Chapter Ten
I sat across from my father again, feeling the same terror in my veins like any other time we were face to face. It was impressive that I kept my cool despite all the emotions surging through my body. I couldn’t see my own visage so I had no idea how I truly worked, but I managed to keep my face rested.
I sat in the same chair, crossed my legs like before, and rested my hands in my lap.
My father stared at me with an expression that was much more guarded than before. At the end of our last conversation, I excused myself without giving him any kind of response since Wilder told me to leave. “I assume you’ve had enough time to consider what I said.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Everyone at RB12 would be thrilled to have your help. Any intelligence or contacts you give us will be vital for our mission.”
“And you’re willing to walk away with me?”
“Walk away?” I was under the impression we would have a new start, not leave the current circumstance.
“Yes. We return home and start over with ordinary lives.”
“I can’t do that. I agree to start over with you and give us a clean break. But I’m not leaving RB12.”
“Why not? You fell into this situation. You aren’t an agent, sweetheart.”
My eyes narrowed at the insult. “But I can be.”
“Why would you want to? You’ve seen the kind of missions you’re expected to do. It’s not easy.”
“I never assumed it would be.”
“I have enough money stashed away to give us any kind of lifestyle you want. No work or school. We can settle by the beach somewhere.”
For a moment that sounded nice. “I need more than that. And I enjoy being here. I enjoy being part of the team. I may not do it for the rest of my life, but for the foreseeable future, this is where I belong.”
“You have no idea how dangerous it really is.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” When I put my mind to something, I never give up. I wouldn’t let intimidation change my mind about my passion.
My father adjusted his hands in his lap, the metal clanking together as he moved.
“That’s non-negotiable.”
“Fine,” he said. “I accept your terms.”
“I have one more.”
“I’m listening.”
I suspected he would reject this right off the bat. “You give us all necessary information, you and I can start a new relationship, and you turn yourself in to the American authorities.”
When he smiled, I knew what his answer would be. “I’m not giving up my sources to you just to be handed over to the American government.”
“But you need to pay for your crimes.”
He raised an eyebrow. “By offering you all of my information and even aiding you in capturing my former accomplices, that’s more than enough payment. I’m not turning myself into anyone. I’m offering my help in exchange for your affection. That’s it.”
“And what are we supposed to do with you? Keep you as a prisoner forever?”
“If you don’t want to leave RB12, I suppose I’ll have to join.”
I stared at him blankly, doing my best not to illicit a reaction. “Join us?”
“Become an agent. Fight for your cause. It’s not too complicated to understand.”
“Not difficult to understand, but difficult to believe. RB12 has been your enemy for years.”
“No.” The hair on his head had grown out during his captivity. Now it was the longest I’d ever seen. “RB12 has never been my enemy. But I’ve always been their enemy. Big difference. Your organization is committed to catching criminals like me. It’s not personal.”
“And you would turn against everything you’ve worked for and betray all your accomplices?” Maybe Wilder was right. This sounded too good to be true.
“Yes.”
“Just to earn my forgiveness?” If he really wanted to get me on his side, all he had to do was be a normal man. He didn’t have to be a murderer. He could have worked at a hardware store and that would have been great.
After a pause, he nodded. “You’re the only person in this world that means anything to me. You’re something I can’t lose. You’re more valuable than all the diamonds I’ve stolen, the cash I’ve snatched from vaults, and everything else under the sun. Your blood is my blood. We’re the same. We’re family.”
As heartfelt as that was, I could only think of one person. “Mom.” I didn’t ask a question but I didn’t need to. “You killed her. Maybe I can tolerate you some day, but we’ll never be family.”
“Sweetheart, I didn’t kill her.”
“That’s not what Wilder said.”
“I’m sure he gets his intel from valuable sources, but not all information is correct. Sometimes its purposely misleading.”
“Meaning?”
“Your mother isn’t dead.”
My heart stopped beating altogether.
“She left when you were young. She realized being a mother wasn’t suitable for her. She found a young man she fancied and ran off with him. That’s when I got involved in my career. I needed to support you, and I was also devastated. Traveling distracted me from my heartbreak. I only told you she was dead to spare your feelings. Years later, your mother was murdered. The man she ran off with was married, and I suspect the wife got to her. But I had nothing to do with that.”
I digested everything slowly, absorbing it like a brand new sponge that encountered water for the first time. I kept my breathing even despite the fact the panic was settling in. My fingers wanted to touch my hair and I wanted to shake my knee just to chase off the anxiety.
Wilder was silent over the intercom.
“I’m not gonna lie and pretend I haven’t killed people. I’ve robbed innocent people. I’ve been active in the new age of nuclear warfare. But I never laid a hand on your mother. I loved her very much. I’ve never regretted falling for her because I got you out of it.”
I tightened my arms across my chest and held his gaze. It was a little more difficult to keep my head held high. My shoulders began to slouch and I lost the determination I had just moments before.
“I’m looking into it,” Wilder said through the intercom.
“How do I know I can trust you?” I asked. “How do I know this isn’t a cheap ploy to learn about RB12?”
“Because I’ll tell you everything I know, you’ll check the accuracy, and when you realize the information is good you’ll keep me around. Enlisting me as one of your own is for my protection. I haven’t agreed with your organization in the past, but I respect it. It’s very powerful, a formidable alliance.”
He could keep saying pretty words, but it would never be enough to completely convince me of anything.
“I don’t expect you to trust me right away,” he whispered. “Maybe you’ll never trust me. But having the opportunity to be with you is enough for me.”
“You’re really prepared to walk away from everything just to have a relationship with me?”
“Absolutely.”
When I looked him in the eye, he seemed sincere. But I would never really know the truth.
“You and Wilder are an item?” he asked bluntly.
I had no idea where the question came from so I didn’t know how to respond.
He explained his question on his own. “The way he talks about you…I can tell there’s something there. He’s a strong guy, very smart. We haven’t agreed on everything in the past, but I definitely respect him.”
Since he hit the nail right on the head, I didn’t deny it. I didn’t want to talk about my personal life with my father, not when things were so stressed between us. But lying wasn’t my strong suit either.
“Is that why you want to stay at RB12?”
“No.” Whether Wilder and I were together or not, RB12 was my hone.
He nodded. “Talk to Wilder about everything I said. I hope you accept my offer. Wilder knows interrogating me won’t get him anywhere. I’m one of those rare captives that won’t crack for anything. The one thing he can use against me is no longer at his disposal…”