Part III - Chapter 8: THE THIRD PLEA

Chapter 8

The Third Plea

(Ó 2010)

He was now lying in his bed … for the last time; it was only 6:00 PM. When he arrived home, he did almost exactly what he did the night before. He took a hot bath, and made something light to eat with a glass of wine. The only thing he did that was different was when he went to Lily’s picture to remove his bracelet, he decided that tonight … no … he would leave it on.

 

 

So … it was what he was doing now, lying in his bed and listening to the sound of the breeze outside his window mixed with the usual evening street sounds. He was tired due to his lack of sleep, but the anticipation of what he was hoping for, another dream of Lily, was making his falling asleep difficult. He lay there trying to relax, closing his eyes, he would feel himself drifting off, only to have himself jolt back … weary … yet fully awake.

It was getting frustrating. He kept looking at the clock radio for the time, each time it showed that it was only five minutes later than from the last time he looked. He did this until the clock showed that it was 7:46. He got out of his bed somewhat aggravated and went to his living room without turning on any of the lights. He went to the picture of his beloved, with the large lavender candle still burning next to it.

“Please come again Lil,” he whispered pleadingly to the picture, “please.”

He went to his rocker recliner, sat down, and rocked slowly back and forth in the room illuminated only by the single candle. He sat there stroking the bracelet on his right wrist. In a short time he felt his body relaxing and growing tired, he felt the lack of sleep catching up to him and he felt as if he needed to go back to his bed. He slowly stood up from his chair, walked back to the bedroom, and felt himself growing more drowsy the closer he got to his bed. 

He reached the bed and sat on the edge of it now literally feeling the sleep taking over his body. He slowly lied down and drew the blankets over himself. He looked up at the ceiling, his eyes only half-open, all the while stroking his bracelet. He felt the sleep coming and he welcomed it.

He was now at the point where he was between consciousness, and he seemed that something was holding him there. He then began to hear them … the tribal drums from his past … along with the warm sensation on his shoulders and the middle of his forehead that always followed. He heard the drums until everything slipped into darkness and he then fell into a deep sleep. 

It was again pitch black, and then the drums began to fade. It seemed he was in this state of black for only a few minutes when … a different sound began to fade in - - -

 

 

- - - it was once again the sound of the wind chimes, and the darkness began to become paler … into light. Logan found himself standing in the street of a village. He was looking up to a perfectly blue sky with some pure white clouds floating by. He knew where he was, he was in the small suburb in the southwest of Paris, where he and Lily had once lived. He was facing the north, looking up the brick road. He looked to his left and saw the bistro he and Lily would frequent, and the small hotel next to it. The hotel had a flagpole on the second floor that was right out of a small window. The French tri-colour was moving with the breeze, but there was no sound. In fact, Logan realized that there were no other sounds at all … except for the wind chimes.

In addition, there were no people on the street, the whole village was deserted. He looked to his right and saw the bakery, the curio and candle shop, the green grocer, the wine shop, and Gerard’s Café. He walked to the sidewalk and looked in each shop, to see no one in them. He walked up to Gerard’s, where he and Lily would always have their Sunday dinner. They would sometimes have their breakfast and coffee there also. He looked through the window of Gerard’s and saw that it to was also empty.

Logan was the only person around.

- - -Logan- - -

Her voice called to him from behind. He slowly turned around and looked back at the end of the street. At the end of the street about a hundred meters away, it intersected with another road, and across that road, there was a stone chalet sitting up from the road some twenty meters back. It had a white picket fence with a gate. A pathway from the gate led up to the chalet, where you had to take three steps up to the covered entrance. The porch had two stone pillars that held up the outdoor ceiling overhead. Stepping out from behind the right pillar . . . was Lily.
 

