by Mike Ryan
Recker looked away from the paper and at his employer, chuckling to himself that the name stuck. “You know these media types. Just throwing names at the wall to see what sticks. Helps to sell papers. God knows where they get these kinds of ideas from,” he said, rolling his eyes and pretending to know nothing about it. “Nothing about Mia in here?”
“Her situation was too late for the morning edition,” Jones replied. “It is on the online version though since it’s updated throughout the day.”
“What’s it say?”
“Here, I’ll let you read it,” Jones said, backing his chair away to let Recker read the article.
The article gave the account of what happened, with Eldridge forcing his way into Hendricks’ apartment and roughing her up. It then stated that a man who was visiting someone else in the building walked by and intervened, leading Eldridge to become despondent and go up to the rooftop, where he then chose to end his life. The article gave a brief physical description of the stranger that interrupted the attack, though it didn’t match Recker at all. It listed the stranger as being around 5’9, 180lbs, in his forties, slightly husky, facial hair, and black hair that ran down past his shoulders. That was as far away from Recker’s description as it could get. After he was finished reading, Recker stepped back from the computer, letting Jones get back in there.
“It would appear that Ms. Hendricks covered for you,” Jones stated.
A grin came over Recker’s face. “Seems that way.”
“Thank goodness for that. You’ve had a lot of publicity the last several days. We don’t really need more of it.”
“Better get used to it. Gonna be a lot more of it by the time we’re through.”
“Isn’t there a better way to end these conflicts without being compromised?” Jones wondered.
“Sure there is.”
“Then why don’t we do that?”
“Because that’d involve a sniper rifle and me killing the targets from a distance,” Recker answered. “Now, I don’t personally have a problem with that, and actually would probably prefer it, but I assume that’s not what you’re going for.”
“I was hoping to avoid killing…as well as making you a household name.”
“So what’s next on the agenda? Have another target?”
“I think I should have one by the afternoon,” Jones replied.
“Good. Need me for anything until then?”
“No, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
“I told Mia I’d meet with her for lunch,” Recker told him.
“Mia. We’re on a first name basis with her now, are we?”
“She wanted some answers about what happened last night. Considering she covered for me and lied about me being there, I figured I owed that to her. Don’t worry, I won’t tell her about you or this place or our exact business.”
“I’m not worried about that,” Jones said, skeptical about Recker’s newfound relationship.
“What then? I can tell it’s something.”
“I wonder if perhaps you’re getting too close to her. She does have a pretty face.”
“I tried that once before,” Recker said with a shake of his head. “I won’t make that mistake again. Maybe she’s a friend, maybe she’s a contact, maybe she’s someone we can use in case of emergency. But that’s all she is and all she will ever be. Even if I wanted to, I’d never let another woman make the mistake of loving me. She deserves better than that.”
Knowing it was still a touchy subject for him, Jones simply gave him a warm smile and nodded. He knew Recker was still hurting over what happened to Carrie and could tell it was a pain that wasn’t likely to go away anytime soon. He just hoped it’d be a pain that didn’t consume him. Since he had a few hours to kill before meeting Hendricks, Recker fiddled around on one of the computers, helping Jones to identify future victims for them to aid.
Once eleven o’clock rolled around, Recker excused himself and slipped out of the office for his lunch date. He got there about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule and waited in a booth for her. It was actually the same booth they met at the day before. While he was waiting, Recker ordered drinks for the both of them. Two cokes. That was his usual choice of drink during the day and he noticed that was what she had the last time they met. Mia came right on time, exactly at twelve, punctual as usual. As soon as she entered the diner, she immediately found her lunch date in the corner of the restaurant and sat down across from him. She flashed him that sweet, innocent smile of hers, though behind that smile was a boatload of questions that she wanted answers to.
She took a big breath before starting to talk. “I had fears, or visions, that I’d come and you wouldn’t be here.”
“Why would you think that?” Recker wondered.
“I don’t know. Just had this thing where I thought you were gonna blow me off.”
Recker shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that. Not to you.”
Hendricks smiled again. “I have so many questions,” she said, not quite knowing where to begin.
“I know. Before we get to all that though, how are you?”
It looked like she was struggling to find an answer. “I’m uhh…I’m OK, I guess.”
“It’s not an easy thing to have to go through.”
“It’s weird, you know? Umm, I’m glad, relieved that I’ll never have to worry about being stalked, or followed, or hit, or anything like that.”
“But…”
“But I feel…kind of sad. I once really cared for him and to know that he’s no longer alive, it’s just…”
“It’s a lot to process,” Recker finished.
“I guess so. I don’t wish death on anybody, no matter what they’ve done. I just wish there’d been another way and things would’ve worked out differently,” she said, feeling down.
“It’s important to know that it’s not your fault for what happened to him. He chose the path that led to his downfall. Nobody chose it for him and nobody else is to blame for the choices he made.”
