Wrong Time (24 page)

Chapter 24

The next morning, everyone met
downstairs for breakfast and discussed what they were going to do for the day.

“I just want to go back to sleep,” Sam
said sleepily.

“Oh, come on. It’s our last day before
our op is carried out. We should enjoy the day together,” Michael said.

“I agree. I was planning on doing a
little shopping today. It’s not every day that you’re in Paris. I might as well
take advantage of the situation,” Jess said.

“I was thinking more along the lines of
us going to Notre Dame and then maybe a few more locations,” Michael said.

“Well, I’m in for a little shopping,”
Trish said.

Michael gave a look over to Nathan as
if to say, “Back me up on this one.”

“I wouldn’t mind exploring some of the
more historical parts of town,” Nathan said.

The truth was that Nathan had no desire
to do any more walking or climbing after the Eiffel Tower, but the idea sounded
a lot better than shopping.

“All right then. I have an idea. Let’s
all split up until this evening. Girls will go one way, and guys will go the
other,” Jess suggested.

Lee hated this idea. The truth was that
he didn’t care about the historical significance of the different landmarks in
the town, and he might have wanted to shop around just as much as Jess and
Trish did, but it’s not like he could just come out and say that. What kind of
guy chooses to go shopping with the girls over hanging out with the guys? How
would that make him look? Sam was having her own problems with the plan, too. When
they had been at the mall back in Washington, it had been a strange experience.
Jess and Trish treated shopping like a competitive sport, while Sam found the
whole experience to be long and very boring. Somehow, she felt inadequate or
out of place when she was with other women shopping.

“I think I want to go to Notre Dame,”
Sam said.

“Well, that’s no fun. Our groups will
be uneven,” Jess said.

“All right, I’ll go with the girls,” Lee
said while sounding disappointed.

Secretly, he was extremely happy.

“All right, I guess we can meet back at
the hotel around five this afternoon,” Nathan said.

“That sounds great,” Lee said.

Then the two groups broke off from one
another.

About thirty minutes into the shopping
trip, Lee was already regretting his choice to go with the girls. He had wanted
to buy himself some things, but instead, he found himself thrust into the role
of official bag carrier.

“Oh, you should get this one,” Jess
said.

“I don’t know. I mean, I like those,
but what about these?” Trish asked.

Lee was so confused. How could picking
out one pair of earrings be this hard? He liked to go to stores, and he liked
to buy things, but there was one key difference between him and the girls. When
he saw something he wanted, he didn’t debate whether he should get it for ten
minutes. He just bought it.

“Why don’t you just get both pairs?”
Lee asked in hopes that his suggestion would hurry Trish along.

“No, I’ll decide soon,” Trish said.

Lee walked a few steps to his right and
sat down on a small bench. As he scanned the area, he saw a French man who had
the same lifeless expression that he assumed he himself must have. It was
funny. They couldn’t speak each other’s language, and they looked nothing alike,
but when their eyes met, both of them clearly had a look that said, “
help
me get out of here!” Lee had to smile a little bit once
he realized this fact.

“Lee, why are you sitting down? We’re
going to move on without you if you don’t keep up,” Trish said.

Yeah, I doubt that you’ll actually move
too far away from where you were before, Lee thought. The day went on, and
although it was a slow one for Lee, at least he learned a valuable lesson. If you
want to go blow some cash, never, ever go with Trish or Jess. A simple endeavor
will become a full blown sport!

* * * * *

At Notre Dame, Nathan and Sam were
climbing the steps with ease, but their friend Michael was having a hard time.

“Are you all right back there,
Michael?” Nathan asked while looking back.

“I’m just fine . . . I haven’t had a
heat stroke yet,” Michael said through very hard breathing.

“I think that your friend may be a
little out of shape,” Sam whispered to Nathan.

“I know. I think if we had gone to the
Eiffel Tower, he might have died,” Nathan said and laughed.

“What was that up there? Are you two making
fun of me?”

“Us? Never!” Nathan said.

