Nathan was just a regular guy who needed a job after college, and being smart enough and fit enough he'd found himself working in security. They trained him, sent him to various jobs, and it was always straightforward enough. He chased a few jerks, threatened one or two, even raised his gun once, but it was just a job, just a slightly more exciting one than most people have. When his work day was over he went home, cooked supper, and watched TV. Just like everyone else. He had a life, of sorts. But that was then.
Somehow he was singled out by his superiors as above-average. So when they were approached by a anonymous customer to find him a bodyguard Nathan was their first choice. He was offered a much higher salary, and plenty of other perks - he just saw it as a promotion, heck it boosted his ego. His love-life at that point was in a lull, so whatever, he took the job.
The first thing he wasn't expecting was the change of location. They put him on a flight to D.C. with a package containing a cellphone, the keys to a motel room, and car keys. A letter waiting for him in the car parked outside his motel room told him just to wait for instructions, and eventually, after two days waiting, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"You are the new operative?"
"The new guy, yeah."
"OK, have you told anyone your name since you arrved?"
"No, I haven't really spoken to anyone, I....."
"Good. From now on don't use your real name. There's a mailbox in the motel lobby, take your mail. You''l find a new driver's licence, social security number and health insurance papers. You have a new identity. Use it. Use only it. Do you understand?"
"Uh...sure, why......."
"Go and get your mail now" and the caller hung up.
Nathan did as he was told, feeling very strange about the whole idea. He had no idea who the caller was, or what this was all about, but he had little choice but to comply. He was here as part of his job. So, he did it.
The phone rang again.
"Do you have your new papers?"
"Yes."
"Now leave your old identity in your room, take your new papers with you, and drive west."
Before he could ask any more the caller hung up again, and again, despite grave misgivings, Nathan followed his instructions. He switched the papers in his wallet with those in the envelope, picked up his phone and keys, and drove. Expecting another call anytime he just kept on driving. No call came. Eventually he came to green fields and stopped. Four hours passed. He tried to phone his security company back home, but the number was out of service. His head spun. He took a deep breath, turned around and returned to the motel. His key didn't fit. After a long argument with the guy in the lobby he finally got them to open up for him but there was no trace of any of his effects, or of him ever being there, not even the reservation. On one level he had expected this and now he cursed himself for ignoring his instincts. The key he had held was not from the motel at all, the owner was getting angry and this was a waste of time. Nathan got in the car and drove towards the airport intending to fly home. The phone rang.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Where are you."
"On my way home, thanks."
"Don't be a fool, how can you get on a plane if your ID doesn't match your credit card? Homeland security, remember? You'll need me to provide money for you. So you must do as I say."
"Maybe I have enough cash."
"No, you don't. That's why you took this job. You needed the money."
"This isn't the job I took."
"You were told you were going to be a bodyguard. Well, do as I tell you and you will go and guard a body."
It was true about the money, Nathan was broke. He actually had just $50 in his wallet, he'd left his ATM card dutifully to be stolen with the rest, and he was hungry.
"Where do I have to go, and where is this money you're going to give me?"
"Well, as I obviously can't trust you, I'm going to have to let you have a little at a time, just for your basic needs. You'll get your big payment when you've finished the job. Right now I want you to drive west, like I asked, only could you hurry it up, you're running late. Get yourself to Fairfax, find a motel and get some sleep. Then in the morning drive to Manassas. I'll settle the bill." Click.
Nathan spent almost all the money he had left on food and gas. Incensed at his own stupidity for letting it get this far he actually got very little sleep. He hoped his employer had settled the bill, because he left anyway. By the time he got to Manassas it was raining. He sat in the car and waited for a call. Finally, it rang.
"There's lunch waiting for you at Applegate's in the Holiday Inn. When you've had your fill just tell them the check is covered by the Agency. You won't have any problems. Then get back on 66 and drive to Front Royal."
"I'll need money for gas."
"I know, reach under the seat"
Nathan found an envelope with a fifty dollar bill inside.
"I found it."
"OK, that'll get you a fair way. Buy what you need but don't go nuts." Click.
Arrving in Front Royal Nathan got out of the car and screamed at the sky. He had no control now, none at all, he'd walked right into this absurd situation, and he had no-one to blame but himself. It was a clever mindgame because as his trust of his new employer decreased, the more he relied on him. The only way out now was to call the cops, and he had a nagging feeling that if he did, something worse would happen. He had no idea what. He hadn't got a clue what was going on. So he waited. Finally the call came.
