Page 17

Last night they watched fireworks from the roof of the house. Garrett put a ladder to the eaves behind it, and they sat on the top of the house and saw several fireworks displays from there. So many were going on at the same time, it was fun. In the cul-de-sac the neighborhood kids lit bottle rockets, firecrackers, and sparklers as well.

Throughout the night blasts continued until the wee hours of the morning. Garrett managed to sleep right through it, but Aaron woke whenever a loud boom sounded.

By morning, he was frazzled.

Garrett had woken up very early to exercise and get the warrant he needed first, before he came back to get him.

Aaron stayed in bed, now that the noise had abated finally.

Garrett, dressed in a suit and tie, leaned over him to kiss him. “Sleep. Stay in bed for a while. I’ll be back here to get you at noon.”

“Okay.”

Garrett kissed him again, and Aaron heard the garage door rumble open, and then shut. He sighed heavily and because he’d slept so poorly last night, he drifted off once more, trying not to allow the sensation of terror invade him.

~

With a signed warrant in his hand, Garret returned to the director’s house. A maid answered the door. Garrett showed her his ID and the warrant. “I have permission to enter, miss.”

“Oh. Mr Jordan is not here right now.”

“I know. Excuse me.” He nudged past her and entered the house. He went right to the game room and held his camera up to a framed photograph on the wall. Once he’d taken a few pictures of it, he walked right by the nervous maid. Before he left the house he placed a bug under a table in the living room. That was for him. Just for him.

One more stop at his office and the dark room, then he would meet with a sketch artist. After that, he was going to drop off the composite sketch at Sandra’s office, then he’d pick Aaron up and take him with him, returning to Sandra Ginsberg.

~

Aaron was a nervous wreck.

He paced, then wrung his hands anxiously, then packed his bags. As he folded his items into his suitcase to flee, Aaron’s heart was thumping behind his ribs.

What Garrett was asking him was suicide.

There was no way he would survive ratting out a high-ranking operator. Those dudes were sneaky. They wore disguises. They knew things.

Knew how to find people. If they realized he was still alive and that Garrett had faked his death, then they were both going to get killed.

‘Neutralized’. What a nice way to say ‘murder in cold blood.’

He folded his items into his bag and then crammed the last few articles of clothing into it. As he zipped it up, he heard the garage door open.

“You’re already home?” Aaron gasped and looked at his suitcase in panic. He said noon! It was just half-past ten!

Fuck. Fuck . Aaron heard the garage door lower and the connecting door open.

Fuck!

He tried to stuff the suitcase under the bed, but it wouldn’t fit.

Listening. Hearing nothing. Aaron gulped and peeked over his shoulder.

Garrett was there in the doorway, watching.

Lowering his head in defeat, Aaron sat on the floor near his packed bag.

“Let’s go.” Garrett signaled with his hand. A small gesture of his fingers beckoning, but from this man, it was as good as if he’d hauled Aaron off the floor and cuffed him.

“Garrett, please. No.”

Without another sound, Garrett tilted his head and reached out his hand.

Aaron was no match for him. He had no choice. Standing, sighing loudly, Aaron nodded and entered the bathroom first. He splashed his face, then relieved himself at the toilet. When he emerged, Garrett had dug into his suitcase and put a pair of slacks and a cotton short-sleeved shirt on the bed.

“Change. Please.”

Aaron dropped his shorts and T-shirt on the floor and dressed in the clothing Garrett had chosen. Once he had on socks and shoes, Garrett held him by his upper arm, lovingly, not like a cop, and escorted him out of the house to the car.

Aaron felt as if he were walking to his own execution. Yes, he trusted Garrett, but a sense that this was above Garrett’s weight class worried him. Garrett was a fixer. A mercenary. Not a senator. Not the Attorney General. Not even a DA.

Aaron had a bad feeling that once he entered a federal building, Garrett would vanish from his side, and he’d be ‘neutralized’.

~

Was he miffed that if he had come home at noon Aaron would have split? Yes. That’s why he told him noon and came home at ten.

This wasn’t his first rodeo.

