That whole night, Linc and Daphne made love. Linc knew he'd fallen hard for the pretty green eyed brunette. He only wanted to show her that there was real love in his heart, and not the monster he saw himself as.
After she fell asleep, he watched her. You're such an angel, he said to her in his thoughts; I don't deserve you. I was raised evil, and will probably remain evil til I die. But this... but this I will always cherish, even if I never see you again.
He got out of bed to use the bathroom, passing the table where Daphne's coat lay. Her purse had fallen to the floor, its contents spilled out of it. He started to put the things back inside, then saw something he was sure she didn't want him to see.
What he saw should have made him angry enough to kill her. But it didn't; it only increased his admiration of her.
He saw her shield and police ID, which carried her real name.
Nicoletta C. Nichols.
He looked back at her, sleeping peacefully, and knew he could not hurt her. Nicoletta... such a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl, he thought.
Linc went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. I don't deserve you, sweet Nicoletta, he silently said to his mirror image. I am the reason you are here. The evil man who runs the Second Occupation group everyone is trying to stop. The only way you could catch me is to portray someone I have no respect for. I don't care that you're a police officer. I don't care that you may have to arrest me for the evil I've done. All I care about is you. You are a brave woman to take on the task of reigning me in. If you must arrest me, dearest Nicoletta, I will be grateful. I'm tired of running.
He did what he came into the bathroom to do, then joined the woman who stole his heart back in the bed. He only hoped he didn't slip up and call her Nicoletta instead of Daphne.
After receiving the reports from the police about Marsh's comings and goings, Nik saw something disturbing.
One of the undercovers was spending a lot of time with him, and her captain was growing concerned.
What on earth would be the reason she would willingly spend time with this man, Nik thought. Did she gain his trust? Is he willingly giving her information we can't get otherwise?
This particular undercover officer had a history with the former anti-government group the Disturbed Ones during the Occupation. Or, rather, her mother and grandmother did. Nik tried to remember all the particulars...
Her mother was an outspoken critic of the Occupational government, and as a reporter, dug up stories about the group. When The Committee found out about her, they threatened her Australian born husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen, with deportation. When that didn't work, The Committee, specifically Carl Parks, tried to have her entire family deported as well, even though all of them were native born citizens. The family then went into hiding.
Her grandmother was a talk radio host, and along with her radio partner (and later, husband), spoke out against the Occupational government as well. She had been arrested, placed on house confinement, and sentenced to die for her "crimes" against the Occupational government. It turned out to be a ruse, but she and her husband changed their names and moved to another region.
God, Nik thought, with those strong women guiding her, I hope she stands a chance against Lincoln Marsh, or her husband might be raising those kids of theirs alone.
Nik had nothing to worry about, but it concerned him anyway.
He knew he had to tell Dixon about this developement, but decided to wait and see what the undercover had in mind first.
It might work itself out, Nik thought.
Dixon had other concerns on his mind other than the possible arrest of Lincoln Marsh. Dixon had to look into Julia's plans about returning to Chicago to see if they were feasible.
Move within 60 days of February 28th? Dixon asked himself. I guess that's a doable plan. Julia is pretty organized when it comes to getting things done.
Dixon wasn't sure about the double transport, however. Sending the children first without their mother seemed a little dangerous to him. What was Julia thinking when she decided that? he thought.
Then it dawned on him. If A.R.M. figured out the San Francisco thing was a smokescreen, then the kids will be safe if they went ahead of their mother and John Christofferson.
"Smart thinking, Agent Summers," Dixon said aloud.
Then he read something in Julia's request that had him scratching his head:
I would like to request the services of one Staff Sergeant John Crossley as part of the detail when I send the children ahead to Chicago, Julia wrote; He and my oldest daughter, Mirielle, have been corresponding periodically since we've been in hiding, and I think that her seeing him in person again would be a boost to her morale.
"So, your 16 year old daughter has a friend she'd like to see again," Dixon mused; "I think I can arrange that. I just have to find this young Staff Sergeant."
He contacted the Department of Defense to see if they can find out if this particular Staff Sergeant could be found, and if so, where?
It would be something to occupy his day. Then he could go home to Natasha.
II
They still lay sleeping when the phone in the room rang. Daphne practically jumped out of her skin. Marsh noticed this.
"Daph, it's okay," he said; "It's probably just the office reminding me about next week's payment on the room."
He leaned over and answered the phone. He said a few words, ending with, "I'll be over later in the morning to take care of that, but I'll be leaving before weeks end."
Daphne just looked over at him as he spoke. You're going to be leaving? she said to him in her thoughts.
