Albatross (20 page)

It looked like David was going to say something more, but he stopped. Instead, he turned his face towards Becky. That was David’s way of making ‘eye’ contact. She knew that they both were still fearful that innocent people could get hurt. She also knew that they both didn’t have another suggestion that was less risky.

It was now 8:10 a.m., and Becky had nearly two hours before her theatrical debut. She took the time to make sure all the luggage was packed and broken into three sets. As she reviewed everything, she mentally checked off each task. The largest set was for David, Emma, and herself; the next size was for Samantha, and the smallest set for David. Depending on how things went, she, David, and Emma would take half the money, a minimal part of the treasure, and none of the critical documents but all laptops. Samantha would take a quarter of the cash, a small part of the treasure, a third of the critical documents and external hard drives. Becky was thankful that Burns knew his stuff. He had made sure that all parties had rented large storage sites where there had stored different cars, more clothing, much more cash, and passports. Each of these storage sites had been rented for an entire year so that their present vehicles could be safely hidden for some time, allowing the trail to go cold. Becky, David, and Emma would head north to Montreal, where they would find a site Burns had already set up. Samantha would head north to Minnesota. Becky knew that Burns would know all of their locations, but they did not want to know his.
The less I know, the better
, she thought. “Check-ins” would be weekly at a designated time and day. No call from Burns meant they would abort each plan, improvise, and vanish. Burns would take a quarter of the cash as well as the majority of the critical documents and hard drives and flash drives of the operation. Because Becky and David had Emma, they were not going to take any weapons. Samantha and Burns had planned to be armed. Even though Samantha and Burns had taken less luggage, theirs was the heaviest of the teams’ for that reason. Becky was positive that Samantha and Burns would hook up later. Becky’s mind traveled back to Burns and her sister’s unique relationship. She would miss her sister, but she was happy that Samantha seemed to have a genuine fondness, maybe even love for Burns.
She really does know how to pick them
, Becky thought.

Becky returned to her mental checklist and reviewed her future duties. Rechecking the luggage, breaking down the office, and packing everything up would be her job right after her last task. Her first task would be the detonation of the general power supply. Once she saw a car explode in the parking lot of the police station, she would then trip the explosives attached to the backup generator for all first responders. She had no worries that Burns and Samantha had everything ready to go. Becky had seen Burns’s dramatic fireworks across from the hospital on the news. The explosion looked fierce and Becky truly hoped that Burns did his homework to make sure no one was in the building when it exploded. Her next fear was that her actions might kill someone. Becky began to pace as she ran out of things to do. If she didn’t have Emma and her sister, Becky was sure she would never carry out such an outrageous plan. If their lives didn’t hang in the balance, she was sure that she would have lost her nerve to follow through on her part. Four plus years ago, Becky never would have thought she’d be helping with this plan. During times like these, she really wanted a smoke. Thank God she was beginning to feel her antianxiety medication kicking in.

Chapter 13

Andersen was acutely aware
that time was rapidly passing as he took copious notes while David gave his lengthy statement. When one pen ran out of ink, he produced another from his shirt pocket. He always had two. A habit from his old days in Guantanamo.

“So where have you’ve been for more than three and a half years?” Andersen asked. Time was getting short, and while he found his witness interesting, he still had no answers.

As if reading his mind, Coleridge—or rather David—said, “I can answer that, but I will have to try to sum it up. Three and a half years is too long to detail.”

Thank God
, Andersen thought.

Leaning forward, David began the report, “It was hard for all of us from the start—”

Andersen interrupted, “Who is ‘all of us?’”

David summarized how the four of them, Samantha, Becky, Emma, and himself, had been hiding out for nearly four months at an extended-stay motel after his wife’s murder.

“With the exception of Emma, everyone’s sleeping was both poor in quality and short in duration; everyone was eating poorly, if at all, and all of us felt like they were simply waiting to die from an unknown government branch of security. If the government didn’t kill us, the boredom or arguing among ourselves would. Even though Burns was living up to his end of the deal by maintaining contact and tracking down the bad guys, he was clear that it was going to take longer than he had expected. This operations center had totally vanished, and three metropolitan cities were pretty big areas to cover.”

Andersen noticed that David broke from summarizing to emphasize a critical point. Over the past couple of hours, Andersen had closely monitored his witness, and he realized that David would lean back and cross his legs when he thought back to remember meaningful data. David stayed consistent. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and folded his arms over his chest. Andersen felt like he was getting close to the bottom of this mystery. David started the story up again.

“Then one night, it hit me. After four months of thinking only of my lost life, my three children, and my wife’s death, I found myself waking up early in the evening … maybe 7:00 p.m., to a crying baby.”

David stirred from another empty, disturbed sleep, but this time, he had been woken by a crying baby. Emma was in the other room, and he had a vague recollection of either Samantha or Becky saying they were going to get food and something to help break Emma’s fever. David reluctantly got up and headed toward the source of the crying. He had bumped his knee on a chair and swore. He was not remotely used to being blind. He found that it was easier to simply stay in bed and not get up. If Becky or Samantha were he would have simply ignored Emma.
I can’t do that,
he said to himself.

