by Mike Ryan
“I’m gonna have to check into it. As far as I know we have no former agents now freelancing,” she told him.
“He said his name was George Wentworth.”
Lawson didn’t reply, stunned by the name Cain just dropped on her.
“You there?” Cain asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here,” Lawson stuttered, trying not to sound shocked.
“You seem surprised.”
“George Wentworth is dead.”
“Unless I was talking to a ghost, he seemed very much alive to me.”
“George Wentworth was an alias for an agent we had named Eric Raines. He died six months ago in a warehouse explosion in Indonesia,” she informed him.
“Can you send me a picture of him? I’ll confirm whether that’s the guy I saw or not.”
“Uhh, yeah, I’ll send one over. I have pictures of all agents on my tablet. Just gimme a sec to pull it up.”
Within a couple of minutes Lawson had pulled up a picture of Raines on her iPad. She looked at his face for a second, mixed emotions running through her. The thought of him being alive briefly made her excited for the possibility, cancelling the sadness she previously felt for his loss. She took a big sigh and e-mailed the picture over to Cain.
“OK. It’s sent. Check your e-mail,” she told him.
Cain grabbed his iPad and sat in a chair. He logged into his e-mail and downloaded the picture Lawson sent. With each percentage of the picture that showed on the screen, starting with the top of Raines’ head, Cain could see the resemblance with the man he saw. Lawson eagerly awaited Cain’s opinion, sighing and leaning on her desk, with her hand holding her head up.
“That’s him,” Cain stated.
Lawson closed her eyes as soon as the words left Cain’s lips. She couldn’t believe the man they all thought was dead, that they mourned, was actually still alive.
“You’re sure that’s him?” Lawson asked.
“No doubt about it. That’s the guy I saw. Exact same appearance except he’s got a goatee right now.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Well, better sink in soon. Cause he‘s alive.”
Chapter 6
Cain’s last day spent in Honduras turned up no new leads. He actually tried soak up some of the country’s culture and sampled some of their food, checking out some of their establishments. He contacted Ruiz to see if he could find out anything else on Contreras, such as what he was trying to get into. Ruiz came up empty though. All leads died along with Contreras. After he was satisfied there was no further information to be had, Cain flew back to New York.
The entire plane ride home he thought about what Raines told him about not trusting what he was told. He thought about every detail that transpired from the moment he woke up in that army hospital bed until that very second on the plane. Cain closed his eyes as he relived everything. After a few minutes he stopped thinking and just tried to relax. Relaxing didn’t last long as more visions clogged his mind. He tilted his head as if he was trying to get a better view of what he was seeing. The woman who previously appeared was not there this time. On this occasion it was a little boy. He must’ve been about four or five years old. He was smiling and laughing as he was playing on a swing set. The boy alternated between the swing and going down the sliding board. The captain’s voice came over the intercom detailing the trip, breaking Cain’s concentration on the boy. He opened his eyes and the boy was gone. He closed his eyes again but the vision was gone for good. He turned his head, looked out the window, and let his mind wander as they flew through the clouds.
A few hours later they landed at JFK airport in New York. Cain’s plan was to grab his bag and then take a cab home. He strolled through the airport to the luggage area, where he spotted his bag. He grabbed it, then turned around to noticed Shelly Lawson standing about fifty feet away from him. Cain previously told her what flight he was taking home so the agency would be aware of it though Lawson didn’t tell him she’d be there waiting for him. He was a little surprised to see her there. He walked over to her, wondering what she wanted.
“Something wrong?” Cain asked.
“No, why?”
“I’m just surprised to see you. What are you doing here?”
“I just thought we should talk about some things,” she told him.
“Such as?”
“About what happened in Honduras.”
“Already told you.”
“I need more.”
“Don’t have anything else to tell you.”
“Let’s go to my place so we can talk,” Lawson said.
Cain stopped walking, surprised at Lawson’s request. A quizzical look overtook him, wondering what she was up to. Something didn’t seem right. If she really wanted to talk about Honduras he was curious as to why they weren’t going to the Center instead.
“What’s this really all about?” Cain wondered.
Lawson paused before answering, “I’ll tell you when we get there.”
“Is this an official request?”
“No. Just as a favor to me,” she pleaded.
Cain agreed to her request and continued walking with Lawson on the way to her car, still unsure what she wanted. There was something different about her, though he couldn’t place exactly what it was. Maybe it was the determination exuding from her that indicated the seriousness of whatever matter she wanted to discuss.
They arrived at her house an hour after leaving the airport. She lived in a gated community, and judging by the looks of the houses, all the residents seemed to be doing well financially.
“Nice area,” Cain said. “Anything up for sale? Maybe I’ll move in.”
“Not likely. There hasn’t been a house for sale here since I moved in over two years ago and that was only because the previous owner passed away.”
