Michael and Jess were making dinner that evening. Surprisingly, Michael had become quite the cook. His skills far extended beyond eggs now.
“So do you think we’re ever going to get a break in this case? I’m ready to end all this,” Michael said.
“I don’t know, but I kind of hope that we never get a break in the case. I’m actually enjoying life the way it is right now. Plus, the last time we actually had to do something, Trish was almost killed. If that’s the cost of finding Markus, then I hope we never find him,” Jess said.
“I know what you mean, but the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all move on with our lives.”
“You say that we could move on with our lives, but have you even decided what to move on to? I mean, I always figured you would come back to Georgia with me, but back in France, you said you weren’t sure what you were going to do.”
Michael thought hard for a moment. What did he truly want to do? He couldn’t imagine being away from his best friend, who in truth, he still loved as much more than a friend, but at the same time, he had finally found purpose in what he was doing now.
“I just don’t know what I want to do. I can’t imagine a life without you in it, but at the same time, I think that I might have been born to do things like this.”
“Born to do things like this? Just a little over a month ago, you couldn’t even shoot a gun!” Jess shouted.
The words had come out before Jess even realized what she was saying. She regretted saying them as soon as she did, but it was too late. There was no taking them back now.
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve gone through quite the transformation, but I guess it’s pretty typical that you wouldn’t even notice,” Michael said.
“Well, what is that supposed to mean?” Jess barked back at him.
“It means that I’ve been trying for the last month to prove to everyone that I’m a different person than I used to be, and you, my best friend, haven’t even noticed a thing. I know that you think of me as this helpless, sad guy, but I’m far more than that today. I’m grateful for everything that you’ve done for me in the past. I don’t know if I would even be here without you, but if you can’t recognize me for the man I am today, I don’t know why I’m even trying with you.”
Jess was a little shocked, and she felt pretty bad. Michael had never spoken to her like he was now, but at the same time, it was true that she had never really acknowledged the man he was becoming.
“Look, I’m going out,” Michael said and started to go out the door.
Jess grabbed his hand.
“I’m sorry. I know that you’re totally different now, and I haven’t been giving you the credit you deserve, but as selfish as it sounds, I don’t want to lose you when this is all over.”
“Well, give me a reason to stay around. I mean, you’re my best friend, but I’m not going to wait around my entire life just for friendship. I need more than that, and if we aren’t meant for more, then I have to follow the one thing that does give me purpose in life.”
Jess grabbed him and kissed him hard. Michael quickly pulled away.
“If you aren’t serious, then just don’t,” Michael said.
She wrapped her arms around him and looked into his eyes.
“If you need a reason to stay, then I’m going to give you one,” Jess said and gently kissed him again.
She dragged him back inside. Michael had his reason to stay, and for the first time, Jess truly saw Michael in a way that was amazing. She saw the man that Nathan described to her, and for the first time, Michael felt like home to her.
* * * * *
At Trish and Lee’s house, there was tension in the air. Trish had been depressed for the last month. She hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but it was still there under the surface, and they both knew it. Finally, Trish voiced her true concern.
“Look, I know that this isn’t what you signed up for. I’m an emotional wreck, I have a ton of baggage, and to top it off, I’ll never be able to have children. If you want out, then I get it. In fact, I want you to get out because you deserve better than this,” Trish said.
“No, I have never even wanted kids. You’re understandably depressed right now with everything that’s happened. You got shot, for God’s sake. I understand what you’re going through, and I love you. I don’t want to leave, and it hurts me that you think we would be better off if we weren’t together,” Lee said.
Lee lied. He really did want to at least have the opportunity to have children, but he valued his relationship with Trish more than he valued the prospect of something that wasn’t even real.
“You’re lying,” Trish said while staring at him.
“No, I’m not! Why would you say that?”
“I read people, and it’s written all over your face. There’s some part of you that does want children, and it’s okay. I understand, but you need to stop wasting your time, and find someone who can give you the normal life you want.”
Lee thought for a moment.
“I do want children in the future. That much is true, but you’re wrong about one thing. I don’t want an ordinary life. I want an extraordinary one, and I believe I can have that with you. If we end up together permanently, then maybe one day we can adopt a child. If not, then I’ll be okay. I love you too much to lose you, no matter what our lives may or may not be.”
Trish had studied his face as he said every word. There was no deception on his face. Either Lee had just become the best actor on earth, or he was telling the truth.
“You could really love me even if I could never give you something so important?” Trish asked.
“I will always love you, no matter what. The only one here who’s having doubts about you, is you.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I never wanted children before, but now that I know it will never happen, I can’t help but feel as if I’ve been robbed of something really important, and I don’t want to rob you of that, too.”
Lee pulled her close to him.
“If I’m able to end up with you, then everything in life after that is just icing on the cake. Don’t worry about anything else. All I really need is you,” Lee said and kissed her.
For the first time in a month, Trish felt relief. She had felt so bad and so alone, but with Lee, somehow everything was always manageable. Trish pulled back for a moment.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
“You couldn’t get rid of me even if you tried at this point,” Lee said and pulled her back close to him.
* * * * *
Over at Nathan and Sam’s, they were looking through some files to try to find some clue that could lead them to Markus. They had been working all day long, and Nathan had worked as long as he possibly could.
“Okay. I am officially done with this wild goose chase for the day,” Nathan announced.
“Well, you certainly give up easy,” Sam said.
“We’ve been looking at this stuff for the past nine hours! That’s what you call easy?”
