Red Phoenix: A Thomas Caine Thriller (The Thomas Caine Series Book 2)
Page 38
He opened the door and got out, clutching Ted’s small pistol in his hand. Jia opened the rear passenger door and lifted Lian from the seat. The child was sleepy, still groggy from the sedative Jia had slipped her at Camp Peary.
She mumbled in a quiet, chirping voice, rubbing at her eyes. “Women xianzai yao hui jia?”
Jia looked over at Caine as she carried the child across the runway. Caine moved next to her, his eyes alert and his gun at the ready.
“She asked if we are going home,” Jia said.
“Are you?” Caine asked.
Jia shook her head. “There is nothing left for me there. I could not go back if I wanted to. You heard Yong. The Ministry will never forget my betrayal. And the memories … I can’t forget what I did either.”
“I know what you mean," Caine replied. "Look, she’s a tough kid. Wherever you go, she’ll be fine. You’ll make a new home.”
Jia kissed the child on the cheek. “Ni shi wo de jia,” she whispered to the sleepy girl. “You are my home.”
They hurried towards a small private jet parked at the end of the strip. As they approached, the aircraft’s tail lights lit up and a low hum emitted from its engines. The side door slid open. A Japanese man stepped out and waved to them. He was wearing a headset and a black windbreaker.
“Konban wa,” he said in a gruff voice. “You are Caine-san?”
“Hai,” Caine answered. “Is everything ready?”
The man nodded. “Koichi Ogawa sends his regards. I am Hondo, your pilot. I understand certain, uh … arrangements have been made. We should leave soon. Before questions come.”
Jia eyed the pilot with a wary gaze and set Lian on the ground. “This man who sent the plane, you are sure he is reliable?” she asked Caine.
Caine laughed. “That depends on your definition of reliable. Koichi is a yakuza gangster.” He placed a reassuring hand on her back. “But I’ve worked with him before. Lot of history there. I contacted him while we were in Okinawa. If Koichi sent this guy, you can trust him.”
Hondo smiled at Lian, and the skin around his eyes wrinkled like tanned leather. “I can get the little one seated, if you like.”
The girl looked up at her mother with wide, pensive eyes. Jia knelt down next to her. “Go on Lian, meiguanxi. I’ll be right there.”
The child stepped forward and took the pilot’s hand. He led her up the stairs to the jet’s small cabin.
Jia stood and faced Caine. “You understand what I mean, don’t you? About the memories? The betrayal … So much death.”
“I do,” he said.
“How do you move past it? How do you make the nightmares go away?”
He was silent for a moment.
“You don’t,” he finally said. “Sometimes they go away for a while, but sooner or later they always come back. Some of the memories might fade with time. Others never do. Maybe they’re not supposed to.”
She brushed a strand of long, dark hair from her face. She looked into his eyes, as if searching for some small sliver of hope in his gaze.
“You should come with us,” she said.
“I can’t, Jia. There are things I have to finish here. And trust me, you’ll be safer without me. You have Lian to worry about now.”
“I have you to thank for that. But maybe you’re right … maybe you can find your peace here. Sean … he is all right?”
“Rebecca said the exchange happens tomorrow. There’s some political bullshit involved, but at least he’s safe now.”
She smiled. “I’m glad. He’s going to need someone in his life, you know. Someone he can look to for guidance.”
“I’m not exactly a role model.”
“You don’t have be. You just have to be there for him when he needs you.”
“Parenting advice?”
She wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. His heart beat faster as he felt the warmth of her body pressing against him. “Human nature,” she whispered. “I’ve spent years undercover. I’m a good listener.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “Thank you for everything. Take care of yourself, Tom.”
“Wait. Before you go, I have to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“Back in Huagu, that morning … when you kissed me …”
She smiled. “I remember.”
“You said you felt something between us. Did you mean that? Or were you just working your cover?”
Her pale skin flushed pink, and her eyes glinted in the darkness. Her lips parted. She leaned towards him and kissed him. Again, he felt the electric shock run through his skin as her lips touched him. He closed his eyes and returned the kiss, drinking in the taste and smell of her.
