Parkers Island Ch. 02

Other than nod her head Martha said nothing for a moment. We all waited but Steven Chadwick just watched Martha until she spoke.

"I walk a strange line here Steven, as Matriarch I will hold our secrets but this is the only child I have left. She made a foolish mistake in wanting so much for Aiden to see how her lessons are going, she has seen the aftermath of that and another more important lesson has been learned."

With a nod of his head Steven Chadwick then looked at me.

"Can I get a signal out of this box?"

"No Sir it's insulated against any attempt. The only way to communicate with the outside is via that terminal and that feeds directly to the Department."

Senator Chadwick left me with the words 'make it happen' while his gaze returned to Shelby, "whose got night watch?"

"Harley Townsend, Senator."

Martha stood to allow the Senator to sit in front of the screen, I'm sure Harley had a heart attack when the screen opened and the head of the Departments Senate committee was staring back at him.

For the next hour the three-way feed Harley had to bring together, had Senator Chadwick, the head of Homeland and Peter Turner the head of the NSA who looked rather dashing in his dinner suit deep in conversation. Time was against Peter Turner since you don't ever want to be late for dinner with the President, so he was willing to agree to pretty much everything.

Homeland dragged their feet and wanted their pound of flesh, so in return for a ten minute interview with Tessa it was agreed. The guy at Homeland sure thought he was scoring points until he figured out that Senator Chadwick was going to be standing next to Tessa throughout the entire interview. For his part he did inform Homeland that he would have to tell the senate committee why he was attending such an interview.

The guy from Homeland saw his career crumbling before his eyes and eventually caved as well. With all in agreement I switched the link off and went and stood out of the way while Steven Chadwick, Martha and Shelby talked. It still took ten minutes before even they agreed on a course of action that all could live with. I got the nod and opened the door of my office.

Senator Chadwick hugged Tessa once more before telling her he had to go, he offered her words of reassurance and with a final kiss on the forehead they parted. Amelia stood and he hugged her as well, he held her hand and walked out onto the porch talking in a volume that only they could hear.

I sensed Madison behind me and in a sing song lilt said. "Em's got a boyfriend, Em's got a boyfriend."

"You know for a twenty-six year old you are such a child."

"Am not."

"Are so."

"Oh for God sake will you two ever grow up?"

We turned simultaneously to see both Martha and Shelby standing behind us and the words, "he/she started it." Came out in unison.

Shelby shook Martha's hand.

"I look forward to the wedding invitation and I promise to keep this one on a leash."

I heard the giggle before Madison said, "Oh goodie, I get to wear a collar."

Shelby's eyes rolled, "you may as well fucking shoot me now."

Both headed out the door leaving me to wait for Amelia and Senator Chadwick to finish.

"You knew I would call him didn't you?"

"I knew you both would."

Martha and I sat on the couch, the tension had eased but even I could still feel Matriarch wanted to ask one final question and inwardly I prayed she wouldn't.

"The term 'dead man walking' was used six times in total and in all six times Shelby looked directly at you; even Steven did it twice before he caught me watching him."

I wasn't stupid, she had figured something out but if I spoke it would mean I was confirming something that she could only assume at the moment. I watched Amelia hug Senator Chadwick once more before she watched him leave, her own arms wrapped around herself for comfort.

"Coffee?"

Even when I said it I had rose and was already on the way towards the kitchen.

"Aiden?"

I stopped; her voice carried a plea within it and caused me to turn around. Martha wrapped her arms around me and held on tight. Her lips were inches from my ear.

"Carol volunteered for the job son, she knew that her life was expendable, yours wasn't. She wrote to me two days before you left, she knew she wouldn't come back; call it premonition if you wish."

We both heard the click of the front door closing; Amelia still had her arms around herself as she rested against the wall. Martha detached herself and once again sat on the couch, for a moment Amelia stood and stared at me, I met her stare as best I could while I silently prayed she would leave it be. Yet the fact she continued to stare meant the inevitable was going to happen.

"He's dead man walking Matriarch. Tessa used the term to explain what I was going to do to him because he sent you that picture. The NSA sucked it out of the air because it was an encryption, it was when they deciphered the message it took on a whole different meaning."

The nodding of Martha's head was one of silent acceptance, it was Amelia that couldn't, or perhaps wouldn't let all this alone.

"Please Matriarch, in order to protect my mate I have to know what he's capable of."

Martha walked over to Tessa and helped her stand before they both headed for the door, Tessa left first, Martha had her hand on the door before she turned to look directly at me.

"Senator Steven Chadwick is Em's godparent; for the sake of her sanity you have to explain to her why you are called 'dead man walking'. Trust your soon to be wife Aiden." Tessa will never know.

Her grip tightened on the door for a second before she once again looked towards me.

"Carol nudged you towards this island for a reason Aiden; you're standing across the room from that very reason."

She closed the door so she would never hear my answer, silence weighed heavy in the room, and Amelia's arms still held on tight. More so when she watched me walk over to her firearm and within seconds stripped it down before leaving the pieces on the coffee table.

It seems that every day with this woman has become a defining moment for me; I pointed towards the couch and asked her to sit. For a moment Amelia seemed to be undecided if she was going to move away from the wall, with a small almost missed sigh her arms dropped to her side and she walked over to the couch as I once again unlocked my office.

