by Mike Ryan
“That’s as much as I’ll reveal. What now?”
“Now I close off his file. The rest depends on you.”
“And if I say no?” Recker asked.
“I’m really hoping you’ll see things my way.”
“I dunno. Trusting anyone within this agency is a lot to ask.”
“I know. It’ll be a process. But it’s one I think is doable.”
“What makes you think I won’t say yes then when I’m in some foreign country, I won’t just go off the reservation again?”
“I’ve thought of that,” Lawson said. “There are ways around it.”
Recker chuckled. “Any tracking devices you plant inside me I’ll find a way to get out.”
“Somehow that wouldn’t surprise me.”
Recker took another minute to just think about the offer just presented to him. He couldn’t pretend there wasn’t a piece of it that was appealing to him. Lawson struck him as being credible and believable. He was sure she was trustworthy to most other people, but for him, it wouldn’t come in the matter of a few minutes. Lawson leaned forward and put her hand on one of Recker’s knees. She could see he was conflicted and tried to set his mind at ease a little.
“John, you wouldn’t have to run anymore,” she said. “It’d be over for you.”
“I don’t know if I can do it anymore. That part of my life is over.”
“You prefer running around in the shadows of the night, shooting lowlife’s, and avoiding cops?”
“It’s not just that.”
“Mia? This David person?”
Recker sighed, unsure he could explain it in a way that would make sense and she would understand. “It’s more than that. I feel like I’ve made a home here. There’s people here I care about. Even when I was with the agency, towards the end, I really didn’t want to be there anymore.”
As Recker continued to think about the offer, the less appealing it became. His heart just wasn’t in doing that kind of work anymore. He knew what declining the offer meant, but he had to be true to himself and be honest with Lawson.
“Listen, I appreciate you going to the trouble of finding me and not killing me on sight, but I just can’t do it,” Recker said. “I think that ship has sailed. There’s no going back for me now. You seem like you’ve been upfront with me and I’ll return the courtesy. If it means you have to put me out of my misery than you have to do what you have to do.”
“So, I guess there’s no way to talk you into it?”
“No. I couldn’t even pretend to say I prefer my old life to now.”
Lawson was disappointed in his answer as she really thought she could’ve convinced him to come back to the agency. She wasn’t ready to give up on him though. Seeing how he hesitated a few times and he genuinely seemed to think about it, she took it as a sign that he wasn’t a completely lost cause. Working with some of the agents she had with Project Specter, she was used to dealing with rejection at first from stubborn and bullheaded agents. They continued their dialogue for several more minutes, though Lawson wasn’t getting very far. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from just beyond the other side of the door. Recker and Lawson both turned their heads toward the door, startled by the development.
“Is that your team coming for you?” Lawson asked, getting her gun out.
“My team isn’t violent,” Recker said. “How many men you got out there?”
“Three.”
The two of them stood and looked around the room to see if there was something they could get behind to protect themselves, but there wasn’t. Whatever, and whoever, was coming, they’d have to deal with them head on.
“You have another gun?” Recker asked.
“No.”
“I hope you can you use that.”
“I’m adequate,” Lawson said, not very confident in her abilities.
Recker looked at her, thinking they were in serious trouble. “Great.”
After a few more minutes of sporadic gunfire, the guns eventually stopped. Recker and Lawson stood there waiting, hearts thumping, sweat running down the sides of their heads, wondering what was coming.
“You don’t happen to want me to hang on to the gun, do you?” Recker asked.
“Not if it’s friends of yours.”
“Believe me, they’re no friends of mine. Maybe I can hide next to the door, then when it swings open, I can jump them when they come in.”
“Worth a try I guess,” Lawson said.
Recker started walking toward the door when he stopped in his tracks as it suddenly burst open after being forcefully kicked in. An angry looking man stood in the doorway with his gun pointed at the both of them alternately. Recker didn’t recognize him, but he knew his type. He was a younger man, late twenties, bald head with a coarse beard, on the shorter side, wearing a brown suit. He came in so suddenly that it surprised Lawson and she couldn’t raise her gun in time.
“Who are you?” Lawson asked.
“Maintenance man. Drop the gun.”
Lawson did as the man directed and let the gun slip from her fingers, dropping onto the concrete floor. Recker knew what was about to happen. With his hands out to his side, he took a few steps back toward Lawson, thinking they only had one chance at surviving this.
“Which one of us are you here for?” Lawson asked.
The man just smiled. “Both.”
“Who sent you?”
“Enough talk. It only prolongs the inevitable.”
