by Mike Ryan
“OK, I think it’s time for you to go.”
“I can’t.”
“If you don’t go now I’m gonna call 911.”
“Go ahead.
“I’m calling,” Heather said.
“I think their system’s down tonight,” he said with a laugh.
Heather pulled out her phone and looked at it but it wasn’t getting a signal. They must’ve somehow jammed the phone lines.
“So who else is in there?” the man asked.
“Nobody.”
“Open the door so I can take a look.”
An idea came to Heather about doing what had been done to her. She took a deep breath and went to the door and looked out the peephole. She pointed her gun at the middle of the door and fired a couple shots through it. The shots must’ve hit their mark as the man screamed then dropped to a knee. Unfortunately the man got back to his feet and angrily started beating on the door. Heather turned around as she heard the back door being kicked in. She ran into the hallway, hoping to get a shot at him before he got in. The door was already open when she got there and as she turned around she got slapped in the face with an open hand. It knocked her against the wall and she dropped her gun. Heather reached down for it but was met with a closed fist which knocked her to the floor. They were joined a minute later by the man from the front, who finally got in.
“Looks like we found our target,” one of the men said.
They were startled when they heard a noise coming from the bedroom. They kicked the door in and saw Cassie crunched down in the corner holding her daughter. One of the men pulled them out of the corner and led them into the living room. The other pulled Heather in by the arm, dragging her along the floor as she was still dazed from the punch. They dropped Heather in front of the couch as they shoved Cassie onto the couch.
“You wanna do it or should I?” one of them asked.
“You can do it. I don’t wanna shoot a kid.”
“Please no!” Cassie yelled. “Not my baby!”
Just as the one agent was about to pull the trigger they heard a noise coming from the back door.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
They turned their attention back to Cassie to get the deed over with. Cain rushed in through the front door firing his gun. He immediately dropped the agent holding the gun on Cassie then quickly fired at the other. The agent was able to get a shot off at Cain though it missed, the bullet lodging in the wall. Cain did not, however, and fired several shots that fatally ended the man’s life. The other agent was still on the ground, breathing heavily, until Cain put an end to that. He stood over him and shot him in the forehead as if it was no big deal. Falk peeked in through the front door, amazed and somewhat impressed at what he’d just witnessed from the lead character in his story. Cain walked around the couch to check on Cassie and the baby.
“Are you all right?” Cain asked.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” Cassie said, holding her head. “Just a little shaken.”
“The baby OK?”
“Yeah. She’s fine,” she said after checking her.
“Good.”
Cain then turned his attention to Heather as she had just sat up, leaning against the end of the couch to steady herself. She raised her knees and rested her elbows on them as she put both hands on her head. Cain knelt down beside her to check her over.
“Looks like you got the worse end of things,” Cain said.
“Not as worse as it could’ve been.”
Cain started to get up to find an ice pack but saw Cassie had beaten him to it and was coming over with one. She handed it to Heather who put it across the side of her face that felt the wrath of the punch. Cain moved her jaw up and down to make sure it wasn’t broken. She was lucky that her biggest issue was the big red welt on the side of her face. Her cheek was a little puffy but the swelling would go down in an hour or so with the ice.
“We need to go,” Heather blurted out, sounding concerned.
“What? Why?” Cain asked.
“I told Cassie to call 911 before this started. The police will be here any second.”
Cassie shook her head. “I never got to call them. It wouldn’t go through.”
“My cell had no signal too,” Heather replied.
“They probably jammed your signals before they got here. They probably figured you’d try something like that. It’s a pretty standard procedure,” Cain told them.
“Thank God you’re here,” Heather said, putting her arms around him.
Cain gently rubbed her back as they hugged. His thoughts turned to his wife and son and almost felt guilty about hugging Heather. Cain wasn’t sure how he was going to tell her about it. There probably would never be a right time for it. As much as he thought he loved her, how could he continue on with the relationship when he had a family waiting for him at home?
“As soon as you feel well enough to move we’re gonna need to get going,” Cain told her.
“But if the police aren’t coming what’s the rush?” Heather asked.
“Cause once these two don’t report back they’ll know something happened. They’ll probably assume I’m here and try to close in on us. They’ll create a radius search and start closing off escape routes. We need to move as soon as possible to stay ahead of them.”
“I’m good. Let’s go now,” Heather replied, standing on her feet.
“Are you sure you’re OK? We can wait a few minutes.”
“No, let’s just go now. I’m fine,” she smiled.
“Grab your stuff.”
“What about them?” Heather asked, nodding at her sister. “We can’t leave them here. They might come after them again.”
