It was danger, absolute danger.
Dad’s gaze intensified and I remembered I was supposed to be in essence not with Sam.
“Olivia, I fear you’re getting too involved with Sam,” Dad cautioned, steepling his fingers and bringing them up to his chin.
“Dad, it’s Sam.” I sighed and pulled in a steady breath.
“I know, and that’s the problem. We’ve talked about this.”
I loved how my father was protective over me but there was a line that he needed to stay behind. I didn’t want to be rude and point that out. I knew full well that I’d most likely be the same as him if I was him, but he had to ease off some.
I also knew that there was some element of comparison with Coop he wasn’t outrightly saying. It was the same sort of worry.
“Dad, when this all went down with Sam I was really upset and I was hurt that Sam lied but I see now why he had to. It would be very unfair if I didn’t acknowledge that. my point is you see what is happening. It’s not like he’s the one that’s doing this.”
Dad sighed and a thin line tensed across his jaw. “That’s exactly my point. Sure he isn’t the one orchestrating anything, but the situation calls for it. It’s the situation. Olivia look at what is going on around you. There’s so much to consider here that I’m not sure you can see because love has made you blind and you’re not thinking straight. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy. If I didn’t think so I wouldn’t be helping him. But I just can’t stand by and watch so many bad variables coming into play and not do something. Or, not say something to bring the worst ones to your attention.”
“Variables Dad?”
“Reasons why you two should man up and see why you shouldn’t be together.”
Hearing him actually say that hurt me to no end. It really hurt me. I was real interested to hear his version of why. “Tell me. Please tell me. If you think I’m blind, tell me.” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice.
“Olivia, when Sam first came back on the scene I told him I would have been proud to see you with him. I would have. I meant it, but seeing what he’s been up to, seeing how he lied to protect his work and everything made me question that in a massive way. He’s trouble and he’s into danger. That is what it boils down to.”
He wasn’t wrong. Dad wasn’t wrong. But what he was suggesting I do wasn’t right either.
“He was always trouble and into danger Dad. That was him, that is him. He just directed the concepts to something good.”
“I agree, I do. That doesn’t mean trouble and danger are right for you. Look what’s happened… I give him full credit and respect in regards to his motives in doing the right thing but consider this, this mission has reactivated him. If he doesn’t get charged for Bradley’s murder then he could leave. He could still leave and continue with his job which may take him anywhere and he won’t be able to tell you what he’s doing, where he’s going. Nothing at all. Living like that isn’t healthy for a relationship.”
I couldn’t help it, I was angry at his difficulty and stubbornness.
I stood up to go and squeezed my hands at my sides. “Dad, people do it. They make it work. I think you’re being unreasonable. I think I should go before I say anything that’ll upset you. You told him to stay away, but you didn’t think about what I want. You didn’t allow me the time to be upset and come to my own conclusion. I needed to.”
He just looked at me and didn’t say anything as I left. Clearly showing that he was still against the idea.
It wasn’t about him though.
* * *
Dr. Jada Dane came to my rescue.
The next day as I continued to worry she called to check in, heard the tension in my voice and came straight over. It was dinner time and I was going crazy. I would have gone to Dad’s if we didn’t have that little disagreement. It would have been a bad idea today because I was a lot more antsy than I was last night.
It was a literal rescue. We sat on my bed talking about everything and eating chocolate. We could have been the same two little girls we were at five years old when we first met. Mama would get us chocolate and make muffins decorated with glitter on top. We’d go to my room and talk and eat.
Back then we didn’t have a care in the world. So much had happened since. Mama, then Coop. Both gone from my life forever.
“Hey,” Jada reached across and took my hand. “You okay?”
“No, I’m not. This thing with Dad is getting to me and I don’t know what Sam’s up to. I don’t know if he’s already done what he’s supposed to do or what…”
“Don’t worry. Try not to. I know it’s hard to just not worry, but it’s all you can do right now. About both. Sam and your Dad.”
“I’m worried sick about Sam.” It was really late now. It was bordering on ten and I was stuck on worry over what Sam was doing. It was all starting to get to me. “And, Dad really pissed me off. If it’s one thing I hate it’s being told what to do like I’m some idiot child with no sense.”
“I know girl, it doesn’t suit your personality. Nor mine. That’s why we’re friends. So, there’s one thing we haven’t talked about, even though it’s glaringly obvious.” A mischievous smile lit up her face.
“What?”
“Sam, you… I take it you’re back on. In all the times we’ve been working, the only time you’ve ever missed breakfast was when you were on vacation and that was often with me, or if you were sick and that’s almost as rare as seeing a leprechaun.”
I had to laugh. “Jada. A leprechaun?”
“Uh huhh girl, don’t you dare say otherwise because it’s so true. You’re never sick and you rarely miss breakfast, yet you did practically every morning this week. Was the sex that good.” Her eyes widened with delight.
