Relationships have never really been my strong suit. I was always more partial to casual acquaintances than I was to getting involved with someone. There was never a connection with anyone that made me feel like I could forget about everything else if she was just with me every waking moment. That is, until she came along and hypnotized me into thinking she was my only desire.
Sleep moved around my eyes as I blink furiously trying to wake up. Not really remembering what it was that happened the night before was nothing new. The room was dark as I sat up and rubbed my hands over my lids. What did I do last night?
Swinging my legs off the edge of my bed, I remembered. Delilah was what happened to me that night. Reaching back across the bed, my hand was looking for her body to be waiting there for me. It didn't feel anything in the way of a body anywhere in the open space of sheets
"Light, dim," they came on very low. No one was in the bed next to me. On the pillow was the thing that so many people fear, a note. Shaking my head I picked it up.
"My Love,
Last night was the greatest night of my life. That's what makes this all that much more difficult. I can't tell you why, but there are a lot of things going on that I can't tell you. My life is more of a mess than anyone you've ever known."
"Yeah, right," I said to myself thinking about how crazy my life had become.
"It'll just be easier to say this, I can't ever see you again. Last night will live with me forever, but it can't happen and I won't let it happen. There is more than just us at stake here, Michael. I wish I could explain! Remember this, you will forever own my heart.
With all my love,
Delilah "
For some time my hands held tight around the note. Not really knowing how to feel about it, inside my chest it just felt hollow, an empty shell kind of numb to everything outside of the letter and sitting in reality.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one that thought last night was something special, but obviously I was the only one that wanted more than a single night out of it. Well, that's pretty frustrating to want what you can't have. The nature of man perhaps.
Right at my most depressed I had ever been, Matt walked into my room. He was peppy and carrying some coffee. Sipping some coffee from him, my hand shook sporadically. He had been weaned off tea long ago and seemed to be completely Americanized when it came to the amount of caffeine needed in coffee.
"Holy Hell, Matt! This tastes like I could run a car on it," he laughed and looked at the opposite side of the bed.
"So, how was your night?" smiling and looking at the mess.
Hiding the note under my leg, "Not as eventful has the," my eyes rolled and twitched along with my left hand, "four woman, Matt? For fuck's sake, are you going for a new world record or just trying to keep up with Wilt Chamberlin?!"
He laughed hard enough to almost spill coffee on my bed. "If they are there and willing I say why not, Mate? They know the deal." This meant they were all out of the house. He was running Bob ragged taking them all home, I was sure of it.
"What's on today's agenda?" he asked. I was having a hard time getting my mind off Delilah.
"I don't know, but those guys chasing us last night," stopping to think about this for a second, "they weren't the ones in the tac boots. I went back to the bar last night."
"Why the hell did you do that?" he saw me look over to the empty space in the bed. I knew how to talk Matt's language. "Oh," he acknowledged
"Anyway, they were all still at the bar having a good time," taking a sip of coffee. "I want out of L.A. tonight. Call Bob and let him know to get the Jet ready. Just the three of us." Matt nodded and left the room.
I got up drinking my coffee and headed for the bathroom and a nice hot shower. Turning the knob to hot, as hot as it would go, I let the water run. Drinking more coffee, I then hopped in the shower. The hot water flowed off my back and shoulders and tapped heavily on my head.
She was just eating away at my brain. The letter rolling over and over in my mind, never again, it seemed so permanent. My heart didn't want never, it only wanted forever. Then a thought passed through my brain, how did she get out of the house?
There were so many other things to think about, but it was very difficult to pull my mind off of Delilah. She was slowly chewing away pieces of my heart.
My thoughts never left her as I turned off the water and hopped out of the shower. Getting dressed was almost a blip in my memory. Wandering off in another world thinking about the night I had just spent and before I knew it there were in jeans on my legs and a T-shirt over my chest as I headed out of my room.
Matt and Bob were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. We all walked out of the house and got into the car. Bob pulled away heading toward the airport.
"You didn't tell me where you wanted to go," Bob brought up, which was on purpose.
"DC. I want to go to DC. I need you to find out if the tac boots are an agency or not," direct and to the point.
"I can do that with a phone call. We don't have to fly across the country," he looked in the rearview mirror.
"I have some other things to attend to. I need to be in DC." They both just sat back caught up in their own thoughts.
We got to the airport and pulled into the hanger. As we got on the plane, there was a man standing at the end of the hanger by a door to some offices. He was wearing overalls and a pair of black tactical boots. Stopping in my tracks I headed for him as he stood in the doorway.
