ShadowShot : L'enfant Guerrier Page 18

  “Jack can take care of both of us.”

  “Yes of course he can, but I knew he would be distracted.” He laughed. “Sophia do you love him?”

  “More than I could put into words.”

  “Then why would you make him leave you? I know your history and I know your reasons but Sophia my dear we never know what’s coming down the pipe next. What if you only had 10 or 20 years together? Wouldn’t that be better than nothing? I’ve never known two people that were more suited to be together. I fear you may have broken his heart.”

  “I’ve broken a lot of men’s hearts, but never one that I was in love with before. Please George this is really painful for me. Just tell me if he’s all right now, and where he is.”

  “As far as I know he’s all right and he’s in New York. You know that I keep an eye out on him, but it’s best that you don’t tell him if you should communicate again. I know it would make him very prickly.”

  “As long as it’s for his good. Otherwise you would force me to turn against you.”

  “I respect you for saying that and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now tell me would you like to go back to work for us?”

  “I don’t know. Definitely not with the same job but perhaps if there was something else that interested me.”

  “All right Sophia. I will see what I can come up with for you. You know you can call me anytime.”

  “Thank you George. I appreciate it.”

  When Sophia hung up the phone, she went back to her flat and thought about her conversation with George. Everything he had said about Jack was true. What neither George nor Jack could understand was what it was like for me growing up. They weren’t there. They look at me and see a beautiful woman for her age. If I already looked old and unattractive it would be easier for them to understand. The gift of beauty that the gods had given me had been my bane all my life.

  She remembered when she was probably about eight years old. She had gone to a neighbor’s home to play with their little girl. Her friend’s mother was known to be a nasty woman; so nasty that her husband had run off and left her.

  She said to Sophia, “I don’t understand why your father is with an ugly old woman like your mother when he could have someone like me.”

  She burst into tears and ran home crying. When her mother asked what was wrong, she told her. Her mother was accustomed to this kind of talk and it no longer bothered her, but she was sad for her little girl. Her father was in the next room and heard what was being said. He came into the room and took them both in his arms.

  “Sophia, it does not matter what those people say. They’re just jealous of what your mother and I have. It is something that they would want to have for themselves, but don’t. Do you know what that is Sophia my daughter?”

  Sophia shook her head and said, “No.”

  He said, “It’s love Sophia, real true love. There is not another woman in the whole world that I would rather be with. Those people are small-minded, stupid, mean jealous fools. You will meet plenty of them in your life, but you must learn to never let them bother you.”

  27

  REMINISCING WITH COGNAC.

  George sat there thinking about the conversation with Sophia. Well he had tried to put them together. That’s all he could do. It was a shame. Anyway she was safe and out of her predicament. He had never met a woman like her before. She had expensive tastes and liked living in the fast lane. Jack on the other hand knew how to handle himself in any situation, or any place, but his heart lay in the mountains and the desert. Unless Jack found a way to start making more money, someday what he had saved would run out. He could not see Sophia living a life of just getting by. He hoped that Jack would contact him. It would be good to have Jack come back to work for them. Even beyond that he missed him. He thought of Jack as the son he never had.

  He wondered if Jack would get back in the game again. Maybe they could see more of each other as friends, father and son, or uncle and nephew. Only he was always working. Maybe, more vacations, less stress and definitely quitting smoking these damn cigarettes before they kill me. It was a rainy, gloomy day in Paris. He sat at his desk watching the rain roll down the windowpane. It was a good day to meditate about his life and those around him. Sometimes he wondered if his life really had meaning. He dedicated it to keeping his country ahead of the game. He supposed he could think of himself as a patriot, but that might be a little much. After all he made a lot of money, and been with a lot of women, and lived a life of luxury and excitement. There really wasn’t much sacrifice there. Considering the trade-off of no family, no children, no one to be in love with, and no one to love him, maybe it had been a sacrifice.

  He pondered what it would be like to come home to a loving wife and some kids. No, he was deluding himself to think of it even as a possibility. He had known other agents that tried it. Always it ended up the same way, kids that hardly knew their father and then divorce. My kids are my team. They work for me, and I always try to take the best care of them I can.

  Sophia and Jack were very special to him. Sophia because she was the most beautiful exciting woman that he had ever met, and then because Jack cared about her so much. However, Jack it was different with Jack. He thought to himself what an incredible boy. The general was right to do everything possible to ensure that he had a normal life they could do whatever they wanted to try and make him forget, but it would always be there in his subconscious. He could be a cold-blooded killer and has the potential to be the ultimate warrior. He knew he was right about the boy after all, did I not graduate in psychology.

  He would have made the perfect agent. I would’ve always been there to watch over him. When his mother had married his stepfather, Frank, she could not have made a better choice. Of course, she had me to thank for introducing them. His mother left to her own devices probably would’ve been more drawn to another intellectual and that would not have worked at all. All I did was see to it that they had the opportunity to meet and spend some time together. Frank did all the rest, as I knew he would. He was handsome and manly. He had been a brave soldier, had grown up among Native Americans, and served in the Pacific in the code talker unit. He was a gentleman and an experienced outdoorsman with a good sense of humor. There was nothing to dislike about him. He had been a perfect father for Jack. It was a shame he had passed away, but even the manner of his death made Jack that much stronger.