"Now I'm going to give you some complex instructions then let you get on with the job without contacting you for a bit, are you listening carefully?"
"Yes"
"OK. Tonight, stay at the Hampton Inn. It's all paid for as long as you need to stay. Keep a low profile, eat out and don't talk to anyone. When you get up in the morning, leave the car there. It'll be gone when you get back. I'll get you another one soon. Walk across town and find the office of an attorney named Clark. You can't miss him, big guy 300lbs, big ears.....when he leaves you follow him. Don't worry, he'll be on foot. Lost his licence on a DUI and hasn't had the guts to tell anyone, says he walks for the exercise. He lives alone. I want you to watch everything he does, everywhere he goes, until I contact you again. There'll be cash in your room." Click
Some bodyguard. He had been duped - he wasn't sure who by - into being a cheap gumshoe. His quarry was a tedious predictable man, who divided his time between work, home, and bars. He bought drinks for prostitutes but that was really all that could be said against him. Two full weeks of this went by, no call came, nothing changed, and Nathan was at an all-time low. Stuck in this "quaint" place his mood gradually got blacker. But he dutifully got up early to be at Clark's home to watch him leave every day. Then he hung around to follow him home, or to the Kings Tavern, and then home.
But one night at closing time, after the fat man swayed out of the side door of the bar as usual, a dark shadow other than Nathan was waiting for him. Clark obviously knew the shadow, because when it called to him he followed the voice, further back into the shadows. Nathan heard a slight scuffle and then running feet, as the figure disappeared into the night. Looking around to see if there were any other witnesses he cautiously approached and saw the man's throat had been cut. In sheer fear and impulse Nathan ran, and he didn't stop running for quite a way. In doing so he passed a number of people on the street, and it wasn't long before he heard sirens. He decided that running in the opposite direction to a crime scene was a bad idea, so he slowed down. But then he realized he'd already been seen, and not just tonight. Various scenarios played out in his head, of people who'd seen him lurking around town, a new face but suddenly very familiar, and he knew he had to get out of there. He grabbed what little possessions he had from
the Inn and headed toward the mountains.
Nathan was a city boy, and he had never even been camping. Every sound among the trees terrified him, even the stars seemed dangerous and overbearing. He was cold and scared. The phone rang.
"I understand things didn't go according to plan."
"Are you crazy? He's dead and I'm going to be prime suspect!"
"I know, we have to get you away. You must be exhausted. I'll send someone to pick you up."
"I have no idea where I am"
"We'll find you, just stay close to the highway"
Another good hour went by and a van pulled up ahead of him. Cautiously Nathan approached it, and the driver leaned out and called "Get in the back, quick". So he obliged. It was pitch dark, but warm and comfortable and he soon fell asleep. He had put himself in the complete trust of these people, whoever they were.
When he awoke the next morning it was a few seconds before he remembered where we was supposed to be, and he wasn't. There was no van movement. He was in a proper bed, and it was hot. Very hot. He blinked but his eyes felt strange, sore, painful even, and he was having trouble clearing the sleep away. As he tried and tried, nothing happened, and he started to panic. Footsteps came towards him and he braced himself, but a calm woman's voice came very close.
"Hello Nathan, I've brought you something to eat and drink, here let me help you"
She helped him sit up, and lifted a cup of water to his lips, he could see the cup and her hands but everything else was a blur. A searing pain went through his eyes and he grimaced.
"The pain will subside" she said very sweetly, and passed him bread which he pushed away.
"What the fuck happened to me? I can't see!"
"That's for your own safety Nathan, so you don't try to follow me. Goodbye"
"WAIT! How the f........."
