Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) (8 page)

“Okay
, so what am I supposed to do? Just walk away? Should I leave Nathan, knowing full well that people are trying to kill him, thanks to me? Can I actually leave a piece of evidence they’re willing to kill for in the hands of some random stranger in Georgia? Also, what can we do about Agent Driver? I can’t, in good conscience, just leave him if something is wrong.” 

“Look, if you want to do this and
you can deal with the consequences later on, I can’t stop you, but I’m asking you, as your friend, to stand down. This is the type of thing that will ruin a career, and unfortunately I can’t protect you anymore. We’ll put Nathan in protective custody, and hopefully Agent Driver will pop up soon. If not, there’s nothing we can really do about him.” 

“
I’m sorry, but that just isn’t acceptable,” Sam said sounding irritated.

“Tomorrow I’m
going back there and recovering our agent, and then I’m going to Georgia to recover what is mine,” Sam said with determination.

“Well, if I can’t change your mind then I guess I’ll just say good luck, Sam. Please don’t get yourself killed. This will
probably be the last time I’ll be able to talk to you since you’re pretty much considered rogue as it is, so I just want to let you know that it’s been an honor.”

“Thanks
, Jason. It’s been an honor for me, too. I’ll talk to you later. I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Goodbye, Sam,” Jason said and hung up the phone.

After getting off the phone, Jason called his friend Burt into his office.

“How can I get in touch with Zane Green now?” Jason asked.

“I’ll get his number for you, but why do you need it?”

“I’ve g
ot an agent who needs some off-book help, and I wanted to see if he might be willing to help me out again.”

“Can do. J
ust give me a few minutes, and I’ll have it for you.” 

“
Thanks,” Jason said with a nod.

Chapter 8

The next morning when Nathan woke up, he was afraid to open his eyes. Surely everything from the day before was a simple dream. I’ll wake up in my normal bed, and I definitely won’t go to an interview, Nathan thought to himself. Still, Nathan couldn’t help but feel that the temperature in this room was far different than it normally was in his bedroom, and to top it all off, he could feel someone’s presence next to him.

“Here I go,” Nathan said to himself as he opened his eyes slowly.

The ceiling was definitely different than his ceiling at home. He then looked to his right and found that there was no doubt about it. He was definitely in the same hotel room from his supposed dream. Why did all of this have to happen to me, Nathan wondered. He looked to his left and there on the other side of the bed, still above the covers, was Sam. Well, there’s one good thing about this situation, he thought to himself. She really was very beautiful to him. He couldn’t stop looking at her. How had he ended up next to this beautiful creature?

“Stop staring
at me,” Sam said with her eyes still closed.

“How did you even know
I was looking at you?”

“I see everything
, and you definitely stare a lot,” she said in a sleepy voice.

“
So I guess you noticed my extended look back at the office then?

“Wait! W
hat? At the office?”

“You really didn’t notice? Wel
l, now I’m embarrassed.”

“I’m just messing with you
. Of course I noticed the weird guy who was staring at me. I see everything, remember?”

“Weird guy. What’s that supposed to mean?

Sam only laughed
at Nathan’s question without answering.

“Well look
, I need to take a shower. I’m pretty sure that I still smell like I’ve been trapped in the trunk of a car,” Nathan said.

“W
hile I do agree that you probably need to take a shower, you should know I do
not
take cold showers, so your shower will have to wait,” Sam said while getting out of the bed and making her way to the bathroom door.

She stopped just
before she was about to enter the bathroom and turned back toward Nathan.

“Remember
, I see everything, so no funny business, weird guy,” Sam said while pointing to her eyes and then pointing back at him as if to say in a half joking way
no funny business.

“Yeah, yeah just go
on already.”

After Sam was gone
, he lay back on the bed and closed his eyes again. What should I do next, Nathan wondered. Was he really going to go to Georgia with a girl he had just met, and shouldn’t he let his family know something? Then again, what would he say to them? It’s not like any of this would be very believable to anyone. He did the only thing he could think to do at that moment. He sent a text to Lee.

“Hey
! You don’t have to send the flash drive to me. I’m going to come to you,” Nathan said.