Once they were at the top, Nathan
couldn’t help but be in awe of the gothic architecture that was all around him.
He didn’t get the feeling that Sam really appreciated what was around them, and
something like this always went right over Michael’s head, but this was one
more thing that he could check off his bucket list. It was truly enlightening
for him to have gotten to experience something like this.
 

“So how about we go to the Louvre now?”
Nathan asked as they were descending the stairs.

“What is with you people and all the
walking? I think we should sit down for a few minutes,” Michael said.

“Hey, this was your idea. Just try to
keep up,” Nathan said.

“I should have just gone with Jess. I
bet that Lee isn’t having to deal with all this walking right now.”

“Oh, trust me on one thing. Lee has it
much worse than you right now. I learned that much from shopping with those two
girls when we were in Washington,” Sam said.

Nathan and Michael looked at her in a
puzzled manner.

“Just trust me. He would gladly trade
places with you right now.”

As their day went on, Nathan saw many
of the things that he had always wanted to see, and he took comfort in the fact
that even if the people around him didn’t see the significance of what they
were doing that day, at least one of them wanted to be there with him.

* * * * *

Once they were back in the hotel, they
all met at Nathan and Sam’s room.

“I wish I had gone with you three,”
Michael said while noticeable wheezing.

Lee pulled him to the side.

“Never, ever, wish that on yourself,”
Lee whispered to him.

“Was it really that bad?”

“Oh God, yes!”

For a few minutes, they all made small
talk about how their day had gone, but then Michael asked everyone a question.

“If this is the end, if Markus is in
that building and we kill him, then what’s everyone going to do after this?”

“Lee and I are going to make some money
in Vegas,” Trish quickly responded.

“I’ll probably go back to Atlanta and
try to get a job there, although I seriously doubt that my old job is still an
option. I didn’t exactly have time to tell anyone I was leaving,” Jess said.

Nathan and Sam stayed quiet.

“Well, what about you two?” Michael
asked while looking in their direction.

Nathan didn’t know how to answer his
question. If they were going to run away together, did everyone really need to
know about it or where they would be going?

“I think it’s a bit complicated for
them. Let’s just let them keep that to themselves. What about you, Michael?”
Lee asked.

“Well, I haven’t really thought about
it. I might go back to Atlanta, but if they can still use me at the CIA, I
haven’t ruled out staying yet,” Michael said.

Jess was shocked by his answer. It’s
not like she thought that Michael should follow her wherever she went, but she,
for some reason, had assumed he would.

“You aren’t going to come home with
me?” Jess asked before she could stop herself.

“You’re my best friend, and no matter
what, I’ll always talk to you and see you as much as possible, but I just don’t
want to rule out any possibilities. If I can find purpose and contribute in the
CIA, then I just can’t rule out that option right now.”

Everyone was a little surprised by
Michael’s open mindedness to the possibility of doing things like killing
others, but in a way, it was a relief to Nathan. Michael always had certain
talents that could help or protect others. If he was finally at peace about
using those talents, then that’s all Nathan could ask for his friend. After a
little while, Lee motioned for Nathan and Sam to come with him. He ushered the
two of them out into the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t know what you guys are
planning to do after this is all over, but in my spare time, I made a couple of
things that might give you two another option,” Lee said and handed them a
couple of passports.

“Thank you,” Sam said.

“Don’t mention it, and don’t worry
about me. My lips are sealed. If the day ever comes that you two decide to
disappear, I’ll miss you both, but I’ll be content knowing that you’re happy
wherever you are.”

Sam gave Lee a quick hug, and the three
of them went back inside. It was a fun but nervous night. Even if no one would
say it, they were all getting increasingly nervous as the hour got later. No
one could shake the thought that all of this was coming to a head, and
unfortunately, no one knew how it was going to end.

In Zane’s room he, Burt, Jason, and Dan
had gathered together. Zane had already called and made sure that they would
have an explosive large enough to make a good dent in the building but small
enough that two people could get it inside. Everything was all set to go, but
he still couldn’t shake the same uneasy feeling he always had before a big
mission.

“Do you think everything is going to go
like we planned?” Jason asked.

“I doubt it. I think there will
probably be plenty of complications, but we’ll get this done because we have no
choice but to get it done,” Zane answered.

