Mike was sympathetic when Laura told him about Nathan's situation, and he immediately offered him paid work. Nathan threw himself into it, and worked hard, long hours, to take his mind off his lot. By the end of the month he was settling into a routine, and was even laughing and joking with the other guys. Laura hadn't seen much of him in all this time, not to speak to anyway, she'd been so busy too, and was keen to find out how he was getting on. So on Sunday she called round.
"Knock, knock, How's it going big guy?"
"Oh.....Hi... well, you know, it could be worse, I'm not in so much pain now. I'm keeping busy. I've got some money in my pocket. How are you?"
"Good, good. Did you want to come back for supper. Mike is there. It's only pork but....."
"I'd love to."
They walked together through the searing afternoon heat, and Nathan picked up some stones and threw them at fenceposts.
"I think I'm getting my aim back anyway."
"How are you seeing now, is it settling down?"
"I sure hope so. I can see OK, they changed the lenses to -8, because I was getting blur again, it was settling out I guess, and that's better, but it still feels weird."
"Not many people suddenly go from 20/20 vision to 20/1000 like that Nathan, it's bound to take some getting used to, even corrected it's nothing like normal vision. How do you feel about driving, have you tried."
"Yeah! I took your brother's truck to get lunch - he kept telling me to get back in the saddle. It was OK, I took it slowly. Everything looks smaller, I'm having to re-judge? You know? Looking sideways is the biggest problem, I have to remember to turn my head. But I'm doing OK."
He stopped, picked up a rock, and threw it hard at a fence which snapped clean in two.
"Who am I kidding? I'm not doing OK.......I'm fucking crippled"
Tears began to flow down his face, and he sat down in the middle of the road.
"I'm so sorry Nathan........"
"Yeah, I know. Maybe I should go back. I'm not very good company.
"You have every right to be angry, to get it off your chest. Please, come to supper. If you want to vent, you can."
"Vent...yeah."
They arrived at Laura's small home and Mike was fixing the truck. He asked Nathan to help, and Laura went inside to fix supper. When the guys came in to wash up they were laughing. She was pleased to see him happy, even if it was only in small bursts.
Nathan told his whole story to Mike, for the first time, although he'd heard most of it from Laura.
"I don't get it, why didn't they just dump you bound and gagged somewhere, or kill you? It makes no sense."
"Who knows" said Nathan "Maybe they kidnap a lot of people and the other one that day happened to be a LASIK surgeon!" and he even found that amusing.
Laura watched him talking and found herself quite drawn to him. If only he wasn't so bitter. But she understood why he was. In her profession she was used to trying to make people feel better, and when she couldn't it was always difficult for her. But with Nathan, there was another dimension to it. The hurt was inside and it wasn't going away, and nothing she could do would change that. And of course - she was fond of him. She'd got involved.
"What's your long-term plan Nathan?"
Well, someone had to ask.
"I don't know. I feel I have a score to settle, but I don't know where to start."
"Have you been to the cops?"
"No....I don't have any information to give them! And besides.....I don't want them knowing. Listen, if I find the people who did this to me, I may do something I don't want the cops to know about. Don't forget, there's already a man dead in a town I suddenly disappeared from. I don't want to draw attention to myself! No, I just want...........justice.........my way"
"An eye for an eye?" said Mike, and then wished he hadn't
Nathan smiled ironically.
"Yeah, something like that."
Laura took his hand.
"And if you get caught? They could kill you, or you could go to jail."
"I know. Yeah, I know."
"Could you ever just......put it behind you? Start over?"
Nathan hung his head.
"I know I should, but.........."
Laura and Mike swapped a look.
"Give it up buddy" said Mike "Find a permanent job - anywhere. Write it off to experience. Don't make things worse for yourself."
"Worse?"
"Oh come on man, so you have to wear glasses, big deal. Lots of people do. It could have been much worse."
What he said made sense, but still something festered inside Nathan.
"It's not that. I'll get used to that. I just want to know why. I want to find them. I want my money. Don't you collect on what you're owed from a job?"
That made sense to Mike. But these people sounded dangerous. He liked Nathan and didn't want him to get hurt. But he dropped the subject.
Alone in his room later Nathan made a decision. He'd go home, at least try and track down his employer, sell what he did own, and take it from there. He wrote a letter to Nathan and Laura, and another for each of the doctors who'd helped him. And he promised to pay them back. He hitched a ride to Phoenix and got a plane home.