He knew he was not too far from the rollaway crib when the crying seemed to stop suddenly. As he approached, he could not tell what was happening, so he called out hello toward the crib. He heard a crinkling of the mattress or diaper, and he had the sense Emma was looking at him. David carefully picked her up and held her close. She was warm and had that “baby smell” he had remembered from holding other babies. He had never had babies of his own, but the smell was unforgettable. Emma didn’t cry but rather sat up in his arms. As she faced him, she began to explore his eyes, nose, and entire face with her hands. His holding her was a novel experience for them both, and she seemed eager to explore this new face—no fear, no judgment, no restrictions, no limits, just determination to figure things out. David found himself rocking side to side as Emma continued to explore his face, hair, ears, and neck. As time went on, she began to tire. Maybe it was the fever, or perhaps she was sleepy with his rocking her back and forth; however, she laid her head on his shoulder, and her little hands and arms rested on his chest. Minutes passed, and he heard her breathing continue into the slow, steady rhythm of sleep.

Then two things happened at the same time. David wondered about who would protect Emma if the adults were killed? He felt desperately empty. Then that emptiness was filled with a wave of wild enthusiasm. He didn’t want to miss an opportunity. He had a clear reason now. His past life was over; Emma needed them now.

David heard the hotel door open and someone try to come inside without making any noise.

“David? Are you all right” Samantha asked.

Still holding the baby, David said in a low, pressured voice, “We’re doing this all wrong!”

Becky interjected defensively, “Look! I’m not one of those natural mommies, okay. I’m trying my best—”

David took in what she said, and then it registered: “Becky, I know you’re doing your best. I wasn’t talking about Emma and you.”

Relieved and embarrassed that her insecurities were at the surface, David heard Becky simply say, “Oh.”

“What are you talking about then?” Samantha asked.

Still holding Emma as she nestled more into his chest, he spoke in a low but determined tone, “We are doing it wrong by letting Alex do all the work while we hide off the grid and wait to be saved. Whomever he is up against, they are our enemy too. They know him, and I bet they think he is alone. But what if we could be more active in helping? Research? Narrow the search? What if we were able to be players in our own destiny?”

David may have been blind but he knew Samantha was skeptical of what he was saying. He could tell she was trying to keep her sarcasm to a minimum. “David,” she began, “we’re not soldiers. We’re not spies. You’re a therapist. I’m a hooker, and Becky’s a paralegal. Emma’s the only one who is doing her job right.”

“Yes, I know,” David said and then tried to curb his enthusiasm. “I know who we are, but are we more than that? You of all people know that. Aren’t you a nurse? Becky? Whether you like it or not, aren’t you a mother now? If we don’t become more than we are and get new skills and get in the game, who will take care of Emma?” David heard silence. He was not sure if he was convincing them or himself more. David did notice that Becky’s breathing seemed heavier.

My eyesight might be gone, but my hearing and sense of smell have improved
, David realized suddenly.

Samantha was the first to respond. “What could we possibly do? What can we bring to the table?”

“That’s the best part. Alex is the logistics and analyst specialist. He has created and been in operations. I think there is a body in my grave that’s not me. I’m dead. They may not expect me to be of any use. Samantha, you were an unknown to them, and then you disappeared after they failed to kill you. You are still an unknown variable. And Becky … they don’t even know you exist.”

“No. I’m not leaving Sam,” Becky said adamantly.

While Samantha and Becky argued often, they were clearly siblings. It was easy for David to determine that Becky was the “mother” in the relationship and Samantha was more the “unruly teenager.”
If I didn’t live with them, I might have thought it was nice
, David constantly thought. Even though David was constantly sleeping to forget his own pain, he was acutely aware of Becky’s loss. It was apparent that Becky was not going to let Samantha out of her sight.

David pressed on with his point.

“You and Emma still have the best chance of vanishing entirely. We all have skills, and we have real motivation to do something. They expect Burns to fade away and hide. What if he had a plan and a team of people who are pretty pissed off that their lives are being indiscriminately fucked up because we were in the way?”

Emma stirred a little bit, and David quieted down but continued, “I have lost everything. I have felt nothing for months now until I felt Emma in my hands, and now I want to protect her. Now I want to get my life started again. I will never be able to get Jenny back. Maybe I will be able to start a new life and see that this one has a shot—”

“Maybe we can make them pay,” Samantha chimed in with anger in her voice.

“Vengeance is good. If it motivates you to take your life back and keeps us all alive, it will work for me,” David added. David could now feel heat from Samantha. He didn’t need to have sight to hear in her voice that Samantha was done waiting indefinitely to fade away.

“Okay, you two superheroes,” Becky began. “It sounds good, but do you think our resident spy is going to want our help?”

David always had thoughts whirring in his head. For weeks, he had focused on Jenny’s death and his own life slipping from him. But now other thoughts were coming through.
Who would take care of Emma if we are all gone? Would these people kill her too? Kill a baby?
he wondered. Ruminating about his wife’s murder was horrible, but doing nothing to protect this babe was just as bad, somehow worse. David couldn’t do anything to save Jenny. He could only watch her die. He might be able to protect Emma, he reasoned.
I can do something about this
, he thought.

David pressed on.

“I think that once he understands the benefits of more hands, more talent, and more eyes and ears, he will wish he had thought of it himself.”

“I don’t know, David,” Becky trailed off.

David noticed that Samantha picked up his line of reasoning. “We could use some of the money to set up a low-key operation in Rhode Island and get computers, laptops, and shit. Burns has blank passports that I could get filled with aliases to get us back into the hospital or clinical work with the police or in the courts. We could hide in plain view and use our resources to find them and then get that leverage Burns talks about so that we can get our lives back.”