By the time Recker stepped foot in the door of his apartment, he could already smell something good cooking. Mia heard the door closed and came out of the kitchen to greet her boyfriend, giving him a hug, and planting a kiss on his lips.
“Smells good,” Recker said.
“Me or the food?”
Recker smiled. “Both.”
“Well, you got here just in time, because it’s ready.”
Mia grabbed hold of his hand and led him into the kitchen, where the food was already sitting on the table. They sat down and started eating. Mia was in a happy mood and looked it. She couldn’t say the same for her partner though. Recker was quiet, his facial expressions weren’t changing, and he was looking down at his food the entire time.
“Don’t like it?”
Recker finally looked up at her. “Huh?”
“Don’t like the food? I’ve noticed you keep picking at it, like there’s something wrong with it.”
“What? Oh, no, not at all. It’s good. Really.”
“Then what’s the matter?”
“Nothing’s the matter.”
Mia stared at him with a cynical-looking face. She knew better. She knew his brooding face as well as anyone. Recker then looked at her and obviously faked a smile, trying to seem as if nothing was wrong.
“Mike, do you really think you can fool me?”
Recker sighed, knowing he couldn’t. “No, I guess not. Never really have been able to.”
“So, why do you even try?”
“I dunno. I guess because… I dunno. I guess because I’m not sure how you’ll react to this.”
For some reason, Mia’s thoughts immediately turned to their baby, wondering if maybe Recker was having second thoughts about it all.
“Why? What’s it about?”
“Uh, well, us,” Recker replied.
“Us?”
“Yeah…”
“Is this about the baby?” Mia asked. “Have you changed your mind about being involved?”
Recker sat there looking dumbfounded, her question taking a few seconds to sink in. “What? No, no. It’s nothing like that.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Everything I said yesterday still holds true. Nothing’s changed.”
Mia looked as apprehensive as ever. “Then what’s this about?”
“I, uh… after I left the hospital yesterday, I got a call from Michelle Lawson.”
“The CIA girl?”
Recker laughed. “Well, yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it.”
“What’d she want?”
“Me.”
“What?”
Recker could see his words could have been misconstrued in different ways, so he clarified. “Well, my talents I mean.”
Mia turned her head slightly and squinted one of her eyes, sensing a bomb was about to drop. “She wants you to work for them again?”
“Well, yes, kind of.”
“Mike, will you stop beating around the bush and just tell me what she wanted?”
“OK. The CIA is on the trail of a suspected arms dealer, a guy who supplies many terrorist outfits.”
“OK?”
“They’ve lost six or eight agents in that pursuit.”
“And?” Mia asked, thinking she could already guess where this was leading.
“They asked me to go after him.”
Mia let out a nervous sounding kind of laugh. “You make it sound so simple and I know it can’t be that simple.”
“It’s in Europe.”
Mia put her hands on her head, trying to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. “Soo… what, you’re just gonna go back to work for them? Did you already agree to this?”
“It’s only one job. It doesn’t mean I’m going back to working for them, because I’m not.”
“You already agreed to this, didn’t you?”
Recker looked down and rubbed the tip of his nose. He had trouble looking at her. Those were all the clues she needed to confirm she was right.
“You did,” Mia said. “I can tell.”
“It was something I had to decide on right away.”
“Wait, this was yesterday? You could’ve given me some warning. You had all last night, all this morning to tell me, and you chose not to?”
“I just… didn’t know how to bring it up.”
“How about, hey Mia, the CIA came to see me this morning, and I agreed to work for them again, you know, even after they’ve tried to kill me and make my life what it is, but hey, why not, right?”
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s exactly like that. You just decided to work for them without even talking to me about it.”
“Are you even going to get anything out of this? Payment or something?”
“I gave them stipulations that had to be met before I agreed to go,” Recker answered.
“And?”
“And they met them.”
“What are they?”
“They had to get David off the NSA’s radar. They had to agree that none of us would ever wind up on a CIA hit-list. And they had to agree that if any of us ever wound up in jail, they’d have to get us out within twenty-four hours.”
“And they agreed to all that?”
“They did.”
“And you think they’ll live up to that if the situation calls for something else?” Mia asked, having her doubts.
“If they don’t, they know things could go very sideways for them. I don’t think they wanna go there. If each side keeps playing nice with each other, everything will be fine.”
“I’m glad you’re sure of that.”
“Mia, I did this for us.”
“For us? What am I getting out of it?”
“With the baby coming, I thought it would be good for your peace of mind to know that if something happens and I get locked up, I’ll have a get out of jail free card in my back pocket.”
That was a good thing, not that Mia was about to admit it right then. She was still a little too ticked off to say there was anything good coming out of this. She crossed her arms and looked away for a moment, staring at the wall as she collected her thoughts.
“So, when is this extended vacation happening for you?”
Recker coughed, knowing this next answer wasn’t likely to help things any. Maybe if she had a week or two to prepare for him leaving, it would have gone over better. As it were, he knew she was not going to like his answer.
“Uh… tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow morning?!” Mia asked, her voice raising. “Gee, you think you could’ve given me any less time to prepare?”
“The time wasn’t up to me.”
“Of course it wasn’t. And just how long is this little trip of yours going to take?”
“I don’t know. Until we get the guy we’re after.”
“Just a general time frame would be nice. A week, a month, six months, a year, a decade, what?”
“Could be as little as a week or two,” Recker said, trying to keep her calm.
“And at most?”
“Uh, could be a few months.”
“Or a year or more?”
“It won’t take long.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“Yes.”
“Am I going to have this baby on my own?”
“No, I’ll be here with you for it,” Recker replied. “I promise, this won’t take long.”
“What about David and Chris?”
“They’ll be going too.”
“Oh, great. So, you’ll all be gone,” Mia said with a sigh. “So, I’ll be going to all the doctor appointments by myself. Just like a single mother. I guess that’s what I really am, huh?”
“Mia, stop. I won’t be gone that long. I’ll be back in plenty of time to go to all the doctor appointments with you. I promise.”
Mia really wasn’t in the mood to hear anything though. She was mad. She pushed her chair out and started to leave, but not before she said some final words to her boyfriend before she left.
“You know, maybe at some point in time, you’ll actually start treating me like an equal partner instead of someone who’s just along for the ride.”
“Mia, wait.” Mia walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the front door. “Where are you going?”
“Out.”
Recker got up and headed into the living room just in time to see her open the door. “Where?”
The door slammed shut before he could hear a reply, not that one was forthcoming, anyway. Recker let out a deep sigh then slapped his leg.
“That definitely could’ve gone better.”