  Jack was not a scholar. Going to college had not been in the picture. Nevertheless he was smart and quick with excellent common sense. He thought when Jack had decided to leave home and traipse around Europe, I couldn’t have been more enthusiastic. I knew he would end up in France. It was in his blood. Of course he would run out of money. In one of my more brilliant moves I saw to it that he heard about the mercenaries and felt he would join them. He didn’t show any desire to join the army, anyway that was all too slow, but with the mercenaries everything would be accelerated from training to combat. Of course, he could have been killed but I somehow knew that he would not.

  The action in the Congo was most beneficial to my ultimate plans for him. The killing of the woman and her two children by the Belgium was entirely unnecessary. But it was war. It was rumored that Jack responded by killing him. Had I not put an end to the brother, it could have gotten very ugly for Jack. Alas. ‘The best laid plans of mice and men’ never work out.

  George poured himself another shot of cognac, swirled it around the glass, and thought some more. I was even the one who gave him his codename – ShadowShot. Knowing his past, it fit him perfectly.

  Two major problems occurred simultaneously. Jack had the talent to become the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse all rolled into one. He could have been the defender of the home of the brave and the land of the free. However, he suffered from the major affliction of being unbelievably moral and incredibly ethical. Not a good combination for a super agent.

  Moreover, if those shortcomings weren’t enough, I started to like him and enjoy h
is company. He was a breath of fresh air. If I couldn’t make him into a super- agent then what was the point of putting him in the line of fire anymore. I didn’t want him hurt. I suppose it was an opportune event when his comrade from mercenary days was taken out by the contract. It was vital for him to go to cover. It was a perfect time to quit working for the Company. I knew I would miss him but I wanted him to be safe.

  When Sophia needed Jack to rescue her in Australia, it was sure to be dangerous. I felt both needed each other and decided to let Jack make his own choices concerning a rescue. I took every precaution I could to back him up, even though I knew he would be furious if he found out.

  The one thing I always anguished over was whether or not to tell him about his childhood history. His parents had been able to keep it from him all of his life, but I knew that it ate at him from within and without.

  The knowledge would have served him well if he had become the super-agent I wanted him to be. His code of honor wouldn’t let him become that person.

  If he never found out, there would always be a shadow over him. He would forever be driven by a force he could not understand. It was like if a young girl had been raped or a child had experienced a tremendous trauma and had buried the incident so deep they had no knowledge of it. The problems associated with it would always come to the surface, in some other form, to plague the person until they were able to see it, deal with it, and then bury it for good. I suppose it was good that he was shot and then cracked his head and went into a coma. Had he not, there was no telling how he would’ve turned out. It was interesting, the doctor in England told him, that the bullet had only penetrated his back a little more than half an inch. It must’ve had an inadequate powder supply or it would’ve gone right through him, blowing his heart out. Jack was always lucky.

  No if Jack was not going to use it, then it was better that he should know about it to be able to get over it. I should find a way to tell him. If I hadn’t intervened in Jack’s life I wonder what would’ve happened to him. I truly believed that with his childhood history he would’ve come to no good, gotten in trouble, probably gone to jail. What a good thing it is that we can always justify our actions.

  I think I will go see Jack. He needs me. But the truth is that I need Jack. I need someone to care about. Maybe there would still be some way to get him and Sophia back together. What a perfect couple to be working for the Company, not the hard stuff just intelligence. Christ almighty I really am a hopeless bastard.

  28

  THE CARIBBEAN

  I was lying in bed in my hotel reading when the phone rang, “Hello Jack.” “George is that you?”

  “Most assuredly my friend. I’m in the lobby can I come up?”

  “I only hesitated for a half a second, “Hell yes. Come right up.”

  When the knock at the door came, I looked through the peephole. It was George all right. We gave each other a hug.

  I said, “You look good George.”

  “Not as good as you Jack.”

  I had the 1911- 45 that I had taken from boyfriend tucked in my pants in the small of my back. I pulled it out and said, “I won’t be needing this will I?”

  As an act of faith, I put it on the mantle over the fireplace.

  “Before we start talking about the good old days if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here? And how did you find me?”

  “Come on my boy, you know that’s my job. Actually Sophia told me you had gone to New York. The rest was pretty easy. As to why I’m here, I’m on vacation and I’ve missed you son. I thought it would really be nice to see you.”

  That was the first time he had called Jack son. Even using it in the broad sense made him feel good.

  A knife twisted in Jack’s stomach but he had to ask, “So you’ve seen her?”

  “No. Talked to her on the phone. She’s back in Paris. She seems to be all right, considering. Jack, she really does love you. She told me so. And that’s part of why she feels that you can’t be together. I take it she’s told you all about her childhood history. You can’t deny she has a good point. You know a woman like that is high maintenance. It would cost you a lot to keep her in the life that she would expect.”

  “George old friend, is this leading up to you telling me I need to make more money so I can get her back? Maybe come back to work for you?”

