by Mike Ryan
Heather looked worried, more about his condition than what he was saying, though his last line did concern her. He kept muttering things, most of which were only one or two words that didn’t make much sense. She tried gently shaking him with no success before she did it with much more conviction, finally succeeding in waking him from his terrors. Cain snapped up, sitting up quickly as he wiped the sweat from his face. He looked over at Heather, who bore an obvious face of concern about him.
“What happened?” Cain asked.
“You were dreaming.”
“Oh,” he said, sighing.
Cain continued sitting there for a minute, in silence, trying to gain some clarity in his mind. His heart was racing and he knew he must’ve said or did something to alarm Heather with the way she was looking at him.
“So what’d I say?” Cain asked, turning his head without actually looking at her.
“Most of it was just talk, didn’t make much sense.”
“You said most. What was the rest?”
“You kept yelling no and stop. Then you said something about how you’re not a killing machine,” Heather answered.
Cain looked frustrated, putting both of his hands on his head. He didn’t even want to look at Heather, thinking she must’ve thought some awful things about him by now. He started to get out of bed but Heather grabbed his wrist, pulling him back down.
“Talk to me,” Heather softly told him.
Cain stared in her eyes and could see the care and concern that she had for him. He didn’t try to pull away from her and figured he’d just lay it all out there for her and hopefully wouldn’t make her back away from him.
“I…umm,” he muttered.
“Just take your time,” Heather told him, stroking his face. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”
“I did something in Russia that I, uhh,” Cain said, moving his jaw around. “I did something that I don’t know if I can forgive myself for.”
“What was it?” she wondered.
“I killed someone,” he bluntly stated, avoiding the details.
“Without sounding too uncaring, I know you’ve killed people before. How was this different?”
“It was a child.”
“Oh,” Heather said, taking her hand off him.
Cain looked at her, ashamed, knowing that she likely would never look at him or feel the same way again.
“What happened?” she asked.
“My mission was to eliminate a man named Andrei Kurylenko. He was an international arms dealer. He was the man I was after in Syria when I was captured. So my mission was to get into his house and kill him along with his men that were there and make it look like the mafia did it,” Cain explained.
“And did you?”
“Yes. I killed him and his men. I killed Kurylenko. I killed his men. And I killed his son.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t know the boy would be there. I called and asked what to do with him and I was told that he needed to be eliminated too.”
“How old was he?”
“Probably around twelve or so.”
“Who told you to do it?” Heather asked.
“Sanders. He said the boy was a risk in identifying me and could cause an incident with the U.S. government if the truth was found out.”
Heather struggled to find the right words to help him cope with what he’d done. She didn’t condone the killing of a child but wanted to let him know she was still there for him. She knew he wouldn’t have done it if he wasn’t ordered to.
“I am a killing machine,” Cain told her. “I killed thirteen men in a matter of minutes. It came so easily.”
“Oh my God,” Heather responded, shocked at the sheer number of bodies he piled up. “That’s uhh, such a big number.”
“I’m not normal. Normal people don’t do these things.”
“You’re not a killing machine,” she replied, trying to ease his fears.
“I am. Every mission I’ve ever been on, I’ve killed so easily, without hesitation. I don’t even have to think about it. It just comes naturally. Like a machine.”
“You’re not,” she said again, hugging and squeezing him tightly. “You were in the military. You were trained to do things like this. Of course it’s gonna come more easily to you than it would someone like me.”
“Maybe,” Cain said, not wanting to admit anything else.
“You just need to rest for a little bit.”
“How can you love someone like me? Someone who does the things that I do?” he asked.
“Because you’re not a bad man. You said yourself that you only do the things you do to bad people,” she rationalized.
“Except for now.”
“You know, there are a lot of men who wouldn’t have wanted to get involved with me, with my past. They would’ve run in the other direction. But you didn’t. You saw something else in me and helped me see it too. You were there for me. So now it’s my turn to be there for you.”
“It’s not even close to being the same thing,” he told her.
“Come here,” she said, taking him in her arms again.
She wrapped her arms around him as they laid down. Neither one of them went back to sleep as they were both now wide awake, but they laid there in silence, him thinking of what he’d done and her thinking of the pain he was going through. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to have to do the things he did and didn’t even dare to think she knew how he felt. Heather knew all she could do was to keep reassuring him that she was there for him and try to help him overcome his demons.
Chapter 5
Heather was dead tired from the long night she shared with Cain and just felt like calling out of work but decided to be a trooper and drudge her way through it. She poured herself four cups of coffee to try and get herself ready for the day. Cain sat at the kitchen table as he watched Heather get ready.
“So what are you gonna do today?” Heather asked, taking a sip of coffee.