He hung up the phone and turned to her, and seeing the look in her eyes, asked,
"What's wrong?"
"You're leaving soon?" she asked him.
"Yes," Linc said; "I have to get back to work some time, right?"
"I see..."
He took her hand in his, saying, "You had to know this was coming. We can keep in touch if you want. I'll give you my number. Besides, I'm not leaving until next Wednesday, so we still have plenty of time."
"I have a confession to make, Linc," she said.
That you're a cop? he thought; I don't care about that. Aloud he asked, "What is that?"
"I let my feelings get the better of me, and I find I'm incredibly attracted to you," Daphne said. "Usually, I keep my emotions in check, but this time..."
Linc stopped her. "I have something to confess, too, Daph," he said. She looked at him as he said, "I think I'm feeling the same way about you."
"What do we do?" she asked; "We could never get together. I live here, and you live far away."
"Then there's the fact that I'm so much older than you are," Linc said; "It's not like I'm any prize. I've done a lot in my life that I am truly ashamed of."
"I don't care about that," Daphne said; "All that matters is here and now."
"While that's true, you're too nice to get caught up in my world," Linc said; "I'm not what I told you I am. I didn't come here to go to any conference, Daphne. I came here to intimidate someone into telling me something she didn't want me to know. She's the one who caused my injury. I deserved it. I broke into her house."
Daphne started to feel scared. Why is he telling me all this? Is he planning to kill me?
"I know what you're thinking, Daphne," he said; "Why am I telling you all this? Because I can't do this anymore. I've been the way I am my whole life. No one showed me any kindness, save for one person. Then he died.
"My parents took me to my grandfather's for the summer when I was 13. They never came back. My grandfather raised me the best he could. I was a mean little shit, but my Gramps, he was tough. He showed me the same kindness that you have. I had great respect and admiration for him. I tried to emulate that when I became an adult, but it didn't work for me somehow. I was still an evil, mean, and heartless bastard.
"When I was twenty one, I joined the New Army. The Occupation, as it later became known, was just getting started. The New Army was filled with guys just like me. Society's rejects. We were trained to arrest people who didn't believe in the New Government's ideals. I was trained to kill the people, the Undesirables, who gathered for rallies. And I did it. I hated myself for it, because of what Gramps tried to teach me as a teenager.
"So I went AWOL and went back to Gramps' house to talk to him. I was confused, scared, that I would become like my parents. When I got there, he was seemingly gone. I broke into the house only to find that he'd been murdered. He'd been dead a couple of days. Signs that the New Army was responsible were everywhere. I was deeply shocked that a gentle man like him could die such a horrible death. He had been helping Undesirables and had been found out. I was disgusted that I was part of the machine that led to his death. I decided to keep running, but I had to change my name so the New Army couldn't do to me what they had done to him."
Daphne sat speechless in the bed. She knew about the abuses of the New Army and the Occupational government. She'd lived with it for the first nineteen years of her life.
"What did you change your name to, and what was it before?" was all she thought to ask.
"My given name was Edward Michael Marshall," Linc said; "I changed my name to my grandfather's middle name and lopped off the last three letters of my surname. My grandfather's name was Abraham Lincoln Marshall. I became Lincoln Marsh. Now that name stands for evil. The same evil that took my grandfather from me."
Daphne noticed that Linc tried not to let his feelings show. Maybe he'd trained himself to not feel any, she thought. But, talking about his grandfather brought out something in him. It wasn't hard to see that a young boy who admired the only person in his life who showed him kindness could become emotional talking about him years after the fact.
She knew she had to tell him her story, too.
"I'm so sorry, Linc," she said; "I had no idea about any of this. Is there anything I can do?"
Linc shook his head. "No, Daphne, I can't suck you into my world. You'd hate me forever if I allowed you to be part of my life."
"Why does Lincoln Marsh sound so familiar, though?" she asked.
"On Christmas Eve, I became the leader of an anti-government group called the American Republic Movement," Linc said; "Our goal is to have a Second Occupation. To achieve that goal, we need to eliminate the so-called 'Triad'. The three individuals who had a hand in ending the first Occupation. I took over from a woman called Chastity Edwards, who seemingly fell off the face of the earth."
"I seem to know that name, too," Daphne said. "She was evil and hateful, like God forgot to give her a conscience."
"Exactly," Linc said; "And when she disappeared, got arrested, died, whatever happened to her, the group needed a new leader. I was brought in from outside the group. Now I see that it was a big mistake. I should have turned them down."
"We wouldn't have met if you had," Daphne pointed out.