“All right, all right, we’ll take a break for a little while. What do you want to do?” Sam asked.
“Oh, I could think of a thing or two,” Nathan joked and scooted closer to her.
“Ha-ha, sorry, but that’s not going to happen right now.”
“Oh, come on, Rachel.”
“I told you to stop calling me that,” Sam said.
“Hey, you’re the one who kept the glasses.”
“You told me that they made me look like a hot librarian. I wasn’t going to just throw them away after that.”
Nathan came up behind her and started to kiss the back of her neck.
“Stop it,” Sam said as she giggled.
As Nathan scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom, her phone rang.
“Come on. Just leave it. It can’t possibly be that important,” Nathan said.
“Just one minute, Mr. Brown,” Sam said and gave him a quick kiss.
She walked back to the living room and retrieved her phone.
“Hello,” Sam said.
“Is Nathan Grey there?” a man asked.
“Yes, but who is this?” Sam asked in surprise.
“Someone with some very valuable information for him.”
Sam slowly handed Nathan the phone. Nathan said nothing when he received it. He only listened to the voice on the other end. As time went on, Nathan’s face started to turn pale. Finally, Nathan spoke.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Nathan said and hung up the phone.
Nathan immediately started rushing toward the door, but Sam blocked his path.
“Please, move,” Nathan said.
“No. Not until you tell me what’s going on,” Sam said.
“I have to go home, and I don’t have time to fill you in on the whole situation right now, so either move or come with me.”
Sam could see from the unusually serious expression on his face that something was really wrong.
“All right, let’s go. You can explain everything to me on the way.”
“Thank you,” Nathan said and took her hand.
The two of them hurried outside and into the car.
Epilogue
Three days earlier, Chloe was sitting in her new house located on the beach in Hawaii. For once, life was peaceful, and there were four armed men outside her door to make sure that it stayed that way. A loud popping noise interrupted the sound of the waves. It was a familiar sound to Chloe. It was gunfire. She ran to her bedroom where she grabbed a pistol that she kept in her nightstand. About the time that she grabbed the gun and started running back into the living room, the front door was broken down, and several of Markus’s men came in. Chloe raised her gun. She knew it wouldn’t do any good against such a large force, but if they were going to kill her, then by God, she was going to take at least a few of them with her.
“Lower your gun, Chloe,” a familiar voice said from behind the men.
Markus stepped forward out of the crowd of soldiers.
“I have no intention of killing you, so lower your gun and we can talk about this,” Markus said.
Chloe had no intention of lowering her weapon. She knew what Markus was capable of. He would not only kill her, but first he would make her suffer in ways that even she couldn’t imagine.
“Why wouldn’t you kill me? I would kill me in your position,” Chloe said.
“I have a feeling that you might have information that could be useful to me.”
“What kind of information?”
“I have no idea, but you’ve had direct contact with our enemies. Word has it that you even made a deal with them.”
Chloe slowly lowered her gun and then threw it to the floor.
“What do you want to know?” Chloe asked.
“I want to catch and kill the people responsible for my most recent misfortune, and I want you to tell me how to do that.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“You can start by telling me everything you know about the people we’re dealing with.”
Chloe told him the few things that she knew about the people who had captured her and how they had ultimately made a deal with her.
“Well, unfortunately for you, none of that is of any help to me, so you have ten seconds to tell me something of use or you’re going to die right here and right now,” Markus said while motioning to a rather large man.
The large man walked over to her and placed a gun to her head, and Markus began his countdown.
“Wait a minute. Just give me some time to think,” Chloe pleaded.
“Tick tock, Chloe,” Markus said with a smile.
“Okay. There’s one thing I remember. Two of them, the guy named Nathan and the Samantha girl, seemed to be together in a more intimate way.”
“How exactly is that relevant to me?”
“If you could find someone close to either one of them and threaten that person, then I’m sure the two of them would come running to you. It’s a two for one situation.”
Markus thought for a moment. He remembered that as far as they could tell, Nathan was only a regular civilian. In fact, he even lived with his parents before all of this started. Maybe if they threatened his family, they could lure them out and kill at least two of them at one time.
“I think that this works,” Markus said.
“Great, so you’re going to let me go now, right?” Chloe asked.
“No, my dear. I’m sorry, but no one crosses me and lives to tell about it.”
Markus pointed a gun down at Chloe’s head and stared deep into her eyes. Her eyes looked so desperate. It was obvious that this woman, who had never been scared of a thing in her life, was now desperate for just one more moment. As Markus stared into her eyes, he saw himself in them. He, too, had been desperate. He, too, had been tortured in many of the same ways that she had been tortured in, and for the first time in his life, he just couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.
“You’re lucky. I’m feeling unusually merciful today. You and Jerome are going to go to Mississippi to kill a couple of nuisances,” Markus said with a smile and then walked out of the room.
Jerome followed him.
“Sir, are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Jerome asked.
“First of all, don’t question my judgment, and second of all, I need to give you instructions on what to do in Mississippi. You’re going to seek out Nathan Grey’s parents, and then you’re going to contact me. I’ll get in touch with Nathan. From there, you should wait for them to arrive,” Markus said.
“Should I kill the hostages once they’re on the way?”
“No, I want you to kill Mr. Grey’s family right in front of him. Then, I want you to kill his little girlfriend, Samantha Fisher. After that, I want you to bring him to me. He and I have a lot to discuss,” Markus said with a wicked smile.
Wrong Time Page 25