- - - Logan - - - my sweet - - -
 

Logan turned and faced the chalet. It was their home, his and Lily’s home, back in France, the home he bought for her and affectionately named “Chalet d’ Lily.” He took one step forward and he was then wisped to the house. The next thing he realized was that he was standing at the foot of the steps to the porch. He stepped up to the porch, but Lily was not there, she was now standing to the side of the house to his right. She was wearing her sundress, which was in her favorite color, lavender. She looked at him quickly, then began to walk to the back of the chalet. Logan came down from the porch to the side of the house where she was just standing. Looking to the direction that she had just walked, he saw the screened-in gazebo that was in the backyard. Lily was now standing at the entry of the gazebo, her back was to him and she turned her head over her right shoulder to look directly at him. She then turned her head to the entryway and stepped in.. In a split second, Logan was inside the gazebo with her, as if transported. She was now sitting to the back of the gazebo, having her afternoon tea. Her tea setting in front of her.

- - - Logan - - - my love - - -
 

“Lily,” he said to her, all the time staring, “you’re as beautiful as ever.”
 

- - -You have to stop Logan - - -
 

She now stood and walked past him, then stopped. Where she stood was just to the left inside of the gazebo, where there was a north view of the narrow street where the shops and restaurants were. Her back was now to him.
 

- - - you have to leave - - - now - - - please - - -
 

“I miss you Lily.” He said to her.
 

She turned her head and to again look directly at him, and then stepped over to him. She cupped his face in both of her hands and kissed him on the lips. She looked into his eyes, still holding his face.
 

- - - Come back to me then - - - please - - - you must - - -
 

Logan felt that she was pleading with him for a reason. He saw it in her face. She let go of his face and walked back over to where she just stood, again looking northward up the village road, again with her back to him.
 

- - - You promised me - - - 
 

Then she looked at him from over her shoulder.

- - - you promised that you would never leave me - - -
 

She then turned her head back to look northward up the road. Logan knew what was up that road. He stepped behind her and looked in the direction that she was. He reached up to place his hands on her shoulders when, the sound of the wind chimes returned. They began to grow loud and everything began to become white. The white began to fade out and Logan felt himself return to the darkness, and the wind chimes became silent - - -
 

- - - He awoke, but his eyes were still closed. He heard the sound of the breeze outside of his window, but the street sounds were now down to a minimum. This time he did not bolt straight up, this time his breathing was normal, this time he was relaxed. He opened his eyes and saw the shadows from his window going across the ceiling. He knew that when he would turn to look at the clock on the radio that it would show that it was 1:30 AM. When he turned his head that is exactly what he saw. He now sat up in his bed, looking at the dark room around him. This time there were no tears … there was no crying. However … there was a feeling … something strange … something threatening.
 

He turned his body and gently placed his feet on the bedroom floor, still looking around, still sensing something. “Something’s wrong.” He whispered into the dark. When he said it … he felt it even stronger. His eyes darted around the room and he then stood up. 
 

He looked around himself as if he would find whatever it was that was “wrong” in the room, but the feeling that something was amiss grew stronger. He walked over to the hallway and reached for the light switch. His hand suddenly stopped before he touched it. No … do not turn on the lights he felt, stay in the dark. He peered down the hallway and just saw the faint candlelight from the living room. He began to walk down the hallway, only this time he delicately took just one step at a time, to keep from making any sort of noise.

 

He then stood quietly in his living room, looking all around, in the dark, by himself. He slowly and quietly walked to the door of his apartment and looked through the peephole. The wide-angle lens showed him that there was nothing, and no one, in the hallway. He then crept back to his bedroom, again he looked around, feeling that something was out of place, something strange, he couldn’t figure was it was.
 

Until, he recognized this old feeling, from his times in the combat zones, or on the patrols. Logan began to get this overwhelming feeling that … he was being watched.

He crept to his bedroom window and stood to the side of it. He peered through the side of the window shades, looking down at the open space between his building and the one next door. There was nobody there. HE stepped to the other side and did the same, to see that everything was all clear. He then crept back to his living room and went to the blinds that covered the large window there. He first went to the left side of the blinds and looked down the one-way street where his apartment building was. He looked at everything, every square foot of space, at every car parked there. He looked at every other building, there entrances and side alleys, there was nothing. He even looked at every tree, still bare of their leaves. He did this very meticulously, but he saw nothing, so he soft stepped to the right side of the window.
 

