Wrong Time (21 page)

Nathan, Sam, Michael, and Dan all
volunteered quickly.

“I’m in,” Trish announced.

“Well, I don’t know how much help I’ll
be, but if Trish is in, then so am I,” Lee said.

“I’ll come along and do what I can,”
Jess said.

Even Jason and Burt agreed to go.

“I’m lucky to have a crew who is so
anxious to put themselves in harm’s way for each other. Not all of you will
actually fight, but I’ll find something for everyone to do. If there’s nothing
else, then I have some French people to irritate until we get the okay from
them,” Zane said while smiling.

He, Dan, Jason, and Burt all left.

“All right, I’m all pumped up and ready
for tomorrow!” Michael said in excitement.

“Yeah well, I’m still pretty sleepy,”
Lee said while walking to his room.

Soon Trish followed suit and walked to
her own room.

“I could use a few more hours of sleep
myself,” Jess said.

“Well, no one here is any fun at all,”
Michael said in disappointment.

Nathan patted him on the shoulder.

“I wouldn’t mind a good nap myself,”
Nathan said.

Sam just sat quietly. She was thinking
deeply about everything that had happened. She was sad, but most of all, she
was angry. She had seen so many people lose their lives, and now John Campbell
had lost his. Someone had to pay for that, and she was determined to be the one
who made that person pay. A rage burned in her eyes, and as Nathan looked over
at her, he could tell that something was very wrong.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Nathan asked.

“Nothing. I just have a lot on my mind,”
Sam said.

“Well, if everyone else is going to be
asleep around here, then I thought maybe we three could go somewhere that I’ve
been wanting to go,” Michael said.

“I don’t know if Sam really wants to go
somewhere right now,” Nathan said while studying her face.

“Oh, okay. It’s just that there’s this
shooting range just outside of town, and I figured that the two of you might
want to see what you had in me considering the fact that I’m going to be
working beside you,” Michael said.

“Well, like I . . .” Nathan said before
Sam cut him off.

“I wouldn’t mind firing off a few
rounds,” Sam said.

“Well, it’s two against one, so I guess
we’re going then,” Nathan said.

As the three of them retrieved their firearms
and walked out the door, Nathan worried a little about Sam. Right now Sam just thought
that she needed an outlet for all of the stress and anger that had been
building up inside of her. She welcomed a little target practice.

Chapter 20

Once they arrived at the range and were
set up, they began. Sam went first. She fired quickly at an almost rapid pace.
Surprisingly, for the speed she was firing at, she was fairly accurate.

“You know you would probably hit it
dead in the middle every time if you slowed down,” Michael said.

“You don’t have time to slow down when
things are happening in real life,” Sam said.

Sam handed the rifle to Michael, and he
slowly set up. He took his time, and when he finally fired, it hit dead in the
center. Every shot landed exactly where Michael meant
it to.

“See that’s what happens when you take
your time,” Michael said with a smirk.

Sam was in no mood for advice or a
cocky competitor, so she took the weapon from Michael and took her time with
each shot. She was able to match Michael’s shooting.

“Anyone can shoot well when they have
all the time in the world,” Sam said while returning a smirk of her own.

Michael didn’t know what to say. He had
never been outshot by anyone, and honestly, his pride was a little hurt.

“Let’s see how well you do with a
little rapid fire,” Sam said while handing him the gun.

Once she got up and she was standing by
Nathan, he tapped her on the shoulder.

“Just let him have this one. This is
really the only skill he has,” Nathan whispered.

Sam was in no mood to let anyone have
anything, though. With everything that had just happened, she welcomed the
opportunity to put someone who was just a little too cocky in their place. Once
Michael began to fire, one thing was obvious. He couldn’t shoot accurately
without taking his time. The shots were all over the place compared to his
first attempt. He stood up and looked ashamed.

“Not so proud now, are you?” Sam asked.

Nathan pulled her to the side.

“Hey, what is wrong with you? The guy
just got out of therapy, and this is the only thing that he has. It gives him confidence,
or at least it did until a few seconds ago when you decided to take that away
from him. You’re awesome at everything you do, and you have someone who cares
about you. What does he have but one singular skill and a very shaky
relationship that he has no idea where is going,” Nathan said.

“I’m just blowing off some steam. With
everything that’s happened, you can understand that. He’s a big boy. He can
handle it.”