But it was too late. The devil in disguise had left, and the food he needed so bad was out of view. He reached around until he found it and consoled himself in his confusion and blindness that at least he had a full stomach. He checked with his hands that he was dressed, and satisfied he was decent, although the clothes did not feel familiar, he tried to find his phone and wallet, first by feeling all over the nightstand and then around the room. Every square inch of the room. There was no trace of either. He found he could see things immediately in front of him, and he examined as much in the room as he could this way, feeling like a cockroach. The pain in his eyes was intense and the heat was sapping his energy. The door was locked but the window was open. The problem was, he had no idea which floor he was on. He called out "Hi, is anyone down there?" No reply. So he dropped the nearest thing he could find, and it hit the ground quickly. He decided he must be on the ground floor, and carefully lowered himself out the window. The ground was hard, and he followed along the wall. It was very quiet. he turned the corner and followed the wall again, eventually hearing some voices. Again he called "Hello?". The voices stopped. "Can you help me? I can't see.". He heard a mumbled conversation, which he couldn't make out. It was Spanish. Thinking of all the bad TV westerns he'd seen he somehow dredged up "�Ayuda!" and digging even deeper he found "No puedo ver". He found himself being led by an old woman, sat in a chair in the shade, and with a comment he didn't catch, she left him, returning a while later with a companion, he wasn't sure if the blur was male or female.
Unsure if this was someone he wanted to run into or not he asked "Who's there?"
"I'm the assistant from the doctor's office, Maria told me there was a blind guy who needed help, what are you doing here?"
"I'm not blind, at least I didn't used to be, and I have no idea how I got here."
He then told briefly her most of his story, quite sure she wouldn't believe a word of it, but she took pity on him, and told him he was in Arizona. Then she she helped him to the doctor's office. He told his story again to the doctor there, who also, fortunately, believed him, and gave his quick but unbelieveable diagnosis.
"Nathan, somehow, I'm guessing you were drugged, someone has done laser surgery on your eyes. It was recent, probably yesterday. What was the date when you were picked up in the mountains?
"The fourth"
"Well, it's the 6th today, so you've been out a while."
"Can you fix it?"
"No, actually no-one can. This surgery isn't reversible. Your eyes have been permanently altered."
"WHAT? I'm stuck like this? I can't do this!"
"No, no of course you can't, but in theory, if the surgery wasn't botched, you should be able to see with glasses, it's that simple actually."
"Doc, I have no money, nothing, I'm a thousand miles from home, I don't have a single piece of ID on me. What the fuck am I going to do?"
"I'll cover it, you can pay me back when you get home."
The assistant, Laura, took Nathan to the optometrist in the same building, who was told the horrific story.
"I've always said LASIK was dangerous" he said ironically "I never thought it would be used like this"
"Anything that can be done, will" said Laura sagely
The optometrist examined Nathan's eyes very delicately as he was still in considerable pain.
"I've had to prescribe a lot of post-LASIK glasses" he said "and yep, even this high a prescription, when it hasn't worked. Too many cowboys out there. You're lucky, this was a competant surgeon, he did the job right. All you have is a refractive error. I can correct that. But it may change several times over the next few weeks or months even, so you'd better be prepared for that. It can get quite expensive."
Great, thought Nathan, and I have no money. He didn't even know how he was going to get home.
A few favors were called in around town and Nathan had a pair of glasses before the day was out. It was a -6 prescription, which along with the pain and other visual disturbances from the surgery, was very hard to deal with. His urge to go home was overwhelmed by his desire to just recover. Laura shyly asked him if he wanted to sleep on her sofa, and he accepted it in the spirit it was intended. He spent the following day just walking around town trying to get used to seeing the world this way, and it was that evening that it really sunk in just what had happened to him. To anyone else who wore glasses it may have been meaningless, but to a guy who'd previously had perfect vision he felt crippled. He had a burning hatred for the people who had done this to him, and that was about all he had right now. He confided in Laura.
"What's waiting for you at home Nathan?"
It was a very good question. Not much. No family. A rental apartment. A crappy car. Probably no job. Little else. It was just......familiar. And he was owed a lot of money from someone. But right now an idea was swimming around in his head. Maybe he wasn't in such a rush to get there. And he liked Laura.
"How do I look in these?" he asked her "And tell me the truth". He'd always been known for his good looks, and as far as he was concerned, that was now history.
"Actually you look pretty good" she said, quite honestly, but he didn't buy it. He got up, looked in the mirror and just saw a weird geek. It hurt too much to look long, and he flopped back down in the chair.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" asked Laura.
"No, I don't have anything" he replied despondantly. And he kicked the coffee table hard. Laura looked at him with tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to say. She wondered if time passing would soothe his temper and bring out the real person.
"Well" she said "You can stay here as long as you need to, and I can get you a temporary job if you like. You look strong enough. My brother is a mover. He's always looking for help.
It seemed like a good idea, if nothing else to give him something to do. He said he'd be grateful for some work, and with that she left him, and he slept.
Part Two
