Chapter Eight

Chase

“I didn’t want to say anything, but you haven’t exactly been yourself.” Mason was talking to me while he was pacing the floor nervously.

There was the telltale stain of sweat underneath his arms. He was usually confident and carried himself with distinction. I wanted to question him further, but I felt it was necessary for him to come to me when he felt he was ready. I was never one to stick my nose where it didn’t belong.

“I won’t bother you with the boring details. You know I’m here when you want to talk. I will never force you to say anything against your will.” I couldn’t stop thinking about Gail and the way she quickly changed gears.

It was a memorable moment, but I was just getting my second wind. I could’ve made my name scream from her lips many times over before the crack of dawn.

The sofa wasn’t very comfortable and my legs hung over the other side. I got up a few times and stood at the stairs willing myself to go up to join her. I thought I heard her crying. I was afraid something I did hurt her emotionally. I decided it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. Discretion was the better part of valor.

“Is it that fucking obvious? I’ve been debating whether or not I should involve you. Somebody is coming after me. I don’t have any concrete proof, but there have been some odd discrepancies in the books lately.” He was never one to worry about trivial details.

“Are you sure you’re not overreacting? We have that meeting with the military in the next couple of days to finalize the contract. They require some off the books work done. The thought is they will have plausible deniability if something goes wrong. The stress alone has to be driving you up the wall.” I was rubbing my knee and feeling stupid about missing a few rehabilitation sessions.

“I can’t seem to shake this feeling someone is trying to ruin what I have built from the ground up. I got this stupid e-mail the other day and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was somehow attached to some legal documents. I questioned the lawyers, but they vehemently denied having anything to do with it.

“Why is this keeping you up at night?” I was leading him with questions to loosen his lips.

“It was such a strange thing to receive. Never mind, it doesn’t matter and the only thing we need to contend with is the contract signing. I have accounting working to find out if there’s anything to the discrepancies in the books. I would like you to personally oversee their progress.” I couldn’t tell him about Gail. But this meant I would be spending more time with her.

“You know I will do whatever I can to get to the bottom of this. I can’t help you if I don’t know all the facts.” There were times during the day I found myself daydreaming about her.

“I don’t know why it bothered me so much. I get silly emails from friends all the time with attachments of animals doing the strangest things. Crude jokes and inspirational sayings are more an inconvenience than anything else. This one was different. It literally sent a cold chill down my spine.” My curiosity was piqued and I looked at him with my eyes narrowed holding his gaze.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look and give you my honest opinion?” We were in a staring contest to see who was going to blink first.

“I’m going for a cup of coffee. Close the door behind you when you leave.” This was my brief window of opportunity.

He stormed off, looking frazzled and probably making snap judgments of those looking at him the wrong way. I waited with the clock ticking on the wall as my only companion. It had the logo of a Canadian hockey team. I had got it for his birthday.

I slipped seamlessly from the chair in front of his desk to the command position. I swiveled to look out at the gray sky. It was threatening snow, but there wasn’t even a flake to be seen. I wanted to have a white Christmas. I loved throwing snowballs. Flying down the hill at a breakneck speed was a thrill when I was younger

Being a bit older, I had turned my attention to big boy toys of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. I had one of each in my shed gassed up and ready to go. I lived off the grid with no Internet access. My cabin was my grandfather’s pride and joy where I had found refuge from the world within its walls.

I tapped the keyboard in front of me and scrolled through his open e-mail cachet. I knew his lawyers by name and I found five pieces of correspondence with their signature attached to it. I opened each one and found nothing out of the ordinary.

It was the last one which made me push back with the chair smacking against the wall behind me. I was staring at the image of the scorpion lying upside down in the snow. I moved a little closer, shuffling forward until my hands were flat on the oak surface of his desk. It was a message from my past. Someone was calling me out to play a deadly game of cat and mouse.

I saw something clutched in its claw and then moved the cursor until I was able to press on it. A letter was attached to the attachment in plain sight. I was reluctant to read the letter. I didn’t want him to have any power over me. It wasn’t going away. I was debating on whether or not I should call somebody, but everybody who was there was dead. I was the last one standing.

The mission was buried under so much red tape it would have taken a master manipulator to get their hands on it. I forgot Washington, DC had people with influence and power in the palm of their hands.

I spun around to face the window looking out and almost imagining the scope of their rifle zeroed in on my forehead. The windows were reinforced with bulletproof glass. The only thing anybody would accomplish by firing off a round would be alerting us to their position.

I scanned the rooftops looking for anything to resemble a perch for a sharpshooter. It was pretty damn obvious they were following me. Anybody I came in contact with was in danger of losing their lives. It was a good thing Gail had put the brakes on when she did. I would’ve only pulled her down into the mire with me. I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to her. It was better to keep my distance until the dust settled.

I took a deep breath and resigned myself to the fate of reading what could’ve been a manifesto. I didn’t need anybody holding my hand. I was wasting all of this time knowing full well I was going to open the letter.

I took my head out of the sand long enough to press the letter winking at me with encouragement. It unfolded before my eyes with the sound of paper crinkling like it was something tangible in my hands. The parchment was yellow with bold red ink. Technology had come a long way.

"You’re not the only one who knows what happened that day. Not everybody died, but I sometimes wish I did. I thought you were an honorable and noble man of conviction. It took me a long time to come to terms with what happened. I won’t ruin the surprise by signing my signature to the document. I will admit you don’t follow any known habits. It’s been interesting getting to know you. Leaving me behind was the worst mistake of your life. I’m going to take everything from you and make the people around you wish you were never born.” I read the words several times letting them sink into my consciousness.

I immediately without thinking deleted the letter and then emptied the digital waste basket. There was an e-mail address for me to correspond with my would-be tormentor. I committed it to memory.

Mason was standing at the doorway with two cups of coffee. I’d no idea how long he was there, but his expression was of concern.

“I didn’t think there was anything to worry about until I came back to see you as white as a ghost. Please, for the love of God, tell me you’re not dragging me into something that’s going to make me regret bringing you on board. I told you the past has a funny way of raising its head. You may as well tell me what this is about so that we can get ahead of it.” I didn’t know how to sidestep his accusing eyes.

“I’m probably making more of it than I should. Let me do some investigating and find out if there’s any reason to raise the red flag. In the meantime, I believe accounting is waiting for me to help go over a tedious amount of paperwork concerning these discrepancies.” He probably would have tackled me to the ground to get the truth, but he got a phone call which demanded his undivided attention.