I woke up over a stack of papers at 4 am sitting over a desk; I felt Jesse's hand over my shoulder.
-"Man did you fell asleep on my desk?"- He says worried
Stretching myself with the hope of releasing some of the kinks in my sore muscles I told him:
-"Yeah, I was looking at some documents my friend from the FBI gave me. Looks like these guys specialize in privacy, they never contact their employer and manage themselves by an account in the Caiman Islands so even if we caught them they couldn't tell us who ordered the attack"- I said tired, my poor Elsa is worried sick about her son and I can't do anything to ensure she will be safe.
I've been considering breaking up from her, if my way of life caused her harm I would never forgive myself. Nate's death proved us how dangerous was to let untrained people stay too close of the line of fire.
-"its okay Sam, we'll get them. You should get some proper sleep, we'll hang out with Michael in a few hours"- Jesse seems optimistic, finally the meds are working.
I've been crashing in his place for a week now because the big former CIA agent is too much of a baby to take proper care of himself, I would love to blame him for not getting further into finding out who were the people behind all this mess but the truth is that I'm stuck at a dead end. I tried every technique below my belt but this so called pack left without a trace, not even the persuasive Chuck Finley managed to achieve usable information. Fiona did her best as well but like me she was empty handed, nonetheless she gave me good news last night, she told me Mike was feeling better.
I hate to admit it but this is the kind of trouble I need my best friend to figure out. It's a big bruise to my ego whenever I have to ask him to solve the troubles I get into. There is no doubt that I can usually take good care of myself but hard as I try I can't beat him, he's younger, in better shape and smarter than I am. Let's let something clear I'm a capable, experienced and dangerous man as well but standing next to someone like the legendary Michael Westen makes anybody look like the dumb side kick. Over the years I managed to contain the feelings of inferiority and professional jealousy that come with being friends with Mike, he is a loyal good man and I care deeply about him.
Which makes it even harder for me not being able to get the monsters behind this, he needs to rest but if we don't make a move soon they might try again and finish the job they started a few days ago.
Jesse offers me a beer but I decline, when in trouble you can't let anything like alcohols cloud your mind. Lucidity is sometimes the difference between winning and losing a battle, especially when there is so much at stake. I say my goodnight to Jesse after I see him take the antibiotics and I fall asleep in his guest room. Tomorrow things will look better in the bright light of day, they have to.
…
We get in his loft at mid morning, carrying a bag of groceries with the blueberry yoghurt he likes so much. Mickey seems like himself again and Fiona doesn't show the exhaustion she complained to me about a few days before, it seems natural when we gather around his table brainstorming to find a strategy against our enemies.
By noon we seem to have run out of ideas, far from giving up Fiona and Jesse go to by some coffee, hoping it would help us while using it as an excuse to get some air.
Michael stares at the window and seems lost in thought, his face turns a little paler and there is something strange about his eyes, I can't put my finger on it.
-"How you feeling Mickey?"- I say taking him from the window and into his room; clearly he's still sick and should get some sleep –"Lets get you some rest buddy"-
He takes my hand away and tells me –"I'm fine Sam, I was just thinking"- He chuckles to get the importance out of it and right away he gets serious –"We have gotten anywhere because we were tackling this from the wrong angle"- and then I swear I heard him mutter something like –"dad was right all along"-
-"What do you mean?"- I don't know at this point whether he just had a stroke of genius or brain damage.
-"This "pack" as they call themselves, they seem to have left Miami right? Why would they do that if it was me they were out for? Sam I don't think I was the target, I was merely a pawn and when the bomb exploded we were just collateral damage."-
-"Keep going"- I try to put the upcoming inflow of his reasoning in my head, when his grey matter get hyperactive you better brace yourself for the ride.
-"If wanted me dead they would have tried something already, besides all my past enemies wanted to use me for their own schemes I'm more worthy alive than dead. It was Evan that got kidnapped and Elsa contacted, it was her son that got in the line of fire and her boyfriend"- he said pointing at me –"that would get involved to help her. She was the target Sam; she's the one whose life they tried to ruin not mine."-
-"All right Mickey I'll play along, but who would hate her so much? She's not the kinda woman who gets in trouble with the wrong kind of people, she's honest and doesn't deal with the shady element"- If he thinks Elsa would do something illegal we are in for a fight.
