Robert walked in and began strolling down the main promenade, stopping at the Aldo store a moment to glance over a few Italian shoes. A man came up behind him and stood quietly until he was done looking at the shoes. Robert turned to him and they began walking together at an easy pace, taking in the sights and smells.
“I assume it’s done,” the man said.
“It is.”
“Was Thailand agreeable to you?”
“It was.”
The man nodded, staring at a group of young girls that were drinking sodas near a fountain. “Thailand is an unusual place. Not entirely civilized, not entirely savage. A place in evolution, though I think it’s unclear which way it will evolve.”
“Savage. The baser instincts usually win out over all else.”
“Not entirely true. Especially when a strong belief in God is present. Do you believe in God, Robert?”
“No.”
“You will. Everybody does. People may protest and talk about how unreasonable it is to have faith in an unknowable deity, but when their back is against the wall and they have nowhere else to turn, they always turn to God. It is simply how our psychology is set up.”
“I guess I’ll have to wait and see when my back is against the wall.”
“How is your partner?”
“She’s fine.”
“I noticed you spent a couple of extra days in Thailand. Sightseeing?”
“Something like that.”
“Do you love her?”
Robert hesitated. “What do you care?”
“I don’t. I was just curious. But I will give you some advice even though you don’t want it: love has no place in what we do. You have to have no connections, nothing you care about. That’s the only way you’ll survive. Love, in our business, will kill you.”
“Too late now. Besides, I don’t have anyone else to talk to. I think I’d go insane without at least one person I can be honest with.”
The man took a deep breath. “Do you ever get sick of this, Robert? Of living on planes, knowing people for days or weeks at a time, no family, no friends…I’m reminded sometimes of the traveling hobos you’d see in comic strips in the fifties. They went from one town to the next on trains, never really knowing where they were going and always forgetting where they’d been as soon as they’d left.”
Robert thought quietly a moment before answering. “Do you know how life works in the ocean? The large fish eat the little fish. That’s it. There are no laws other than that. No remorse or appeals or complaining. Everybody knows their place and accepts it. That’s how it is for us on land too. The ones with power eat the ones without power. We’re just not as honest about it with ourselves as the fish are. I don’t know about you, but I intend to always be the one doing the eating. Because the alternative is much worse.”
“Maybe,” he said absently, not looking in his direction. “Regardless, I’m retiring.”
“When?”
“Today. Right now. This is my last assignment with the agency.”
“Nobody told me.”
“Nobody knows. You’re the first.” The man stopped and sat down on a bench. In front of them was a magnificent fountain that had base lights on the floors and was lighting the water in alternating colors. “When I was going through the application process and I was strapped to the polygraph machine-this was the second day at the end when they ask the twenty questions they actually want answers to rather than just torturing us-they asked if I would kill someone for them. I said yes. Then they asked if I would sleep with another woman other than my wife if they asked me to. I’d done my research on these interrogations and I knew if I answered no they would end the application process and throw me out.
“I couldn’t handle that, Robert. I came from a small mining town in Colorado. The mines were the only employment there. Everybody went from high school straight into the mines. Twelve hours a day underground in the dark. I couldn’t handle that. So I said yes. Yes I would sleep with another woman if you asked me to. I went home and told my wife that. Two days later, I was accepted for training. My wife told me I could go to training or I could have her, but not both.” He exhaled loudly, staring absently at the water as it turned a bright blue. “I’ve regretted that decision for the past fifty years. She remarried and had two kids. They’re in their thirties now. Those were my kids, Robert. That was my life.”
“You’re serving your country in a way that no one-”
“Country, duty, loyalty-they’re all abstractions. Ideas in our minds. They don’t keep you company when you’re lonely, Robert. They just don’t.” He was quiet a long time and then said, “You have one more assignment from me.” He handed him a flash drive. “Honolulu, Hawaii.” He stood up. “Destroy the flash drive when you’re done.”
The man began to walk away when Robert said, “Wait.” The man turned. “We’ve been meeting for nine years and I don’t even know your real name.”
The man smirked in a melancholic way. “Jim. My name is Jim.”
“Jim,” Robert said. “I like that name. That was my father’s first name.”
“Goodbye, Robert.”
“Take care, Jim.”
Robert watched as Jim walked away and disappeared into the crowd. He glanced down to the flash drive in his hand. In a way, Jim had been the only friend he had had these past nine years. He was the only one who knew what he really was, what he really did. Briefly, he considered whether it was time for him to leave as well.
He put the flash drive in his pocket and stood up. Not yet, he thought. But soon.
CHAPTER 19
Honolulu International Airport was busy with tourists and conventions that were coming in to enjoy their hot summer months. Sam parked illegally at the curb and noticed only one police cruiser out front.
She raced inside, checking her watch: it was 11:47 a.m.
There were some shops and delis, a restaurant and a bar. She ran past them, sliding through crowds. It suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea what this woman looked like. She texted Wilson and asked for a photo. Thirty seconds later, he sent a photo to her along with the message, “Let the BH team handle this.” The fact that he’d sent the photo meant he knew she had no intention of doing that.
Sam came to the TSA checkpoints and saw that the lines were at least forty people deep. They snaked through the waiting areas out into the corridor and around the corner. She got in the back of a line and counted as the next person went through the detectors and was scanned by a handheld device. It took about a minute and a half, which meant she’d be in line for almost an hour.
Sam rushed to the front of the line, pushing past people that began to swear and yell. She got to one of the TSA officers and flashed her CDC credentials.
“I need to get into those terminals right now.”
“Ma’am, what you need is to get back to the end of the line.”
Sam saw two police officers with several men in slick, plastic smocks walk around the terminal and scan the faces in the crowd. “I need to be with them. Please tell that police officer to come here and they’ll verify that-”
“I’m not gonna ask you again, get to the back of the line.”
Samantha saw a young woman step out of the bathrooms. She had curly black hair and caramel skin. She was wiping her nose and popped a handful of pills, washing them down with a bottle of water. It was Yolanda. The officers and BH team were standing not twenty feet away from her and didn’t recognize her. They were laughing and joking.
“I need to get there, now. This isn’t a joke. If you don’t let me through, people could die.”
The officer shouted behind her and two TSA officers ran up as Sam tried to push past her. The other officers grabbed her by her arms and slammed her down against a table as Sam was shouting to get the attention of the BH team.
Yolanda Gonzalez stared at herself in the bathroom mirror at Honolulu International Airport. She appeared pale and had been coughing all morning. A rash was starting to appear on her chest and she buttoned the top button of her blouse to cover it up. She had a slight fever and had just vomited into the toilet.