by Mike Ryan
Heather hoped he’d take it further than that brief hug but was disappointed when he didn’t make any other moves.
“Well, I guess I should get to bed. The first interview’s at nine.”
“When’s the second one?” Cain asked.
“Noon.”
“Maybe when you’re done we could meet somewhere for lunch if you want?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
They decided on a restaurant and agreed to meet at one, figuring Heather would be done her interview by then. She then walked into the bedroom and brought out a pillow, placing it on the couch.
“What’re you doing?” Cain asked.
“Going to bed.”
“No, no, no. Get back in there,” he said, pointing to the bedroom.
“What? I’m not sleeping in your bed.”
At least not by herself, she thought. She wouldn’t have minded sleeping in there with him, but she didn’t want to take it on her own.
“Where’d you sleep while I was gone?”
“In your bed,” she replied.
“Then there you go.”
“But you’re back now and I’m not gonna take your bed away from you.”
“Heather, I was in the military, I’m used to not sleeping in beds. I could sleep in the bathtub if I had to.”
Heather tried resisting one more time, but Cain wouldn’t let her say no.
“Besides, you have a big day tomorrow, you need to get a good, comfortable sleep. You can’t be scrunched up on the couch all night,” he told her. “Take the bed. Get a good night’s sleep.”
She finally relented, knowing she wasn’t going to win the fight. She really wanted to give him a kiss and hug goodnight but wanted to give him space since he obviously was taking things slow. In the middle of the night Cain started tossing and turning in his sleep while he was dreaming. He saw himself back in the army, in an old, abandoned building. It appeared that he was in some desolate town, very sunny with high winds, dust and dirt kicking up and swirling everywhere. He was in an upstairs window with a sniper rifle waiting for his victim to walk into his crosshairs. A man in a suit walked into his path but for some reason his face was blurry. He couldn’t make out who the man was. The man stuck out, his suit seeming like odd attire for the kind of place they were in. Cain lined the man up for an easy shot, slowly pulling the trigger on his rifle. A shot rang out. The bullet moved at a snails pace. Cain could see it traveling through the air, almost like a movie slowing the frame down. Once the bullet got close to its intended target it sped up like it was in fast forward, hitting the man square in the forehead, the bullet lodging into his head. The man instantly dropped to his knees before falling onto the ground, face down. Like he was transported, Cain was suddenly standing over the man’s dead body. He knelt down to see who the man was and turned him over. It was him. He shot himself in the head. Cain suddenly woke up startled, screaming, almost jumping off the couch. He sat there, elbows on his knees, head down, sweat pouring off his body. Heather woke up once she heard Cain scream and stood in the doorway to the living room where she saw him sitting there. He was still sweating and heavily sighing. She ran to the couch and sat next to him, putting her arms around him, and then put his head on her shoulder as she stroked his head to relax him.
“It’s OK,” she whispered.
She was concerned because he was still breathing heavy and he was sweating like he just spent three hours at the gym. She thought of calling the doctor but decided to give him a few more minutes to calm down. He didn’t seem like he was in pain, just startled.
“Are you OK?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“What happened?”
“I just had a dream.”
“What was it about?” she asked, still clutching on to him.
“I was back in the military. A sniper,” he told her, his breathing starting to slow down. “And I shot someone in the head and killed him.”
“It was just a dream.”
“No. I went to check on him and when I turned him over and saw who it was…it was me. I killed myself.”
“Shh. It’s OK,” she said.
Heather continued holding him until he stopped sweating and his breathing returned to a normal level. About twenty minutes later Cain fell back asleep, in her arms, as she leaned back on the sofa. So much for getting a good night’s sleep in bed, she thought to herself. She really didn’t mind though as holding him was exactly what she was craving. If she lost an hour or so of sleep it wasn’t a big deal. She’d rather have made sure he was OK first. She hoped he didn’t have any more episodes for the night, not worrying about her sleep, but genuinely concerned for his well being. She fell asleep a short time later, content to still be holding him.
Cain woke up a few hours later, free from any further dreams, and looked toward the light shining in through the window. He looked at the clock, which just turned seven. He picked his head up off Heather’s shoulder and looked her. She looked so peaceful laying there. She really was a beautiful woman, he thought. Cain was appreciative of her looking after him and taking care of him, especially after his latest episode. The alarm clock in the bedroom went off, Cain going in to stop it, then waking Heather up. She was one of those naturally beautiful women who looked great with no makeup or even with her hair messed up.
“Hey,” she said. “How you feeling?”
“I’m OK.”
“Good. You scared me a little last night.”
“I scared myself,” Cain responded. “Thank you, though, for sitting with me and all. I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“I heard the alarm go off so I figured you wanted to get up now.”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks. I have to get a shower. I probably look like crap,” she said, her hand going through her hair.