As he drove them to Sandra’s office, he saw Aaron chewing on one of his fingernails and fidgeting. Garrett turned on the radio, since music seemed to help calm Aaron’s nerves.

Imagine by John Lennon aired.

Garrett softly sang the lyrics and held Aaron’s hand, interlacing their fingers.

At a red traffic signal, he turned to look at his lover. Aaron was staring at him. Garrett winked at him. “We got this.”

Aaron nodded but didn’t smile or verbally reply. He squeezed Garrett’s hand in a death grip and inhaled and exhaled deeply several times.

He pulled into the parking lot of the federal building where Sandra Ginsberg worked. Before he exited the sedan, he got Aaron’s attention. “She’s an ally. Answer her questions honestly. You got that?”

“Yes.”

Garrett peeked around, then kissed Aaron’s lips, and opened the driver’s side door.

Aaron met him at the front of the car and they walked to the formal entry, glass doors, and security.

Garrett drew Aaron to a sign-in sheet on a desk and wrote ‘Brad Houston’ on the paper. He was given a guest tag for Aaron to wear on his shirt. A small pin.

He escorted Aaron to the elevator, trying to keep Aaron’s back to the ubiquitous cameras inside the building. Aaron didn’t know he was doing it. Why make him more nervous?

Inside the elevator, he poked the number for Ms Ginsberg’s office floor and rubbed Aaron’s back lovingly. “Hang in there.”

Aaron looked comatose. He seemed to have checked out mentally.

Garrett held his elbow and led him to another office. He nodded to the secretary outside Ms Ginsberg’s office, and she nodded back. “Go right in.”

Pausing at the closed door, Garrett tapped it with one knuckle and then opened it.

Sandra stood from behind her desk.

Garrett urged Aaron into the office, closing the door behind them.

The intelligent woman extended her hand. “Hello, Aaron.”

“Hi.” He shook hers.

“Please. Have a seat.” She gestured to two chairs in front of her desk.

Garrett held Aaron’s shoulder and directed him to one of the chairs. It was obvious the terror in Aaron was confusing him.

Garrett took the seat beside him.

Sandra handed a piece of paper out to Garrett. “Our sketch artist made this up.”

Garrett took it. It was a copy of the photo he’d taken from the director’s game room. One where he was in a photograph in front of the F4 Phantom fighter jet. With his receding hairline.

He showed Aaron the photo.

“Steinmetz!” Aaron said without a prompt or hesitation. “That’s Steinmetz!” He looked stunned.

He and Sandra Ginsberg stared at each other.

“It’s just as you thought, Garrett. The director is a double-agent.”

“What?” Aaron’s brown eyes widened. His hand shook and he tried to set the paper down.

Garrett took it from Aaron and put it back on the desk.

“Aaron?” Sandra rested her forearms on top of a pile of paperwork on her desk. “I need you.”

Garrett watched Aaron gulp in fear.

“We have enough probable cause to arrest the director,” Sandra spoke slowly, as if she knew Aaron’s fragile mental state. “He set you up for a murder he committed in cold blood. The man known as AJ Henderson was aware the director was a double-agent and was either in on a conspiracy to make money from illegal arms sales and deals with dictators, or blackmailing him.”

“What… what can I do?” Aaron asked.

“You did some of it now.” She pointed to the composite sketch. “You identified Steinmetz, who is in fact, David Jordan, the director.”

Aaron looked at him.

Garrett smiled sweetly at him, trying to comfort him.

“What else?” Aaron asked, rubbing his hands together nervously.

“I want the full story on what your role was as Steinmetz’s messenger. I also want a statement on the night you met with Mr Henderson and used this.” She held up a baggie with the cut blue poker chip.

Again, Aaron looked at him. Garrett’s gaze was steady and calm.

Aaron sat up straighter in the chair. “Okay. I’m ready to tell you everything.”

“Good. Very good.” Sandra removed a tape recorder from her drawer and then handed Garrett a pad and pen.

Garrett was ready to write the statement for her, having done it many, many times before.

Once they were set up, Sandra whispered, “Go ahead, Aaron. Just tell me what you remember about how this occurred.”

