Mia took both boxes upstairs and left them in the hallway as she went to get her car. The one with the money in it was extremely heavy. They were too heavy to carry all that distance and, since it was a quiet neighbourhood, there wasn’t an issue in returning in the car to pick them up. Once the car was loaded, she needed to go somewhere quiet and read what she had found. She knew that when he didn’t show up for work in the morning, all hell would break loose.
She put her foot down and headed north. She didn’t really know where she was going but she drove all night, stopping only for the occasional fill up of gas and a coffee to keep her awake. By mid-morning, she was in Chicago. The inbuilt GPS showed a 5 star hotel nearby, so she pulled up outside and checked in. She asked for the penthouse suite which was free and the bellboys carried all of her stuff up to the room for her. She left everything where it was and opened the cartridge with the serum Cooper had given her. She looked at it for a minute before injecting herself with it. Before long, she had fallen asleep on the super king-sized bed in the room. For the first time in a week, Laura had a peaceful deep sleep. It was as if a weight had been lifted.
Chapter 20
A New Life?
When she woke the next morning, it would be the start of her new life. The first thing Laura did when she got up was run a hot bath. She soaked in it for almost an hour, relaxing her whole body and mulling over the thoughts and memories she now had. The serum appeared to have worked! Although there were still a few gaps, she remembered everything about her past. The most prominent memories were of her husband; they were the happiest times of her life and the Arena had taken them away.
She sat there crying to herself in the tub. She had very mixed emotions. Some happy, some sad. The ones that really stood out were the ones of anger. For the first in a long time, it took Laura quite a while to get herself together and regain control of herself. She got out of the bath and started to get dressed. She knew she would be in that room for some time reading the files so she just wrapped herself in one of the complimentary dressing gowns the hotel had provided and went into the main room of the suite. Before her bath, she had called for room service for some breakfast. It was waiting for her along with a full cafetière of fresh coffee. She poured herself a cup and sat down at the table and started to read all about herself. More to the point, she needed to know about project M.I.A. and whether Cooper was the main person involved. “Were there others and, if so, who?”
As she sat there reading every little detail, she had hoped that the story stopped at Cooper but the files told a different tale. Although the Arena that Laura knew about was in Washington DC, the main project began in New Jersey, at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains, back in the early eighties. The serum was developed to control patients there who were out of control.
Laura thought for a moment. “I might be able to get more information from that hospital to help explain it more.”
But a quick check on the hotel room computer showed that the hospital itself was now derelict.
As she read on, she found a sheet of paper that had a list of what looked like high-ranking military names and officials with their agency details next to them.
From scanning through, she could see that there were a number of agencies involved, including the NSA, CIA, Homeland Security, FBI, Army and the Marines. It looked like a joint operation with the high-ranking officials the only ones in-the-know about what was going on. In a column next to those entitled to buy-in, were the details of money. Each of them had donated forty million dollars to the project. This would explain how they had managed the facility and explains how Cooper could have been sitting with five million dollars in his house. As if that’s what normal people do!
Enough was enough for the time being. Laura got dressed, grabbed her purse, the complimentary notepad from the table in the room and headed out into the city for a breath of fresh air. Laura took a walk along the busy streets and came across a small park towards Oak Street Beach. She bought a cup of coffee from one of the vendors in the park before sitting on a bench overlooking the beach and across Lake Michigan. The sun was shining and there were a few people topping up their tans. As she looked around at people going about their daily business, she thought to herself that, in the end, whatever it might be, she would like to be as carefree as those she could see laughing and hanging out with their friends and partners on the beach. She knew she would need to make a decision on what she was she was going to do next. She would have to do this soon!
As she sat with the gentle breeze blowing in from the water, Laura took out the notepad and started to write some bullet points on what she needed to do. It didn’t take much writing before she decided that all she wanted was her life back. To do that, she would need to deal with the other partners in the Arena otherwise regardless of how good she actually was, she would always be looking over her shoulder. Her main priority was to set up a base from where to work from. Now she had most of her memories back, she knew where there were safe towns that she could work from without fear of being recognised or traced to. Given that she had all the money she could possibly need, it should be easy for her to stay off grid.
Looking at her list, the priority for today would be to get a new car. Although she loved the one she had, it would easily flag up on any traffic control system as, by now, the Arena would probably be looking for her. Before she left the beauty spot, she decided that she needed to send another note to Hank to let him know that she was back, but had some unfinished business to take care of before they could meet properly. As she wrote, she tried to keep it simple and tried to be non-committal in what she was saying. At the end of the letter, she signed it L to let him know that she was back to being her old self.
Laura had already worked out that she had a bit of a task ahead of her. This was something of an understatement as, before, any targets she was after would be given to her by the Arena. Now she would have to find these people by herself. She couldn’t risk going back to DC, waiting for them to show up at the Rehabilitation Centre, so she knew that the only way would be through someone who could track people using a computer. Laura had some skills with computers but not enough to find out that type of information. She headed back to the hotel to pack up her things as it was time for her to move on and start putting things into place.