“If you’re upset about things then I
can understand that, but just don’t take it out on him. We can talk about this
when we get home, but for now, just be gentle with him. If you have to take
this out on someone, take it out on me.”

Sam hadn’t realized how she was acting,
but if Nathan, who basically never fussed about anything, was upset then she
knew that she may have crossed a line.

 
“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt
your feelings or anything. I’m just really stressed about everything that’s
been happening,” Sam said to Michael.

“It’s okay. I was over confident. I’ve
never met anyone who could shoot like me,” Michael said.

“How about I help you out a little?”

Sam showed him how to shoot more
accurately while having to unload a magazine. As the time passed, Nathan grew
more and more bored until a voice interrupted his thoughts.

“You’re up,” Sam said and smiled at him.

“I think I’m just fine watching,”
Nathan answered.

“No, I really want to see this,”
Michael said.

“I think that I do, too,” Sam said.

“You two don’t think that I can do this,
do you?”

“Not in the least bit,” Michael said.

Nathan took the weapon from Michael and
got into position. It’s just like a video game. You just point and pull the
trigger, Nathan kept telling himself. He lined up his shot, took a breath, and
slowly pulled the trigger.

“Oh my God! You almost hit it dead in
the center!” Michael said in disbelief.

“Beginner’s luck!” Sam shouted.

“Well, I think that I’m retiring from
long range shooting now. I’ve officially mastered it, and it’s important to go
out on top,” Nathan said.

Sam was fairly impressed. Is there
anything that this guy doesn’t pick up quickly, Sam wondered. The three of them
packed up and started back to the car. Once they were inside, Sam just asked.

“So is there anything that you can’t
pick up and do?”

“Oh, there are plenty of things that he
can’t do,” Michael said.

“Like what?” Sam asked him.

“Well, he can’t hit a baseball to save
his life, and the guy had always gotten stumped just trying to talk to women
until he met you. Oh, and never ask him to sing.”

“Hey, I have the voice of an angel!”
Nathan said.

“Maybe if the angel was in horrible
pain.”

“I think I want to hear this angelic
voice,” Sam said.
 

“I, uh, haven’t had my tea today. The
golden pipes just aren’t up to it right now,” Nathan said and looked away.

“Uh huh, well, we’ll get you some tea
as soon as we get home,” Sam said while laughing.

After Nathan and Sam dropped Michael
off, Nathan turned to her.

“So it was obvious that everything was
starting to get to you back there. You’re never mean just to be mean. You can
talk to me if something’s eating you. I’m here for you.”

“I didn’t mean to be that way with
Michael. I’m just so frustrated and angry. All of this has to end, and I’m
going to make it end.”

“What do you mean? How are you going to
make this end?” Nathan asked.

“I’m going to kill Markus Boyd and
anyone else who gets in my way.”

“You act as if you’re in this alone. We
all want this to end just as much as you do, and I promise you that it will end
soon, but for now, I need you to stay composed. I’m afraid of what might happen
if you don’t. I don’t think that I could stand losing you, so lean on me when
you need to, and when we get back to Paris, please have a clear head.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I promise you
that. I’ll try to lean on you more, but just understand that this is hard for
me. I wasn’t taught to sit around and strategize or to lean on someone. I was
taught to act,” Sam said.

“All right. I understand that, but do
me a favor.”
 

“What?”

“I know that everything just happened,
but let it go for today. It’s your birthday, and I want nothing more than to see
you happy on it.”

“Fine. What did you have in mind for us
to do?” Sam asked.

“For now, let’s go get some lunch and
talk about anything other than what’s happened today.”
  

* * * * *

Zane had just received the go ahead for
them to go to France, and he was calling Jason to let him know what was going
on.

“Hey, we have permission to go to
France, but there’s still one problem,” Zane said.

“What’s that?” Jason asked.

“For the last few days, Sam and
Nathan’s pictures have been plastered all over the news over there. The
government has no problem with them being there, but I’m pretty sure that more
than a few citizens will recognize them.”

“So what do you suggest we do about
that? Sam would never let us leave them behind.”

“I know, and we aren’t going to leave
them. We just need to give them a little makeover so that no one will recognize
them. Can you set that up?”

“Well, given the fact that our office
is closed, we really don’t have anyone who specializes in that sort of thing,
but I’ll find a way to get it done.”