After looking at him for courage, Aaron said, “It started when I was arrested for an outstanding warrant for car theft.”

Sandra moved the recorder closer to Aaron on the desk and gave Aaron a bottle of cold water from a small refrigerator. She placed two more on the desk for herself and him.

Garrett knew some of the tale, but now he was going to know it all, and knowledge was power.

Aaron’s statement was the final nail in the coffin for this ring of corruption, and he couldn’t wait to bring it to the attorney general.

~

Two hours later, Aaron was exhausted. He had given a lengthy statement on his part in the meeting he’d had with Henderson, as well as each time he had been used by the director to exchange information with an operator or foreign spy.

His head pounded and his neck ached.

Garrett spoke softly with Ms Ginsberg before they left her office. Aaron caught a word here or there, but was burned out.

“… will be in touch. I think we have enough to indict, no question…”

“If there’s anything else you need, you let me know.”

“I will, Sgt Major, I will.”

Aaron rubbed his face as his temples throbbed.

“Thank you, Aaron.”

He nodded to her, but he wasn’t so sure she was strong enough to protect him either.

~

Garrett put his hand on Aaron’s upper back, and they left her office, returning to the elevator, riding to the lobby.

Garrett signed Aaron out and returned the guest tag.

Once outside, the air was so hot and muggy, it felt as if it was triple digits. He opened his car door and the boiling heat wafted out of it like a kiln.

Aaron waited as Garrett started the engine, lowered the windows, and turned on the A/C. Once it was bearable to get inside the car, they climbed in, and Garrett shut the windows as cool air came through the vents. He said nothing to Aaron, who seemed to sink in the car’s seat and melt into the interior.

Garrett scanned the area for trouble, the rearview, and side mirrors, and then returned home. He had to wait now. Wait for the wheels of justice to turn. But he didn’t have to become a target or sitting duck.

He had already let Ms Ginsberg know he was taking off until she needed them for a trial, or… if the indicted parties pled guilty.

He was going to get out of town for a short while as the events occurred. For Aaron’s sanity and his safety.

Once the director was aware of a grand jury indictment and obtained a lawyer, he’d be privy to all the witness testimony and evidence.

That alone would implicate them both.

So?

He had a plan.

He always had a plan.

He was a professional.

He knew what he was doing.

Aaron had obviously zoned out and Garrett figured he couldn’t even recall the drive home. After Garrett had lowered the garage door, he said to Aaron, “We’re taking a trip.”

Aaron paused before opening the passenger door. “A trip?”

“Yup.” Garrett exited the car and entered the house. Once he was inside his bedroom, he removed his suit and tie and exchanged it for shorts and a tank top.

He placed a suitcase on his bed and packed for a tropical paradise. He knew how the justice system worked. There wouldn’t be some miraculous overnight conclusion.

He’d keep Sandra Ginsberg apprised of his whereabouts so she could contact him.

Garrett said to Aaron, who looked shellshocked, “Take the winter clothing out of your bag. We’re going to Hawaii.”

“Huh?” Aaron’s brown eyes widened.

“Hawaii. Maui.” Garrett entered the bathroom and packed their toiletries.

“For real?” Aaron asked, sounding like a little boy going on his first adventure.

“Yup.” Garrett gathered the shaving items, toothbrushes, toothpaste…

Aaron knelt on the floor and unpacked the clothing for cooler seasons, then put them back into the drawers Garrett had emptied for his use. He then, stood at the bathroom door.

“I got your stuff.” Garrett zipped the shaving kit.

“I’m Brad Houston?”

“Yes. That ID is all you need to travel within the US.” Garrett pecked his lips and packed the toiletry bag in his suitcase.

He then took a second, smaller case, unloaded his guns, placed locks on them, and packed his weapons and ammo. He went nowhere without his guns.

As long as they were checked, they could travel. And with his government ID he could carry in all 50 states.

Garrett grabbed the lube from the nightstand, and then scanned around for last minute items. He removed a wad of cash from a drawer and then said, “Let’s go.”