He looked as painstakingly down the other side of the street as well, checking everything. He stared down the street for almost ten minutes, going over everything for the seventh time. He thought to himself that he must have been getting paranoid. Nevertheless, he had these dreams for three nights in a row, and he awoke every morning at exactly 1:30 AM. This night was different; he believed Lily was pleading with him, not only pleading with him to stop what he was doing, yes, but also pleading with him to leave. Moreover, tonight she added the words “must” and “now.”
 

He continued to look down the street, and was trying to convince himself that he was just acting unreasonable, and to maybe try and go to sleep when …“What was that?” He heard himself whisper.
 

 

A quick flicker of light. He was not looking directly at the point from which it came; he saw it from a different angle of his vision. Now he focused on where he thought he saw it. He waited for a moment, then … there … he saw it again. It seemed like the light of a firefly from the distance, but it was to cold for fireflies this time of year. He saw it coming from the inside of a car parked down the street. He froze, and watched longer and focused harder.

He had a thought; he went to get his keys, then went back to his bedroom and opened his closet. His went to the footlocker on the floor and with the key on his key ring opened the large Master Lock padlock. He then opened the footlocker that held all of his surveillance equipment. It was all small and portable equipment that he has acquired over the past few years. He purchased them from spy shops, and from the internet. It was mostly the basics, a powerful hand held monocular, a small pen sized flashlight that gave off a red colored light, a portable amplifier for listening to conversations from a distance, a listening device to hear through walls, a small hand held night vision scope, and a small fiber-optic camera for looking under doors or around corners and such.. He picked up the small penlight with the red lens and with the red colored light found is hand held monocular. 
 

He then returned to the living room window and removed the lens covers from the powerful monocular. He placed the monocular between the shades and the window being careful as to not move the shades, and then peered through it in the direction where he saw the flicker of light.

There … right there, in a plain silver gray Ford Taurus, Logan saw two men sitting in the front seat. As he now watched them, he realized that the light he saw coming from the car was that of a cellular telephone that the man in the passenger seat was using.
 

Logan continued to watch them. A plain American car, it was obvious that it was a local government car. Two men sitting in the front seat at this hour of the morning, which also was obvious that they were watching something. Logan had to satisfy his curiosity and watched the men’s movements. He saw them look in the direction of his building, and at his window a few times. 
 

Logan felt a sudden lurch in his stomach and he backed away from the window and went to sit in his chair. “Have I been caught?” He whispered to himself, and then began to stroke his bracelet. He felt the fears again, of losing the bracelet, and of not being buried next to Lily. He looked at the clock in the dining area; it was now 2:00 in the morning. He went back to the side of the living room window and peered down the street again with the monocular … the men were still there.

 

Even though he felt fear, he felt he had to be sure and he tried to think of something to do, something to draw the men out, that is, to confirm to himself and see if these men were actually watching him. Then something came to him. There was a Walgreen’s Drug Store that was open twenty-four hours down the street and around the corner a couple of blocks. He would get dressed and go there to buy some aspirin and cold medicine. If he were being watched, these men would follow him, and if by chance they were to question the clerk on his purchase, they would think he had a cold or something.
 

  

Therefore, he went back to his bedroom, and turned on the light. If they are watching him, they will notice that right away. He went back to his footlocker and replaced the monocular, and then picked up the portable device he used for distant conversations, a hand held sound amplifier. He checked the battery power and saw that it was fully charged. He unplugged the earpiece, but placed the earphone into his ear. He put on some black sweatpants, a black hooded sweatshirt, white socks, and running shoes. He put the microphone part of the listening device in the left pocket of his parka then fed the wire from the earpiece down the side of his body through a small hole in the pocket, and then connected them.
 

He then went to the living room window and peered down the street again. He saw some activity inside the car. He walked over to the switch on the wall and turned on the living room lights. He waited for a couple of moments, zipped up the front of his sweatshirt, went to the door of the apartment and opened it to step into the hallway. He proceeded to the elevator, pressed the button and waited. He felt his heart pounding and jumped slightly when the elevator door opened.
 