“I don’t think it’s possible for you to look anything other than beautiful,” he complimented.
A huge smile overcame Heather’s face, the compliment making her blush.
“Why are you blushing?” Cain asked.
“I dunno,” she said, still smiling, looking away. “I’m used to fake compliments. You know, people who say something just because they think it’ll get them somewhere.”
“Maybe that’s what I’m doing.”
“No, it’s not. I can tell. You say things because you mean them. It’s genuine coming from you. That’s a refreshing change.”
Heather went in to take a shower, hoping someone would join her, though she knew it wouldn’t happen. She was right as Cain started making breakfast. He wanted to show her another sign of appreciation for what she’d done for him. It was nothing special, just pancakes, but he hoped she’d like it. He put the food on the table as she got out of the shower and changed. Once she came out, she saw breakfast waiting on the table for her.
“Aww. You’re so sweet,” she remarked, genuinely touched.
“Nothing fancy, but at least it’s not burnt.”
“No, it’s great. Thank you,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.
“Just my way of saying thank you for last night, and before,” he told her.
“Well, it’s not necessary, but it’s really nice of you.”
They sat down and ate, talking some more about the interviews she was about to go on. Once they were done she finished getting ready and left by eight, wanting to get there in plenty of time.
Cain figured to pass the time by reading the news on the internet.
Specter Project Center—Ed Sanders was walking into his office when his secretary rushed in behind him before he even had a chance to sit down.
“Sir, there was someone looking at agents files last night,” his secretary stated.
“Whose?”
“Eric Raines.”
“Who was looking at it?”
“Shelly Lawson,” she replied, looking at her paper, handing it to him.
Sanders sighed, disappointment covering hi
s face, as he wondered what exactly she was looking for.
“Is Shelly in her office?” Sanders asked.
“I believe she is,” his secretary responded. “I’ll double check for you, sir.”
“Please do. If she is, will you please ask her to come in here?”
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
The secretary went to Lawson’s office to find her. Lawson was just getting off the phone as her visitor walked in.
“Mr. Sanders would like to see you.”
“OK. I’ll be right there.”
As Lawson walked to Sanders office she wondered what he wanted to talk about. She thought about whether she should tell him about Cain finding Raines in Honduras, whether she should just keep it to herself for a while, or whether she should send Cain to Indonesia without telling Sanders. If she did and Sanders eventually found out she was withholding information from him it could jeopardize her standing. She always tried to stay above board with everything. Lawson walked into Sanders office, his eyes focused directly on her. She could tell he knew something. She could just see it in his face.
“Shelly, I was reading your report on Cain’s adventure in Honduras,” Sanders started.
“It’s a little incomplete,” she replied. “I have to revise some of it.”
“Oh? I was under the impression this was all.”
A slight hesitation engulfed her before she finally relented on telling her secret. She knew it was better to just come out with it like she was volunteering the information than to have him dig for it, knowing it’d come out anyway.
“I had to do some checking on something Cain told me,” Lawson said.
“Which was?”
“Cain said the man who killed Contreras identified himself as George Wentworth.”
“The alias of Eric Raines,” Sanders said. “I noticed you looked into his file last night. You know those files aren‘t for general viewing.”
“I pulled up his file and had Cain look at his picture to see if it was the same man he saw.”
“And?” Sanders asked, seemingly convinced that it was a plausible explanation.
“It was,” she said.
“And you believe it?”
“Cain said there’s no doubt that’s the man he saw in Honduras. Plus he used one of his aliases so I tend to believe that he is in fact alive.”
“Well, I don’t even know what to say to that,” Sanders puffed, stroking his chin in thought, trying to keep his composure.
“I believe we should send someone to Indonesia,” Lawson stated.
“You do realize we had confirmation of his death, do you not?”
“I do, sir.”
“Then what makes you think by sending someone to Indonesia six months later, that we’ll find out anything different?”
“I would like to send someone there to talk to one of his contacts he made there over a year ago, a man named Aditya Gutawa.”
“Did we not talk to him before?”
“There was no reason to. We thought Raines was dead,” Lawson said. “Now that we know he’s alive…”
“And you think Gutawa knows something?”
“I would like to find out.”
“What are your reasons for this?” Sanders asked.
“To find out why he was presumed dead and six months later is found alive.”
“Is that it? Or are your reasons more…personal?”
“I will admit I do have personal feelings on this,” Lawson answered. “But this goes beyond that. As much as I hate to admit it, we need to find out what happened, and why. Him showing up six months later in Honduras killing one of our targets suggests he didn’t just wanna drop off the map. He’s still involved in some capacity and we need to find out where he stands in the game. If he’s now playing on the other side he could possibly compromise our entire operation.”
“So who do you propose sending?”
“I’d like to send Cain,” she revealed.
“Why him?”