“Jada,” I chided.
“Olivia, we’re a long way from being the girls we used to be. Who can you talk to about these things if not me? We’re like sisters but better, because we share almost everything.”
I laughed because it was true. “Almost? I thought we did share everything?”
“Kind off.” She gave me a one shoulder shrug and smirked. “Maybe there are some things I keep to myself.”
“What aren’t you saying girl?” She had my interest piqued in a big way.
She looked down at the square patterns on the soft cream satin on the sheets and looked back to me.
“Not much, but just enough to encourage you. I’ve watched you and Sam now for years, even your years without him, and I think I know enough to tell you, you two have the real deal. True love. You love him and he loves you back fiercely. It’s all there right in the open. It’s two ways and that part is the part a lot of people don’t have. It can be painful when it’s not like that.” She brushed her hair over her shoulders.
It sounded a lot like she was talking from experience, but Jada had never mentioned a guy that she was actually in love with.
“Miss Jada, I appreciate your words. I really do. I feel them and you’re right. However, it sounded an awful lot like you knew more than you would usually to give advice like that.”
“Maybe I do. Maybe there’s some things I never told anyone because I was foolish and got hurt in a bad way.”
“What?” She usually told me everything. For her to keep something away from me meant it must have hurt her deeply.
She chuckled and flicked her wrist. “It’s not important. We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. For me, I promise to tell you everything one day when I’m ready. For you, I guess I want to say that it really doesn’t matter what your dad thinks. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. If you want the man, be with him. Do you think you want to be with Sam?”
That was a very easy question. I nodded and placed my hand at my heart. “I do Jada. I really do.”
She laughed and moved over to give me a hug. As soon as she did that my phone buzzed next to us.
It was Sam. I answered quickly. “Hey, hi. Are you okay?”
/> “I’m okay. I was just calling so you wouldn’t worry. I’m about to go in now.” He sounded tired but happy to talk to me.
“Sam please be careful, please.”
“Baby, you know I will. I love you.”
“I love you too.” It was so easy to tell him, and I could listen to him tell me he loved me every day. Jada swooned as she heard me say it and brought her hands together.
“See you tomorrow. I’ll be careful.” Sam promised. “I’ll call you when I’m out of here.”
That would definitely put my mind at ease. He knew me so well.
I couldn’t wait for it all to be over. I really couldn’t.
“Please do, and please be careful.”
“I will.” He assured me and then he was gone.
Yes… I knew exactly what I was going to do and it didn’t matter what happened after this. Years ago my route was the same, there was no change just uncertainty. It was clear now though. It was clear and Jada was as usual right.
It didn’t matter about anyone else. As much as it hurt me to class Dad in that category I had to.
I knew I wanted to be with Sam. That was a good position to be in. It was the starting point I needed.
Chapter 14
Sam
* * *
Shawshank Redemption was one of my favorite films.
It was part of the collection Coop and I used to watch every year. We had some films that we just had on our shelf and we had them for the sake of having them and probably didn’t plan to particularly watch again.
The others like Shawshank were a must and an absolute must to watch in the summer. We’d binge watch the collection and God we were crazy, sometimes we even watched Shawshank twice in that session. The excuse was always because we knew we wouldn’t be seeing it again for another year. The truth was, we were those kids who never grew up and latched on to our favorite thing and would have watched it for a third or fourth time if one or the other suggested it.
Tonight I was thinking of the film, not for the good inspirational parts that most people associated with it.
It was something else entirely.
I was thinking about how Tim Robbins, who played the main character Andy Dufresne, had to crawl through the prison sewer system as part of his escape route. The scene was vivid in my mind as I dropped down the manhole an hour ago in the park outside the Norton Simon Museum. Driving distance was roughly fifteen minutes. Travelling on foot in the dark with a headlight attached to my head and a flashlight in my hand took me an hour. An hour of travelling through the worse smell of shit I’d ever come across and that was bad considering I wasn’t even travelling in the shit. I’d gone through the water tunnels that had all the drainage and piping systems that connected from the warehouse in Glendale and the museum. It also happened to be not that far from the tunnels with the shit.
It made me think of Shawshank because I probably never truly appreciated what Andy must have gone through until tonight. I’d heaved several times and I was a hard ass. I could take anything. But an hour of the aroma of shit apparently could take me down even before my task really began.
It was just the beginning.
This was unlike any mission I’d gone on because number one I was alone, and second this looked easy but I knew if I fucked up I’d really fuck up.
I’d spent the whole of Friday and yesterday going over the plan and assessing how they worked at the warehouse. The warehouse operated as a metal company facility during the days. It housed two metal companies who shared space. One made metal, the other sold it.
Norton and friends were occupying the back space of the one that made the metal. It was a neat hideaway, better than where we were originally when I’d first come back to LA. This was a place I would never have found if Agent Fox hadn’t given the address details.
