Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) Read online

  “That’s not true! I’m not interested in or ashamed of Michael,” Jess said in an irritated voice, but the biting truth that Trish spoke was reality.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” Trish said.

  “It’s okay. What you said is actually not that far from the truth. I guess it just hurts to face your true self.”

  “You have no idea,” Trish whispered to herself in the night.

  The next morning Sam woke up to a lot of loud noise, and Nathan was gone from her side.

  What in the world’s going on in there, she thought. As she walked to the living room, she saw the source of all the noise. There, sitting on the couch, were three grown men glued to the television and playing video games. Their voices seemed to have absolutely no volume control.

  “Oh, you’re up,” Nathan said while momentarily glancing back at her.

  Of course, I’m up, you dummy. You woke me up, Sam thought.

  “Hey, over here,” Jess said while motioning for Sam to come into the kitchen.

  “It’s really odd, isn’t it? I’ve never seen children so obsessed with a game, much less grown men,” Jess said.

  It was certainly odd to Sam. She hadn’t seen a video game since the early nineties, and a lot had changed about them apparently.

  “Hey, watch this,” Jess said.

  “Hey, Michael.”

  “Huh?” Michael responded in a robotic voice.

  “My top just fell off,” Jess said.

  “That will be fine,” he blankly said.

  “Amazing, just amazing” Trish said while laughing.

  It was strange. Sam had been worried about someone like Jess stealing Nathan’s gaze, but it turned out that her worst enemy was going to be a few pixels on a screen.

  “All right. I have to get back to it, guys. I don’t want to, but unfortunately I have to,” Lee said while getting up from the couch.

  “Why did you bring a game station?” Trish asked Lee.

  “When I saw it in the apartment, I just couldn’t leave it behind, and besides, it helps me relax. I’m sorry, though. You may never get Nathan back,” Lee said while smiling at Sam.

  * * * * *

  Back in Mississippi, Margaret was being forced to deliver less than good news to Mr. Fields. Fields had just gotten out of the hospital and was in no mood for bad news. At this point, he only wanted the people who had thrown him from a car to be found and killed.

  “Mr. Fields, sir, it appears that Jacob is dead and Trish is missing,” Margaret said.

  Fields was stunned. They had killed his best soldier and taken his smartest one captive.

  Maybe it’s about time I called to get a little help on this one, he thought.

  “Leave me,” he simply said to Margaret.

  She quickly complied. He picked up the phone and called the man he least wanted to talk to in the world.

  “Hello,” someone said on the other end of the phone.

  “Yes, Mr. Boyd, this is Fields. I’ve encountered a big problem, sir.”

  “What is it now?” Boyd snapped at him.

  Fields explained the entire situation to Markus Boyd.

  “Well, you’ve really screwed this one up, haven’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I just thought I would call and seek your council because we both know what’s on that flash drive. It has to be retrieved soon.”

  “I’ll make some calls and get done what you should have been able to do yourself.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Fields said.

  “Don’t thank me just yet. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do to punish you for this royal screw up,” Boyd said and hung up the phone.

  Punishment? What does he mean by that, Fields wondered in fear.

  * * * * *

  On the top floor of a large skyscraper in New York City, Markus Boyd picked up his phone and dialed John Campbell’s number.

  “Hello,” Campbell said.

  “Okay, I don’t know why your operatives stole my data, but you made a royal mistake when you crossed me!” Markus screamed into the phone.

  “Calm down, Markus. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Well, then you sure as hell better figure out what I’m talking about soon, because every twenty-four hours that I don’t have the location of Samantha Fisher, a top-level agent of yours will die. If I get too impatient, your family will die, John.”

  “All right. I’ll have a location for you by the end of the day, so just calm down for a minute.”

  “You have twenty-four hours, John. Maybe an agent dies, and maybe I choose to kill your entire family. You better deliver a location,” Markus said and then hung up the phone.

  Campbell knew he could deliver the location of Samantha Fisher because every agent’s cell phone had a tracking chip inside it. It really would be effortless finding Sam, but still, Campbell didn’t feel good about giving her up. He walked out of his office and found Burt Jones.

  “Mr. Jones, can you look up something for me?” Campbell asked.

  “Sure, what exactly do you need?” Burt asked.

  “I need you to find the location of Samantha Fisher through her cell phone tracker.”

  “Yes sir, I can do that, but if you don’t mind, can I ask you why I’m doing this?”

  Campbell knew that Burt was good friends with Jason, and he would no doubt tell him all about his request, so he lied to Burt. He didn’t want to have to deal with anymore questioning from Jason.

  “We’re sending someone to help her out. She should be home within a couple of days,” Campbell said.

  “That’s great news, sir! I’ll get right on it.”

  Jason and Dan were working on a plan in Jason’s office to try to get Sam home when Burt suddenly popped in.

  “I’ve got good news, guys,” Burt proudly said.

