by David Archer
Once they caught up, he took off running again, this time following the road. This particular road was the one that led into Kirtland’s industrial area, which had built up around some small factories. A few of them had gone out of business recently, and Noah chose one of those buildings as part of his run.
This particular building was only two stories tall, but the inside was one large open expanse. It had been occupied by a company that made steel structural members for many of the buildings in town, and there were many pieces of equipment that had been left behind. Noah made a flying leap through a broken window and then ran up a flight of stairs to a catwalk that spanned the building. When he reached the top, he stopped and looked back to make sure the others were following, but as they started up the stairs he took off again, running the length of the catwalk to the other side of the building and jumping from it onto the top of a movable storage bin, then down to the floor.
There were numerous machines still in place, and he used them to vault across the massive room, jumping over some and sliding under others, while others yet helped him to make sudden turns. By the time he got to the front corner of the building, his group of trainees was scattered all around it. He stood and watched as they figured out where he had gone, then caught up with him. This time, he waited until they had all gathered around.
“You’ve got to try to keep up,” he said. “If you end up in the field, it’s highly unlikely your team leader will be able to stop and check on you. Each of you would have your own job to do, and your entire team is counting on you to do it. Nobody can stand around and wait for you to catch up.”
“Geez, man,” said one of the men, a guy about Noah’s age. “We’re trying—can’t you give us a break?”
“No,” Noah said, and then he turned and took off running. He went through a door and across what had once been the lobby of the offices, then into a storeroom that he knew had a broken window. The window wasn’t very big, so he had to dive through it, then roll back up to his feet outside. Once again, he stopped and waited.
The man who had complained was the first one through the window after him, and he also dived through. The rest followed, although the last three ended up climbing out, gasping for breath.
“We’ll take a five-minute break,” Noah said. He pointed to a shady area just a few yards away and walked over to sit down on a fallen log. The rest of them gathered up around him, most simply dropping to the ground and breathing heavily.
“Thanks, man,” said the guy who had spoken before. “Some of these folks just aren’t ready for this much exertion.”
“That’s why it caught me off guard when you spoke up in there,” Noah said. “I noticed you weren’t really having any problems keeping up with me. Are you just thinking of them?”
The man looked around at the stragglers and grinned, then turned back to Noah. “Nothing so altruistic,” he said. “See the brunette? She was one of the ones who climbed out at the last. I guess I’m just a little bit sweet on her.”
Noah looked at the girl, then turned back to the young man. “Nothing wrong with compassion,” he said. “But I wasn’t kidding when I said they’ll all have to keep up if they end up in the field. That’s what this training is all about, getting them ready. What’s your name?”
“I’m Darrell, Darrell Kowalski.” He extended a hand, and Noah took it.
“Noah Wolf,” he said, and Darrell’s eyes suddenly went wide.
“Noah Wolf? As in, like, the Noah Wolf? Man, you’re just about all we hear about. Almost every instructor we’ve got talks about you.”
Noah shrugged. “I didn’t know,” he said. “I just do my job, and right now that job includes running all your asses off.”
Darrell rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, we spent all yesterday afternoon hearing about how you took out Adrian, the assassin in London, and probably saved the monarchy from being discontinued. The day before that, it was all about how you tracked down that guy Andropov, who almost wiped us all out last year. They all seem to think we should be imitating you or trying to be you.”
Noah shook his head. “They shouldn’t do that,” he said. “I’m not the only team leader, and I don’t even think I’m the best. I’ve worked with one other who’s every bit as efficient as I am, and maybe more so.”
“Really? Can I ask who?”
“Cinderella. I’m sure you’ll hear about her sometime soon.”
“Cinderella? You mean, there’s a woman who’s actually an assassin?”
Noah nodded, knowing that everyone in the group would already have enough security clearance for the things he was saying. “Yes, and she’s a very nice person when she isn’t supposed to kill you.” He got to his feet and walked away, offering an occasional word of encouragement to some of the people who seemed to be having the roughest time.
