Wrong Time (9 page)

“No, not at all. Judging by her
reaction to what happened yesterday, I think that he must have meant a lot to
her,” Jason said.

“What’s being done to the man who
killed David?”
 

“We’ve been questioning him all morning,
but so far, it hasn’t done any good at all. I think that this guy may be a lost
cause.”

“I see. Well, I think that I’m going to
let Lee know what’s going on. He was up with her all night,” Jess said and
walked back to her office.

She couldn’t go downstairs to his floor
because she didn’t have the clearance to even be there, so she simply sent Lee
a text explaining how Trish had seen David get killed and how they couldn’t get
any information out of the man who killed him. Upon receiving it, Lee felt a
little awkward. He didn’t know that what had upset Trish
was
so bad. What could this David guy have been to her, though, Lee wondered. Lee
decided that he wasn’t going to just come out and ask Trish about the
situation. He was going to wait until she volunteered the information. She
needed time to heal from whatever had happened to her, and Lee trying to speed
that process along wasn’t going to help things.

* * * * *

Zane
found himself back in the same boat that he had decided to sail on in just a
few short nights ago. The waves were pounding the ship, and he was in a panic
because the lighthouse that would normally show them the way wasn’t operating.
Wave after wave crashed into the boat. In the not too far distance, the largest
wave that Zane had ever seen was approaching the ship.

“Brace
yourself,” he heard a voice say.

 
Zane did as the voice commanded, but when
the wave crashed into their boat, the impact of it sent him flying over the
edge of the ship and into the chopping water. He felt himself being pulled
under and tried to force himself to the surface. The more he struggled, the
more it felt like he was sinking deeper into the ocean. Finally, he gave up and
let the undertow take him wherever it wished. He held his breath for as long as
he possibly could. He was hoping for some type of miracle. In that moment, he
would have given anything to surface and see the moon. He only wanted to live
for one more moment. When he could no longer hold his breath and water started
to seep into his lungs, he was suddenly spit up from the ocean. The tide had
pushed him onto land. He gagged and coughed while spitting up the water that
had nearly drowned him.

“Thank
you, God,” he said in a truly grateful way. His body felt old and broken. He
knew that his sailing days were truly over no matter what he wanted. He looked
up to view his surroundings and found that the small island he had been spat up
on was the same island that the lighthouse was on. He was too weak to stand, so
he crawled as fast as he could to the lighthouse and up its steps. If he
couldn’t sail anymore, he knew that he had to protect anyone else from ever
being swept up in the same storm. As he got closer and closer to the lighthouse,
his strength returned little by little. By the time he was inside, he found that
he could stand. He walked straight in and turned the lighthouse beam back on.
He felt a sense of peace about his newfound purpose and smiled. Then he felt
himself losing consciousness.

Chapter 9

Zane woke up to see only a blur and to hear
something strange. He heard childlike voices coming from somewhere. It almost
sounded like cartoons.

“So you don’t just watch cartoons to
relax before a dangerous mission,” Zane said.

“You caught me. How are you feeling?”
Dan asked.

“I can’t see, and your voice sounds a
little low.”

“The door exploded when we tried to
open it. The blast did some damage to your hearing, but you should recover most,
if not all, of it soon.”
 

“What about my sight?”
 

“The doctor says that your vision
should improve significantly, but you’ll never be able to shoot accurately
again, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Well, that’s it. I’m officially done in
the field. I definitely wanted to go out better than this. Hell, I would have
rather gone out in the heat of battle than to be a blind old man, Zane thought
while feeling sorry for himself. Suddenly, what should have been the most
important thing to him from the start occurred to him.

“How is everyone else?” Zane asked.

“A total of twelve of us made it out of
there alive. The mission was a complete failure.”

“What about Michael? Is he okay?”

 
“He’s fine. I think everything that
happened left him in a bit of shock though, so I sent him back to Washington. I
don’t know if the kid is cut out to do the things that people like us have to
do.”

“Maybe he isn’t, but I’m really glad
that he’s at least okay. I never felt good about him coming with us.”

 
Zane thought hard about all the people he
had just led to their deaths, and for what? Some symbolic beginning? No, I
should have never led those people into that place without a better plan. I’ll
make sure that everyone in that facility burns for what they’ve done, even if I
can’t directly start the fire myself, Zane thought.

