Mirrored Man: The Rob Tyler Chronicles Book 1 (50 page)

“Bad example,” he said.
“
Arrependido
.”

The woman turned away, but the boy continued
smiling. Rob returned the smile, then turned toward the window as
he tried unsuccessfully to picture his children, and wondered when
he might see Carol again.

He had made a few inquiries into June’s
whereabouts using Internet cafés throughout the city, but came up
empty. In the weeks since he left her in Florida, he hadn't been
able to learn anything new about his situation. But as much as he
had wanted to, he hadn't tried to contact family or friends. His
frustration had grown, and as time went on he was forced to concede
that he couldn't handle the situation on his own.

He needed help.

His thoughts, once again, returned to his
family. He wondered what they might be doing at that moment.
Are
they mourning the fact that I’m not there to celebrate my birthday
with them? Are they at Carol’s parent’s house or maybe dad’s? What
had they been told about my absence? Had they been told anything at
all?

Reaching into his bag, he removed the
satellite phone he had purchased from a black market dealer a week
before. He decided it was time he made contact with someone in his
family. Even if
they
, whoever
they
were, had tapped
their phones, they couldn't possibly track him down before the
plane was in the air. He wouldn't be returning to Brazil any time
soon, so he deemed it fairly safe to make the call.

Over the intercom came an announcement.
“
Atenção por favor, vôo de Linha Aérea de TAM JJ "três cinco
quatro cinco" a Sau Paulo está embarcando agora na porta t dos.
Attention please, TAM Airlines flight JJ three-five-four-five to
Sau Paulo is now boarding at gate T two.”

As people around him gathered their
belongings and started for the boarding passageway, he dialed the
number and placed the phone to his ear. It took several moments to
connect so he glanced up at the television mounted to one of the
support beams and saw the sickening scenes of the September
eleventh tragedy that had happened nine years before. Scenes like
them had been shown repeatedly all morning long, and he was
experiencing the same emotions as he had on that fateful day so
many years before.

“Hello?” an unfamiliar female voice
answered, startling him back to the present.

“It’s … it's Rob,” he said tentatively.

“Well happy birthday, birthday boy!” she
said enthusiastically.

Rob gave the phone a strange look.
Did I
dial the wrong number?
“Thank you. Is Ted Tyler there?”

“Ted Tyler?” the voice repeated. “No. He
went over to your house. He left twenty minutes ago. He should be
there by now. Why are you being so formal, Rob?”

“Crap!” He ignored the woman’s question. “I
need to leave him a message.”

There was a brief pause. “Well, can't you
just tell him when he gets there?”

Rob's confusion was growing.
M
aybe
she thinks I'm someone else
. But then, she had wished him a
happy birthday. “This is Rob,” he repeated.

“Well of course you're Rob. Who else would
you be?”

Rob shook his head. “Look, I don't have time
to explain right now. Just tell Ted that I'm okay, but that I'll be
gone for a while. Then ask him to relay that to Carol and the kids,
okay?”

There was another pause. “Well, what about
your party? Aren't you going to be there?”

He was beginning to wonder if the woman was
stricken with some form of dementia. “I think I must have the wrong
number.”

“Well Rob, I don't understand. Who were you
trying to call?”

“Who is this?” he asked.

“
Who is this
? Rob is this some kind
of a game? It’s Mary.”

He had no idea how to respond. “Just … give
Ted the message, alright?”

“Well, I don’t understand, but okay,” She
said with just a hint of exasperation.

“One more thing.”

“What’s that, hun?”

“Tell him to pray for me.”

“Oh Rob, you're in our prayers every
day.”

“Okay, I gotta go.” He looked back at the
plane as passengers were boarding.

“I'll be over in about an hour,” she said.
“I'm just finishing up decorating your cake.”

Rob could hear her smile clearly through the
phone. He thought about saying something else, but had no idea
what. “Goodbye.”

“Bye, bye birthday boy! See you in a
bit.”

He listened until he heard the click that
told him the connection had been terminated, and then he turned off
the phone. As he put it back in his bag, the woman's voice came
over the intercom again, repeating the boarding call.

The flight was far from full, and most of
the other passengers had already boarded. He made his way to the
counter and handed the ticket to the attractive woman at the
doorway wearing the airline's uniform. “Welcome aboard
Senhor
Pray. Enjoy your flight,” she said with a heavy
accent as she handed the ticket back.

“
Os meus agradecimentos,
” he
replied.

As he walked down the boarding ramp, he was
comforted by the fact that at his destination was a person he
trusted without reservation. Someone unknown to anyone outside of
his family and close circle of friends, and who had the means to
help him find some much-needed answers to some very important
questions.

Silently, he began reciting the Lord's
Prayer.