When it was time to go again, he started off across the Industrial Park and picked up the backstreet that led into town. The rest of the run went fairly easy, as he simply took them through alleys and streets and up the occasional fire escape. When he was at home, Noah ran the PT courses two or three times a week to keep himself in shape, so he knew all of them fairly well. It paid off as he showed this new group several different ways to get down off tall buildings without getting hurt.
Ninety minutes after they started, Noah led the group back to Jackson. The tall, former military instructor grinned at him as he brought them to a halt, and almost all of them dropped to the ground once again.
“You didn’t lose any?” Jackson asked.
“Not this time,” Noah said. “But they should know that tomorrow I’m not going so easy on them.” He pointed Darrell out to Jackson. “That guy there? He kept up with me no problem, but he was always looking out for the slower ones. He claims it’s because he likes one of the girls, but I get the feeling he’s just the compassionate type. He might make a good instructor for the newbies.”
Jackson held up a tablet and poked a couple of buttons on it, then smiled at Noah. “He hasn’t been assigned to any particular job yet,” he said. “I’ll bear your suggestion in mind. He could be an asset to my department.”
Noah clapped Jackson on the shoulder and turned around to the group. “Okay, you all did pretty good. Tomorrow I’m not going to take it quite as easy, though, so be ready with your heart in it. If you don’t feel you can handle it, don’t be afraid to tell Mr. Jackson, and he can put you back in a newbie group for a couple more weeks. See you all tomorrow.”
He turned and jogged to the parking lot, before driving off to pick up Sarah.
Once again, he had to sit in the car and wait for a little while, but at least she wasn’t crying when she came out this time. Noah started to get out, but she waved for him to stay seated and walked around to open her own door. As she got into the car, she leaned over and grabbed his face with both hands and pulled him down for a kiss.
When she pulled back again, she sat there staring into his eyes for a long moment. “You,” she said, “are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Noah simply looked at her for a few seconds, and then he smiled. “Ditto,” he said. He shifted the car into gear and headed for home.
They got to the house and heated up a frozen pizza for lunch, then settled into the living room to watch some TV. Sarah handed the remote to Noah, and he chose a recent science fiction movie. They both enjoyed it, and when it ended, Noah let Sarah choose the next one. Her pick was a romantic movie, and the two of them enjoyed it just as much.
Just as that one was ending, the doorbell rang and Noah got up to answer it. He opened the door and was surprised when Jenny and all three of her team shouted, “Welcome home!”
Noah stepped back and let them in, keeping his eyes on Randy Mitchell the whole time. Jenny reached up and tapped his cheek to get his attention. “You can relax,” she said. “He’s honestly doing everything he can to make up for the things he did wrong. He was absolutely ready to play his part, and we were just informed t
hat it begins tomorrow.”
“No problem,” Noah said, “but I’m not sure how Sarah is going to react.”
“Yeah, well, that’s the thing,” Jenny said. “We brought him along because Doc Parker said she needs to face him and learn to forgive him. Now, I’m not normally all that much into forgiveness, but he and I have had a lot of chances to talk the last couple weeks. You should ask him why he was afraid to come forward and tell us what was going on.”
Noah nodded and let them all into the living room. As he had expected, Sarah smiled when she saw Jenny, but the smile froze on her face as soon as Randy stepped into the room.
Surprisingly, though, she didn’t say a word at first. She motioned for all of them to sit down and asked if anyone wanted something to drink, then got up and went to the kitchen. She was back a few minutes later with a pitcher of iced tea that she had made earlier in the day and several glasses, and made a point of pouring one for each of them, including Randy.
When she had reclaimed her seat beside Noah, he decided to take the bull by the horns. “Randy,” he said, “I’m supposed to ask you why you never came forward and asked for help when the mole contacted you. Would you explain?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and Jenny said this might be a show-and-tell, so I brought along some visual aids.” He reached into a pocket of his shirt and pulled out a stack of photographs that he passed over to Noah.
