Noble Intentions: Season Two (Episodes 6-10) Read Online Free PDF Page B

walked two blocks. Found a drug store and went inside to purchase a pay-as-you-go cell phone. Then, after he exited the store, he dialed one of the only two numbers he knew by heart.
    No matter where Bear was, or what phone he had with him, there was one number that Jack could dial that would always go through to the big man. He punched in ten digits and placed the phone to his ear. It rang twice and then clicked over to a recorded message.
    “The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Please check the number—”
    Jack closed the phone, reopened it and dialed again. In his haste he might have pushed a wrong button. Again he placed the phone to his ear. Again the same message played. He cursed under his breath and looked around for a pay phone. He dropped the idea almost as fast as the thought came to him. Bear wouldn’t be listed in the white pages or four-one-one. Why was the number disconnected? Something must have happened to Bear. Jack’s stomach knotted. Again. Part apprehension. Part guilt.
    He started walking toward the apartment they had used as their central base of operations. He pulled the collar of his coat up and kept his head down. If something had happened to Bear, then the apartment, maybe all of their apartments, might be under surveillance. He stopped a few blocks away and pulled the cell phone from his coat pocket. He searched his memory and dialed ten digits on the keypad again. A man answered after the second ring.
    “Hello?”
    “Brandon.”
    “Who’s this?”
    “Brandon, is that you?”
    “I don’t know, man. Who is this?”
    “Jack.”
    “Jack who?”
    “Noble.”
    “No way, man. Jack Noble is dead. I don’t know who the frig you are but this ain’t funny.”
    “Brandon, it’s really me.”
    Brandon said nothing. A few seconds passed and then a few more. Jack looked at the small screen on the phone and saw a flashing message indicating that the call had ended. He punched the redial button and held the phone to his ear.
    No answer.
    He wiped the phone down and tossed it into a trashcan. Then he turned and left the area. Brandon was the kind of guy in the kind of organization that could have a team at any location within ten minutes if they felt the threat was severe enough. Brandon’s reaction left Jack feeling less than at ease. Did he just make a huge mistake? Did Brandon know the truth? Or did he figure someone was trying to get to him using Jack’s identity? Whatever the reason, Jack didn’t want to find out. He decided to get out of the city.
    Jack made his way to the 14th Street PATH station. Bought a ticket and got on a train to Newark. The trip took twenty minutes, and they stopped twice along the way. He exited the train at the Newark Penn Station and rented a room at the Penn Station Hilton in between Raymond Blvd and Market Street. He’d stay there for the night and leave for West Side Park late the next morning.
     

7
    Clarissa leaned over the waist high wooden railing. She stared up at a wall of mountains. Snow covered ski trails cut through dark tree croppings like glacial rivers. A large full moon hovered just beyond the mountain’s crest. The cold, crisp air stung her cheeks and nose. The smell of wood smoke persisted both day and night throughout the alpine themed ski village known as Vail, Colorado.
    When Sinclair offered her the opportunity to take a vacation she had said yes before he finished speaking. She hadn’t had a day off in six months. The only condition was that he accompany her. Not in a romantic way, though. Sinclair didn’t appear to have those types of feelings for her. He had become a father figure and only sought to protect her. She didn’t resist.
    The past six months had gone by in a whirlwind. It had been for the best. If she had stayed behind in New York she would have spent her days and nights thinking of one thing and only one thing. Jack. But four-and-a-half months of intense training, physical and mental, kept her