 

He entered and pressed the button for the main floor; the doors closed and during the ride down Logan psyched himself in being calm, like all the other times in his past. The doors opened and he went to the entrance of his building, Nobody was around outside, he took a couple of deep breaths, covered his head with the hood of the sweatshirt and walked outside to the street.

He had his hands inside the pockets of his sweatshirt and his head concealed under the hood. He proceeded down the steps from his apartment building to the gate by the sidewalk. He reached out with his left hand to open the gate, stepped out on to the sidewalk, and turned right. When he replaced his hand inside of the pocket, he turned on the listening device. He kept the volume down at first so as not to hear the sound of his own steps. He walked a little slowly; he wanted to make the impression that he might have a cold or flu. In a few moments, he was at the corner and turned left. However, when he was out of the view of the Ford Taurus, Logan stopped and pressed himself to the side of the building he was in front of. He took the microphone portion of the listening device and held it just around the corner of the building, pointing down the direction where the Taurus was parked. Logan turned the volume up as high as it could go. It was only a matter of seconds when he heard the sound of the engine as it turned on.
 

Logan quickly turned to the direction of the Walgreen’s drug store that was up the street only two blocks. He walked just a half a block when he heard the sound of the car coming up the street. The car had not yet come to the corner, as if it were waiting for his to put more distance between himself and the car. When Logan completed walking one block, he listened as the call now came to the corner. Logan turned the listening device off brought his hands to his face and began to massage it hard. He did so as to make his face and eyes look somewhat red as if he were ill and had a fever. This was so that if the person who was working in the drug store saw him, then that person could tell anyone who may ask later that he looked ill.

Logan kept the same slow pace to the drug store, he was now calm, the old Legionnaire came out of him, he was surprised at his calmness, and how his mind was working to get himself through this. 
 

The entrance to the Walgreen’s was right on the corner of the block. As Logan was just coming to the entrance, he heard the sound of the car coming from behind him. From under the hood of his sweatshirt, he watched as the silver gray Ford Taurus drove past him. As he came to the entrance, he saw the car turn left two blocks down.

 

Once inside, there was a portly Asian Indian man. “Good morning, Sir”, he said greeting Logan. He spoke with a deep Eastern Indian accent.

 

Logan answered the greeting in his French accent, he blocked his nose with the back of his tongue though, to make it sound as if his head were congested, “Good morning, could you please direct me to where the cold remedies are?”
 

 

“Oh,” the man said, “it looks as though you have a bad cold.” Logan nodded in agreement. The Indian man then pointed to the back wall, “Back there and to the right”.
 

Logan slowly in a downtrodden pace went over to the back wall and pretended to scan for the remedies. He was actually waiting to see if anyone else would come into the store and watch him. If anything else, he was letting the men in the Ford Taurus re-position themselves so as to follow him back to his apartment. If indeed, he was being followed. He quickly found some Bayer aspirin, DayQuil, as well as NyQuil, and some Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine. He then walked to the left end of all the back wall shelving to the first aisle, then took the aisle way back to the front register. This would give him a chance to scan the outside through the stores front windows. 

He remained in his lethargic pace as he returned to the front register with his purchases. While the Indian man rang up the merchandise, Logan rubbed his eyes and face as if he were really suffering from a cold, all the while scanning the streets outside through his fingers.
 

“That will be $17.48 please sir.” The Indian attendant said. Logan gave the man a twenty dollar bill and waited for his change. Logan thought he saw amber colored lights sitting on the corner another block down the street. “And $2.52 is your change, here, let me bag it for you,” the man then said. He placed the item in a plastic bag and handed it to Logan.
 

 

“Thank you very much,” Logan said, still making it sound as if his sinuses were all stuffed.
 

“I hope that you will be feeling better,” the Indian man said, “a good morning to you then sir.”

Logan nodded to him and took the bag with his items, he then exited through the front door and took a quick glance down the street to the direction where he thought he saw amber lights. There were indeed some amber lights, just enough to peer out an alley two blocks up. Just so, that if someone in the car were watching him, the car would be stopped just enough for the persons in the front seat to be peering in his direction to see which way he was walking. Just enough so that you could not see them in the front seat. Just enough to keep the rest of the car out of sight.
 

