Ghosts of the Past Ch. 10

Bradley Williams opened his eyes and looked up. "Well, Tommy... I see you completed another mission that I failed to..." He laughed weakly and then coughed and groaned in pain. "Only this time there's no girl for you to steal from me..."

Tom just stood staring down at his former commander. "I thought you were dead. And I had no way of knowing that you'd met Yakira and fallen in love with her! You can't blame me for that! I just wish I'd been the one who got to shoot you instead of my partner! I owe you for what you did to Yakira! You raped my wife, you son-of-a-bitch! You watched her die in my arms and I don't know if the baby she was carrying was mine or yours!"

Williams frowned and groaned in pain as another spasm of coughs wracked his body. Blood was quickly spreading on the front of his shirt. "It was your baby, Tommy. She was already pregnant when I got back and I never had sex with her before I left. I didn't mean to rape her... I still loved her... I was just so pissed because she didn't love me. She never loved me... you were the only one she loved..." His voice was getting raspier as he wheezed for breath.

He's not going to survive this... Tom knelt down next to him. "Bradley, I happen to be good friends with your niece, Dawn. She lives here in L.A. now and she's married to an L.A.P.D. officer who's here tonight. Do you have any message you want to convey to your family?" Tom asked him quietly.

Bradley Williams smiled and then winced in pain. "Little Dawn... she was such a sweet girl. She's married to a good man? Not one like me..." Tom nodded. "Just ask Dawn to tell the family that I'm sorry... I just couldn't take it any more... I had to get out... And I'm sorry to you, too, Tommy... Sorry about Yakira... the baby... I know you loved her... I did, too..." he whispered just before he took his last breath.

**********

Donald Price was taken into custody by an officer and another agent. They led him to a waiting ambulance to escort him to the hospital.

Charles held his hand toward Warren/Clark and they shook briefly. "Thanks for saving my life. Diana may just be grateful enough for this to forgive you for what you did to her all those years ago. But, then again, I guess I ought to thank you for not keeping her for yourself. It's going to be really hard for me to have to arrest you now."

Robert laughed ironically. "So, that's why you approached me that night at the Christmas party when you saw me staring at Diana... you knew I was involved in your investigation and you wanted to see if you could get me to talk!" He chuckled as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his badge and I.D. "Well, I think I can save you the trouble of having to arrest me. My real name IS Robert Clark and I've been an undercover agent with the CIA for the last six years. I've been working mostly in Central and South America since then, setting up my cover as an arms smuggler."

Charles chuckled softly. "Well... you did a damn good job of that! You had us convinced that's what you were! You know... this case might've been a whole lot easier and quicker to resolve if the FBI and the CIA had been working together on this! We never know what you spooks are up to! But I'm sure glad you were on our side for this one."

Lisa Green Price finally came to her senses enough to realize what Robert and the FBI agent were saying. She approached them slowly, staring at Robert in shock. "All this time... you were working undercover to stop Daddy and Donald? Why didn't you tell me? You could've trusted me! I'm the one who called the FBI to tell them that they were up to no good! I was afraid that the FBI would never be able to find the proof and that I'd have to start snooping and find it for them! And I know damn well that neither Daddy nor Donald would've thought twice about killing me if they'd caught me!" She stopped, staring at Robert with tears in her eyes.

He moved to her and tried to take her in his arms. She pushed him away. "Don't you touch me, Robert Warren... or Clark... or whatever your name is! I'm mad as hell at you! You said you loved me! I told you I loved you! And still you couldn't trust me?!! I was kicking myself thinking that I was letting myself fall in love with a man whose morals weren't any better than my father's or the bastard he made me marry! My heart kept telling me that you weren't as bad as them, but I didn't have any proof of that... and still, I fell for you! And now I find out you were a good guy all along?!! You bastard! Why didn't you tell me?!!"

Robert took a deep breath. "I couldn't, Lisa, for your own protection. I shouldn't have even allowed myself to fall in love with you... but I couldn't help it. I could see everything about you that your father and Don have been blind to all these years. They only see your beauty...they've never seen how smart you are... how loving...how strong... how vulnerable... You remind me of another young woman that I was too stupid at the time not to realize how special she was." He glanced at Charles.

He rushed to Lisa and caught her in his arms as she broke down sobbing. He held her tightly until she stopped crying. "I love you, Lisa. And I'll never leave you again. I've already applied to headquarters to be released as an undercover operative. I'm hoping they'll approve my transfer here to the L.A. field office. It may take a few months of traveling back and forth to set up another agent to take over my undercover operations down south. But then I'll be out of it and we can be together."

Lisa reached up to pull Robert's ear next to her lips as she whispered quietly. "Oh, Robert... I want you to make love to me... tonight! Please tell me you'll take me tonight!"

"Oh, darling..." he moaned. Then he said, "Sweetheart... you and I will be tied up the rest of the night with debriefings. It will be a while before you and I can be alone together. I'm sorry, my love, but we'll have to wait..." Clark frowned in desperation as he laid his forehead against Lisa's.

She looks just as desperate as you... Charles chuckled softly. "Clark... give me your badge and I.D." Robert looked at him questioningly. "Just give them to me." Robert handed them to him. "I'm pretty well aware of both of your roles in this investigation. I think we can do without you tonight. I'm just taking these for now so that you'll have to show up at some point to retrieve them. Just make sure you bring her with you! Go on and get out of here! I'll tell everyone that she was in a bit of shock and that you're taking care of her and you'll both be in touch to give your statements as soon as you're ready! Well... go on before I change my mind!"

Lisa flashed him a brilliant smile. "Thank you Agent... I don't even know what your name is! But thank you!" Robert nodded solemnly at Charles as he climbed into Lisa's car with her.

Charles watched as they drove away. Tom walked over to him. "You were supposed to arrest that guy... not let him leave with one of our key witnesses! Are you nuts? What's wrong with you? Pete's going to have your head for this!"

"Don't worry, partner, they'll be back. I know in my gut that they'll be back..."

Charles handed Tom Robert Clark's badge and I.D. They grinned at each other.So... he's the one who tipped us off about the hit on us... Guess he's not such a bastard after all...