"This is true, and I'd still be abusing whores, getting high, and killing people," Linc said. "I wouldn't have met the only other person in my life who actually gave a damn."
"Do you want out, Linc?" Daphne asked.
"I don't know what the fuck I want," Linc said; "I'm no better than my parents. They abused drugs for as long as I could remember. When they abandoned me with my grandfather, they took my younger sisters and disappeared. Probably sold them into prostitution. Then, I abandoned my own family. I once had a wife and children. They were just in the way, so I left. I'm not proud of this, Daphne. I'm an old man now--maybe not in age, but in spirit. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of all the evil I spread around. I'm tired of pretending..."
That caught Daphne's attention. "Are you pretending with me, Linc?" she asked, suddenly scared he meant to do her harm.
Linc took Daphne into his arms. "No, honey. I'm not pretending with you. You're the only person I've ever felt comfortable enough with to tell any of this to."
"What am I supposed to do with this knowledge, Linc?"
"I don't know," Linc said. "I had to tell someone. It's not like I can walk into any church and speak with a priest."
"Your secret is safe with me, Linc," Daphne said. "But I have something to tell you, too."
Linc looked at her, knowing what she was going to say. So he said it first.
"If you're going to tell me you're a cop, I already know," he said.
Daphne's eyes grew wide when he said that. "How...how did you know?" was all she could think to say.
Linc's gaze softened. Please, sweet Nicoletta, don't be afraid, he thought.
"Last night," he began, "I got up to go to the bathroom. I saw your purse on the floor, half its contents spilled out of it. I started to put what I thought was a wallet back inside, but noticed that the 'wallet' contained a police shield and ID. Normally, it would have made me extremely angry to find out I'd been lied to, but I wasn't. I was actually relieved. If you have to arrest me, I'll let you. Like I said, I'm tired of running."
"Then you know my real name," Daphne said; "You know that I lied to you about a lot of things."
"That is part of your job as an undercover police officer, isn't it?" Linc asked; "You try to get the confidence of evil bastards like me, then turn over what you find out to your superiors. You do your job very well. I had no idea you weren't who you said you were until I found your ID."
"I can explain..." Daphne said.
"There's no need," Linc said. "It doesn't matter. You matter. You showed me the kindness that only my grandfather before you did. Whatever you have to do to do your job, I'm all for it. Even if it means placing me under arrest."
"I can't do that," Daphne said; "One, I haven't been given authorization to arrest you; and two, even if I had been, I'd let you get away."
"Why would you let me get away, knowing what I'm trying to do?"
"Because..." Daphne said; "Because I'm finding it difficult to do my job, knowing how I feel about you."
"I didn't mean to make your job harder," Linc said. "If you get authorization to arrest me, I'm asking that you arrest me. I can deal with the consequences later."
"There's more about me you don't know, Linc," Daphne said.
"Like what?"
"That in June, I'll be 35; that I've been married for ten years to a fellow officer; that I have three children..."
"And that matters, why?" asked Linc.
"Not only have I broken departmental rules," Daphne said; "but I've violated my marriage vows as well."
"Your children aren't little ones, are they? They're adolescents or older."
"My twins are 13," Daphne said; "my youngest is eight, almost nine. And when you asked if I'd been abused, and I couldn't answer, it was because it was true. My teenagers were the result of a rape by a man I almost married right out of college. I left him when he threatened to kill me. My husband originally brought me here to protect me from my former fiance. We fell in love and married. He adopted my twins, a boy named Steven and girl named Kathryn. My youngest is a boy. His name is Cole."
"It sounds like you have a nice family," Linc said; "I'm sorry that I've put you in an awkward position. I...I can't help it. You're such a beautiful woman. So kind. So caring."
"I'll deal with my guilt later in my own way, Linc," Daphne said.
Soon they got up and dressed, and Daphne decided to take her leave. She wasn't sure what she'd do with the information that Linc had given her. She wasn't even sure how to deal with her own feelings for him. If he asked her to return while he was still in town, she would. She would salvage her undercover operation even though it was she who blew her own cover. She just didn't care any more. Explaining what happened to Steve would be bad enough.
"I should ask my captain to pull me from undercover detail," she said; "but I'm not going to. If you want me to return, I will."
"I'd like that," Linc said. "But it will be very hard to say goodbye to you when I leave, knowing I may never see you again."
"We'll deal with that when the time comes."
She put on her coat and headed for the door of the small motel room. "I'll be back soon, Linc."
"Until then, stay safe..." Linc said. "I await your return if you choose it..."