“Great! I’ve been try
ing to get you out here forever,” Lee responded.

Nathan w
ould have continued texting Lee, but a knock at the door interrupted him.

As Nathan started to move toward the door
, many thoughts were flashing through his mind. Should he really answer the door? Who knows? It could be the man who had easily taken him captive before, or someone like him. Sam would be in the shower and unable to help him. With that thought, Nathan was ashamed of himself. How much of a man was he? He was worried about answering the door because he wouldn’t have a small woman to hide behind. The thought of how cowardly he was being made him sick to his stomach. With his courage renewed, Nathan unlocked the door and began to open it. He had decided that he would face whoever was on the other side with courage, or at least that’s what he kept telling himself. The truth was that if there were any danger at all, he was still going to scream for Sam. As the door creaked open, Nathan saw who was on the other side of it and was very relieved. It was simply an old man. The old man was Zane Green. Zane looked very confused. Jason had told him that Sam needed some help and that this help had to be off the books, but Jason failed to give him any more details. The mysterious man opening the door raised more than a few questions in Zane’s mind, but even though he was obviously confused, he quickly collected himself.

“I’m Zane. I wasn’t told that Sam
had already received help from another agent besides me.”

The truth wa
s that Nathan didn’t really look like another agent to Zane, but what do I know, Zane thought. If a woman as young as Samantha could be an agent, so could this guy standing in front of him.

“
I’m not exactly another agent. It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“Okay,
so tell me what’s going on then?”

“You’re h
ere to help Sam?”

“Yes
, I am,” Zane answered.

“In that case,
I guess it would be okay to fill you in on what’s going on, but I’ll warn you that I just learned all this yesterday, so I don’t know if my mind has even been able to process everything that’s happened. This will be a very rough version of what’s going on.”

“Just do yo
ur best,” Zane said in an understanding tone.

Nathan then
, in the best way he could, recapped the last twenty-four hours and repeated all the little details that Sam had explained to him the night before.

Upon entering the shower
, Sam couldn’t help but begin recapping the events of the last few days and contemplating all of her decisions over that time. The shower had always been a relaxing place for her, but it was also an excellent place for her to reflect on things and get her head back in the right place after a hard day. She needed that reflection and healing right about now. As her thoughts slowly turned to less serious subjects, she couldn’t help but to visually smile. Weird guy, she thought, and smiled. It wasn’t that she actually thought he was weird, but for some reason, she found herself really enjoying poking fun at him. No one had ever looked at her the way he did. It was a confusing, disturbing, and wonderful feeling to Sam. In fact, she didn’t know how she felt about it at all. Why am I even thinking about this kind of stuff right now? I have more important things to be concentrating on. Like life or death things, she thought to herself. Still, in spite of the scolding she had just given herself, the same thoughts that seemed so odd to her continued to run through her mind. Her train of thought was suddenly broken when she heard a voice. Is Nathan talking to himself? Maybe this guy really is strange, she thought. Then she heard another voice. Who else would be in here, she wondered. No back up would be coming. She was a rogue agent at this point. The only explanation is that this is an intruder. I’ve got to protect Nathan, she thought in a panic. She quickly turned the shower off, jumped out of it, and grabbed the hotel shower robe that was hanging on the bathroom door. She put it on and grabbed the pistol she had placed on the bathroom counter the night before. Sam was a little paranoid, but her training had taught her to be that way. There were guns in just about every drawer and in every room of her hotel room. The idea behind this extreme paranoia was that no matter where you found yourself, when you were in a pinch, there would still be plenty of options. She quickly slung open the door and rounded the corner that lead to the area where the voices were coming from. There she saw Zane and a horrified Nathan. Why does he look so scared, she wondered. Oh yeah, I’m pointing a gun at them, she realized. She lowered the gun, and the color began to return to Nathan’s face. The truth was that Sam was a little relieved that it was only Zane, but she was also a little ticked off that she was standing in front of the two of them with nothing on but a bathrobe.

“Well
, that’s no way to greet a friend, is it?” Zane asked while smiling.

