Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) (19 page)

“
Mr. Jones, can you look up something for me?” Campbell asked.

“Sure, what
exactly do you need?” Burt asked.

“I need you to find the location of Samantha Fisher through her cel
l phone tracker.”

“Yes sir,
I can do that, but if you don’t mind, can I ask you why I’m doing this?”

Campbell
knew that Burt was good friends with Jason, and he would no doubt tell him all about his request, so he lied to Burt. He didn’t want to have to deal with anymore questioning from Jason.

“
We’re sending someone to help her out. She should be home within a couple of days,” Campbell said.

“That’s great news
, sir! I’ll get right on it.”

Jason and Dan were
working on a plan in Jason’s office to try to get Sam home when Burt suddenly popped in.

“I’ve got good news
, guys,” Burt proudly said.

“What is it?” Jason asked.

Burt then told them about the conversation he had just had with Mr. Campbell out in the hallway.

“I wonder why he had such a sudden change of heart,” Jason said.

“I don’t know, but don’t question it. At this point, this is the best thing I’ve heard in days,” Dan said.

“Well anyway,
I’m going to go look up her current location,” Burt said and walked out.

Somethi
ng just feels wrong about all this, Jason thought to himself.

* * * * *

Back at the safe house, Sam’s phone rang. She ran to it almost immediately.

“Jason?” she said
while answering the phone.

“Yeah
, it’s me, and I just wanted to let you know that the agency is supposed to be sending someone to your location to extract you very soon,” Jason said.

“That’s great.
”

“
Maybe, but to be honest, I think something else is going on here. Campbell was dead set against helping you out, and then suddenly, out of the blue, he just had a change of heart. It smells fishy to me.”

“I’ll be careful
, and hopefully your nose is just a little off today.”

“
I sure hope so, for your sake.”

“So much has happened
, and I’ve got so much that I have been wanti . . . ” Sam said before being cut off.

“I’m not actually supposed to be talking to you
right now. I had to go to the bathroom to make this call, so I can’t talk long, but just know that I want to hear all about it when, God willing, you get back home,” Jason said.

“Okay
, thank you for everything, Jason.”

“Stay safe. G
oodbye,” Jason said and then hung up the phone.

By now
, everyone in the safe house was wondering who had called, and what was going on.

“The CIA is sending help to our location,” Sam said.

A sigh of relief was let out from everyone.

“Finally
, a little bit of help here,” Lee said.

When everyone had gone their separate ways
, Sam pulled Nathan back into their room and shut the door.

“That was my handler
, and they’re supposedly sending help for us, but he said that he thought something else might be going on,” Sam said.

“What do you mean?” Nathan asked
.

Sam
told Nathan about the conversation she had just had.

“I didn’t want to make anyone panic because Jason is a bit of a worrier
, and I’m sure that everything will be fine, but I just wanted you to know what’s really going on.”

“Thanks for tr
usting me with that.”

Nathan started to leave the room but Sam suddenly pulled him back toward her.
“If they’re coming to get us, you’ll probably be put into a witness protection program until all this is over. I just wanted you to know that if that does happen, I’ll find you when this is all over. I promise.”

“Oh no
, don’t think that you’re getting rid of me that easy. Besides, I thought I was pretty much an agent at this point,” Nathan said and smiled.

“I’m serious
about this. I will find you, no matter what happens.”

“Hey
, what are you two doing in there? We’re about to fix some food, so if you want a vote on what we’re going to eat, you should get out here,” Michael said from the other side of the door.

“We
’re coming,” Sam responded and began to walk toward the door.

Nathan grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“I know you will find me if that happens. I just don’t want to think about us being separated right now, so let’s just enjoy today and pretend that it can last forever,” Nathan said while looking deep into her green eyes.

“Okay
, I guess that you’re right,” she said as they exited the room together.

C
hapter 19

That night back
at his home, John Campbell was dreading the call he was about to make. He had Sam’s location, and all that was left was to give her up to Markus, but something kept making him hesitate. What does this make me if I do something like this, John asked himself. He was sitting alone in his home office, and that’s where he had been all evening long.

“Honey
, are you coming to bed?” his wife asked in a concerned tone.

She and the kids knew something was wrong
with him, but they also knew enough to know that there were some things you simply couldn’t ask John. His decisions always weighed heavily on him, and thanks to the secret nature of his work, he alone always had to bear the brunt of that weight. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to put his whole family in protective custody and fight the monster who was threatening everything he cared about, but what would that do? How would he even begin to fight such an enemy, and what would that do to his children? Should they really have to pick up their entire lives and move to a new location, all thanks to his incompetence? No, this is my mess to clean up. There’s no reason that they should be affected by it, he concluded.

