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I WENT TO THE HANGAR to meet up with the team. But when I arrived, there was no one there. I saw several different vehicles: four Jeeps, two armored tanks, and a surveillance van. There was a smattering of technicians working on various pieces. I approached one man who was loading equipment onto the van.
“Hello?” I said.
He gave me a suspicious look and remained silent.
“Theo Wells,” I introduced myself. “I’m on a mission to Finland.”
The man shrugged, hefting another box into the van. I glanced inside and found a woman calibrating the machinery. She wore a set of headphones and was concentrating on her work. I waved a hand to flag her down, and she responded with a bit more enthusiasm.
“Hello?” she asked, coming out of the van to talk to me.
“Finland?” I said, expecting her to know what I was talking about.
“They’re prepping the jet,” she responded. “Hangar two.”
I wasn’t aware that there were two hangars. After getting directions, I followed the path to the second hangar where the aircraft were held. This was much more promising, but still, I didn’t see a team. There was only a single technician standing atop a ladder, working on a jet engine.
I felt like I was still in the wrong place, and had no choice but to ask for help. “Excuse me!”
The technician looked down, clearly upset to find someone waving a hand at her. With frustration evident in every step, she climbed down to the floor. Putting her hands on her hips, she waited for me to explain myself.
“Finland?” I repeated.
“I’m getting it ready,” she snapped, as if I had questioned her competency. “Give me forty-five minutes.”
“I was expecting a team,” I said, confused.
“That’s news to me,” she responded. “All I got was a solo operative and this bad boy.” She pointed up to the cockpit like a proud parent.
I shook my head. This kind of miscommunication wasn’t uncommon, especially in organizations as large as MI6. But it was dangerous nonetheless. I didn’t mind going in alone. Actually, that would better suit my needs. I didn’t want someone looking over my shoulder who might object to lethal force. But it would have been nice to receive proper intel about the mission.
“Carry on,” I instructed the technician.
I was going to have to go back to the command room to talk to Lukas. He’d left out a few vital instructions such as that I would be flying alone, and there would be no one to back me up. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I considered the fact that maybe the plan had been changed on him too. Maybe he was unaware that it had become a solo mission.
Luckily, Clark was still there when I arrived. Both she and Lukas seemed surprised to see me. Considering the fond farewell we had just shared, I could understand her concern.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Are you aware that I’m on a solo mission to find Regg?” I spoke to Lukas instead, answering Clark’s question at the same time.
“I wasn’t,” Lukas replied. “I was told there would be a team.”
“Well, I was just at the hangar, and there’s no team. The person prepping my jet says she was told it was a solo mission,” I informed him.
“Give me a second,” Lukas said, holding up a finger.
He got on the phone and spoke with his contact within the base. A moment later, he hung up with an apology. “It looks like the folks who were going to accompany you were pulled off to go with Ryan. Is that okay?”
“Suits me just fine,” I answered.
“Are you sure?” Clark asked. She was obviously worried about me going off on my own, which was sweet.
“I think I can handle it,” I said with a wink.
She sighed, reaching for my hand. “How much time do you have?”
“About a half hour,” I replied, checking my watch.
“Are we done here?” she asked Lukas.
“We’re done,” he confirmed.
“Let’s go topside,” Clark suggested.
I glanced at Lukas to see what he thought of that idea, but he wasn’t paying attention. He turned away immediately after his business with Clark was concluded, busy reviewing information over someone else’s shoulder.
“Sure,” I agreed.
We went back to the elevator together and rode up to the ground floor. Stepping out into the barn, I was almost surprised to see that nothing had changed. It seemed like forever ago that we’d walked into the bunker.
Ordinary farming equipment filled the space, reminding me how carefully Dark Sparrow had hidden the entrance. It would be a shame if New Dawn figured out where they were hidden. I looked around for the old lady and found her outside, hanging clothes on the line again. My original suspicion that she spent all day hanging and folding laundry was confirmed. She was no regular housewife, but a field agent on the lookout. I appreciated her dedication to her task but was glad that wasn’t me. There were only so many hours of laundry I could take, even if people’s lives were on the line.
“Do you think that’s always the same woman?” I asked, taking Clark’s hand and walking in the opposite direction.
“Probably,” she speculated.
“Or are there several agents who trade places but wear the same thing?” I teased.
“Maybe her husband takes a shift,” Clark suggested.
“What do you think he does?” I asked.
“Maybe chops wood,” Clark replied.
