What They Don't Know - 10. A New Life.

The next morning, Joe called and asked what we wanted for breakfast and once we gave him our answer he went off to get it. He brought his food back with him, but this time he stayed in our room and ate with us. This wasn’t what he’d done the night before, because he either ate his meal at the diner or took it back to his own room, I wasn’t sure which, and ate alone. This immediately caused us to wonder why he stayed with us this time, but it didn’t take long to discover the answer to this question.

“Ethan, have you decided whether you want to be declared dead too or if you want to return home?” Joe asked, which explained why he chose to stay in with us.

“I’ve talked it over with Bryan and he’s told me about how he got into this situation,” Ethan began, “so I just have one question for you. Seeing you’re going to declare Bryan dead anyway, couldn’t you just give him another identity and then let him stay in this area with me? I mean, everyone is going to think he’s dead anyway and Fat Tony and his guys will be going to prison, so couldn’t you just let him stay around here? That way I wouldn’t need to be declared dead and Bryan and I could still be together.”

“Ethan, I see what you’re getting at, but think about it for a moment,” Joe replied. “Even though Bryan would be declared dead, the mobsters aren’t going to just take our word for it. They’re going to want to check it out and be certain that’s what really happened, because even they’ve pulled stunts like this before. In the past, they’ve also tried to make us believe that one of their guys had died or been killed, and then provided him a new identity, but we eventually found out about it and caught him. They’re not dumb, so they’ll keep looking for Bryan for a while too and that’s why were going to take a John Doe and bury him as Bryan.”

“Look, I know they’re not dumb,” Ethan agreed, “but maybe Bryan could just go away for a while until things cool off and they’ve done their checking up on everything. Then he could come back here as someone else.”

“And work in the same building under a different name?” Joe challenged. “Don’t you think your co-workers will catch on to that?”

“Then give him another job somewhere else,” Ethan suggested. “We weren’t going to be able to work together anyway, so if you put him in another job it would actually help us.”

“Ethan, there are still enough people around here that know one or both of you and would eventually see you guys together,” Joe reasoned. “Don’t you think they’ll be able to put two and two together and begin to wonder why your new boyfriend looks exactly like your old one, even if he has a different name? How in the world would you explain that?”

“How about some plastic surgery then, just to make him look a little different?” Ethan suggested, hopefully.

“It would take some major reconstructive surgery, not just a few minor changes to make him appear different enough to fool the people you know,” Joe challenged.

“Okay, I guess I understand why you can’t do that now,” Ethan conceded. “I didn’t think about anything like that when I first thought about asking you, but I can see why it wouldn’t be possible. I just don’t understand why those guys will still try to kill Bryan. If Gino and some of his buddies are already in prison, they’ll still be there even if Bryan is dead, so what difference would killing him make?”

“It would make a statement and warn others in their organization to think very seriously before they decide to do something similar to what Bryan did,” Joe explained. “It would be their way of letting everyone else know the risks of turning on them. They want to make certain their underlings understand what’s going to happen to them if they help law enforcement. They’ll end up dead, just like we hope they think Bryan did.”

“I guess they would have been better off learning their own lesson from what happened,” Ethan offered.

“Oh? And what lesson would that be?” Joe asked.

“That crime doesn’t pay,” Ethan offered.

“Unfortunately, they’ve already learned that crime does pay and it pays very well, as long as they’re careful and no one turns on them,” Joe replied. “Everyone of those guys makes more than you can imagine or they could probably earn legitimately, and they want to ensure that money keeps coming in.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, but I wish they’d just give up on trying to kill Bryan,” Ethan reasoned. “Don’t they realize it’s only getting more of them locked up? I’m sure the three shooters will be going to prison now and since you’ve said that they’ve been able to connect Fat Tony to them, I imagine he will be going to prison as well.”

“Providing his lawyer doesn’t pull another rabbit out of the hat,” Joe agreed. “So what do you want to do then? Do you want to go back to your old life or do you want us to have you declared dead too?”

“My feelings for Bryan haven’t changed and I want us to be together, so I’ll do whatever it takes to be with him,” Ethan responded, “If that means I need to be declared dead to make it happen, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“Are you sure about this?” Joe followed, while looking Ethan directly in the eye. “You must be absolutely certain about this decision, because it means you’ll have to break all ties with everyone else you know, including your family. I also want to make sure you understand that once we start this process, we won’t be able to back out later.”

