Wrong Time (27 page)

“I have to go see to some details. There’s
a certain young woman who needs to die elsewhere. I’m only leaving because I
have all the confidence in the world that you’ll take care of the problem
here.”

Daniel was relieved that Markus hadn’t
gone soft. It was actually almost amazing to see how quickly he was thrusting
himself back into his job right after taking a knife to the leg.

“Thank you, sir. I won’t let you down,”
Daniel said.

“I wasn’t saying that as a complement.
I have faith that you’ll get everything done because you don’t want me to have
to come back here and deal with you,” Markus said while shooting Daniel a hard
look.

What is wrong with this idiot? Why is he
looking for approval from me, Markus wondered.

“I understand, sir,” Daniel said and
made his exit.

Markus turned back to his phone and
made a call.

“Yeah, some things have gone wrong in
France, and I need you to do something for me.”

Markus then proceeded to tell the person
on the other end of the line to have explosives planted in a choice few
locations.

“If and when you get word that the
facility here in France has been attacked, then I want you to send word to
detonate all of them,” Markus said.

As he hung up the phone, he couldn’t
help but smile. If they wanted a war back in Washington, that’s exactly what
they were going to get. Soon, not only would they know he meant business, but
they would also be dead. It was only a matter of time really.

* * * * *

A few days later, Markus was sitting in
the one place that no one would expect him to be. It was a place that was in
plain view. Oftentimes, when people are looking the hardest for you, they forget
to look in their own backyard. He was in Las Vegas. This was the place where it
all started for him. From time to time, he liked to come back here and remember
his humble beginnings. As he was sitting there that evening, he received a
phone call.

“They have attacked in Paris,” a man on
the other end of the phone said.

“You know what to do now. Show them
that every time they touch us, innocent people will die,” Markus said.

“All right, I’m on it.”

“Wait one moment, though. Do we have
any updates on the location of Chloe Schneider?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll have
something for you soon.”

“You better have something soon,”
Markus said and hung up the phone.

He flipped the television to the news
and waited in excited anticipation for the fireworks to start. When the time
came and the first reports started coming in, Markus couldn’t help but feel an
enormous amount of pride swell up in him. Any amount of hurt or pain that
someone could ever dish out, he could return tenfold. He waited for a time and
enjoyed the panic on the screen. Finally, when he had grown tired of the chaos,
he picked up the phone and made a call. He was going to call the man who likely
led the attack in Paris now that John was dead. He was going to call Zane in
order to tell him exactly who he was dealing with. You see, some men like to
strike their enemy by surprise, but not Markus. He preferred to tell his enemy
exactly what he was going to do and then do exactly that. There was just
something that was absolutely thrilling to him about watching another person
who was powerless to escape their fate, even when they knew it was coming.

“Hello,” Zane said on the other end of
the phone.

Markus smiled and then began to speak.

Chapter 28

One month later, Nathan and everyone
else had relocated to Miami. Zane felt that with what had happened to Campbell,
everyone should be moved to a new location and that it should all be done off the
books. Everyone agreed, and honestly, Miami wasn’t a hard location to sell to
anyone. Everyone, except Lee and Trish, had been trying to uncover and chase
down leads as to where Markus could be, but so far, they had found nothing.
Things were unusually quiet for the last month. Things were almost too quiet,
but it’s not like anyone was complaining. The extra time had given Trish plenty
of time to recover. She came out of her situation in great shape, but there had
been some complications. The location where she was shot had caused more damage
than the doctors initially thought it would. Although she was perfectly healthy
now, she had lost the ability to ever have children. She never wanted children,
or really even thought about it, but now that it wasn’t even an option, she
felt somehow lost. Lee didn’t care if she could have children or not. He only
cared about her, and you would have thought that the experience back in Paris
would have only brought them closer together, but the truth was that ever since
Trish got the news that she would never have a child, it was like a wedge had
been driven between them. Nathan and Sam, on the other hand, had grown closer
than ever. The long lull between any real work had left them plenty of time to
almost live like normal people would. Sam was really starting to warm up to the
idea of running away with Nathan when this was all over, especially if life
could be like it had been every day for the last month. Michael and Jess still
weren’t together romantically, but they had certainly grown closer. Jess found
that she could lean on him more than ever. In fact, she had actually begun to
trust him. Surprisingly, he was starting to be a model for stability. Burt and
Jason had their own place, and despite Burt’s rough appearance, he was
certainly enjoying the trips to the beach throughout their stay. Zane and Dan
both had places of their own. Zane set it up so that all three of the couples
could stay with each other. Sam was with Nathan, Trish was with Lee, and
Michael was with Jess. While Michael and Jess weren’t actually a couple, Zane
figured that they were close enough to one to let them stay together. Burt received
a medal for his supposed heroism back in Paris, but much to his dismay, the
medal was taken away right after he received it. The operation that was carried
out was a secret, after all. Life here was actually pretty ordinary. Something
about that was both comforting, and at the same time, maddening to Zane. He
couldn’t help but feel as if everything was about to come crumbling down around
them at any moment.

