Wrong Time (23 page)

“So I know what my role is going to be,
but what about the others. Not all of them are really fit to work in the field,”
Dan said.

“I don’t know yet. I’m still getting
used to the idea that I may have to sit on the sidelines for this one.”

“May? There is no may to it. There’s no
way that you could shoot accurately anymore.”

“We’ll just see how I’m feeling by the
time we get there. Who knows? Maybe I have one more op in me.”

“Okay. I’m just going to be up front
and honest with you about this. Maybe you could be seventy-five percent of what
you used to be, and that would be useful, but we need you to do what you’re
already doing. We need you to be alive when all the dust settles. If something
happens to you, who’s going to lead this group?”

“I’m sure that Jason or you would step
up,” Zane said.

“Jason can’t even control Sam, much
less an entire group of people, and I plain out refuse to even try to do your
job. I don’t think that I could do it. It has to be you. There’s simply no one
else.”

Zane knew that Dan was right, but the
fact that he would never get to be in the field again was a cruel one to him.
After he found out about his impaired vision, he held out some level of hope in
the back of his mind that he would defy the odds, but with Campbell’s passing,
his odds of ever doing what he loved again became nearly non-existent.
 

“All right, I get the message,” Zane
said and sat back in his chair.

 
He felt bad about his new role, but there
was at least one thing that he could take comfort in. At least I get to sit in
first class now, Zane thought.

Chapter 22

When the plane landed and they
disembarked, they were greeted by an older French man. The man showed them to
the hotel that the government was putting them up in and gave Zane all the
information they would need. Once they found their rooms, Zane gathered them
together in his room.

“I’m going to meet a representative for
lunch today. For now, everyone should relax and try to get some rest. I don’t
know about any of you, but I didn’t get any sleep on the plane. All of us can
gather again later this afternoon when I have something more for you,” Zane
said.

Everyone exited the room and went back
to their own rooms. Once Nathan and Sam were in their room, she began asking
him some questions. She had suppressed the instinct to pry when they were on
the plane, but she could no longer control herself.

“So who is Holly Daniels, and why
should I be worried about her? Also, you have a tattoo?” Sam quickly asked.
 

“What all did Michael tell you?”

“So I should be worried then?”

“No, you shouldn’t be worried about
anything. I dated her for a while, and then I met you. That’s the end of the
story.”

Sam was relieved, but at the same time,
she was a little embarrassed that she had just blurted out the questions.

“Why are you so worried about some girl
anyway? You have no reason to be insecure. You’re not only beautiful, but you’re
also intelligent. You’re the total package. Being jealous of anything or anyone
else is just weird when you’re . . . well, you.”

 
“I’m not insecure, but put yourself in my
position. I know absolutely nothing about relationships, and I have nothing to
compare any of this to. There’s no one from my past who you have to be jealous
of because there’s literally no one.”

Nathan hadn’t really thought about
things from that angle. How would I feel if everything was new
to me and then Sam’s friend told me about someone from her
past, Nathan wondered. He concluded that he would be pretty jealous.

“I understand, but you have to know that
from the time I saw you, there has been no one else on my mind . . . well, except
for Chloe for a short moment,” Nathan said and smiled.

“I thought you tried to pull away from
her,” Sam said while slapping him on the shoulder.

“Hey, stop with the hitting. I did try
to pull away. I’m only joking with you. You’re the only one for me, and that’s
how it’s going to stay.”

“Okay, but what is this about your
tattoo?” Sam asked.

He showed her the tattoo and told her
the story behind it, while only leaving out the misfortune that Lee had, and
then the two of them went to bed. It may have only been six in the morning in
France, but between the terrible jet lag and the fact that neither one of them
could sleep on the plane, it was obvious that they both had to get some sleep.

* * * * *

When it was time for lunch, Zane went
straight to the location he had been instructed to go to. It was a small family
restaurant about a mile away from where he was staying, and it just so happened
to have a back room for privacy. Once he was there, he sat down, and the
meeting began. An older tall man spoke to Zane first.

