“You have two options,” John walked around Nicholas Everett.
“I can’t wait,” Nick smirked, as he sat in the interview room covered in dried blood and dirt.
“You can continue working with this project on our side, or we’ll charge you now and you won’t see the light of day for quite a while.”
“You haven’t got anything to charge me with,” Nick scoffed.
“Think again,” John said. “We’ve been taping your conversations for weeks, including Johan’s conversation with Daniel. So, unless you’re confident about what’s on those tapes, you might want to reassess that.”
John gave Nick time to think before continuing.
“I suggest you make life easy on yourself and go for the self-preservation option. Continue doing what you were doing but as an informer, and you will get leniency.”
“Leniency?” Nick exclaimed, and then winced with pain. “I want to be completely cleared if I’m going to be doing your dirty work – and I want immunity even if you stuff it up,” he bartered.
“We won’t be stuffing it up,” Mitch joined in, grimacing as he lowered himself onto the edge of the desk. “We’ll be watching you every minute of the day, so don’t think you can play on both sides.”
“Have we got a deal? John asked.
Nick looked away.
“If you don’t play the game Nicholas, we’ll arrest Maria and Johan now as well, on a charge of defrauding investors.”
Nick put his head in his hands and groaned as he rubbed his temples. “Damn, my head hurts.”
“Well you started it, dickhead,” Mitch snapped.
Nick looked up at him. “How old are you? Twelve?”
John watched their interaction.
They’ve still got rapport, he thought. Got you, Nicholas.
Nick turned to John.
“Can I do a deal to get Maria out of this?”
John thought about it. “If you cooperate, any sentence she gets will be greatly reduced.”
“I’ll take that as a no,” Nick frowned. “Fine, do I have a choice?”
“No, not really. So, tell us what the Aurum Project is all about?”
“And what’s ‘M.M.’ stand for?” Mitch pushed him.
John noted Nick’s look of surprise.
“I don’t need to tell you a thing. I’ll go in, play my part and you work it out from there.”
John looked at Mitch.
“Can I kill him now?” Mitch asked.
Mitch dragged himself up the front stairs of his house. He attempted to silently unlock the front door, then crept in and made his way to his room, collapsing on top of the bed.
Can’t shower, can’t get up.
He felt himself drifting into sleep. He woke with a start.
Did I just yell out? No … no sound from Charlotte. Can’t have yelled too loudly. He sighed and fell back onto the mattress. Next thing he knew, he could hear Charlotte’s alarm going off down the hallway.
Everything’s aching. Got to get up. Can’t … ribs have melted into the mattress.
He pushed up, groaned and fell back down on the bed. He heard a knock on his door.
“Are you alright?” Charlotte’s voice called.
“Uh-huh.”
“Can I come in?”
Mitch hesitated. He heard the door open. He tried to turn his head the other way.
“Mitch!” He saw her eyes widen. “Oh, my God! What happened to you? You’re covered in blood, your eye is black.”
He tried to get up and find a comfortable position, but pain came from every inch of his body. “It’s nothing. You know the story: you should see the other guy,” he smiled at her, feeling the dry blood crack on his face.
Charlotte’s mouth dropped open.
“Hey, it’s OK,” he struggled to a sitting position.
She moved closer and held him.
“Ah, thanks,” he said. “I’m OK, really.”
“Shut up, Mitch.”
He dropped back on the mattress and accepted her embrace with a smile.
“Sam! Where are you?” Mitch answered his phone as he entered his office.
“In the Best Western Hotel in Eureka,” Samantha answered. “We had some luck at the bar last night. It only cost us three rounds of scotch and a few beers to find out the place was leased four months ago by a South African firm. Supposedly, there are only two staff members on site, both security officers; one on day shift, the other on night shift. They pretty much keep to themselves. A few of them remember someone matching Nick’s description hanging around when it was first leased, but they haven’t seen him for several months. They remember seeing lots of courier vehicles coming and going.”
He heard Samantha stifle a yawn. Mitch looked at his watch.
“It’s about six there isn’t it? What are you doing up?”
“Couldn’t sleep. All the fresh desert air, I guess. So, how do you want us to play it?”
“Surveillance,” he instructed. “Set yourself up somewhere where you can’t be seen and watch everything and everyone that goes in and out.”
