Blown for Good - Marc Morgan Headley [164]
“We are heading back to the base and I just wanted to let you know, so you were not expecting her at your end. She is not coming out to see you,” Greg says coolly.
“Put her on the phone, Greg! Let me talk to her!” I yell into the phone.
“Why? So you can tell her to leave and be with you? No way, Marc. I’m not stupid. You are just going to talk her into getting on the next bus and convince her to leave. That is not going to happen.”
“Why do you have to get involved in this? It is her decision if she wants to leave or not. You would rather her be miserable and stay than to leave and both of us be happy?” I plead.
“Well that’s just it, Marc, you will not be happy. You will end up working at Burger King or end up just being another bum on the streets. You will never be happy after what you have done. You have forfeited your entire eternity by doing what you have done. You caused this mess, Marc.” Greg says, all the while knowing that I just want him to put Claire on the phone.
“You are breaking us up by doing this, Greg. You don’t care that you are breaking up a marriage and disconnecting us from each other,” I tell him, getting more and more infuriated.
“This is the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics, Marc. You are the one that is disconnecting from Claire by leaving. You could have returned and none of this would have happened,” Greg continues, “We will get Claire back to the Base and we will make sure that she is okay and she will be fine without you.”
I hang up.
Words cannot express how furious I am. I totally screwed up. I should have planned it better. Now that I had imagined her here with me, I cannot think of what I will do without her. Knowing that she wanted to leave and be with me will haunt me forever now. It was one thing when I thought that she would not leave, and that she would be able to continue to live at the Int Base and be happy. Now I know she wanted to leave and would be restricted to the Int Base for the rest of time and never get to visit her family anyway.
I go inside and tell my dad that they caught her and that she is now not coming. The grief overcomes me and I feel destroyed. I do not know how I am going to deal with this.
I am so angry and desperate that I seriously consider getting on a plane and flying back to the base to get Claire. Maybe I can call the police and get them to help me get her out. Maybe the FBI will help me. I spend the next hour looking on the internet at anything and everything I can find regarding prison camps, POWs, Ross Perot breaking some guys out of some place in Vietnam, I read all sorts of stuff. Then my phone rings. It’s Claire on her Nextel!
“Claire?” I say, half expecting Greg Wilhere to laugh derisively into the other end of the phone.
“Yeah, I am on the bus!” Claire says.
“What the hell happened? Greg Wilhere called me and said he was taking you back to the base!” I am so happy to hear her voice again I can’t contain myself.
“Yeah, well they tried. Greg Wilhere and Sharon Johnston friggin’ showed up at the bus station in Las Vegas!” Claire says with anger in her voice.
“Yeah, I wait until everybody gets off the bus,” she continues, “and figure that I will just get something to eat because I have not eaten all day. As I am stepping off the bus, out pops Greg. He tried to get me to go with them to get something to eat. He tells me how I will never see my family again if I leave and how I will be declared an SP and ruin my whole life. I went into the bus station and sat down right in the middle of the floor. I told them that if they even tried to touch me that I would scream and to leave me alone. I sat there for an hour and a half, and as soon as the bus started boarding, I got on. The bus just left Vegas and that is why I am calling you now. I figured they already used the Nextel to find me, and