They went inside Lawson’s house and she told Cain to have a seat on the couch while she went into the kitchen. She came back out a minute later, a bottle of soda and water in each hand. She offered Cain his pick of drinks. He grabbed the water, looking it over.
“It’s not poisoned if that’s what you’re looking for,” Lawson said, half kidding.
“Just checking,” Cain smiled. “Wentworth…Raines, said to not trust anyone. I kinda believed him on it.”
“What did he mean by that? Who was he talking about?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t elaborate.”
“What else did he say?”
“Well, he did speak highly of you. He said how good you were and I was in good hands with you. He also said you were the most difficult part of leaving?”
Lawson’s eyes started tearing up upon hearing how Raines spoke of her. She missed him since he’d been gone.
“He actually said he left?”
“That’s what he said. Why all the questions about him?” Cain wondered.
“Like I said, he was supposed to have died six months ago.”
“It goes deeper than that, doesn’t it?”
“In what way?” Lawson asked.
“Your eyes are tearing up, you seem emotionally involved, and we’re here instead of at the Center. You had something personal with him, didn’t you?”
Lawson choked back a few tears before answering. “Yes. We were lovers,” she admitted. “Although we broke up about a week before he…a week before he died.”
“I had a feeling.”
“All this time I’ve thought he was dead. I took a leave of absence for over two months after his death because it hurt to go to the office knowing I would never see him again. And now he appears, seemingly alive, and if it weren’t for you seeing him I still would think he’s dead.”
“I can see how that’d be upsetting,” Cain deadpanned. “Seems pretty unusual. You break up, he dies a week later, six months later he shows up. Sounds like something he had planned in advance.”
“But, but why? Why would he do that? What would he gain?” Lawson incredulously asked.
“I thin
k it’s pretty obvious. He wanted out. For some reason he didn’t think he could do that any other way. Which means he didn’t trust that they’d let him out on his own. So he cooked up a plan to make it happen.”
“I just, I just don’t know what to think. If he was alive, why wouldn’t he contact me to let me know?”
Cain thought for a few moments, not sure if he should say what he was thinking. He finally relented, “maybe your feelings for him were stronger than his feelings for you.”
“I guess that’s possible, isn’t it?” she responded, hoping that wasn’t the case.
“Or, maybe it’s because of the trust thing he was talking about,” Cain stated. “Maybe something was going on when he died and he wanted to stay that way, not trusting anyone else to keep that secret. Or maybe he was afraid if he contacted you then he‘d be found out or that he‘d put you in danger. It‘s tough to see a man‘s reasons for something unless you‘re in his shoes.”
“This is his file,” Lawson told him, bringing up his info on her iPad.
Cain carefully looked at each page on the screen. There was personal information, as well as documentation on every mission Raines had ever been on, who some of his known contacts were, as well as the case file on his final mission. Cain reread the information a few times to pick up anything he might’ve missed the first time around.
“Not a whole lot of information on the Indonesia mission,” Cain said.
“That’s cause we didn’t know much about it. He contacted me a day before that and said he was meeting one of his contacts in a warehouse.”
“And you don’t know who that was?”
“He never said and we never found out. There were two bodies found, badly burned, neither recognizable.”
“How’d they identify him?”
“Dental records,” Lawson replied.
“What does Sanders think?”
Lawson hesitated before answering, not really sure how to reply.
“You didn’t tell him yet?” Cain inferred.
“Not exactly.”
“Why not? What are you waiting for?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m waiting for the right time,” she responded.
“Don’t you trust him?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Lawson said. “I mean, I don’t know. The whole organization is based on lies and secrecy, and lies based on lies, that it’s tough to know what to believe sometimes.”
“Wait,” Cain said.
“What?” Lawson replied.
“He was in Indonesia before about a year ago,” he said, looking at his missions.
“Yes. He was following up on something about some arms dealer. Turned out to be nothing.”
“Says he met with someone named Aditya Gutawa.”
“We contacted him after Eric died to see if he knew anything about it. He said he didn’t know and hadn’t seen Eric since last year.”
“And you believed him?”
“Why would he lie?”
“If Raines went to Gutawa and asked for his help, don’t you think he’d help the man he worked with, developed a relationship with, help him disappear if that‘s what he wanted…or a government agency he probably doesn’t care shit about.”
“But I asked him,” Lawson started to say before being interrupted.
“But you’re the government agency. He’s not gonna tell you.”
“You’re right.”
“You also need to accept another possibility,” Cain said.
“Which is what?”
“That he’s not the same man you once knew. The man you knew and loved, maybe he was a good man, maybe he had good intentions, I don’t know. But you have to face that he might not be that man anymore. He dropped off the planet for a reason. And those reasons might not be all that pleasant once you find them.”
“I know,” she said solemnly, nodding her head.