He goes to his laptop and types furiously, a few seconds later he turns the screen at me –"Look at this Sam. Elsa's rival company just bought all the actions of a British enterprise that was auctioned three days ago, if she hadn't been hiding from the men that almost killed her son she would have bought it and in less than a year she would have won millions. Not only that but since she wasn't even present during this acquisition I bet investors lost some trust into her company and now her rival is at the top. Imagine if Evan had died, she would have been too upset to make a proper handling of her enterprise for months if not years, it would all be over and her rival would have no competition"-
The laptop showed the front page of a local business newspaper and the face of the man that according to Mike was responsible for all of this, Julien Noser. I believed him, deep down I knew he was right, but if that man was going to face what I had in store for him I better be certain he was guilty.
-"If you are right there will be some paper trail connecting this guy with the pack, I'll call Barry on it. Once I get the evidence I'll handle this guy"- I said already contemplating my revenge.
-"Great as soon as Fi and Jesse get back we'll…"-
-"Sorry Mike, there is no we this time, it is my lady friend on the line now so I will handle this"-
-"Sam you can't go after someone this big on your own you need us"- He gets defensive because he knows what I'm planning to do and he doesn't like it. How complicated things can be when your best friend knows you better than you know yourself.
And now I feel another face off with my best friend, we had a few over the years. Most of the times it was because we were keeping each other from making a huge mistake, I remember a time when he wanted to go all lone ranger after the men that tried to blew him out and I had to beat him out of the door until he could think straight, on another occasion he stopped me from killing the bastard that killed my friend with my bear hands.
He thinks he's stopping me from making a bad choice but the truth is that all I want is to save Mickey from another unnecessary fight, he is about to tackle something big and he will need all the downtime he can get.
Now I wish I could just fight it off this time as we had so many times before but two of his ribs were broken during the reanimation, shit I hate that word and all it implies. I don't have the finesse to control the force of my blows and if by accident I crashed another rib I would cause him an unstable thorax seriously affecting his respiratory system, which would result in yet another trip to the ER. It pains me to think about it and I would deeply insult him if I said it out loud but he is too frail for this right now.
So right now I will play a different game, I'll pretend to be persuaded by his reasonable ways and as soon as the coast is clear I'll make my move.
…
Barry gave me all the evidence I could obtain, he tracked a heavy sum of money from his account into a secret one in the Caiman's that matched the number I got from the pack. Mike thinks tomorrow I'll handle the evidence to the police so Noser will be thrown into jail.
I feel the adrenaline cursing through me; I haven't done this kinda thing well… ever. Barry is in on the plan and he is terrified. It is almost midnight and for the first time in my life I am about to kill someone in cold blood.
We are sitting in my car near a forgotten marina, close to the one where we were attacked, no surveillance cameras or any sign of civilization in miles.
-"Sam I know I owe you but this is way out of my league"- Barry was about to have a panic attack.
-"Yes you owe me! Big time. Don't worry after this one not only we're even but I'll owe you, the hard part is over you already called him right?"- I try to soothe him
-"Yes I called him and said I tracked his last financial movements, he's done several frauds aside from trying to kill you guys. I told him that if he didn't pay me a million bucks I'll rat him out. Sam how do you know he won't send someone else to meet me? What if he sends an assassin? I'll be dead before you even get to do… hum… do I wanna know what you're gonna do?"- He is shaking now; all I can do is hope that when it comes to it he'll do his part.
-"No Barry is best if you don't know, he thinks he's dealing with a blackmail artist about a few minor frauds. After his last criminal activity gone wrong he'll probably try to take this matter in his own hands. I'm pretty sure he will come alone and try to kill you himself, most business criminals know that the more people is involved in a criminal activity the bigger are the chances to get caught"-
-"What if you're wrong?"-
-"Run for cover, I'll handle it"- I tell him showing the confidence I don' really feel. I'm about to kill a man using an improvised sketchy scheme and if this goes wrong an innocent man (well I'm not sure I can label Barry as innocent) will be killed. Mike will be really disappointed when he finds out; Fiona on the other hand will be pissed off because she wasn't invited to the carnage.
Too late to back down, a car pulled not far from us. I'm hidden in the back seat, Noser knows who I am if he sees me he'll try to escape. I sigh in relief when it is him the one that gets out of the car and not an assassin of sorts.
I give credit to Barry, once it's time to act he toughs out and plays his part to perfection. He doesn't wait for an introduction or small talk he simply barks: -"You got my money?"-
Noser shows him a large suitcase –"All of it, but before I give it to you, you'll tell me how did you manage to access my accounts"- He says in his petulant tone, I see the way he slowly reaches out below his designer suit and you don't need to be a psychic to know there is a gun underneath. He will try to kill Barry as soon as he knows whether there is someone else involved.
