33The ride from the courthouse was filled with a thick tension as a variety of emotions swirled around Natalie's head. Her husband had just pled guilty to two crimes that he did not commit, and did so with a smile on his face. Had he gone insane? He certainly hadn't talked about the move with her, or apparently with his attorney. Confusion, anger, fear, exasperation…all were feelings that she felt as she set silently next to Adrian and drove him to his car behind Attorney Harrison Powell's office. As she pulled into the driveway, she looked him in the eye waiting for some sort of explanation. None came.
"Thank you." was all he said, followed by "I'll be home sometime later this evening. Don't worry about dinner."
"What?!" she said, exasperated.
"You don't have to worry about dinner for me. Just go ahead and worry about yourself and Seri." He replied.
"Adrian!" she exclaimed.
He simply took her hand and kissed it. "Later. Natalie, it's okay." He replied, exiting the car and shutting the door.
She sat in her car dumbfounded as she watched him walk over to his car, put the key in the ignition, wave and drive away.
Finally, after about ten minutes, she shook herself and tried to give herself a pep talk so she could move forward.
"There has to be some rational explanation." She said to herself. "Adrian wouldn't just…He couldn't just…What in the heck was he doing?!"
Just outside of town, Adrian followed the instructions he had been given and drove up to the closed gate of a small windowless building. He pressed a button on a ticket kiosk and then used the touch screen to enter the 4-digit code he had been given. The gate opened. Driving into the compound, he parked his car and walked up to the entrance. He stood for 15 seconds and the door opened and a man in black clothing ushered him silently inside.
They walked down a hallway that was lined with doors without windows, all of them shut. When they came to the end of the hallway, the guard pressed a button and then used an iris scanner, which identified him biometrically, and slid open a door. The two men walked into a smaller room. In the room was a woman seated behind a computer.
"Good evening, Mr. Monk." She said. "Please be seated."
As the guard stood silently behind him, Adrian took a seat in front of her desk and was told to look into device where his biometric information was captured. He was then given a card with a second code on it and was told to memorize the code and then destroy the card. He had it memorized the moment it was handed to him and simply handed it back to her.
"I've got it." He said.
"You have it memorized?" said the woman.
"Yes. It's only 15 digits." He replied.
"Repeat them to me." She said.
"1487Z39TTU10894."
She read the numbers as he recited them and then simply looked up at him and nodded.
"You are free to go." She said.
Adrian stood and followed the guard through the next door.
"Press this button and then enter your code." He instructed.
Adrian complied with the request, at which point a written message appeared on a screen "SCAN EYES."
Adrian turned and looked at the guard who pointed to the iris scanner, at which point Adrian leaned forward and allowed it to scan his eyes. A door slid open.
The guard stood outside the door and motioned for Adrian to enter.
He walked into a conference room with large semi-circular table in the middle and a full screen at the other end.
The table was filled with people, some he recognized but others he did not.
"Mr. Monk!" said a man at the center of the table. "I am Jonathan Carter, the current chairman of the West Coast Division. Welcome to the Alliance. We've been expecting you. Please, take a seat next to Deputy Commissioner Stottlemeyer." He said.
He walked over and sat by Leland and the two men acknowledged one another with a nod. Looking back to Carter, he sat quietly as it was further explained to him why he was there.
Natalie sat on the couch in a semi-dark room waiting for her husband to come home. Her stomach was in knots and the earlier emotions had just gotten ten times worse. She had barely gotten her strength back. This had knocked it back out of her.
Finally, a little after one, she heard the downstairs door open. Listening to Adrian's footsteps come up the stairs, she heard him put his key in the door, turn it, and then listened as he quietly entered the apartment. Shutting and locking the door behind him, he took off his jacket and walked down the hallway next to the living room. He looked up, saw Natalie, and exhaled.
"Hi, sweetheart." He said, walking over to her and sitting by her side. "You been waiting up?"
She stared straight ahead and said, "Where were you? And are you going to tell me what is going on?"
He thought for a moment. "Yes." He said. "But not until tomorrow."
She turned and looked at him with frustration.
Sensing her mood, he said, "Natalie, I'm sorry. But I simply can't say anything right now. I promise though that by tomorrow, you will get it. I promise."
"Adrian, you promised me that we weren't going to keep secrets from one another." She replied with tears.
"And so, we aren't." he answered, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.
"It is specifically because of that promise that you get to know. But not until tomorrow. I can't say any more about it right now. I really can't. Please try to understand." He replied quietly. "It's late. I think we need to head to bed because we have a busy day ahead of us."
Natalie looked at him quietly then shook her head and sighed.
"I don't know how you get by with these things." She said.
"Because I'm cute?" he responded, trying to lighten the mood.
"No." she answered angrily. "You're not."
"I'm not cute?" Adrian said, dejected.
"Adrian, I don't know what just happened today. We were going to court and Harrison was going to make a motion to the judge that your charges be dismissed. I went into the courtroom thinking at least on our end we'd be free and clear of all of this. Then, you come bouncing into the room like you just won the lottery or something and happily plead guilty to crimes you didn't commit. You have to be a bit patient with me because I simply do not understand."
"And you need to be a little patient with me." He said. "It's going to be okay, Natalie. I promise. Now, let's go to bed. You will find out more tomorrow."