Chapter 10

Fiona wasn't kidding when she said that she and Jesse would be loud enough to wake up the party animals next door. With a lot of shouting and a few thrown punches, Fiona and Jesse both stomped out of the room and left Michael screaming after them. It hurt him to yell curses at his friends and say he never wanted to see them again. He knew that they knew it was all part of the show, but it sounded too real for a few moments. His face looked sufficiently distressed when the residents on both sides came out, stared at him with slitted eyes, and then returned to the rooms. The motel manager heard about the ruckus and asked him to move out.

"Guess that worked a little too well," he muttered as he walked down the street with the computer tucked into a brief case. He walked past a window and spied his reflection. After a few days, he looked terrible, like he was in competition with Sam to see who had the scruffiest facial hair. He needed to get cleaned up for his showdown with Card. He also had some time to kill to make sure that Fiona was in place and Jesse did his part at the boat dock.

He heard a beep on the burner phone. Opening it up, he saw a text from Jesse. Boom.

All he needed now was to hear from Fi, and he could call Tom Card and set into motion his part of the plan.

Jesse caught a cab to the hospital where he hoped to find Clem and Skip. He approached the front desk and asked, "I wonder if you can tell me where Clem Snow and Skip Newman are, what rooms they're in."

"Skip?"

"Oh, that's a nickname." Jesse tried tor recall when they were first introduced what Clem said his name was. "I think his first name is Stuart."

"Yes, we have a Stuart Newman in 510. You can go right up, Sir."

"Thanks." Jesse entered the private room and found Clem sitting in the chair next to Skip's bed. Skip was unconscious and hooked up to all sorts of equipment. Clem heard feet on the vinyl floor and raised his head, and from the look in his eyes Jesse wasn't sure whether he was relieved or scared to see him. He opted for relieved with a guarded stance. Clem got out of the chair and met him half way into the room.

"Jesse, you found us. Is everybody okay?"

Jesse couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "You care that we're alive?"

A dark frown sliced across Clem's face but was quickly swept away. "Come on, man, I'm sorry! I was trying to make it up to Michael somehow by helping and not trying to kill you all. Please, believe me when I say if there's anything I can do to get Card, let me know." He hesitated, afraid to ask. "Where are Michael, Fiona and Sam?"

"Michael's okay. We're working on a plan to get Card. Fiona is, well, she's taking care of something. But Sam, we don't know where he is right now. He was taken away," Jesse replied. "Long story, but he apparently went back to the beach yesterday to see if you two were gone. It really bothered him that we left you in that cockpit."

"Bet Mike had no qualms about leaving us there, am I right?" A twisted smile crossed Clem's face. "I don't blame him. I would have done the same thing maybe if the tables were turned on me."

"We didn't have time to get you out and get away. Helicopters were coming!"

"Yeah, I know. It all ended well, I guess. We got picked up, Skip made it here and they operated in time to save his life. I just got a bump on the head. I'm fine." He sighed. "Now, about Sam..."

"We have no idea where he is, but he was picked up and transported to Miami on a destroyer," Jesse answered.

"Interesting. The CG's picked us up and brought us right here. They had a couple of Navy boys watching over us until this morning. All of a sudden they took off like a shot." He paused. "Then I got this message." He pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to him. "It's from Card. He wants me to fly up to DC to meet him today."

"It says you're meeting a special package at the airport and will be flying with it to DC." Jesse read part of the note aloud. "You'll be given a new assignment at that time." He folded up the sheet and gave it back to Clem. "I don't understand. What does he want with you in DC?"

"I'm not sure. I have this awful feeling that this package he's talking about is Sam." He tapped the paper against his palm and turned toward the window. "Jesse, if that ticket is a one way, I'll be really worried."

"Okay, just wait. Let me contact Mike and see what he thinks about this." He got on the burner phone. "Hey Mike, it's me. I found Clem and Skip. Skip's been hospitalized, but Clem is okay. He got a note to fly to DC with a package, and he's supposed to meet Card up there."

