Roma
As I walk through the facility toward the elevator which leads to Felicity’s holding cell, I’m stuck in my own head. I keep thinking about Mr. Black, about whether or not he really needs me. It seems strange that a man like Mr. Black needs anybody. He’s the boss, the man in charge, and it’s always startling when the man in charge needs somebody else. But then, I reflect, the man in charge is only in charge as long there are people he can boss around. The man in charge is nothing without the men under him.
And then I think of Felicity. I’ll have to talk to her with a guard watching. I wonder if we’ll be able to speak our minds. The guards are mean bastards. If I told Felicity what I’m aching to tell her—I love her, despite the circumstances, despite everything I truly love her—he’ll probably snigger and I’ll lose my cool. Lay him out flat. And then what? It’s not like I have backup.
I’m thinking this when I get to the elevator door. The guard who stands beside the door is huge, even bigger than the rest. He has a big bushy black beard and fine black hair. He’s missing an eye and . . .
“Bear?” I hiss, when I reach him. The hair has been dyed jet-black and his face is covered with nasty scars, but it’s Bear, I’m sure of it.
He glances down the hallway. “Aye,” he says, allowing himself a small grin.
“What the . . .” I look up at him, wondering if the beating has dislodged something in my head. “How are you here?”
He watches over my shoulder as he speaks. “Mr. Black thought I died in the fire. His men were too lazy to check. But they didn’t know about my basement room. Ha, knew it would come in handy one day. Hid in that for a day and a half until the fire burnt itself out. I called some of my old contacts. Don’t make the mistake of thinking Mr. Black’s organization is as water-tight as it seems. I still have friends. Heard about the trouble you and the girl were in, and . . .”
I reach out and touch his shoulder, hardly believing any of it. “Is it really you?” I breathe. I squeeze his shoulder. It feels firm. I remember squeezing this same shoulder twenty years ago and wondering how a man could be so muscular, certain I would never grow up to be like that.
“Don’t act suspicious,” he says, his single eye roaming down the hallway. “Listen, there’s a boiler room on the northern side of the facility, just past Mr. Black’s office and up a flight of stairs. We’re on the outskirts of DC, in what looks from the outside like an abandoned warehouse. Go to the boiler room, blow the bastard up, and let me get your lady out of here.”
“But . . .”
“Roma,” he growls. He grabs me by the front of my shirt and pulls me close to his face. “I’ve successfully infiltrated Mr. Black’s base. Mr. Black, Roma. Now isn’t the time for uncertainty. Do as I say, and maybe there’s a chance for the girl to survive. Sick and tired of innocents being used like this. I can fix it. Just give me the distraction.”
“I need to see her first,” I mutter.
Bear shrugs. “Aye, if you want. Shift doesn’t change for another five or six hours anyway, and nobody’s going to bother me here.”
I press the elevator button, there’s a beep, and the elevator starts chugging toward us. I look again at Bear, awestruck that he’s here, that he’s alive.
“I was furious,” I murmur.
“Aye.” He nods, watching me. “I bet you were.”
The elevator doors open and Bear nods toward the opening. “Go and see her, but don’t take too long. Once you’ve set the explosion, I’ll get her out of here, I swear it. Let’s see any bastard dance with me on the topic.”
I hold my hand against the elevator door to stop it from closing, but I don’t get in, not yet. “Bear,” I say. “Why’d you come back? They thought you were dead. You could’ve sailed off into the goddamn sunset and lived happily ever after.”
“Why’d I come back?” Bear coughs out a laugh. He looks strange standing there in the fatigues of one of Mr. Black’s goons, his hair dyed. The only thing which doesn’t look strange is the gun on his hip. “I came back for you, lad. You and the girl. Seems to me there’s something between you Mr. Black doesn’t deserve to steal away.”
“She knows the truth, Bear,” I sigh.
Bear flinches at that. “Well, if that’s the case, you still owe it to her to get her out of here. Even if she hates you, you owe her that much.”
He’s right, I think. But then, he was always right.
“I won’t be long,” I say. “And then I’ll go to the boiler room and . . .”
“Ka-boom,” Bear grins. “Let’s see him use the girl as bait when his security forces are chasing a pointless explosion, eh?”
I shake my head in wonderment and then step into the elevator. My heart doesn’t seem to know what to do. It beats unsteadily and I’m still half-convinced I’ve imagined it all. But when Bear turns to me and winks with his one good eye, the sensation drops away.
It’s Bear, he’s back.
Then the doors close and he’s gone from sight.