Wrong Place (The Wrong Series)

Wrong Place

Book 1 of the “Wrong” Series

By

Mitchel Grace

Other Titles by this Author

Wrong Time

Wrong Life

Coming Soon

Strange Visions: The Beginning

Strange Visions: Yesterday’s Sins

Strange Visions: False Endings

Wrong Place

By Mitchel Grace

Published by Mitchel Grace

Copyright 2013 Mitchel Grace

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

First of all, I need to say that I am thankful to God for giving me the ability to write this story.
I would like my family to know that they have been my courage when I had none. I don’t know if I could have done any of this without them. I would like to tell Cupcake, the best friend a person could have, that we miss her dearly. I also have to thank all of the wonderful people who inspire me. Without inspiration, there is no creativity. Finally, I have to thank the readers. Without you, there would be no way for me to show what is inside of me to the world. Here are a few people who deserve special mention.

Kelly Grace

Michael Grace

Jewell Robertson

Prologue

I found myself rushing desperately toward room 112, hoping that I wasn’t too late. How could I have possibly left her there alone, I wondered. There was really no time to debate the right or wrong of my decision now. I had to act. Not that I knew what I was going to do when I got there. Just a few weeks ago, I was only a normal guy. My biggest worry then was how to dodge phone calls from my odd friend Michael and what to tell my family I was doing with my life in order to get them off my back. Now I was in a life or death situation, and I feared that I was ill-equipped to handle it.

I could see the deep red
light of the motel sign ahead. I rushed into the parking lot and started making my way as fast as I possibly could to the room. As I walked, I pulled a small handgun from the waistband of my jeans. God, I hate these things, but here goes, I thought. Once I was outside the room, I took a deep breath and tightened my grip on the gun, a gun so small it would likely only be laughed at by this intruder. I put my hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. There, in the darkness, I could see her. She was tied to a chair, and a rather large man was standing behind her pressing a gun to her head. All I could think was, “Oh, my God, Sam!” It was at that moment that I heard it. A shot rang out, echoing into the furthest reaches of my mind. Shocked, all I could do was stand there staring in disbelief at what had just happened, and in almost the same moment, I felt a pain in the back of my head. Then there was nothing.

Chapter 1

  Everything started one cold morning a few weeks ago. I was getting ready to go to a job interview at a new solar plant that had recently opened in our area. Several manufacturing and shipping companies had moved into the new industrial park that had recently been built. As you might guess, Mississippi, like many other states, was desperate for new jobs, and my parents were desperate for me to get one of those jobs. 

This job
sounded easy enough to me at the time. It was advertised as an entry level position in the office, with a potential for advancement.  Although the description didn’t mention the job as a secretarial position, I suspected it would be just that. I wasn’t really excited at the thought of filing papers all day. I mean, shouldn’t I, a college graduate and a fairly creative guy, be able to do better than that? Well, I thought to myself, it really doesn’t matter considering that Mississippi isn’t exactly the land of great opportunities. Besides, my parents were pressuring me to do something with my life. Yeah, I live, or should I say, I lived with my parents back then.  That’s what happens when your roommate moves to Atlanta, and you run out of things you can think of to do in school. You see, I am a bit indecisive. I’m fairly bright, but I have zero direction, thus I landed here back at home.

After getting ready, I walked through the living room and into the kitchen where my mom was si
tting with a cup of coffee and her nursing book. She had recently gone back to school to become a nurse. Since my dad owned his own trucking business, he was always on the road except for on the weekends, so she decided it was time to do something for herself for a change. She had been a stay at home mom, and she even homeschooled me up until the sixth grade. Even though she was a strict teacher, she made learning really exciting for me, so I can blame her for the fact that I stayed in college a little too long. I actually enjoyed learning new things, so I just kept going back for different degrees through the years. I even took a real estate course and became a licensed agent. That’s when the housing market crashed.

My m
om has always been very supportive of me, in spite of any shortcomings that I may have. I guess you could call me a “momma’s boy.” You see, in a way, I’m sort of her only child. My sister died when she was a baby, so even if I’m not technically an only child, I’ve been raised as one. That morning she tried to get me to eat something before I left, but I was in a rush to get out the door, so I passed on breakfast and headed out to my car. 

I arrived at the solar plant and looked around
. The building was new and modern looking, but I was a little surprised by the size of it. It was rather small for a manufacturing plant. I had to admit, however, I was impressed by how nice it looked. Maybe this place has potential after all, I told myself. I mean, it looked nice enough, and besides, I could always leave if anything better came along. Just as I parked the car, my phone began to vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw Michael’s name and picture across the screen. I hit the ignore button. I’m busy, I told myself. The truth was, however, that I had been avoiding Michael for a while. How can I put this? Michael is a little strange . . . okay, really strange. I just had not made the time for him like I did when we were teenagers. In fact, I was blatantly avoiding him at this point, but it still hadn’t stopped the calls.

Upon entering the facility, I noticed t
wo things. The first was a sign-in sheet at the front desk where an older, slightly heavyset woman sat. 

“Mr. Grey?” 

“Yes,” I replied. 

“Please sign in here, and Mr. Fields will be with you shortly,” she said. 

After signing in, my attention was immediately drawn to the second thing I had noticed . . . the young lady who was sitting in the small waiting area to my right. She was the only person in the waiting area, so I assumed that she was here for the very same reason I was. Yes, I was sure of it. She was my competition, but damn, why did the competition have to be this gorgeous? I would definitely hire her before I would hire myself, I thought.  She had blonde hair and deep green eyes. She looked to be slightly above average height and gave off an aura of confidence that was a little intimidating. I was so transfixed that it took me too long to realize one simple fact. She was looking back at me. Oh great, I thought, as I looked away. Here she is just waiting for an interview, and here you are, the creepy guy, ogling her. Way to go, Nathan.

