jess and Trish,” Burt answered.
“We need to work with their ideas more often.”
Burt pulled up to the airport, and the three men made their way inside.
* * * * *
Michael had stayed with James until it was fairly late, but he was finally driving home. When he arrived and walked through the door, he saw Lee and Trish, and he simply couldn’t contain himself.
“You two! You weren’t talking about a movie at all,” Michael said while literally pointing at them.
Lee and Trish’s day had already been odd enough. They worked together all day long, and if the odd tension between them wasn’t enough to ruin the day, the looming fact that Jess obviously knew what was going on, but was going out of her way to pretend that she didn’t, hadn’t helped things. Now here was Michael making their day even weirder.
“Let’s get out of here for a while,” Lee said while turning to Trish.
Later Lee would say he was getting her out of the house that night because she looked so uncomfortable, but the truth was that he was every bit as uncomfortable as she looked.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Trish said.
“Oh, come on. I’m still your friend, aren’t I? Would you rather sit here and explain things to Michael or go with me?” Lee whispered to her.
“Fine,” Trish said and followed him to the door.
“They just left without giving me any answers,” Michael said in disappointment.
“You didn’t have to make them feel weird about it,” Jess said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s all right, but I wonder how all this will end up. I hope those two can work through this.”
“Me too, but we should take this opportunity to spend some quality time with each other while they’re out of the house.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I could pop some popcorn and we could watch a movie,” Michael said.
Jess only gave him a strange look.
“Don’t worry. I mean a literal movie. Maybe we could rent a romantic movie from pay per view. You didn’t get to see what you wanted last night, but there’s nothing to stop you now.”
“All right, that sounds great.”
The two of them sat on the couch and ate popcorn and watched a sappy movie. Even if it was simple, somehow it was amazing to Michael. For once, he and Jess seemed like they were just a normal couple. No issues and no distractions; just them. It was perfect.
After Lee and Trish left, he drove them to the same parking lot where they had previously eaten ice cream together.
“Why are we stopping here?” Trish asked.
“We need to talk about things. How do you feel right now about everything?” Lee asked.
“I would feel more comfortable if you answered that question first.”
“Fine. I’m a little confused, scared, and excited. I’m confused because things have happened so fast, and I don’t really know where you stand on everything. I’m scared that what happened last night will ruin what has become the best friendship I could ever ask for, but at the same time, I’m scared of ignoring a connection that I don’t feel every day. I’m always happy around you, and I have never felt like I connected with someone more than we did last night. I’m excited about that. I can’t wait to see what could be next for us.”
“I think that things are too complicated right now. With everything that’s happened, I was really confused, and I made a very rash decision, but even in spite of that, I really don’t regret that decision. I needed you last night, and maybe that’s the problem. Lately, I always need you, and I don’t know if I can give you what you need. I don’t know if I can be the woman you described to me before. I don’t know if I can be a good friend to you. I don’t even know if I can be a good person again after everything that I’ve done,” Trish said.
“First of all, you’re a great person. I like being there for you, and you’re always there for me. I don’t need anything from you besides for you to just be with me. That could be as a friend, or it could be as more than a friend, but either way, I want you beside me.”
Trish stayed silent for a long while. She wanted this, but she was scared. If she didn’t go for it, a part of her knew that she would regret it forever. Finally, Lee broke the silence between them.
“I want to be more than just your friend, but I’ll be satisfied with whatever you have to give. What do you want?” Lee finally asked.
“I would like to be more, too, but I’m still very confused with everything that has happened. Maybe we could take things slow for a while.”
“Slow is good,” Lee said and smiled.
“Okay, good. Just don’t be expecting to go to the movies again anytime soon.”
“Hey, that’s fine with me. I’m satisfied sitting in the car and eating celebratory ice cream with you for now.”
For the first time, that night they were an official couple. All of the awkwardness was finally gone.
* * * * *
When the morning came and Sam woke up, Nathan was already in the shower. Her head was pounding, and all light seemed to hurt her eyes. She remembered the night before, and she immediately felt as if she was going to die of embarrassment. When she rolled over, she saw three welcome things. Two aspirin and a cup of water sat on the night stand. She reached over and got them. After swallowing the pills, she attempted to stand up. Her balance still didn’t seem quite like it should. She wasn’t drunk, but she had the worst possible hangover that one can have, and considering how hard her head was pounding, it was probably normal that she wasn’t very well balanced that morning. She struggled to the bathroom door and knocked on it.
“Nathan, are you almost done in there? I really need to take a shower, and I need to brush my teeth,” Sam said from outside the door.
“Sure, I’m almost done. Just one minute.”
He turned off the water and dried as quickly as possible. Then he threw on some clothes and stepped out of the bathroom.
“I didn’t get a chance to brush my teeth, so call me when you’re decent,” Nathan said.