"Great. Let me give Card a call, and hopefully I can set up an exchange of Sam for the intel." He paused. "Put Clem on the phone."

Jesse handed the phone to him. "Michael wants to talk to you."

"Me?" Clem looked shocked. He picked the phone out of Jesse's hands as if he expected it to turn into scorpions at any second. He placed it up to his ear and said, "Hello, Michael, it's me. Clem."

"I need you in order to make this plan work." The silence was long, and Michael asked, "Clem, are you there?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Mike. I'm just trying to figure out how I earned your trust so quickly. I mean, shouldn't you be wondering if I'm going to kill you?"

"If you keep bringing it up, maybe I should be. But I'm not." He paused for a breath. "Just before Sam went missing, he and I had a... conversation... about you. He would have bet his life on you, he was that certain that you could be trusted."

Clem's mouth twitched. "I guess he really did, didn't he?"

"Yeah. I trust him, so I trust you. After this is over we can talk about apologies and such. Right now we need to save Sam and ourselves."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"I think Card is recalling you to DC because he wants to set up a scenario where you kill me."

"But instead, I'll be set up to kill him?" Clem smiled. "That I can do."

"Hopefully I can just get him busted and locked up for an eternity. I'm ready to contact some people who would be very interested in Card's extra curricular activities. They're in DC, which would make this work perfectly."

"So I should follow Card's instructions and be where he wants me to be?"

"That's correct. Then you look for an opportunity if things appear to go south. Card cannot walk away alive from this meeting, unless he's in handcuffs with the authorities surrounding him."

"I understand, Michael. I promise I won't let you down. Sam said you were the best spy he ever knew. Now I see why."

"Thanks. Good luck, Clem."

"Same to you, Michael. Is there a way I can contact you in an emergency?"

"Get a burner phone and memorize my number. Let me know what your number is so I can call you and you can listen in when I make the meeting with Card."

"Will do."

After the conversation ended, Clem told Jesse the result of the call. "I'm going to go get myself a phone. Can you stay here with Skip?"

"Sure. I'll do that. I'm pretty much waiting for the rest of the plan to come together."

"I'll be back in a little while." Clem rushed out of the room. He didn't have to go far to find a store with phones. He bought one and returned to the hospital. He found Jesse still in the room and Skip was still asleep.

"Hey, how's he doing, anyway," Jesse asked Clem as he sat in a chair near Jesse.

"They've kept him pretty much out of it. He was really lucky, another inch or so and that bullet would have severed his spine. He'll have a lot of healing to do, but they're saying he'll live."

"That's good." Jesse played nervously with his phone while his eyes met Clem's. "I'm sorry you guys had to get into the middle of our business."

"It's not your fault. If I hadn't been hired by Card to kill you, I wouldn't have been in your business. So there's no need to apologize." Clem smiled and sat back in his chair. "As bad as this has been, I'm glad to be on the sidelines right now. At least until I have to go to DC." He let out a deep breath and relaxed in the chair. "I'm not loving this plan of Mike's, but the last thing I wanna do is kill a good man." He glanced at his watch. "I should really get going to the airport. Are you staying here?"

"Yeah, until things are over. By the end of the day, hopefully." Jesse smiled reassuringly. "Mike knows what he's doing."

"Boy, this is some turnaround! Here I am having to trust a guy who was just my target."

"And he has to trust a guy who was determined to kill him and his friends."

"Sounds like a matchup made in heaven, huh?" Clem laughed, grinned, and shook Jesse's hand. "See you later, man. Skip, behave yourself." He patted his friend's leg and left the room.

"It's just you and me now, Skip. Let's hope they pull it off, because if they don't, Fi's gonna have her hands full with a death squad."

Fiona knocked on the back door. She saw Maddie sitting at the cafe table drinking coffee. The usual cigarette hanging from her fingers was missing, and she looked like she hadn't put herself together in days. She knocked again and called her name. "Madeline? Please let me in. It's Fiona. Please, Madeline!"