Daphne was about to open the door when Linc finished his sentence.
"...Nicoletta."
She looked back at him, the tears already falling down her face.
Without another word, she left the room and ran to her car parked behind the motel. She got in, stuck the key in the ignition to start the car. Once the car was running, Officer Nico Nichols put her head on the steering wheel and cried.
Back in the motel room, Linc Marsh felt freer than he had since he was a teenager.
Leaving Nicoletta behind would break his heart. But he had a job to do.
He would go to Virginia at some point and make the bastard who caused Nicoletta pain pay for his brutality.
But he had to find the SpineSplitter first. That was his goal.
It was a promise that he would make, then later break, that would be his undoing.
III
Julia ran the operation to get ready to move like a drill sergeant, Jack noticed. Things had to be in their proper place; certain procedures had to be followed; events had to happen in a certain order.
The first thing was for Jack to obtain his medical records from his doctors in Jackson. Then, to arrange to move the animals they were taking with them, and giving away or selling the ones they were not. Julia then sent a message to Darren Dixon for Nik San Marco to contact her sister, Kimber about watching the kids until she could join them.
"I don't understand why you were never in the military, Julia," Jack said as she was arranging for her kids home schooling records to be sent to the Department of Education in Illinois; "You run things like I would have when I was in the Army."
"Jack, I spent the first twelve years of my life being raised by an ex-Marine," Julia said; "He ran a tight operation. We all just picked up on that and do the same with our families."
"And this continued while you were fighting to end the Occupation?"
"It's the only way it could have ended, if everyone worked as a team."
Jack couldn't argue with that. So he let Julia do her thing. He just sat and watched and tried not to cough too much.
Because even Rachel knew he was dying now, which was something that gave the eight year old nightmares.
"You can't die, Jack!" the little redhead cried when it occured to her how sick Jack was. "Who's going to take care of Mommy? How did you get sick? Why are you dying?"
"Rachel, my dear," Jack had told her; "Your mommy is a strong woman and will be able to take care of herself and you all. How I got sick and why I'm dying are connected. I had bad habits when I was young. Even though I changed my habits, they came back to haunt me in the form of my illness. There is nothing more a doctor can do, Rachel. You have to be strong now. Can you do that for me, princess?"
"Yes," Rachel said as tears streamed down her face.
"Good girl," Jack said, taking a tissue and drying Rachel's tears.
"Jack, could you do me a favor?" she said suddenly.
"Depends. What is it?" asked Jack.
"Could you marry Mommy?"
Jack sat there, stunned that Rachel, of all of Julia's children, would make that request. Even though they were going to do it anyway, it still floored him that this tiny little girl would ask that of him.
"If Mommy wants to, then I will," was all he could think of to say.
Later than morning, Dixon got in contact with Nik.
"Julia sent me a message for you to get in touch with her sister," Dixon said; "Something about watching her kids for a few days after they return."
"The kids are coming separate from Julia and Christofferson?" asked Nik.
"Yes, that is Julia's plan," Dixon said; "I think she's thinking that if they were separated and the info we gave Marsh blows up in our face, and A.R.M. comes after her, then the children will be safe."
"I can see why she'd be thinking that, but Marsh is still here in Chicago, so I hope the transport isn't happening in the next few days," Nik said.
"Julia is looking at a 60 day window starting February 28th," Dixon said.
"Oh, okay," said Nik; "Marsh should be in San Francisco looking for Julia by that time. She'll literally be escaping right under A.R.M.'s nose. I have to say that little sister is brilliant!"
"She is, and I don't give her enough credit for it," Dixon said; "She's pretty tough, especially when it comes to her family. But I've read and re-read her dossier, and I would not want to meet Julia Summers in a dark alley on a moonless night unarmed."
Nik laughed, saying, "It wouldn't matter whether you were armed or not! Julia can still blow your head off your shoulders before you even get your weapon out. I've seen her do that in training, and it's scary to think that she has those skills."
"You'll get in touch with her sister, then?" asked Dixon.
"I will," said Nik; "She'll be happy to hear that at least the kids are coming home."
"You'll have to tell her not to say anything to anyone, including her parents, brothers and twin sister," Dixon said.
"Director, if there's one thing that Kimberlin Draiman can do, it's keep her mouth shut," Nik said; "Especially when it comes to family."
"I've read her stories about her sister's cancer struggle, and she's damn good at what she does," Dixon said. "But this is not something we just want anyone to know. She had to keep her inner Edward R. Murrow quiet."
"She'd actually compare herself to Kit Crowley, if truth be told," Nik said; "You know what kind of journalist she was."
