James (Teumessian Trilogy Book 2) (12 page)

“You okay?” Chessy asked, standing in his doorway.

The sound of her voice shocked James back to reality as he fumbled with the bear trying to hide it behind him.

“Yah, I’m fine.” James looked to Chessy.

She didn’t believe him as she could see he had tears forming in his eyes. “You don’t have to hide the bear from me. I know you have it,” she said walking into the room and sitting down next to him. “Can I see it?”

James pulled the bear out from behind him and held the bear out on his lap.

“‘We love you’,” Chessy read aloud as she glanced back to James. “It’s from her, isn’t it?”

James shrugged.

Chessy smiled slightly as she placed her hand on James’s back and rubbed. “You will figure it out. We are here to help you. However, going forward, I will not be helping in a dress.”

James let out a loud laugh.

“Oh, damn, that sounded bad didn’t it?” Chessy said with a chuckle. “You know what I meant,” she said, giving James a side hug.

James nodded.

“Okay, I am going to bed. Get some sleep,” Chessy said as she walked from the room.

“Good night,” James called to her as she left. He looked back to the bear and gently placed it back in the bag. James removed his pants and shirt and crawled up under the covers. He closed his eyes and let his mind go blank as he drifted to sleep.

Chapter

21

The evening hadn’t ended well for Franklin either. Franklin had returned to his home without his female companion. He never allowed her to stay the night. He figured it would look bad to the public. Franklin made his way up the three flights of stairs to the living quarters at 10 Downing Street. Entering his study, he rapidly made his way to the crystal crevasse of Brandy sitting on his oak bookcase. He opened it and poured himself a large glass and took a seat in one of his maroon leather high back chairs that sat by the window. Meeting James unnerved him, even though he knew the day would come. He knew who James was. Franklin could feel his hands shake as he raised his glass to his lips.

“The boy is on to you,” A female voice called from the shadows of the room.

Franklin took a deep breath, “I thought it was understood that I got some privacy. I keep my babysitter nearby as instructed when I am out. I don’t appreciate one being in my home.”

“I’m not here to babysit you, I am here to warn you.”

“Then you can do it during business hours,” Franklin said, taking a long sip of his brandy.

“You need to watch your tone. You have been placed where you are for a reason. You let on to the boy that you know about him. That is a very dangerous thing to do,” the woman replied.

“Okay, I get your whole dramatics thing, but I am in no mood. I know what is at stake and you can tell your boss that I know my job and how to do it. I don’t report to her, she doesn’t call the shots,” Franklin barked back, “and if you want, I can go to mine and tell them that yours is interfering and overstepping boundaries.”

The woman laughed, “You presume to know everything. You need to watch your back. You don’t want to end up on the wrong side of this.”

A sharp stabbing pain struck Franklin in his neck. It was a dart. He felt the room starting to spin as he lost consciousness. When he came to, the woman was gone. He never saw her face, but he knew she had to be one of Ming’s girls. The dart was still sticking from his neck. He pulled it out and looked at the markings on the side, ‘Soldat Ind’ it read on the side. Franklin felt his hands shake as he threw it on the floor. The dart bounced and landed under his desk. Franklin’s entire body was shaking as he ran from the room. He moved quickly to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him. He would contact his bosses in the morning.

Chapter

22

James had the same mindset as Franklin when he woke up. He needed to contact Ray. James made his way to the phone and rapidly dialed the number Ray had given them to contact.

The phone rang three times before a very sleepy Ray answered the phone, “Hello?” he questioned.

“Oh, shit, I forgot about the time difference. It’s the middle of the night isn’t it?” James asked, concerned.

“Yes it is,” Ray replied getting his bearings. “But what’s going on?”

James couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out, “The prime minister knew my mother.”

There was a long pause on the other side of the line, then Ray responded, “How do you know that?”

“I asked him about her and he had this look on his face. He knew her.” James rushed through his words.

“And what is significant about this in your mission to keep an eye on the ambassador?” Ray asked, almost annoyed.

James realized he was focusing on the wrong thing, he was there to do a job and that should be his focus. “I’m sorry, sir, the ambassador is a womanizing jerk, but seems pretty harmless. We haven’t seen anything to implicate him as being corrupt or a danger.”

Ray was silent for a moment, “Okay, thank you for the update. Please stay focused on your mission and I will stay on the other matter.”

James understood him clearly, “Yes, sir.” He heard the phone click on Ray’s end.

James also hung the phone up and looked around. Both Chessy and Greg were still asleep, so he figured he would do the same and returned to his bedroom back to sleep.