We walked up a small rise, which was probably just above the hangar bay, and gazed out over the landscape. I could see mountains in the distance and a cute little village tucked away in the foothills. It was so peaceful I could hardly reconcile the view with the enormity of the job before us. It seemed ludicrous that there was an evil organization bent on taking over the world. That Clark and I were uniquely positioned to stop it was another thing to grapple with.
A soft breeze floated by, bringing with it floral notes that were reminiscent of the vineyards in this part of the world. I wondered if we would ever get to a point in our lives when we could just relax and appreciate all that nature had to offer.
“It’s going to be okay,” Clark said, as if listening in on my thoughts.
“I know,” I responded, bringing the back of her hand to my lips. “I just worry, that’s all.”
“I worry too,” she replied. “I know you’re a man and all, but I would feel better if I could go with you.”
“So would I,” I answered, although I was sure my reasoning was a tad bit different. I wanted to protect her just like she wanted to protect me. But neither of us were going to get anything accomplished if we didn’t trust each other to handle our own chores.
“How are you going to find him?” she asked.
“They have some pretty specific intel on where he is,” I said. “I’m not worried about that. If you can keep a secret, I’m not sure I’m going to bring him back alive.”
“Good,” she decided. “Don’t. I want that sucker dead as much as you do.”
I laughed. It felt good to hear her express herself. In the company of all our superiors, we had to be careful about what we said. But when we were alone together, all bets were off. We could gripe about what really bothered us and be blunt about our future plans. I appreciated that Regg might have more information to glean if I brought him back unharmed. But I had an axe to grind. And I would make sure he told me everything I wanted to know before I killed him. So I was counting that as a win already.
“What did Lukas want to talk to you about?” I asked.
“He explained about the tracker,” Clark said.
“I doubt you have one,” I offered.
“Just to be sure, I’m going to go to Med Lab,” she informed me.
I nodded. “Better safe than sorry, I guess.”
“Yeah,” she answered.
“If you do have one, what does that mean?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to go off the rails, but it seems like they haven’t been able to track me this far. I mean, if they could, there were a whole lot of opportunities to grab me that they missed.”
“Lukas thinks he may have one as well,” I said.
“He told me that too,” she responded. “If they do exist, I think there’s more to them than a simple GPS.”
I didn’t know whether I liked the sound of that or not. I certainly didn’t want New Dawn to know where Clark was every minute of every day, but if she was right, and they weren’t designed for locating purposes, what other reason could there be for implanting a device in someone? The possibilities were endless, and none of them were appealing.
“What do you think about Ryan?” I asked suddenly. Since I was exploring all the negative aspects of our current situation, it seemed only right to bring him up. Though we’d sorted out a lot of things with our bodies just an hour ago, I wanted to have the conversation in words.
“I don’t know,” Clark responded, hugging herself. “I have to talk to him eventually.”
“Do you think it’s possible that it was all a cover?” I prodded.
“Our relationship, you mean?” she checked.
“Yeah, that’s what I mean,” I confirmed. I didn’t want to believe that someone so important to her could be so cold, but there was no getting around it. If he’d left her hanging for years while on official business, what other explanation could there be?
“I thought about it,” she admitted.
“And?”
“And I don’t know. It seemed pretty real while it was happening.”
I put my arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. “Then I’m sure it was real.”
She sniffed. “Thanks. But I’m not so sure.”
“Have you seen him since the cafeteria?” I wanted to know.
“No,” she said.
“Good,” I replied. “Maybe you can put off talking to him until after I’m back. Then we can do it together.”
“Maybe he’ll get killed on his mission,” she offered.
“Is that what you want?” I asked.
“It was almost easier when I thought he was dead,” she answered, not quite addressing the question.
“If I could make things better for you, I would,” I offered.
“I know,” she said, leaning up on her toes to kiss me. “You’re a good man, Theo. And I love you. You have nothing to worry about in terms of my feelings for Ryan.”
“Thank you.” I kissed her back. “It means a lot to hear you say that.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”
“For the last time,” I told her, “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll agree not to worry about you if you don’t worry about me,” she teased.
“Then I guess we’re at an impasse,” I said.
“Looks like it,” she agreed, gazing back at the view.
We spent a long moment just standing there side by side. This saying goodbye thing was getting more difficult by the minute. I needed to get in that jet and fly off to Finland, if for no other reason than to get it over with. The sooner I left, the sooner I would be back in her arms. That was the only thing that mattered to me, and the world could go to hell.
