79: Madison and Nate

Maddy Washburn sat in the café to which the receptionist at the Inn had directed her. The Inn, itself, only provided donuts, muffins, coffee and juice for their patrons, but Maddy was a firm believer that breakfast was the most important meal of the day and wanted something more substantial. So, here she sat, staring out the window, not really seeing the early morning traffic, waiting for her breakfast and the call from Dunham and even though she was expecting it, when her phone began playing the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth, she still started as she fumbled to open it.

“Madison Washburn.”

“Deputy Director, I believe you wished to speak with me,” Tom Dunham said and Maddy gritted her teeth at the supercilious tone. Dunham was a condescending so-and-so but he was also the best and Maddy was forced to put up with him.

“Yes, Tom, I did,” she said, keeping her voice calm and low, for there were other patrons in the café. “I need some legal advice. I’m in Alaska where some of my agents have gotten themselves in trouble with the local authorities.”

“What sort of trouble?”

“Murder and kidnapping.”

“And so? That’s what they do, is it not? What’s the big deal? We’ll just tell the local authorities that it’s none of their business and....”

“Murder and kidnapping of civilians,” Maddy interjected, “although the murder victims were petty criminals. Still, the authorities are not happy about that since one of them was a nineteen-year-old and the kidnap victims... well, let’s just say, they are considered as Wiseman’s royalty and leave it at that.”

There was a long pause on the other end before Dunham commented. “I see. Am I correct in assuming that the deaths cannot be considered collateral damage during the execution of an agent’s duty?”

“They’re calling it pre-meditated,” Maddy replied. “Apparently the agents involved hired these two criminals to do what they should have done themselves, and when they failed to carry out the assignment, i.e., they got caught, the agents or at least one of them, arranged for them to be sprung from the sheriff’s jail and then killed. They didn’t even try to make it look like an accident.”

There was another long pause before Dunham replied and Maddy forced herself not to grind her teeth in frustration. “It looks as if you’re up the creek without the proverbial paddle, Deputy Director.” And Maddy could almost see the supercilious smile on the attorney’s face. She suddenly realized she was clenching the knife that was on the table and had to force herself to unclench her fist and take a deep breath.

“What are our options?” she asked.

“Very few, but what options we have we will use to the fullest. Has there been an arraignment yet?”

“I believe it’s scheduled for tomorrow. Right now, the police are taking statements from those involved.”

“May I ask why the agents felt the need to kidnap civilians?”

“That was not their intent. Their intent was to kidnap another agent and the civilians got caught in the trap. A couple of them were, shall we say, roughed up rather badly to force the other agent to cooperate.”

“By rough up, you mean torture. Yes, well, I can see where you definitely have a problem. Okay, there’s no time for me to get out there for the arraignment, but one of my best lawyers happens to be in Seattle at the moment. I’ll contact him and tell him to hightail himself to... where did you say you were?”

“Wiseman, Alaska. It’s way north of Fairbanks. He can fly that far. I’ll arrange for a car that he can pick up at the airport. It’ll take him a few hours to reach Wiseman. He can stay at the Goldmine Inn. I’ll get a room reserved for him there as well.”

“Fine. If the arraignment is tomorrow, nothing else will be done until next week because of the holiday. That will give Sanderson time to plan out the defense when this comes to trial, if it ever does. I have to tell you now, Deputy Director, that it doesn’t look good, at least from what you’ve told me, which is little enough. Your agents apparently went way over the line and the local authorities have every right to be pissed off. It’s doubtful that Sanderson can get them off, but he’ll do his best. If nothing else, your agents deserve proper counsel, which they probably wouldn’t get from whoever they have as a defense lawyer there.”

“Thanks, Tom. I appreciate it.”

“Any time, Deputy Director.” And with that the line went dead and Maddy put the phone away, scowling at nothing in particular.

“Here you go dear.”

She looked up at the waitress placing her plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, homefries and toast before her, trying not to cringe. She so hated being called ‘dear’ or ‘honey’ by waitresses attempting to be too friendly. Whatever happened to ‘ma’am’ as a proper form of address from one who was essentially a servant?

“Thank you... um... Esther,” she said, glancing at the woman’s name tag. “And could I have more coffee, please?”

“No problem, honey. I’ll be right back.” And the waitress sailed away, stopping at a nearby table to make sure the patrons had all that they needed.

Maddy stared at her plate, suddenly no longer hungry. The conversation with Dunham had been unsettling. Damn Farrell and his men! And damn Meriwether... and Elwood! She still did not know how she felt about seeing him after all these years and he hadn’t aged a bit! Those patrician features, those cold blue eyes, that gorgeous silvery-golden hair that most women would kill for and he looked no older than when she last saw him fifteen years before! She didn’t understand it.

Picking up her fork, she began eating, but after a couple of bites, she put the fork down and, with elbows on the table, covered her face with her hands, suddenly feeling old... and tired.

“It’s not as bad as all that, child.”

She started at the deep, melodious voice speaking to her and looked up to see a beautifully handsome man with blue-black hair and piercing grey eyes that seemed to look into her very soul. He was wearing a pair of black jeans and a black-and-white flannel shirt under a black duster. On his head was a wide-brimmed black hat.

“Excuse me?” she demanded, becoming angry. “Who the hell are you and why are you bothering me?”

If the man was upset by her words or her tone, he gave no indication, merely removing his hat and making himself free of the booth across from her.

“We need to talk, Madison,” he said.

Maddy felt a frisson of fear. “How do you know my name?” she hissed. “Who are you?”

“You can call me Nate,” the man said. “Ah, thank you, Esther.” He smiled as the waitress appeared, bearing a thermos of coffee and another mug.