When he saw me coming he turned and walked out of the office heading toward the exit of the hanger. "Hey! Wait!" The man started sprinting for the door. "I just want to talk!" He was out the hanger door. By the time I got there and looked outside, he was gone. "Damnit!"
Matt showed up, "What was that all about?"
"The fucking boots!" the ones that torment me every single day.
"Oh, shit! They must know an awful lot to be waiting for you here," he said trying to help.
We both turned and hurried back to the plane. Bob had the plane running and we were pulling out of the hanger as we were strapping into seats with Matt across from me. Not knowing what all was going on would keep my mind occupied. A girl that I thought was part of some conspiracy to kidnap me, spent the night with me before disappearing in the morning. Answers coming easy and the thought of going to DC wasn't making me any happier. Life sucked on planet Michael.
Most of the trip was spent drinking vodka and staring out the window trying to collect my thoughts. Bob would be able to collect some answers with his contacts, but it wasn't going to lead me to what I wanted to know. They would be pieces, but this was going well beyond just knowing what the government was up to. Someone or something else was driving everything.
Happiness seemed like an empty pipe dream and nowhere in my process of thought. Matt was watching me like a hawk for the entire trip. His eyes were fixated on me as I fuddled around with my drink and sporadically looked out the window.
Finally, about twenty minutes away he broke the silence, "You going to tell me what's going on or am I just supposed to be in the dark for this entire trip?" his irritation was evident as he asked.
Dropping my elbows on my knees and bending forward, "Fuck, Matt. I don't know what's going on," truth always seemed easier than fiction to me. "I have all kinds of strange shit happening to me and all I can think about is that fucking girl from last night! It's as if my heart's been cut in half and is no longer in my body!"
"Whoa, cowboy! I was just talking about this trip to DC," he leaned forward. "What happened last night?" he asked forcing the need to be my shoulder.
"I wish I knew," I drank some more vodka. Pulling the note out of my back pocket I handed it to him. "You tell me."
He unfolded the note and read it over. I was pretty sure he read it twice.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" He was more puzzled by it than I was and that was a lot.
"She was saying and doing strange shit all night. She knew where to put my hand to get the doors to the Playhouse to open," that made Matt noticeable uncomfortable. "She was always looking over her shoulder like she was being watched all night."
"Was she?" he asked bringing up a very good point. I hadn't even thought about it. Trolling over my memories of the night and every time she looked around, I didn't remember ever seeing anyone near us that stood out of place.
"No. The only time I ever saw anyone else was when we left the bar and her friends in the boots came outside looking for her." Matt tapped his finger on his temple as he thought.
"Why would they care if she left or not? Chick at a bar leaving, really not all that strange," again pointing out something I missed.
"Yeah and the guy watching her all night wasn't her boyfriend," I took a sip of my vodka, "at least I hope he wasn't." That made me smile for a second with what had happened the night before.
Bob, always thinking like a cop, had another good point, "Maybe it was setup so she could get inside the house." I never even thought about that one and it was the most obvious.
If Bob was right about that, then she would know how to get access to the house. My print was on something that she could get it off of. What in the world would she or they want from the house. That was one of several houses or properties I had.
"Buckle up. We're landing," Bob yelled back.
Strapping myself in, my thoughts wandered off thinking maybe there was something less conspiratorial going on with the people wearing the boots. It was just a thought, but if Delilah was one of a group trying to kidnap me or something to that degree then it just seems likely the night before was the best shot.
The plane landed at Dulles and we parked in the hanger. Bob left and got the car that was kept in DC for when we came out at a moment's notice. Matt followed me into the vehicle.
"So, you going to tell us the plan or what?" Bob asked.
"Drop Matt and I off to get a rental. You go see your friends and find out if anything you can about the boots." He nodded at me, but looked concerned.
"What are you two going to do?" I looked out the window not answering his question.
Bob dropped Matt and I off at the rental place we used. Walking through the door, Siad, came over to us. Siad's background was Middle Eastern, generations back. He was tall and thick with that dark skin. He shaved his head because he was into some knew actor and thought he resembled him.
"Michael! Always good to see you. Was the car not at the airport?" so attentive to our needs.
"It was there," turning and pointing at Bob pulling off. "We needed another car. I was thinking something in the secret garage out back," I gave him a little wink. There was a garage that held about 60 cars the rental agency had acquired and kept acquiring that they would rent out to special clients or use for themselves.