Michael and Jess were making dinner
that evening. Surprisingly, Michael had become quite the cook. His skills far
extended beyond eggs now.

“So do you think we’re ever going to
get a break in this case? I’m ready to end all this,” Michael said.

“I don’t know, but I kind of hope that
we never get a break in the case. I’m actually enjoying life the way it is
right now. Plus, the last time we actually had to do something, Trish was
almost killed. If that’s the cost of finding Markus, then I hope we never find
him,” Jess said.

“I know what you mean, but the sooner
we get this over with, the sooner we can all move on with our lives.”

“You say that we could move on with our
lives, but have you even decided what to move on to? I mean, I always figured you
would come back to Georgia with me, but back in France, you said you weren’t
sure what you were going to do.”

Michael thought hard for a moment. What
did he truly want to do? He couldn’t imagine being away from his best friend,
who in truth, he still loved as much more than a friend, but at the same time,
he had finally found purpose in what he was doing now.

“I just don’t know what I want to do. I
can’t imagine a life without you in it, but at the same time, I think that I
might have been born to do things like this.”

“Born to do things like this? Just a
little over a month ago, you couldn’t even shoot a gun!” Jess shouted.

The words had come out before Jess even
realized what she was saying. She regretted saying them as soon as she did, but
it was too late. There was no taking them back now.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve
gone through quite the transformation, but I guess it’s pretty typical that you
wouldn’t even notice,” Michael said.

“Well, what is
that
supposed to mean?” Jess barked back at him.

“It means that I’ve been trying for the
last month to prove to everyone that I’m a different person than I used to be,
and you, my best friend, haven’t even noticed a thing. I know that you think of
me as this helpless, sad guy, but I’m far more than that today. I’m grateful
for everything that you’ve done for me in the past. I don’t know if I would
even be here without you, but if you can’t recognize me for the man I am today,
I don’t know why I’m even trying with you.”

Jess was a little shocked, and she felt
pretty bad. Michael had never spoken to her like he was now, but at the same
time, it was true that she had never really acknowledged the man he was
becoming.
 

“Look, I’m going out,” Michael said and
started to go out the door.

Jess grabbed his hand.

“I’m sorry. I know that you’re totally
different now, and I haven’t been giving you the credit you deserve, but as
selfish as it sounds, I don’t want to lose you when this is all over.”

“Well, give me a reason to stay around.
I mean, you’re my best friend, but I’m not going to wait around my entire life
just for friendship. I need more than that, and if we aren’t meant for more,
then I have to follow the one thing that does give me purpose in life.”

Jess grabbed him and kissed him hard.
Michael quickly pulled away.

“If you aren’t serious, then just don’t,”
Michael said.

She wrapped her arms around him and
looked into his eyes.

“If you need a reason to stay, then I’m
going to give you one,” Jess said and gently kissed him again.

She dragged him back inside. Michael
had his reason to stay, and for the first time, Jess truly saw Michael in a way
that was amazing. She saw the man that Nathan described to her, and for the
first time, Michael felt like home to her.

* * * * *

At Trish and Lee’s house, there was tension
in the air. Trish had been depressed for the last month. She hadn’t wanted to
talk about it, but it was still there under the surface, and they both knew it.
Finally, Trish voiced her true concern.

