“I would never hurt Nathan. I’m just not good at talking about what I do feel or don’t feel. I’m with Nathan, and I plan to be with him. I guess what I’m saying is that you have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay. That’s a relief.”
“So while you’re here, I might have a few questions for you. For starters, what was Nathan like when he was younger?” Sam asked.
“He was pretty much like he is now,” Michael said for lack of anything better to say.
“Oh, come on. You have to tell me more than that. Is there anything particularly interesting about him that I should watch out for?”
“Well, let’s see. He has a tattoo in an area that shall remain nameless, he’s obsessed with some football team in Wisconsin, he can’t sing or dance, and you should probably never let him go around someone named Holly Daniels,” Michael said.
Sam was curious about the tattoo and everything, but one thing in particular stood out to her.
“Who is this Holly person?”
“I’ve never seen him look at anyone like he looks at you besides Holly. They’ve been friends for a long time, and until Nathan met you, he really wanted their relationship to be a lot more than it was. You have nothing to worry about, considering the fact that he may never get to go home again, but if the day ever comes that we do all go back home, I would make sure that he kept his distance from that one.”
Sam thanked him for the heads up, but she wished that he hadn’t even told her about this other person. If Michael would be worried about Nathan even seeing this girl again, then how close were she and Nathan really? What am I thinking? I can’t even tell one of his friends that I love him. Who am I too judge where he’s at right now, Sam wondered.
Lee and Trish had been sitting one row behind Michael and Sam, and they were listening to the whole conversation.
“I can’t believe that he just told her about the tattoo and worst of all about Holly,” Lee said.
“Tattoo?” Trish asked.
Yeah, he has a little tattoo on his right butt cheek.”
“How do you know about it?”
“Well, I was with him when he got it, and let’s just say that neither of us were in our right minds when we got the tattoos.”
“Tattoos, as in a plural form?” Trish asked in surprise.
“I’ve said enough. Let’s talk about something else,” Lee said and quickly looked away.
“What were the tattoos of? Come on. It can’t be that embarrassing.”
“Do you promise that you won’t laugh at me?”
“I promise.”
“We were really drunk, and we did a search on the internet for different Chinese symbols. After a while, we both figured out two symbols that each of us wanted. Sadly, we didn’t look up the meaning of the two symbols.”
“You didn’t see what they meant? Why wouldn’t you have seen what they meant?”
“I told you that we were messed up. I don’t know why the guy at the tattoo shop even agreed to do the tattoos for us.”
“Well, what did the symbols mean?”
“Nathan’s was the symbol for peace, but mine . . . mine was a symbol for soy sauce.”
“Soy sauce?” Trish asked in surprise.
“Yes, the Chinese symbol for soy sauce is on my ass.”
Trish burst into laughter.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t laugh at me,” Lee said.
“Oh, come on. How would I not laugh at that? Maybe I should talk to Michael about your life sometime. Who knows what else I may find out?”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Lee said nervously.
Meanwhile, further back in the plane, Burt was telling Jason how he single handedly took down the facility in Atlanta.
“When I first got there, a man didn’t want to accept the load, so I showed a little muscle and told him that he wouldn’t like to see how I was with people who wasted my time,” Burt said menacingly.
“Muscle, what muscle?” Jason asked.
“Just let me finish the story. Then I went outside and backed the truck up to the dock in a single try. Once the trailer was unloaded, I pulled away from the facility and parked a little distance away and watched as the building exploded. As it burned, I smoked a celebratory cigarette for a job well done. I’ll be honest, though. The screams from the building still haunt me in my dreams to this day. You think you want to be an agent like me, but I’m telling you that the life of a stone cold killer comes at a price.”
“Burt, the place didn’t explode until late that night. Did any of that stuff happen at all?”
“No, the truth is that I begged the woman at the front desk to accept the load, it took me thirty minutes to back up, and the only recurring nightmares I have seem to have something to do with a blue monster that is always trying to steal my cookies, but I think when we tell the story, we should use my version,” Burt said.
Jason laughed hysterically.
“Burt, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”
“Hey now, enough with the Burt stuff. I am now Agent Jones to you,” Burt said.
Jason only laughed. How did this guy get to work in the field before me, Jason wondered and shook his head.
Zane and Dan were sitting up in first class.
“So you don’t think the others are going to be a little upset that we’re sitting in luxury while they’re in coach, do you?” Dan asked.
“What are you talking about? It’s simply a coincidence that things worked out this way,” Zane said and then smiled.
“So I know what my role is going to be, but what about the others. Not all of them are really fit to work in the field,” Dan said.
“I don’t know yet. I’m still getting used to the idea that I may have to sit on the sidelines for this one.”
“May? There is no may to it. There’s no way that you could shoot accurately anymore.”
“We’ll just see how I’m feeling by the time we get there. Who knows? Maybe I have one more op in me.”