“I’ll be up in just a minute
, honey,” he said to his wife.

“Okay,” she r
esponded as she walked upstairs.

John picked up the phone and made the call to his old friend.

“I knew I would be hearing from you. You were always a reliable one,” Markus said in a satisfied voice.

“She’s
in Orlando at a safe house we have there. I’ll email you the exact location in a few minutes,” John said, sounding defeated.

“You did the right thing
for your family and your agents, John. This will all be over soon, and then things will be able to go back to normal for you. You’ll see.”

Normal? W
hat would normal be now? No, there will be no peace of mind after what I’ve just done, John thought.

“I hope
so,” John said.

“I’ll
be in touch with you soon. Take care of yourself, John,” Markus said and then hung up the phone.

John was stunned by what had just transpired. He had given up an agent for doing the things that she was supposed to do
, and now he was supposed to pretend like nothing had happened. He set the phone down on his desk and walked up to the bedroom. He didn’t know why he was making the trip upstairs. There would be no sleep for him tonight. His inner demons wouldn’t allow him to sleep, and the truth was that he didn’t deserve to sleep peacefully after what he had just done.

* * * * *

Back at the safe house, everyone except for Lee was getting ready for bed. He would be up all night working on unlocking the files.

“Are you ever going to
go to sleep?” Nathan asked.

“I’ll take a nap sometime in the morning after Michael gets up. Besides
, I don’t think he slept very well on the floor last night,” Lee said.

Nathan hated that Lee was practically killing himself working on the files
, but at the same time, he was glad to see that Michael’s luck was changing a bit. At least he was going to sleep on something that wasn’t a floor tonight. Back in the bedroom, Sam was still worrying about Jason’s doubts. What would I do if this was all some kind of trap? How would I protect everyone, she wondered. Her worries were justified. Although their location would be hard to find, there was one major disadvantage to where they were. There was only one entrance and the same place served as the exit. If anyone were to catch them by surprise, they would be trapped with no hope of escaping. She was feeling better than she did the day before, but her arm still hurt, and she was still walking with quite the limp, not to mention the fact that her face was messed up pretty badly. If there were a fight at this location, she would be in no shape to try to win it. She exited the room and got everyone’s attention.

“Hey
, listen up. Maybe I’m being a little paranoid right now, but I’m going to give you all a number, and I want you to memorize it,” Sam said.

“What’s
this about?” Trish asked.

Trish had noticed
that Sam had been acting strange ever since they received news that they would be getting help, but she didn’t want to call her out on it. Trish didn’t know her very well, and besides that, who was she to start accusing people in this group of hiding things when she was trying to kill everyone in the group just a few hours ago.

“It’s just me
trying to be being careful. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Yeah
, there it is, Trish thought. You see, Trish had learned a long time ago that when people say certain phrases you need to be extremely worried, and “There’s nothing to worry about,” was on the top of the list of worrying phrases.

“Anyway,
this is the number for my handler Jason, and if anything were to happen to me or one of you were to ever be in trouble, he’s the guy to call,” Sam said as she wrote Jason’s number on a piece of paper.

“Memorize it as fast as you can because in a few minutes
, I’m going to come back and shred it.”

“Got it,” Lee quickly said after only glancing at it for a couple of seconds.

“Already?” Sam asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Lee
casually said.

“I sho
uld have told you that Lee has a photographic memory. Sometimes it’s bizarre to see how many things he can remember. He still freaks me out from time to time,” Nathan said to Sam.

“Thanks,
I think,” Lee said and laughed.

The night w
ent on with idle chatter among the group, and eventually everyone went to bed. While lying in bed, Sam still couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Nathan rolled over and firmly wrapped his arms around her. I really do wish this could last forever, she thought to herself.

Later t
hat night, Nathan and Sam woke up to a loud noise. Something had broken in the bathroom outside in the hallway. It sounded like glass.

“I’m going to
. . . ” Sam said before being interrupted.

“You should stay here. You’re still hurt. I’ll
go and check it out. How much danger could there really be in the bathroom?” Nathan said.

Nathan got up and walked into the hallway to see Lee standing there.

“Something’s wrong with Michael. I tried to talk to him, but he won’t let me in,” Lee said.

“Let me tr
y to talk to him,” Nathan said.

“Hey, Michael
. Can I come in?”

“Not ri
ght now,” Michael responded, out of breath.

“Look
, I need you to let me in. I’m your friend, and I’m really worried about you right now.”

The sound of the lock be
ing opened on the door could be heard. Nathan went inside to find Michael with a bloody hand. The bathroom mirror had also been broken, and it was obvious that this was the source of Michael’s new wound.

