by L. T. Ryan
39
It had been six months since that day Bear was questioned by LaSalle and Peterson, and not a day went by that he didn’t think about it. But that was all he had been allowed to do. He had only talked to Sadie once since then, and he certainly hadn’t heard from Jack.
After he was released, he tried waiting around for Sadie, to see how she was and to hear what she had told them. But it had been obvious he was no longer welcome at Langley. A different pair of agents had ushered him into a car and driven him to the airport. He got on the next flight to New York.
Bear spent the next week laying low, not sure what would come at him. He was more than a little paranoid that whatever mess Thorne had dumped at his front door was about to kick it down. But everything was silent. Everything was still.
Until Sadie showed up one night.
She hadn’t stayed long. He’d tried to offer her dinner, or at least a drink, but she was antsy. Paranoid, even. He’d never seen her look like that before. She kept parting his blinds to check the street, then positioning herself out of the line of sight of the windows.
She’d made him reassure her three times that he’d checked for bugs in his apartment. He had. Twice. It was clean. She didn’t feel any better about that, and if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t either. Thorne’s paranoia was starting to get to him, and that was saying something. Bear was paranoid enough as it was. Finding bugs in his apartment would’ve at least been a confirmation of everything Thorne had said.
Finding none was almost worse.
“How long did they question you?” he had asked her.
“Two days.” She was pacing. Her voice was tight, clipped. “They gave me a break in between. I got to sleep. They didn’t want it to look like an interrogation. But that’s exactly what it was.”
“You get slapped on the wrist?”
“More than that. They put me back on desk duty. Said it wasn’t a punishment. They just wanted to make sure I was ready before I went out into the field again. It’s all bullshit.”
Bear didn’t know how to handle an agitated, paranoid Sadie. She was usually the most levelheaded of them all. “What makes you say that?”
Sadie stopped pacing and leveled a look at Bear. She walked over to the window, parted the blinds, and checked the street again. When she took up her patrol once more, her eyes never settled on Bear for more than a second or two.
“The stuff coming across my desk is so below my pay grade it’s laughable,” she said. “They’re not letting me in on anything. When I asked if I could test back into the field, they didn’t even give me a chance.”
“Maybe they’re just being cautious, especially after what happened—”
“Don’t say it.” Sadie glared at him. “You and I both know we did our best in London. One of those guys was dead before we even got there. Everything was working against us.”
“I know, I know.” Bear put up his hands in surrender. “So, then why do you think—”
“It’s just like Thorne said.” Sadie’s eyes were wild now. Bear wondered how much sleep she’d been getting. “They’re all in on it.”
“Thorne is a basket case,” Bear reminded her. “We have no evidence any of what he said is true.”
“No, but Jack does.” Sadie stopped pacing for the first time. “Have you heard from him?”
“Not a peep,” Bear said. And that was the truth.
Sadie started pacing again. “Bear, I know how this looks. I know how I sound. But you have to believe me.”
Bear’s hesitation was imperceptible. They’d been through too much together for him to doubt her now. “I do. I don’t know if I believe World War III is on our doorstep, but something is going on here.”
“What did you tell LaSalle and Peterson?”
Bear shrugged. “Mostly the truth. Told them what Thorne said but made it seem like I didn’t believe it. Didn’t tell them about Jack. Did you know they think he’s a terrorist?”
She nodded. “I basically said the same thing. They asked me a lot of questions about Thorne, about Korea. And then about my relationship with Jack.”
“Korea?”
“They wanted to know if Thorne had told me anything of consequence before we locked him up.”
“But you were debriefed after Korea. They should already have that information.”
“They were just making sure,” she said. Sarcasm dripped from every word. “Like I said, bullshit.”
“So, they didn’t get anything from either one of us.”
“Doesn’t sound like it. But I’m being watched. Everything I do. Everywhere I go.”
That explained the constant parting of the blinds. A nagging voice in Bear’s head wondered if Sadie was overly paranoid or if what she said was true. “Were you followed here?”
“Don’t think so, but who knows. If this goes as deep as Thorne thinks it does, I may never know if someone is tailing me.”
“So what now?” Bear asked.
Sadie hesitated. She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “I think it’s best if we go our separate ways.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” It was the smartest play.
“I’m sorry, Bear.” She stopped pacing again. Crossed her arms tight over her chest like she was cold. “I’m scared.”
Bear walked forward and wrapped her in a hug. “It’ll be fine. Whatever’s going on here, we’ll figure it out. The only thing we can do now is not give them any reason to think we’re entertaining even a fraction of what Thorne said. Keep your head down. Do your job. No complaining.”