“What time are we leaving?” Dan asked.

“I think we should leave around ten.
That will give us plenty of time to get everyone set up and mentally ready.”

It was already eight minutes past nine.
The friends talked for a few more minutes, and then Zane suggested that they
get everyone together in the hotel lobby. Jason went to retrieve everyone else while
the others went down stairs. Once they were all in the lobby, Zane addressed
everyone.

“I know this will be difficult, and I
know that not everyone here feels like they’re in a role that they’re prepared
to do, but I just want you all to know that I believe in you. I have full
confidence that every one of you will come through, and no matter what the cost
is, you will succeed. As your commander, that’s what I want you to know, but as
your friend, I just have to say, be careful. I don’t think I could take losing
any one of you. Be sharp, and be ruthless, but don’t forget to be smart, and
take care of each other,” Zane said.

Now Michael felt a little bit of
nervousness build up inside him. Zane had said for them to take care of each
other. As a sniper, that was his job. He had to watch their backs from afar as
they entered the facility. He couldn’t freeze up this time. Even if he had felt
sure earlier, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of doubt slip into his mind as
the hour of their battle grew closer and closer. As they were leaving the hotel,
Zane pulled him to the side. He noticed the doubt in Michael’s eyes, and he
wanted to snuff it out right there.

“You are fully capable of doing what
you’re going to have to do tonight. As a matter of fact, now that my eyes
aren’t what they used to be, you’re the most capable person here with a rifle.
I believe in you, and your friends believe in you enough to agree to let you be
the person who watches their backs. Show them how capable you really are,” Zane
said.

Michael nodded, and a new sense of
peace swept over him. He was going to do this, but not to show anyone how
capable he was, but, instead, to simply do the only thing that he should have
been worried about in the first place. Michael was going to protect his friends
at any and all cost.

Chapter 25

Once they had arrived, and everyone was
in position, Michael found himself on a rooftop staring through the scope of
his rifle. He was surprised to see how clear the streets were. The streets
around the facility had been blocked off for the last few hours, and because of
this fact, Markus’s men knew they were coming. Michael’s phone went off. It was
a text from Zane. Nathan, Sam, and Dan were on their way, and he was cleared to
start taking out some of the guards who were standing in front of the facility.
He looked through his scope and took a deep breath. He couldn’t seem to shoot. He
tried to pull the trigger, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn’t do
it. When he had just about given up on shooting, a voice interrupted his train
of thought.

“Do you want me to start us out?” Jason
whispered from across the rooftop.

“No, I’ve got this,” Michael said.

Michael took another deep breath and
then uttered a prayer.

“God, please forgive me for the things
I’m about to do.”

He put his eye up to the scope and
found a target. He placed the man’s head in his crosshairs and gently squeezed
the trigger. The man fell to the ground. He was dead. The sight horrified
Michael, but he knew that he didn’t have time to think about the horror. He
practiced the rapid fire technique that Sam taught him at the shooting range. He
wasn’t as accurate as he normally was, but he was dropping soldiers like they
were flies. Jason began to fire, too. Between the two of them, they were able
to take out dozens of the men before they could escape into the safety of the facility.

“I guess this is one job well done,”
Jason said.

“Not quite. I’m sure we’re going to
have to help our friends out a little more before they get into that place,”
Michael said.

Nathan and many other soldiers began to
approach the facility. Michael didn’t see anyone outside the building. It
appeared as if they would just be able to waltz freely into the building.
Suddenly, from behind him, Michael heard some people approaching. It was Jess
and Burt.

“Our location has been compromised. We
need to get out of here soon,” Burt said.

“How many are there?” Michael asked.

“Probably about a half dozen,” Jess
said.

“I’ve got this. Jason, you keep an eye
on our friends down there.”

“Wait . . . what are you going to do?”
Jess asked.

“Burt and I are going to take care of
the problem. I just need you to stay here and watch Jason’s back in case we
can’t get this done,” Michael said as he pulled a pistol from his side.

Burt was a bit surprised to hear his
name included in all this. Sure, he had built up quite the story about how he took
down the Atlanta office, but was his reputation starting to precede him? Could
he actually be of any use in a combat situation?