I also glanced over at Ethan, while Joe was telling him this, because I wanted to see his reaction to what he’d just been told.

“I only want to do this if it means Bryan and I will be able to go to the same place and we’ll be able to start over together.” Ethan clarified.

It was obvious that he wanted to make sure this would be the case before he made a final commitment.

“Absolutely,” Joe replied. “I can make it happen so you two will be able to stay together.”

“Then I’ve made up my mind,” Ethan announced. “I want you to have me declared dead too.”

“Even though it means you won’t be able to contact your family or any old friends once this happens?” Joe asked, in order to be positive. “You’ll have to completely forget about your old life and everyone in it.”

“I understand,” Ethan answered. “Even though I hate to put my parents through this, we don’t see each other that often and Bryan is just too important for me to let him go. It will make at least one person happy though and solve another problem for me.”

“And who would those people be?” Joe asked, confused.

“Chad, the guy from work will be happy we’re gone,” Ethan replied. “It will mean he’ll have two opening in our department that he’ll be able to apply for.”

I laughed when I heard him say this, even though it was true. Our deaths would certainly accomplish the same thing Chad was trying to do, when he was trying to gather enough dirt to get one of us fired.

“He would still have been able to apply for my job, even if you stayed there,” I countered. “I would have to be declared dead either way.”

“I know, but this doubles his chances,” Ethan reasoned. “Besides, I didn’t really want to work with him. I doubt he’ll get what he wants though, because our boss –er, ex-boss doesn’t particularly care for him either. She might give in to him now, seeing she will have two slots to fill, but I suspect she’ll only do it if she feels she absolutely has to.”

“And what other problem does this fix?” Joe followed.

“I recently ran into an old high school bully who was trying to pick up where he’d left off years ago,” Ethan told him. “It will probably ruin his day when he learns I’m no longer around to torture.”

This time I merely nodded, realizing Jack wouldn’t bother looking for Ethan, once he heard he’d been killed in a blast.

“If you’re positive, then I’ll make it happen for you,” Joe agreed.

“What about my house, car, clothes and everything else?” Ethan wondered. “What will they do with all of that stuff?”

“The government will contact your parents and explain that you got killed with a federal witness, and then they’ll ask them how they want to handle things,” Joe explained. “Most likely your parents will just want to put everything up for sale and take the proceeds. If they do that, then we’ll probably be able to retrieve your clothes and a few other things you might want, but not the house, car or most of the furniture. Just make a list of the things you want me to have sent to a neutral location, so they can be forwarded to you later.”

Ethan nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think much of your stuff survived,” Joe stated, looking at me next. “We might be able to get some money for your car, but that’s probably about it. The government will set you both up with everything else you need though.”

He made that last comment more for Ethan’s sake than mine.

“Joe, do you have any idea where they might send us this time?” I wondered.

“I have a feeling it might be in the Seattle area,” he suggested. “We had another guy we were going to send there and had nearly everything set, but then he had a heart attack and died before we could move him. Poor bastard. He went through the trial and did the hard part, but then he never got his chance to start over.”

“I’m not used to living in an area where the weather gets really cold for long periods,” Ethan stated, as he winked at me, “and I’ve never been to a place where there will be lots of snow, so this will definitely be a big change.”

“Do you want to reconsider then?” I pressed.

“No way, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t be willing to do this for anyone else,” Ethan responded, while clarifying his comment for me.

“I appreciate that,” I told him, while lovingly gazing into his eyes. “It’s just what we’re going to have to do if you want us to stay together as much as I do. You know I love you with all my heart, right?”

“Of course I do and I love you too,” Ethan confessed. “I’d also be willing to do this even if they were going to send us to Alaska.”

“Don’t give them any ideas,” I joked, while glancing in Joe’s direction.

Even though I tried to make a joke out of it, hearing what Ethan had just said took away any doubts I had about his love for me. Now, I knew his feelings were unconditional and all consuming. He was willing to give up everything else that was dear to him, just so we could remain together.

After Ethan finished making his decision, Joe had another set of instructions for me.

