1. Sunday-2
1997 Words
* * *
By eleven, Annie’s car was loaded to the brim once more, and she hugged both her parents tightly one last time before she walked to her car to climb behind the wheel.
“Call when you get there so we don’t worry,” her mom prompted, and she nodded.
“I will. I love you both,” she announced.
“And we love you. We’re here if you need us, Annie-bug,” her dad said. “Drive carefully.”
* * *
As Annie pulled out of her parents’ driveway in Tulsa, Hank Myers passed the city limit sign for Baker City, Oregon and took the first exit to find lunch and gas. A half-hour later he resumed his trek southeast.
* * *
After Lizzie made sure the guest room was set up and ready for Annie’s arrival, she made herself comfortable on the couch to spend a lazy Sunday of watching television with Donny.
When her cell phone rang a little before one, she glanced at it, then answered.
“Hey, boss, what’s up?”
“Hi,” Nathan responded. “I need to pick your brain. Can you come over?”
“Sure, I guess. What’s up?”
“Well,” Nathan managed before yawning, “I’m looking at some stuff Steve sent down, and I could use another set of eyes on it.”
“You sound exhausted,” she murmured. “You all right?”
A long pause followed her question before she finally heard him say, “It is what it is, Lizzie. See you in twenty?”
“On my way,” she confirmed.
She hung up the phone and looked at Donny, whose eyebrow had raised with curiosity.
“He doesn’t sound good,” she volunteered.
“It doesn’t surprise me, to be honest,” Donny told her. “You of all people know how seriously he takes his team’s safety. That’s been breached now, and it weighs on him.”
“Danger is just part of the job,” Lizzie sighed. “He can’t keep punishing himself for what happened to Ben. He couldn’t have known things would go like that, much less prevent it. But I know Nathan, and yes, he’s taking it as a personal failure.”
“So, talk to him, Liz. He’ll listen to you.”
She smiled and leaned over to kiss Donny before she stood up.
“I’d already planned to.”
* * *
When Lizzie arrived, Bella was waiting at the front door for her.
“I thought you and I could talk for just a moment.”
“Sure.”
“I’m worried about him, Lizzie,” Bella confided softly, and Lizzie could plainly see and hear the strain she was under. “He doesn’t realize that I am aware of it, but he hardly sleeps anymore, and the little bit of rest he does get isn’t peaceful. He tosses and turns and wakes up shaking and covered in sweat.”
“Has he talked to anybody?”
Bella shook her head.
“No, not yet. But he needs to. It’s the hospital explosion all over again, Liz.”
Lizzie reached over and squeezed her hand.
“I’ll try, Bella. That’s all I can promise.”
“I know, and I appreciate it.”
They turned and began to walk through the living room when a blur of movement caught Lizzie’s eye.
“Hey, little buddy,” she said with a grin as she scooped up Charlie, who had run at her full tilt.
“Hi Izzy,” he replied with a toothy grin before he flung his arms around her neck to hug her. “Watch cartoons?”
“I can’t right now, kiddo. I came over to help your dad with something. Maybe later, okay?”
He huffed and responded, “Kay.”
“It’s lunchtime, Charlie. Chicken nuggets and mac and cheese,” Bella informed him, and Charlie wriggled out of Lizzie’s arms to race into the kitchen.
His mother looked over at Lizzie and smiled.
“Works every time. Go on back, Liz, he’s in his office.”
* * *
Lizzie walked down the hall and rapped on the open doorframe to get Nathan’s attention.
“Hey, you. Need more coffee?”
He stood, stretched, and nodded.
“Always, how about you?”
“I could use a cup.”
They walked back to the kitchen side-by-side.
“I made you a sandwich,” Bella announced, and pointed to a plate on the counter.
“Thanks, honey,” he said as he refilled his mug.
“Lizzie, you want one?” Bella offered.
“Just coffee for me at the moment, but thanks.”
The two agents retreated to Nathan’s office and settled in after Lizzie shut the door behind them.
“Before we get started on what Steve sent you, I’d like to talk for a bit,” she said solemnly, and Nathan gestured for her to continue as he took a sip and set his mug down.
“You realize that what happened to Ben wasn’t your fault, right?”
His brow furrowed.
“But,” he started to say, but Lizzie held her hand up and stopped him from going further.
“No buts, Nathan. It wasn’t an avoidable situation. And you didn’t send Ben to go do transport. You asked for volunteers, remember? And he volunteered.”
“I remember,” he retorted as the muscle in his jaw began to twitch.
“No one knew what was going to happen. There’s no way anyone could have predicted it.”