“I know. And I don’t feel guilty or responsible or anything. I just wish things went a different way.”
“That’s because you’re a good person. Only an idiot would want bad things to happen to people.”
“Well, I don’t know how good a person I am, but thank you anyway. By the way, what do you prefer to be called? Mike? Michael? Don’t tell me you’re one of those people that prefers to be called by their last name. That really irks me when people do that,” Hendricks told him.
“Mike or Michael’s fine. Only my enemies call me Recker,” he smiled.
“Good. I like Mike. Michael sounds too formal, not very personal.”
“Whatever you prefer.”
The waitress came over and took their order, both of them ordering burgers with fries. He ordered his without onions, drawing Hendricks’ ire.
“How do you eat a burger without onions?” she asked.
“Are you kidding? I don’t know anyone who eats that stuff,” Recker responded.
“Uhh, hello? I do!”
Recker smiled, amused at her sense of humor.
“So are you finally gonna tell me who you are?”
“You already know that.”
“No. I know you’re name. But I don’t know who you are,” she told him.
“What do you wanna know?”
“You can start by telling me who hired you to watch over me, and don’t say my father because I called him this morning and he was quite convincing in telling me he had no idea who you were. I kind of believed him when he mentioned hiring a bodyguard for me after what happened last night. Now, I kind of doubt he’d mention that if he had already hired someone, don’t you think?”
Grinning, Recker thought of how he could explain the situation to her. “I work for a very secretive security firm.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Yes I did.”
“You assumed you
r father hired me and I just went along with it. I never confirmed it was true,” Recker said.
“Kind of a dirty trick.”
Recker didn’t reply and just tossed his hands in the air, not disputing the charge.
“You know, I read something in the paper this morning about a man who thwarted an attempted murder at a hotel last night,” Hendricks said, looking at Recker’s attire. “He, uhh, happened to be wearing a trench coat. I’m sensing a pattern.”
“I think I told you this before…there’s a lot of trench coats out there.”
“So what can you tell me about this security firm of yours?”
“Nothing.”
“Let’s see…you saved me, a girl who was almost raped, someone else who was almost murdered, robberies, how do you get around so fast?”
“I get good intel.”
“You have to tell me something. Anything.”
“I work for a security firm who wants to help regular, everyday people with certain problems.”
“If I use myself as a guide, I’d say you’re not hired by those people. So how and why do you do it?” she asked.
“We have a sophisticated computer system that indicates when people might have certain problems and then we act on it.”
“But why? What do you get out of it? Money? You’re disappearing from every scene so I know it can’t be notoriety or fame.”
“The owner of this security firm is very wealthy. We don’t get anything out of it except for the satisfaction of helping people who need it,” Recker stated.
“So why are you hiding from the police?”
“I’m not really hiding from them, per se.”
“Then what?”
Recker sighed, not really sure of another way to tell her without saying the truth. Hendricks could see that he was struggling coming up with an answer and was getting frustrated with the cloak and dagger act that he put up.
“Why won’t you tell me anything?”
“Because anything I tell you could put you in danger,” Recker replied.
“How?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Do I need to go to the police? Or start my own investigation?” Hendricks asked.
“Why do you need to know?”
“Because I find you interesting. And I’d like to know something about the person who helped me. Is that so wrong?”
“No, it’s not wrong.”
“Then please just tell me the truth. Would it put me in more danger if I tried to find out on my own?” she asked, hoping to wriggle it out of him.
“Probably. And me along with it.”
“Then why don’t you just tell me so I don’t have to go through all that.”
“You know, behind that pretty face and innocent smile of yours, you’re a very stubborn woman,” Recker told her.
Hendricks laughed. “You’re not the first person who’s ever told me that before.”
“Why does that not surprise me?”
“So are you going to tell me? Or do I have to find out on my own?”
Recker put his hand over his mouth and rubbed his face a couple of times as he decided how much to reveal.
“So why all the secrecy?” Hendricks asked again, leaning forward in anticipation of the answer.
“If I were to tell you the truth, you probably wouldn’t believe it. If someone told it to me, I probably wouldn’t believe it either.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“The real reason I don’t want to have any type of police contact is because once I do, my name goes into the system. Once that happens, radars go off everywhere,” Recker said.
“What’s that mean exactly?”
Recker sighed, figuring it was easier to just tell the truth than continue to dance around the subject. Well, at least as much of the truth as he could divulge, which still wasn’t much. But he figured if he’d give her a little snippet of information, that’d hopefully be enough to satisfy her curiosity. He looked up to the ceiling for a second before his eyes danced around to the rest of the restaurant. He knew there was a risk in telling Hendricks anything about what he once was, but he also knew that if she was being truthful in that she would try to find out on her own, it was safer for her if she found out from him. At least he could control what she knew. He’d just have to hope she was as trustworthy as he thought she was.