  “No, no Jack. I promise you it’s not that. I’m just trying to point out the truth.” “Does she want to come back to work for you? What does she plan on doing?’’ ‘‘She doesn’t know, definitely not her old job. No plans yet.’’

  “One last question George, then I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Is she with anyone yet?”

  “I don’t believe so. You shouldn’t torture yourself. You know a woman like that always attracts men, as a man like you, always attracts women. Which I assume you already have, unless you’ve started to wear those dangling earrings over there on the floor.”

  George didn’t want to give away anything about Australia. He nonchalantly mentioned that the rescue had come off very professionally. “I checked up on it for you. There’s no heat.”

  “Thanks George. I appreciate it. Now tell me the truth. What are you really doing here? It’s really good to see you, but I definitely don’t want to go back to work.”

  “I know you probably feel you haven’t always been able to believe me. This time I promise you that you can. Jack, I’ve given up on you being a super- agent. You have what it takes to be one, but you’re just too ethical. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a good thing. I give you my word I won’t try to persuade you again. I enjoy your company. I’ve missed you. I’m on a vacation, which I definitely need. This hotel is expensive but I took the liberty of getting a room down the hall. You have been holed up in here too long anyway. So I was thinking since I have a couple weeks, let’s go to the Caribbean, or anywhere you want. The trip is on me. It will be good for both of us. What do you say? Will you keep an old man company?”

  It would be good to get out of New York. It was starting to get pretty gloomy. George had always been a lot of fun, especially when I wasn’t working for him. I was always at ease when I was on the water or near it. Maybe I should think about buying a place on the water. I’d have to check out more potential areas first to know where I wanted to be.

  Being in the Caribbean with George was really fun. It was where we bonded. We chose St. Lucia as our island paradise. Sometimes known as ‘Helen of the West Indies’ due to it changing hands between the French and British. It was a beautiful gem of an island, the perfect place for us to get out of our individual realities for a couple of weeks. Beyond the stunning beauty of the island, the warmth of the people, and the great food, was the time that it afforded George and me to spend together.

  Two weeks went quickly. George seemed to really be enjoying himself.

  One night when we both had a little too much to drink he said, “Jack you know I don’t have any family left. My parents have been gone a long time. My younger brother died in the Korean War, and my older sister lost her life to cancer. I really like you Jack. I feel like you’re…. well, like you’re the son I never had or maybe I’m like an uncle. I just want you to know that if you ever need anything or want help, you have only to ask. Oh hell. There I said it. Now I hope you don’t think that sounds silly.’’

  ‘‘Not at all George, I’m honored I really am. From the first day I met you I liked you. To tell you the truth, for some time now I’ve thought of you as my uncle, especially when you’re not getting me into trouble. You know I’ve never had an uncle. If it’s all right with you I’ll call you Tio. It’s Spanish for uncle.’’

  ‘‘Yes I know. I’d like that Jack.’’

  ‘‘Well then Tio, what do you say we go out to the bars and find some dark skinned beauties?’’

  “That is a splendid notion my boy.”

  The next morning I called George’s room, “Are you and your lady friend up to getting some bre
akfast?”

  After breakfast the four of us went to the beach. George suggested we take a walk along the beach to the old abandoned lighthouse.

  “I think I’ll just take a little nap. I’m kind of worn out from last night. Why don’t you three go ahead?”

  My new friend made a joke about wearing me out, and they took off.

  29

  SOPHIA’S SEA

  Actually, instead of sleeping, I was slipping in into the Sophia blues. I was seeing her in my mind, walking up from the water after her swim, to lie down next to me. There was that day in Bali when we had driven out to a secluded beach with our snorkeling gear. The sun was bright. The water was warm with excellent visibility. We were cruising around slowly holding hands. I thought to myself, here I am with this magnificent woman on this beautiful day, looking down at another world. Within our world, how could anything be better than this? I was about to find out. I felt her stop and pull back on my arm. Without taking my head out of the water, I turned as she beckoned to me underwater. I thought she wanted me to look at something. Instead she put her face up to mine, took her snorkel out, and gently removed mine. Then she kissed me. When it became a question of the longest kiss underwater or drowning, we disengaged and purged the air from our snorkels.

  Sophia was not finished with me yet. We were naked. She touched my face with her hand and slowly ran it down my neck and chest. She took me in her hand. Then she flipped over on her back and guided me inside of her. We were in another world. Her face was half in and half out of the water. Her view was sky on top and the surface of the water below. My face was entirely in the water. I watched the world below, kept afloat by the slightest movement of our fins. The sun beat down upon us. The warm water enveloped us. Schools of small fish swam all around us.

  Tendrils of her long hair floated in front of my face and then coiled themselves around my neck, as if to say you belong to me and I’ll never let you go. Then she locked her arms around me and pulled me down deeper inside her. We came together slowly as we often did, but kept on and on and on. When the waves of passion finally stopped, we continued to stay coupled without saying a word. We just drifted. I had never experienced anything close to this in my life, and probably never would again. We floated in a dream world losing all track of time and space. Finally I realized I couldn’t see the bottom anymore. We had floated quite a ways out to sea. It was time to swim back to terra firma.