Once at the hotel, packing didn’t take too long as Laura didn’t really have anything yet. She settled the bill in cash at the front counter and by the time she walked to the front door, her car was waiting for her. As the staff loaded her luggage into the car, she posted her letter to Hank in the outgoing mail tray in the hotel. It didn’t matter to her that he would know where she was by the headed paper. By the time he read it, she would be long gone. She tipped the concierge and drove off heading in the direction of Cleveland.
As she needed a new car, she wanted to take her old one to somewhere that wouldn’t look too much out of place but on the other hand, give her plenty of other cars to choose from. From visiting there in the past, she knew that there was a large parking lot at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and that would be perfect for what she needed. Her Satnav told her it was about a six hour drive but she was sure she could get there a bit quicker than that.
Stopping only for gas and a stretch of her legs, the journey passed in about five hours. Before long, she was pulling into the parking lot outside the museum. She circled the lot a few times looking at the cars that were there. Thankfully it was a busy day. She noted that there were five different Ford Taurus’ in the lot, all in various shades of silver. She knew that they would all be recorded by the DMV as just silver so one was the car for her. She parked the Aston in the far corner and retrieved the small electric screwdriver from her case. Within a couple of minutes, Laura now had five sets of plates to play with. She had noted that one of the Fords was the HSO edition so she decided that it would be perfect for her and her journey ahead. Using her scanner, she had the car open in seconds and before long, she was trundl
ing down the road, the Aston Martin now a memory.
As she drove along settling into her new wheels, she thought about how she was going to trace the other members of the Arena. She didn’t know anyone who could help her out in that field. As she scoured her thoughts, the same name kept popping up as the most resourceful person she had ever known. Fitz! She tried to rule it out in her head but unless she wanted to contact Hank to get the information for her, Fitz was the only other person she knew that could come up with a way of finding it. She really didn’t want to contact Hank at the moment.
With that in her mind, she decided that she would need to contact him to move forward. It was a long drive to Denville from where she was but, as she wasn’t even remotely tired, she put her foot down and headed there. She knew of a hotel she could use just off route 46 that would be perfect for her to lay low and, for now, that would do.
Chapter 21
Familiar Surroundings
At 4am, there wasn’t a lot stirring at Fitz’s house. It was quiet and peaceful with the odd squirrel and groundhog running around with not a care in the world. Although her turning up would shock Fitz, she didn’t want to scare the life out of him. She remembered that he was an early bird, and since he retired spent most of his days working on his cars, so she hid herself in his workshop and waited for him to show himself. It would appear that his habits had changed over the last few years. Laura sat there for hours waiting and although he did come up to the workshop, it wasn’t until 8am.
He walked in clutching a travel mug full of coffee. There were no alarms that Laura could see and he walked over to the Cadillac he was working on. It had obviously been a few years since Laura had seen Fitz but he looked different to what she remembered. He was a big guy. He had quite an athletic physique for an older man. He was unshaven but still had the piercing blue eyes she remembered from hanging out with him in the past. His posture was very upright and he held himself well, apart from a slight limp she could see in his left leg. Casting her mind back, she remembered that he had been badly hurt a few years ago in a car accident. He stood with his back to where Laura was hiding, reached out with his hand and turned the stereo on as if to carry on with his normal routine. As he stepped toward the rear of the car, Laura stepped out of the shadows and flicked the switch back off on the stereo. There was a clunk as Fitz’s coffee mug fell to the floor. There was a brief pause that felt like it could go either way. What happened next was not what Laura expected.
Fitz didn’t turn around but took a deep breath and said “I wondered when you would show up! How are you Laura?”
She was quite taken aback and cautiously took a step backwards.
“How did you know?” she replied.
Fitz turned around and replied “Hank told me everything Laura! Including what you’ve been up to since we'd last seen you. Something told me that you would show up here at some stage.”
Laura looked at him and the memories of hanging out with him in the summer time and at her and Hank’s wedding all came flooding back in a brief moment.
He walked towards her with his arms open and gave her the biggest and only hug she had had in years. Laura hugged him back and it was as if they had only seen each other the day before. It was comfortable and warming. Fitz pulled out two stools from under the counter where the radio was and they sat down to talk. Fitz started first and told Laura everything that Hank had told him and then it was Laura’s turn to fill in the blanks.
By the time she had finished talking; Fitz had a tear in his eye and was in genuine shock at what he had been told. From his previous experiences in the NSA, he knew that there were clandestine agencies all over the United States but he had never come into contact with anyone who had been through one of their programs and come out the other side. Both of them had a burning question that was burrowing away in the back of their heads. Laura blurted hers out to get it out of the way.
“Can I trust you not to tell Hank until the time is right?”
