SECRET AGENT DAWSON
Chapter Fifteen
Jen Agatone, a girl of a lot of talent,
studied the message Kevin had given her.
She glanced up and looked Kevin right in the
eyes.
“What is it, Jen?” he asked.
“It’s funny, Kevin. No matter how messy a
man’s handwriting is, I always know what it says.” She laughed.
“And what does this say?” He was antsy to
know.
“Well, look at the first line.” She pointed.
“This says that there was an accident, something very tragic. Something about a
man named Larry Miller. It says that he’d better take care of Linda. She is
very sick. If he doesn’t come through with the merchandise, his wife will
die."
“Well, I thought it would be something about
my wife. Hmm…oh, well.”
“Wait, Kevin. I remember a Larry Miller.
Wasn’t he a rich man in charge of Aeronautical, Inc.?”
“Now that you say that, I do remember a man
of that name, but what’s that got to do with anything?” Kevin could not figure
this out at all.
He passed by the main office. Amanda stood
there, going over next week’s assignments with Bill.
Bill and Lisa had secretly gotten married
over the weekend in New York. She was becoming a mommy no less than seven
months. On their wedding night, she had conceived Bill’s child. Bill was very
happy.
Tobey, Jack, Christian, and Tommy watched a
basketball game in the conference room. Everything had been quiet on the
eastern front, and on days like these, the men would gather in the conference
room and watch sports. Men like Kevin and Bill were always doing business and
never had time for leisure.
Rose had stayed at home when Jack went to
work. She knew that she had work to do in the office. But since things were
slow, everything was all right and she didn’t have to come in. Jack did miss
her, though.
Kevin walked into Bill and Lisa’s office.
“Bill, can you, Amanda, and Lisa meet me in
the conference room?” He walked on.
“Yeah.” They got up and followed him to the
room.
The men cheered in the conference room.
“Guys?” Kevin called.
Everyone sat up.
Jack turned off the television.
“As you all know, every year we have a picnic
for the company, or something to that effect. Well, this year I was thinking of
something different--that we all fly to Hawaii for the company picnic as a
tribute to Bill and Lisa’s newly found marriage.” Kevin had known. No one had
to tell him.
Bill stared at Kevin. How had he known about
it? Lisa smiled, blushing.
“Wow! I didn’t know you two had tied the
knot,” Tobey said.
“It was supposed to be a secret,” Bill said.
“Paola?” Bill looked at her.
“It wasn’t me, Bill,” Paola said innocently.
“It was I,” Lisa said. “Sorry, Bill. I
couldn’t keep that big a secret. I am proud to be Mrs. Carter.”
Bill kissed Lisa.
Everyone said, “Aw.”
“Shut up, guys!” Bill said, laughing out
loud.
“So, Tobey, Ryan, and Christian. You are the
only bachelors here,” Kevin said.
They all acted macho and started clapping for
themselves.
“Actually, Kevin, we are not all bachelors.
Some of us are seeing girls right now. As for being serious, that time will
come. Right?” Tobey asked.
“Right, Tobey. Anyway, what do you guys think
of it?” Kevin continued.
“I, for one, love it; it’s a great idea for a
picnic,” Jack said.
“Yeah, it is,” Tobey said.
“We will all take the company jet, of
course.” Kevin loved the jet.
“Yay!” Tobey loved flying in the jet, too.
“So, guys, pack up, and on the twenty-ninth
we will be off,” Kevin informed them.
Jack couldn’t wait to get home and tell Rose
all about it.
*****
At five o’clock PM, everyone got out of work
and headed home to pack for their so-called picnic trip.
Jack rushed in.
“Rose?” he called out.
“Over here, Jack.” She was folding laundry.
“I’ve got some great news, Rose. We are going
to Hawaii for the company picnic. It seems that we didn’t go over our budget
this year.”
“That’s so cool, Jack.”
“I knew you would love it, Rose. So, how was
school today?” He looked through the mail.
“It was good. We are learning about
watercolors, oils, and charcoal drawings.” She folded it all and put it away.