“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll just lounge around or something.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
Cain kept watching Heather as she frantically rushed around, complaining about how tired she felt, and how horrible she looked. He couldn’t help though but think of how beautiful she looked, her hair down to her shoulders, wearing a white shirt with a black skirt and matching heels. Even at her worst she looked like the sexiest woman alive to him. Heather noticed how his eyes were following her wherever she went. She stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at her outfit like something was wrong.
“Do I have something on me?” she asked.
“What?”
“You keep watching me like I have stain on my shirt or something.”
“Oh, no,” Cain laughed. “I just like to look at you.”
“Oh, I see. Enjoying the view?”
“Very much. You look beautiful,” he gushed as he got up to move closer.
“You’re a bad liar. I look ridiculously horrible of epic proportions. I’ve got bags under my eyes, my hair’s a mess, and I just look hideous,” she countered.
“You look unbelievably sexy,” he told her, kissing her on the cheek.
“You’re gonna make me not want to go to work,” she replied, passionately kissing him.
“That’s the idea,” Cain said, kissing her neck.
After a minute, Heather was able to regain her composure and gently pushed Cain away.
“You’re really making it hard,” she said.
“I thought I was supposed to,” Cain grinned.
“I really don’t want you to stop.”
“Then I won’t.”
“As much as I’d love that, if you don’t stop, I have a feeling I’ll be a few hours late to work,” Heather said.
“OK. You win.”
“Later,” she smiled. “You know how to make me feel good though.”
Cain finally was able to keep his hands off Heather, at least long eno
ugh to let her leave for work.
“You be good while I’m gone,” she told him.
Cain went on his laptop for a little while to pass the time away while Heather was gone. He read mostly news and sports pages. He eventually noticed an ad that kept popping up occasionally for a trip to Hawaii. After seeing it a couple of times he clicked on it. As he continued looking at it, the thought of taking a trip became more appealing. He told Heather that he’d make it up to her before leaving for Russia and he thought a trip would be the perfect way to do it. Cain figured he’d earned a little vacation and would clear it with Lawson first and called her right away.
“Shelly, I need a favor,” Cain said.
“What’s up?”
“I wanna take a little trip.”
“To where?” Lawson asked.
“Hawaii.”
“What’s there?”
“You know, sand, beach, water,” Cain remarked.
“Is this business or are you asking for a vacation?”
“I think I need to blow off some steam for a while,” he answered.
“How much time do you want?”
“Maybe a week or two.”
“I think it’s a good idea.”
“You do?”
“Definitely. You’ve earned it and you deserve it.”
“Hmm.”
“What?” Lawson wondered.
“Well, I really didn’t expect it to be that easy. I thought I might have to talk you into it.”
“Nope. I support it totally. I do have a couple of questions though.”
“Which are?”
“Are you going on this trip by yourself?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Well, I seem to remember some conversations I had with you about a certain woman and then you left for Russia. How’d that whole scenario play out?” Lawson asked.
“Umm. Fine.”
“So you didn’t answer my question.”
“I’ll probably book it for two people,” Cain replied.
“You aren’t going with another man, are you?” Lawson kidded.
“Seriously?”
“So you’re going with a woman then?”
“Yes.”
“Great. I’ll start packing. When should I be ready by?” she joked.
“I actually had someone else in mind.”
“Wow. I feel really let down now,” she laughed. “So you and Heather are a thing now I’m guessing?”
“I guess you could say that,” he answered.
“So it is Heather!”
“Yeah.”
“You’re hard to get information out of sometimes,” Lawson stated.
“I know it.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it. I think it’ll be good for you.”
“The trip?” Cain asked.
“The trip…and her.”
“Do I need to run it by Sanders?”
“No, I’ll let him know. It’ll be fine,” Lawson informed him.
“So I’ll see you again in two weeks then?”
“Yeah. You guys have fun,” she told him. “Just don’t bring her back pregnant or anything.”
“Very funny.”
Cain continued looking up information on Hawaii and was getting excited about going. He hoped Heather would be surprised and not opposed to going. He wondered if maybe it was too soon for them to plan a vacation together but it wasn’t like they just met. He was about to book the reservations but then remembered Heather’s work. She really enjoyed working at the marketing firm since she‘d been hired, even though she was still in an entry level position. She was highly thought of and was a candidate to move up in the company at some point. Cain knew she wasn’t going to be able to just go at a moment’s notice so he thought about contacting her boss to make sure she could get away. He also thought he would wait in the lobby of Heather’s building and surprise her when she got done since he‘d never been there before. He printed out a picture of a beach in Maui to show her. This was the most excited he could ever remember being. He couldn’t wait to meet Heather and show her what he was planning. Cain eagerly waited for the time to fly by, almost like a little school boy who was waiting for his father to come home from work with a toy. Cain was so into reading everything about Hawaii that he almost forgot to check the time at two o’clock. He wanted to make sure he had enough time to talk to Heather’s boss before waiting in the lobby for her.