Aaron’s brown eyes widened as he held his suitcase.

Garrett made sure all the doors and windows were locked and his security system was set. He put their bags into the trunk, opened the garage door, and said to Aaron, “Get in. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

Garrett walked to his neighbor’s house. He tapped her door and then rang the bell. He heard the dog bark and smiled. Jenny opened the door, smiling brightly. “Garrett! Hi!” Then she said to her dog, “Bella, it’s just Garrett. Be quiet.”

“Hey, Jen. I’m going on vacation for a week or so. Can ya keep an eye on the house.”

“You bet! We got ya covered. Where are ya headed?”

“Bermuda. Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You got it! Have fun!”

Garrett smiled at her, waved, and jogged to the garage. He started the car, backed out, lowered the garage door, and headed to the airport.

They’d vanish without a trace until they were needed.

As Garrett drove to the international airport, he realized he hadn’t taken a vacation since…

He couldn’t even recall. That long!

He clasped Aaron’s hand and grinned at him. “Two tickets to paradise, baby! Here we go!”

“Is this for real?” Aaron seemed as if he were still in shock.

“You bet it is!” Garrett laughed and turned on the radio, and wouldn’t you know it, Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money aired on the radio. It made Garrett laugh so loudly, Aaron gawked at him.

Garrett sang the lyrics, clasped once more to Aaron’s hand, and never felt more alive or free than he did at that moment.

It had taken Aaron to show him he was letting his life slip away. Devoting his youth to a government organization filled with corruption and greed. Uh-uh. No longer.

Yes. Yes, he had benefited. The amount of cash he had accumulated in his savings account from the ridiculous sums of money he was paid for dirty work, especially orders to kill, had him set for life if he didn’t do stupid things, like buy ten houses or a hundred cars. Only morons wasted their earnings on possessions. If you were smart, you could live on very little.

They sang the tunes airing on the radio on the drive to the airport. Once he entered the International Airport grounds, Garrett felt like whooping loudly, but refrained.

Aaron seemed stunned silent at the turn of events. Maybe this was an overload for him. Garrett understood his mindset. He was able to read Aaron’s moods very easily. The man hid nothing and wore his heart on his sleeve.

He parked his car in a pay lot which was close enough to walk to the terminal and not need a shuttlebus.

They hauled the suitcases out of the trunk and carried them to an elevator to get them to the booking counter.

~

Aaron kept repeating, What the fuck? in his head over and over. Garrett was taking them to Hawaii? Wow!

As they waited in line to book flights, Garrett didn’t seem paranoid. He didn’t scan the area, look worried, or even stressed. The military man seemed serene.

Finally at the counter, Garrett said, “We’d like two tickets to Maui. First class.”

“Very good, sir.” The woman typed on a computer. “I have a flight leaving for mainland Hawaii in an hour, and then there’s a connecting flight from there to Maui.”

“Perfect.” Garrett handed her his ID and credit card. He tapped Aaron and said, “Your ID.”

“Oh.” Aaron handed him his Brad Houston ID.

“Are you checking any bags, Mr Finnigan?”

“Yes. Three.” He placed each bag on a scale one at a time and the lady tagged them.

They were handed tickets, boarding passes, and stubs for the luggage. “Have a nice trip.”

“Thank you.” Garrett tapped Aaron and they headed to the security checkpoint.

“Holy cow!” Aaron looked around the airport at all the travelers and couldn’t believe it. He had nightmares about telling people what he did for cash. About the secrets. About meeting with authority, like Ms Ginsberg. Visions of being kidnapped and tortured by the enemy had invaded his dreams. But… Not with Garrett Finnigan.

This man had his shit together!

They had no carryon bags, so they easily made it past the security checkpoint. Once through, Garrett appeared to scan the restaurant selection for a bite. They had around forty minutes to kill before they boarded.

Garrett led him to a bar/restaurant, and they sat at the counter.

Aaron was so pleased with his lover for his commanding presence and wisdom, he kept brushing against him, giggling and feeling lightheaded. A nice change from the terror of this afternoon’s meeting.