Cain looked at Cassie and Emma and sighed, knowing he had a big problem. It was hard enough being on the run by himself, but now he had a reporter to look after. Plus trying to take care of Heather and now he had another woman and a baby. It was getting harder by the minute. Cain knew he was going to have to think of something. There were too many people now to stay low. He’d have to find a spot quickly and he was running out of ideas. He wasn’t sure he could keep them all safe if they stayed with him. In the meantime, he didn’t want to just leave a couple of dead bodies in Cassie’s house to implicate her in anything.
“Go get their car and back it into the driveway,” Cain told Falk.
Falk dug for the keys in one of the agents’ pockets and did as he was instructed and brought the car over. Cain had Falk open up the trunk and he brought the dead men out, one at a time, slung over his shoulder to place them inside. Cain put them in then went back inside to talk to Cassie.
“Well, it’s up to you what you wanna do,” Cain said to Cassie. “If you stay here, I can’t guarantee that they won’t show up here again. If they do, I can’t protect you. If you come with us, there’s a good chance you’ll see more of what went down here tonight at some point.”
Cassie looked at Heather before looking back at Emma, tears starting to flow. Heather felt horrible knowing that she placed her sister and niece in jeopardy and now they were forced to make a life altering decision.
“Can you give me a couple minutes so I can pack a bag of her things?” Cassie asked about Emma.
Cain nodded, sympathetic of her decision.
“I’ll help you,” Heather told her.
“On the way here I saw a Target. Do you remember it?” Cain asked Falk.
“Yeah, why?”
“Take that car and park it there. As soon as they’re ready we’ll come over and get you. Stay low, don’t get out, and don’t park near anybody,” Cain said. “We’ll be along in a few minutes.”
Falk left, taking the car full of dead bodies with him. Heather and Cassie were quickly packing Emma’s things, knowing they didn’t have much time. Heather packed a bag of her clothes while Cassie went to the kitchen to pack some of her baby food and bottles. Heather joined her sister in the kitchen once she got Emma’s clothes toget
her.
“I’m so sorry for dragging you into this,” Heather sorrowfully said. “I never thought it’d end up like this.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I’ll never forgive myself for this.”
“Hey, I don’t blame you. I’m not mad at you or anything. I’m just worried,” Cassie told her, putting her hand on Heather’s shoulder. “Everything just happened so fast. I just can’t believe all this is happening.”
“Matt will do everything he can to protect you guys. And so will I.”
“I know.”
While the girls were in the kitchen, Cain thought of the only person who could help them that might be able to conceal their whereabouts. Eric Raines was the only person he could turn to. Cain wasn’t sure he could totally trust Lawson anymore, and even if she was on his side, it was likely they’d have her staked out too. Nobody else would be as equipped to help them as much as Raines. It was ironic that the only person that he could turn to was the man he was supposed to kill. He dialed Raines’ number, unsure what he could do, but hopeful he had an idea.
“What can I do for you, my friend?” Raines answered.
“I can use your help,” Cain stated.
“What do you need?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You sound flustered. What is going on?”
“I’ve got a host of problems right now,” Cain sighed.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Raines repeated.
“You want the short or long version?”
“Preferably the short version without leaving anything out.”
“I tried to meet my contact who was already dead. They’re framing me for it. He gave everything he had to a reporter who I’ve got with me now before they had a chance to kill him. I sent Heather to her sister’s while I was with the reporter and they tried to kill them. Luckily I got here in time. That leads me to right now.”
“Sounds like you have a rather sticky situation on your hands.”
“So I’m on the run, have a reporter, Heather, her sister, and a baby in tow.”
“You couldn’t have found a dog on the way?” Raines joked.
“I figure that’s next.”
“So how can I help?”
“I can’t keep them all with me. There’s no way I can move fast enough with them all,” Cain stated.
“Figure on dropping two or three of them off on the roadside and let them take their chances?” Raines sarcastically asked.
“Obviously I can’t just leave them. They won’t make it on their own.”
“Which is where I come in.”
“You’re the only person I know I can trust right now,” Cain told him.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I know it’s a lot to ask but would you be able to hide them out if I sent them your way?”
“You want to put them on a plane and have me take care of them?”
“Like I said, I know it’s a lot to ask, but you’re the only person I know they don’t have tabs on. They don’t know where you’re at,” Cain said.
“They will once they find out what plane they’re on.”
“I’m out of options. Sanders screwed me, Eric. I’m actually married with a son. I need to repay him for that,” Cain revealed.
Raines felt badly for him and offered another solution. “You realize that if you put these people on a plane overseas that there’s a very real possibility, I’d even say more likely than not, that there will be agents waiting for them when they arrive.”
“Yeah.”
“So how bout if you send them to France? I can meet them there and get them into England.”