“Let’s go,” Michael said as he tapped
Burt on the shoulder.

The two men made their way to the back
side of the building where six men were climbing up the fire escape. Michael glanced
over the edge and fired three shots down at them hitting one of the men, and effectively
sending him crashing down to the ground. The men returned fire, which forced
Michael to pull back from the edge. Michael and Burt got down on the ground and
reached over the edge to return blind fire to the men below.

“Stop,” Michael said to Burt after a
few seconds.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Burt asked.

“I only have three bullets left. How
about you?”

“I’ve got five,” Burt said.

“We need to save these. Blind fire is
getting us nowhere, and even if it is, we can’t look over the edge to know that.”

The two men started backing away from
the edge. They got down low and waited for the men to emerge. It wasn’t the
best plan, but what else could they do? A shot rang out from behind them. Jason
had begun shooting again. Great! Apparently there’s a problem behind us and in
front of us, Michael thought. Finally, after waiting for what felt like an
eternity, the men emerged. Burt quickly started unloading his gun, and so did
the other men. Michael, meanwhile, took his time and made all three of his
shots count. All three of his shots landed squarely to the heads of three of
the five remaining men. Burt hit one of the men twice before he was out of
ammo. There was only one problem. There was still one man alive, and neither
Michael, nor Burt, had a single bullet left. Burt tried to run backward, but
the man fired his weapon at him. The bullet hit Burt in the arm. Then the man
turned the gun toward Michael. Michael threw his gun to the ground in hopes
that shooting an unarmed man would deter the person from taking his life, but
no such reflection of mercy appeared on the man’s face. Michael closed his eyes
and waited on the bullet. That’s when he heard the shot cry out, but he was
still there. I didn’t feel anything. Am I really dead, Michael
wondered.
He slowly opened his eyes to see that the man in
front of him was dead. Michael turned around, and Jess stepped out of the
shadows.

“Don’t ever leave me behind again. You
two could have used an extra hand,” Jess said in a furry.
 

Michael was so glad to be alive that he
didn’t even notice the scolding she was trying to give him. He ran to her and
hugged her tight.

“Thank you so much,” Michael said while
kissing her on the forehead.

“I’m sorry to ruin your little moment,
but I’m kind of bleeding here,” Burt said.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Jess asked
and ran to Burt.

As the sound of shooting subsided,
Jason joined them.

“They’re in. We need to get out of here
now,” Jason said.

“No arguments here,” Burt said while
lying on the ground.

“Oh, God! What happened to you?” Jason asked
while looking down at his friend.

“Well, do you want the true version or
my version?”

 
Jason looked over at Michael.

“What really happened?”

 
Michael looked down at Burt, who gave him
a look as if to say, “
embellish
it a little for me.”

“Well, I ran out of bullets after I
took out one of them, and I panicked. Burt still had five bullets, so he
stepped in front of me. He was able to take out four of them before one of them
got to him,” Michael said.

“That’s not wha . . .” Jess said before
she received a hard look from Michael.

“That’s what I saw, too,” Jess said.

“Wow! That’s amazing. You’ll probably
get a medal or something for this,” Jason said.

Burt only smiled proudly, and as they
were climbing down, he mouthed a simple thank you to Michael.
 

* * * * *

Nathan, Sam, and Dan were getting set
up with the men who were at their disposal. You might as well have just said
that Sam was leading them into battle, though. She was the only one of the
three who actually knew fluent French, so she was the main person communicating
with everyone. Once they were all set with body armor and weapons, the crew
started marching toward the facility. Shots could be heard in the distance.

“It sounds like Michael and Jason have started,”
Nathan said while looking over at Sam.

Nathan was a little surprised. It’s not
that he didn’t believe in Michael, but he just hadn’t known if the pressure
would be too much for him. In a weird way, he was proud that Michael had been
able to go through with his part in the op. Sam ordered the men to quicken
their pace. Just before they arrived, the shooting stopped.
 

“They’ve cleared us a path. We need to
hurry,” Dan said.