* * * * *

Two guards brought Chloe into a large
prison where a man sat at a table waiting to question her. As she sat down, the
man began.

“I want to know where we can find
Markus Boyd, and you’re going to tell me where I can find him,” the man said.

“And why exactly would I do that? You
haven’t given me an offer that I can’t refuse, and to spare you the speech
about how much you’re going to hurt me if I don’t tell you everything you want
to know, I’ll just go ahead and be up front with you. Pain doesn’t faze me.
Years ago I learned to go somewhere else in my mind during torture. There are
two things that motivate me. One is money, and the other is power. Offer me
something, and maybe I’ll decide to give you a small detail that I don’t mind
parting with,” Chloe said.

“You are going to tell me what I need
to know. I can promise you that. I’m not offering you anything but the chance
to tell me everything before we have to hurt you.”

 
“Well, I’m telling you right now that if
you touch one hair on my head, I’ll kill you. It may not be today or tomorrow,
but you’ll die.”

“Okay. Just remember that you brought
this on yourself,” the man said while motioning for the two guards to restrain
her.

All sorts of horrifying things were
done to Chloe that morning, but just like she told the man, she simply went to
another place in her mind. This wasn’t the first time Chloe had been through
enormous amounts of pain. She thought back to what had gotten her into this situation.
Not all of what she told Nathan had been a lie. She really was orphaned as a
child, and she really did have to do whatever was necessary to survive on the
streets of Moscow, but her story had never been a sad one to her. It was a
story of strength and the ability to overcome. It was almost funny to her that
these men believed she would break from simple pain being inflicted on her. She
had been through far worse pain and far worse mind shattering situations when
she was only a child. When she finally came back from the safe place in her
mind, the torture was over.

“Now, is there anything you would like
to tell me?” the man asked.

Chloe whispered in what sounded like a
very hoarse voice.

“What?” the man asked.

Chloe motioned for him to come closer.
The man placed his ear close to her mouth. She bit the man’s ear, taking a
piece of it clean off of his head. The man screamed in pain and fell backward
onto the floor.

“That’s just a taste of what I’m going
to do to you when I get out of here,” Chloe said after spitting the flesh from
her mouth. The guards collected their friend and quickly left her cell.
 

* * * * *

Nathan and Sam arrived in Memphis, and
they rented a car.

“So can we do that drive-by of my house
now?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Sam said as she
started heading toward his house.

Sam grabbed her phone and made a call
to someone. She told the person on the other line to forget high powered weapons
and that the main thing they would need tonight were matches and a lot of
gasoline.

“So it’s all set,” Nathan said in a
less than satisfied way as she got off the phone.

“Yeah, it is. If you don’t want to be a
part of this, I’ll understand.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” Nathan quickly
assured her.

After about an hour, Nathan and Sam
were riding past his old house. Sam slowed down, and Nathan peered out the
window. It appeared that both of his parents were home. His mom’s car was home,
and his dad’s eighteen wheeler was there. He felt bad about how worried they
must be, but he knew that not visiting until he could properly explain what was
going on was the best thing to do. A few feet up the road, an old dog stood in
the middle of the road and refused to move. It was a brown basset hound who
just looked like she was a little too big for her frame.

“Why won’t this dog move?” Sam asked in
an aggravated tone as she came to a stop.

“That’s my dog, Cupcake, and I’m sorry,
but she thinks that she owns this road,” Nathan said while smiling.

Nathan stepped out of the car and
called Cupcake over to him.

“Thanks for letting us pass on your
road, Cup,” Nathan said while patting her on the head.

As Nathan started to get back into the
car, the dog let out a sad whine.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry, and
take care of everyone for me.”

As Nathan and Sam drove away, Sam
couldn’t help but notice that Nathan was obviously much happier.

“That old dog means a lot to you,
doesn’t she?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t think I was going to be
able to show any of my family that I was okay, but I did. That just really
makes me happy.”

* * * * *

Michael arrived in Washington around
three in the afternoon. Once he was back at the office, Jess saw him and ran to
him. She greeted him with the firmest hug she had ever given him. Michael would
normally be happy that she was so glad to see him, but what he had been through
the day before left him unable to see the good, even in this situation.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay,” Jess
said while releasing him from her hug.

Okay
wasn’t exactly the word that Michael
would use to describe how he felt.

“Me, too,” Michael eventually said for
lack of a better thing to say.