“First of all, I would like to introduce
myself. I’m Alfred Mason, and I’ll be filling you in on what we’re going to do
about our little problem,” Alfred said.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Zane Green.
I hope that the work we do today will lead to a discreet and productive
partnership in our future.”

“As do I, especially when referring to
the word, ‘discreet.’ Who knows how everyday citizens would react if they knew what
was going on all over the world right now.”

“I’m glad to see we’re on the same page
on that issue. We wanted to contact our allies sooner, but fear of whether or
not our secret would stay under wraps when we involved others prevented us from
involving you until the situation grew desperate.”

“Trust me when I say that all of this
will remain our most carefully kept secret. No one wins if this hits the
worldwide news. Now, we need a plan to take down the facility here in Paris,”
Alfred said.

“I hope you have a plan, because
honestly, I don’t know how we could possibly take this place out discreetly.”

“Unfortunately, the ability to be
discreet is not, nor has it ever been, my strong suit. Instead, what I can do
is give you all the men and gear that you could possibly need. I’ll also have
the streets blocked off around the area during the operation so we can limit
civilian witnesses.”

 
“That’s great, but there’s only one
problem with it. I don’t like the idea of marching right in and taking the
place completely by force. I know from experience that if we only rely on brute
force, I’m going to lose a lot of your men and a lot of my own people as well.
Is there no way that we can get someone on the inside? Maybe we could get
someone to knock out their security cameras, or find a way to cause a small
explosion, if for nothing else, to serve as a nice distraction,” Zane said.

“The truth is that we’ve been watching
that particular place for the last few weeks because of continuous and
suspicious increases to their security. Ever since the little ‘terrorist’ event
in Atlanta a few days ago, they haven’t been accepting shipments of any kind.
They also stopped hiring new workers weeks ago. I would love to play this one
safe, but honestly, there’s just not an opening to do so at this moment. Brute
force is really the only option we have.”
 

“I hate that it’s come to this, but I
understand. When are we going to move on the facility?”

“We can have a crew together by
tomorrow. We’ll have them meet you at this address at midnight tomorrow night.
Can you be ready by then?” Alfred asked as he slid a paper across to Zane.

“I’ll be ready. Thank you for all the
assistance you’ve provided.”

“It’s no problem. If that’s all, Mr.
Green, I must be going. I have a lot to prepare in anticipation of tomorrow
night,” Alfred said and began to leave.

Zane also left the restaurant and went
back to the hotel to discuss what they were going to do and what everyone’s
role would be in their plan.
 

After Zane was back at the hotel and
gathered everyone together, the meeting started.

“We’re moving on the facility tomorrow
night,” Zane announced.

“What’s the plan?” Jess asked.

“We’re going to try to take the
facility by force, but don’t worry. I’ve been assured that we’ll have as many
soldiers at our disposal as we could possibly need.”

Jess wasn’t happy with Zane’s answer,
and truthfully, neither was anyone else but Sam. Most people were sitting there
remembering how the op went down in Atlanta when they just stormed in. Sam, on
the other hand, looked forward to getting her hands a little dirty after everything
that had happened.

“Are you sure this is the best course
of action after what happened to us in Atlanta? There must be another way,” Dan
said.

Zane explained to everyone why it would
be impossible for them to get anyone on the inside and how this truly was the
only option.

“All right. If that’s the way it has to
be, then we just need to know our roles in this plan,” Nathan said.

“You, Sam, and Dan, will lead a team
into the facility. Michael and Jason, we will position you two on a rooftop with
a good vantage point. You’ll be equipped with sniper rifles. There will be
plenty of security on the outside of the building. I want you to make sure that
our team doesn’t get touched on their way into the facility. Jess and Burt, you
two will watch their backs. Once our sniper’s vantage point is discovered, we
don’t want them to be blindsided by an attack. Finally, Trish and Lee, you two
will move in after the first floor is clear. You’ll carry enough explosives
into that building to take the whole thing down. We’ll have them linked to a
remote detonator that I’ll be holding. Once everyone withdraws from the facility,
I’ll send it up in smoke. So does anyone have any questions?” Zane asked.

