Graves In The Sand

Chapter 2: The Unravelling-1

Chapter 2: The UnravellingCOLE STOOD FOR A moment more, staring across the small room at Tony’s silhouette in the morning light, unsure of what to think. He was not supposed to be here. No one from the Task Force was supposed to ever see him again. While Tony had been his most trusted confidant, Cole nevertheless felt the proverbial butterflies in his stomach. A sharp edge pressed at his throat, like the tip of a blade just cutting slightly into his neck. Despite that, he was, in a strange way, partly relieved to see a familiar face. In Tony he saw the boats, the chases, the drugs, the booze, and most of all, the thrill of putting it all on the line time and again.

“How have you been, Cole?”

Cole paused before wiping his hands one last time on his pant legs. He mashed his back teeth together a few times and tried to swallow, but found that his mouth had already begun to run dry.

“I’m all right Tony. It’s good to see you.”

Tony took a few steps into the bakery and nodded towards toward Isabella’s mother, softly saying Bonjour with a smile.

Keenly aware of Cole’s discomfort, she turned to look at him for a few seconds before looking back down at the floor and walking back out, past Cole and into the kitchen.

“Can we take a walk?”

Cole nodded and walked over toward the door. As he did, Tony patted him on the back twice and followed. It was that gesture on Tony’s part that solidified Cole’s fears. This was not good.

Once outside the bakery, Cole took a deep breath and asked, “Where to?”

“How about down by the water?”

Cole turned left and Tony followed to his right and just behind.

“What brings you to France?”

Tony paused before replying. “Something has sort of come up, Cole.”

“I thought we were squared up after Panama.”

“Yeah; yes, we were—or are. We are, Cole.”

Cole didn’t respond for some time. They walked to the end of the street, into the main square, and down a second narrow curving road towards the marina.

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, it’s not that. There are some guys from Homeland Security that want to talk with you.”

“Seems to me that Carentan is a bit out of their jurisdiction.” Cole stopped and turned to face Tony, who laughed just a bit and shook his head.

“You haven’t changed, Cole.”

Cole was not in the mood for jokes. “Tony, quit dodging questions. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Let’s walk.”

With that, Cole continued on towards the small marina and as the street opened up on the waterfront, there were a few cafes that lined one side of the road and the marina and docks sat on the other. Cole took quick note of three men in dark business suits that sat in the far shaded corner of a cafe. Two made eye contact with Cole as he and Tony passed. No one wears dark suits in Carentan, Cole thought. Especially on a weekday, at a café, in the middle of the day.

Beyond the road was a small brick walkway with a handful of fountains and benches that lined each side. Once they were standing by the concrete wharf, Cole pressed Tony again.

“Tell me the truth, Tony. What are you doing here?”

Tony hesitated and looked out at the fleet of small fishing boats and pleasure craft that were tied up to the finger piers. He took a long breath, which did nothing but reaffirm Cole’s fears that something was wrong.

“There’s something going on down in Mexico, and your name came up as someone that might be able to help.”

Cole thought about Mexico for a few seconds then pivoted to look back at the cafés. He looked back at the suits, who were still seated around a small table with coffee cups in their hands. Two were just a few years older than Cole, and a third was an older and mildly overweight man. As Cole stared at them, they all made eye contact with him for a second time.

“The suits over at the café?”

“How’d you know that?”

Cole turned back towards the water and scowled. “They don’t fit in.”

Tony was quiet again and clearly looking for the right words.

“Cole, I wanted to come myself to tell you. This wasn’t my idea, but I’m not in a position to stop it.”

“I’m not leaving, if that’s what you’re asking.” The tension peaked.

“Cole, you’re not going to have a choice on this one.”

Sensing someone walking up from his side, Cole turned to see the oldest of the suits casually walking up. As he approached, he smiled a big obnoxious toothy grin and called out loudly, “Is this our man, Tony?”

Tony replied, “It is. This is Cole Williams. Cole, this is Special Agent Johnson with DHS.”

With that, Johnson let out a short cackling laugh and extended his hand.

Cole obliged and shook his. As soon as he did, Johnson gripped and pulled hard enough to throw off Cole’s balance for a second. Never letting go of his stupid goofy smile, Cole knew at once all he needed to know about Johnson. Total d**k.

“Happy to have you onboard, Cole.”

Cole stared intently at Johnson and replied, “Not sure I follow what’s going on here.”

“Not to worry, Cole. We’ll fill you in on the way.”

“I’m not leaving.”

Johnson laughed so loudly that Cole was pretty sure most of Carentan could hear it.

He said it again, “I’m not leaving.”

Johnson dropped his smile for just a second and replied, “Well, apparently you’re the only one who doesn’t realize you don’t have a choice.” With that, Johnson laughed again, and turned to Tony as if to pressure him in to laughing along with whatever Johnson thought was so funny. Tony didn’t laugh. He nodded to acknowledge Johnson, then looked back at Cole.

“Cole, we could use your help on this.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Your country, son.” Johnson was still loud and increasingly annoying.

“And if I don’t go?”

“We either take you with us, or take you to jail.” Johnson’s arrogant nasally voice was enough to drive Cole towards the jail option rather than anywhere with him. He was clearly enjoying his little power trip.

