Chapter 2 – Breakdown
Rod Redline quickly exited the jet as soon as it landed in the private CIA airport. He drove off towards the main building, where he knew his wife would be awaiting his return. He hoped that along the way he would not meet the director of the CIA, Pete, who was a silver 1965 Cadillac Eldorado. He knew that Pete would surely talk him into this new mission.
As he entered the main building, he quickly drove down the halls heading towards the visitors area. Just as he was almost at the door, a few feet from his wife, he saw Pete come out of a room not far from the door. He smiled at his prized agent.
"Torque me bucko!" Pete shouted as he approached the muscle car, and Rod sighed as a sign of defeat. He did not really like being called Torque; it was an old name he was given back in the Army, and for what he really didn't know. And now Pete beat the name as if it were a dead horse. "I'm so proud of you! You have proven yourself once again as one of the most astounding agents I know here at the CIA. Wonderful, wonderful work you do for us, you make us so proud!" As Rod was getting showered with praise, he knew what exactly what would come next.
"Since you have done such a wonderful job, may I ask you if you can do another mission for us, for the CIA, and for your country," Pete asked with a huge grin. Rod thought for a moment. He didn't want to give a flat out "no", or accept the offer just yet. Quickly he thought of an idea.
"Well, by any chance would I be able to talk to my wife about this? I mean, I haven't seen her and the boys in so long, I don't know how she will take me going away on another mission again," Rod stated. Pete gave that a thought and nodded his hood.
"Do what you gotta do, Torque. Talk to her and then report back to me. I'll be in my office if you need me." Pete then drove off down the hall, giving Rod the chance to escape. He opened the door to the visitor's area and saw his wife waiting for him on the other side of the room.
"Emily!" he shouted with joy, speeding over towards her. Once he was right in front of her he reached out to her to give her a kiss on the lips, but something stopped him. He noticed that Emily was not smiling, or showing any emotion towards him on behalf of his return. In fact when he tried to give her a kiss, she had reversed a bit. Taken aback, Rod looked at her with confusion.
"What's going on, honey? Aren't you happy to see me?" He then flashed a smile at her. "I'm happy to see you. If it's about the mission I'm going to talk myself out of it. I want to stay home with you and the boys, I can't do this again since I love…"
Emily finally spoke, interrupting him. "Rodney Redline, I want you to meet someone. Jackson, get over here."
There was another car in the room Rod hadn't noticed. This car was a fiery red Dodge Challenger; with a flame job that stretched across both sides of his metal body. His eyes were hazel and his hubcaps shimmered as he drove towards Emily's side.
"Rod, this is Jackson. Jackson, this is Rod," Emily introduced. The two cars looked at each other, Jackson giving him the death glare and Rod giving Jackson a look as if he were an alien.
"Who are you?" Rod asked Jackson. Then he turned to Emily. "Dear, who is this? What the hell is going on?"
"Don't call me Dear," she snapped, causing Rod to let out an inaudible gasp. He had never heard Emily speak to him like that before. "I've been thinking about it over and over, but I have to finally say this is it, Rod. I can't take it anymore." Emily gave him the coldest glare she had ever given him, and the words that followed almost pierced his mirrors.
"I want a divorce."
Everything went still for a moment, as if the world had stopped. A cold stillness hung over the room between Rod and Emily, as the two stared at each other in silence. It seemed like an eternity had past before Rod finally spoke.
"Why? How could you do this to me?" he asked, his voice starting to tremble. "After all these years, after all the love I gave our family…"
"What love? When your gone away on missions, you can't give any, can you?" Emily shot back at him. "I've had enough of waiting around till you come home to get the attention our sons and I need! I need someone who will be around to take care of us."
"I thought we had an understanding! I've told you, this job was the only one I could ever have because of all the crap that happened in my life when I was younger. It was the only opportunity in my life I was given, I never went to college like you did! And I'm able to support you guys and do the best I can to be a good father. I love you very much and have been faithful only to you and this is what I get? " Rod shouted back, tears starting to stream down from his eyes.
"Enough Rod, that's enough!" Emily shouted back, hitting him across the face with her tire. Rod reversed and winced in pain, the right side of his mouth now throbbing. "Were through! And that is that, there's nothing you can do to get me back with you now. Understand, when you come back from this mission, were taking this to divorce court. I want to ensure that I gain full custody of my kids as well; they don't need a bad influence like you in their lives, and they need someone in their life they can count on."
Rod didn't know what to say, he was speechless. How could she say he was a bad influence to their kids when he never did anything to harm their children's moral in the first place? And what did she mean someone they could count on? He knew he was away for long periods of time, but that didn't mean he was never home and he knew he would do anything for his family and protect them if need be.
"Well, if you have nothing else to say, I have to get going then. Me and Jackson have a date tonight," Emily said smugly to him.
"A date? Wait, your dating this guy? For how long has this been going on?" He couldn't believe what was happening. After all those years of being together…
"Guess it won't hurt to tell you now, would it?" She let out a short laugh. "I've been dating Jackson for about five months now, about as long as you have been gone on your last mission. And over the years while you have been away, I've dated about three different cars and rendezvoused with many more, and all of them have been able to give me more attention than you will have ever had." She smiled grimly at her soon to be ex-husband, and turned to her date.
"Come on Jackson, let's go, we have plans for tonight." And with that, Emily and Jackson left, leaving Rod behind in the room by himself. His mouth was gaping with shock.
It had all happened so fast. The one he loved, the one he had waiting on every second for to see once he had returned home, had wanted nothing to do with him anymore. And after all those years he was so faithful to her, she cheated on him behind his back with more cars than he wanted to count. All at once Rod felt like his world had fallen apart, all of the love and effort he put into his family had gone, and now he was left with a lonely broken heart. He had lost his parents, his sons, and the love of his life, and now he had no one. The thought of this sent a wave of distraught over him, and he felt as if he were going to cry. Biting his lower lip and holding back the tears, he rushed to the men's bathroom not too far down the hall from the visitor's area, and wept.
Rod could not remember the last time he had cried, if ever. The feeling was horrible, and he wished that he could stop and suck it up like he normally did when he got upset about something, but he couldn't. The tears kept falling, and in that bathroom, he lost all track of time and reality itself. He felt like he was in a deep hole, one so deep he thought he could not get out of it, no mater how hard he tried. He felt like he would never be able to get over the fact that he had lost everything that he had worked so hard for in his life. He was on his own and all alone again, and therefore his weeping carried on.
Then, after what felt like hours, he finally stopped crying. With a few occasional sniffles he knew he had to man up and get out of the bathroom, and go talk to Pete. With nothing to return to at home, going on another mission was the only thing now left for him to do. Feeling hopeless Rod picked himself up, drove out of the bathroom, and down the hall towards Pete's office. After all that happened, Rod could only imagine what mission Pete had dug up for him.