my vocal cords before continuing, “It was an honor working with you, Tobias.”
After a final squeeze of his hand, I raise my right one to my temple to salute a man whose death should be more honorable than it is. Once again, this country has lost a true hero, and once again, they’re none the wiser to their massive loss.
When my hand falls back to my side, the agent standing under the hangar returns to wheel Tobias into a waiting hearse. When the wheels of the gurney get stuck in the ramp, he gives it an extra push, sending Tobias’s belongings toppling to the ground. Since I didn’t zip it back up, the contents inside disperse in all directions.
“I’ll get it,” I assure the agent when he curses his supposed stupidity.
Because there aren’t many items to gather, I have them collected rather quickly. It’s only the impressive bounce of a first-edition copy of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy I’m required to scamper for. It’s lodged under the seat my backside kept warm the past two hours.
When I scoot across the checker-plate material of the plane’s flooring, my heart rate increases. Tobias’s book is open, and the sunlight coming in from outside reveals something I didn’t notice earlier. There’s a circular indent around one of the letters in the book. It appears to be written in Russian, but the symbol in the word resembles an ‘H.’ There are no other pen markings to make the gouge noticeable, just the solemn pressure of a pen nib, proving someone circled that exact letter.
With my back facing the agent, I fan through the remaining pages of Tobias’s book. My already sky-high heart rate jumps up another notch when I discover several more indents scattered throughout the book. Just like the first one I noticed, the letter circled represents a letter in the English alphabet.
Since the agent’s attention is fixated on guiding the wheels of Tobias’s gurney down the ramp without additional incidents, he fails to notice me slipping Tobias’s book into the breast pocket of my jacket.
His eyes only raise to mine when I hand him the Ziplock bag that’s noticeably emptier than it was a few seconds ago. “Everything good?”
“Yep, everything is fine,” I lie.
4
Brandon
Twenty minutes later, I’ve deciphered a majority of Tobias’s hidden message. It appears to be an address in Tiburon. It’s not the one cited on his FBI credentials. Although I’m confident I’ve decrypted his code correctly, a six-digit cryptology remains on the bottom of the long sequence of numbers. It’s not a zip code or telephone number, and it doesn’t appear to correspond with the code he hid in his book. It can’t be a date of birth because the letters don’t correspond with any months or dates when decoded.
I could spend an additional twenty minutes combing for clues, but with my inquisitiveness higher than my wish to spend more time at a morgue, I slip Tobias’s book into my pocket, farewell the agent I traveled with the past three hours, then exit the coroner’s office via the main entrance.
It takes a little longer to hail a taxi than I’m used to. This side of the country isn’t as reliant on cabs as those on the east side. As my taxi weaves through the hilly landscape, I recall the last time I traveled these roads. I wasn’t alone, and my company was an undoubtably attractive female.
When you put two moody, single, heartbroken people in a hotel room for the night, what outcome would you foresee? If it were for me to do my job without my moral compass being led astray, you still have a lot to learn about me.
I didn’t go down the same destructive path Madden and Phoenix did after Joey’s death, but I wasn’t an upstanding member of society either. Honestly, if I didn’t have Tobias and Grayson constantly riding my ass, I’d most likely be either living in the gutter or following in my father’s footsteps.
Both outcomes are as bad as the other.
My ‘altercation’ with Olivia wasn’t a hiccup I needed in my life, but at the end of the day, it was something that needed to happen. It got my head back into the game, and gave me the determination to ensure nothing like that ever happened again. Do I hate her for being the motive behind Melody and I not speaking for the past three years? In a way, somewhat. But in all honesty, I’m more pissed off at Melody than Olivia.
We