“No problem, Nate,” Esther said. “Is herself giving you grief?”

“Don’t they all?” Nate replied, winking at Maddy, much to her surprise. “That’s what makes them so fun.”

Esther snorted in an unladylike manner. “Your idea of fun and mine apparently don’t agree.”

“And what do you call this?” Nate asked, gesturing with one hand at the café.

“Work,” Esther said primly. “I call it work. Holler if you need me.” And with that she left.

Maddy stared after her for a second or two then turned her attention to Nate who was pouring coffee into her mug and then filling his. “Who are you and what do you want with me?” she asked a third time.

Nate gave her a sharp glance. Unaccountably, she felt as if she were naked and had to look away, clearly embarrassed.

“Madison, what happened in Washington?”

She flinched as if someone had touched her with a hot poker. “What do you mean?” she asked in a whisper.

“Shanna Machell. What happened with Shanna? How did you manage to fail that poor child?”

“I didn’t. She came to me, showing me Meriwether’s email to her. I told her to ignore it, that it was unimportant.”

“A lie, of course,” Nate said, taking a sip of his coffee. “And when Shanna went ahead and ignored your orders and began asking the wrong questions to the wrong people, she was effectively silenced, wasn’t she?” His grey eyes held a tinge of red-violet in them that sent shards of ice through Maddy’s veins.

“That was an accident,” she hissed. “A stupid car accident. It happens all the time.”

“Yes, a nice cover up,” Nate retorted, “though sloppily executed as three other innocents died in the same accident. Your people were rather careless.”

“What are you saying? How do you know all this?”

“I know, because it’s my business to know. Shanna Machell died because of you.”

“Do you think I ordered that accident?” Maddy exclaimed, her anger evident in her tone. “Where do you get off?”

“No, you did not, but others did,” and Nate’s tone became colder, “and you turned a blind eye to that, deciding you didn’t want to know the truth, which is why you sent young Artemus that rather bogus email. Very sloppy that, considering that the time-and-date stamp on the email was after Shanna was already dead.”

“Meriwether wouldn’t have known that,” Maddy said with a sniff.

“Except that someone else sent him the obituary for Shanna the day before you sent the email purporting to come from her,” Nate said, his smile anything but friendly. “As I said, a sloppy cover up.”

Maddy paled, suddenly understanding Meriwether’s antagonism toward her. “Damn!” she muttered, pounding a fist on the table.

“Exactly,” Nate said. “Where did you go wrong, Madison? In spite of everything, you always kept to the Light... until now.”

Now Maddy scrunched her face in confusion. “What are you babbling about? Light? What light?”

“The side of the angels, if you will,” Nate replied. “You always believed in the righteousness of your work, in safeguarding the borders of your country by ferreting out the secrets of other nations and organizations bent on destroying your way of life. A worthy endeavor, but fraught with great moral danger. It’s very easy to use the excuse of expediency over doing the right thing, because doing the right thing can be, shall we say, inconvenient at times, especially in your line of work. You knew what Farrell was up to and even why but you did nothing to help Artemus out, forcing him to deal with the situation as he found it, and I think he and his friends did an admirable job of it. You failed Shanna Machell and that perhaps is the greatest sin, for she came to you in confidence.”

“She disobeyed my orders,” Maddy retorted.

“And a reprimand would have sufficed to keep her in line,” Nate said, “but someone decided she was a liability and took her out, as I believe is the expression. I suspect you even know or can guess who in the Agency arranged her fatal accident, or not so fatal. She was recovering, you know. Someone conveniently pulled the plug on her.”

Maddy went white. “You lie!” she hissed. “Shanna’s injuries were too grave. Even if she had lived she would’ve been a vegetable.”

Nate shrugged. “Regardless. The question before us now, Madison Washburn, is what will you do now?”

“What do you mean, and what business is it of yours?”

“Death is my business, Madison,” Nate said gravely and Maddy felt faint for some reason and fear, fear she had never known, even when in the field so many years ago when she was an operative. “For I am Death and you are very close to dying yourself. Oh, not physically, at least not yet, but dying inside. You’ve allowed your soul to shrivel, to become uncaring, or perhaps we should say, turning a blind eye on certain truths in the name of expediency.” He raised an eyebrow, as if daring her to contradict him.

“I’m not evil,” was all she could think to say, and she half-wondered why she was even trying to justify herself to this stranger.

“Evil? No. You are not evil, Madison, but you have allowed evil a toehold in your soul and in the soul of your Agency. Shanna Machell is not the only one you failed; there’s young Artemus.”

She had no words to say to that, staring at her plate, thinking of all that had happened of late, realizing that perhaps this stranger was right. She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back, suddenly feeling even more tired than she already was.

“Well, you have much to think about,” Nate said, suddenly standing, putting his hat on. “There is still time to do the right thing, Madison. Now, don’t let your breakfast go cold.” He smiled at her and it was a warm, non-judgmental smile that seemed to fill the dark, cold places of her soul with warmth and light. Then he left, though she didn’t quite see him go.

Esther came by to check on her. “So Nate finished?” she asked. “I trust your conversation with him was fruitful.”

Maddy wasn’t sure how to reply to that and simply nodded.

“Well, don’t let your breakfast get cold, dear,” Esther said, patting her on the shoulder in a motherly fashion and Maddy found she didn’t mind. In fact, it seemed as if all the turmoil inside her subsided and there was a sense of peace. Picking up her fork she dug into her eggs, half convinced that everything would be cold, but much to her surprise the eggs were still hot and she discovered she had an appetite after all.

Twenty minutes later, having finished her breakfast and paid the bill, she was heading for the Inn to make the arrangements for Sanderson and making her plans.