Wrong Place (The Wrong Series) Read online

  “Hello,” Sam heard a familiar voice say. That familiar voice was Margaret, the secretary whom she had previously met.

  “Yes, I need to speak with Mr. Fields.”

  “Hold for one moment, please.”

  After a few minutes of waiting, Mr. Fields came on the line.

  “Hello,” Fields said.

  “This is Samantha Fisher, and I have something that you want, and you have someone I want.”

  Fields nearly had to pick up his jaw from the floor. The very person whom he had been looking for was about to fall right into his lap, or so he thought.

  “Well, what do you think we should do about that, Ms. Fisher?”

  “You will meet me at the public library at five, and we’ll make an exchange there. I want Driver for the flash drive,” Sam said and then hung up the phone.

  By this time, Zane had gotten Nathan ready.

  “We should go soon,” Sam said to them.

  “Just one second. Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Zane said.

  After a short time, they were done with their last run-through of the plan. Everyone was in sync, and they left the building. Hopefully, I’ll still be alive after this, Nathan thought as he got into the back seat of the minivan.

  As the three of them pulled up to the public library, they saw Fields and five other men.

  “Okay, just follow my lead,” Sam said while looking back at Nathan.

  Sam and Nathan exited the van and began to approach the six men. When they were within a few feet of each other, Sam and Nathan stopped.

  “Where is Driver?” Sam asked.

  “You have made a major tactical error, Ms. Fisher. He’s here, as I promised, but what’s going to stop me from taking the two of you, the flash drive, and keeping my current prisoner for myself?” Fields asked.

  “This,” Nathan said as he opened his jacket up.

  Well, that certainly is an equalizer, Fields thought.

  “See, the way that I look at it is that you’re going to give me Driver, and then we’re going to take you with us, Fields. Of course, we’ll let you out of the car somewhere down the road with the flash drive, if we don’t feel like we’re being followed,” Sam said.

  “Why would you still give us the flash drive?”

  “This thing has been more trouble than it’s worth, and the people I work for don’t even want it anymore, so why wouldn’t I give it to you is the better question.”

  “Get Mr. Driver from our car and escort him to theirs,” Field commanded to the men behind him.

  Two of the soldiers then did exactly what he had commanded.

  “You have to know that I’m not going to get in that car with you.”

  “You don’t have a choice. You’re our only leverage in this situation, and if you don’t get into the car, everyone here is going to die,” Sam said.

  “Oh, please! Do you actually expect us to believe that you would kill yourselves right here and now?”

  “I would gladly blow us all to hell before I would let you leave here. Please, test me on this,” Nathan said.

  Sam was extremely surprised at what Nathan had just said. Her first impression of Nathan was that he wasn’t very capable, but recently, he had come up with a good plan, and now he was showing that he could bluff very effectively. In fact, Sam, a highly trained agent, would even believe he was willing to blow everyone, including himself, up if she were in Fields’ shoes.

  “Very well, but I have to say that this is a big surprise, Mr. Grey. I actually thought you were a normal guy, but then again, I suppose your resume should have been a red flag. No one who’s as well qualified as you are works at a solar panel plant,” Fields said.

  Fields then began to walk with the two of them back to the van. As they were all getting into the van, Sam turned back toward Field’s men.

  “I just want to make this very clear. The moment we suspect someone is following us, he will die,” Sam said.

  She shut the door, and Zane started the car. The plan is actually working, Nathan thought in amazement.

  * * * * *

  Jacob and Trish were sitting in an inconspicuous car in the library parking lot watching everything as it unfolded. It looked like an exchange had happened, but there was only one problem. Fields had been taken.

  “What’s going on?” Jacob asked in confusion.

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to follow them,” Trish said.

  Trish was now driving because after the accident the day before, she didn’t really trust Jacob to drive. The two of them followed the minivan through the small town and then to the interstate, while making sure to always keep a safe distance so they wouldn’t get noticed. Eventually, Jacob was unable to contain himself.

  “Why are we hanging back so far? We should be more aggressive like they were with us last night.”

  “Do you want me to ram a car with Mr. Fields in it? Haven’t you even considered the fact that they were able to take him without a fight? They probably have explosives or something of that nature in their vehicle. Do you still want me to be aggressive?”

  “I guess not, but I don’t know how you got all of that information from this situation.”

  “It’s called common sense, and for all we know, they may kill him if we get too close,” Trish said as she noticed something strange.

  The van in the distance was slowing down. It got slower and slower. Then it happened. The side door opened up on the van, and Fields was thrown from the vehicle.

  “Oh my God,” Trish said as she neared the spot where Fields had been thrown out.

  Once they arrived at the spot, Trish pulled over to the side of the road, and they both jumped out of the car and ran to Fields. He was badly hurt; that much was obvious. He had lost consciousness, and his leg was turned in a way that a human leg wasn’t supposed to turn.

  “Call an ambulance,” Trish barked to Jacob. Jacob swiftly complied.

  * * * * *

  A couple of minutes before, Nathan and the others had made it to the interstate, and Dan was looking very weak.