Sadie’s laughter was muffled by the fact that her face was buried in his chest. After a moment, she freed herself from his embrace and swiped at a tear rolling down her cheek. “And then what? I can’t do that forever.”
“Not forever,” Bear said. “Just until Jack reaches out to either one of us.”
“And how long is that going to take?” The frustration in her voice was bubbling over.
“I don’t know. Jack’s smart. He’s not going to make a move until he knows it’s one hundred percent safe for all of us. And then after that? They better watch out.”
Sadie nodded her head, but she didn’t look entirely convinced. After a moment, she walked toward the door. “I should go.”
“I’m sorry for everything in London,” Bear said. He had to get it off his chest now. What if he never saw her again? “For doubting you. For not bringing your agents home.”
“I don’t blame you for any of that, Bear. I would’ve done the same things in your shoes.” She gripped the door knob but stopped short of pulling it open. “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else with me in London.”
Bear chuckled. “Not even Jack?”
Sadie laughed, too. “Not even Jack.”
Bear wasn’t sure he believed her, but it was nice to hear anyway.
Neither one of them had felt the need to say goodbye after that. They just smiled at each other in a way that was filled with more sadness than anything else. Sadie shut the door behind her with a click, and Bear allowed himself to feel the emptiness of her absence for as long as he could see her from his window. Once she was out of sight, he put the whole situation behind him.
He’d been doing that for six months.
It was ironic that what he had wanted more than anything when he was last home was a steady job and a quiet life and all he got was a trip to London that ended in disaster. Now that he wanted answers and a direction to march in, all was quiet. He could do whatever he wanted now. And he never felt more lost because of it.
So Bear found himself a job. A friend of a friend had gotten it for him. They’d forged some documents and all of a sudden, he was part of a union. Got sick days and everything. Those that knew looked the other way, and those that didn’t had opened their arms to a rookie.
For the last half a year he and his crew had been demolishing a building—floor by floor—just so it could be rebuil
t from the ground up. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He was attempting to do the same with his own life, but he had to admit it was easier to knock down concrete walls than the metaphorical ones in his mind.
Regardless, it was good, mostly honest, hard work. He was starting to feel like his old self. The one that existed before he began going on covert missions. Before he realized the world was full of conspiracy. Before its imminent destruction was a very real thought that he had day in and day out.
He settled into a routine, with new friends and new inside jokes, but he never forgot about Sadie, Jack, or Thorne. Every day he waited for something to happen. For someone to reach out to him. And every day he was a little less disappointed when they didn’t. Maybe the world wasn’t hanging in the balance like he had originally thought it was.
But then he was reminded that the universe had a terrible sense of humor.
It was a Friday afternoon in the middle of October. The days were perfect for construction, even though Bear could work up a sweat in the middle of the winter. It was nearly lunchtime, and half his crew was just bullshitting, already eating their sandwiches.
A phone rang from somewhere behind him. They weren’t supposed to have their phones out on the job for obvious reasons, but no one really paid attention to that. As long as you didn’t do something stupid, no one would say anything. But the second you fucked up? It was because you couldn’t keep your nose out of your phone.
The ringing stopped. And then started again. Bear tried to ignore it, but it was shrill. Loud. Someone had forgotten to turn their ringer off. And it was getting on his last nerve.
“You gonna get that?” someone shouted.
It took Bear a minute to realize they were talking to him. Bear didn’t keep a phone on him. Too easy to track. When he turned around to tell them it wasn’t him, he saw his lunch box sitting on the ground a few feet away. One of the apprentices must’ve brought it over for him.
And that’s definitely where the ringing was coming from.
The shrill singing of the phone cut off. Bear held his breath. A few seconds ticked by. It started ringing again.
Bear didn’t waste any time. He launched himself at his lunch box and threw it open. Sure enough, there was a burner nestled between his sandwich and a just-brown-enough banana. He flipped it open and brought it to his ear. He didn’t dare say anything. He didn’t dare breathe.
The voice that filled the other end was like coming home to a cold beer on a hot day.
“Hey, big man. How’ve you been?”
Epilogue
Jack hadn’t said much to Bear that day on the phone. He couldn’t, just in case someone was listening. But he had rambled on long enough that Bear knew he was okay. He was safe, or at least relatively so. And he’d given Bear enough information to realize Jack would be waiting for him in Germany.
For anyone else who may have been listening in, their banter was familiar and easy. No one would know it had been almost a year since they’d last spoken. No one would realize their inconsequential ribbing and sharing of fond memories was actually a road map for Bear to follow to meet up with Jack.