“Why am I a sniper? I’ve never worked
anywhere but behind a desk for the last decade,” Jason said.

“You originally trained to be an agent.
Your athletic ability and strength were never major assets to the agency, but
two things were, your brain and your ability to shoot. I’ve seen your file, and
your shooting scores were truly unmatched. If you hadn’t been so smart and
charismatic, you would have found yourself doing something like this. I know
it’s probably been a while since you’ve held a rifle, but just do your best.
It’s like riding a bike. After a couple of shots, it will all come back to
you,” Zane said.

“Okay. I have a question, too. I have
plenty of combat training under my belt. Why am I stuck playing the role of
delivery girl while everyone else gets to take these guys down?” Trish asked.

“Your mixture of intelligence and
combat abilities makes you perfect for the job. There will still be stragglers
on the first floor, so don’t think that you won’t be getting any action in all this.
To put it simply, I know that you and Lee will get this done regardless of what
obstacles are or aren’t thrown in your way.”

Trish still wasn’t happy playing what
she considered to be a minimal part in the scheme of things, but she nodded in
approval. It was a boring assignment to her, but someone had to do it, and it
just might have been the most important job they had to do.

“All right, I have one final question.
What should we be doing until tomorrow night?” Michael asked.

“You should enjoy Paris and prepare
yourselves mentally. Don’t ever go into a battle with nagging regrets. If
there’s anything that you’ve been putting off, then do it now.”

Once they were all in agreement and had
rehashed the plan again to be sure that everyone knew exactly what they were to
do, the group broke off.

Chapter 23

When Sam and Nathan were back in their
room, Nathan turned to her and spoke.

“So is there anything you need to do
before we finish this?”

“I have no regrets that can be
corrected at this point,” Sam said.

“Is there anything you want to do or
anything that I can help you with? You have to have a potential last wish of
some kind,” Nathan said.

“Nope, I already found you, so if this
turns out to be it, I can honestly say I’ve experienced something that far
exceeded my own expectations. What about you? Is there anything that I can help
you out with?”

“Well, everything has fallen into place
but one little thing.”

“What is that?”

“I’ve found my dream girl, and I have
friends who are literally willing to follow me anywhere, but I do regret the
fact that if anything were to happen to me, my family would never know anything.
I would just be a missing person forever. Honestly, I just think they deserve better
than that. They deserve to know what happened to me and not have to wonder for
the rest of their lives.”

“Come here,” Sam said while grabbing
their old camera.

“What are you doing?” Nathan asked
while walking over to her.

“Strike a pose,” Sam said while holding
the camera away from them and snapping a picture of the two of them together.

Then she grabbed her computer and took
the SD card out of the camera. She uploaded the pictures from the camera onto
the computer.

“What are you up to?” Nathan asked.

“I think you should write them an email
and attach a picture of us with it to show that you’re okay and you’re with
someone who cares about you. You can tell them some of the minimal details of
why you’re gone, but just leave out the heavy stuff.”

“Are you sure it’s okay to do that?”

“No, but if I still had a family, I
wouldn’t want them to wonder where I was. I would write the same letter that
you’re about to write, so just do it, and don’t worry about the consequences.
I’m supposed to be looking after you, so you won’t get any of the blame if
someone finds out anyway.”

“Thank you. I couldn’t ask for a better
person to be in this situation with, and just so you know, you’ll always have a
family as long as I’m around,” Nathan said and hugged her.

He sat down with the laptop and began
his letter. Nathan was surprised at how fluently the words flowed from him. He
had thought that it would be hard to explain his situation to his family, but
it actually wasn’t hard at all. He explained how he had seen something that
someone didn’t want him to see when he went to his job interview, and how until
the matter was resolved, he wasn’t going to be able to come home for his own
safety and for theirs.