“That’s great.” Jack was engrossed in the
letter he had received.
Jack took off his tie and got some clothes
out of the dresser. He got a towel Rose had just folded and took a shower. When
he came out, Rose was already cooking dinner.
After dinner, they relaxed in the living
room.
Jack had just thought about something he had
never thought before. He remembered the letter again.
He had never told her about the secret room
in the house. The one that was fireproof, bulletproof, and, by God, bombproof.
He had never though of it until now. That was his haven, in case someone went
after them. All the agents had a secret room like his--Bill, Christian, Tommy,
and Tobey. The girls, however, didn’t. But they had their instructions in case
something went wrong.
“Rose, I have something to tell you. And I
didn’t mean to keep it from you. It’s just that I have been so consumed by all
that has happened that I forgot,” he told her.
“What is it?” Rose sat by his side.
“It’s better if I show you. Follow me.” He
got up and went into his room. He opened the closet, pushed the clothes aside,
and pushed a little button under a secret panel. The wall started to open like
an elevator.
“Step in, Rose. It’s made for two.” He led
her inside.
Rose stepped into the small space with Jack.
He pushed another button and it closed. The dimly-lit space elevator descended.
It went down for quite some time. For all she
knew, they were in Tokyo by now.
When it opened, there was a long hallway.
Jack went down the hallway and pressed the code into the machine. “Rose, stay
here. It’s not accustomed to you, so if you stay here, I will be right back.
Stand here and don’t move.”
He went inside the room. It was stocked with
food, beverages, a full communications center that was not wired to the house
electricity, and a lot of other stuff he would need if he were in trouble. Rose
stood there, unable to believe that Jack had never told her about such a place.
She stood there, and a red beam scanned her. Jack had told her not to move, so
she didn’t.
Jack came out to get Rose. He led her into a
small compartment. “Rose, sit here. I need to insert this small thing in your
arm. See, the scanner identifies your body, but not who you are initially. I’ll
insert this small rice-looking thing under your skin, and when it scans you it
also recognizes who you are, along with your DNA. It’s a little complicated.
Watch. Feel here.” She touched something underneath his arm. She felt the rice
bead embedded in his skin. “It’s for security purposes, Rose. See, if someone
gets in here, the room will fill with gas. If you get close to the door, the
elevator locks.”
“Wow. High tech security. I can’t believe you
never told me about this.” She was amazed.
“Sorry.” He grinned.
“Quite all right. Now I know where to go if
something major happens.” She felt happy that he had shared it with her.
“Rose, pull your sleeve high up, or if you
want, take off your shirt.” He took a seat.
She obliged and took off her shirt.
“I think it'd be better if you lay down,
too,” he said.
She lay down on the little cot and extended
her right arm.
“Rose, this is gonna hurt a little,” he
informed her.
She closed her eyes.
He got a syringe-looking needle and inserted
the rice bead into it. Then, he turned her arm over and looked at her. He
carefully inserted the syringe into her arm. She winced. He pushed down the
plunger, in went the rice-looking bead, and a little blood came out, but he had
inserted it enough so that it couldn’t come out. He put a bandage on the wound.
“There. All done, darling. It’s gonna feel
kind of weird for a while, but you will eventually get used to it.” He got up.
“You’re right. It does feel weird.” She
touched her arm and put on her blouse.
“It’s kind of early. Come on. I will show you
around.” He showed her the small space. Everything he could possibly need in an
emergency was there, although there was no woman stuff down there, which made
her believe that she was the first he had ever brought down there. She felt
very weird. The rice bead began to make her feel drowsy, or maybe it was that
she was tired.
“Rose, are you all right?” he asked.
She fainted.
He remembered that it had taken a while to
get used to, but he hadn’t remembered the drowsy part, probably because he
couldn’t remember. He took her upstairs to the nice, comfortable bed and laid
her down. There was no doubt that she'd be out for a while.
He brought out a little scanner machine,
checking to see if the bug was defective. When everything turned out all right,
he went to sleep by her side.