“In order to learn how Fat Tony and his crew found you, I’m going to ask you to retrace your steps while you were in Las Vegas,” he announced. “Since you think someone must have spotted you there, then I’ll need you to give me a list of every place you went during your brief stay. Hopefully, we’ll be able to figure out if this was actually where they ran across you. If not, we’ll need to find out how they discovered where you were living.”

Ethan and I quickly made up a list of all the places we went to, from the hotel we stayed at to those we only visited, and then gave the list to Joe. Once he had this information, he went back to his room and left Ethan and I alone for a while. Since we couldn’t go anywhere, we decided to watch a little TV as we cuddled together on the bed. We had no idea about how long we were going to be holed up like this, but we decided that we were going to make the best of it.

We spent the rest of the day and part of the next trying to find different ways to entertain ourselves. Joe also provided us with a brief reprieve when he took us out to do some shopping. Since we’d had to leave nearly everything we owned behind after the attack, Joe took us out just long enough to pick out some new clothes and a few other items. This, of course, included the personal hygiene products we would need, like dental necessities, deodorant, shaving supplies, etc., but he also allowed us pick up some magazines and games to amuse ourselves and help pass the time back in our room.

Seeing neither Ethan nor I could put any of this on our credit cards, because whoever was looking for me might be able to track us down that way, this all had to be put on a government credit card. You might be wondering why we couldn’t use Ethan’s credit card either, but since we didn’t know how they’d been able to track me down, Joe and his bosses felt we couldn’t take any chances. If they had seen us together in Las Vegas and tracked me down that way, then they would probably be watching his personal data as well as mine, hoping it would lead them back to me.

This brief outing wasn’t very stimulating, because all we did is shop, but at least it got us out of the hotel room for a while. I know I was grateful for that small luxury and I’m sure Ethan was too.

On the way back, we also stopped to pick up something to eat. Joe told us that we had to order this to go, because it wouldn’t be safe for us to stay there long enough to chow down. Instead, we would have to do that back in our motel room, which meant we were going to be stuck there again, even though we had no idea for how long.

Just before noon the next day, Joe came over to see us and he looked excited. We quickly learned that he had just got off the phone with his office and had been given some new information he wanted to share with us.

“I just got a call from Washington and they’ve figured out how you were tracked down,” he announced. “When the agents from the home office went through the various reservation lists for the hotels and casinos you visited while you were In Las Vegas, they came across a familiar name. We were lucky he hadn’t used an alias, but since he didn’t think he had anything to hide while he was there, he ended up making this easy for us and it helped to explain how you had been located.”

“So I was spotted by one of the wise guys?” I asked.

“Yes, one of Fat Tony’s capos happened to be in Vegas while you were there,” Joe replied, “so we figure he must have been the one who saw you while you were walking around in the casino he was staying at. Since Tony and most of his underlings had attended Gino’s trial, to show their support for him, he must have remembered what you looked like from when you testified. He obviously recalled that information and put it to good use after he ran into you in Las Vegas.”

“I remember all of them too, since they either hung around to keep an eye on Gino for Fat Tony or I saw them at the trial, so why didn’t I spot him too?” I wondered.

“Possibly because you only had eyes for Ethan at the time,” Joe suggested, “but we’re convinced he was the one who told Fat Tony about you. His phone records proved that he called Fat Tony from his hotel room, probably to tell him that he knew where you were. We suspect he must have followed you back to your hotel and then somehow managed to get his hands on your reservation information and used that to discover where you lived. We figure he most likely paid someone off to get a copy of your paperwork, but when Fat Tony got this info, he must have had one of his associates track you to the address listed on your reservation.”

“But I used my address when I made the reservations,” Ethan interrupted, “not Bryan’s.”

“That may be true, but Bryan is over at your house nearly every day,” Joe pointed out, “so they must have tracked him there first and then back to his own place. I also have to believe that Fat Tony was able to get his hands on a snapshot or two of Bryan as well, so whomever he sent here could positively confirm his identify. It’s possible that Fat Tony might have had someone taking photos of you when you testified against his son, just so he could use them to put a contract out on you later. Since you two ride to work together every day, it wouldn’t have taken much for his mob spy to locate Bryan after he located you.”

“Damn, that was too easy,” Ethan noted.

“And scary that they could find me without having to go through a whole lot of trouble,” I added.