The sound of her name sparked something in Maddie. She got up, shuffled to the door and opened it a few inches. "Fiona." She glanced around looking for Michael, and when she didn't see him, she appeared relieved. "What are you doing here?"

Fiona's heart went out to the woman. Her voice sounded small and hoarser than normal, but it was obvious she hadn't been smoking. The perpetual blue haze inside the house was gone. With a soft, serious voice, Fiona asked, "Can I come in?"

"Why are you here?" Her brow furrowed and she still held onto the door. Through the crack Fiona could see that she was in her robe and pajamas.

"Something is going on, something very serious, and I need to stay here to watch over you."

"Why?" Maddie's eyes opened a bit.

"It's a long story. If you let me in, we can share a cup of coffee and I'll tell you all about it." Fiona smiled at her in a way that usually melted Maddie's heart.

Her shoulders slumped and she turned away from the door. "Okay. Come on in."

With full cups before them, Fiona told Maddie about the events of the past couple of weeks, from the time they went down to Panama to Sam's being taken and the upcoming plan to capture or kill Card in DC. Fiona watched as she told the story, and she noted with satisfaction that Michael's mother tried in vain to hide her fear for her son. She still loved him. She was just hurting over Nate's death and the misplaced anger that she didn't know how to handle. When this was all over, maybe she would sit down with Michael and eliminate the wall between them. A mother needed her son, and a son needed his mother. The anguish in her eyes when Fiona talked about the risk Michael was taking was proof enough.

"Are you certain that this Clem guy is really the one who shot Nate? Michael said it was some man named Tyler Grey."

Fiona nodded. "Yes. He admitted it to Sam and me."

Maddie rose out of her chair and her voice rattled against the walls as she shrieked, "And you let this man work with Michael? Are you crazy? What is Michael thinking?"

Not sure what to do, Fiona worked on instincts. She got out of her seat and put her arms around Maddie, who began to cry. "Clem has proven that he doesn't want to hurt Michael. He could have shot him, but he didn't. He could have shot us all. He only hit Grey, and very deliberately, I might add. Plus, he helped us get out of Panama."

Maddie nodded. She wasn't happy about it, but there wasn't anything she could do to change what was currently a plan in motion. "I was so cruel to him."

"What?"

"When Michael was here," she replied with a sniffle. "Before you went to Panama, Michael came here and I was so angry. I said things I didn't mean to say, and I pushed him away. I wouldn't let him touch me." Her forehead dropped to Fiona's shoulder. "If something happens and I..."

"Shh, nothing's going to happen to Michael."

"You can't promise that!" Maddie pushed away from her.

Continuing in a soft voice, Fiona said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't promise. Let's just say that I have faith that Michael will come home safe, along with Sam. Jesse is in a safe place right now. Card doesn't appear to care about Skip, so Jesse is staying by his side in case we're wrong."

"And Michael and Sam go charging into the middle of danger again." Maddie sighed heavily. She swiped away the tears and pressed a hand to her forehead. "So, what am I supposed to do?"

"I want you to pack a bag and be ready to move on a moment's notice. We don't really want to be here if a goon squad comes around to kill you." Fiona grinned as an inspiration hit her. "Why don't we go to Disney World?"

"Disney World? Oh yeah, that's right, it's got lots of people and lots of good security." Maddie snorted. "Sam told me that once." The corner of her mouth tipped up, the closest she'd gotten to a smile in weeks. "I don't know why I'm doing this, but, okay, let me get myself together, and we'll go."

Fiona found a piece of note paper and a couple of ancient crayons in the junk drawer. She rolled them in her fingers. They must have been Nate's, because they were still intact. Michael's would most likely have been broken into pieces. With a smile at the thought, she drew a circle with two smaller circles touching the larger one and filled it in with blue, not caring if she went out of the lines. Then she tacked it to the cork board next to the picture of Nate's son Charlie just before she and Maddie left the house. To a stranger, it might look like a child's drawing, but if Michael saw it, he would know in an instant where they went.