By now, the other two younger agents were hovering just out of earshot and walking back and forth.

“So, those are your goons who will drag me off?”

In an instant, Johnson’s true colors emerged. “Those aren’t goons. Those are two federal agents, young man. And yes, they’ll take you to jail if that’s what you’d prefer. Plenty of charges I can think of off the top of my head.”

Cole looked away as Johnson continued, “I know all about you Cole. Your mouth and your bad decisions are your downfall. I can see that more clearly now.”

Tony intervened and put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Cole, let’s walk some more.”

Turning Cole away from Johnson and taking a step to give them some distance, he turned back towards Johnson. “Can we have an hour?”

Johnson’s head wobbled just a bit as he grinned, “That’s fine. One hour. We’ll have the van ready to go.”

Tony nodded, “Thanks. We’ll be ready.”

As they walked, Johnson called out again, “One hour, Tony.”

Cole was shaking. Tony held Cole’s shoulder and urged him along, “Cole, walk. Don’t say a word. Just walk.”

Back at the bakery, Tony stopped Cole just outside. “Cole, get some things packed. I don’t have time to say all the things I want to tell you right now, so please just grab some clothes and do whatever you can to say goodbye.”

“f**k this, Tony.”

“Dammit Cole. Listen to me. Go pack some clothes. Don’t turn this into anything. Not here, OK?”

Cole exhaled through his nostrils and turned to walk inside.



HE FOUND Isabella with Marie in the kitchen. They had just finished lunch. Marie was splashing her hand in a small pool of water on the table and smiling as she looked up at Cole.

In a trembling voice, he asked, “Can we go upstairs?”

“Cole, what is going on?”

Isabella’s mother and father both came from upstairs, stood at the bottom of the steps, and didn’t say a word. Cole walked towards Marie and picked her up in his right arm, with his left hand around her back. He ran his hand up and down her back and felt his legs getting light under his feet.

“Can we just go upstairs for a bit?”

“Yes, yes, of course. What is going on? Who was that man?”

Cole looked at Isabella’s parents as he walked past them then down at the floor as he carried Marie in his arms. There was nothing to say. When he got to their room, the weight of it all struck him and he pressed his back hard against the blue wall before dropping to the floor. Now seated on the hard wood with his legs crossed in front of him, he held Marie tight against his chest and felt her hand playing with his ear. He remembered their games every night and with that simple solitary thought, he fell apart.

He felt the tears first in the outer corners of his eyes, followed soon by the lump in his throat. He fought back as hard as he could, but the tears swelled to the bottoms of his eyelids before spilling over and down his check. His right cheek against Marie’s, he felt the drops between his skin and hers, only deepening the pit into which his heart had fallen.

His vision now blurred, he felt the first short uncontrollable puffs of forced air through his nostrils that marked the onset of even deeper tears. By the time Isabella came through the door, she could do nothing but stand there with her hand over her mouth and back away from Cole. As she did, she shook her head as if to deny his apparent hopelessness.

“What did they do, Cole?”

He couldn’t talk or even acknowledge her question. He just held Marie in his arms and pinched his eyes in a failed attempt to stop, or at least delay, the tears that were now rolling down his cheek. Isabella reached out to take Marie, but Cole wouldn’t let go. She then dropped down softly to her knees and leaned in towards Cole. Marie’s hand was against his face now and as he opened his eyes, he saw Isabella tuck a long and dark curled strand of hair behind her ear as she tried to comfort him.

Several minutes passed before Cole could compose himself. Each time he tried, Marie shuffled in his arms or moved in such a way that Cole could not escape the reality that he was leaving. Without knowing details, even Isabella had tears forming in her own eyes. Marie was the only one not crying, only because she was too young to understand what Cole knew and Isabella was slowly realizing. He was leaving. Cole thought back to the image of Isabella standing on the pier in Martinique as he throttled ahead on that fateful run. He’d left her crying once and vowed to never do it again. Now, his promise was slipping away.

Twenty minutes or so passed. Half an hour of his time was now gone. Cole ran his fingers through Marie’s hair and touched her head with the pads of his fingers. It took something as bad as him leaving to fully realize how much he loved that little girl. For a few moments he forgot entirely about Tony and the others waiting for him and reflected on his own emotions. Have I taken the better part of the past year for granted? Why, in my last hour with Marie am I only understanding now how much she means to me? He realized that Isabella still had no idea what was going on.

Composing himself, Cole took a steady breath and looked at her watered eyes. She scanned his back and forth for answers.

“They want me to leave with them.”

She shook her head. “When?”

Cole swallowed and closed his eyes for a second, pulling Marie’s head against his cheek. “Now.”

“Who are they? Is this for drugs?” She said drugs softly as her parents were still unaware of those sordid details.

Cole shook his head. “No, they’re Americans. I think they want me to do more work for them.”

“No. Tell them no.”

“I can’t. They’re taking me either way. Jail, or I work for them.”

“But this is France. You are in France. They can’t just take you.”

At that, Cole found a bit of humor. Not enough for him to laugh, or even smile, but enough to clear his head for a moment.

“At this level, they can do anything they want.”

“Tell them no.” Isabella did not want to accept it. She was normally quick to understand these kinds of things, but the thought of Cole’s departure was overwhelming her.