Murder in the Magic City: A Micah Brantley Story by G.P. Sorrells (ebook reader computer TXT) 📗

said. He huffed it over to his car and opened the door, pausing before sitting inside. “I’ll reach out soon.”

Both men were long gone before the calvary rolled up.

Chapter 36

“Now, son, I know that wasn’t easy,” Hurst said. Attempting to console a troubled mind was not something he felt all that comfortable doing. But it was necessary. The groundwork necessary to get his agent into the field had only begun. “Believe me, we thought the target would be alone.”

“Then why didn’t you pull me out? Send me back another day. I could’ve held off until the time was right.” Sheridan wanted to cry. He had just killed three people in cold blood. And the same government sworn to protect them would pay him for it. The walls felt like they were closing in on him, as though they may suffocate him within their steel grasp. In that moment, it would’ve been a fitting end.

“That’s just the thing, Ross. Tough as it may be to come to terms with, the time to do what needs doing is rarely right. Life just doesn’t work that way.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t try.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Hurst agreed. He poured whiskey into a pair of glasses and pushed one toward Sheridan. “It doesn’t, but sometimes those attempts aren’t fruitful. If it weren’t for you, perhaps someone else would have arrived in your place.”

“Why them? Couldn’t you have achieved the same end goal without taking a life in the process?”

“That’s not important. What matters right now is you soldiered on, pushed yourself to a level you didn’t know you could reach, and got shit done. That’s good. In due time, you’ll be in the field, doing this sort of thing to people who deserve it. In your own way, you’ll be making damn sure they can’t hurt anyone like the perfect little family whose deaths you’re so troubled by.”

Sheridan gulped the drink. He could feel the walls drift back as the copper liquid scorched his esophagus. An overwhelming sense of dread took hold. His life was no longer something he felt in control of. He was a weapon to be pointed wherever Uncle Sam needed him. All he could hope was that he could one day get a bit of retribution.

 

Chapter 37

Four months later…

“Hey, sweetie,” Valerie said as she walked into the apartment, her arms full of groceries. Over the course of the few weeks they had lived together, she discovered a rather silly fault in the man she unexpectedly fell for: an insatiable appetite. She’d stock the pantry and the refrigerator full of nourishing options for the week’s menu. Inevitably, they’d be out of something within a day or two that should have lasted them the entire week. At first, she joked that purchasing stock in their local grocery chain wouldn’t be a bad idea. The more time passed, the more reasonable to idea became.

Micah gave her a kiss and grabbed what bags he could. “Good evening, beautiful. How was work?”

“Thanks,” she replied. “It was exhausting. Seemed like everyone in South Beach decided today was the day they had to get their hair done. Couldn’t get together and figure out a way to spread things out across the week. Just non-stop from the moment we opened the doors.” She let out a sigh. Exasperated.

“Sounds rough. Well, hopefully I can make things better.”

“They’re trending that way.”

“Good,” Micah said. He smiled and checked his wristwatch. “Okay, dinner should be here any minute. Nothing fancy, just pizza, but I’ll pour you a drink while you get settled in.”

“No complaints here. If I don’t have to cook, especially after the day I just had, this night is already perfect,” Valerie said as she walked into their bedroom.

Micah rummaged through a few cupboards, momentarily forgetting where they kept the wine glasses. Stemware located, he placed the glasses on the bar top and poured chilled merlot into both. Life was good. There were so many ways it could have taken him when he came to Miami, but this route was low on the scale of probabilities. Micah always assumed he would spend much of his time working. Any chance to coexist with the fairer sex was something he had expected to take place as a transaction more than a mutual choice. It felt like a bit of yang to the yin of all the terrible things he’d been a part of since he started running with Castillo and Medina. He often felt like it was really someone else pulling the trigger; or otherwise forcing these complete strangers to meet their maker. The scene would unfold before him, and he felt helpless to stop it but, he knew the fault still ultimately lay with him. It made him wonder if…

The sound of his phone ringing brought Micah back to reality, to the present. The reflections, memories even, weren’t going anywhere for long, just pushed back into a recess until another solitary moment arose. He looked down at the phone and saw ‘Unknown’ across the middle of the screen. It didn’t take long for him to figure out who the caller might be.

“Val? I’ve gotta step outside for a minute. If the pizza guy gets here before I come back in, my wallet is on the counter.” Micah walked out onto a small balcony and slid the glass door behind him. The city looked different at dusk, away from the lights of downtown. Instead of neon and gigantic high-rise condominiums, the world became a maze of concrete and palm trees packed much more tightly together. As if the thought of green space sickened the city planner responsible for cramming the masses into their own small section of the world. “What’s up, Jimmy?”

“You busy?”

“Figured your trained eye would have that answer for you.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Castillo said. “I’d still like to hear it from you directly.”

“At this precise moment, no, not really. Just on the phone with you.”

“Hilarious, wiseass.”

“I’m about to eat dinner with Valerie. What’s going on?”

There