Most of the detectives from the agency stopped by. They came in shifts so as not to leave the office completely empty. Even the lovely Ms. Brown visited. She made a comment about giving him something upon his return, but in his current condition, he couldn’t give a proper retort. His good friend from Toronto, Naomi Lipton called with a promise to visit him. Malcolm and Don told him E-Man had actually stepped in and helped. He had since come and gone, with plans to soon leave the city for his former home of Cleveland. This saddened Jordan. While he did not expect a reunion, with E-Man leaving town, reconciliation seemed a distant hope at best.
A few didn’t come – The Gold Team from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, US Air Force. That didn’t bother Jordan so much, as he half expected they were somewhere on the other side of the globe killing bad guys in the dead of the night.
Then there was Kim White. She texted three times, but never called. Each one a promise to visit him soon. Jordan was sure that visit would never come. And though it was only a few days since the romp in his office with her, Kim seemed like a distant and trivial memory. Life, he decided, was too short to wait on a lover who may not come.
What did stick in his craw was the absence of Robin Summers. He knew she returned home to submit her news article. He read it online and it did not include any mention of Saif Al-Matwalli. This was probably due to Robin’s loyalty to Jordan as much as there were no facts to support Saif’s presence in Detroit - nothing unclassified, anyway.
Jordan thought she would have at least called. But, there was nothing. During one of the quiet moments, when no one was around, Jordan confided in Jackie.
“Don’t worry so much,” Jackie said, “There could be a million reasons why you haven’t heard from her.”
That did nothing to soften the pain, but Jordan pretended, fooling neither one of them.
Admiral Torison called. His message was brief. “I want you to understand I intend to honor our agreement and do what I can to return you to the ranks of the inactive reserves as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, admiral.”
“I still want to talk about Canada,” Torison said. Jordan rolled his eyes at the mention of the affair with Preston Lloyd and the Black Bear mystery.
“Not sure what I can tell you about that, admiral, it was a long time ago.”
“Just the same, when you are released, come and see me,” the director of Naval Intelligence said.
Jordan was sure, however, Torison had more on his mind than the death of the former Canadian Global Affairs Deputy Secretary. He would deal with that in due course.
The day came and Jordan was finally released from the care of the hospital. Jackie did the honors of wheeling him out.
“Is this necessary?” Jordan asked of the wheelchair.
“Hospital policy, can’t have you suing the place.”
They rode the elevator down to the ground. In the car, Jackie asked, “Who’s picking you up?”
“My parents,” Jordan answered, “They’ll probably be glad to see you.”
“Got any plans?”
“Gonna take a few weeks off and do nothing. Then I have to go to Washington to see the admiral.”
They reached the parking lot and leaning against an Ice Silver Metallic Audi A5 Cabriolet was Robin Summers. She made no attempt to hide her joy at Jordan’s look of complete disbelief.
“Thanks for keeping this a secret, Jackie,” Robin said. Jordan whirled around at Jackie. “You knew about…”
“Oh, shut up,” Jackie leaned in and gave him a tight hug, “We had plenty of time to chat while you were in the hospital, didn’t we, Robin?”
“Yup,” Robin answered devilishly.
“Enjoy your recovery,” Jackie said.
He wondered when they had set this up. He was a little concerned about what two women he had slept with had to say to one another. He went over to Robin. He tried to appear angry. She tried to look admonished.
“Your mom got you a couple weeks’ worth of clothes,” she said pointing towards the car’s trunk. “Get in.”
Jordan waved goodbye to his doctor and did as he was told. Once in the car, Robin gently took Jordan by the face and gave him a soft but probing kiss.
After about thirty seconds of togetherness, he asked, “So, we’re not going to be just friends, then?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, maybe friends with benefits. If that’s OK…?”
Jordan laughed. “I think I can deal with that.”
“Good,” Robin said, starting the car. She moved the vehicle out of the parking lot.
“Where to?” he asked.
“It’s a surprise. It’ll take us a while to get there.”
“Can we stop and get a cup of Earl Grey on the way?”
She smiled. “I think we can arrange that. In the meantime, tell me about you and Jackie…”
CASE CLOSED.