Wrong Time (10 page)

Chapter 10

Late that night, Nathan and Sam met
their crew just outside of Silver Springs in a rural area between there and the
adjoining town of Crawfordville. The first thing that Sam noticed about their
fellow soldiers was how few of them there were. There was only one truck full
of men and a smaller truck filled with cans of gasoline.

“Campbell really wasn’t joking when he
said that we would lead a
small
crew,
was he,” Sam said quietly to Nathan.

“I’m just glad that we came up with
something besides a brute force plan. That would have never worked with such
few people,” Nathan said.

As the men piled out of the large truck,
Sam started to speak but then stopped herself. She could have easily explained
the plan to these men, but this had been Nathan’s idea. Maybe it’s time to let
him take a leadership role, Sam thought.

“Nathan, do you want to fill everyone
in on what we’re going to be doing tonight?” Sam asked.

Nathan turned to her with a surprised
look that showed a hint of fear. She gave him a reassuring nod in return.
Nathan had never been very comfortable talking in front of a lot of people, but
he gave it his best shot anyway.

“Okay. You five are going to go to the
elevator and keep anyone from getting off of it by any means necessary. The
rest of you are going to grab a can of gasoline and pick a wall. We need to
cover all the walls and a large portion of the floor. Afterward, we’ll make a
trail of gasoline that leads outside and light the place up. This should all be
done as quickly as possible. We should aim to be in and out of the place inside
of five minutes.”

“That all sounds great in theory, but
how are we supposed to keep them from coming up from the basement and getting
off of the elevator?” one of the five men asked.

“That’s also simple. Just call the
elevator, and then stand in the doorway. They can’t call it if it refuses to
move.”

Some of the men grumbled at Nathan’s
words. They didn’t know who he was, and they thought that his plan was too
simplistic. Why were they using gasoline? Wouldn’t a bomb or some type of
explosive device be much more effective? Finally, one of the men voiced their
concern.

“No offense, but this plan is
incredibly simple. A child could have made it. Why in the world are we using
gasoline and matches? We have access to all types of explosives. It just seems
to me, and anyone here with an actual brain, that explosives would not only get
us out of there quicker, but they would also do a more effective job of
destroying the facility,” the man said.

Nathan was a little bit stunned at
first. He hadn’t expected someone to basically tell him that his entire plan
was stupid. Sam started to speak, but Nathan interrupted her. If an explanation
of why his plan had to be this way needed to be given to the idiot in front of
him, then he was going to be the one to give it.

“First of all, how many of you are
familiar with this area?” Nathan asked.

No one raised their hands.

“If you were familiar with this area, you
would know that the facility we’re going to is located a good distance from any
houses. That’s a good thing because people around here live for something like
a building catching on fire. If there was a loud explosion, then a few hundred
people would call the local fire department, and pretty much the whole
community around here would drive over to the facility and watch as the fire
fighters put it out. It would take no more than two minutes for the fire
department to be notified. That would leave us with less time to get away, and
it would leave the building with less time to burn. If we do this quietly, the
fire department probably won’t be notified until we’re long gone and the
facility is a lost cause. Another advantage to this plan is the fact that it
won’t become a media eyesore. Remember that normal people don’t know this
facility is anything more than a solar panel plant. If something big like a
bomb were to destroy it, everyone would assume that this was another terrorist
attack. The public would be in a panic, and we don’t want that. They have
already had enough to panic about lately. So if no one else has any more dumb questions
for me, then let’s get out of here,” Nathan said while glaring at the man who
had asked him the question earlier.

There was nothing but silence. Sam
walked up and patted Nathan on the shoulder.

“All right, you heard the man. Let’s
go,” Sam said.

On the way over to the facility Sam
couldn’t help but feel a little proud of Nathan. Yes, this had been a difficult
adjustment, and yes, he had certain problems with what they were doing tonight,
but he had been able to not only come up with a way for them to avoid losing
lives, but also delivered that plan in a confident manner. He seemed to really
be coming into his own. Nathan noticed that Sam was looking at him in a way
that he wasn’t used to seeing her look at him.

“So what is it? Is there something on
my face?” Nathan asked.

“No, I’m just really proud of you,” Sam
said.

“Proud of me? Why?”

“Well, let’s see. You’ve adjusted seamlessly
to this situation, you’re extremely smart, and you’re one of the most capable
people I’ve ever met.”

“I wouldn’t say that I’m very smart,
and I know I’m not capable in the same way that a lot of the other people here
are.”

“Nathan, the only thing that you aren’t,
is confident. We’re going to have to see what we can do about that,” Sam said
as she reached over and grabbed his hand.

Once they arrived at the facility, they
got out of their car, and all of the other men piled out of the truck and
grabbed the gas cans. The five men that Nathan told to stop the elevator did as
he said. Nathan and Sam stood on the outside of the small factory and watched
as people ran in and out of the building over and over again. The base below
was in a panic because of what they were seeing on their security monitors.
They were quickly piecing together a plan of escape, but their plan was too
late. Inside of just four minutes, Nathan and Sam’s men emerged while pouring a
long trail of gas to their location.

“I jammed the door with my gun. They
won’t be able to come up for a few minutes. Would you like to do the honors?”
one of the men asked Nathan.

“You know what? If you want to, then
why don’t you do it?” Nathan asked.

