All's Fair in Love and War: A story of love and betrayal

by J Theron

  James did not say much. He simply looked at the needle in her arm and told her to come to his office when she was done. That was the beginning of the end for her.

  She started to pace and tried not to think of the nausea that was getting worse by the minute. She was so anxious, she almost did not hear when the door opened and James walked in. She wanted to cry in relief when she noticed the syringe in his hand.

  “Good evening Jennifer. You look like shit,” he replied nastily.

  “Fuck you, James.” She grabbed for the syringe, but he pulled it out of her reach and held it behind his back.

  “No, no, no,” he said before clicking his tongue. “Don’t be greedy.”

  Jennifer became acutely agitated. “Please,” she sobbed. “Please give it to me.”

  James looked at her in disgust. “Only if you do what I ask.”

  “I’ll do anything,” she replied.

  “Okay. First you will get on your knees and suck my cock, because it’s all hard from looking at Gabrielle all day. Then you’ll agree to fuck Evans, when and where I tell you, because he dared to stick his cock into my property. That bitch also dared to report me for sexual harassment. They both deserve a little payback.” He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. “Is that clear?”

  “Yes,” she sobbed. “I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “That’s a good girl. I think this is going to turn into a long and mutually beneficial relationship for the both of us,” he said while injecting the morphine into her arm.

  Jennifer wanted to cry, because she knew she had sold her soul to the devil, but when the morphine hit the receptors in her brain, she stopped caring.

  Chicago, Illinois, present day.

  Ryan watched in amusement as the door to the office opened and Doctor James Smith stopped dead in his tracks. His face blanched visibly as his eyes darted from Ryan to Gabrielle and back to Ryan again. They were seated in the chairs in front of his desk. James closed the door and almost expired in fright when he saw another man standing behind the door with his back to James, looking at the medical books in the large floor to ceiling book case.

  “Hello, James. How are you?” Ryan asked as he rose slowly from his seated position. He could see the pulse beating in the good doctor’s neck.

  “Ryan, Gabrielle! It’s so nice to see you again. What a wonderful surprise. What brings you to Northwestern Memorial Hospital?” he asked in an amicable voice.

  “We were in the neighbourhood and thought we should stop by,” Gabrielle replied.

  “How nice! I wish you would’ve called because I have to be in surgery in ten minutes. I’m so disappointed we won’t have the time to catch up.”

  Ryan smiled. “Don’t worry about that! What we have to say will only take ten minutes. Sit down. We have some catching up to do. We haven’t spoken in what, more than three years?”

  James swallowed repeatedly and he had a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead as he sat down behind his desk. “Yes, I believe it to be about three years, give or take a few months.”

  “So, you’ve come a long way since Afghanistan. Wow! Head of Surgery. What’s next? Chief of Staff?” Ryan asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. What have you been up to?”

  “Boring stuff. I work for an IT company. Nothing as exciting as saving lives,” Ryan replied.

  “Well, I knew your leg was going to hamper you. It’s good that you found something else,” James said. “What are you doing Gabrielle? I have a position opening in a few months if you’re interested.”

  Gabrielle smiled. “James, that’s very exciting. I might take you up on that.”

  Ryan looked towards the man who was still studying the medical books as if they weren’t in the room and slapped his palm against his forehead. “Forgive my rudeness. You haven’t met my father-in-law. Doctor Smith, meet Joseph Martin. Director of the CIA.”

  Ryan watched the facial expression on James’s face as Director Martin turned around and fixed his cold stare on James. The look of discomfort on his face was replaced by a look of abject terror.

  “Your, your father-in-law?” he stammered. “You got married?”

  Gabrielle leaned forward in her chair. “Yes. To me.”

  James gaped at her as if he was looking at an apparition. “Your father is Director of the CIA?”

  “Yep. I’ve decided to come out of the closet, so to speak. I’m tired of hiding. Doesn’t mean you should go and spread it around, though!” she said, pointing her index finger at his face and giving him a dazzling smile.

  “No! No never! Your secret is safe with me.”

  Director Martin stepped closer and lifted a paperweight from the desk. It was a glass sculpture from Murano. He turned it over in his hand and appeared to be studying it closely when he spoke for the first time. “You’re a man who likes to keep secrets, aren’t you, Doctor Smith?” Martin placed the paperweight on the desk and looked at James.

  James stared at the paperweight as if it were a poisonous snake. “Uh, I don’t understand what you mean, Director.” He looked up and Ryan almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

  Martin leaned forward and placed both his palms flat on the desk. James leaned back in his chair to place distance between himself and his executioner. “I had an interesting chat with a nurse Jennifer who was employed at Northwestern on your recommendation. Turns out she knows my son-in-law intimately. He doesn’t have any recollection though. Why do you think that is?”

  “I have no idea. I will definitely have a word with her. I won’t tolerate a staff member who spreads lies,” James replied. He took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead.