Fitz thought about it for a moment and ran through various scenarios in his head before replying “Yes.” Hiding something from his best friend wasn’t an easy thing to commit to but, after what Laura had just told him, he knew it would be for the best to protect Hank.
It was Fitz’s turn.
“Let me see one of your rounds” he asked like an excited child.
Laura reached into the side of her boot and pulled out one of the bullets she would usually use on a mission. She knew that, being a ballistics expert, he would naturally be interested in it so she had brought it along just in case. He looked at it in awe, rolling the fluids in each side back and forward. Although the casing was clear, he could tell it wasn’t glass but something more durable.
“The case disappears when it’s fired Fitz, so you don’t have to pick up a round afterwards.”
Fitz looked at her with an expression of disbelief on his face. He did believe her but couldn’t see how it would happen. What he didn’t like was that it looked very similar to designs he had submitted a few years ago in his previous job, although the technology was a little further forward than what he had available at the time.
“I need you to keep a hold of this one Fitz. This is my insurance policy if what I’m about to do all goes wrong. If it does, I need you to give it to Hank as proof of everything we’ve just discussed.”
“Sure, no problem. What else do you need?” he asked.
Holding up the list of Arena members, she said “I need a trustworthy computer guy to do some research for me on where I can find these guys”
Fitz suddenly had a quick case of déjà vu running through his head.
“Well, luckily for you I know a guy in Weehawken, on the shore, that can help you out with that. You’ll need to pay him, but he’s the best there is.”
“How good is he?” asked Laura.
“Well, he was the one who found all the information on you, Project M.I.A and the Arena for Hank, so it's probably not the best idea to tell him who you actually are.”
Fitz jotted down an address on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to Laura.
“His name’s Taylor and just tell him I sent you. He’ll get you what you need”.
Mia stood up as if to leave but she looked around the workshop and said “This’ll be nice when it’s finished” indicating towards the Cadillac.
Fitz just smiled. She leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.
“Thanks” she whispered in his ear and walked off towards the side door of the garage.
“Laura?” Fitz piped up. “Just out of curiosity, what are you going to do once you find them all?”
She turned and with a half-smile on her face replied “I’m going to burn their houses down!”
With that, she walked off down the long driveway towards where she had left her car. It wasn’t too far away and, before long, she was on her way to the Jersey Shore to find the rest of the information she needed.
Chapter 22
The One Stop Shop
Weehawken was a funny little district on the Shore. It wasn’t very big but it looked quite friendly. Laura parked her car a few blocks from Taylor's address and took a walk along the riverside through the park. The view from the riverside was a photographer’s dream. The New York skyline was all there with the Empire State Building standing proudly centre stage. Laura stopped for a moment and soaked it all in. Apart from the job she did for the Arena a couple of days ago there, she had good memories of visiting the Big Apple in the past. She loved the grandness of the city.
It wasn’t long before the moment passed and she was on her way to Taylor's address. It was a nice looking block of apartments and, on entering the foyer, she could tell that you would need serious money to live here. She found the door number she was looking for and knocked. The door was answered with the security chain on. Taylor looked her up and down and didn’t say a word. From first impressions, Taylor was quite timid and jittery. Also a bit weird, as he was wearing what looked like sungl
asses. Indoors??
To break what was becoming a very uncomfortable silence, Laura said “Fitz sent me. He said you could help me locate a few people?”
With that, the door slammed shut and she could hear the security chain being pulled back. The door then opened fully.
Taylor blurted out “Two customers in a week from Fitz, he’s a busy guy for someone who’s retired! Please come in”.
Laura walked through the apartment in the direction indicated by Taylor. She walked along the short hallway and entered an enormous living room. There was a massive bay window overlooking the Hudson River and there was the most spectacular view of the city. It was nicely decorated with everything in its place. It’s not what she expected. As she looked around the room, she could see an oak desk that had four computer monitors on it, a keyboard and a mouse and nothing else. She sat on the large leather sofa and Taylor joined her. It was apparent that he was still a little nervous as he sat at the furthest point possible without falling off.
He nervously wrung his hands but finally asked “What is it you need me to find?”
He was softly spoken but also quite a strange looking character. He had shoulder length hair tied back in a ponytail. He had sharp facial features, and sitting on the bridge of his nose was a set of sports sunglasses with orange iridium lenses. Taylor could see Laura looking at the glasses.
“Please excuse the sunglasses” he blurted out. “They’re actually for medical reasons. I have an aversion to bright lights and to save the headaches, it’s just easier if I wear these”.
Not giving it a second thought, Laura reached into her purse and brought out a piece of paper she had written and handed it to him.
“I need to locate all six of these people. Their home addresses, places of work, and motor vehicles they use”.
“Is that it?” replied Taylor. “That’s not the usual kind of work Fitz sends to me. He usually sends me interesting stuff like government agents, conspiracies and the like. Who are these people?”
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