Mitch slid into a cab at the Boston airport and threw his jacket on the seat beside him. He had jumped on a mid-morning flight, had a few hours in Boston to meet Mrs. Kinaird, get the diary and be back at the airport for a return flight to D.C. before driving to Cape Hatteras late that afternoon. He gave the driver the address and sat back to watch Boston go by.
Mitch’s phone rang. He looked at the phone screen and felt a stab of pain. Charlotte. Why is she calling? He let the call go to message bank.
“Coming home?” the older driver asked. He was a big man in his late sixties who smelled of tobacco.
“Just here on business for a few hours,” Mitch said.
“A few hours! Geez. You want a lift back to the airport, here’s my number.” He handed over a card. “Edward Egan,” he said, “just ask for Ted.”
“Thanks, Ted, Mitch,” he said, and introduced himself. “I will need a lift in about forty minutes.”
“That’ll work. I was going to have a break. I’ll drop you off, go have my smoke and pick you up again,” the driver said.
He swung into a small street, took a right and pulled up in front of a small white house with an enormous beech tree on the footpath.
“You know your way around,” Mitch said, handing over the taxi fare.
“Lived here all my life. Even dated a young lady who lived a few streets away from here in my younger years,” he chuckled.
Mitch looked at his watch. “See you in forty minutes then?”
“Done.”
Mitch watched Ted drive off and as he reached to unlock the gate, his phone rang. Charlotte again. He took a deep breath and answered.
“Charlie, hi,” he said.
“Hi Mitch, how are you?”
“I’m keeping busy, and you?” he asked.
“The same. I think we need to talk,” she said.
“What about?”
“Us,” Charlotte said. “We haven’t spoken about the break-up and if it is what we both want.”
Anger boiled inside Mitch. “Charlie, you told me it was over, that I couldn’t meet your needs. I spend an hour sitting at the edge of your bed asking you to talk it out, think it through, and you wanted out. We’ve talked, it’s done.”
“But I was angry. We should talk now that we’re calm. We are good together. I don’t think we should throw it out after just one fight.”
Something caught his eye and Mitch glanced to Mrs. Kinaird’s house. A grey cat jumped through the cat door and disappeared inside.
“Mitch?”
“Charlie, I’m not like Lachlan, I don’t do the on-again, off-again stuff. I don’t get off on the drama.”
“I know that now, so let’s try and work it out,” she pleaded. “You haven’t given it any real thought, I just landed it on you.”
“No, I’ve given it way too much thought. I’ve had hours and hours of surveillance time … sitting by myself in my own headspace, running through the scenarios. We’ve been going out seven months and you have been unhappy with me more times than I can remember.”
“I will be more understanding, I’ve been thinking about it and— ”
Mitch stopped her. “Charlie, we’re both in pain and nothing would be better than to take that away and pick up again. God I’d love to, but I’m not going to. You’re right, I’m hollow, I’m not for you.”
“I’m so sorry I said that,” she said and began to cry.
“Don’t cry, Charlie,” he said, and sighed. “Please. I’m sorry about a lot of things I did too; I know I was never around and didn’t tell you things. We never took that trip to meet my family, I didn’t introduce you to Henri and my work team. But you know, that’s not going to change anytime soon.” He walked along the footpath. “I leave tonight for about a week on an assignment.”
“But you could turn it down,” she said.
“I can’t turn it down and I don’t want to turn it down,” he said. “This is what I do and I want to do it. I’m sorry if that’s selfish.”
“Well I hope the job is worth it when you end up a lonely old man,” she snapped.
“Me too,” he agreed. “I’ll take my gear with me tonight and the room will be empty from tomorrow if you want to get another housemate.”
“So you came with one suitcase and will leave the same way … how about the emotional baggage?” she asked.
“Bye, Charlie.”
Mitch hung up, and exhaled. He tried to focus on the job, but his chest ached; he felt alone in the world. He ran through the relationship in his head. It would be great just to get back with her, he thought, get that part of my life back in order but I can’t and won’t stay home on this case to keep Charlie happy. Let it go.
He rang Henri.
“Mitch, hello.”
“Henri.” Mitch was breathing too fast. He couldn’t think of anything to say now that he had called.
“Are you OK?” Henri waited.
“Yep … I just …” His voice trailed off.
There was silence on the line. “Are you in Boston yet?” Henri asked.
“Yes … I just talked to Charlotte.”