“Look, I know that this isn’t what you
signed up for. I’m an emotional wreck, I have a ton of baggage, and to top it
off, I’ll never be able to have children. If you want out, then I get it. In
fact, I want you to get out because you deserve better than this,” Trish said.

“No, I have never even wanted kids.
You’re understandably depressed right now with everything that’s happened. You
got shot, for God’s sake. I understand what you’re going through, and I love
you. I don’t want to leave, and it hurts me that you think we would be better
off if we weren’t together,” Lee said.

Lee lied. He really did want to at
least have the opportunity to have children, but he valued his relationship
with Trish more than he valued the prospect of something that wasn’t even real.

“You’re lying,” Trish said while
staring at him.

“No, I’m not! Why would you say that?”

“I read people, and it’s written all
over your face. There’s some part of you that does want children, and it’s
okay. I understand, but you need to stop wasting your time, and find someone
who can give you the normal life you want.”

Lee thought for a moment.

“I do want children in the future. That
much is true, but you’re wrong about one thing. I don’t want an ordinary life.
I want an extraordinary one, and I believe I can have that with you. If we end
up together permanently, then maybe one day we can adopt a child. If not, then
I’ll be okay. I love you too much to lose you, no matter what our lives may or
may not be.”

Trish had studied his face as he said
every word. There was no deception on his face. Either Lee had just become the
best actor on earth, or he was telling the truth.

“You could really love me even if I
could never give you something so important?” Trish asked.

“I will always love you, no matter
what. The only one here who’s having doubts about
you,
is you.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I never
wanted children before, but now that I know it will never happen, I can’t help
but feel as if I’ve been robbed of something really important, and I don’t want
to rob you of that, too.”

Lee pulled her close to him.

“If I’m able to end up with you, then
everything in life after that is just icing on the cake. Don’t worry about
anything else. All I really need is you,” Lee said and kissed her.

For the first time in a month, Trish
felt relief. She had felt so bad and so alone, but with Lee, somehow everything
was always manageable. Trish pulled back for a moment.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“You couldn’t get rid of me even if you
tried at this point,” Lee said and pulled her back close to him.

* * * * *

Over at Nathan and Sam’s, they were
looking through some files to try to find some clue that could lead them to
Markus. They had been working all day long, and Nathan had worked as long as he
possibly could.

“Okay. I am officially done with this
wild goose chase for the day,” Nathan announced.

“Well, you certainly give up easy,” Sam
said.

“We’ve been looking at this stuff for
the past nine hours! That’s what you call easy?”

“All right, all right, we’ll take a
break for a little while. What do you want to do?” Sam asked.

“Oh, I could think of a thing or two,”
Nathan joked and scooted closer to her.

“Ha-ha, sorry, but that’s not going to
happen right now.”
 

“Oh, come on, Rachel.”

“I told you to stop calling me that,”
Sam said.

“Hey, you’re the one who kept the
glasses.”

“You told me that they made me look
like a hot librarian. I wasn’t going to just throw them away after that.”

Nathan came up behind her and started
to kiss the back of her neck.

“Stop it,” Sam said as she giggled.

As Nathan scooped her up in his arms and
carried her to the bedroom, her phone rang.

“Come on. Just leave it. It can’t
possibly be that important,” Nathan said.

“Just one minute, Mr. Brown,” Sam said
and gave him a quick kiss.

She walked back to the living room and
retrieved her phone.

“Hello,” Sam said.

“Is Nathan Grey there?” a man asked.

“Yes, but who is this?” Sam asked in
surprise.

“Someone with some very valuable information
for him.”

Sam slowly handed Nathan the phone.
Nathan said nothing when he received it. He only listened to the voice on the
other end. As time went on, Nathan’s face started to turn pale. Finally, Nathan
spoke.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,”
Nathan said and hung up the phone.

Nathan immediately started rushing
toward the door, but Sam blocked his path.

“Please, move,” Nathan said.

“No. Not until you tell me what’s going
on,” Sam said.

“I have to go home, and I don’t have
time to fill you in on the whole situation right now, so either move or come
with me.”

Sam could see from the unusually
serious expression on his face that something was really wrong.

“All right, let’s go. You can explain
everything to me on the way.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said and took her
hand.

The two of them hurried outside and
into the car.