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He had promised himself he would wait ten times that, but then escaped in a job whose description itself proved she had been right to leave.
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Jackson reminded himself again that he really should put it away before people asked where the cat was. How long had it been now, 14 months?
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He hurried to grab his bag and tripped over something as he tried to leave the kitchen. Looking down, he saw the knocked over cat food bowl.
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Jackson hooked the phone back to the wall and reached over to finally turn off the stove, his hand shaking. The desire for tea had left him.
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Then Jackson heard the man laugh. "Not that I expect you to. For someone without any friends you were surprisingly difficult to track down."
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"Be at the 1400 block of Third Street in an hour. Bring your work laptop and badge. I will have you followed so don't make any other stops."
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His head hurt and his ears were ringing. Suddenly he realized the kettle was still whistling, screeching now and no longer background noise.
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Hired and then, just today, let go. On the walk home Jackson had not yet settled on what to do next, and now this. He could not concentrate.
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"What do you want?" Jackson said, accepting that this call was more than chance. Only Stan should know about the events before he was hired.
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More anger then. "Years gone because of your precious insight. Well, that is the past. I have something new in mind, and you're part of it."
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Jackson could hear a passion in the other's voice that scared him. "I was your terrorist, Jack, your fateful discovery. And you interfered."
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"Because I know how you got your job. I was the one you stopped, and since that day I realized how much stronger I could be with your help."
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"You're lying," Jackson said. He decided to leave out that he had not seen Amy in well over a year. "Why should I believe anything you say?"
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This man, whoever he was, only had pieces of the story, and to Jackson that brought a little comfort to what was proving to be a tiring day.
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Someone was playing games with him, digging through his life. It surprised Jackson to hear Amy's name from a stranger, but it was revealing.
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"I have Amy, you idiot." At those words Jackson froze. Where earlier in the day he had walked as if in a daze, now his whole body was alert.
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"Need? I don't need anything. Look, keep the phone," he said, frustrated. "I'm hanging up," Jackson started, but he was interrupted quickly.
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"I need something from you, some information from your office. So it's only natural that you need something from me. We can do an exchange."
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"Who?" Jackson said. "Who did you call?" He started to work out in his head how to track this man down, how to get his phone. "Who are you?"
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So it was with Jackson. He suppressed a rising fear and asked the question, even though he knew there were only four people in his contacts.
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