“I gathered. You know this time next week you’ll feel better,” Henri said in a quiet voice.
“Yeah.”
“And it will get easier each day as you go on,” Henri continued, “you know that.”
“I know, I just thought …”
Neither spoke for a few moments.
“Are you off to Cape Hatteras tonight?” Henri asked.
“Leaving about five,” Mitch said.
“Want to drop your bags into the guest wing before you go?”
“It’s only a suitcase and a few suits. But thanks, I’ll do that before I pick up Ellie.”
Henri waited and then changed the subject. “Just the other day, I was thinking of the number of times that you and Ellie have done surveillance together. Remember that time you were both on surveillance at the zoo?”
Mitch leaned against the beech tree, closed his eyes and smiled.
“What was it that snuck up on Ellie and scared the hell out of her?” Henri asked.
“A giraffe.” Mitch laughed remembering Ellen’s horror. “It licked her head, plastered her hair down to the side of her face.”
They both laughed and Henri continued. “That’s right. She just didn’t see it coming; she was so cranky I thought she was going to arrest it.”
Mitch laughed and ran his hand over his eyes. “I must remind her of that, what a classic.”
“Well it is not every day you do surveillance at a zoo.” Henri chuckled. He waited in shared silence.
“I’d better go in, I’m here for a meeting,” Mitch said.
“All right son, call anytime. Safe travels.”
“Thanks.” Mitch waited for him to hang up then turned to enter Mrs. Kinaird’s property. As he unlocked the gate, he thought about how much pain Mrs. Kinaird must have been in when she lost her love of many years.
The VIP recognized the ring tone; it was Danny Huang. He moved quickly to his office door, closed it and answered the phone.
“Clear,” he said.
“Morning,” Danny said.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you in person this morning,” the VIP said. “I got called in to work early but the issue is resolved now.”
“That’s fine. I could have gone to Cape Hatteras last night but I assume it couldn’t be helped,” Danny said, his voice laced with frustration.
“My apologies, Danny.” The VIP tried to be conciliatory. “Can we meet later today?”
“I was going to meet the team, but I have time on my side …”
“I think we have a lot to cover,” the VIP reminded him.
“Yes that will be fine,” Danny conceded. “A quick summary until then: this morning, Hai and Froggy timed the route and tide, Ru was happy with it and phoned Beijing with the results. William is confident that the second test will go well.”
“So do you think we have enough resources? Will anyone be suspicious?” the VIP asked.
“No, there’s still other tourists around, we blend in. Hai and Froggy are having another morning dive tomorrow, but there is no need for them to hide.”
“Of course, I forgot their welcomed guests of the country,” the VIP said.
“As for your residence, it is stocked and ready. Once collected, transferred and delivered, you will be taken to your new office and residence in the heart of the capital. They are ready for you now,” Danny said, ensuring the VIP knew plans had not changed. “The next day you will meet the party, and we will be ready to begin. We serve at your pleasure.”
The VIP’s chest swelled. The thought of his own party at his disposal, the thought of being a modern-day ‘emperor’ excited and exhilarated him. What I could do, he mused.
Danny continued. “The facilities at the pick-up site are modest, but when we arrive in Beijing …”
“I understand. We are on a mission, every man makes sacrifices.”
Danny continued. “After Sunday’s test run, we will continue our studies for the remaining time, graduate and collect the certificates, and then we will collect you at 0400 hours on the Thursday for the Friday lift. We are sticking with the day earlier plan.”
“Right, I will be ready,” the VIP said.
“Ru will collect you. Then on the day of action, Hai and Froggy will depart with you to the beach on the Friday morning for the lift. Ru, William and I will fly back to Beijing on the false passports. William will use one of the fake ones that Hai and Froggy won’t need.”
“But that leaves one passport. It will arouse suspicion if one of the cops doesn’t return when the visa expires,” the VIP said.
“Don’t worry, I have a stand-in ready to use it,” Danny assured him.
“Of course you’ve thought of that, excellent. Nothing else?”
“You will have the final information and cash ready a day in advance?” Danny asked.
“Definitely,” the VIP assured him.
“Then nothing else to report. William will call with his usual updates as required. Don’t worry, all is on track and will be fine. It will be like the old days again only this time, our dream will be a reality.”
“Who would have thought? Thank you Danny.” The VIP hung up. He moved to the window and looked out over the city. Soon, this will be behind me; my name will be part of history, I will be in school textbooks, I will open the East.