The office he once knew as the base for the company who employed him was deserted. No-one in the building had any idea where they'd gone, or how to contact the staff. He left messages to contact him if they heard anything. He could only think of one person who might help, an old friend and colleague, Brian Farthingfield-Hatch. With a name like that he should be easy enough to find, and he was.
"Yeah, can I help you?"
"You remember me Brain! Nathan Harvey?"
"Nathan? I wouldn't have recognized you dude, come in"
The place was a mess, Brian quickly moved piles of junk off the chairs, and gestured Nathan to sit down.
"Hey it's been a while but......what's with the glasses?"
"Long story. Listen, you remember when we worked at Delsec?"
"Sure. Best time of my life."
"Who did you answer to?"
"Gerald Stevens, well, that's who I phoned."
"Any idea where he is now?"
"Haven't done anything for them in months myself.......but I'm pretty sure they're still in business"
"What makes you say that?"
"I saw the big Russian guy, the giant, you know, big mouth.....he was hanging around outside the conference center last weekend."
"What was happening there."
"Jeez Nathan, where have you been?"
"A long way from here, was it something big?"
"Big? The Pres was there!"
"But it's all over now"
"Sure"
"But the big Russian, he could have been working for anyone, why do you think Delsec were involved?"
"Well.....he left in Stevens' car."
"Good enough. Were you working."
"Yeah, I'm full-time at the conference center now, on the regular security staff."
"Yeah? Someone there should have a record of other firms working at the event?"
"Must have."
"Then I need you to do me a favor, I need to get hold of Steven's, but get me an address, not a phone number. Can you do that."
"Don't see why not."
"I owe you Bri, and there's something else, do you still have those guns at your Dad's place?"
"Yeah"
"Can we go over there. I need to practice."
"You? You're the best shot I ever came across!"
"Well, that was then, now my eyes aren't so good, I need to make sure I can still shoot straight."
"What the hell happened to your eyes? I never saw you in glasses before, did you wear contacts?"
"No, no, I didn't........I met with an accident, let's say, only it wasn't so accidental. You'd never believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
And once again Nathan told his unbelieveable tale. Brian's expression was sheer astonishment, but he'd never known Nathan to make anything up. Brian asked to try on Nathan's glasses. He handed them back fast.
"How the hell do you see through those?"
"You might well ask, but I sure as hell can't see anything without them."
"Not even me?"
Nathan lifted his glasses. Brian was opposite him at the small table.
"No man, you're just a blur"
"Shit. That's bad."
"Tell me about it. So shall we?"
"NOW?"
"I'm in a hurry, I'm going after these guys Bri, and I don't want the trail going too cold"
"OK, gotcha. Well, then, let's go."
Nathan's first few shots were off the target, but he gradually got into his stride. It was like learning to shoot all over again. It hurt Brian to watch him struggle. Nathan had always been the man, the one everyone looked up to. After a few hours he was satisfied he'd worked out how to accomodate for his "new" eyesight, and went inside with Brian for a drink.
"So how's life with you Bri? You happy with what you're doing?"
"Yeah, can't complain"
"Don't fancy a trip across country with me?"
"No way! I'll help you any way I can here, but I'm not getting involved with that.....I'm sorry...."
"Didn't expect you to say yes. But I would appreciate it if I could have you back here to keep in touch with, a base. I'm pretty much homeless now."
In fact he had given up his apartment, to get the deposit money back. All in all he'd managed to get $4000 together. He knew it wouldn't last long. He stayed with Brian two nights, and on the third day Brian brought him the address he needed, and packed to leave.
"OK, I'm going to start here, I'll call you, keep your eyes open"
"Keep your eyes safe" replied Brian "and you might need this"
He handed Nathan a key.
"Bit of a jalopy but it goes. Better than walking anyway.
"Thanks man. I REALLY owe you."
He'd never fully realized what a good friend he'd had in Brian.