“What’s the difference?” Cain asked.
“Once I get them they’ll have no idea which way I’m going. If they think I’ve settled in France then let them look. If you send them to England and Sanders thinks I’m stationed there then things can get rather hot very quickly,” Raines told him.
“I’ll owe you one.”
“Kill Sanders and I’ll consider the debt repaid.”
Chapter 6
Once Heather and Cassie were ready they all got in the stolen car to go meet Falk. Heather wondered about the information that the reporter had and quizzed Cain about it.
“Does Falk have everything Heyward had?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Cain answered.
“So what was it?”
“Just stuff about the agency.”
“There had to be stuff about you in there, right? I mean, he contacted you about it,” Heather pressed.
“We can talk about it later,” Cain replied, knowing her heart would be broken when he revealed the facts about his past. “First, let’s just get out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
“The airport,” Cain responded.
“The airport?” Heather asked, confused. “Why?”
“It’s hard enough to do this on my own. With all of you it’s almost impossible. I need to send you all somewhere where I know you’re safe and they can’t find you,” Cain explained.
“You’re sending us away?” Heather disappointedly asked.
“It’s the only way I can think of.”
“So what airport are you taking us to?”
“Syracuse. It’s about two hours away.”
“Is that the closest?” she wondered.
“No, the closest is about four miles from here, but that’s where they’d look first.”
“I don’t wanna leave you again,” Heather said.
“It’ll only be for a little bit.”
“Why can’t I just stay with you?”
Cain didn’t answer her and she knew that it was useless arguing. She knew he wasn’t going to change his mind no matter how much she objected to it. Heather looked out her window, silently steaming about being sent away. She felt she could help him and that he needed at least one person that he could depend on. Cassie stayed silent in the back seat, mostly just tending to her daughter, but still listening to the conversation up front. She was scared with not knowing what was happening, but her main priority was protecting Emma. If this was the best way to do that, then she was fine with it. She saw how skilled Cain was and had to put her trust in him.
“So where are we being sent?” Heather asked, breaking the silence.
“Paris and then you’ll make your way into England.”
“Are we just supposed to know where to go when we get there?”
“Eric Raines will meet you,” Cain replied.
“Raines? That’s reassuring,” she said, not thrilled.
“Hey, he’s the only person we can trust right now.”
“When’s the flight?”
“Tomorrow morning at 5:45. That’s the soonest,” Cain told her.
“I can’t believe you’re getting rid of us,” she objected.
“It’s not about getting rid of you. It’s about protecting you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Not against these people you can’t,” Cain said. “If I hadn’t gotten there when I did you would all be dead.”
“That’s why we should stay with you.”
“No, that’s exactly why you can’t, because I can’t always be there to protect everybody. If you stay here you’re gonna have to see me do things that… things you shouldn’t have to see. You’ll have to see me kill.”
“I’ve seen that already.”
“Not in the way I’m gonna have to. What you saw earlier was killing in self defense, to protect those I care about. To get out of this I’m gonna have to kill unprovoked, violently, and without a second thought. I don’t think you’re ready to see me like that. It will change how you look at me.”
“Nothing could change how I look and feel about you.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Cain said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Cain sighed
and waited to answer. He waited long enough that they pulled into the Target parking lot to find Falk so that he was able to avoid the question.
“There he is,” Heather pointed.
Falk immediately got in the car and they quickly drove out of the lot. It was a long, quiet car ride. It’d been a long day for everyone and their energy levels from the rush and all the excitement had finally started to dwindle. For Heather, though, it was something more. Maybe it was just the stress from the situation, but she got the feeling something else was going on. Though he wasn’t talking, Cain seemed different. Maybe that was what was bothering her. He wasn’t talking. She just assumed that a man who was sending his girlfriend away for an indefinite period of time would have more to say to her. She knew Cain wasn’t the type of guy who usually spilled his emotions out onto his sleeve but this was an extraordinary circumstance. For all she knew these would be the last few hours she’d ever spend with him. The least she thought he could do was talk to her about what was in his head.
“Everyone should probably get some rest while you can,” Cain told the group.
“I’m fine,” Heather sternly replied.
Falk and Cassie both agreed though and figured a few hours of sleep would do them good. After a few minutes, Cain looked at the backseat passengers and noticed that they’d fallen asleep. He then looked over at Heather who was still very alert, staring out her window. He could tell that she was still steaming. He debated whether he should tell her yet about what he found out in the files but it just seemed like it wasn’t the right time. Cain also wondered if he should just not tell her at all. If things went bad and he wasn’t able to survive this mess, maybe it’d be better for her to not know his past, and just remember what they shared together.
