Agent for a Cause (The Agents for Good), page 11
He turned to her, “Nikolai Gravitausky is Tyre’s real name.”
Lisa’s eyebrows rose expressively, “Wow!” She said exclaiming softly giving Anna a new appreciative glance.
James’s face had switched from shock directly to concern. “Where’s Tyre?”
“I don’t know.” Anna replied.
“When did you see him last?” James asked.
Anna looked down, as she unconsciously felt at the diamond rings on her finger, “Our wedding day.”
Lisa and James looked at each other meaningfully, as a short sob shook through Anna. Lisa smoothly transferred a sleeping Taleah to James and moved over to Anna.
Lisa gave Kevin a comforting smile as she slid around behind Anna and enfolded her with her arms. Anna didn’t resist the hand that eased her head back to rest against Lisa’s shoulder.
Anna just kept crying, “I want him! I need him!”
Lisa just held her tightly and kissed the top of her head softly, “I know honey!”
Kevin just watched what took place a silent witness to the scene of raw emotion. James disappeared with Taleah and then he was back alone kneeling before Anna.
He took her hands into his grasp, “Anna I’ll help you anyway I can. Can you tell me a little more what happened?”
Anna nodded, as she tried to stifle her emotions down. Lisa pulled the baby blanket off of her shoulder and handed it to Anna.
“Oh no I’ll get stuff on it!”
“That’s what washing machines are for. Blow your nose honey.”
Anna took the blanket and wiped at her face and sat up a little straighter.
“What do you want to know?” She asked.
James shrugged, “Start wherever you like.”
Anna looked pensive for a moment about where to start. “I met Tyre at a bar I was working at. I’ve had hard times for a while.” She quickly added, as if in a way of an excuse for being a barmaid.
“One night I noticed this guy at the end of the bar watching me. It was all he did for hours. He kept coming back at intermittent times over the course of a year and a half. At first I was a little creeped out by it, but as time went on I got more curious about him. Finally one night I decided to confront him and rattle his cage some. To my surprise he stuck around. We had a date and things really heated up. I liked him and he seemed to find contentment from just watching me breathe. We got closer and I saw the genuine person that he was even though he tried to hide it. Things got even more serious and we decided to marry. My past stepped in though. I’m something of an activist in conjunction with autism matters, because of my son and what caused him to become autistic. I’m scheduled to appear before the Senate in a little under two months. If things go well some very wealthy private companies could lose huge amounts of money and become liable to be sued. One company in particular wanted my movement stopped. I think they killed some of the members of my team and they scared the rest of them off, but I refused to stop. They sent assassins and if it wasn’t for Tyre I would be dead and Kevin would be alone. Tyre killed the men they sent and stayed with me until I was better. He was gone most of the next day and when he came back he told me I was safe and that I didn’t have to worry about them coming for me ever again. I don’t know what he did to guarantee that but I believe him. The next afternoon we were married. We left the courthouse and started back to my apartment to….” Anna glanced at Kevin.
Lisa smoothly interjected, “To have fun.”
Anna nodded her head with a rosy tint to her cheeks. “Tyre must’ve seen someone or sensed something was off. All I know is that he hustled us into a bistro across the street from our apartment complex and called a security guard at the apartments. The security guard checked my room and then Tyre’s. The whole floor exploded, when he checked Tyre’s apartment. I imagine you saw or heard something about the fire in Philadelphia a month ago?”
James nodded grimly.
“I said something I shouldn’t have as I watched those people die. I asked Tyre, ‘I thought you said I was safe?’ I was still too caught up in the moment of how I had almost died to comprehend in that moment that I wasn’t the target, but that Tyre was instead. He said as much, as I watched him putting stuff together in his mind almost knowing what he intended to do before he did it. He kissed me and told me he loved me and then he ran away. I understand what he was thinking. I know he just wants to keep me and Kevin safe, but I don’t want to be safe! Truly it’s impossible to ever be safe from any form of mishap. You could be nothing but safe conscious and still be taken out by a drunken driver or a falling meteor. I want to find Tyre and have the life it was intended for us to have together! I do not want to live in fear, but neither do I want to live life alone! I’ve weighed the risks. Yes, if Kevin and I are with Tyre then we are more in the line of fire, but it’s a risk I’m willing to make in order to experience the life I know we could have together. It’s worth the risk and there are no guarantees with either route that is chosen. I want to tell him that to his face! Please if you can will you tell me where he is?” Anna asked imploringly.
James’s face was nothing but kindness, “Like you said there is a higher risk with being together. I’ve had to face that reality in my own life. But you’re right living life to the fullest always comes first otherwise you might live physically longer, but not really experience what living should be about. Tyre is a very emotional kind of guy believe it or not. Sometimes he lets himself act on something in the emotion of the moment before he’s considered all the angles. I think he’ll come to the same conclusion as you have, even as Lisa and I have.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Anna asked in concern.