Logan slipped the loops of the plastic bag on the fingers of his right hand and turned right to walk back to his apartment. He then reached in his pocket again and turned on the amplifier. He pulled the microphone portion from the pocket and kept it cupped in his left hand, keeping it aimed behind him. He slowly scanned the area behind him to listen for the sound of any car that may be coming up from behind. It did not take long. As soon as he finished walking the first block back, he heard the sound of a car accelerate and come onto the street. It was coming in his direction, but slowly as if it were keeping its distance. 
 

As Logan looked up ahead of himself, he saw the light reflect from the trees, light posts, and buildings as the car behind him turned on its headlights. He was some twenty feet away from the corner where he would turn right to get back to his home when he let the bag slip from his fingers. He took two more steps and acted as if he were frustrated at dropping the bag. He sluggishly turned and took the two steps back to pick up the bag and as he did, he watched, as the Ford Taurus turned right on the next block, which was another one-way street.
 

Now he quickly picked the bag up and went to the corner of his street, he held the amplifier up in the direction of the next street over where he heard the car accelerate on the way down the street. Logan took a quick look up his own street to see the empty space where the Ford Taurus had been parked less than fifteen minutes before. He then crossed over to his side of the street where his building was located and looked down to the end where the crossroad was. He saw as light from the cars headlights were then reflecting off of the trees and buildings. When the beam straightened out to where you could see the blacktop of the road light up, the lights were then suddenly turned off. Just the faint color of amber light could be seen.
 

 

Logan then went back to his weary pace and soon he was again at the gate of his building in the middle of his street. He slowly went through, walked the pathway to the building, went up the steps, and entered. He then returned to the elevator and pressed the button, the doors opened immediately since no one else used it since he had left. He got inside and pressed the button for the third floor. When the doors closed, Logan shut off the amplifier and unplugged the earpiece. He pulled the hood of the sweatshirt back, removed the earpiece from his ear and unzipped the sweatshirt. He fed the earpiece wire back through the small hole in the pocket, and wrapped it neatly around itself and placed it back in the pocket with the microphone portion.
 

He now felt fear, anger, frustration, and bewilderment. The doors of the elevator opened and he peered out to look both ways down his hallway, there was nobody there so he walked quickly to his apartment. He opened the door, entered and swiftly turned to lock the door behind him. He leaned his back on to the door as if he were going to keep someone from breaking it down. He felt a slight panic, and went to his living room. When he looked at Lily’s picture a sense of calm then came over him.

 

He then went into his kitchen, took the items from the plastic bag, and placed them next to the sink. He waited there for some five minutes then turned off the lights in the living room. He walked down the hall and went into his bedroom and waited again for another three minutes, then turned off the lights in his bedroom. With his apartment once again all dark, he went to his closet and opened the footlocker. He placed the portable amplifier down and once again took up his monocular, and then he went back into his living room by the window. He peered from the side of the blinds again in the direction where the Ford Taurus was parked before he left. When he placed the monocular to his eye . . . everything then was confirmed. Through the looking glass, he could see that the Ford Taurus had returned and parked itself in the same spot. Logan could see the men in the front seat speaking to each other, the light of the cell phone reflected on the face of the man on the passenger side.

Logan then stepped away from the window. Questions were now going through his head, along with the answer he already knew. What did he do that drew attention to him? It does not matter. How long has he been watched? It does not matter. How much do they know? It does not matter.
 

It does not matter because he knew what he had to do now. He had to initiate the plan. 

He went over to Lily’s picture, the candlelight made it seem like she was staring back at him. “You’re right Lil girl,” he whispered to her picture, “I have to stop,” he paused to draw a deep breath and exhaled, “I have to leave … now.”
 

He looked at the clock in the kitchen and saw that it was 3:05 AM, he had a little under five hours to get everything together … and then to catch “The Wolverine.”

He then bent over slightly, gently blew out the candlelight that has been burning there for over seven years, and he then took the portrait of Lily off the cabinet shelf to go pack it.