Read MIDNIGHT QUEST: A Short 'Men of Midnight' Novel for Free Online Page B

carefully at his face. “What have you got to lose?”
    Because he couldn’t be doing worse than he was now, was the unspoken message. Jacko had gotten a glimpse of himself in a mirror and he looked like shit. Pale beneath his dark skin, deep purple bags under his eyes. He never looked like this. He had huge reserves. It took weeks of hard work or being on an op for him to even start to get tired.
    Right now he was exhausted, wrung out.
    And he was failing Lauren.
    His shit was getting in the way of her happiness. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved a man who was whole.
    Not a man who vomited at the thought of fatherhood.
    For a guy who planned his every move in advance, Jacko hadn’t the faintest idea what came next. He only knew he had to take that first step toward finding out where he came from.
    He swallowed heavily. “If I go…somewhere, make sure Lauren doesn’t worry. Make sure she’s okay.”
    Even more bullshit from Mr. Straight Talk.
    But Felicity understood a lot of what he wasn’t saying. She was smart, and she knew about secrets and the holes they dug in lives. Her parents had kept secrets all her life. She knew what this was like.
    “Don’t worry about Lauren. We’ll all look after her.” Felicity nodded, stood up.
    “I’m turning the transponder off.” The words were out before he could block them. All ASI vehicles had a transponder. Nobody ever turned theirs off. Why would they? But Jacko needed to go out on his own, without the connection to ASI. He didn’t want to be followed until he knew what he would uncover.
    Felicity nodded soberly. “All right.” She had no expression on her face at all. “We okay here?”
    “Yeah. And thanks.”
    She put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed lightly and walked out.
    Jacko sat in the super-quiet room a long time, thinking. Finally, he stood up and made his way to a lounge area that was usually empty during the working day. ASI employees gathered there when they worked late or had to work on weekends. It was always stocked with food and water and coffee.
    Jacko didn’t want food. His stomach rose halfway up his gullet at the idea. But he did want some coffee and he wanted solitude.
    He entered the lounge and, after a moment’s hesitation, locked the door. The door was never locked but right now he needed to be on his own. There wasn’t any bandwidth in him to talk to anyone.
    He poured himself a big mug of coffee and downed it black, not tasting it. Not even feeling it. Then he scrolled through his cell until he had the lawyer’s name.
    Ernest Mayer, Llc. Head of his own law firm. Three landlines and a cell, all with the same 619 prefix.
    Jacko cradled the cell in the palm of his hand and stared at it, the plastic warming up while the coffee cooled down.
    Do the hard thing. The SEAL mantra.
    He dialed the cell number and waited. A man answered with a single word. “Mayer.”
    Jacko waited, a tight knot in his throat, his stomach balled up tight. Until he spoke, the machine wouldn’t be set in motion. But that was a lie. The machine was set in motion the second Lauren told him she was pregnant.
    “Hello? Who is this?” The soft, cultivated male voice was impatient.
    “Mr. Mayer, my name is Morton Jackman.” As always, his first name came out sounding strange. Morton was always for the most formal of occasions. When he signed official documents, the “Morton” was in a different hand. He never used it.
    “What can I do for you, Mr. Jackman?”
    “I understand you were the lawyer of Lee Garrett.”
    “Yes, I was. Now I represent his estate.” A brief pause. “May I ask what this is about?”
    Jacko clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ground together. “I’m the son of Sara Jackman.”
    “I don’t know any Sara Jackman. I’m sorry, but—”
    “You would have known her as Sara Garrett. Lee Garrett’s daughter.”
    There was complete silence.
    “Mr. Mayer?”
    “I—yes. This is—this is incredible news. Sara Garrett ran away from