  “Hey, you don’t look so good. Are you okay?” Nathan asked.

  “Not really. I’m beyond hungry,” Dan said.

  Dan hadn’t eaten since he was imprisoned, and he was truly starving.

  “This looks like a good spot,” Zane said.

  “For what?” Dan asked.

  “We’re throwing him out of the van. Do you want to do the honors?” Nathan asked.

  “Oh, hell yes!”

  Dan really wanted to hurt this man. In fact, he wanted to kill him for what he had put him through the day before.

  “Here, put this in your pocket,” Nathan said while handing Fields the flash drive.

  As the van got slower, Nathan opened the side door.

  “You aren’t actually going to do this, are you?” Fields asked fearfully.

  “Wait just a little bit lon . . . ” Nathan said before being interrupted by Field’s screaming.

  Nathan turned to see the man flying out the door.

  “I don’t think we were slow enough,” Sam said.

  “So?” Dan said with a smirk.

  After a minute, the rest area where they planned to change cars was in sight.

  “When we get there, Driver, you’ll go with me in the Escalade, and you two will take the car next to the Escalade,” Zane said.

  “Wait, we’re splitting up? That wasn’t the plan,” Sam said.

  “We’ll stand a better chance if we split up, and besides, don’t you two have somewhere to be?”

  “I suppose so.”

  As they pulled into a parking space, Zane grabbed a set of keys from his pocket and handed them to Sam. “Take care of her,” Zane said.

  The statement was puzzling to Sam until she saw what was parked next to the Escalade. It was Zane’s Corvette.

  “But that’s your car.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m too old for it, and you seemed to really like it before. B
esides, it’s my job to help agents. Just consider this my way of going above and beyond the call of duty,” Zane said with a wink.

  “Thank you so much for everything, Zane. I’ll try to get it back to you safely,” Sam said.

  She and Nathan then made their way to the beautiful car and got in.

  “To Georgia then,” Sam said to Nathan as she cranked the car.

  * * * * *

  Later, in the early morning hours, Fields awoke. He was in a ton of pain, but the only thing on his mind was the flash drive. He turned his head to the right. Trish had apparently been waiting beside his bed, and she was asleep.

  “Ms. Morris, wake up,” he commanded.

  She slowly stirred. She was glad to see that her boss was okay, but not too thrilled that he had just woken her up.

  “I need you to get me a laptop, and where are my pants?”

  “I’ll let you use my laptop, and your pants are right over here. Why?” Trish asked in confusion.

  Surely he wasn’t going to try to leave the hospital in the shape he was in. How strong are these pain meds, she wondered.

  “The flash drive is in my right pocket. Get it for me.”

  She retrieved the flash drive and placed the laptop on his chest.

  “Here,” she said while handing him the flash drive.

  He inserted it and waited for it to load. Something was wrong. There was absolutely nothing on it. He angrily cursed at the computer that was lying on his chest. Not only had they injured him, but they had also made a fool of him. Everyone involved in making a fool out of him would die, and if he had his way about it, they would die soon.

  Chapter 10

  Nathan and Sam had been driving for a few minutes in silence when Nathan suddenly broke the uncomfortable silence.

  “So I just realized that I really don’t know very much about you. Can you to tell me some things about yourself?”

  “There isn’t a whole lot to tell. What do you want to know?” Sam asked.

  “Let’s see, how about your childhood?”

  “What about it?”

  “Tell me about your parents, your friends, where you grew up. You know, those kinds of things.”

  “My parents are deceased, I have no friends, and Boston is where I grew up, if I remember correctly.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject.”

  “It’s all right. There’s nothing sore about it. That’s just the way it is. There’s no need to dwell on the past. Everything’s fine in the present,” Sam said in a matter of fact tone.

  “What did you mean by ‘as far as I can remember’?” Nathan asked.

  “I was very young when my parents passed away, and I don’t specifically remember Boston being where I lived. That’s just where my first foster family told me I was from when I asked them. My parents died in a car crash, and afterward I bounced around from foster home to foster home for a few years. I buried myself in books during the latter part of that time, and then I got a better opportunity ‘to pursue a higher purpose,” Sam said sarcastically.

  “A better opportunity?” Nathan asked in a puzzled voice.

  “I’m tired of talking about me. What about you?”

  “Well, I grew up just outside of Silver Springs, and I have pretty much lived there my entire life. I’ve always loved music, but not the kind you may have heard in our area. I collect college degrees and have some of the most useful friends you will ever meet, but also some of the strangest ones.”

  “What kind of music do you like, and why do you collect degrees?” Sam asked.

  “I love anything that makes me think. I listen to anything from classical music to new or old rock. Lately, I’ve been going back and enjoying The Clash. As for the degrees, how can I say this? I’m very indecisive. I get a degree as fast as I can, and then I move on to pursue another degree. Some people think that I’m fairly smart because I have a few degrees, but I tend to disagree with them. I think I’m just wasting time and money by continually going to school.”