-"I have lots of experience in that matter"- Barry says coldly and my instinct tells me he might crack if this doesn't end soon.
-"You will have to be more explicit"- Noser is about to lose his patience I don't have much time, I don't need it anyway.
While the short exchange of words took place I got out of the car without making a sound, now I'm standing right behind the man that tried to destroy the woman I love and almost kills my best friend. The only sound I made was the unlocking of my gun two inches away from the back of his neck; he freezes and raises his hands.
-"Who are you?"- I can tell for the tone of his voice that he thinks he can bargain his way out of this, money will not be your way out Julien, not today.
Barry pales and slowly moves out of the way turning his back on me which allows me to work with more freedom, that's good because I don't want him to see.
-"My name is Samuel Axe, this is for Elsa and Michael"- I say right before I pull the trigger. Right until that moment I secretly hoped there would be a superior force that stopped me from doing this, but there was none of that the little piece of metal penetrated his head and lights were out.
It was quiet, unceremonious and simple. My victim fell flat on the floor with no agony whatsoever, no last words of importance and no dignity. I dragged the body into the dark swamp. As if sent from above or perhaps from down below an alligator meets me on the shore taking the body deep into the dark water, it will never rise again, not in one piece.
…..
I left Barry in his home, the only thing he said on the way back was: -"You owe me now, big time"- And he was right I did.
It is morning now and I'm using termite to burn my weapon into cinders, Michael comes into my house with Fiona and Jesse by his side. With one look at me he knows I can sense the tension around him.
Fiona makes up an excuse and drags Jesse out forcing him to buy her breakfast, to her credit she knows when to stay away from guy's issues.
-"Sam, what did you do?"- He's using that warning tone again and I feel like a chastised little boy.
-"I think you can guess Mike"- I'm playing tough but the truth is that I don't want to verbalize my actions because of guilt.
He takes deep breath not to explode in anger, he knows there is nothing he can do right now.
-"What on earth were you thinking? You could go to jail Sam and for what? We could have brought justice without breaking the law, now you have blood in your hands and that will have consequences"- The calming breaths are not working he's about to lose it.-"I knew you were up to something but I could never imagine you would kill someone like that"-
-"Quit preaching you have done it as well, many times if I'm not mistaken"- I defend myself from the guilt he's pulling out from me.
-"I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN ME!"- He yells and it breaks my heart to see the hurt in his eyes –"What you just did I've done it more times I can remember, and for that Sam I will pay the price. But you are not that kind of man you are a better person, one thing is the battlefield or self defense but this crosses a line that should not be tampered with. You taught me that!"-
The poor guy is on a guilt trip bigger than mine; unlike him my line of work was always clear and simple. We were the good guys, the cavalry that comes out and saves the day while Mickey worked on the shadows and balanced himself within grey areas. Many times the darkness flirted with him and I had the responsibility to drag him out of it. Now I realize he looked up to me, maybe not on the technical area but as a morally better person, now I left him down.
-"It's not that far from noon buddy, why don't you go buy a few beers and we talk this out?"- I try to lighten the mood, he grumbles something about enjoying my booze while I still could cause there was no decent alcohol where we were going.
…..
By mid afternoon the beers worked their magic and loosened us up, I gave him the details and he was satisfied to know that there was no evidence around that would compromise me. He was worried about Barry but I told him he could be trusted. He decides he drank enough and would walk to the loft to clear his head, Fiona took his car anyway.
I think I was a much more drunk than I thought because I had no idea were the words in my head came from, I just couldn't stop them from blurting out of my mouth.
-"We all have a chance for redemption Michael, but it doesn't come easy for anyone, it's not granted we have to fight for it. Don't worry we'll get there eventually, all of us."- I don't know what the hell did that mean, even my voice sounded different when I said it. That's it I'll never drink again, well at least until the next weekend.
Far from freaking out he smiles at me as if he got the message, he seems liberated from a heavy burden and his face lights up in a way I hadn't seen for a long time.
All he says is –"Thank you"- and walks out of the door. -"You're welcome son"- I whisper after he leaves, again not knowing why.
THE END.
Thank you for all your reviews and it's wonderful to read "Pieces of time" while I wrote this, I think both stories had a rare synergy between them. As requested for Preeti I'll try to write an outtake from chapter 3 from Michael's POV and it will be M rated.