  “What is it?” Jason asked.

  Burt then told them about the conversation he had just had with Mr. Campbell out in the hallway.

  “I wonder why he had such a sudden change of heart,” Jason said.

  “I don’t know, but don’t question it. At this point, this is the best thing I’ve heard in days,” Dan said.

  “Well anyway, I’m going to go look up her current location,” Burt said and walked out.

  Something just feels wrong about all this, Jason thought to himself.

  * * * * *

  Back at the safe house, Sam’s phone rang. She ran to it almost immediately.

  “Jason?” she said while answering the phone.

  “Yeah, it’s me, and I just wanted to let you know that the agency is supposed to be sending someone to your location to extract you very soon,” Jason said.

  “That’s great.”

  “Maybe, but to be honest, I think something else is going on here. Campbell was dead set against helping you out, and then suddenly, out of the blue, he just had a change of heart. It smells fishy to me.”

  “I’ll be careful, and hopefully your nose is just a little off today.”

  “I sure hope so, for your sake.”

  “So much has happened, and I’ve got so much that I have been wanti . . . ” Sam said before being cut off.

  “I’m not actually supposed to be talking to you right now. I had to go to the bathroom to make this call, so I can’t talk long, but just know that I want to hear all about it when, God willing, you get back home,” Jason said.

  “Okay, thank you for everything, Jason.”

  “Stay safe. Goodbye,” Jason said and then hung up the phone.

  By now, everyone in the safe house was wondering who had called, and what was going on.

  “The CIA is sending help to our location,” Sam said.

  A sigh of relief was let out from everyone.

  “Finally, a little bit of help here,” Lee said.

  When everyone had gone their separate ways, Sam pulled Nathan back into their room and shut the door.

  “That was my handler, and they�
�re supposedly sending help for us, but he said that he thought something else might be going on,” Sam said.

  “What do you mean?” Nathan asked.

  Sam told Nathan about the conversation she had just had.

  “I didn’t want to make anyone panic because Jason is a bit of a worrier, and I’m sure that everything will be fine, but I just wanted you to know what’s really going on.”

  “Thanks for trusting me with that.”

  Nathan started to leave the room but Sam suddenly pulled him back toward her. “If they’re coming to get us, you’ll probably be put into a witness protection program until all this is over. I just wanted you to know that if that does happen, I’ll find you when this is all over. I promise.”

  “Oh no, don’t think that you’re getting rid of me that easy. Besides, I thought I was pretty much an agent at this point,” Nathan said and smiled.

  “I’m serious about this. I will find you, no matter what happens.”

  “Hey, what are you two doing in there? We’re about to fix some food, so if you want a vote on what we’re going to eat, you should get out here,” Michael said from the other side of the door.

  “We’re coming,” Sam responded and began to walk toward the door.

  Nathan grabbed her hand and stopped her.

  “I know you will find me if that happens. I just don’t want to think about us being separated right now, so let’s just enjoy today and pretend that it can last forever,” Nathan said while looking deep into her green eyes.

  “Okay, I guess that you’re right,” she said as they exited the room together.

  Chapter 19

  That night back at his home, John Campbell was dreading the call he was about to make. He had Sam’s location, and all that was left was to give her up to Markus, but something kept making him hesitate. What does this make me if I do something like this, John asked himself. He was sitting alone in his home office, and that’s where he had been all evening long.

  “Honey, are you coming to bed?” his wife asked in a concerned tone.

  She and the kids knew something was wrong with him, but they also knew enough to know that there were some things you simply couldn’t ask John. His decisions always weighed heavily on him, and thanks to the secret nature of his work, he alone always had to bear the brunt of that weight. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to put his whole family in protective custody and fight the monster who was threatening everything he cared about, but what would that do? How would he even begin to fight such an enemy, and what would that do to his children? Should they really have to pick up their entire lives and move to a new location, all thanks to his incompetence? No, this is my mess to clean up. There’s no reason that they should be affected by it, he concluded.

  “I’ll be up in just a minute, honey,” he said to his wife.

  “Okay,” she responded as she walked upstairs.

  John picked up the phone and made the call to his old friend.

  “I knew I would be hearing from you. You were always a reliable one,” Markus said in a satisfied voice.

  “She’s in Orlando at a safe house we have there. I’ll email you the exact location in a few minutes,” John said, sounding defeated.

  “You did the right thing for your family and your agents, John. This will all be over soon, and then things will be able to go back to normal for you. You’ll see.”

  Normal? What would normal be now? No, there will be no peace of mind after what I’ve just done, John thought.

  “I hope so,” John said.

  “I’ll be in touch with you soon. Take care of yourself, John,” Markus said and then hung up the phone.