“What can I get you?” A bartender placed two coasters down in front of them and handed them bar menus.

Garrett said, “I’ll have a tequila sunrise.” He moved the menu closer to read.

“And you, sir?”

“Uh… Do you have anything tropical?”

“How about a Pi?a Colada?”

“Perfect!” Aaron grinned and then perused the menu. “What are you getting?”

“Just a club sandwich and fries.” Garrett looked around the area. There were many travelers in the restaurant dining. The tables were full, and the bar only had a few open stools left.

Announcements about departures and safety rattled through the air via the PA system.

Their drinks arrived first, and Aaron saw a little umbrella in his with a small pineapple wedge on the rim. He was so excited he didn’t know what to do.

“What would you like to eat?” the big burly bartender asked.

He looked like a gay bear with his white hair and white beard.

“BLT.” Garrett handed the man the menu.

“Turkey club.” Aaron did too, and then tasted the drink. “Mmm.”

“Coming right up.” The bartender stuck the menus back into the counter holder and put their orders in.

Aaron slurped the drink as Garrett did the same. “So!”

Garrett shot a wry grin at Aaron. “Yes?”

“Wow. I mean. Is this normal?” Aaron whispered.

“Is what normal?”

“Getting away like this? Leaving the state when shit is going down?”

“Sandra will know how to contact me. When we arrive, I’ll give her our room number and the hotel phone number.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“And she knows. It’s just precautionary since when the grand jury indicts, it’s best we’re not around.” Garrett sucked down the booze quickly.

“Right.” Aaron nodded but was still confused. He didn’t know how these things worked.

Their food was served quickly since this was an airport and people gobbled and ran.

They were both starving from a long day and quickly devoured the food, which was pretty good for airport cuisine.

Down to the last few fries, and two drinks in, Aaron heard the call for boarding for their flight. So did Garrett. He waved the husky man over. “Gotta go, mac. What’s the damage?”

He was given the tab. Garrett left cash on the counter and he and Aaron left the bar and headed to the gate.

Since they were flying first-class, they boarded immediately, showing their passes.

Aaron continued to be amazed. Yes, this was his first time flying in an airplane. And in first-class!

They sat together in two seats, luxury recliners. Aaron took the window seat because he was anxious to see outside when they took off.

The first-class passengers had their own stewardess and she smiled at them as they settled down and handed them warm wet washcloths from a basket, using tongs.

Aaron had no idea why until Garrett used it to wipe his hands and face with it.

Oh. He did the same and smelled a nice scent from the washcloth. They dropped the used towels into another basket and the woman walked off.

The boarding process continued behind them since first-class was full of mostly businessmen.

Garrett rested on the cushy seat, his eyes closed, as if he needed to shut down after the insane day.

Aaron watched the stewardesses in the galley preparing stuff and heard the rest of the commuters boarding behind them, through a curtained partition.

Aaron let out a long, low sigh. He glanced at Garrett as the handsome man rested, and wanted to kiss him. To thank him. To ask him to marry him.

What would I have done without you?

Aaron would be dead. Oh, yes. Dead.

Since the stewardesses were already asking the first-class passengers if they wanted drinks, Aaron didn’t touch Garrett. He wanted to rest his hand on Garrett’s thigh but didn’t.

“Would you like a cocktail?” the bright-eyed woman in uniform asked.

“Just water.”

She left a sleeping Garrett alone and returned with a bottle of water and a cup of ice for Aaron.

“Thanks.”

She also gave him snacks, which he tucked into the seatback in front of him.

Aaron sipped the water and then put it with the snacks, then he sighed again, and stared out of the porthole, as the luggage was loaded while a bunch of Maryland and DC residents waited eagerly for their trip to the Hawaiian Isles.

I never expected this .

Aaron stared at Garrett’s profile and hoped this man knew just how much he loved him. Because he owed Garrett everything.

And I was going to flee. I was going to leave him holding the bag.

Shaking his head at himself, Aaron tried not to be angry at his impulses, because no one in his life previous to Garrett had even cared about him. So maybe Garrett understood why he was about to bolt.

He hoped so.