“Most definitely,” Joe agreed. “The lookout confirmed your identity, he would have called in your address next, so Fat Tony could arrange for the hit squad to be sent out. Once we’d discovered whom you ran into, filling in the rest of the gaps was fairly easy. The F.B.I. already has plenty of documentation that links the hit men they’ve taken into custody to Fat Tony, plus they have similar documentation on the one they are still looking for too. This information gave them enough to get an arrest warrant and have Fat Tony picked up. He was charged with conspiracy in a murder for hire plot, so I heard he’s locked up too, at least until his lawyer convinces the court to let him out on bail.”

“Wow! Fat Tony is behind bars right now?” I pressed.

“He is, because the judge denied his original request for bail, but his lawyer is still fighting it,” Joe confirmed. “Since Gino is already in prison, along with most of his associates, his crime ring had already been mostly broken up and disbanded. Now that the F.B.I. has direct links to his father in this case, with any luck at all he’ll be going to prison for the rest of his life as well and the government will be able to break up his criminal organization. We are hoping that this will permanently put the Mironti family out of business.

We spent a few more days at the motel, with each one being nearly the same as the day before. Other than that one little shopping trip, we weren’t allowed to go anywhere or do anything, so Ethan and I were getting pretty bored having nothing new to do or any exciting way to pass the time. We were trying to come up with something else we could do to break the monotony when Joe came over with some updated news for us.

“There’s been a new development, but I think you’re going to like this one,” he began. “I just got a call from one of my superiors and he told me that they don’t think the Seattle location will be a good place for you to hide out. Instead, they want to put you somewhere you’ll be less likely to be spotted again.”

“Oh, great! Are we talking about some small rural location in the Midwest or will you be sticking us in an Amish community?” I whined. “Please tell me we aren’t going to be sent to the middle of nowhere or have to live without most of the necessities we’re used to.”

“No, I said I thought you were going to like this, didn’t I?” Joe countered. “Those in charge of the witness protection program think you’ll be safer if you are, shall we say, more or less away from the places where these criminals hang out. With that in mind, they’re offering to set you up in Hawaii. What do you think about that?”

I quickly glanced over at Ethan and noticed that he had a strange expression on his face. I could only tell that it was disbelief, but I didn’t know if this meant he liked the idea or not. Seeing I wanted to know what he thought about this new development, I decided to ask him directly.

“What do you think about what Joe just said, Ethan? Would that be good for you?” I wondered.

“Heck, yes. That sounds absolutely wonderful,” he concurred.

“If you decide that’s where you want to go, then I want you to promise me that you’ll try to stay away from the typical tourist haunts and the major beaches, ok?” Joe insisted. “We can track the passenger lists on any flights going to Hawaii and scan for the names of any known mobsters who might recognize you or intend to do you harm. We can also keep track of any private flights going there, so if we spot someone on our watch list we’ll contact you immediately, so you can either stay out of sight or go to a designated bunker to hide out for a while.”

“I promise we’ll stay away from the tourist areas and only go to the out of the way beaches, but we’re counting on you to let us know if anyone dangerous is headed our way,” I told him. “Other than that, what kind of jobs do you think we’ll have?”

“I’ve been told I can give you some choices about that too,” Joe answered. “We can set you up with a state accounting job, similar to what you had here in New Mexico, or we can find you a similar position working for one of the food exporters, a school district or we can get you a position at the University of Hawaii. Some of those choices might only have one spot open, so if you guys want to continue working together it might limit your options. However, if you don’t mind working at different places then you can select from any of those opportunities and we’ll get you set up in whichever opening you choose.”

“Ok, we’re fine with moving to Hawaii, but give us a day or two after we see the job possibilities, so we can talk about what we’d like to do,” I replied. “I’m sure we’ll want to go over the list and discuss our options, before we make any decisions.”

“That will be fine,” Joe agreed. “Do you two plan on living together or will we need to find each of you a house?”

I looked at Ethan and immediately understood his answer, so we responded jointly.

“Together!” we exclaimed, in unison.

Since that was settled, Joe went back to his room and returned a few minutes later with his laptop to show us a rough list of current job possibilities. He then left, so we could talk over the details about our employment options. We debated about the choices for a while and decided we’d prefer to work for the same company or organization, although not in the same department, providing we could each end up with an acceptable job and it was a decent place to work.