Sam ordered the men to move quicker,
and the whole squad broke into a run. Once they arrived at the front door of
the facility, it was predictably locked. Dan pulled a small explosive device
from his pocket.

“Step back for a second. This should do
the trick,” Dan said and place the device on the door.

With a loud boom, the explosive went
off, effectively blowing the door open. They all hurried into the facility and
began picking off their enemies. Suddenly, they heard shots, but the strange
part was that they were coming from outside. Michael and Jason were firing at
something outside.

“I’ve got this,” Dan said as he
motioned for a few of the soldiers around him to follow him.

The men walked outside to see an enemy
crew trying to approach them from the rear, but Jason had them pinned down from
above. Dan and his men fired into the crowd of enemies, effectively killing
them. Then they walked back into the building to help their comrades. It was an
all-out firefight. Nathan and Sam had ducked behind an old desk and were
returning fire as best they could at the overwhelming number of enemies.

“How are we supposed to defeat this
large of an army?” Nathan asked.

“We don’t have to defeat them. We just
have to force them to another floor for a short while,” Sam said and suddenly
fell back to the floor. She had been hit!

Nathan wanted to turn and run to her,
but there was no time. There were three enemies approaching them from the left.
Just act on instinct, Nathan thought to himself as he jumped out from behind
the desk and as calmly as he possibly could, picked off the three men that were
approaching them. Then he turned to check on Sam, but she was already back up
by him.

“Are you all right?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, that’s what they make these for,”
Sam said while patting her vest.

The fighting continued, and it was
obvious that despite all of their body armor, they were losing this fight.

“They have to fall back at some point,
don’t they?” Nathan asked.

“We need to think of something soon if
we want a chance at winning this,” Sam said.

Nathan scanned the room as best he
could without exposing himself to stray bullets, and then he saw something.

“There! We need to kill that man,”
Nathan said while pointing out a man at the back of the room who was being
shielded by several other soldiers.

“You’re right. It looks like that guy
is giving the orders right now. If we take him out, maybe his second in command
won’t be so composed. Then maybe they’ll be forced to fall back temporarily.”
 

“Exactly.”

“All right, give me a little cover,”
Sam said and started to move to the right edge of the desk.

By the time she popped up, Nathan was
already firing away. She took a quick aim and fired her weapon. Her bullets not
only killed their target, but also killed two of the men who were trying to
shield their leader from harm. Once they both dropped back down, Nathan scolded
her.

“He’s their leader, and it’s great that
you could take him out, but next time, let me do the dangerous stuff. You’re
basically our leader here. If something happened to you, what would anyone here
do? Neither Dan nor I can speak French. We would all be running around here in
complete confusion without a way to communicate.”

The truth was that Nathan could care
less about whether or not Sam was there to lead them. He was really just upset
that she would endanger herself so recklessly without even a second thought. If
anything had happened to her, it would have destroyed him. She could see the
true worry in his eyes.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. That was
foolish of me. From now on, I’ll be more careful.”

“All right then, let’s finish this,”
Nathan said and peaked around the corner of the desk.

The two of them fired as accurately as
they possibly could from behind the desk, and after a few minutes of fighting,
the enemy started a swift retreat up the stairs.

“Follow them,” Sam ordered as she
grabbed her phone and called Zane.

“Tell them that we’re ready,” Sam said
and then hung up the phone.

“All right, let’s go,” Nathan said as
the two of them ran to the stairs.

* * * * *

Trish and Lee received the go ahead to
go inside. The bomb that they were given was on a large dolly. The two of them
began pushing it into the facility. Once they were inside, a conversation
ensued.

“Where do we put this thing?” Lee
asked.

“We need to make sure it’s in a place
that they won’t look right away. We need a chance to get everyone out before
this thing goes off,” Trish said.

“How about in the bathroom?” Lee asked.

“In the bathroom?”

 
“Yeah, why not? We could put it in one of
the stalls. Do you have any other ideas?”

“No, we’ll go with your idea. Let’s
just hurry up,” Trish said, and then they started wheeling it into the
restroom.

Once they were inside, Trish pointed
out the obvious.

“You know that this big cart isn’t
going to fit in one of the stalls, right?” Trish asked.