“I used to work for the United States government,” Recker revealed.
“OK?”
“That’s about all I can tell you,” he said, not really expecting it to suffice.
“Seriously? You think that’s going to be enough?” Hendricks responded.
“No, not really. Was kind of hoping though.”
“Why are you so secretive? I’m not trying to give you the sixth degree. I just want the truth about who you are.”
Recker took a deep breath as he continued remembering his past. “There are things that are happening that I just can’t tell you. Not right now.”
“You don’t trust me. Do you?”
“It’s got nothing to do with trust. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t even be here right now,” Recker told her.
“What is it then?”
“It’s about keeping you safe.”
“From what?” Mia wondered.
“From people a lot more dangerous than Stephen Eldridge.”
“Are you on the run or something?”
“It’s a lot more complicated than a simple yes or no answer,” Recker answered.
“Try me.”
Recker leaned forward and started talking more softly, looking around to make sure nobody was listening. “I was involved in a top secret government project.”
“Was?”
“My involvement in that project didn’t go exactly as planned. Someone decided that I no longer was necessary in that project and decided to terminate me.”
“By terminate you mean…”
“I mean kill. Someone tried to kill me and now I’m here…trying to make a difference. While at the same time trying to stay out of the crosshairs,” Recker stated.
“Wow.”
“I’m not a criminal or a bad guy, but I know a lot of things that certain people would be worried about me revealing. Once my name goes into an official government system, alarm bells start going off, and it pops up on the CIA’s radar.”
“The CIA?” Hendricks asked.
Recker just nodded.
“So that means they would know where you are and would come after you again?”
“That’s it,” Recker nodded. “Crazy, huh?”
“Wow. I’ll say.”
“Now that I’ve told you I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you,” Recker said, stonefaced.
“What?”
Recker let out a laugh, “sorry, an old secret agent joke. Always wanted to say it one time.”
“Oh,” Hendricks replied, a look of relief on her face.
“I’ve taken you into my confidence. For your protection and mine, you can’t say a word about me to anyone. They’ve already killed people that were associated with me before. They won’t hesitate to do it again. If they even knew we had this conversation right now, they’d kill you just for sitting here, regardless whether you knew anything or not.”
“Nobody will ever learn about you from me,” she promised.
“Good. I’d hate to move to a new city already.”
“Why would you move?”
“If you told anybody about me, I’d ditch my phone, pick up a new name, new city, start all over again. That’d all be done by tomorrow morning,” he grinned.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Hendricks reassured.
“I know. I pretty much knew that when I read an article this morning about the mysterious man who helped fend off your attacker. Didn’t seem to fit the description of me at all.”
“Well, you asked to keep you out of it. I figured the best way to do that was to say it was someone else.”
“Police believe it?”
“Seemed to. I told them I didn’t know who the man was. Must’ve been visiting someone else in the building.”
They continued talking for another hour as they ate their lunch, Hendricks still ribbing him over his lack of an appetite for onions. She was fascinated by his life, or former life, and sought to hear more stories from his past, a past he wasn’t as anxious to delve into. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to duck the questions any longer. Still wearing his earpiece, Jones’ voice came booming in.
“What’s up, professor?” Recker greeted.
“Back to that again, are we?” Jones responded.
“Don’t forget, I have company right now,” Recker fake smiled at Hendricks, who was listening to every word her companion was saying.
“Oh yes, I almost forgot. How is that going, by the way?”
“Just fine.”
“Good. Well, we have a new situation developing and it is urgent,” Jones informed him.
“What’s up?”
“I’ve intercepted several text messages indicating a robbery is about to take place.”
“How soon?”
“Two o’clock.”
“Where?”
“Albert’s. It’s a small convenience store over on fifth. Can you get there in time?”
“Why not just call the police with an anonymous tip?” Recker asked.
“Because we act on the information we uncover. We don’t pass it along and hope. What if they don’t act or they don’t get there in time?”
Recker nodded his head, agreeing. “OK. I’m on my way. How many people am I dealing with?”
“Three that I can definitely pinpoint.”
“Armed?”
“I can’t say for sure. Looking at their backgrounds, I would say that’s a distinct possibility,” Jones answered.
“OK. On my way.
Recker was already done his meal and asked for the check, which he promptly paid. “I’m afraid I have to go,” he said.
“Off to save the day somewhere else?”
“Something like that.”
“Will I see you again soon?” Hendricks asked, hoping she would.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, wherever you’re going…be careful.”
Recker smiled and walked away. He sped out of the parking lot and drove as quickly as he could to get to Albert’s. He got there about ten minutes before two o’clock. It was a small family owned store. Recker walked in and was immediately greeted by an elderly man, probably in his early sixties. He was standing behind the register, no glass or bars separating him from the customers he checked out. He was slightly overweight, wore glasses, and was mostly bald except for a small patch of gray hair on the sides of his head.