It was the only excuse Bear needed.
He wanted to drop everything and get on a plane that day, but he knew he had to be smart about it. He finished out his day. He stayed in that weekend, waiting and watching. When no one knocked on his door, he figured their conversation had been private. Or, at least, whoever was listening was now waiting to see what Bear would do next.
On Monday morning, Bear didn’t bother calling off work. He just didn’t show up. It happened weekly on the jobsite. No one would care or come looking for him.
Bear hopped in a car and drove straight through to Chicago. Flying out of New York was a bad idea. He knew someone would be watching him there. They’d probably end up in Germany before he did.
Flying out of Chicago instead of somewhere like Boston was probably overkill, but Bear kept thinking about Thorne’s warnings and Sadie’s paranoia. If their little problem was as big as everyone was making it out to be, there was no such thing as being overcautious.
So he flew from Chicago to Atlanta. He walked out of the Atlanta airport and then right back in again. He took a nonstop to Paris. Then a train to Amsterdam. From there, he did everything in his power to keep away from mass transit as he made his way to Germany. There was a surprising amount of Germans out in the country who were willing to pick up a lumbering giant and drive him to the next town over.
Even though Munich was the most obvious place to meet, it would also be the easiest place to disappear into the crowd. Oktoberfest was still in full swing, and Bear was more than willing to take advantage of the crowds and the beer.
From there, Bear just had to wait.
And he did.
For three days, Bear went to Oktoberfest and filled up on as many sausages and pretzels as he could, washing them all down with beer. It was the calmest and the happiest he had felt since his time on that island a million years ago.
He almost expected Thorne to walk up to him and take it all away again.
But it wasn’t Thorne who materialized out of the crowd with a shit-eating grin on his face. It wasn’t Thorne who didn’t even bother saying hello before he jerked his head to the side and walked off in that same direction. It wasn’t Thorne who Bear followed aimlessly into a crowd, with no fear that they were being watched.
It was Jack.
When they finally found a quiet alley to stand in, Bear wrapped his arms around his best friend and squeezed until the other man gasped with laughter. At this point, Bear was probably three-quarters beer, but it wasn’t the alcohol that made his eyes burn.
It was pure, unadulterated relief.
“All right, all right,” Jack said, slapping Bear on the back. “Let me breathe, big man.”
Bear didn’t even know what to say. He just smiled like an idiot.
“It’s been a while,” Jack said.
“Too long.” Bear finally found his words. “Thought you were dead, man. More than once.”
“I know.” Jack sobered, but he still kept that glint in his eye. “Sorry about that.”
“Doesn’t matter now,” Bear said.
“How’s Sadie?” Jack asked. “I haven’t spoken to her since Costa Rica.”
“She’s okay. A lot of shit has gone down, bro. A lot of shit.”
He nodded. “I’ve heard some of it. Seen other parts from a distance. I’m sorry about London.”
Bear waved away his apology. “Doesn’t matter now.”
Jack finally seemed to accept that Bear wasn’t looking to lay blame on him. “She still CIA?”
“As far as I know,” Bear said. “Last I heard it was desk work. Indefinitely.”
“That’ll keep her safe. For now, at least. One less thing to worry about.”
“Speaking of,” Bear said, checking to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation, “when are you going to fill me in on what’s going on?”
Jack rubbed at the back of his neck. “It’s not good, Bear.”
“We’ve had ‘not good’ before.”
“This is worse,” he said. “A lot worse.”
“I thought maybe you had gotten a dog,” Bear said. “Didn’t have time for socializing anymore.”
“A dog? Really?”
Bear shrugged. “I had high hopes.”
“I wouldn’t mind a dog.”
Bear wanted to keep joking, but he had too many serious questions. “Thorne’s been tight-lipped. Said I wouldn’t believe him. Said it had to come from you.”
“He’s a prick,” Jack said, his face tightening in momentary anger and then smoothing out again. “But he’s not wrong.”
“So lay it on me.”
Jack hesitated.
“Really? After everything we’ve been through?”
“I just don’t know where to start.”
“Start with the one thing Thorne refused to tell me,” Bear said. “Who’s b
ehind this global conspiracy to wreak havoc across the world and start World War III?”
Jack looked Bear dead in the eyes before he answered. Bear had never seen him so serious in the decades they had been friends. Bear knew that whatever came next wouldn’t be a joke. It wasn’t to be taken lightly. And now they were in it together, no matter what.
Jack cleared his throat before he continued.
“You’ll never believe me.”
THE END
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