"Indeed I do," Dixon said; "The journalism world lost a heavyweight when Kit Crowley passed away at such a young age. What was she, 45?"
"I think so," Nik said, "But I'd have to look it up to be sure. Not too long after the end of the Occupation."
"I'll look into the transport issue, you contact Kimberlin Draiman," Dixon said. "We'll get your sister's family home."
"I'm counting on it," Nik said.
Nico made an appointment with her captain after she came home from spending the night with Linc. Her guilt over breaking her marriage vows would not leave her alone. The appointment would be at 2pm that afternoon. Nico was not on duty that day, so she could catch a nap before heading to the precinct.
"You okay, Nico?" Steve asked. "You haven't acted like yourself the last week or so."
"It's this Lincoln Marsh thing, Steve," Nico said; "I'm really tired of being a whore for him. But he's giving me such good information that I need to see it through til he leave town."
"What's he telling you?" Steve asked; "Anything that will convict him?"
"He has told me a little about his background," Nico said; "His grandfather was murdered by the New Army for aiding Undesirables. His parents abandoned him when he was about the twins ages and his grandfather tried to raise him."
"So he's this old man who has abandonment issues from childhood?"
"It may have caused him to turn out the way he did," Nico said, trying not to give too much about what Linc shared with her away; "I'm not psychologist, Steve, I don't know why he is the way he is. All I know is that CIA wants this man's ass, and it's our department's task to find out shit about him that CIA can use."
"Could they use the abandonment issue against him?" asked Steve.
"That's up to them, I guess," Nico said; "It'll be in my report at any rate. And I have an appointment to meet with Captain Castillo at 2pm."
"You do?" Steve asked; "At whose request?"
"Mine," Nico said; "I'm thinking of asking to be taken off the case. I want her to talk me out of it."
"Why do you want her to talk you out of it?"
"Because I've gained the man's trust, but he scares the crap out of me."
Steve nodded. It certainly explained Nico's weird behavior as of late, he thought. Maybe if she's taken off the case, she will return to normal.
But Steve knew that wouldn't happen. Her captain will talk her out of it, of that he was certain. If she has the man's trust, she's the case's greatest asset.
He would never know how close he came to losing his wife forever. He would die not knowing.
He ran as hard as he could to catch up.
"Wait!" he cried; "Wait for me!"
But they left anyway.
He knew what was happening, but no one would believe the son of drug addicts. He turned back towards the house where Gramps waited.
"I don't think they're coming back," the boy said sadly. "What did I do wrong?"
"Eddie, I have no idea," the older man said; "But I think you're right that they're not coming back. I never understood that son of mine. I don't understand you, either, Eddie. It's been a long time since I've raised a teenager. I know you didn't have rules at home. But you'll have to follow rules here. It will be hard at first, I know. But if you ever have any question with anything I do, first, it's for your own good. Second, you can ask me anything. I want you to know that you are safe here. No creepy people coming in the middle of the night. We understand each other, Edward?"
He looked at the ground. He recognized that his grandfather was only trying to help him. But it would be hard, and he would try.
"Yes, sir," he said.
"Good," the grandfather said; "Now, we need to get you settled. Then sometime this week, I need to talk to a lawyer about getting custody of you. Without custody, I can't send you to school. I could teach you myself, I suppose. I was a teacher for many years. I don't think I've forgotten anything. We'll have to see about that."
Eddie followed his grandfather to a bedroom in the back of the house. "This is where you can keep your things, Edward. The bed is firm and you'll sleep comfortably. No one will hurt you anymore," Grandfather said.
"Promise?" Eddie asked.
Grandfather looked at his teenage grandson, and cursed the bastard who fathered him. He'd done nothing right by his boy.
"I promise, Eddie," Grandfather said; "I'll kill anyone who tries, including my own flesh and blood."
That made Eddie feel a little better.
Marsh woke up, sweat pouring from every pore. He hated having those nightmares of his parents leaving him behind with his grandfather. The old man did right by him, and for that Marsh was grateful. He tried not to remember his life before age 13. He did wonder what happened to his younger sisters, though. Did his bastard father pimp them out? Allow fellow addicts to sexually abuse them? Took them to other relatives the way they took him to his grandfather?
So many blanks in his life. And he trusted his twisted story to the one person who only showed him kindness and wanted nothing in return.
He felt it was time to run again. But he wanted only one person to accompany him.
And he knew she couldn't.
So he would try to get the bitch known as the SpineSplitter. Then he'd run.
He had to see Nicoletta again before he did. So he could remember those beautiful green eyes.
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