I sighed to myself
and finally took a seat in the waiting room across from her. After a few minutes she quietly said, “Hi. I’m Samantha.” 

“What?”

“My name is Samantha, but most people just call me Sam,” she replied. “I assume you’re here for the office opening?”

“I’m Nathan, and peo
ple call me um . . . Nathan,” I said. Wow, really great Nathan. You sound like an idiot. 

Then I heard a quiet
laugh, and Sam said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Nathan, and good luck to both of us.”

Time passed slowly in awkward silence, or at least it felt awkwa
rd to me. After what seemed like an eternity, I heard the secretary say, “Ms. Fisher, Mr. Fields will see you now.” As she was leaving, I was wondering why on earth I had such a hard time talking to women, especially beautiful women. The truth was that I had been able to form only two lasting relationships with women. One, of course, was with my mother, and the other was with Holly Daniels. Holly was my first love, and as much as I regretted it, we had grown into really great friends, and I reiterate,
only
really great friends. Why am I thinking about this stuff now, I wondered. Maybe I was lonely, or maybe a part of my mind was simply screaming that I was socially retarded, especially when it came to beautiful women. I needed to be worried about this interview instead, but the truth was that I couldn’t care less about whether or not it went well. My main focus was on improving my life on an intellectual level and on finding a challenging job. I doubted that this one would do either of those things.   

Another
vibration came from my pocket. I pulled out my phone and saw that it was Michael calling again. I hit ignore again, but this time I felt a little bad about it, so I decided to send a text telling him that I was in an interview and I would call him later. As I hit send, I saw someone walk by quickly. It was Sam leaving.

As
she was leaving the building, I noticed something fall out of her bag. I waited a moment, thinking that she might notice, but she kept going. I went over to pick it up, thinking I might be able to catch her. It was a small black flash drive. I picked it up and fought the urge to chase after her. I knew that I should, but I would be called back for my interview soon. Surely she would notice that it was missing and come back for it. I had all but decided to give the flash drive to the lady behind the front desk when I heard a man scream, “Margaret!” He was obviously in a panic. The pudgy woman behind the desk hurried into his office where I could make out only one part of the conversation. I clearly heard him scream, “Where is she? Notify security! We have to catch her!” I slowly slipped the flash drive into my pocket. When Margaret returned, I was urged in a most polite way to leave. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grey, but Mr. Fields isn’t feeling well. We’ll have to reschedule your interview, if you don’t mind.” Not really knowing what was else to do, I simply nodded my head and exited the building.

If I had known at that time what was really going on, I probably would have simply handed over the flash drive to Margaret and moved on with my ordinary life. Ultimately
, I’m glad that I didn’t. After all, once you’ve lived extraordinarily, words like boring and ordinary just seem unacceptable.

As I got into my car and began to drive,
I made the phone call that I promised Michael I would make. As soon as I heard hello on the other end of the phone, I said, “Hey, the strangest thing just happened to me.”

* * * * *

Meanwhile, back at the solar plant, a furious man began to scream at the defenseless Margaret. “You just let him leave? How do we know he didn’t see something or that they weren’t working together on this? How could you be so stupid?”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Fields,” Margaret apologized over and over. Her
apology meant nothing to him. After all, she wouldn’t be blamed. She wouldn’t have to make a phone call to the most insufferable man on this planet and beg for her job. Who was he kidding? He would probably be begging for his life. He then walked back to his office and picked up the phone. In a meek, low voice for a man who was normally very confident, he said, “I need to speak with Mr. Boyd.”

Margaret could hear
Mr. Fields begging from the next room. Although it was a bit sad, she couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that the most hateful human being in her world had to grovel to someone, just as she had to grovel on a daily basis. Sure, she knew that this whole thing would trickle down to her, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t accepted this position to conduct phony interviews. She accepted the position to make a difference in this nation. Now she often regretted it, but she knew that once you were invited to be a part of the organization, you accepted, and you didn’t quit. No, quitting was never an option for me, she thought. She had even begun to question the very purpose of the organization that she worked for. Supposedly they were like the CIA, only without rules. They had connections all over the world, and they got things done, or so she was told. Still, it was impressive that they could moonlight as a solar panel plant. She wondered why people weren’t aware that they never had more than twenty-three employees at this location. Just then she noticed a silence. Mr. Fields was off the phone and was about to enter the room.

* * * * *

As Samantha drove away from the facility, she couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of pride. She smirked and said out loud, “I guess we’ll see just how corrupt this place is now.”   She couldn’t help but think back to the strange guy in the waiting room. What was wrong with him? She wasn’t used to people staring at her, but then again, she wasn’t really used to civilian life in general. For all she knew, his staring was completely normal. What about all those “umms?” I’m surprised he could even tell me his name, she thought. It was a shame, though. He was kind of cute. 

Long gone from the facility by this time, she decided to take out her prize. Pani
c set in when she realized she couldn’t find it. She pulled over and frantically began to search. It wasn’t in her bag, and she couldn’t find it anywhere in the car. She must have dropped it while rushing to get out of there. Great, she thought. My first time in the field and I screw up. It’s not as if I can go back and look for it. Her mind raced as she retraced her steps. At that moment, a thought occurred to her. Maybe, just maybe, that guy waiting for an interview had found it. She could feel him watching her as she quickly left. If she had dropped it inside the building, he would certainly have noticed. Didn’t he say that his name was Nathan? She had heard the secretary call him Mr. Grey. She would need to make a call to her contact and have him run the guy’s name. Finding him would be easy enough. Then again, for all she knew, her contact would be zero help. She had, after all, gone a little rogue on this one. It was worth a try anyway. She made the call.