“Okay. I’m just going to be up front and honest with you about this. Maybe you could be seventy-five percent of what you used to be, and that would be useful, but we need you to do what you’re already doing. We need you to be alive when all the dust settles. If something happens to you, who’s going to lead this group?”
“I’m sure that Jason or you would step up,” Zane said.
“Jason can’t even control Sam, much less an entire group of people, and I plain out refuse to even try to do your job. I don’t think that I could do it. It has to be you. There’s simply no one else.”
Zane knew that Dan was right, but the fact that he would never get to be in the field again was a cruel one to him. After he found out about his impaired vision, he held out some level of hope in the back of his mind that he would defy the odds, but with Campbell’s passing, his odds of ever doing what he loved again became nearly non-existent.
“All right, I get the message,” Zane said and sat back in his chair.
He felt bad about his new role, but there was at least one thing that he could take comfort in. At least I get to sit in first class now, Zane thought.
Chapter 22
When the plane landed and they disembarked, they were greeted by an older French man. The man showed them to the hotel that the government was putting them up in and gave Zane all the information they would need. Once they found their rooms, Zane gathered them together in his room.
“I’m going to meet a representative for lunch today. For now, everyone should relax and try to get some rest. I don’t know about any of you, but I didn’t get any sleep on the plane. All of us can gather again later this afternoon when I have something more for you,” Zane said.
Everyone exited the room and went back to their own rooms. Once Nathan and Sam were in their room, she began asking him some questions. She had suppressed the instinct to pry when they were on the plane, but she could no longer control herself.
“So who is Holly Daniels, and why should I be worried about her? Also, you have a tattoo?” Sam quickly asked.
“What all did Michael tell you?”
“So I should be worried then?”
“No, you shouldn’t be worried about anything. I dated her for a while, and then I met you. That’s the end of the story.”
Sam was relieved, but at the same time, she was a little embarrassed that she had just blurted out the questions.
“Why are you so worried about some girl anyway? You have no reason to be insecure. You’re not only beautiful, but you’re also intelligent. You’re the total package. Being jealous of anything or anyone else is just weird when you’re . . . well, you.”
“I’m not insecure, but put yourself in my position. I know absolutely nothing about relationships, and I have nothing to compare any of this to. There’s no one from my past who you have to be jealous of because there’s literally no one.”
Nathan hadn’t really thought about things from that angle. How would I feel if everything was new to me and then Sam’s friend told me about someone from her past, Nathan wondered. He concluded that he would be pretty jealous.
“I understand, but you have to know that from the time I saw you, there has been no one else on my mind . . . well, except for Chloe for a short moment,” Nathan said and smiled.
“I thought you tried to pull away from her,” Sam said while slapping him on the shoulder.
“Hey, stop with the hitting. I did try to pull away. I’m only joking with you. You’re the only one for me, and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
“Okay, but what is this about your tattoo?” Sam asked.
He showed her the tattoo and told her the story behind it, while only leaving out the misfortune that Lee had, and then the two of them went to bed. It may have only been six in the morning in France, but between the terrible jet lag and the fact that neither one of them could sleep on the plane, it was obvious that they both had to get some sleep.
* * * * *
When it was time for lunch, Zane went straight to the location he had been instructed to go to. It was a small family restaurant about a mile away from where he was staying, and it just so happened to have a back room for privacy. Once he was there, he sat down, and the meeting began. An older tall man spoke to Zane first.
“First of all, I would like to introduce myself. I’m Alfred Mason, and I’ll be filling you in on what we’re going to do about our little problem,” Alfred said.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Zane Green. I hope that the work we do today will lead to a discreet and productive partnership in our future.”
“As do I, especially when referring to the word, ‘discreet.’ Who knows how everyday citizens would react if they knew what was going on all over the world right now.”
“I’m glad to see we’re on the same page on that issue. We wanted to contact our allies sooner, but fear of whether or not our secret would stay under wraps when we involved others prevented us from involving you until the situation grew desperate.”
“Trust me when I say that all of this will remain our most carefully kept secret. No one wins if this hits the worldwide news. Now, we need a plan to take down the facility here in Paris,” Alfred said.
“I hope you have a plan, because honestly, I don’t know how we could possibly take this place out discreetly.”
“Unfortunately, the ability to be discreet is not, nor has it ever been, my strong suit. Instead, what I can do is give you all the men and gear that you could possibly need. I’ll also have the streets blocked off around the area during the operation so we can limit civilian witnesses.”
“That’s great, but there’s only one problem with it. I don’t like the idea of marching right in and taking the place completely by force. I know from experience that if we only rely on brute force, I’m going to lose a lot of your men and a lot of my own people as well. Is there no way that we can get someone on the inside? Maybe we could get someone to knock out their security cameras, or find a way to cause a small explosion, if for nothing else, to serve as a nice distraction,” Zane said.