Maddie put her bag into the trunk among Fiona's tools and weapons that she always kept inside. Somehow, going to the happiest place on earth seemed so incompatible with that picture. But she had no time to argue. She got into the car. Fiona started it, looked over at her and smiled.

"What?"

"You look really nice today, Madeline."

"Well, I was going out, I figured I better look alive." She fluffed a curl at the back of her head.

They remained silent until they were on the road. Fiona looked over at her and said, "I'm really glad you just came with me, no questions asked."

Maddie sighed and looked out the window at the passing scene. "I've learned over the past few years that sometimes I should just do and not ask."

"I know you don't like it. But it's for your safety."

The older woman turned back to Fiona. "When is it going to be over? When will I be able to live a normal life again, without worrying whether Michael is alive or dead, or where he is, who's after him, or..." She choked back a sob. "Fiona, I'm so tired of him running off and leaving me behind."

"He... he promised me that after this is over, he's done with the agency. We'll just go back to working together helping people."

"You believe that?"

"I do." Fiona smiled. "The way he looked at me when he said it, Madeline, I knew it was true."

"I don't know how anyone can believe anything that comes out of his mouth. All the lies he's told over the years. How much of it was true that he told me?" She sniffled. "The last time we spoke, he tried to apologize, and then he said it was Nate's fault because he didn't listen to Michael and do what he was told."

"He didn't follow Michael's instructions, and he paid the price for it," Fiona replied, knowing she was being harsh, but it was the truth. "Michael didn't even want to take Nate. He would have preferred to take Sam, but Pearce told him Sam wasn't welcome on the job. He knew how much Nate wanted to prove himself, to make Michael proud of him. So Michael gave him his chance." She shook her head. "If he'd known how it would turn out, he wouldn't have let Nate go."

"He should have known something might go wrong."

"Yes, he should have. But he thought that Nate would be safe as just a driver and guide. He should have been. But Nate... well, he was being Nate. He got caught up in the excitement and wasn't thinking clearly."

Maddie thought about that. She knew her younger son always jumped in feet first without considering the consequences. How many times in his life did he wind up crashing and burning because of this tendency? The failed businesses and his marriage to Ruth were all perfect examples that it was as much Nate's fault as anyone's. Tears blinded her and she reached into her bag for a tissue. She silently mopped up the mess and stared out the window.

"Michael and I have to talk when he gets back." She turned to face Fiona, who glanced at her with a small smile of victory. "If he returns."

Fiona reached across the console and squeezed Maddie's hand. "He'll come back. He's got one of the best snipers the Navy ever had watching his back."

"The very same one who tried to kill him?" Maddie scoffed.

"Everyone needs a second chance, and right now, Michael has no choice. He needs Clem to be on his side."

If Michael could put aside animosities and trust a man who was hired to harm him and his friends, maybe she could put aside her animosities and open her heart to a son she didn't always understand but whom she loved just the same.

They'd been silent for a long time when Maddie spoke. "It may seem like I didn't love Michael as much as Nate, but that's not true. I babied Nate, because he was always so needy. Michael was independent, strong, and he could take care of himself. So I never had to give him the same kind of attention that I gave Nate." She sighed deeply and dabbed at more tears. "I see now what a mistake that was."

"Like any son, he just wants his mum to love him. He puts up that wall, but he desperately wants you to break through it."

"I know. I have to work on that." Maddie smiled behind the tears.

"I know you can do it. You're one determined woman, and there's no doubt that Michael got that from you. You two are a lot more alike than you'd care to admit."

Maddie chuckled softly. "Maybe that's why I've been so angry, because I know him and I know myself, and I felt just as guilty for letting Nate go as Michael did for letting his brother work with him." She spied the mile marker. "We're almost there."

"Yes, you are." Fiona smiled and gave the car a little more gas.