The man pointed at Recker, who dove back onto the ground for the gun. Their attacker quickly fired a shot at him. Lawson moved away from the action and toward the wall to get out of the line of fire. As Recker put his hands on the gun, he winced in pain as a bullet entered into his left shoulder. Recker shrugged off the pain long enough to spin around and fire a couple shots of his own. He also hit the man in his left shoulder, temporarily dropping the man to one knee. Recker continued firing, hitting his victim three more times, twice in the chest and once in the head as the man slumped to the ground, winding up flat on his back. Recker jumped to his feet and walked over to his victim to see if he was dead. Much to his satisfaction, he was. Lawson started walking over to him as Recker searched through the dead man’s pockets. He pulled out some identification cards and looked at them briefly before handing them over to Lawson.
“Look familiar?” Recker asked.
“He’s a Centurion agent,” Lawson said. “What’s he doing here?”
“Who knew you were coming?”
“The only person I told was...”
“Sam Davenport?”
Lawson looked at him incredulously, not believing Davenport would’ve actually tried to take them both out.
“Welcome to my world,” Recker said to her. “Now you’ve joined the club.”
“Are you OK?” Lawson asked, noticing the blood on his shirt and touching his shoulder.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll take you somewhere to get it looked at.”
“No, it’s OK. Don’t worry about it. I got someone.”
“I’m sure you do. Oh, that’s right, the nurse.”
They stood there silently for a few moments, somewhat awkwardly as they figured out their next steps. Lawson was no longer in control of the situation, especially since her cohorts were now dead, and she no longer had possession of her gun. Recker realized he was now in power and the woman’s fate lay in his hands. Lawson glanced down at the gun in his hands and wondered what he was going to do with her.
“So, what now?” Lawson asked.
Recker lifted his right arm and pointed the gun straight at her. After a brief second, he spun the gun around in his hand, holding the barrel of it. He then straightened out his arm and offered Lawson’s gun back to her. She took it, and after pointing it at him for a split second, put it back in her holster.
“Looks like I’ve got a mess to clean up,” Lawson said.
“How you gonna handle it?” Recker said.
“We
ll, I’d say Director Roberts is going to be very unhappy with a certain person who’s in charge of a particular black ops program. Maybe he’ll be the one who ends up in a deep dark hole somewhere.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”
“I think it’s safe to say nobody will be hearing from him for a very long time.”
“And John Smith?” Recker asked.
Lawson thought for a minute before answering. She wasn’t ready to give up on the thought of him eventually rejoining the agency. “As far as I can tell, Sam Davenport arranged the death of Gerry Edwards, just as he orchestrated the elimination of John Smith. He’s innocent of all allegations against him and from what we’ve uncovered, he’s not a threat at this time.”
Recker gave her a wry smile. “Thank you.”
“And maybe one day he’ll come back into the fold. I’ll continue to keep an eye on him.”
“Well, you did find him once. Maybe you can do it again sometime.”
Recker and Lawson shook hands and she handed him back his phone. “You might need it,” she said.
Recker then left the room and started making his way toward Mia’s place so she could tend to his shoulder. One more time for old time’s sake. Once he left, Lawson called Director Roberts and informed him of what happened so Sam Davenport could be taken into custody immediately. As Recker walked along the roadside, he called Jones to let him know he was OK and that he’d need a ride. When Jones finally pulled up alongside him, he had plenty of questions about his ordeal.
“Thank God, I never thought I’d see you again,” Jones said.
“Had a few doubts myself.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s get to Mia’s first and I’ll tell you all about it,” Recker said.
Jones called Mia to make sure she was at home, which thankfully she was after just finishing up her shift. He let her know he was bringing her a patient, which she could only guess was Recker. Once they got to her apartment, she was already waiting for them. She’d been periodically looking out the window, concerned about Recker’s condition. When she noticed them pull up to the building, she saw Recker walking in, seeming normal, which relieved her worries a little. When they got to her door, they didn’t even need to knock, as she swung it open for them as they got there. She immediately saw the blood on his shirt and just shook her head, at which Recker grinned.
“Will you never learn?” she asked innocently.
“Figured I’d leave you something to remember me by.”
“This is a present I could’ve done without.”
“Some things never change.”
About the Author
Mike Ryan is the popular author of best-selling books such as The Silencer, The Cain Conspiracy, and Rogue Ghost. Keep up to date with Mike’s new releases by signing up for his newsletter at the website below.
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Also by Mike Ryan
A Dangerous Man
The Cain Conspiracy
The Cain Deception
The Cain Directive
The Cain Redemption
Rogue Ghost
Ghost Pursuit
Ghost Fall
The Silencer
Fully Loaded
Hard Target
