Double Life

Right after New Years, JoJo caught up with me after work at my home. I had been home for about twenty minutes. I didn't even see anyone drive up the driveway. I was in the kitchen when I heard a faint knock and I heard his voice as the door latch clicked and the door lightly creaked as it opened. "Hey, Mikey, it’s me JoJo, just saying hello", he said as he walked through the door and onto the porch. I had a loaded Twelve Gauge shot gun hidden behind an old dark coat in a corner in the kitchen, near the stairs and the living room. By the time JoJo had made it through the door between the porch and the living room, I had the shot gun in my hands and greeting him at that door. "I hope for your sake you're alone and coming in peace", I warned him. With a somewhat surprised look on his face to being greeted with a shot gun he said, "I only came to see if you were alright. Can I come in and sit down?" "I asked if you were alone", I said to him as I looked deep into his eyes. I wasn't going to lower the shot gun until he answered me correctly. With a serious look back into my eyes he said, "Yea, I am alone. Now can I come in?" I lowered the gun and backed around to the front of the stone fireplace I had recently built, which was between the living room and the porch. His concern about my well being had me wondering if he was here to gather information to how I survived, or to finish the job. JoJo walked in and sat down on the couch. I walked over after and sat down in the chair, after first looking into the porch to make sure there was no one there. I sat down with the gun across the chair's arms, just over my lap. "I see you are in a paranoid mood. I'm not sure why you're pissed at me, but I'm sure you'll tell me why", JoJo said. I kept my intense stare into his eyes. "Who planted the bomb," I asked? "What bomb?" JoJo started to show a slight twitch of nervousness. Angrily I snapped back, "Don't play me for being stupid. That's insulting, and you're not stupid either, so don't act stupid. That bomb was meant for Bates and me." JoJo took a slow deep breath and looked down to the floor in front of him. Then, he looked up and said, "I don't know who did it, but St. James wants your head delivered to him for criminal prosecution. I don't think it was him". "What about you're boss, Cooper, how about him?" JoJo expressed a slightly pissed look and stated, "H.A. Cooper is not my boss". "Then who is", I asked? JoJo lightly licked his lips as if they were getting dry and he looked back down at the floor. He took another slow deep breath and said, "This doesn't go any farther than here.” He paused briefly. “I work for NSA." A moment of silence fell before he spoke again. "DEA had some information on you, but not enough to do anything. H.A. Cooper got this information and had no problem linking you to me through Beverly." He looked back up at me and an uneasy smile appeared on his lips. "They think that you're a “loose cannon”, a very dangerous person. They also know you have copies of documents from Jim Richards' private files. That's what scares them." I didn't know whether to be proud of myself or scared for my life. After another brief silence, JoJo continued. "H.A. Cooper called you a cat with more than nine lives." "My ex-wife called me a cat, also. She said I looked like one and sometimes acted like one, too. Even Bev said I had the aura of that of the Mountain Lynx", I said. JoJo and I chuckled a little on that thought. JoJo looked at me with a confused look. Then, he gathered his thoughts as I continued starring into his eyes for the truth. "I do know that someone in the government, or outside of it, has tried a few times to kill you." "Is that why the assignment to Asia, to either eliminate Megellen or me, or both?" I asked. "That's what I'm assuming, too." "And the assignment to Colombia and the setup in Mexico was that to get rid of me, and also Mitchemburg?" JoJo took another slow deep breath. "I think someone sent Maj. Fernandez after you. Mitchemburg would have only been considered an unfortunate casualty if he was caught in the cross fire." I thought back to that moment, when I was dragged into that hotel room by Maj. Fernandez’s soldiers, and the light was turned on, and I saw Howard down on the floor between the beds. It seemed strange at the time, but now it made sense. He was thrown there to get out of the way. "Why do they fear me so much, to try killing me?" I questioned. I was starting to feel trapped and frustrated. "They like having complete control of everything and everyone. You, they can't seem to control. They aren't sure of what you know and what you are going to do with what you know." “Who are they?” I angrily snapped. JoJo looked back down to the floor and paused, as if having a hard time making the decision to tell me the truth. Angrily I snapped back again, "I didn't create the situations I was thrown in, I had to survive them one way or another. Hell, I‘ve been shot at, stabbed, sliced, and God Damn nearly blown up, and for what, what have I done to deserve this God Damned attention?" I was starting to get pissed again. I still didn't know if I could trust JoJo.