Chapter Nineteen

Jason soon woke up to the sound of gunfire. There were loud sounds of gunshots from the adjoining room and he had to spend a couple seconds recollecting the real reason he was there in the first place. His head hurt where Randy had hit him, but to his chagrin, he found that that was just the least of his worries. Randy had tied him very securely to the chair. Whoever was shooting in the next room, if they were not friendlies, would soon come into his room and send him to an early grave. And by the way, what reason was there to think that they could be friendlies? There was no way the FBI could have found him, not so soon. He thought about his life, and the image of his daughter flashed before his eyes. With renewed energy, he pulled at his bonds. He had to live, if for nothing, but for her... for Chrissie. He couldn't allow his daughter to be a total orphan, not now when she was still so young.

Pulling was not serving his ends, so he tried to twist his hands out of the ties, but it all seemed a waste of time. Randy had tied him with a vengeance. Then suddenly, the door was pushed open and he froze, expecting to get a bullet any time soon. Due to his struggles with the chair and the tight rope, his back was now facing the door, so he could not see the people that came into the room. His heart was pounding wildly as he waited quietly for the inevitable shot.

“Ma'am,” someone called from behind him, “there's a hostage here.”

Immediately, there was a click-clack of heels as the woman strode into the room. Jason tried to twist his neck to get a better view, but she was approaching from the other side. Before he could turn his head to the other side, she was already in front of him.

“Well, well, well,” Veronica recited, clapping the front of her shoe to the ground in sync with each word. “How are the mighty fallen. Miller, cut him loose.”

Miller came forward to cut Jason loose, but the latter remained seated, rubbing his wrists with his eyes on the ground.

“So where's the thanks for saving your stupid ass?”, Veronica quipped.

“Thanks. How did you even find me?”

“Lucky for your undeserving self, Tony tracked your phone.”

“Right,” he muttered beneath his breath. “Where's Randy?”

“Dead.”

“What?!” His face shot up immediately.

“He fired on Federal Agents, what do you expect?”, Veronica shrugged carelessly.

“Canty?”

“Dead too.”

“How did you manage to get through the heavy security in the first place?”

“After a heavy battle outside, we gave them a good reason and another chance to surrender. They took it, but your buddy and his friend were not so wise. So.. my turn. What did you hope to achieve coming here without backup?”

“Well,” Jason shrugged. “I knew Canty was manipulating Randy somehow...”

“So you risked your worthless hide coming all the way down here to confirm a theory?”

Jason shrugged again and Veronica shook her head pitifully.

“You're lucky we got here in time.” Then she sighed. “By the way, we found Randy's motive.”

Jason's eyebrows shot up again.

“The story's that,” she continued. “Former ADIC Bertrand, without informing him, used his girlfriend as a lure for one of the people Randy was undercover with. Things went out of hand and Randy's girl died in the process. But.. Bertrand went ahead to cover it all up and present it as the bad guys taking revenge on Randy after they'd found out that he was an agent. God knows who, perhaps it was Canty, but apparently someone informed Randy of the truth and you know the rest.”

“Makes sense,” Jason nodded thoughtfully. “Canty was using his grief to manipulate him. Thanks for sharing,” he said as he got to his feet and made for the door.

“Hey,” Veronica called after him. “Do me a favour. Next time, don't run solo when I'm in charge or...”

“There won't be a next time.”

*****

Jason leaned back and once again cherished the feeling of being free and burdenless. He was back again in Miami with his daughter. It had been over a month since the FBI raid, on the Canty crew hideout, that led to his rescue and the death of his friend, Randy Barlough. He regretted Randy's death, but it was necessary - that was his only consolation.

Looking at his daughter racing her friend Tessy across the beach, he couldn't help but miss her mother. She was the first and perhaps the last true love of his life and he was not ready to replace her in his heart, not now, not ever. Just then, his phone vibrated. Sighing deeply, he picked it up and answered it immediately.

“Hello Raids.”

The voice was very familiar and Jason quickly sat up as he recognized its owner.

“Randy! I.. I thought you were dead.”

“I was. Now I'm alive.”

“Where the hell are you?!”

“Somewhere cold, I guess. Look, I just wanted to say.. Thank you, Raids. You opened my eyes and made me see past my grief. Sam was using it to manipulate me for his own ends and I foolishly went along. I didn't kill those agents, Sam did, but I'm responsible for their deaths anyhow. It's one thing I can never forget and I hope to find forgiveness someday. If not here, perhaps in the next life. So long, Jason Raids. You are my brother.. for life.”

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but the line was already disconnected. He stared at the phone for a while and then leaned back as a smile slowly crept over his face. Perhaps things didn't end so badly after all!