Sam only scowled and made her way back
into the bathroom. She couldn’t understand why she had freaked out so badly. Why would it be so bad if something happened to Nathan anyway? She already knew who his friend was. She could easily go and get the flash drive without him. Why did she feel the need to protect someone who was a complete stranger? Maybe this guy is making me soft, she thought in disgust.

When
Sam walked out of the bathroom, she was completely ready to go get Dan Driver. All that was left was to see what Zane was here for and to let Nathan get ready. Nathan passed her and went into the bathroom. He was very glad to finally get to wash the grime from the day before from his skin, but he was still pretty anxious to see what this Zane character was going to do to help them out. He showered as quickly as he possible could in the cold water. After he finished showering, he began putting his clothes on. Sam had bought him some clothes the night before. The pants fit him perfectly, but he had issues with the shirt. It had a duck on it for some reason. She had looked at him expectantly when he saw it, as if he were supposed to be fond of such an ugly thing. Nathan lied to her.

“Yeah, it’s great.
I really like it. Thank you,” he had said to her.

Why would a
ny grown man want to wear a shirt with ducks on it, he thought as he stared at the shirt in front of him. Then again, he did wear underwear with a dog on them, so it’s not like he could question her choice in clothing very much. As he exited the bathroom, his eyes met with Zane’s. Zane had to stifle a laugh at the sight of the lime green duck shirt that Nathan was wearing.

“Nice shirt,
” Zane said while trying to sound serious, but failing at it miserably.

At this point
, Nathan couldn’t hold his curiosity back any longer.

“
So what’s the deal with the ducks? Do you like ducks or something?”

“Well, no. I thought
that people around here liked ducks and some guy named Elvis.”

She
thought that he would like things that were associated with ducks and Elvis because the people sure liked the mouse in Orlando. If ducks and some musician were their thing here, then he should like the shirt, or so she thought. Well, that explained the shirt and the large white gaudy jacket she had given him.

“Oh, why did you think that?” Nathan asked.

“My handler said there was something special about ducks where I was staying, and I’ve seen at least a half dozen people here with that jacket on.”

Something special about ducks.
What’s so special about ducks, Nathan wondered. Then it came to him.

“Oh
! The duck walk that they do here at the hotel.”

Sam looked puzzled.
She had no idea what a duck walk was or why Nathan was making such a big deal about this duck thing.

“Did I do something wrong
?” she asked.

“No
, the shirt is great, but I don’t quite think I have the sideburns to pull off the jacket.”

“Oh, okay,
” Sam said, while feeling like she had missed something important.

“Well
anyway, how are we going to get to Georgia? Fill me in,” Nathan said.

“Zane and I have something to do first. Yo
u need to stay here.”

“Now, wait a min
ute. I’m involved in this now. For better or worse, I’m part of this, so tell me what it is that you two have to do. Maybe I can help you guys out.”

“You would
only be in the way. You don’t have our type of training, and I don’t want to have to worry about you,” Sam said without thinking of his feelings.

The words stung
Nathan’s pride, but he couldn’t deny that if whatever they were doing involved a confrontation with anyone like he had encountered the night before, he would be little to no help.

“Fine, but at least tell me what it is
that you’re doing.”

Sam and Zane told him all about Dan Driver and the
predicament they believed he was in.

“So what’s
your plan?” Nathan asked.

“Well
, it isn’t much of a plan, but I have a huge supply of weapons and some small explosives. Hopefully, we can infiltrate the place stealthily, but if we can’t, then that’s when my toys will come into play. Then we just hope for the best, I guess,” Zane said.

“That isn’t a plan
at all,” Nathan said.

He was extremely
irritated by what he had just heard. Not only was their plan likely to get them killed, but it would also leave him alone with no one to protect him from the people who were trying to find him. It was unacceptable on every level, and Nathan couldn’t help but wonder how well the people in the CIA were really trained if this was the best plan they could come up with.

“Okay then
, please tell us what you would do in our situation, Mr. Expert,” Sam said sarcastically.

“When I was a kid I had this bull
y,” Nathan said before being cut off by Sam.