Then she pulled away. Her eyes held the mischievous gleam he had seen that night at dinner, in the beautiful hutong by the lake.
“I think we both know the answer to that,” she said. “But right now, your heart is in the past. If you ever change your mind, come find me.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
She stepped away from him. He felt a sudden shiver of cold as their bodies parted. Then she turned and climbed the steps into the plane. When she reached the top, she looked back at him.
“Zhu weishou de shagua,” she called to him, shaking her head.
“You never told me what that means,” he shouted back, already knowing what her answer would be.
She flashed him one last luminous smile. “I’ll tell you later.”
Then the door closed.
He walked back to the car as the plane began to taxi down the dark runway.
Later, he sat in the car, parked beneath a flickering pool of light cast by a streetlamp. The street was dark and empty; his was the only car in sight. The buildings surrounding him were empty, abandoned husks. They cast long shadows across the deserted street. Their inky black tendrils reached out to him like grasping claws.
After so many years abroad, being back in his home country felt strange, unsettling. The landscape around him was a vast, dark forest of unfamiliar shadows.
Caine picked up his cell phone and dialed her number.
Rebecca.
She picked up. “Tom.”
“Yeah.”
She sighed. “I thought you were ready to be more than a voice on the phone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry you lied to me? Or sorry you let a Chinese agent run free on U.S. soil.”
“You know what she’s been through. And we both know what a ‘debriefing’ would mean for someone like her. She deserves better than a CIA cage. She’s out of the country now; you won’t see her again.”
“Where are you?” Rebecca asked.
“I texted you an address. You’ll find Lapinski there. He has information that might help. You were right, this thing goes higher than we thought.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Caine looked around the empty, dark buildings surrounding him. He wasn’t sure what to say.
“I can’t come in, Rebecca. I can’t protect you, or Sean, or anyone else … not from inside. Bernatto is still out there. He’s involved in this, somehow. Him, and others like him.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.”
“That agent, the head of your detail …” he began.
“Galloway? What about him?”
“There’s something between you two, isn’t there?”
He heard her breathing speed up on the other end of the line. “How is that any of your business?” she snapped.
“It’s not. I’m happy for you.” His voice softened. “Honestly, I am. But you should take him off your detail. He can’t do his job anymore. He let things get personal. That’s dangerous. Believe me, I know.”
“Tom, listen to me. I want you to come in. I want you to have a life, outside of all this.”
He was silent for a moment. “Maybe someday,” he said. “Right now, I have work to do.”
“Where are you? Will you please tell me where you are?” H
e could hear the concern, the fear in her voice. That, more than anything, made him feel even worse about what he had to do.
“I’m where I need to be, Rebecca. I’m on the outside. I have to go now.”
“Tom, wait—”
He hung up the phone.
He felt a surge of emotions flood through his body. Anger, pain, frustration … his breathing quickened, his hands were shaking. He was falling again, falling into darkness. He was alone; there was no one left to pull him out. The shadows had him in their grasp. There was no escape.
You don’t have to escape, the voice in his head said. This is where you belong.
For once, the cold, flat logic comforted him. He took a deep breath. The tremors passed. His nerves calmed. His breathing slowly returned to normal.
As he drove away, he recalled Jack’s last words to him. The dark, dusty well was just a hazy memory now, but he could remember Jack’s question as clear as day.
Why do you do it, Tom?
The pool of light receded in the rearview mirror, and the night surrounded him in its cold embrace. His restless mind thought for hours as he drove through the shadowed landscape. No answer came to him. He only knew that for now, he was compelled. He had to keep moving. Keep hunting.
You’re operational, he thought. No more questions. No fears. No doubts.
You just have to let go.
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Also by Andrew Warren
DEVIL’S DUE
A Thomas Caine Novella
TOKYO BLACK
A Thomas Caine Thriller
RED PHOENIX
A Thomas Caine Thriller
About the Author
Andrew Warren was born in New Jersey, and studied film, English, and psychology at the University of Miami. He has over a decade of experience in the television and motion picture industry, where he has worked as a post production supervisor, story producer, and writer. He currently lives in Southern California.
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