  “She had a few other things to say. She tells me there’s quite a market for opiates in Europe and that there is one particular individual, in charge of a very large drug cartel in Colombia, who uses morphine to manufacture heroine on an unprecedented scale, unlike anything here in the States. She also tells me that although she has never met him or dealt with him, she knows that he is a very dangerous man who doesn’t like to be disappointed. Carlos, the Killer, I think is what she called him. I’m sure you’re aware that drug trafficking falls under Federal law. Depending on the quantity, first offenders are looking at a minimum of five to ten years in prison.”

  “I’m sure that’s all very interesting, but what does it have to do with me?”

  Martin removed his hands from the desk and sat on the armrest of Gabrielle’s chair. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “We found something interesting when we started to look at the prescriptions of opiates for your surgical patients. Were you aware that you prescribe three times the amount of morphine for your surgical patients compared to the other surgeons in the hospital?”

  James looked at Gabrielle and Ryan before saying, “I have the most complex cases in the hospital. I’m the head of surgery! They’re in pain after having difficult surgery.”

  “Yes. I didn’t think of that. Of course,” Martin replied.

  James relaxed slightly in his chair and wiped his forehead again. His eyes were darting from Martin to Gabrielle and back.

  “So it’s a complete coincidence that Nurse Jennifer in the surgical ward is always the nurse responsible for the administration of the increased doses at night,” Martin asked in a pleasant voice.

  “I honestly don’t keep track of when I prescribe pain medication. Why are you asking me all these questions?”

  “An audit of the medical records of your patients revealed that they are in an exorbitant amount of pain in the morning, even after having relatively high doses of morphine the night before. Can you explain that?”

  “Like I said, they’re post-operative patients with pain.”

  “Gabrielle tells me that some of the doses are high enough to stop the patients from breathing.”

  James looked offended. “That’s ridiculous! I know the dosage of morphine.”

  Martin nodded as if he
agreed with everything that James was saying. “I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable. I know you’re Head of Surgery and an important man in this hospital, even though you gained the position through extortion. Or so Jennifer tells me. Apparently the other candidate for your position accidently slept with Jennifer. He should have known better, having a wife and kids and all.”

  James jumped up and slapped his hands on the desk. “I don’t care if you’re the director of the CIA or the president of the United States. I will not be insulted in my office by you or anyone else.”

  Martin did not show any emotion as he stood and walked to the door. “Did I tell you I made a deal with a man now known as Miguel Lopez? I want to get rid of you and he offered to help me with my problem. You may know him by a different title.” Martin opened the door and when James saw who was standing in front of the door, he wet his pants.

  Gabrielle stood and watched in disgust as James tried to hide the fact that he was standing in a puddle of his own urine. She looked at his feet and stared pointedly at the growing wet spot before she looked into his face and said, “I’m sure you know the saying, all’s fair in love and war? When you took the man I loved from me, you unknowingly declared war. I have decided to call Daddy. I’m sure you understand that it’s only fair?”

  “You fucking bitch! I can’t believe I ever wanted to fuck you!” James shouted, causing the spittle to fly from his mouth.

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll have lots of friends in prison,” she replied. “If you reach prison, that is.”

  James went as white as a sheet as he stared at her with his mouth open. “You can’t do this!” he sobbed.

  Gabrielle smiled at him and then turned to Miguel. She rolled her eyes when he winked at her and said, “I’ll see you around, love.”

  “I’m counting on it,” she replied. She took Ryan’s hand and pulled him out of James’s office and into the corridor. She could hear James pleading before the door to his office was shut, cutting off the voice that had haunted her for so long. She kept walking until they were outside before turning to Ryan.

  Ryan had an amused expression on his face. “That wasn’t very nice of you and Daddy, scaring James like that,” he said.

  “It was worth it. He’s not scared of the CIA or the FBI. He knows they have to play by the book. Seeing him wet his pants when he saw Miguel almost made up for our suffering.”

  “I have to agree with you there,” he chuckled.

  “What’s going to happen to James?” she asked.

  “Your father will see that he ends up in Federal Prison,” Ryan replied.

  “And Miguel?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Why do you want to know? I’m not allowed to divulge classified information, and you know it.”

  “Just curious. You’re really taking this spy stuff seriously. If you can’t tell the daughter of the director of the CIA, who is your wife I might add, who can you tell?”

  “You’ll just have to join the CIA then,” he said, “if you want to know my secrets.”

  She shook her head. “Nah, I think I’ll stick to medicine, thank you,” she replied before becoming more serious. “I’m sorry James did that to you. I should have seen it coming and I should have believed in you. Most of all I’m sorry for the years we’ve lost,” she said softly.

  Ryan placed his palms on her cheeks and kissed her firmly on the mouth. “I love you. I love you so much, I married a girl who calls the director of the CIA, Daddy. A man who makes me want to wet my pants!”

  She slapped him on the shoulder and grinned. “You’re a funny guy, do you know that?”

  “I think it will get worse when you’re pregnant. Imagine how your father will be when there’s a little Gabrielle running around!”

  She smiled. “Well, now that you mention it, there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you….”

  The end.