~ * * ~
“Hey Jack,” Emma, the middle-aged red-headed waitress greeted me amiably “sorry, but there’s a guy sitting at your regular table. He’s the only customer in the whole diner and I told him he could have his choice of tables but…”
“That’s fine, Emma, thanks,” I responded gently. “He’s waiting for me.”
“Oh…well…in that case…the usual?”
“No, just coffee, I don’t plan on staying long.”
“Is everything alright?”
“Sure, I just have a lot of studying to do for my finals.”
“Okay, be right there with your caffeine fix,” she smiled brightly as I made my way over to my regular table.
“You’ve become predictably boring,” Garrett criticized, carefully sipping his steaming coffee, as I sat down opposite him.
“I don’t consider that a bad thing, except when you turn up,” I shrugged. “What mutual friend?”
“I’ve always admired that about you, Jack, no beating around the bush.”
“Here’s your coffee, Jack, and can I get you a refill?” Emma asked Garrett politely.
“No, I’m good,” he smiled winningly at her.
To my amazement, she became flustered. I’d never seen Garrett interact with a woman and Emma wasn’t usually so easily impressed. As soon as she was out of earshot, I started in on Garrett.
“Spit it out, Garrett, or I’m leaving.”
“Have you seen the Suzuki’s lately?”
I paused in the middle of raising my coffee cup.
“No.”
“Shun is very anxious to see you.”
“What have you done, Garrett?”
I carefully set my cup back on the table.
“Shun is a very interesting character,” he rambled on. “You can’t help but like the guy. He’s the total opposite of you which…”
“Garrett!”
“Did I forget to mention that Shun is my newest recruit?”
“Shun is a CIA agent?”
“Oh, yeah, about that…I’m no longer with the CIA…I’ve been promoted to head my own agency.”
“What agency?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Well, we have no official name, you see we technically don’t exist, so I just call it my agency and leave it at that,” he explained complacently.
“And what exactly does this agency do?”
“I think if you put your mind to it, you could guess.”
“You’re after him, El Titiritero…The Puppeteer.”
“I suspected you’d gotten more information out of Franklin than you ever admitted to me,” he replied admiringly. “You play your cards almost as close to the chest as I do. I always knew you were smart.”
“Smart enough to stay away from you.”
“Apparently, your friend Shun isn’t so smart because he’s one of my new agents.”
“Shun has a family…your rules…”
“Ah yes…my rules…as I told you once before, I have been known to bend the rules occasionally…for a good cause.”
“What could Shun possibly have that you want so badly you’d break your own rules?”
“Can’t you guess?”
“Garrett!”
“Jack…Jack…Jack…” he shook his head mournfully. “You know what I want. Why must you be like this? So difficult…always so difficult…”
“You think by recruiting Shun you’ll get me.”
“See…was that so hard?” he patronized. “Agent Jack Knight…has a nice ring to it don’t you think?”
“Why me…?” I asked attempting to remain impassive. “I’m only one person…not really that important in the whole scheme of things…and not worth your time and effort. Just let it go.”
“You have a combination of skills I’ve never found in anyone else,” he admitted with rare honesty. “The way you handled yourself in Colombia…I didn’t think any of you would make it out alive, but you did.”
“Because of Hondo.”
“Hondo added to your growing list of skills, undoubtedly, but Hondo made it out alive because of you, not the other way around.”
“Pure dumb luck,” I shrugged indifferently.
“Call it what you will…I want you and I’m determined to have you.”
“I’m flattered,” I replied sardonically “but shouldn’t you at least buy me dinner first? Coffee hardly qualifies.”
“I will use whatever means necessary to get you,” he continued completely ignoring my crude comment.
“Since you seem to be so well-informed, you’ll realize that I’ve neither seen nor spoken to any of the Suzuki family since I was seventeen.”
“I guess if you aren’t concerned with Shun’s safety…”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought for sure the thought of Shun putting himself in harm’s way, with his propensity for taking life so lightly, would spur you into protective mode, but apparently I was wrong. Shun will be so disappointed,” he stood and added, “You know, he reminds me a bit of your brother” as he once again threw some bills on the table. “Have a nice life, Jack…if you can live with yourself.”
I sat immobile, a statue until Garrett reached the door.
“I’m in,” I murmured almost inaudibly.
“Never had a doubt,” he replied airily without turning around.
Epilogue
August 12, 1984
Taking a deep breath, I shut off the motor, dismounted, removed my helmet, and hung it on the handlebars.
I was torn…wanting to be there yet longing to be anywhere but there.
As I made my way through the familiar arch, my whole body stiffened involuntarily and I could feel the familiar lump forming in my throat.
Although I hadn’t been there since Nicky’s funeral I hadn’t bothered to stop to ask for directions…I was cursed with total recall…I knew exactly where I was going.
Idly, as I moved further into the cemetery, I noted the many changes that the years had wrought…the trees close to the entrance were much larger, there were bushes that hadn’t been there before, and a few scattered covered pavilions dotted the landscaping.
That would have been helpful, I thought wryly as my mind wandered back to the miserably rain-soaked and bedraggled figure that I must have presented to onlookers in the downpour following Nicky’s graveside service.
As I drug my attention back to the present and the three graves lined up about fifty meters in front of me, I slowly became aware of a figure in a pinstriped suit crouched in front of my parents’ headstone.
The person the court had appointed as executor for my parents’ estate had asked my preference and in an uncharacteristic show of whimsy I had chosen to join their names on a single headstone instinctively knowing that in death as in life they would have preferred not to be separated.
The figure slumped forward, head and shoulders bowed with what appeared to be the weight of the world.
The date was sixteen years to the day since the accident, and I didn’t need a psychic to tell me that I was looking at the man who, as a teenager, had killed my parents.
There were too many thoughts and feelings tearing through my body for me to even attempt to identify any of them, so I didn’t bother, just stood there watching the man who had effectively ruined my life.
My mind ran the whole gamut from allowing my anger to dominate my other emotions and crushing him as he had crushed the hopes and dreams of two small boys all those years ago, to letting the small amount of sympathy I felt as I watched his obvious torment come to the forefront and offer him what he obviously needed…forgiveness.
There would be no in-between with me, I’d learned enough about myself to realize that I couldn’t settle for half-measures.
Standing there, partly concealed by a fifteen-year-old pine—I recalled it as a mere seedling—I remained frozen to the spot, morbidly and somewhat detachedly fascinated by the man whose
shoulders were inexplicably moving in an odd rhythm.
It took a few moments for my brain to register the fact that the man’s strange movements were the result of sobbing. Ever so faintly, the subdued sounds reached my straining ears, and I realized in a moment of pure clarity that allowing my anger to surface would help neither of us, but at the same time, I wasn’t yet ready to forgive and forget…I was still too bitter.
Turning abruptly on my heel, I stoically made my way back to my bike.
The End
Be sure and watch for the next books in the series:
Agent Jack Knight: China
Agent Jack Knight: Russia
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