When we passed this information along to Joe, he said he’d have someone forward him the details about the number of positions open with each employer. He’d also ask them to send along the salary ranges for each job and a description of the organization and work environment, so we’d know which jobs we were most interested in. Once we knew those details, we could decide which way we wanted to go, meaning either working at the same place or different locations. We’d still prefer to work together, but we would accept working for different employers if they provided us with better opportunities.

The next day, Joe showed us the detailed information about our employment options on his laptop and we looked each entry over very carefully. Ethan and I spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of the various opportunities and finally agreed we’d each apply for one of the state government jobs, because they provided the best combination of salary, benefits and work environment. We’d be working in different departments, but at least we would still be in the same building and potentially able to go to lunch together every day. Not only that, but we’d be able to ride into work together as well, and since we’d also be living together, this would allow us to spend nearly all of our time with each other. There would be no more sneaking around or lonely nights to contend with, so life was going to be good.

Once this had been taken care of, Joe showed us our housing choices next. Ethan and I spent the rest of the day looking over the property descriptions and viewing the various photos of the houses and surrounding area. We eventually picked out a couple of houses we found acceptable and rated then as our first, second and third choices. After we’d done that, we then discussed what particular options we wanted to see included in our new home.

Of course I requested that there would be another safe room installed, just to err on the side of caution. I hoped we’d never have to use it just because it was there, but then again I never thought I’d ever have to use the safe room at my old house either. After it saved our lives though, I was certainly glad it was there and kept us from being harmed. Without the safe room, Ethan and I might have ended up looking as badly as the rest of the house, which means we probably wouldn’t be here now.

Ethan, on the other hand, was more concerned about the kitchen and the appliances it would have. He made a list of the things he was looking for, which was similar to what he’d had in his old house, and Joe stated that he’d do what he could. Other than those two issues and having a pool, we didn’t have a lot of other stipulations.

A couple of days later, Joe gave us the packages with our new identities in them. This included the background data we would need to memorize in order to maintain our cover, which included family and educational information. This was something else we were going to have to become familiar with, but we would have to learn our partner’s information too. Since we were going to be a couple, we would have to be fairly fluent with each other’s details as well, because we couldn’t afford to make any slipups.

Let me tell you about our new backgrounds, starting with our new names. From this moment on, Ethan was going to be known as Nathan Henderson and my new name was going to be Alexander Davis. From Ethan Hawkes and Bryan Walters, to Nathan Henderson and Alexander Davis. From Ethan and Bryan to Nate and Alex. It was going to take some getting used to, that’s for sure, but we were committed to pulling this off.

Nathan’s new history showed that he was from Arizona and a graduate of Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. I, on the other hand, or should I say Alex, grew up in Minnesota and graduated from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Joe would be supplying us with our new laptops shortly, which would have encrypted files containing all of the background information we’d need to memorize, plus videos of the places we would have to be familiar with in order to be believable. This meant there was going to be a lot of studying for us to do in order to become familiar with all of these new details, including college layouts, professors and the curriculum we’d majored in.

After another week of staying at the motel, we moved to another temporary location in Oregon. While we were there, we were expected to finish memorizing our background stories, before we were moved to our final destination. The Feds had moved us to this place, which was actually a house and a little better than our temporary set up, in order to get us out of New Mexico. They felt if people were still looking for me, they’d start there first, since it was the last place I’d been seen. This move also gave Joe’s colleagues the extra time they would need to purchase one of the properties we’d agreed on and then make the appropriate renovations we’d requested.

Joe moved with us to Oregon, but he stayed in a hotel room and not at the house with us. He came over to meet with us nearly every day and would quiz us on ‘our past,’ to see if we were retaining the background information we’d been given. He was also trying to make certain we were responding spontaneously to any questions we were asked and able to make it sound as if we’d actually lived this life and had not merely memorized the facts. He was working diligently with us to weed out any of the mistakes we were making, not only with the factual material, but also in the way we presented it. He wanted to make certain our answers didn’t sound stiff, practiced or forced.

We continued this process for the next couple of months, and once we were proficient with our backgrounds and all of the work on our new house had been completed, we were moved to our new home in Hawaii. Both Ethan and I – excuse me, Nathan and Alex have had to completely forget everything that had happened to us in the past and start all over again. If we make any mistakes, we could end up putting ourselves in danger again, meaning we could end up getting killed, but that’s something we were forced to accept and had to learn to live with.

THE END