James looked down and then back up, “Anna I’m not sure I can find Tyre for you, but I’m going to try don’t fear! Why I said what I did is to give you hope that he might figure things out and return on his own.”
Anna shook her head no, “Even if he did figure it out he would be too embarrassed to come back, because he would think he had failed me and that I hated him now. He’s fragile like that emotionally. He really doesn’t think anyone can truly love him. He won’t come back, not on his own!”
“I think she’s right James.” Lisa added softly from behind Anna.
After a moment of consideration Flint nodded his head in grim acknowledgment that they were likely right about how Tyre would respond. “I’ve worked with Tyre for many years now and I know places that he frequents from time to time. I knew that he frequented Philadelphia and I’ve been concerned about him ever since the explosion. If he thinks he’s being hunted then he’s completely gone to ground and he won’t frequent any of his usual places.”
“So you’re saying it’s hopeless! That we can’t find him?”
“No I didn’t say that! But it is going to be more difficult to find him. I work with other people like Tyre. We frequent places, but we only have one home, which we keep secret above all else. A friend of mine, Galloway, bet that he could find not only the location of my home within three months, but also Tyre’s. To my surprise Tyre seemed interested in the bet and Galloway offered way too much incentive in order to entice Tyre to take the bet for his own good. Tyre took the bet and so did I. Tyre found Galloway’s secret home in exactly three hours four minutes and forty seven seconds. It took Tyre just over a month to find my home here in Italy. That’s how he knew the address that he gave to you. No one but him knows of this place. I searched as hard as I could for Tyre’s home with no luck. I did find one clue though that I never let on to around Tyre about.”
“What is it?” Anna asked.
“It’s a twelve digit number code that was part of a communication that I know was sent from Tyre’s home. I tried everything I could to crack that code and trace it back to its origin. I even used an old supercomputer to run computations on the number! And I still got nothing!” Flint exclaimed in remembered exasperation.
Anna’s lips curved slightly and she smiled, “Do you still have that code?”
James looked at her askance, “You think you can solve it?”
“Perhaps.”
He got up and went to a table and wrote down the number from memory and returning he handed the paper to Anna somewhat skeptically. Anna didn’t even look at the number, but instead handed it to Kevin. She reached down for her purse and pulled his iPad out.
“Kevin I need you to find where Tyre is living so we can go and be with him.”
He signed something to her with his hands.
“Yes we will stay with him and you two can play more chess games.”
He took the iPad and the piece of paper, which he glanced at briefly. Files began to shift under his agile fingers on the iPad, as James looked on curiously.
James glanced at his watch at almost the same time as Kevin handed his iPad to his mother. Anna looked at the screen, “It looks like a big island. Do you know where it is?”
She handed the tablet up to James, who was looking from one to the other of them, especially at Kevin. He took the tablet with its topography map and the red flashing icon on it.
“It’s Iceland!”
Anna stood up her hands twisted together again with tension, “Do you think you could take us there, please? I hate to ask, but I need help!”
“Within the hour.” James replied.
“Hold on there!” Lisa interrupted.
Pressing on Anna’s shoulder and leading Kevin by the hand Lisa ushered them from the room as she said, “You’ve both come very far and I won’t have you leaving my house without a decent meal to tide you over until you reach your new home. Aunt Maria could you please show our guests to the kitchen and have chef whip something up special for them?”
Anna and Kevin followed the older woman to the kitchens.
Lisa reappeared after collecting Taleah, who had stirred awake at the sound of the voices in the hall. Lisa held Taleah straddled on her hip, as she stepped up next to her husband with a teasing smile. He was still standing there holding the tablet.
“Has the mighty Flint been given a healthy taste of humility today?” Lisa asked with a purr.
He nodded and she laughed delightedly. She kissed him sweetly.
He looked at her, “What was that for?”
“That was for being the wonderfully sweet man that you are to give up your own time to help someone else who is in need.”
She swatted his rear hard with one hand then.
“Hey!” He exclaimed in reaction.
“And that’s so you’ll hurry back to me sugar baby!” She said with her voice full of suggestion.
He reached for her, but she stepped back waving a finger, “Dear, we have guests!”
“So?”
She gave him that look and he broke off his pursuit and chuckled. She took his hand and together they walked toward the kitchen.
“That kid found Tyre in less than thirty seconds! That’s beyond amazing!” James exclaimed on the walk to the kitchen.
Lisa nodded thinking pretty much the same. Out of curiosity Lisa asked, “What did Galloway lose as part of the bet to Tyre?”
James’s face split into a wide smile, “He couldn’t listen to country music for an entire year and during that time he couldn’t listen to any music personally above a volume of six.”
Lisa laughed and then asked, “So what did you have to suffer as a member of the losing side?”
James grimaced, “We won’t go into that now it’s still too painful.”
Lisa just rolled her eyes and laughed.
Chapter Eleven
Fire and Ice
Yet another first for Anna was in the making. There had been the private jet that had dropped her and Kevin off in Reykjavík along with James, who insisted that she now call him Flint.