The man looked excited by the idea and
immediately lit the match and threw it to the ground. Nathan was glad that he
decided not to throw the match after he saw the destruction it caused. The
soldiers had really covered the place in gasoline well because it didn’t take very
long before the entire factory was engulfed in flames.

“It was great working with all of you,”
Sam said as the men quickly began to pile back into their truck.

Sam started running toward their car,
and Nathan followed close behind her. As he was getting into the car, he took
one last look at the inferno and felt a large ball of guilt build up inside him.
This must be how Michael feels all the time, he thought and then jumped into
the car.

The ride away from the burning factory
was a quiet one. Once they were back in Memphis, Sam finally spoke.

“You didn’t do anything wrong if that’s
what you’re thinking over there. If you need someone to talk to you about this,
please just talk to me,” Sam said.

“I’m okay, but don’t say that I didn’t
do anything wrong. Killing someone, or even making a plan to kill someone, is
always wrong,” Nathan said.

Sam was worried about what Nathan had
just said. There was no room for doubt in her profession, and she didn’t want
Nathan to let that doubt get him hurt one day. At the same time, she respected
that he wasn’t just dismissive at the loss of life, even if it was the loss of
enemy lives. Nathan had been studying her face after he spoke, and he felt that
he needed to explain what he meant in more detail.

“There really is no reason for you to
worry about me. I’m never going to take someone dying lightly, but I know that
what we did tonight was a necessary evil. I also know that it’s probably not going
to be the worst thing I do during my time with the CIA. I’m not going to
pretend it’s okay, but I can live with the things that we’re doing as long as I
know they serve some greater good. I guess what I’m saying is don’t worry about
me because I’m in this with you all the way.”

“Thank you, and just so you know, I’m
glad that you feel something every time you have to be a part of something like
this. I don’t think I would like you so much if you didn’t freak out a little
bit when we did these kinds of things.”

Sam parked the car in a parking garage,
and the two of them walked across the street to a hotel. Once they checked in and
went to their room, they began to talk again.

“So what do you think they’re going to
have for us tomorrow?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe they’ll have
gotten some information out of Chloe by then. If so, we’ll probably be going to
get the man responsible for all of this,” Sam said.

“So there’s still one thing that I
don’t get,” Nathan said.

“What is that?”

 
“Who exactly paid Boyd’s company to kill
so many people a few days ago?”

“That’s the million dollar question. My
money would be on some terrorist organization.”

“Really? Do you think it’s that
simple?”

“Believe it or not, it usually is that
simple, and Markus has already proven that he doesn’t discriminate against who
he associates himself with, so I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“I’m pretty sure that when we find out
exactly who paid for this, it’s going to start another war,” Nathan said.

“Honestly, I’m pretty sure that before
we even know who did this, some anxious idiot is going to start a war. Don’t
worry about stuff like that. That’s the army’s business.”

“I suppose that you’re right. Well, I
think I’m going to take a shower. Care to join me?” Nathan joked.

“Oh, so he’s smart, capable, and now after
he put that man in his place, courageous. As tempting as that sounds, I think I’ll
have to pass.”

“Okay, but don’t ever say that I didn’t
try to be a friend and share the hot water with you,” Nathan said while walking
into the bathroom.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you were
trying to share with me,” Sam mumbled to herself as she flopped down onto the
bed. She slowly closed her eyes, and before she knew it, she was out.

* * * * *

The next morning, Michael and everyone
else went to work, only Michael wasn’t going to be getting any work done at
all. He was going to go to therapy. He had originally agreed to see a
professional, but the more he thought about it, the more he hated the idea of going
to see another person who would just judge him based on preconceived notions
and then spit out advice that was supposed to make everything better. He
eventually made his way to Mr. Harper’s office, but he made sure to be at least
five minutes late. That was his own childish way of letting the therapist know
that he really didn’t care to be there, nor did he think he needed to be there.
He knocked on the door and entered.

“Hello, Michael,” Harper said.

“Hey,” Michael said while taking a
seat.

The two of them sat in silence for at
least a full minute.

“Well, why are you here?” Harper asked.

“Don’t you have all of my information
in that file?” Michael asked while pointing to the file on his desk.

“Yes, I’m sure that everything I’m
supposed to know about you is in there, but I haven’t even bothered to read it.
It would simply be a waste of my time.”

Michael was shocked and a little offended
by what the man said.

“A waste of your time! Mr. Harper, if
you don’t care about your job enough to read my file, then why should I trust you
to give me advice?”

Harper only pulled out a pad from his
desk drawer and began writing something. Michael was not only being ignored,
but as far as he could tell, the doctor was diagnosing him. He was infuriated.

“What are you writing there? Let me
guess. Is it something about my violent and aggressive behavior? No, it’s
probably about some unresolved childhood issues, isn’t it?” Michael asked.

“First of all, my name is James. I
absolutely hate being called by my last name. Second, I didn’t read your file
because what some adrenaline high soldiers may think of your behavior or
situation doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. I would rather hear your story and
what troubles you from the only person who can truly tell me. Finally, I’m not writing
anything about you. I’m drawing a train because your little outburst is boring
me. If you’re angry, that’s fine, and if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s
fine too, but I’m stuck with you all day and every day until I can clear you,
so I think that we should make this the best experience possible.”

Michael was shocked by how upfront
James was with him.