“I just want you to know that I’m safe,
and honestly, I’m very happy. I met someone, and she’s the best thing that’s
ever happened to me. When this is all over, I’m going to let you meet her.
We’ve seen so many things together. You know how I’ve always wanted to go to
Paris, right? Well, we went there together. I feel like I’ve experienced more
in the last few days than I experienced in an entire lifetime back at home. I
guess what I’m trying to say is that no matter what happens next, you should
know that your son found happiness. If everything goes well, I should be home
in the next few days, but if something goes wrong, I need you to know that I
love you both. Also, tell Cupcake that I said hello. We had a bit of a
disagreement about whether or not I should be able to use her road before I
left, and truthfully, I just couldn’t live with myself if I knew that mine and
Cupcake’s issues weren’t resolved,” Nathan wrote while smiling.

“I’ll see you soon. I have attached
some pictures of my new best friend. She’s amazing, and I know that you guys
will love her. I love you. Goodbye for now,” Nathan wrote and sent the message.

“So do you feel more at peace now?” Sam
asked.

“Not quite. There’s still one more
thing that I want to do before tomorrow,” Nathan said.

“Really? What is it?”

At that moment, Nathan pulled her down
onto the bed with him and kissed her. If the two of them only had two more days
on this earth, Nathan determined that he wanted to spend those two days showing
Sam how much he loved her.

After the meeting with Zane was over,
Michael and Jess went back to their room.

“So Zane said for us to do anything
that we had been putting off, and there’s definitely something I’ve been
putting off for a long time,” Michael said.

 
Jess had feared the day when this talk was
going to inevitably happen. She didn’t know how she felt about Michael, and she
didn’t want to have to make that decision right then and there. It wasn’t fair
to her. If something happened to Michael, she would regret it for the rest of
her life if she turned him down, but at the same time, she wondered if that was
really a good enough reason to proclaim her romantic love for him when she
didn’t even know for sure if her love was
that
type of love.

“What is it?” Jess asked.

“I love you, and I have loved you for a
very long time. I know that I haven’t always been the man you need, but that’s
going to change starting today. Will you give me the chance to be with the only
person I’ve ever wanted to be with?”

Jess didn’t know what to say. She loved
him enough to feel bad for him, to worry about him, and even to kiss him in a
time of distress, but she didn’t feel the same way about him that he felt about
her. She just sat there silently. She didn’t want to lie to him, but he had
been so much better lately. His destructive behavior had vanished almost overnight.
She couldn’t help but be scared that turning him down would send him back down
an old familiar road that was only full of pain.

“Jess, you can tell me the truth, even
if the answer is no,” Michael said.

“I love you, but I don’t think that I
love you in the same way you love me. I need you as my friend, but I just don’t
think you’re what I need as more than that right now. I don’t want to hurt you
or ruin the great thing that we already have between us, but that’s the truth,”
Jess said and then looked down at the floor.

She couldn’t stand to look into Michael’s
eyes. She didn’t want to stare into the hurt that she had just caused.

“I’m happy with what we have right now,
but I just have to ask for my own sanity . . . is there a scenario where you
and I work in the future?” Michael asked.

“I don’t know. I suppose anything is
possible. I’m just not there right now, and I don’t want to lead you on or give
you false hope. I may never be there, but don’t ever think for one second that
I don’t love you or that you aren’t my best friend.”

“Okay. How about for now, I just be
what you need me to be. I’ll be your best friend, and when and if the day comes
that you need more than that, maybe I’ll still be there for you.”

Jess was stunned at how well Michael
was taking all this. She hadn’t felt like he was right for her because of his
instability, but here he was in an awkward and heart wrenching situation, and
he was calm and collected. Did I make the wrong decision by turning him down, Jess
wondered.

“As your best friend, I have to point
out that we’re in Paris. How about we go have a little fun? I hear there are
plenty of things to see here,” Michael said.

“Sure, I would like that,” Jess said.