Now she was hovering in a chopper over the most barren godforsaken looking land she’d ever seen in her life. Nothing but black rock, snow and dead looking grass greeted her eyes. This was Iceland.
It looked cold, barren and very lonely. Still if this was where Tyre wanted to be then she would be here also. But they would definitely be going somewhere warm for vacations!
Flint was flying the chopper and Anna noticed him shaking his head, as a rueful smile played across his features.
“What is it?”
He pointed ahead.
They were just clearing the rim of an up thrust in the rugged terrain and Anna saw a house that reflected crisp clean lines of construction situated in the center of the basin beyond the rim they had just cleared.
“Only Tyre would build his home on the base floor of a dormant volcano.” Flint said laughing.
“Volcano!” Anna squeaked out in disbelief.
“Yeah this whole basin is the caldera of a dormant volcano.” Flint said, as he brought the chopper down onto the icy black rock before the house and then shut it off.
Flint got out and helped Anna and Kevin out of the chopper, but stayed with it as the two began to make their way across the short expanse of distance toward the lone figure of a man standing in the entrance way of the house.
I watched her come toward me. I couldn’t imagine how she had found me, but it was a wild dream come true! My eyes drifted down to Kevin. It had been him of course that had found me I realized.
Thank God for his gifts!
They stepped up in front of me and it looked like Anna had a lot to say, but nothing came out and she seemed to give up on the words as she stepped forward and hugged me hard. I hugged her back and heard her say against my neck,
“I don’t want to be safe if it means living without you!”
I nodded and said, “I’m so sorry! I made a mistake!”
“You’re forgiven.” She leaned back her face all teary, as she shook a finger at me, “But don’t do it ever again Mister, you got me!”
“Yes ma’am!”
I opened the door behind me and ushered her and Kevin inside.
“I need to talk to Flint for a moment okay?”
She nodded, as she started to take her and Kevin’s coats off in the warm interior of the house. It was hard to step away from them, when I had already felt them lost for forever and now they were here with me.
I made my way to Flint, who still stood at the chopper.
“I hope you don’t mind me doing this Tyre. You’re not someone I’d want to hold a grudge against me!”
I shook my head and held out my hand, “Thank you James!” I said using his real name.
“You’re welcome Nikolai.”
We shook hands.
“Your secret is safe with me Tyre.” Flint said, as he gestured to the caldera at large with a wave of his hand. He started to turn to get back into the chopper.
“Flint how do you do it? How do you face living with yourself if anything were to ever happen to Lisa or your child, because of the lives we live as agents?”
Flint looked down at the icy snow at his feet, “I don’t know how I do it Tyre. It truly scares me and it worries me all the time, but you can’t live your life in fear. I do what I can to ensure their safety and I trust that God will do what I can’t. There are no guarantees in life Tyre, you know that. Enjoy the day, because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. I’m really glad to see that you found someone to share your life with Tyre! Speaking from my own personal experience I can say that it really sucks to be alone! These women that have come into our lives are like the vital nutrients that we can’t live without and that build us up so that we can accomplish even more than before. Tyre, if I lost Lisa, I would starve to death inside! So I live every moment I’m blessed to have with her, as if it were my last and take the days as they come. You should do the same. Beginning with your wedding night would be a good place to start I’m thinking!” James said slapping me on the back hard.
I nodded and watched him take off moments later, as he headed back to his family even as mine awaited me inside the house behind me.
I stepped inside and dusted the snow off my shoulders. I followed the trail of lights and sounds to my study. Anna was who I saw first and she looked concerned.
“I can make him stop.”
I glanced at Kevin to see him completely absorbed with my smart screen. His fingers traced across it as he felt his way through what was essentially a giant iPad.
“He just started and…”
I cut her off before she could finish, “Its fine. It’ll keep him occupied.” I said taking her hand and leading her from the room and down the hall.
She looked back toward Kevin, “But that TV thing must be outrageously expensive and you probably don’t want him in your personal stuff!”
I opened a door and led her inside before twirling her away from me and toward the bed, as I turned the lights on.
“I could care less right now if he deleted every folder and file and smashed the thing into a million pieces.” I said.
She swung back around to face me smiling, but I could tell she was a little shocked by my domineering handling of her. I stepped out toward her, as I let the door slam shut behind me as the lock clicked audibly.
“Am I moving too fast Anna?”
She looked rather breathless, as she shook her head no.
“Good.” I said as I pushed her over backward onto the bed and then slid onto it myself as I straddled her.
“You know why?”
She shook her head again as she stared up at me, as if seeing me for the first time or at least a different side of me.
“Because right now I couldn’t move fast enough to suit my desire to make you mine!” I said my voice trailing off as I began to kiss her and undress her at the same time.
“A volcano seriously?” Anna asked, as she looked up at me from where I sat on the countertop beside the sink, as she did the dishes.
I gave her a mock look of affront, “Why what’s wrong with it?”
She rolled her eyes and shook a loose strand of her hair from her face back over an ear with a quick dart of a finger.