“But I should have!” Nathan thundered and slammed both fists down hard on his desk. “I should have had my freaking head in the game more. We were running a full-court press against an extremely dangerous cartel, and I knew it, and I should have thought ahead and realized they’d try to get to Ramon to shut him up. But I didn’t, and Ben paid for my mistakes with his life.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face before he looked over at her with stormy, haunted eyes.
“I failed him, Lizzie. I failed him, and he’s gone.”
She held his grief-filled gaze as she leaned forward and took his hand.
“None of us thought about that, Nathan. None of us recognized that Ramon would be an active target at that point in time. Even the directors didn’t, or they would have had way more than just two agents assigned to transport him. And do you know why?”
He frowned.
“Enlighten me.”
“Because at the time we took him in, we thought we’d escaped detection, remember? Think about it. From what we all knew at the time, we’d picked him up without the cartel noticing anything. That was the whole reason we went after him at the restaurant and not the garage, to make sure that it went unnoticed. Right?”
Nathan nodded on a shaky exhale.
“Yeah, at the time, we thought we’d managed to fly under their radar,” he admitted.
“So, they must have had someone watching Ramon, and whoever was tailing him was at the restaurant that night and saw us take him into custody. I’ve been racking my brain for the last month, and that’s the only thing I can think of. Otherwise, they’d never have known about it - because we took steps to ensure that our plan to grab him was rock solid.”
She paused and squeezed his hand.
“My point is, none of us realized that the cartel knew he’d even been arrested, much less by us, or that they would take steps to take him out. This was a perfect storm. None of what happened is your fault or your burden to carry, Nathan, and to say or think otherwise is not fair to you.”
Lizzie released his hand and leaned back in her chair.
“And for the record, I’ve talked to Baker a few times now, and guess what? He doesn’t blame you, either. He puts the blame where it belongs – on the cartel. So now the question becomes, can you lay this burden down? Because we need you, Nathan. We need you to lead this team. Ben’s gone, and it’s not fair. It sucks, and it hurts. But you did not cause this. It is not your fault.”
Nathan closed his eyes and lowered his head as her words washed over him, and she waited and watched him as he struggled within himself.
“Here’s what I’d like to do,” she offered softly. “I know we watched the restaurant’s interior footage to help tie the noose around Ramon Gutierrez’s neck for what he did to Annie. I want us to look at any exterior footage, whether it’s the restaurant’s or from other cameras in the area. I have a feeling that when we do, we’re going to spot Ramon’s tail carefully hidden somewhere in the background, and we can take steps to hunt down Ben’s killer from there. You in?”
He lifted his head again, and she saw the raw rage shining in his eyes when he answered her.
“You bet your ass I’m in.”
* * *
Annie hummed along with the radio as she drove through Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, heading south on I-35 toward the Texas border. With each mile that passed, she felt more certain that returning to Dallas was the right move.
Should I call Nathan first, or just show up at the office in the morning? she mused, and then remembered Lizzie talking about the time off she’d taken when her father had passed away.
I’ll ask Lizzie when I see her. She’ll know.
Her thoughts were derailed when the station she was listening to started to play a song that she knew all too well.
Too soon, she acknowledged as the opening notes of Ben’s favorite song tore a fresh hole in her heart, and she quickly changed the channel with a trembling hand.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to listen to it again.
* * *
The next two and a half hours seemed to last forever, and Annie finally heaved a sigh of relief as she pulled to the curb outside Lizzie’s and Donny’s house.
She’d barely made it out of her car before Lizzie was at her side gathering her into a hug.
“Welcome back, girl,” she heard, and felt Lizzie patting her back as the tears flowed freely again.
After a few minutes, when she’d composed herself, she glanced over Lizzie’s shoulder and noticed Donny smiling at her.
“Good to see you, Annie.”
“Hi,” she managed as Lizzie finally turned her loose, and she stepped back and wiped her eyes.
“Thanks. It’s good to be back.”
“What needs to be unloaded first?”
Annie shrugged.
“How about this,” Lizzie countered. “Dinner first, then we’ll get you settled in.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
* * *
Hank Myers rolled into Twin Falls, Idaho a little before six p.m. and drove around until he found a suitable hotel. He parked, grabbed his duffel bag from the front passenger seat, and made sure his truck bed’s tonneau cover was locked before he went to the front desk to get a room for the night.
He let himself into his suite on the fifth floor, then headed for a shower to wash away the mild stiffness of being behind the wheel for nine hours. After that, he ordered room service and plotted out the next leg of his trip while he waited for his meal.
By nine p.m. he was sound asleep, with the room’s standard issue alarm clock set for six in the morning.
- Writer