Ray, on the other hand, couldn’t fall back asleep. He lay there in his bed just staring at his black ceiling fan as it spun over his head. The moonlight was gleaming through the window to his left. Ray sat up in the bed and looked to the window. He couldn’t sit still anymore so he got out of bed. Ray pulled his hands through his blonde hair and rubbed his neck. The moonlight struck his body as he stood, his bare chest was revealed showing a large tattoo on his left upper chest, the mark of a navy seal. Ray made his way to the window and stared out into the darkness. Ray had been struggling to sleep ever since he met James for the first time. He had been holding onto his secrets. He couldn’t let James know what he knew. James wasn’t responsible for all of it and it was still coming around to plague him. “Franklin knew her,” Ray let out as he stared out the window.

“Who else’s life did she effect?” He questioned aloud. Ray clenched his eyes shut as Marie’s face came to his mind. He couldn’t forget her. About a year and a half after she went missing, his unit had been sent after her. Gold had used his resources within the government to get the best to capture her. Ray could remember the mission so clearly. They were told she was a risk to national security and that she needed to be brought in alive to see what she knew and who she had told. She knew things, they told him, things they couldn’t even tell him. The day they caught up with her, they found her in an abandoned warehouse in upstate New York. They thought they would take her by surprise, but it was almost as though she knew they were coming. They had set up two snipers, himself included. Ray could remember taking his position in the upper rafters of the building and making visual contact with his partner placed on the other side of the building. They had found the heat signature indicating that she was in an old office in the back of the building. Ray sighted his gun on the office to try to make a visual of her through the frosted glass, but couldn’t.

He radioed to his unit, “No visual, be prepared to go in by force.”

He waited silently for the rest of the unit to storm the building. The remaining four members of his unit entered the building moments later, dressed for combat, automatic rifles in their hands. They had been ordered to bring her back alive, but were warned that she was a physical threat and to be prepared to wound her to subdue her. They swiftly busted the glass of the window and threw a tear gas canister though the window and moved back, guns readied. Ray could still not get visual.

“United States Government, come out and surrender. You are surrounded!” one of his team members called out.

“You know it’s hard for me to surrender when I’m behind you,” Marie replied as she appeared from behind the soldiers.

They had all quickly turned and pointed their guns. Ray had been taken off guard as well. He re-positioned himself to have her in his sights. She was not what he had imagined. Dressed all in black, a black tank top with black shorts, her short dark hair lay flat to her head, Ray spotted two knives holstered on her back. Marie held her hands in the air as she faced the soldiers.

“Now, I have no desire for this to get messy, so it’s time for you boys to leave.”

“We are not going anywhere. We are bringing you in,” one of the soldiers replied.

Marie lowered her hands to her side, “You are not in charge, sweetie, so I wasn’t talking to you. I want to talk to the one in charge if you want me to even consider surrendering.”

Ray knew that meant him, she wanted to talk to him.

One soldier looked up toward Ray.

Marie followed his line of sight, “So, the boss is upstairs. Come down sweetie, so we can talk.”

Ray knew she was dangerous and the thought of losing any of his men in her apprehension made his choice easy, “Okay, I am coming down,” Ray said, standing up and revealing himself to her.

Marie smiled at him, her eyes locked onto his.

Ray moved down from his post to the ground and stepped in front of his men.

“Mask off, I won’t talk to anyone wearing a costume,” Marie said, pointing to the black mask that was covering Ray’s face and leaving only his blue eyes visible.

Ray pulled the mask off his face. “Okay, my mask is off. Let’s talk this out. What do I have to do to get you to surrender peacefully?”

Marie had a sly smile on her face, “Seals, right? What does the US Military want with me, huh?”

“You have been deemed a threat to national security.”

“Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. You are errand boys out to clean up someone else’s mess. I am not going back and you are not supposed to kill me. So, I can put you all in the hospital or you can let me walk out of here.”

Ray was about to respond when the soldier standing to his left shot a round at Marie, grazing her in the right thigh.

Marie didn’t move.

Ray yelled at the soldier, “Hold your fire!” As Ray turned back to Marie, he could see her face had changed, her eyes were dark and her playful smile was gone. However, his eyes were drawn to her leg. The bleeding had stopped. Ray looked back to her eyes, “What are you?” he questioned.

“The wrong person to fuck with!” Marie barked as she attacked. That was the last thing Ray remembered. When he came to, she was gone and all of his men were either dead or unconscious. That scene played over in Ray’s head every day since it happened. He had spent the rest of his career searching for more information on her. It took him joining the CIA to get the access he needed to learn about Soldat Industries and the truth behind who she was and why they had wanted her. He had learned about her death, but her body had been burned before they could retrieve it for testing. He had heard rumors that she had a child, but never actually expected to come into contact with him. James telling him about his memories of his mother just fit the information he had on Marie. James was Marie’s son. But she was dead. Why were people still talking about her? Ray continued to stare out the window. Could James hold the same power to heal as her? Did his superiors know who James really was? Was that why they recruited him in the first place? Ray shook his head. He knew that if that was true, James would become a target if he wasn’t one already. Ray had to keep it from him. It was the only way to protect him.