Chapter 12 - The FatherCassian could not speak.
His father looked almost exactly as he remembered.
Older, yes.
Broken, perhaps.
But alive.
“You buried me,” Cassian said.
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I needed you angry.”
Cassian's eyes filled with fury.
“You destroyed my life.”
“No.”
His father walked closer.
“I gave you a purpose.”
Cassian's pistol came up.
Elena stepped between them.
“Cassian.”
“Move.”
She didn't.
His father smiled faintly.
“She is exactly as I hoped.”
Cassian looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Your father recruited me.”
Elena stiffened.
Her father continued.
“Eight years ago.”
Elena stared.
“You knew me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you would have died.”
Cassian lowered the weapon slightly.
“What did you recruit her for?”
“To find the people who betrayed us.”
“The Council?”
His father nodded.
“The Council was originally a protection network for politicians and businessmen. Then criminals infiltrated it. Then criminals became its strongest members.”
Cassian looked at the map.
“So what am I?”
“An heir.”
“To what?”
“To the machine.”
Cassian shook his head.
“I don't want it.”
“You don't understand.”
His father reached for a file.
“You already control half of it.”
Cassian opened it.
Inside were contracts.
Bank records.
Political communications.
Names of people who had quietly served the Thorne organization for years.
Some were names Cassian trusted.
Others were men who had appeared to be enemies.
His father spoke.
“The reason Viktor attacked Blackwood was not to kill you.”
“Then why?”
“To force you into the open.”
Elena examined a photograph.
Viktor stood beside a man.
The man was Cassian's uncle.
Dead for fifteen years.
Elena looked up.
“Your uncle is alive.”
Cassian stared.
“That man died in prison.”
“He never went to prison.”
The father nodded.
“It was another double.”
Cassian clenched the photograph.
“How many lies are there?”
“Enough to bury the truth.”
Suddenly, the monastery shook.
An explosion outside.
Glass broke.
Gunfire erupted.
His father looked at Elena.
“They found us.”
Cassian grabbed a rifle.
“Who?”
His father answered:
“Everyone.”
The doors blew inward.
Armed men stormed the monastery.
Elena fired first.
Cassian moved beside her.
For several seconds, they fought back to back.
No words.
No hesitation.
Just instinct.
When the attackers finally fell back, Elena saw a figure outside.
Viktor Volkov.
Standing in the snow.
Unarmed.
Smiling.
He raised one hand.
The gunfire stopped.
He shouted:
“Elena!”
She stepped toward the doorway.
Cassian caught her arm.
“Don't.”
Viktor smiled wider.
Then he said:
“You have been searching for your father.”
Elena froze.
Viktor pointed toward Cassian.
“Ask him why your father really died.”
Cassian's face changed.
Viktor walked away.
And Elena slowly turned toward the man beside her.
“You knew.”
May you like
Cassian said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