The two of them left the room, and
although Michael was truly okay with what had just transpired, she couldn’t
stop thinking about it. Maybe she wasn’t in love with him, but his calmness and
willingness to be the person she needed him to be had certainly gotten her
attention. She finally saw Michael as something other than a sick puppy dog,
and if nothing else, that was a start. Could we be together someday? Yeah, I
think that maybe we could at some point, Jess thought.

* * * * *

Lee and Trish explored the city and then
grabbed some dinner. As it started to get dark, they made their way back to
their room. Throughout the day, something had been bothering Trish, but she had
done her best to hold it in until now. She just couldn’t control herself any
longer, and the words burst from her mouth.

“How are you not offended that we got
put on delivery duty? We have not only the least dangerous job of anyone here,
but also the dumbest one. A monkey could literally be trained to do the job
we’re doing,” Trish said in frustration.

“Okay. First of all, that outburst came
out of nowhere. I thought we were having a pretty good day,” Lee said.

“I just don’t understand how you can be
so happy. We have officially been given a job that any idiot could do. Jacob
could have even done this job.”

“It’s true that this job could
potentially be easy, but don’t downplay the importance of it. If we don’t come
through, a lot of soldiers are going to be left out to dry. Also, don’t downplay
the danger in what we’re doing. We’re going to be carrying a bomb that has
enough fire power to take out most of a building, and the only thing standing
between us and a large explosion is going to be an old, half blind trigger
man,” Lee said and laughed.

Trish was not amused by his joke.

“Lee, be serious. It doesn’t bother you
to be treated like an idiot?”

“I don’t think we’re being treated like
idiots, and I’m happy that you’re going to be in less danger. I don’t want to
see you get hurt.”

“I’m much less fragile than you believe
me to be. I should be actively fighting.”

“Please, for me, accept our role in all
of this. It’s a very important one, and at the end of the day, it’s the role
that we’re going to have to play. I can’t carry that thing and watch my own
back. Without you, I won’t be safe, and without me, you won’t be either. I kind
of like the idea of the two of us working as a team, even if this job is
beneath us,” Lee said.

“So you
do
admit that this job is beneath us?”

“Of course, I do. We’re probably the
two smartest people here besides Jess, and you’re probably one of the best soldiers
here, but this is our task, and I think we should complete it because, quite
honestly, what else are we going to do?”

Trish knew that he was right. There was
no use in complaining about the task they were given. It wouldn’t change
anything. Trish sat down on the bed and just stayed silent for a long while.

“Look, if you’re just frustrated and
you need to vent about this, then I understand, and I’m here for you,” Lee said
while sitting down beside her.

“No, you’re right. There’s nothing we
can do to change this situation, so let’s just finish it and move on.”

“Great, but I mean it when I say that
I’m here for you.”

“I know. Hey, Lee, what do you think you’re
going to do when this is all over?” Trish asked.

“I don’t know. I guess that depends on
what you’re going to do. I don’t see us just going our separate ways, do you?”

“No, I think I might want to keep you
around for a while.”

“So where do you think you’ll be? Do
you think that the CIA may become a permanent thing for you?”

“Oh, definitely not. I’m just not the CIA
type. When this is all over, I’m
so
out of here. Maybe I . . . I mean we, will go to Vegas and I’ll use some of my
abilities to get us some cash rolling.”

“I think that sounds like a great plan.
I’ve always wanted to be rich,” Lee said while grinning.

“The money is overrated. It’s all about
the company you keep,” Trish said and scooted over closer to Lee.

He wrapped his arms around her.

“If that’s the case, then I’m living
the dream right now, I suppose,” Lee said and then leaned over and kissed her.

In a way, Trish had started to love Lee.
No matter how stressed she was about anything, he had a way of making her
smile. For the first time ever, she could imagine her life with someone who
wasn’t named David. She felt a little guilty because of that fact, but it was
what it was. Lee was good for her, and she was now determined to be good for
him. As Lee held her, she thought. Just one more mission and life will be
normal again for us all. Unfortunately, she couldn’t have been more wrong. The
trials that they were facing were only going to get harder, and she and Lee
were only going to need to lean on each other more in the coming weeks.