Part 1. An adventure.
"You're looking for things that don't exist. There is no end and no beginning. There is only the middle ground." - Robert Frost
NEW YORK
April 2008
McLand Ames was a man familiar with death. From the first breath, death took his hand, followed him in his shadow, while he maneuvered through obstacles throughout his life. His mother's death shaped him as the man he was meant to be. Medicine and surgery were not so much a passionate choice of profession as a life mission.
He wanted to say that it was an honest search for a cure, but in fact, it was an unholy war. McLand challenged death with every operation in his career, was obsessed with the desire to defeat a thief who came to him without warning. Every life he saved was a gold medal, and when he won a round after round, collecting more prizes than any of his colleagues put together, McLand became bold. Ames couldn't win. And yet, now that Mac had carefully hung up on the lever, he felt more defeated.
The doctor pressed the intercom button on his desk.
- Naomi, could you come in here, please?
McLand was not surprised when the assistant quickly appeared on the doorstep of his office, her kind face was full of anxiety and anxiety. He realized that he seemed tired and irritated, perhaps even frightened.
- McLand?
The doctor took a deep breath to calm down. Naomi crossed the floor covered with a soft carpet, still holding in her hands a stack of folders that she was looking through during their morning meeting. He avoided her worried look.
- I need you to cancel all my scheduled meetings... before the end of the week.
There should have been a few of them. McLand had a flexible client schedule as the weeks went by and Dean's term was getting closer. The scientist took over, and the role of his favorite uncle was his most important duty. Several of the meetings he had set up were related to a neurosurgical consultation, two to the FBI, and a visit to a family desperate to find the key to solving their missing child. They will all have to wait. He could not let John's son die.
- Did something happen?
McLand unbleached his fists and put his hands on a mahogany table. He stared at the photos in a silver frame for a moment. It depicted him, Pastor Jim, John, and three boys on their only "family" fishing trip. The current Triad and the future. The holidays were mostly a disaster, as always in their lives together. When Bobby took the picture at the beginning of his vacation, all six of them were happy. This picture was one of his favorites. She stood between the photo of Caleb from his college graduation party, and an old black and white wedding photo of his mother and father. McLand pushed away from the table and stood up to pack his things.
- I'm afraid it's a family crisis.
Naomi moved on to the room.
- I hope it wasn't Caleb.
- No. Not really. But I have to go home.
And when did Jim's farm become his home? Mac grew up in Manhattan. New York was supposed to be his home, or perhaps Washington DC, where his father, Callen, spent most of his time.
- Do you want me to book a ticket to Louisville?
McLand realized that Naomi had been with him long enough to realize that by home he meant Kentucky.
- Yes, and I want to take the helicopter to the airport. - That would have saved him from the narrow traffic flow in the Midtown Tunnel, as well as the heavy traffic on the Long Island expressway.
- On 34th Street?
- Yes. - McLand put folders and papers in his briefcase. - And check for available seats on flights from Louisville to Norfolk, Virginia. Write me the possible routes of travel. - He disconnected his cell phone from the charger. - I think you should contact Bradley.
He heard Naomi breathe a light sigh when her son was mentioned.
- He was somewhere...
- He's fine, but I don't think he's coming home this weekend to visit you and Fletcher.
- Oh, I see.
Naomi knew there were things that McLand couldn't discuss with her, even if her son had little to do with the Brotherhood. Bradley understood the importance of caution.
- If you can't find a flight for the next two hours, call my father and call his private jet, but only as a last resort. - Callen didn't understand McLand's hidden behavior so well.
- Of course. - She slowed down at the door. - Don't you know when you'll be back?
Ames hesitated to look at his desk calendar. Samuel's birthday was highlighted with a thick pen. Ironically, that was the day he would remember as the last day of Dean's life.
- Somewhere in May. - Anyway, McLand will be back sooner or later. He will continue to live on.
- It is clear.
- I believe that you will be able to hold the fort. You have Carolyn's number if you can't reach me through our regular channels.
- Don't worry about anything here. - She started leaving but stopped. - Family is really the most important thing. You taught me that.
He swallowed and took a breath. Not so long ago, McLand had to learn his lesson himself. That was something he couldn't forget.
- Yes, he did.