“Oh, you’re back. Mr. Campbell wanted
to speak with you as soon as you got here,” Burt said after spotting Michael.

 
Michael walked away from Jess and entered
Campbell’s office. Jess knew that there was something wrong with him. He seemed
much more detached than usual. He had barely spoken to her. She feared that his
state of mind was a poor one at best after what he witnessed in Atlanta. When
Michael sat down in Campbell’s office, Campbell didn’t beat around the bush. He
just came right out and said what needed to be said.

“I’ve heard that the stress from combat
may have been too much for you. I think that starting tomorrow we need to have
you talk to our specialist. His name is James Harper, and he’s the best
psychologist that we have at our disposal. If there’s anyone who can help you
recover from all the things that you’ve seen, it’s him,” Campbell said.

Michael only nodded in agreement with Campbell.
He had fought therapy for so long, but for the first time in his life, he knew
that he needed it. Out there on the battlefield, his mind betrayed his body,
and until his mind was right, he would never be fit to help anyone. After a
little while, Campbell’s talk with Michael was over, and he exited the room. He
sat in Jess’s office in silence while waiting for her work to be over. Anytime
she said something to him, he only answered in the shortest way possible and
never left an opening for her to say anything back. When the day was over and
everyone was home, Michael lay down on the couch.

“You can sleep in my room,” Jess said.

Michael silently got up, walked to the
bedroom, and flopped down there.

 
“I don’t know what you saw out there, but
you know that sooner or later we’re going to need to talk about it,” Jess said.

“I just want to sleep right now. Please,
can all of this wait until tomorrow?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Goodnight,” Jess
said and closed the door.

As she walked to the pantry and looked
for something to eat, she worried. She didn’t know what to do for him, but she
knew that she had to do something.
 

While Michael and Jess were talking,
Lee walked straight to his room and crashed. He hadn’t slept in so long, and
his body could take no more. He awoke at midnight. Great, now my schedule is
all screwed up, he thought as he got up. Lee walked to the living room where he
found Trish watching television.

“Hey, you’re out of your room, but why
are you awake so late?” Lee asked.

“I slept all day, and I just can’t get
everything off my mind.”
 

“Yeah, I went to sleep as soon as I got
home, so I’m kind of in the same boat right now.”

“How did things go today with your lady
friend? Does she hate you for standing her up?”

“Yeah, I think that I’m pretty much
dead to her now.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you
so much trouble.”

“It’s fine. I was where I needed to be
last night, and if Megan doesn’t understand that, then it’s her loss.”

“Thank you. Can I tell you what’s going
on?” Trish asked.

“Yes. I would love to know what’s going
on.”
 

Trish explained to Lee what had
happened and who David was to her. Afterward, Lee told her how they were having
trouble getting information out of the man who killed David back at the office.

“I’ll see what I can do about that
tomorrow,” Trish said.

“What? You are
not
going back to work tomorrow after everything that you’ve been
through, and you’re certainly not going to face that man.”

“Oh, I’m going to do more than face
him. I’m going to squeeze every bit of information out of him, and then I’m
going to kill him.”

“See, that’s exactly why you can’t go
back there. That just sounds crazy, and that’s not the Trish I know talking.”

“Look, I’m going to do this. I need to
at least question the man.”

“Fine, but I’m coming with you in case
you try to do something stupid.”

“Do what you want to do,” Trish said as
her stomach growled very loudly.

“Have you eaten anything?” Lee asked.

“Not since yesterday morning. I just
haven’t felt like eating lately.”

“I’m no expert in these types of situations,
but there is one food that’s socially acceptable to eat no matter how you feel.
Come on. We need to go out for a minute,” Lee said.

“No, I’m in my pajamas.”

“That’s fine. I’ll go in,” Lee said.

“Okay, but where are we going?”

“You’ll see. Just come on.”

She followed him, and Lee drove to an
all-night grocery store where he went inside. When he emerged and walked to the
car, he had two pint sized ice creams and some plastic spoons.

“You know that this kind of stuff will
make you fat, right?” Trish asked.

“Oh, I know,” Lee said while pointing
down to his belly.

“You aren’t fat,” Trish quickly said.

“That isn’t exactly a six pack down
there.”

For the first time in two days, Trish
laughed.

“Thank you, Lee,” Trish said.

“For what? I just wanted some ice
cream,” Lee said while winking at her.