Cabin Talk

Jason is relieved when Nate finally emerges from the infirmary, but receives the orders grudgingly. He didn’t like being ordered around, especially in this case. What was going on?

He obeys anyway, but when he returns to find out just what is going on, he resists, looking to Nate. “Are you nuts? You’re just gonna send him off by himself, to take care of this thing?”

Carson checks his guns over, loading them as he overhears Jason. “You just had me put through the wringer in order to find out if I had turned my loyalty over to TJY. Don’t embarrass yourself by disrespecting the results.”

Jason starts to get mad, but then settles down, realizing the truth in Carson’s words. “Just don’t be a hero alright.”

“It’s a job, mate, nothing more.” Carson grabs the other items, and scrounges in his bag for a few more things, sidling past the others to head for the bathroom.

It doesn’t take him long, and he finally comes back out. He’s in the clean set of clothes, hiking boots, and a baseball cap. The cuts and bruises on his face are now covered, the makeup job done well enough that it’s not noticeable, proving he’s done this before. The bandages have been taken off his wrists, and his cuts are covered up with a wideband watch on one arm, and a leather wrist band on the other.

He remains grim as he prepares, donning a holster for one pistol, and sticking the other behind his back before throwing on his denim jacket. He glances up at the other three men and gives a short nod. “I’ll call back here as soon as I’ve got a chance. Don’t come looking and don’t call.” He grabs several pain killers and downs them with some water, grimacing just a little.

Without another word, he heads out.

Jason looks down the empty hall after him, sighing deeply. “I hope we’re doing the right thing.” He pauses for a moment, then turns to Nate. “Hey, I want to apologize about earlier. We did this whole thing once before with a guy we weren’t sure about. That time it went fine, and nobody got hurt, so Reese and I thought it appropriate for this instance as well. Maybe we were wrong.” He shakes his head. “There were just too many variables with this one. And the two guys Reese hired…they got carried away and we didn’t intend for that to happen. If everything had gone as planned, Carson wouldn’t have gotten that hurt, and nothing would have happened to Misty. We just wanted to know for certain if Carson would rat on us or not. We felt it was necessary to find out before he got in too deep here.”

He pauses for another moment. “I’m sorry I didn’t include you.”


Carson gets into Misty’s car, putting the seat back further and adjusting the rearview mirror. Starting the engine and pulling out, he can’t help but feel just a little strange driving her car.
He heads out and down the road, keeping his eyes ahead between the swishing windshield wipers. His mind races. Where would Misty have gone…he had to have a starting point… He remembers being in the van. They’d headed out of town…he had thought they were heading to the warehouse on the river, but they’d turned before arriving. That would have been the most logical place for Misty to go first at least.

Arriving at the warehouse though, he finds it now deserted. Now what… Carson taps his fingers on the steering wheel, thinking hard. What was the next closest location? The nearest was Base G across the border. But would that really have been where they went? He couldn’t risk calling anyone. He simply had to take the risk.

Carson is quick to leave the warehouse and head to the back roads, enveloping himself in the role he played so well. Like a machine, his mindset had switched gears and he was now thinking like the criminal he was. He knew the routes best to take to avoid traffic or cops, and knew that if anyone from the Agency had headed to Base G, this is the way they would go.


The men in the cabin don’t react much to seeing Misty, neither having known her from before. Beer bottles are set on the table with two open bags of chips, and the television on.

“Drew, what you doing here anyway?” Mark snorts.

Drew rolls his eyes and hangs up his soaked jacket. “Getting out of this dang weather. Jeep went in the ditch. Got me, Leon and that gal there, Misty.”

Mark just grunts. “Yeah, well, we’re just here waiting for orders. Supposed to be getting called in on some fool case up in Montana or something. Wasting time here, but it ain’t bad.”

“Nothin’ wrong with doin’ nothin’,” Travis comments from his lazy seat at the table. He takes a sip of his beer. “A tad bit boring though. ‘Course we got Ashlyn – not that she lets us have any fun.”

“You boys need to get a life.” A tall, slender dark woman comes out of the adjoining bedroom, throwing them an annoyed look. “Hey, Drew.”

Drew throws her a grin. “Ashlyn. Guess what I heard tonight?”

Ashlyn sets her hands on her hips. “What’s that?”

“Carson’s still alive.”

Ashlyn’s eyes light up, a narrow smile creasing her lips. “Oh, really. I’d heard that rumor.” She nods to the bathroom door. “Who’s the chick’s voice I heard?”

“Misty. Old schooler back for some more action.”