Remembering You

Elon

Jason's POV:

I got dressed in the early morning hours, and I'm not used to being back at home now. Life had gone back to normal, yet it was far from normal. My wife was home, but she was nothing like my wife that I had married. My work life was beyond convoluted, and I knew at any moment the bubble of safety I had built up for Anna since the accident would pop, and that would be a death sentence. I was still trying to get out of danger's way, but danger followed me. Short of assuming an entirely new identity and running far from anyone who knew who I was, I didn't see how this was going to end with us alive.

I fastened my tie, looking at my polished reflection in the mirror, the suit giving everyone a false sense of power. That's what I needed for my meetings today, for everyone to assume I was the smartest in the room. Usually, I was, so it wasn't a far stretch. It was the only way I made it this far alive, was to always be ten steps ahead.

I went to the living room, where the early morning light was just starting to filter in through the large windows. Anna was sleeping on the couch without even a blanket, evidently not wanting to sleep in the guest room. I hated the couch, but perhaps it gave her a false sense of security to be in the open. Her questions about me wanting to kill her had both tickled me and frightened me. She had no trust in me, and one day soon, I would need her blind, unwavering trust to make my plans work and get her to safety.

"I'm leaving for work. I will be back tonight, but it will be late. Enrique is going to be with you today. Do not leave his sight," I warned her, hoping she was awake enough to register what I said.

"Enrique, yea, mmmm..." She mumbled, falling back to sleep, pulling the covers back up to snuggle with. Her sleepy innocence was so endearing; I was still thinking about it even as my first meeting started, this time in person with the C.I.A. Director and his cabinet.

Using biological warfare to try to eliminate an entire country was grounds for war with the Russians, who I knew were behind the virus, but our long-term game was so important I knew no action would be taken.

"What do you think our next step should be?" the commanding general asked deeply, his southern drawl still evident even after years of living in D.C.

"Raise the terror alert, obviously. Resume life as normal, but the virus got in our country somehow, so clearly we have a leak that needs to be stopped up," I answered, trying to keep my focus on the meeting and not Anna.

"So what you're saying is, even though we got rid of the virus and declared victory in a sense, even though publicly we didn't admit the virus was manufactured, you want us to raise the terror level, letting EVERYONE know something sketchy is going on. You don't think they will find that suspicious?" the vice C.I.A. The director sarcastically agreed with my idea of raising the terror level.

I glared at him, imagining the most painful ways he could die.

"This was nothing more than a distraction. They wanted me in place to get the information they needed to have a virus only target people of specific ethnicities. Extremely targeted biological warfare. This was their way of beta-testing one of their viruses, and it worked perfectly. The virus killed everyone except people with Russian, Asian, or Middle Eastern backgrounds. They made their point and are waiting for us to give them what they want now, or the real virus will be released," I explained to him, having to force myself to act patient even though I really didn't want to even humor his idiotic questions.

"So you think this was just a warning? What information do they want?" the C.I.A. The director asked curiously.

"They want all the contents of Project Bluejays," I responded, earning myself a wave of whispers from everyone in the room.