  “So why doesn’t anything ever stick with you, and who are The Clash?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, and you don’t know who The Clash is? Have you been living under a rock or something?”

  Is it really so weird not to know who a simple musical group is, Sam wondered.

  “Sometimes I feel like I’ve been living under one. There’s just so much I don’t seem to know. . . simple things that everyone else seems to automatically know,” Sam said with a hint of doubt in her voice.

  “Hey, it’s okay. Stick with me, and you’ll be more knowledgeable about music than you ever wanted to be,” Nathan said because he sensed her need to not feel clueless in that moment.

  Why is she so clueless about things that are normally common knowledge, though? She didn’t even seem to know who Elvis was, Nathan thought. Although Nathan didn’t really care for the music of Elvis Presley, he had never imagined that he could meet anyone who hadn’t even heard of him.

  “Thanks, but can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “What was it like? You know, growing up in a normal circumstance with a normal family and normal friends?”

  “It was boring mainly, and I wouldn’t exactly call my friends normal. I doubt my life has been nearly as exciting as your life. You are a spy, after all. I’m sure that you’ve seen all types of things.”

  If he only knew how underrated stability and boring old normal could be, Sam thought to herself.

  * * * * *

  The following morning, Jacob and Trish stood beside Mr. Fields’ hospital bed as he spouted off instructions through his extremely medicated slur.

  “I want you to get every cell phone record you can dig up of Mr. Grey’s. I want them found, and I want them found quickly!” Fields said in an extremely tired but angry tone.

  “How are we supposed to get our hands on his cell phone records?” Jacob asked.

  “Go to Margaret, and she will get you any credentials you may need to get your hands on them. Just hurry up and get this done, you idiots!”

  “Yes, sir,” Jacob and Trish quickly responded.

  The two of them exited the hospital room, but something was bothering Trish. She couldn’t stand to be called an idiot, and that was the second time Fields had called her one. That kind of treatment almost made her glad he had been thrown out of the back of a van. Trish needed a break, but unfortunately, she wouldn’t be getting one anytime soon. She was going to have to work for an idiot who had just been tricked by their enemies, and she was also going to work with an idiot who Trish couldn’t believe was ever actually cleared to do anything in the field. Trish had read Jacob’s file, and she was convinced that he was officially a psychopath. The funny thing was that she wasn’t that far off. She sighed and shrugged away the doubts about her colleagues and walked to the car with Jacob.

  * * * * *

  Daylight broke in the early morning at Zane’s house. Dan had slept very well the night before, but he knew that he would need to make a call to his superiors that morning and explain what had occurred over the last forty-eight hours. He would then ask them about any further orders they had for him. He made the call from Zane’s landline.

  “Yes, this is Agent Driver. I need to speak to Mr. Campbell,” Dan said to the person on the other line.

  “He’s busy at the moment, sir. Is this an emergency?”

  “Yes, this is something that he’ll definitely want to hear.”

  “Please hold for one moment.”

  After a few seconds, Campbell came on the line.

  “Hello, Agent Driver. You had us worried over the last few hours. Mr. Ellis was particularly worried about you,” Campbell said in a relieved tone.

  Dan explained everything that had occurred over the last couple of days.

  “The mission was canceled. I canceled it myself.”

  “In spite of that, sir, with everything that’s happened over the last few ho
urs, I believe that we have every reason to continue to investigate this matter to the fullest,” Dan said with confidence.

  “I’m telling you to stay away from this one. We will not investigate this matter any further!” Campbell said in an authoritative voice.

  “But, sir, we have reason to believe that these people have been doing everything from selling weapons to our enemies to actually assassinating our own soldiers and agents.”

  “No, we have reason to believe that they have been our fruitful partner for well over a decade, Agent Driver. There’s no need to go around spewing accusations at people. Do we really want such a trusted partner who knows ninety percent of all our secrets to take their business elsewhere?”

  “Is that what this is really about, sir? Are we just covering our own butts by protecting our secrets?”

  “No. It’s about not going to war with an enemy who has all the firepower and information to bury you without ever even firing a shot themselves. You do realize that these people could provide any number of our enemies with secrets, soldier locations, and to top it all off, give any number of nations or groups, who would love to do nothing more than put an end to all of western civilization, the weapons of mass destruction to do just that, right?”

  Campbell was in an impossible situation. He truly felt like he was between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to help out Agent Fisher and chase Markus and everyone associated with him to the ends of the earth, but it simply wasn’t possible in the situation he was in.

  “So what are we going to do, sir?”

  “I’ll let you know what we’re going to do when I know,” Campbell said with a sigh. One thing was for sure. Nothing about this situation was going to be simple or easy.

  * * * * *

  In the late hours of the night before, Nathan and Sam decided to get a hotel room. They were in Birmingham, Alabama.

  “A double room, please,” Nathan said to the man behind the counter.

  He then paid the man and got the key from him. Nathan and Sam made their way up to the room. Upon entering it, one thing was very obvious. This room was pretty run down.

  “I don’t know about this place. Are you sure that I’m not going to catch something just by sleeping in the bed?” Nathan asked.