Lawson leaned back on her sofa, letting Cain’s words sink in. She knew he was right but didn’t want to believe that Raines turned his back on her. Cain finished looking at Raines’ file and turned off the computer, handing it back to Lawson.
“We need answers,” Lawson told him.
“We?”
“I mean the agency. We need to know what happened to him.”
“You mean you need answers,” Cain said.
“You’re right. I do. But we also need to know if there’s something bigger at work here. Not only that, but he knows everything we do. He knows how we think and act. If he has his own agenda now that doesn’t mesh with ours than he could put all our agents at risk. We need to find out what he’s up to now.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
“How would you feel about going to Indonesia?” she asked.
Cain looked at her like she was crazy. He wasn’t sure he bought what she was saying about the agency needing to find Raines as much as it was driving her insane that she didn’t know what happened to him. Cain and Lawson talked for another hour about the situation and about how they’d present it to Sanders. Lawson offered to let Cain stay the night if he wanted, sleeping on the couch, but he wanted to get back to his place and relax. She drove him home, getting to his apartment about seven o’clock. Lawson told Cain she’d let him know what Sanders said if she asked him about Indonesia.
He walked into his apartment, looked around for Heather, and shouted her name. He walked around from room to room, seeing how the place looked. The bed was made and the rooms were clean, almost like she hadn’t even been there. He walked over to the desk and he noticed the PC was on. He awakened it from the sleep mode and looked at the website that popped up. A couple tabs were on there, both job related sites. Cain then walked into the kitchen and noticed a couple plates in the sink. He looked in the refrigerator to see what there was to eat and pulled out some lunch meat, making himself a turkey sandwich. He sat down on the couch to eat and put the TV on, flipping channels until he came across a Yankees game. With almost every pitch thrown he wondered where Heather was. He assumed she would’ve been there when he got home. He hoped she didn’t go back to her apartment or meet up with someone. An hour passed by when he heard some rattling just outside the door. It sounded like someone was fumbling with keys. Cain went to the kitchen drawer and opened it, putting his hand on the handle of his Glock, just in case it was an unwanted visitor. The door handle jiggled before opening, Heather walking in, a couple of bags in each hand. Cain took his hand off the gun and closed the drawer. She stopped and almost screamed when she saw Cain standing there, holding her hand over her heart and sighing like she almost had a heart attack.
“You almost scared me,” she told him.
“Almost?”
Heather continued walking into the living room, putting the bags down on the table.
“OK. Maybe a little bit. What are you doing here?”
“Umm, I’m pretty sure I live here,” Cain sarcastically replied.
“Obviously. I mean, I didn’t expect you back so late at night.”
“Well, I got back a few hours ago. I had to go over a few things first about Honduras.”
“Oh. Was it a good trip?” Heather asked, not quite knowing how to ask about it.
“Had its good moments and bad.”
“Oh. Anything you wanna talk about?”
“No,” he responded, shaking his head. “Did you have fun while I was gone?”
“Oh yeah. Loads and loads.”
“What’d you do?”
“Spent most of the time job hunting. When I got bored of that fun stuff, I did other exciting things, you know, like eating and sleeping.”
“Sounds like a great time,” Cain said.
“Oh. It was. It was.”
“Whatcha got in those bags?”
“Oh, I went shopping,” she happily replied, smiling. “I’ve got two interviews tomorrow so I wanted to get some new outfits for them.”
“Good for you. What jobs are they?”
“One is for an entry
level marketing position. And the other is for a payroll specialist at a payroll company.”
“Nice. I hope you get one of them.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great.”
“I don’t know. I’m a little nervous.”
“Just go in there prepared and show your stuff,” he told her.
“Well, I’m used to showing my stuff, but I’m not sure that’s what they have in mind,” she kidded.
Cain laughed, then reassured her that she’d be fine. Heather wanted to try the outfits on and asked him if he could tell her how she looked in them. In truth, she’d already tried them on in the store before she bought them and knew how they looked, but she wanted to get his opinion on them. Plus, she hoped it’d get Cain more interested in her. She went into the bedroom and changed into a blue skirt outfit that wasn’t as revealing as most of the things in her wardrobe. After Cain gave her good reviews she then changed into a tighter fitting suit outfit, complete with black high heels. Cain looked her up and down, pleased with the view, and told her how good she looked.
“If you interview as good as you look then you’ll get the job hands down,” Cain said.
“Thanks,” she replied, smiling ear to ear.
They talked a little more about the jobs, Cain helping her to prepare for the interviews by asking her some questions. She knew the basics about each company and wrote down questions and some possible answers to them.
“Still nervous?” Cain asked.
“Yeah, but excited too. I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I feel good about moving on. But it’s always scary when something new comes along.”
“Yeah. You’ll do great though,” he said, putting his arm around her.