“What’s
going on with you?” Nathan asked.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I think
I might get it.”

“What do you know? Have you ever killed
. . .” Michael said before stopping.

Nathan did kill someone
back in Atlanta! That guy deserved it, though. The situation isn’t the same at all, Michael told himself.

“
I know you’re going through some things that I’ll probably never fully be able to understand, but I can listen and relate to you in some ways,” Nathan said.

Michael stayed silent for a few seconds and then finally spoke.

“How did you kill that guy without feeling at least a little bit guilty?”

Nathan hadn’t expected Michael
to say something like that. A sucker punch couldn’t have caught him off guard as much as this question did, unless of course it came from Sam.

“I do feel gu
ilty. I didn’t want to kill him.”

“Well
then, why did you kill him?”

“Truthfully
, I was scared of what might happen if I didn’t kill him. Sam could be dead if I didn’t pull that trigger. I could be dead, and who knows what would have become of you and Lee if that madman were still around.”

“So that’s it? You just justify it in your mind and what
, all your sin just goes poof and disappears?” Michael asked sarcastically.

“No
, that’s not what I meant. Nothing will ever erase my sins. I can’t bring that man back to life, and nothing I ever do will make up for taking his life, but I do take some level of comfort in knowing that at least some good did come of my decision to pull the trigger that day.”

“
Well, it’s great that you have the luxury of knowing that your sins caused some good, but not all of us do,” Michael said with tears in his eyes.

“You killed enemy soldiers that were trying to kill your fellow soldiers
, Michael. I’ll never be able to absolve you of those sins or fix the damage it did to you personally. If you’re looking to be absolved, then you should talk to God. My point is that all I, or anyone else in this world, can tell you is that you did your job, and I promise that every time you pulled the trigger you either saved the life of a soldier on your side or prevented some kid from having to experience the horror of pulling the trigger themselves. In some cases, you did both. Are you a hero? No. Do you deserve a big grand parade or everyone’s admiration because you had to kill those people? No, you don’t. One thing that you do deserve, though, is the respect of others. You killed, but you also saved many lives, and probably most importantly, you did a job that would have broken a lesser man, and you’re still here,” Nathan said while looking straight into his friends eyes.

“
But I
am
broken!”

“No, you’re
down right now, but you’re
not
out. You’re stronger than all of us Michael, and one day when you are able bear the guilt of all your sins and come to embrace all your accomplishments and failures, you’ll prove exactly that. I promise.”

Michael thought hard about
what Nathan said. Everyone else who had talked to him always acted as if he should feel no guilt. They said that no one could hold him responsible for his actions. A minister even told him that murder is not a sin in war, and that God somehow excuses any actions in war, but he had always known the truth. He had felt the weight of those sins for so long without the acknowledgment that they even existed from anyone else, so Nathan’s words really resonated with him.

“Thanks for acknowledging that I did do some things wrong over there,” Michael said.

“No problem, but do me a favor and try to concentrate on the things you did right, too. You aren’t innocent, but you’re also very accomplished, and it’s about time that you remembered that.”

“
All right, thanks for the pep talk. How about we get out of this bathroom?”

“Okay
. We need to get that hand cleaned up anyway.”

Nathan and Lee helped get his hand cleaned up and then Nathan went back to bed. As he got in the bed
, Sam turned to him.

“What was that about?” Sam
asked

“Oh
, nothing. Someone just needed to remember who they were,” Nathan said and wrapped his arms back around her.

* * * * *

Early the next morning in New York, Markus Boyd made a phone call to one of his offices that was located in Tampa, Florida.

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

“Yes
, this is Mr. Boyd. I need to speak to Mr. Sandusky.”

“Right away
, sir.”

Jeffery Sandusky was an interesting
person, or at least he was interesting to someone like Markus. He found Jeffery right out of college. Jeffery was as brilliant as he was devious. Jeffery was one of Markus’s most trusted associates because he always got the job done at all cost. He had never once failed him.

“Hello,” Jeffery
said.

“Jeffery
, it’s good to speak to you. I have a job for you.”

“It’s good to speak to you too
, sir. Well, don’t keep me waiting. This must be some job if you’re calling to tell me about it yourself.”

Markus
explained the whole situation with the data that had been stolen from their office in Mississippi and told him that he needed it recovered.

“Th
e people who have it are presently in Orlando. I’ll fax you the exact location and instructions on how to enter their safe house shortly,” Markus said.

“I’ll
get it done, but what should I do with the people?” Jeffery asked.

“Capture them and then
get any useful information you can possibly get out of them. Make sure that they haven’t made copies of the data or passed our information off to anyone else. After that, I don’t care. Do with them what you wish.”