There was also the little fact that Heller had decided to tell him his entire life story during a cab ride, taking a huge chance that he wouldn't just open the door, take a sharp turn, and force the old guy out of the cab whether he liked it or not. Something about tonight just didn't add up.
It was only at this point that Jason remembered the voice on the phone from last night. They knew who they were. They'd always known. Shit. Was this guy something to do with all that? Was he being set up?
Heller replied, "That's interesting...you listen to your gut instinct more than your own logic at times then?"
"All I can tell you is that sometimes I'll walk into a bar and know that I need to get my ass out of there straight away. It's like bad Voodoo in the room, or something.”
Jason had been like that his whole life, he could 'smell' trouble coming a long way off. It had saved his life on more than one occasion, too. He'd never been able to explain it either, he just knew when something wasn't Kosher.
"Have you always had that 'sense', Jason? That things just weren't right in some way? To get out of wherever you were?" Heller asked.
"Well...yup...I suppose I have. I never really thought about it too much though. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, Jason. No reason at all." Jason could hear a faint smile on Heller's lips when he said that. He got the creeps. Then he got the creeps some more, like when you get the shivers and people tell you someone just walked over your grave.
Heller was holding back and he knew it, but there was no way he was going to be able to force his hand. "You know about the phone call I got last night, don't you? You knew about it well before you got into my cab tonight. Did you call me?"
Heller seemed a little surprised at the question. "A phone call? What did they say or ask you?"
Jason knew that he's touched a raw nerve here. "They didn't ask me anything, they just said some stuff and hung up. I put it down to some of the guys in work having some fun messing with my head.”
"What 'stuff', Jason? What exactly did they say to you? This could be very important and I don’t think it was a prank," Heller said.
"Oh, they just told me that they knew who 'they' were and that they had always known, or something along those lines. It just sounded like a prank call to me but your reaction is telling me it wasn't a prank call, was it?"
Heller was mumbling to himself, paying precisely zero attention to Jason, or anything he might have been saying.
"Heller, what is this all about?"
Heller replied, "They're as interested in you as I thought they might be. I just didn't expect this to happen quite so soon."
"Expect what to happen so soon? You're not making any sense! You're just creeping me out here because there's no way you could know about that phone call unless you've been monitoring my calls, or you know the guys who made the call. Or maybe both. All I know is that right now, I want some straight answers."
Heller stared straight ahead into the night. "Not now, Jason. Not right now."
He tried to wrestle an answer from him but Heller was keeping his mouth shut. That made Jason just about as mad as any one human being can be.
Chapter 22
The clinic was now just a few minutes away, and Jason could feel a sense of urgency grab hold of him. He wanted to know exactly what was going on here, and he wanted answers before this old man left his life, and this life, forever. If he didn’t get his answers now, he was afraid he was never going to.
"Heller, there's something you're not telling me here, right? You're keeping something to yourself, aren't you?"
He looked out the window and said, "Jason, I'm keeping a great many things under this hat of mine. It's one of the only reasons I managed to survive this long. Loose lips sink ships, don’t you know!”
Jason thought about it and realized he probably didn't really want to know everything going on inside the old man's head. He figured some of that stuff would probably make him hate most human beings. Still though...something just wasn't settling right here. He knew Heller had something else he wanted to talk about, but he was holding back.
He'd heard so much information in the last few hours. He’d heard the truth about what happened to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He knew more about it now than most people alive on the planet. That kind of stuff was enough to make you go sailing off the deep edge. It was enough to drive you crazy.
"You're still trying to figure out if I'm telling the truth or not, Jason? I can see it in your eyes."
Jason glanced back at Heller, who was now staring intently at him. He was out of patience here.
"Heller, what you've told me could be a complete crock or the absolute truth. Either way, I'm not sure what the hell I'm supposed to do with this information now that I have it. I can’t tell anyone and I can’t do anything about it either."
Heller sat there listening silently, but nodding slowly at the same time.
"I mean, I know this is like your last confession, just getting this off your chest before you die, but I still can't shake the feeling that something about this entire thing is more than just coincidence. More than just random chance. Am I right or not?” Jason asked.
Heller smiled. "Well, Jason, the reason I specifically told you about this goes beyond tonight and what I said. It goes beyond tomorrow, and what happens there, too. The last age of control is ending and another one is starting. I’m pretty sure you're going to have a part to play in this."
Jason slowed the car down again.
"What makes you say that? I'm no one, Heller. I'm just an ex-marine with a bad temper who drives a taxi for a living. Telling me what you told me tonight is pointless because no one would believe me if I told them. I don't have any power or control in this world. I'm just as helpless as all the other sheep out there, just trying to scrape a living and keep myself out of trouble."
"You're more than just some random man, Jason, but I can't say anything more about that right now for your own sake, believe it or not. You were right, Jason, tonight wasn't some chance meeting. Tonight was me wanting to see how you'd turned out, and to maybe help shed some light on who you really are."
This kind of conversation annoyed the living hell out of Jason. There's nothing worse than listening to someone who talks in riddles all the time, usually because, most of the time, they're talking crap and just want to come across as being some kind of intellectual. Heller's riddles were starting to wear very, very thin on him.
"Jesus, you're talking in circles, old man. There's all this stuff you've told me upfront about how you all killed Kennedy, but then you hint at other stuff but never give anything away. At this point, I'm just sick of listening to you. I have enough crap in my life without all this. Brinkley is just around the corner."
Heller said nothing more.
Chapter 23
Jason pulled his cab up outside the clinic and sat there, waiting for Heller to get out, but nothing happened. He turned around and saw that Heller was just staring out the window, scratching his chin. He was lost in his own thoughts yet again by the look of things.
"Heller, we’re done. It’s time for you to go.”
Heller just sat there silently, but obviously running something over in his mind.