Mark Young - Off the grid

Gerrit’s throat tightened. “So Marilynn was a plant.” Thinking back on everything, this made sense, but it still hurt. “Why did they kill her…Marilynn?”

Joe clasped his hands together. “Because she must have failed in her mission. She was the bait Kane dangled out there to get you to help them. He does not tolerate failure.”

“How long have you been keeping tabs on me?”

Alena edged closer. “Like I told you in San Francisco, we’ve been watching you for years. Ever since you moved to Seattle.”

Joe looked away from the window. “Son, I’ve been watching over you from the very moment I started looking into this mess. One way or another, you have never been out of my sight.”

Gerrit gazed at Alena. “That just leaves you. How did you and my uncle connect?”

Alena and Joe exchanged a glance before Joe spoke up. “We’ll get into all that later. Right now, we need to figure out our next move.”

Gerrit sensed the two were hesitant to bring up the past. He’d leave that alone for now. But sometime soon he’d push for answers. “So, what’s the game plan? How do we take Kane down?”

A look of relief showed on their faces. Joe tipped his head toward the window. “Let’s go outside while I give it some thought. I think Travis and Jessie have dinner plans for all of us.”

Bone’s wet nose nudged Gerrit’s hand, the dog’s tail waving in the chilly mountain air. Seated at the outside table, Gerrit cut off a piece of steak from his plate and held it out on his open palm. The dog snapped it up in one gulp. Sam wedged between Bones and Gerrit, looking up expectantly.

Gerrit cut another piece for Sam.

A cold, freezing wind started to reach into the canyon as it swept off the mountain above them. Hot coals from the nearby barbeque staved off some of the chill.

Travis peered down at his dog. “Don’t turn him into a beggar, O’Rourke. Sam knows better than to beg at the table.” The others, seated round a pinewood table on the front porch, laughed as the dog tried to beg once again.

“Sorry about that, Travis, but those eyes just made me give in. And Bones…he’s always been a beggar-that’s how we met.”

Gerrit was about to take a bite when a tribal police car pulled up. Frank White Eagle had excused himself a few minutes before, riding the aerial lift across the river where the other vehicles were parked. The police chief talked to the officer in the car, then shook the driver’s hand before the officer sped off. Frank waited until the officer was out of sight before returning to their side of the river.

His uncle followed Frank’s movement, a look of concern on Joe’s face. They both waited for the chief to return. Frank’s features, wrinkled and cracked like weathered leather, were serious as he drew nearer. The wooden steps creaked as Frank climbed the stairs to the front porch.

Frank looked over at Joe. “I arranged for low-key security for your flight out of here at the Lewiston airport tomorrow morning. No questions asked.”

Joe nodded. “Thanks, Frank. Anything else?”

The chief sat before answering. “Maybe…maybe not. My office received an all-points bulletin in connection with the killings in Seattle.” He glanced at Gerrit, then back to Joe. “The FBI and DHS want to know if a person matching your name and date of birth surfaces anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. They want to interview this man as a person of interest in the killings.”

Gerrit’s stomach tightened. “They want to talk to me?”

Frank shook his head. “Not you, Gerrit. They want your uncle.”

Joe’s eyes hardened. “They want to talk to Joe Costello or Joe O’Rourke?”

“Neither. They want to talk to a Joe O’Reilly.” Frank began to fill his plate with a second helping of steak. “The photo that came with the BOLO looked just like you before you changed your looks.”

Joe seemed to relax and then began to chuckle.

Frank raised an eyebrow. “What’s this all about, Joe?”

Joe just shook his head. “That is not the FBI or DHS-this is Kane’s handiwork.”

“Why are they trying to locate you now?” Gerrit patted Sam’s head.

“Kane never gave up looking for me. He must have known I never died, although I don’t know how he found out I survived. He’s using this investigation into your death to try to flush me out.”

“How come they have the wrong information about you?”

“Well, I took that information and reversed everything about my history, right down to my date of birth. Kane never saw me face-to-face and used his data searches for identification purposes. A system I corrupted. I went into every system known to man and changed my photo. I recreated Joseph O’Rourke and became Joseph Costello. I used a face that was close, but not the same. Even my own colleagues might be confused if investigators flashed that photo in their faces.”

“Where did the name Joe O’Reilly come from?”

“Another good Irish name. Just one of my many aliases.”

“What about those clowns who dangled you off the roof in Chicago? Won’t they recognize you?”

Joe grimaced. “Malloy tracked them down before he was called off the case. Learned they were later found floating in Lake Michigan.”

“But they didn’t fail with you. They persuaded you not to cooperate with Dad.”

“Actually, Kane never knew that. All he knew was that I might have not been with your folks when they died. I disappeared. I guess those two thugs must have disappointed Kane. Or maybe he learned I had a change of heart. Again, how did he know?” His uncle just shrugged.

“Where are we going tomorrow?”

Joe glanced at Alena before answering. “Let’s just finish our meal. We can talk later-after I finish washing the dishes.”

Travis and Jessie, seated across the table, looked at each other and smiled. Travis responded. “Jessie already volunteered since she loves the domestic thing.”

She dug an elbow into Travis’s ribs. “Don’t believe him, Joe. This clown knows I don’t cook or clean another man’s kitchen. He knew that from the first day I showed up here.”

Gerrit watched the two smiling at each other and felt an emptiness inside as he thought of his last night with Marilynn. Flashes of her emerging from the kitchen upon his return from Vienna, wearing an apron, a smudge of red sauce on her upper lip. Everything he and Marilynn had together had been a lie. She was a plant to keep an eye on him. To spy on his movements. To recruit him. The betrayal dug deeper into his chest. The way Travis and Jessie looked at each other, the love they seemed to share, only made his own life seem shallower.

He thought of what others shared. Love. Marriage. Family. Things he had always put off for another day. First, his academic pursuits took every bit of his attention. And then his military service never allowed him to even think of settling down with someone who wanted to build a life with him. His time with Marilynn had been more of a relationship of convenience-for both of them. Not once did they speak of a long-term relationship. Always living in the here and now. And now-with what Joe told him-he understood more clearly. It has been a relationship built on a lie.

He felt emptiness closing in. When his parents died, it was like that door of normalcy closed forever. He had one mission in life. Find his parents’ killer. And now…maybe…he knew who that killer might be-Richard Kane. At least he knew who probably ordered the hit. Maybe bringing Kane down would give him a chance to enjoy a normal life some day.

That thought drew his attention to Alena seated next to him. She was watching Jessie and Travis joking together. He thought he saw a look of wistfulness in her eyes. What was her story? She was very attractive. A woman like that must have a man waiting for her to return.