“The truth is that we’ve been watching that particular place for the last few weeks because of continuous and suspicious increases to their security. Ever since the little ‘terrorist’ event in Atlanta a few days ago, they haven’t been accepting shipments of any kind. They also stopped hiring new workers weeks ago. I would love to play this one safe, but honestly, there’s just not an opening to do so at this moment. Brute force is really the only option we have.”
“I hate that it’s come to this, but I understand. When are we going to move on the facility?”
“We can have a crew together by tomorrow. We’ll have them meet you at this address at midnight tomorrow night. Can you be ready by then?” Alfred asked as he slid a paper across to Zane.
“I’ll be ready. Thank you for all the assistance you’ve provided.”
“It’s no problem. If that’s all, Mr. Green, I must be going. I have a lot to prepare in anticipation of tomorrow night,” Alfred said and began to leave.
Zane also left the restaurant and went back to the hotel to discuss what they were going to do and what everyone’s role would be in their plan.
After Zane was back at the hotel and gathered everyone together, the meeting started.
“We’re moving on the facility tomorrow night,” Zane announced.
“What’s the plan?” Jess asked.
“We’re going to try to take the facility by force, but don’t worry. I’ve been assured that we’ll have as many soldiers at our disposal as we could possibly need.”
Jess wasn’t happy with Zane’s answer, and truthfully, neither was anyone else but Sam. Most people were sitting there remembering how the op went down in Atlanta when they just stormed in. Sam, on the other hand, looked forward to getting her hands a little dirty after everything that had happened.
“Are you sure this is the best course of action after what happened to us in Atlanta? There must be another way,” Dan said.
Zane explained to everyone why it would be impossible for them to get anyone on the inside and how this truly was the only option.
“All right. If that’s the way it has to be, then we just need to know our roles in this plan,” Nathan said.
“You, Sam, and Dan, will lead a team into the facility. Michael and Jason, we will position you two on a rooftop with a good vantage point. You’ll be equipped with sniper rifles. There will be plenty of security on the outside of the building. I want you to make sure that our team doesn’t get touched on their way into the facility. Jess and Burt, you two will watch their backs. Once our sniper’s vantage point is discovered, we don’t want them to be blindsided by an attack. Finally, Trish and Lee, you two will move in after the first floor is clear. You’ll carry enough explosives into that building to take the whole thing down. We’ll have them linked to a remote detonator that I’ll be holding. Once everyone withdraws from the facility, I’ll send it up in smoke. So does anyone have any questions?” Zane asked.
“Why am I a sniper? I’ve never worked anywhere but behind a desk for the last decade,” Jason said.
“You originally trained to be an agent. Your athletic ability and strength were never major assets to the agency, but two things were, your brain and your ability to shoot. I’ve seen your file, and your shooting scores were truly unmatched. If you hadn’t been so smart and charismatic, you would have found yourself doing something like this. I know it’s probably been a while since you’ve held a rifle, but just do your best. It’s like riding a bike. After a couple of shots, it will all come back to you,” Zane said.
“Okay. I have a question, too. I have plenty of combat training under my belt. Why am I stuck playing the role of delivery girl while everyone else gets to take these guys down?” Trish asked.
“Your mixture of intelligence and combat abilities makes you perfect for the job. There will still be stragglers on the first f
loor, so don’t think that you won’t be getting any action in all this. To put it simply, I know that you and Lee will get this done regardless of what obstacles are or aren’t thrown in your way.”
Trish still wasn’t happy playing what she considered to be a minimal part in the scheme of things, but she nodded in approval. It was a boring assignment to her, but someone had to do it, and it just might have been the most important job they had to do.
“All right, I have one final question. What should we be doing until tomorrow night?” Michael asked.
“You should enjoy Paris and prepare yourselves mentally. Don’t ever go into a battle with nagging regrets. If there’s anything that you’ve been putting off, then do it now.”
Once they were all in agreement and had rehashed the plan again to be sure that everyone knew exactly what they were to do, the group broke off.
Chapter 23
When Sam and Nathan were back in their room, Nathan turned to her and spoke.
“So is there anything you need to do before we finish this?”
“I have no regrets that can be corrected at this point,” Sam said.
“Is there anything you want to do or anything that I can help you with? You have to have a potential last wish of some kind,” Nathan said.
“Nope, I already found you, so if this turns out to be it, I can honestly say I’ve experienced something that far exceeded my own expectations. What about you? Is there anything that I can help you out with?”
“Well, everything has fallen into place but one little thing.”
“What is that?”
“I’ve found my dream girl, and I have friends who are literally willing to follow me anywhere, but I do regret the fact that if anything were to happen to me, my family would never know anything. I would just be a missing person forever. Honestly, I just think they deserve better than that. They deserve to know what happened to me and not have to wonder for the rest of their lives.”
“Come here,” Sam said while grabbing their old camera.
“What are you doing?” Nathan asked while walking over to her.
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