Having the address allowed me the opportunity to hack the security systems and the CCTV so I could see what was happening on the inside. One system protected the premises and the other Norton’s office in the far corner of the facility, on the fourth floor. That was where I was going.
Inside the office was a safe. Inside the safe was the laptop Agent Fox mentioned, and I could confirm seeing Norton place the chip inside the laptop.
To get inside the warehouse facility you could simply walk through the door.
For me that would mean getting myself killed in an instant because when the normal warehouse staff went home on Friday night, Norton’s guys, who included Oz and Patrick, would have killed me on the spot.
There was no back entrance, just two fire exits on either side of the building, also heavily guarded.
The only other option was the sewer, and I arrived exactly where I thought I would. Right in the lower ground toilet in the day time staff area where I had to unscrew the bolts securing the drain cover. In my survey I noticed Norton’s guys never came this side. It was pitch black and fortunately the place was still of the old style where motion sensors didn’t activate the lights like in most modern day buildings.
I turned off my lights and felt my way through. I’d managed to memorize the layout of the place and decided on using the stairs on the fire escape on the right hand side of the building to make my way up to the fourth floor. That was the easy part.
The hard part was just about to start, and it would be harder too because I just saw Xavier walk past when I looked through the peephole of the door.
Fucking asshole, he was on his phone smiling. He held it in his hands watching something with keen interest.
“How about you take your clothes off and show me your tits,” he said actually stopping by the door. Through it I heard the soft sound of a woman giggling.
He had a thing for whores, always with a prostitute, looked like he’d upgraded to the ones that you could reach with the click of a button.
“Good,” he smiled. “See you in an hour.”
I hoped his dick fell off.
When he proceeded down the stairs I released a sigh of relief and pulled out my own phone. I had everything set up so the systems could be disabled from here and using my phone.
The team Joe set up were on standby on a road across from the warehouse. They were watching too. Lark, Joe’s tech, had set something up so the minute I disabled the systems he’d replace the images showing on the CCTV with a repeat of what the guards had seen for the last hour.
I didn’t plan to be in here that long but who knew what could happen. It was better to err on the side of caution than not.
I waited for his signal to let me know when he’d done it.
A second later a message flashed up on my screen with a thumbs up sign.
Looking at the message I saw one from Olivia she must have sent just after we spoke. It must have come through when I emerged from the sewer.
It said:
Dear Sam,
Be careful, I love you.
Chapter 15
Speaking to her gave me strength earlier, and hope to carry out this special mission of mine. Speaking to her reminded me what I was working for.
Her.
My girl.
I put the phone away and looked around to see if the coast was clear. It was so I pushed the door forward.
It was easy looking at the inside of this place from the screen at home but there were things I wouldn’t know just from sight. Like if the door creaked when opening, which it totally did. It wasn’t loud but it would have been audible enough if someone was around.
I went through it and blended in with the walls in complete stealth mode. I probably looked like a ninja marine in my tight black get up and the space around my eyes painted black, but this was complete stealth mode.
On one of my missions in the Marines, I had to get past the borders of Amudarya to Mazar-e Sharif. I dressed in a similar fashion but a combo of green and brown. I was able to get past a whole envoy of men unseen. That was another rescue attempt.
I kind of was alone then in the sense that I’d come from the
side of the militant rebel camp by myself.
I looked ahead, thankful that I was still alone. It seemed like it was just Xavier who’d been up here and hopefully he’d stay out of my way for a while. He wasn’t on my list of guards but it made sense that he would be here, as were the rest of the team.
Norton’s office was at the end of this corridor. The was a security panel on the door linked in with the one the warehouse used so I knew I’d be able to get inside the room unnoticed.
I moved ahead, swift and silent. The door opened without the need to input a password on the panel on the door. Once inside I spotted the object of my desire.
The medium sized safe was at the corner of the room with Norton’s laptop and the chip inside it.
I didn’t plan to pussyfoot around and try to get the chip out. I was going to grab the whole thing, shove it in the bag on my back and go.
That was the plan. Nothing fancy.
I smiled when I saw the security set up on the safe. Again another panel system. These fuckers really didn’t know me, but then I knew they never imagined I’d get this far. So, they probably didn’t factor in having me to worry about.
These panel systems were good and probably the best on the market to get to secure your valuables but not around a guy like me.
All these systems would disable with this little device I made up just for tonight.
I called it a scrambled egg. When placed on one of these panel systems it would send off an electromagnetic pulse that would first short circuit the system them scramble the access codes set for the password.
I did just that and in less than a few seconds the lights on the panel went out and the door clicked open.
Assholes. I could just imagine how pissed off Norton would be when he discovered his precious laptop was gone.
The door clicked open and there the laptop was deep inside with a large brown envelope on top.
I grabbed both, shoved them in my bag and made my way out.
Yours Truly Page 10