Cain got to the building located on 52nd street, a tall building that was twenty floors high, and had several corporations running their businesses from it. The marketing firm was on the third floor. Cain went into the receptionist’s office and asked to speak with Mr. Chaney, Heather’s boss. The receptionist called Chaney, who told her he would be in shortly. Cain took a seat in the office as he patiently waited, watching a TV on the wall. It was a short wait as Chaney walked in within a few minutes. Chaney was an older man, probably in his late fifties, just a shade under six feet tall, with a full head of grey hair, and glasses. He was the kind of boss most employees enjoyed working for. He was a caring man who tried to look out for his people and help them when possible. He treated them fairly and expected their best effort while at work. As long as they gave that he was always there for them. Heather had always spoken highly of him to Cain so he hoped he’d be successful in his hopes of securing her week off.
“Mr. Cain, a pleasure to meet you finally,” Chaney said, shaking his hand.
“You’ve heard of me?”
“Yes. Heather hasn’t stopped talking about you in the last week.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Cain remarked.
“No, it’s nothing bad. Quite honestly, it’s nice to see her happy finally. Ever since she started working here she seemed to be missing something. But now, for the last week, we can’t seem to wipe the smile off her face. She’s been walking around here beaming from ear to ear since she met you,” Chaney told him as they walked into his office.
“Well, we were friends for a while. It took me some time to see what I was missing,” Cain replied, sitting down.
“I’m glad you saw the light. She’s a great girl. Wonderful personality. She’s doing a great job here.”
“I’m glad to hear that. That’s kind of the reason I came.”
“Oh? Anything wrong?” Chaney asked.
“Oh, no. It’s just that I, uhh, wanted to take her away somewhere on a vacation and I wanted to surprise her.”
“Well that sounds fantastic. Is there something you need from me?”
“Well, I wanted to surprise her by going in a couple days, but that’d mean taking her from work on short notice. She loves it here and I wouldn’t want to do anything that’d get her fired or anything. So I was just wondering if it was possible you could let her leave on such short notice?” Cain wondered.
“Well that is a predicament. I did have some plans for her in the next week or so but I suppose it could wait until she got back. She hasn’t taken any time off since she’s been here so she’s certainly deserving of it and she‘s due two weeks of vacation time. I’ve asked her several times about taking a vacation week but she’s refused every time, always says she has no place to go,” Chaney told him. “If you want to take her away for a week then you have my approval. It’s about time someone got her away from here. I’m glad she’s so dedicated but everyone needs to get away sometimes. Her job will still be here when she gets back.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Cain left Chaney’s office and proceeded down to the lobby, where he waited on a bench, constantly checking the time. Heather was done work at four and Cain just stared at the marble floors, watching people go by, as he waited for her to come down. It seemed like he sat there for an eternity but was only about an hour. Once he saw Heather walking in his direction he stood up to greet her. She saw him standing there and was surprised to see him. It was the first time he’d ever been there so she thought something might be wrong.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, worried he was going to say something she didn’t like.
“I just wanted to surprise you,” Cain replied with a kiss.
“Nothing bad?” she asked, slightly turning her head, still looking worried.
“Nothing bad,” he said, shaking his head.
“You’re not breaking up with me?”
“Of course not.”
“You’re not going away somewhere?”
“No.”
“Good. Sorry, I just had the feeling you were gonna tell me something disappointing,” Heather said.
“Well, what I said isn’t totally true.”
“Which part?”
“About going away,” he said.
“You have to leave?” she asked, disappointed.
“It’s something I volunteered for.”
“Why would you do that?”
Cain reached into his pocket and pulled out the brochures he printed out on Hawaii. He handed them over to Heather, who reluctantly accepted, not sure she wanted to look at them. She unfolded them, and started to look them over, confused about what she was seeing.
“What’s all this?” Heather asked.
“Just look at them.”
“I don’t understand,” she stated. “So you’re going off to Hawaii?”
“No,” Cain responded. “We’re going off to Hawaii.”
“What?” she asked, still not convinced of what he was saying.
“If you recall, before I left for Moscow, I told you that I’d make it up to you. This is my way of making it up to you. I want you to go to Hawaii with me.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say,” she replied, astonished.
“Just say you’ll go.”
“When?”
“I thought maybe tomorrow.”
“I’d love to…” she started.
“But?”
“But I don’t think now’s a good time.”