Noah flipped through them with Sarah looking over his shoulder. Each photo showed a young girl, both of them probably in their early teens, and each had a set of crosshairs drawn over the face. There were a total of nearly twenty photos.
“Those pictures were taken over the course of about a week, and some of them—the ones that show them sleeping—were taken right inside my parents’ home. The point they make is pretty simple: no matter what happens, this guy can get to my sisters. When I saw those, and I should mention that he had me on the phone when they were handed to me by some street punk, I took him very seriously when he said that if I told anyone what was going on, they would be dead.” He looked down at the floor for a moment, then looked back up at Noah. “I know that I’m supposed to forget everyone from my past, but the truth is that this hit me on an emotional level I just couldn’t handle. I was already in high school by the time they were born, so I kind of helped raise them. There was just no way I could turn my back and let something like that happen to them, but I do realize now that I should have gone to Jenny.”
“Damn, Skippy,” Jenny said. “If you had, we probably would have got this bastard by now.”
Sarah took the photos from Noah’s hand and looked through them again. After a moment, she looked up into Randy’s eyes.
“I never had a sister,” she said, “so I can’t claim to know exactly what you felt when you saw these, but I think I can understand what you mean when you say it hit you on an emotional level. Look, I’m not happy about what you did, especially after what it put me through, but I’m not going to hold it against you. Apparently Jenny has decided you’re worth saving, and I gather Allison thinks so, as well. I’ll let go of this—this anger—but it might be pretty hard for me to completely trust you again.”
“I understand,” Randy said. “I probably would’ve shot me myself, if I were in your shoes. But I appreciate you letting me at least try to explain.”
“Okay, so are we all good now?” Jenny asked. “Good, that crap is out of the way. Now, tell us about the honeymoon!”
Noah glanced at Sarah, who nodded, and then he got up and left the room for a moment. When he came back, he spent a couple of minutes connecting his computer to the TV, and then they all sat around watching the raw footage he had shot while they were in Cancun. All of them laughed at some of the more comical moments, such as when Sarah was standing in the surf and was knocked down by a wave, or when Noah was feeding one of the dolphins and it decided to take a nip of his finger.
But then there began the oohs and aahs when they saw the underwater shots of all the beautiful fish and plants through which they swam, and the many videos taken at the Mayan temple and other locations. The evening turned out to be enjoyable, and they finally decided to drive on out to the Sagebrush for dinner.
CHAPTER SIX
The next day was a Saturday, and Sarah and Noah had invited Jenny, Elaine, Neil, Marco, Allison, and Donald Jefferson out in the afternoon. Noah fired up the grill for burgers and hot dogs, and Sarah drove into town to pick up potato salad, coleslaw, and french fries that she would heat up in the oven inside, as well as stocking them up on beer and soft drinks.
Neil set up a portable screen and a video projector, and they watched the honeymoon videos once again, this time with an audience of their closest friends, and everyone enjoyed them. By the time the food was ready, they had already seen most of it, and so they settled down at Noah’s picnic tables and lawn chairs to eat.
And then it was time for Sarah to pass out the gifts they had brought back. She recruited Noah to help, and they went into the house and came back with packages she had wrapped only that morning.
“Okay,” Sarah said, “there was no way I was going to someplace as fantastic as Cancun and not bring back something for all our dearest friends, so we’ve got presents for each of you. Anybody who doesn’t like what we brought you, you’re disowned. Everybody got that?”
“We got it,” Marco yelled. “Just make like Santa, okay?”
Sarah decided to present the gifts to the women first, though she had left Lacey’s gift hidden in her closet. Since she and Neil were no longer an item, she figured it would be best to meet up with Lacey privately to give it to her.