The conference center security system had held an address across town for the private bodyguard Brian had seen working there. It turned out to be a small house, and Nathan found no-one home, but the side window was open, so he went in anyway. Obviously someone lived there and jugding by the size of the clothes in the closet it could certainly be the big Russian guy they both knew. Books in Russian on the table seemed to confirm this. Nathan went quickly through every piece of paper he could find in the place, which wasn't much, and found several old Delsec invoices, but nothing recent. Either he had those on him, or they'd started paying cash. Or...Delsec had ceased to exist. Just as he was thinking he might take a chance and ask the Russian, the decision was made for him as the big man walked in the door. Dimitri's immediate reaction was to attack the intruder he'd found in his kitchen but a look of confused partial recognition came over him, and instead he just stood between Nathan and the door. Nathan was in no hurry to try and get past a guy seven feet tall, so he tried to explain himself, but Dimitri's English wasn't up to the complexity of it. He did understand that Nathan was looking for Stevens.
"We all look for him." he said dourly
"You're not working for him?"
"I think so, yes, but no pay."
"Oh, I know that feeling" said Nathan. "When was the last time you saw him?"
"Maybe 4 weeks."
Then Nathan remembered what Brian said about Dimitri driving Stevens' car. In a difficult conversation Nathan managed to ascertain that Dimitri had stolen it in lieu of payment and was now taking any work he could get in his own right, and had been fulfilling contracts he remembered being taken out by Delsec - including the conference center gig. Right now he was out of work, out of cash, and not very happy. It didn't take long to convince him to go with Nathan.
They sold Stevens' car for $8000 cash, and spent $1000 of that getting Brian's heap running better. Dimitri had protested that the better car would be the one to use for a long drive, but Nathan persuaded him that it might be recognized. The Toyota was cramped for the big man but he pushed the seat right back and never complained. Nathan felt a little guilty at not telling him the whole truth of his new mission, but needs must. With no further leads nearby, they hit Front Royal early next morning, having driven all night, found a motel and crashed.
Nathan slept heavy. He awoke to his now familiar blur and reached for his glasses on the nightstand. Just a tool, he thought to himself, something I use for efficiency. Looking at himself in the mirror was getting easier. He didn't feel like a freak anymore, and was beginning to think maybe he'd over-reacted. At least he looked different enough now in glasses, and with a totally new hairstyle to go with them, that theoretically no-one should recognize him as the man who'd been lurking around the streets there a few weeks before.
Dimitri caught up on the local news about the killing Nathan had witnessed. He rushed back to tell Nathan that a man was in custody. The problem remained that two total strangers couldn't just go visit him and ask questions. However they made an appointment to see his defence lawyer the following day, and decided to spend the evening at the Kings Tavern. Nathan scoured the bar area for faces he recognized, but even the girls that Clark had hung out with were missing. Lost in thought, Nathan took a while to notice that a very pretty blonde had sat beside him and was looking him up and down. He smiled, flattered, then a crashing thought came into his head that she was only staring at him because he looked geeky. He sighed to himself and stared into his beer. Unfortunately it was his eighth.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking" he found himself saying.
"Oh?" she replied "You're a mind-reader?"
She had the most beautiful voice, and he felt like he was in pain.
"I've had a lot of funny looks lately"
"Why?"
Why? What did she THINK why? Stupid question. Why do the beautiful ones have to be so stupid? Nathan just shook his head. It wasn't worth it. But she pressed on...
"I haven't seen you in here before"
"Oh, you come here regularly..............." and it dawned on him, of course she was a hooker. A professional. She could pretend to be attracted to ANY man. Geeky glasses were nothing for her, nothing at all.
"Well, I've been here every night since the murder, I'm a detective."
Nathan laughed out loud. Now he'd heard every pick up line in the book. But she just smiled.
"Yeah I know, female detective, I get a lot of that."
Something in her face looked sincere however. Nathan decided it was worth a try.
"I thought you'd got they guy."
"Well, they have charged someone...."
"They?"
"The cops"
"The cops are they? So who are you?"
"Oh...sorry, I'm a private detective. I don't think the man they've got is the killer, or at least, I don't think he was alone."
Nathan's throat suddenly felt very dry and he instinctively looked away from her. For the very first time he was EXTREMELY grateful for his glasses. Right now he loved them, passionately.......She continued.
"We think he was hired to do it, but he's not telling. Someone had been following Clark for some time, and it wasn't the guy picked up."
In a flash of inspiration, Nathan lost all his fear. He turned back to the girl, looked her square in the face and said
"I think we can help each other."
