The Left-Handed Truth Chapter 24

Chapter 24:That would be so cool. 

I thought about all the clichés that circled around the F.B.I. and thought how different my experience was with them. They had been invariably helpful and polite, considering I had crashed their party. They were definitely interested in how I had tracked Nicole down. I could imagine they were looking for ways to plug that kind of leak in future.

“That’s very generous of you. When do you plan to leave here?”

“I was thinking at eleven o’clock, Sir. We would be there just past noon. Will that work?”

“Yes. And thank you. That saves me a lot of inconvenience. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Sir.”

“How about that,” I said to Nicole.

She smiled and leaned her head on my shoulder. “I’d go with you but I don’t think I’m quite ready for a long car ride yet. But you’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner, won’t you?”

“You know it. I wouldn’t miss one of your mother’s home cooked meals for anything.”

We got a joyous, but subdued greeting at the house. Angus had left work early to be there to greet his daughter and Jimmy had just arrived home from school. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t hug his mother, but we told him we would explain it all to him later on.

Mary’s tears were there, but this time they were tears of relief and happiness that their daughter was safe and home again. I got a huge hug of thanks from her even though I really didn’t have anything to do with rescuing her.

Jimmy was persistently curious about why his mother was hurt and he was pestering her to tell him what had happened. After a while, I knew he wasn’t going to be satisfied with being put off, so I decided to tell him.

“Jimmy, your mother was on a secret mission when she was away. She wasn’t allowed to tell anyone what it was or where she was going.”

Jimmy’s eyes were wide now, looking back forth between his mother and me. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yes. I can’t tell you everything because I promised the F.B.I. that I wouldn’t,” I lied, “but your mom was helping them solve a case about a bunch of guys who were going to blow up stuff. You know, like bridges and boats and things like that.”

“But Mom isn’t in the F.B.I., is she?”

“Nope. Your mom is an expert at her job, and the F.B.I. needed an expert to figure out what the bad guys were up to.”

“AWSOME!” he said, almost out of his seat in excitement. “Did you catch them, Mom? Did you get the bad guys?”

“Yes, Jimmy, we did,” she said calmly. “But a lot of people got hurt at the same time.”

“Is that how you got hurt, Mom?” he asked, now more somber as he watched his mother.

“Yes. The bad guys were going to blow something up, but they made a mistake and blew themselves up and the building that I was in.”

I saw the look of horror on Mary’s face, but she was fixated on the story now.

“AW MAN! You got blown up?” Jimmy exclaimed, hardly able to believe it.

“Yes, I was very lucky. The blast slammed me against a brick wall and it really hurt. It also knocked me out, so I didn’t know that a lot of the stuff from the building was falling on me and burying me. Lucky for me, a fireman found me and dug me out. They put me in the hospital for a few days so I could recover and then come home.”

“Mom … that’s like the coolest thing ever. You were with the F.B.I. and you blew up the bad guys. Wait ’till I tell my friends my Mom’s with the F.B.I.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jimmy,” I smiled. “Not so fast. Your Mom was helping the F.B.I. and she was hurt when the explosion went off that killed the bad guys. They did it to themselves because they didn’t know how to handle explosives,” I said, making an educated guess.

“That is so awesome, Mom. Are you okay now?”

“I’m still sore, but I’ll be okay soon.”

“Did you fly on that jet again? The white one?”

“Yes. It was very nice and got us home very quickly.”

“I wish I could fly on a jet like that. That would be so cool.”

“Well, Jimmy, I’ve had about all the adventure I can stand for a while. I think I’ll just be a mom from now on. I’ll let the F.B.I. catch the bad guys by themselves.”

“Did they put you on TV, Mom?” he asked.

“No. They want to keep it quiet in case there are any more bad guys they have to catch. I don’t think you’ll see it on TV any time soon.”

“Aw … I wish I could show my friends,” he said wistfully.

“Your daughter had quite an adventure, Mary,” I told her quietly as Jimmy ran off to his room and Nicole went to unpack. “I expect you’ll see a letter from one of the higher-ups in the F.B.I., thanking Nicole for her work. The two agents I dealt with couldn’t say enough good things about what she did for them.

“When I arrived that first night and saw what was left of the building, I didn’t think there was any way she could have survived it. It was testing all the optimism I ever had to believe that somehow she was alive. Luckily she was,

and will be fine in a week or so. She’s had a big shock to her system and it might take a while to get over it, but the doctors don’t expect any physical aftereffects.”

“What about mental, Will? Will some of these memories come back to haunt her?”

“Can’t say, Mary. But I’ll be there to hold her and take care of her if that happens. She’s a strong woman and I have a feeling she’ll be okay once the physical part is better.”

“Thank you, Will. Thank you for everything. You are going to be such a great husband and father. I’m so happy for Nicole,” she smiled kissing my cheek and hugging me.

***

Sunday was almost a lost day. I had breakfast with the family and Agent McWhirter arrived promptly at eleven. I was about to leave when a thought occurred to me.

“Agent, would it be all right if my son rode along with us?”

“Certainly, Mr. Travers.”

“Thanks,” I said, turning back into the house.

“Jimmy!” I called, attracting Nicole’s attention.

“I’ll take Jimmy with me for an outing, okay?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t about to get shot down.

“Yes … okay, drive safely,” she said, a bit surprised by my snap decision.

Jimmy came running into the living room.

“Grab your coat, Jimmy. We’re going for a ride with the F.B.I.”