"Ah," Siad winked back. "There's a new Lambo out and we have one. It was number two off the line. The first one went to that damn Jay Leno!" He was pretty upset, "I swear that guy is creating an underground museum of every car just in case there is an apocalypse." Matt snickered.
"The Lambo, as you put it, will do fine. What color is it?"
"Come on! Black, of course," Siad loved black cars. In his museum he had many color variations on the Black car.
At the back of the lot we walked into the garage, which was really a warehouse for Siad's toys. He had all kinds of cars. There were restored antiques, specialty made hot rods and new exotic sports cars. Right in front was a black Lamborghini Diablo. It looked very fast. Siad threw me the keys.
"You break it, you buy it," he laughed and Matt just shook his head. He was shaking because replacing the car wouldn't matter. The way I looked at cars was what the point was. No need to own a bunch of them. They would just sit around. It was better to rent them and move on. Buying the Aston's for Matt and I was because we would always drive those. They would never go out of style for us and they would be an everyday car.
Jumping into the driver's seat I started the car. The V-12 engine roared to life. Matt had time to put his seatbelt on before it screamed out of the garage. Putting my hand up out of the top, I waved to Siad.
As we pulled out onto the street, "So, you going to tell me what this all about?" Matt asked again.
"After I had that dream about my mother," Matt looked scared really fast, "I had Jax do some checking around and made him promise not to tell either one of you." Matt grabbed the dash as I threw the stick into 4th. We were driving about 120 MPH down the street. "All he could find was a letter addressed to the local paper of the town my mother was supposed to have died in."
Reaching into my back pocket I pulled out another letter. Matt looked at it.
"Michael, find Doreen Lux," it was memorized.
"What the hell does that mean?" We were always on the same page.
"Jax took the date of my mother's birth, when it was supposed to be, and came up with this woman who was supposedly born in the same hospital, the same day of the same year as my mother."
"So, you think this woman is your mother?" he was more than confused.
"No, I think this is my mother's twin sister. My Aunt." He smiled and put his hand up to his heart.
"Whew! I thought you were losing it, mate." He brushed is brow before grabbing the handle of the door as we went around the corner. "Let's go see Aunt Doreen!"
Jamming the gas pedal down, we sped off in the hills around DC. We drove to the outer edges of the city. Remembering the address that Jax gave me in my head, I could have called him, but I figured I'd remember instead of bugging him.
We pulled up to the address in my memory and Matt looked at me like I was crazy, "Boy, I think you got the wrong place."
"That's what Jax said. 1111. No real way to fuck that up, man," as we looked up and down the street.
We got out of the car and walked up to an 1111 and there was a church sitting there. Both of us walked in through the front door. It wasn't just a church, it was an old Catholic church. Matt was born and baptized Catholic, so that worked for him.
As we entered a nun walked up to us, "Can I help you young men?"
"Yes, mam," trying to watch the language. "We are looking for a Doreen Lux. Can you tell us where to find her?"
"Oh, Sister Doreen," the sister was about fifty and seemed a little taken back.
"Sister?" That was shocking. I hadn't imagined that.
"Oh yes. Unfortunately, Sister Doreen passed away a few years ago," shaking my head as my eyes rolled back.
"Can we see where she's buried? I really need to pay my respects," plans had changed.
"Oh, yes. Please, follow me." She waved and turned around. We followed her down and around the walls of the church.
We walked through the back and outside. Crossing a courtyard we saw a large mausoleum. I could feel it is where we needed to go. We walked up to a wall of burial chambers with all the tombstones showing.
She stopped, "This is her."
"Sister, would you mind if we had some privacy?" in order to get the needed privacy we had in mind.
"Oh, not at all. You can see yourself out." We nodded.
After she was around the corner I started looking at the stone covering the front of the tomb. "It just pulls off. Help me." Matt jumped in and we pried it off and set it down. Right in front of us was what we had come for.
Written on the casket in a woman's hand writing were the words, "Not yet Michael."
"What the fuck, Mate! I mean that is really fucking crazy!" I just threw my hands up in the air in complete frustration.
"Someone is just messing with us! Wait a second," I pulled out the other letter in my pocket. Unfolding it and putting it up to the writing on the casket, "It matches!"
"Okay, dude, what the fuck is happening?!" Matt was freaking out on me.
"I don't know, but Delilah is part of it," he helped me put the stone back. As we got back into the car, "Get me out of this fucking nightmare!" I tore off down the street.