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Cooper
When I woke up and saw her gone, I wondered in the back of my mind why she hadn’t told me the truth about her and Max the night before. I hadn’t mentioned it either. We had both been occupied.
As I drank a cup of coffee in the kitchen and attempted to wake up, my phone rang. I thought it might be Jade, so I quickly grabbed it. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Is this Cooper Anderson?” a man asked in a heavily accented tone.
“Maybe. Who is this?”
“It’s Aamir,” he said. “Do you not remember me?”
“Aamir, old friend. How have you been?”
“Not good, Cooper, not good at all.”
Another man’s voice suddenly piped up.
“You will come back here, Mr. Anderson, and finish what you started.”
“Who is this?”
“My name is not important. Aamir’s life will be spared because he got me in touch with you, but if you do not comply, I will burn this whole village to the ground.”
“What do I care?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible.
If he knew I cared about the people, he would be able to use them as leverage.
“You care, Mr. Anderson. You forget what you have done in our country?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are stealing our resources.”
“I’m not stealing anything,” I said. “By the way, this conversation is probably being recorded.”
“Do I sound like I care?” the man yelled.
“Who am I speaking with?”
“You will know my name soon enough. For now, understand you need to come back to Afghanistan and finish what you started.”
“Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Put Aamir back on the phone.”
“Beware, Mr. Anderson. We have eyes all around the world watching.”
The call ended. I put the phone in front of my face and stared at the screen, still unable to believe what had just happened. Did Max have something to do with it?
If he did, it would explain why he had reached out to me out of nowhere nearly a year after we got out of the military because things were too hot to continue.
I pushed Afghanistan out of my mind, hoping this was just a dirty joke because Max was still bitter that I refused to go into business with him again.
I began replaying some of the better moments from the night before. Unlike other women, I found myself still captivated by Jade.
After finishing my coffee, I left my apartment and walked a few blocks to the nearest Central Park entrance. Why hadn’t Jade told me the truth?
I bounced the question around, unable to come up with an answer. Determined to confront her about it, I sent a text message in the early afternoon.