“Okay. I will,” Sam said weakly.
“Are you all right?”
“No, I feel dead,” Sam answered and walked into the bathroom.
Once she was through showering and was dressed, she called Nathan into the bathroom, and the two of them shared the sink.
“Do you feel any better after the shower?” Nathan asked.
“A little bit. Did Jason ever call last night?”
Nathan recapped what Jason had told him they needed to do.
“Thank you for getting the phone for me last night and for taking care of me,” Sam said.
“No problem. You would have done the same for me.”
“So did I kind of throw myself at you last night?” Sam asked.
“You might have come on a little strong, but it was okay with me,” Nathan said while smiling.
“I’m really sorry. I promise you I won’t ever put you in that situation again.”
“I was enjoying where things were going, so never say never.”
Sam gave him a playful push after his comment, and Nathan returned her push with a quick kiss on the cheek. Before long, they were both out the door and were on their way to see the man who would be their supplier.
Once they arrived at their supplier’s small apartment, Sam knocked on the door. The man opened it, Sam told him who they were, and they all went inside.
“What will you two be needing today?” the man asked.
“We won’t need too much. We just need two pistols with silencers, some ammo, and maybe a couple of smaller combat knives,” Sam said.
The man walked to a back room in the apartment and emerged with a bag.
“Here you are,” he said.
Sam took the bag from him, and with a simple nod, Nathan and Sam left.
“So now what do we do?” Nathan asked.
“Now we go get Markus,” Sam answered.
Nathan called a cab, and they were on their way to the place where the man behind all of their trouble just might be.
When the cab pulled up to the large building where Markus was supposed to be staying, Nathan paid the cab driver, and they walked up to the building. Markus’s place was located on the top floor, but there was one problem. Nathan and Sam couldn’t get into the building. The front door was locked, and there was nothing but a call box on the outside that connected to all of the rooms.
“Great. I have no idea how we’re going to get in,” Sam said.
“That’s easy,” Nathan said.
He walked up to the call box and pressed about thirty of the buttons very quickly. The door opened, and they hurried inside.
“How did you do that?” Sam asked.
“In a building this big, you have to figure that someone is already expecting company, so they will just let the person in upon hearing the buzz from below.”
“Well, you’re actually really useful to have around sometimes.”
“Thanks. I’m glad to know that I’m not just a pretty face to you,” Nathan said and winked.
The two of them found the lift and called it. Once it came and they were inside, Sam set the bag down and took out everything that they would need to kill Markus.
“All right. Are you ready to d
o this?” Sam asked Nathan.
“Yes, let’s finish this.”
The door opened, and they stepped out. They walked to room 806, and Sam quietly placed her ear up against it.
“There’s definitely someone in there,” Sam whispered.
“Do you think that you can kick this door in, or am I going to have to do it?” Sam asked.
“I’ve got this,” Nathan said while stepping up to the door.
Sam couldn’t help but doubt Nathan’s ability to just swiftly kick the door down. Little did she know that Nathan actually had a bit of experience in taking down doors. He had once locked himself out of his house in nothing but his underwear and a shirt. It was cold outside, and no one else was home. He had been forced to kick in his own back door. Was it stupid? Probably, but what else was he going to do? Sam readied her weapon as Nathan got into position.
“Go,” Sam said.
With one quick kick, Nathan kicked the door open, and Sam jumped through the doorway. There in front of her stood the man that they had been looking for. There stood Markus Boyd. As Sam aimed and pulled the trigger, another man tackled her from the side, causing her shot to go left and her gun to go flying through the air. Nathan entered the room. He saw Markus retreating further back into the apartment and two other men rushing toward them. He was able to fire a shot into the head of one of the men before the second one reached him. The man tackled Nathan to the floor. Sam, meanwhile, was having her own issues. The man who had tackled her was now on top of her and had been punching her repeatedly. She could only deflect the blows with her arms, which hurt quite a bit, considering the fact that one of her arms still hadn’t healed from the beating she had taken at the hands of Jacob. She waited until the man started to throw a left hook and took her right hand and used his own motivation to flip him over. She got on top of him and hit him squarely in the throat. The blow took the man’s breath, so as he was clutching his throat, she pulled out her knife and thrust it straight into his chest. Nathan had been wrestling with the other man on the floor as best he could when he looked up and saw that Markus had returned with a gun of his own. He was pointing it directly at Sam. Nathan quickly threw the man off of him and retrieved his knife. He threw it at Markus. Just as Markus was firing, the knife stuck squarely in his right thigh, causing his shot to be inaccurate. Markus dropped his gun and stumbled backward. Sam hurried to her gun and started to point it at Markus. At that moment, she heard a click and turned to see the man who Nathan had been fighting with pointing a gun at the back of his head.
Wrong Time Page 15