“Okay, Elaine,” Sarah said. She handed Elaine the package, and everyone laughed as Elaine ripped it open like a child at Christmas. When she saw the lovely Mexican skirt and blouse, her face lit up in a huge smile.
“Renée is next,” Sarah said. “Renée, I haven’t really known you long enough, so I got you the same thing as Elaine. I hope that’s okay.” Renée ripped the package with as much enthusiasm as Elaine had shown and made it clear that she was absolutely delighted.
“All right, now for Allison.” She handed Allison a box, but the boss lady opened it a little more delicately than her predecessors had done. When she saw the beautiful desk set inside, and then realized it was made of genuine silver, she was just a little bit overwhelmed.
“Oh, it’s lovely,” she said. “It’s going on my desk first thing Monday morning.”
“Jenny, it’s your turn,” Sarah said. The box she handed Jenny was smaller, but the look of pure delight on the little woman’s face was priceless, especially when Sarah demonstrated how to extend the blade. Jenny’s eyes took on a mischievous tone, and she announced that she would never go anywhere without the cross again.
Sarah smiled and then turned to Neil. Noah handed her a box, and she passed it to the skinny kid. Neil acted more like a child at Christmas than any of the ladies, and when he saw the drone inside the box, he jumped to his feet and let out a whoop! “These are awesome! I love it,” he said, showing his gift to everyone.
“Mr. Jefferson,” Sarah said, “since you always wear cuff links, we got you a set.” Jefferson broke into a huge smile of his own at the sight of the silver cuff links with black onyx stones.
“And we can’t forget Marco,” Sarah said. “I actually didn’t have the slightest idea what you might like, but Noah picked something out. I hope it’s okay.” She took the box from Noah’s hands and passed it to Marco, and he jumped to his feet as Neil had when he saw the mug. “Pancho Villa,” he shouted. “Mi amigo! Oh, man, he’s like my all-time hero.”
“Pancho Villa?” Neil asked. “Wasn’t he like some Mexican bandit or something?”
“Well, yeah, for a little while,” Marco said. “But he was a lot like Robin Hood. He really did take from the rich and spread the money around to the poor, but then he figured out that the Mexican government was corrupt and started his own army to help in the revolution. Mexico neve
r would have overthrown the corrupt government and discovered real liberty if it wasn’t for him.”
“Dude, you’re from the bayou in Louisiana. Why in the world would Pancho Villa be your hero?”
“Because my great-grandmother was actually his cousin.” He held the mug up beside his face. “Can’t you see a resemblance?”
Neil squinted at him. “Yeah, I think I can,” he said. “I think you both have the same big mouth.”
Marco made an obscene gesture, and everyone laughed.
The party continued until well past sundown, but finally people began heading toward home. First Marco and Renée, then Elaine, followed by Allison and Mr. Jefferson, until only Neil and Jenny remained.
“This was a blast,” Jenny said. “Thanks so much for inviting me, you guys, and I absolutely love the necklace.” She looked over at Neil. “So, Neil,” she said, “how come you didn’t bring your girlfriend tonight?”
Neil scowled. “Lacey and I kind of broke up,” he said. “It was fun while it lasted, but she was too much of a control freak for me.”
Jenny’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? I’m sorry to hear that. Can I ask what it was that caused the problem?”
“Yeah, she wanted me to quit the team and try to get some kind of office job downtown. I told her there was no way I was going to do that, and she said it was her way or the highway, so I opened the door for her. I liked her a lot, but I’m just not the kind of guy who can handle letting a woman be in charge all the time.”
Jenny sat back in her lawn chair and stared at Neil for a moment, and Sarah watched Jenny. She’d seen the look on Jenny’s face before and instantly recognized it. Jenny, for all she was one of the toughest women in the world, was honestly attracted to skinny Neil. Before Jenny could speak, Sarah jumped up out of her chair and grabbed her by the hand, dragging her into the house.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Sarah asked when she got Jenny alone. “That kid is like my little brother. You’re not gonna…”