*******

The two little black boxes the size of a cigarette packet sat either end of the couch, the only way anyone could tell they were working was the little green light flashed every ten seconds next to the unlit little red light.

Amelia watched, her legs drawn up to her chest and her arms once again wrapped around them. My only thought was that subconsciously she was stealing herself for nothing but bad news.

*******

It took Carol and I close to three weeks to become operational in Afghanistan, I kept asking for more and more of the Departments resources. We had figured out that the main threat to our forces in this area was a man called Ben Abdul Aziz, true old school and with a hardcore of people surrounding him that acted as a buffer between us and him. It was the coding and encryptions that sent me there, old school was a more word of mouth leader and military command couldn't figure out the source of his encrypted communications.

His intelligence sources were second to none and it didn't take him long to figure out I was now his main threat. The roadside bomb and the attempts to kidnap me was a game changing moment, the men he lost at the hands of Carol and the Apache Helicopter caused him to take a step back and insulate himself against any retaliation. Word came down the grapevine that he was real pissed with the loss of so many of his men, he also let it be known that I had escaped once he only needed to be lucky once.

It was Mr. Aziz who declared me nothing more than a 'dead man walking'. When I was let out of the hospital the Bingham Security team moved me onto base camp. After saying goodbye to my friend I set about looking for Mr. Aziz. Even more resources came into camp, the leader of the security team complained to the Department that I was burning the candle at both ends. Pretty soon it became apparent that either I would get him or end up dead trying, old school was smart and slippery at the same time.

His aide was his nephew, twenty four years old and a kid in a candy store when it came to new toys, he had the most advanced laptop, ipad and cell phone. It took me six weeks of sifting through every code, radio chatter and informant to find out his latest cell number. We watched the convoy of cars for a few minutes before I rang the nephew, I could hear Ben Abdul Aziz in the background when I introduced myself.

The nephew knew the second he had answered that call he had painted the car they were traveling in, he knew what was coming next, so did Mr. Aziz, I watched from the ops room as the missile hit the third car in a convoy of five cars. Everyone cheered, whooped and clapped, I left feeling that my friend could rest in peace now.

The attacks on our ground troops came to a halt for some weeks while a new leader was appointed. Shelby came into my room two weeks after the attack on Mr. Aziz, the security team held me down and Shelby stuck a needle in me. I woke three days later in the Departments clinic back in Virginia.

The dead man walking file was left open for awhile when it was reported that in retaliation for the death of Ben Abdul Aziz an oil well would go to the family of any man who could find and kill the man everyone called 'dead man walking'.

It seemed Bingham Securities actually did me a favor, in peoples rush to hook onto a phrase people simply stopped using my name and the few pictures they did have of me were of a man that looked older than his years, clearly tired, unshaven and looking like the devil was perched on his shoulder.

*******

The lights still blinked green, Amelia had her arms wrapped around me gently sobbing to herself. My fingers were in her hair gently massaging her scalp; I don't even know why I did that but it was therapeutic to us both.

"I'm just a geek honey, nothing more."

"I understand why you watch the ferry now."

This time I kissed the top of her head.

"You know when they send for Tessa she has to go don't you?"

The nod of her head was her acknowledgment, the words that followed showed her to be smarter than even I realized.

"I also know you're going with her."

My hold on Amelia got just a little tighter, she knew she was right. I waited for awhile longer but it seemed that the knowledge she now had was enough for her, switching the two little black boxes off I placed them back into my office. Amelia was on the phone when I returned she was apologizing to Martha Burnett for her outburst. She promised to stop by in the morning after going through my rituals with me.

That alone made me smile so she must have known I was listening. I put her gun together once again and handed it and the magazine to her. She held the gun in one hand and mine in the other as we climbed the stairs.

*******

The wedding was held at Senator Chadwick's residence, he proclaimed that since Amelia was his only God-Daughter she should get spoiled rotten at his expense. The security around the residence was the real reason; my sisters turned up and warmed once again to Amelia. The fact that she was related in a way to Senator Chadwick may have had something to do with it, my sisters are so vain.

Matt was a real good guy and simply shrugged his shoulders, he put the blame of that afternoon's event solely on my shoulders and since I wasn't around and had no cell, my sisters were left to get angry at a brother who had once again disappeared.

Hannah came alone; it seems she found pictures of Donny in bed with some brunette with big tits. Donny denies any wrongdoing but those pictures sure tell a different story. When I bumped into Madison at the wedding I did ask but she said she knew nothing about it. Well she didn't until we found a quiet corner together and she pulled her cell from her bag and showed me some photos.

Strange how the naked brunette looks a lot like one of the girls from Bingham Securities, the fact that every time we talked about Donny, Madison always seemed to wave her little finger just a bit too often for my liking may have confirmed it a little as well.

We had a month of peace on the island; the summer season was now in full swing and the fact that Amelia now lived back on the island meant she was the lead on every wrong doing by the summer tourists. The knock on our door on the Monday morning brought Amelia's world back to reality; Tessa stood at the door her suitcase by her side. Two hours later Madison knocked and came in.

Hell I was more surprised that she even knocked until she reminded me that Amelia carries a gun so it's best to be polite. Amelia begged a morning off work and stretched our leaving out as long as she could; even Madison knew what she was doing but went along with it.

When Madison's cell beeped we knew it was time.

The End.