“Great. Also, please let everyone else
know that we’re leaving on the first flight to Paris at 8:15 tomorrow morning.”

“All right, I’ll talk to you later,
Zane,” Jason said as he hung up the phone.

Jason made a few calls to Jess, Burt,
and Dan to get the word out, and then he made his final call. He called Sam.

“Hello,” Sam said.

“Hey, are you busy right now?” Jason
asked.

“We’re eating, but it’s fine. What do
you need?”

“We’re leaving for Paris tomorrow
morning, and you two need a makeover.”

“A makeover?” Sam asked in confusion.

After getting directions, Nathan and
Sam hurried over to Jason’s house and went inside.

“So what’s this about us getting a makeover?”
Sam asked.

“Well, thanks to yours and Nathan’s
little escapade over there, pretty much everyone knows your faces. We need you
two to look like totally different people.”
 

“And you’re the one who’s going to make
us look like totally different people?” Sam asked skeptically.

“Hey, desperate times, you know. We’ll
start with you, Nathan.”

Nathan reluctantly sat down.

“So what are we going to do? Are we
going to dye my hair or what?” Nathan asked.

“Guess again,” Jason said.

At that moment, Nathan heard a buzzing
sound from behind him. It almost sounded like clippers. Nathan jumped out of
the chair.

“You are
not
touching my hair!” Nathan yelled.

“Oh, come on. We have to change your
look, and I’m pretty sure that cutting that mop will help in that pursuit a
lot,” Jason said.

“I think that you might look cute with
short hair,” Sam said, trying to encourage Nathan.

Nathan sat back down, and Jason began
running the clippers through his hair. With every drop of hair that fell to the
floor, Nathan cringed. Before long, his long brown hair had been reduced to
only peach fuzz.

“Does it look okay?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, it looks great,” Sam said, even
though it wasn’t true.

“Just don’t look in the mirror for a
couple of months,” Jason said and laughed.

“All right, funny guy, what else do we
have to do?” Nathan asked.

“Here are some new clothes for you,”
Jason said while pulling them from a bag.
 

The clothes weren’t that bad. They were
semi casual, and they even came with a nice set of sunglasses.

“Wear those all the time, and we won’t
have to change your eye color,” Jason said while referencing the sunglasses.

Then he pointed to Sam.

“You’re up now,” Jason said.

As she sat down, Jason pulled out some
scissors.

“Whoa, wait a minute! I may be bald,
but you aren’t about to give me a bald girlfriend,” Nathan said.

Jason laughed at his reaction.

“Don’t worry. I’m just going to take
off some length.”

“Just be careful, Jason. If you mess
this up, I’m going to put those scissors somewhere that you won’t like,” Sam
said.

Jason carefully took the length off her
hair. Before long, her long blonde hair was shoulder length. Afterward, Jason
dyed her hair. When it was all said and done, Sam had shoulder length light
brown hair.

“You’ll need to put these in, and wear
these,” Jason said while referencing some contacts and eyeglasses.

“Also, here are some clothes for you to
change into.”

Sam went to get changed, and when she
came back, Nathan was actually a little impressed. She had gone from a woman
with long blonde hair, deep green eyes, and casual clothing to someone with
short brown hair, blue eyes, and business attire. The glasses also made her
look really cute. Nathan really hadn’t expected that.

“Well?” Sam asked.

“I approve. You look great,” Nathan
said.

“I’m not bad. You both look totally different,
and Sam, at least, still looks great,” Jason said.

“All right. Watch it, Jason,” Nathan
said.

“I’m sorry. I guess I wouldn’t want to
make Mr. Clean mad,” Jason said and burst into laughter.

Sam had to hold in her own laughter,
but she couldn’t keep a smile from forming on her face.

“Oh, come on. Not you, too,” Nathan
said and smiled.

“It will grow back,” Sam said as she
walked over and put her arm around him.

“I need to get a picture,” Jason said.

“What do you need a picture for?”
Nathan asked.
 

“I’m going to have to make you two new
passports.”

After taking the pictures and talking
with Jason for a few minutes, Nathan and Sam left to go home.

* * * * *

That night, once everyone else had gone
to bed, Lee found himself unable to sleep. He got up and walked out of his
room. He could hear that Trish was still awake, so he lightly knocked on the
door and went in.

“I thought that I said we were going to
take things slow,” Trish said as he entered.