  John was stunned by what had just transpired. He had given up an agent for doing the things that she was supposed to do, and now he was supposed to pretend like nothing had happened. He set the phone down on his desk and walked up to the bedroom. He didn’t know why he was making the trip upstairs. There would be no sleep for him tonight. His inner demons wouldn’t allow him to sleep, and the truth was that he didn’t deserve to sleep peacefully after what he had just done.

  * * * * *

  Back at the safe house, everyone except for Lee was getting ready for bed. He would be up all night working on unlocking the files.

  “Are you ever going to go to sleep?” Nathan asked.

  “I’ll take a nap sometime in the morning after Michael gets up. Besides, I don’t think he slept very well on the floor last night,” Lee said.

  Nathan hated that Lee was practically killing himself working on the files, but at the same time, he was glad to see that Michael’s luck was changing a bit. At least he was going to sleep on something that wasn’t a floor tonight. Back in the bedroom, Sam was still worrying about Jason’s doubts. What would I do if this was all some kind of trap? How would I protect everyone, she wondered. Her worries were justified. Although their location would be hard to find, there was one major disadvantage to where they were. There was only one entrance and the same place served as the exit. If anyone were to catch them by surprise, they would be trapped with no hope of escaping. She was feeling better than she did the day before, but her arm still hurt, and she was still walking with quite the limp, not to mention the fact that her face was messed up pretty badly. If there were a fight at this location, she would be in no shape to try to win it. She exited the room and got everyone’s attention.

  “Hey, listen up. Maybe I’m being a little paranoid right now, but I’m going to give you all a number, and I want you to memorize it,” Sam said.

  “What’s this about?” Trish asked.

  Trish had noticed that Sam had been acting strange ever since they received news that they would be getting help, but she didn’t want to call her out on it. Trish didn’t know her very well, and besides that, who was she to start accusing people in this group of hiding things when she was trying to kill everyone in the group just a few hours ago.

  “It’s just me trying to be being careful. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  Yeah, there it is, Trish thought. You see, Trish had learned a long time ago that when people say certain phrases you need to be extremely worried, and “There’s nothing to worry about,” was on the top of the list of worrying phrases.

  “Anyway, this is the number for my handler Jason, and if anything were to happen to me or one of you were to ever be in trouble, he’s the guy to call,” Sam said as she wrote Jason’s number on a piece of paper.

  “Memorize it as fast as you can because in a few minutes, I’m going to come back and shred it.”

  “Got it,” Lee quickly said after only glancing at it for a couple of seconds.

  “Already?” Sam asked in surprise.

  “Yeah,” Lee casually said.

  “I should have told you that Lee has a photographic memory. Sometimes it’s bizarre to see how many things he can remember. He still freaks me out from time to time,” Nathan said to Sam.

  “Thanks, I think,” Lee said and laughed.

  The night went on with idle chatter among the group, and eventually everyone went to bed. While lying in bed, Sam still couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Nathan rolled over and firmly wrapped his arms around her. I really do wish this could last forever, she thought to herself.

  Later that night, Nathan and Sam woke up to a loud noise. Something had broken in the bathroom outside in the hallway. It sounded like glass.

  “I’m going to . . . ” Sam said before being interrupted.

  “You should stay here. You’re still hurt. I’ll go and check it out. How much danger could there really be in the bathroom?” Nathan said.

  Nathan got up and walked into the hallway to see Lee standing there.

  “Something’s wrong with Michael. I tried to talk to him, but he won’t let me in,” Lee said.

  “Let me try to talk to him,” Nathan said.

  “Hey, Michael. Can I come in?”

  “Not right now,” Michael responde
d, out of breath.

  “Look, I need you to let me in. I’m your friend, and I’m really worried about you right now.”

  The sound of the lock being opened on the door could be heard. Nathan went inside to find Michael with a bloody hand. The bathroom mirror had also been broken, and it was obvious that this was the source of Michael’s new wound.

  “What’s going on with you?” Nathan asked.

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “I think I might get it.”

  “What do you know? Have you ever killed . . .” Michael said before stopping.

  Nathan did kill someone back in Atlanta! That guy deserved it, though. The situation isn’t the same at all, Michael told himself.

  “I know you’re going through some things that I’ll probably never fully be able to understand, but I can listen and relate to you in some ways,” Nathan said.

  Michael stayed silent for a few seconds and then finally spoke.

  “How did you kill that guy without feeling at least a little bit guilty?”

  Nathan hadn’t expected Michael to say something like that. A sucker punch couldn’t have caught him off guard as much as this question did, unless of course it came from Sam.

  “I do feel guilty. I didn’t want to kill him.”

  “Well then, why did you kill him?”

  “Truthfully, I was scared of what might happen if I didn’t kill him. Sam could be dead if I didn’t pull that trigger. I could be dead, and who knows what would have become of you and Lee if that madman were still around.”

  “So that’s it? You just justify it in your mind and what, all your sin just goes poof and disappears?” Michael asked sarcastically.