“I would love to get in …”
Mitch cut her off. “Not yet, Sam. Concentrate on who and what comes and goes. Find out which is the main building and if anyone else is on site, besides the two security guards. If and when they leave, find out where they are staying. Make sure no one is residing at the site. What’s Maria up to?”
“We saw her car arrive in town about eight last night. She stayed up the road at the Sundown Lodge. No doubt she’ll be back on site at Broad Arrow today.”
“OK, keep in touch, Sam,” he hung up and seeing Ellen waiting outside his office, motioned her in.
“Good grief, look at you!” Ellen announced. “You’re going to scare small children.”
Mitch laughed. “You mean more than before? I was just on my way to see Henri. You got plenty to keep you going?”
“You bet. I heard you had a biff with Nick. How’s he looking?”
Mitch pushed himself up from his office chair and groaned. “Just as bad, I hope.”
Mitch leaned heavily on the rail as he took the stairs to the science department. He spotted Henri jotting notes on a pad beside a microscope.
“Henri!”
“Mitch!” Henri’s smile faded. “My God, what’s happened now?”
“Midnight ride. It’s OK, looks worse than it is.”
“It looks bad.” Henri studied the bruising and cuts.
“OK, maybe it feels that way too.”
Mitch fidgeted with the equipment.
“What’s wrong, you want to talk about something?”
“Have you got time?” Mitch asked.
“Always.” Henri put his pen down as Mitch pulled up a stool beside the bench.
They sat opposite each other in silence. Henri knew better than to rush Mitch.
“Can I ask you something?” Mitch said, not looking up at Henri.
“I suspected you had something on your mind. Ask away.”
“I know it’s a lifetime ago …” Mitch shuffled in his seat.
“Ask me,” Henri invited.
“In the time you were with Mom, did she ever say anything to you about my father?”
“Such as?”
Mitch heard the change in Henri’s tone.
“Where he went?”
He felt Henri’s eyes studying him.
“Mitch, I’m really proud of the man you’ve become; impressive given the start you had …”
“Henri …” Mitch said, embarrassed.
Henri continued. “Why do you want to dig this up after twenty years?”
Mitch looked away and shrugged. “I had a dream, several dreams. It triggered a thought process – and I guess running into Nick again.”
“Nick?” Henri cut him off, “Nicholas Everett from school?”
“Yeah, that Nick.”
“Well, that’s great. You two were as thick as thieves.”
“Yeah. So, back to my father. Do you know where he went?”
Henri cleared his throat. “After he cleared out, I heard he went south for a while and was working for the rail network. Then, when you were about fifteen, he sent your mother divorce papers. He said in the letter he wanted to remarry. The papers were postmarked from Dallas.”
“He remarried,” Mitch murmured.
Did he have another son?
Were my brother and I just replaced like that? Did this kid cop beatings too?
“Mitch …”
Mitch looked up at the sound of Henri’s voice.
“I hate to be the one to give you information about your own father.”
“Did he have any other kids?” Mitch continued, not hearing Henri.
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me, it’s OK.”
“I honestly don’t know.” Henri continued. “I admit I didn’t speak to your mother a great deal in the latter years, but …”
“But what?”
“Mitch, maybe you should be talking to your mother.”
“Tell me Henri … please!”
“He came to your graduation.”
Mitch looked shocked. His eyes widened.
“From school?”
“Air Force graduation,” Henri finished. “I understand he was there in the crowd watching you; undeservedly proud, no doubt.”
“Did you see him there yourself?”
“Yes. I hoped your mother didn’t; I think she might have.”
Mitch nodded.
“That’s all I know,” Henri concluded.
Mitch cleared his throat. “Thanks Henri.”
“What’s going on with you, Mitch?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry. I was just curious.”
“Why are you curious now? Just because of a couple of dreams?”
Mitch didn’t answer. He stared off into the distance.
“Mitch, he doesn’t deserve a minute of your thoughts. Think carefully if you’re intending to seek him out.”
“I’ve got no intention of seeking him out,” Mitch cut him off. He subconsciously rubbed the scar on the side of his head.
“You know, he worked your mom over terribly, and you boys. You were so little, so young – you can’t forget …”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten!” he faced Henri. “I lived it day-in day-out, always waiting for the next beating,” Mitch spat out the words angrily.
He stopped, noticing everyone in the lab was looking at him. Mitch swallowed.
Neither of the men spoke.
Mitch rose and walked out of the lab. He heard Henri call his name.
Just go, now, you’ve said enough! He strode towards the stairs.