Blindside (Michael Bennett 12)

Chrissy was crying. I was not sure why. Even Trent was a little clingy. He stood right next to me with his arm around my waist.

Eddie handed me a sheet of paper. He said, “Just some computer terms that might keep you from looking stupid.”

I appreciated his faith in me. I glanced at the sheet and the first term I saw was laptop. How tech illiterate did he think I was?

Shawna motioned to me to lean down. She pulled me closer and whispered in my ear, “I love you, Dad. I’ll think about you every minute you’re away.”

It was the sweetest thing a little girl could say to her father. It choked me up for a moment while I said good-bye to everyone else.

I gave each one an individual hug and kiss. Then I found I needed a giant hug with everyone crammed together. We must’ve looked like a rugby scrum.

This whole weird case had crystallized for me just how much my family meant to me. It sounded sappy to say they were my whole world. But they really were.

As we held a hug for a few seconds, I felt the missing Brian like a physical pain. It made me think about a verse from Matthew. I could just get it roughly right in my head.

“If a shepherd cares for one hundred sheep and one wanders off, will he not leave the other ninety-nine to look for that one?”

Now that verse made more sense than ever before.

Mary Catherine sobbed as I gave everyone a last, giant squeeze, and she slipped in as the others started to break the hug. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a long kiss. I could taste her salty tears running down her cheeks. I prayed I could slip away without bawling like a little kid myself.

She broke the kiss, then whispered in my ear, “I love you so much that I know you’ll come back to me safe. If you love me the same way, make sure that happens.”

That was the best challenge I’d ever been given.

Seamus was indispensable as he helped break up the crowd around me and held them for a moment as I backed away.

A TSA agent who had witnessed our extended good-bye gave me a flat stare as I turned around. I thought I was about to get a touching comment about how beautiful my family was or some earnest words of encouragement. Instead he cleared his throat and said, “Get in that line,” pointing to a winding line of people at the far end of the security area.

About ten minutes after our good-bye, as I stood in line, waiting to take off my shoes and walk through a security scanner, I got a text.

It was from Mary Catherine.

All it said was I love you.

Now I started to tear up. That was all the encouragement I needed.

CHAPTER 54

AFTER A REASONABLE layover in Frankfurt that gave me time for a quick bite, my Lufthansa flight to Tallinn went quickly, and we landed at the Lennart Meri Airport fairly late in the evening, local time. I would’ve liked to see the place during the day for a better look at the giant panels on the roof. I wasn’t sure if they were decorative or solar, but either way, they were impressive.

It was a pleasant-looking, bustling terminal. Even at this hour, the place had decent traffic around the kiosks for Nordica, the national airline of Estonia.

Almost as soon as I started heading through the main terminal, I noticed two men following me. One was about six feet tall and lean. He was younger and clean-cut. His partner was pudgy and a little sloppier. He looked like a guy who bowled in Cleveland on Wednesday nights.

The shorter man had to take two steps for every one his partner took. His comb-over took a hit as he tried to move quickly.

If I was in New York, I would’ve known exactly where to stop and lay a trap. I’d also have a gun. Here, all I could do was move a little faster.

I took a corner.

They followed.

I took another corner.

Same result.

I could see the wide, automatic doors that led outside almost a hundred yards in front of me. I’d never make it without these two catching me, so I made a quick left turn into a hallway that led to bathrooms and some kind of maintenance area. It was the best chance I had to surprise them.