“My other agents are deployed elsewhere and I’d rather not pull them off. Plus, I believe Cain can get the information we need.”
“You have a lot of faith in him.”
“I do. He also is the reason we know Raines is alive.”
“That’s irrelevant,” Sanders said.
“I know. I agree but he’s also a newer agent who has no opinion on him from before and has no ties to him which will not cloud his judgment on the situation.”
“That I will agree with.”
Lawson waited silently as Sanders sat there thinking about the best course of action. He agreed on what she was proposing.
“If you want Cain, you got him,” he told her. “When do you propose to send him?”
“Within the next two or three days if possible.”
“Get it done.”
Lawson left the office to get to work on Cain’s excursion. She needed to quickly get his flight together and the logistics of his stay. She also put out some feelers to people she knew to get whereabouts on Gutawa. She didn’t want to call Cain until she got more specifics on everything. Once noon came around she started to get a better idea on what was happening. She was waiting for one more person to call her back on where Gutawa was.
Cain had just taken a seat at the restaurant he was meeting Heather at, waiting for her to stop by. The restaurant had outdoor seating, which considering the nice day that it was, Cain felt Heather would like. It was five minutes to one so he was sure she was almost there. He’d gotten a text from her fifteen minutes before that saying she was done her interview and was on her way. He ordered drinks for the two of them while he waited. Just as he looked at the time on his phone again, it started ringing. Once he saw it was Lawson he knew something was up.
“What’s going on?” Cain asked.
“You’re going to Indonesia,” Lawson replied.
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Not much time to prepare.”
“How much time do you need?” Lawson asked.
“None. It’s good.”
“Your flight leaves at 7:20am.”
“Couldn’t leave any earlier than that, huh?” Cain joked.
“It’s a long flight.”
“How long?”
“Better take some DVD’s,” she jested.
“Great.”
“Leave JFK at 7:20 where you’ll fly to Heathrow Airport in Great Britain. From there you’ll fly to Singapore and then to Jakarta, Indonesia, where you’ll arrive at 6:05pm Saturday.”
“23 hours?”
“That’s the quickest they got.”
“Fantastic.”
“What are you doing right now?”
“About to have lunch,” Cain told her as he spotted Heather walking into the restaurant.
“Well when you’re done, come in, Sanders wants to have a word with you.”
“I will do that.”
Cain hung up just as Heather sat down. She looked like she was in a good mood, indicating the interviews went well.
“Who were you talking to?” she asked.
“Just business. How’d your interviews go?” he replied, brushing the question aside.
“I think they went really well. I think preparing for them was the big thing.”
“When are they gonna let you know?”
“Well, they both said they have other people to talk to, so it could be about a week or so.”
“You’ll get one of them.”
“I hope so. Who’d you say you were talking to?” she asked again, knowing he tried to avoid telling her.
“Just someone from the office.”
“You’re just not gonna tell me anything, are you?”
Just as he was about to reply the waiter came over to take their order. They took turns ordering and Cain tried to switch the subject to something else, which Heather was not having any part of. It wasn’t so much that she wanted to know the person that was calli
ng more so than just wanting to be a bigger part of Cain’s life and hoping that he’d eventually start confiding in her.
“Why won’t you tell me anything?”
“Why do you wanna know?” Cain asked.
“I don’t know, we’re friends, and I’m living in your apartment right now. What you do kind of affects me.”
“Listen, you know I can’t tell you what I do.”
“I didn’t ask that. All I asked was who called. You can’t tell me that?”
“It was Michelle,” Cain finally revealed. “You remember her, right?”
“Oh yes. She doesn’t like me too much. I guess I can’t say I blame her.”
“Maybe you two just got off on the wrong foot.”
“I don’t think there’ll ever be a right foot with her. She call with good news I hope?”
“I have to go somewhere,” Cain told her.
“Where? Are you able to say?”
“Indonesia?”
“Indonesia? Where’s that?” Heather asked.
“Southeast Asia.”
“Oh. Important I guess?”
“I suppose so.”
“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Cain replied.
“Oh,” Heather said, dejected.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, you just got back from a trip. I just thought you’d be here for a while. Was looking forward to that hockey game,” she said, trying to make it not sound like she was gonna miss him.
“Yeah, well, I guess we‘ll have to try for a game once I get back. You’ll look after the place while I’m gone?”
“Of course. How long will you be?”
“I don’t know. Probably a few days.”
Heather was so disappointed that Cain was leaving again, although she tried not to outwardly show it. She wanted to try to spend some time with him, whether it was going out somewhere, or just staying in the apartment, talking and hanging out. She was so upset about him leaving that she really didn’t enjoy the fact they were having lunch together. The fact Cain told her he was leaving the next morning made it more difficult for her to accept since he just got back. She knew it’d be tough for their relationship to grow to where she wanted it to go if he was always going away somewhere.