Chapter 5 - The Father Who Never Died
Khalida refused to stay behind.
Deacon argued for twenty minutes.
She argued for twenty-one.
Eventually he stared at her across the penthouse kitchen.
“You have fractured ribs.”
“And a father who has been dead for most of my life.”
“This could be a trap.”
“It obviously is.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“I’m not trying to comfort you.”
Deacon looked exhausted.
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
He almost smiled.
Then his face turned serious again.
“Victor wants emotion to control you.”
“My father being alive tends to create emotion.”
“That’s why you should not go.”
“That’s why I have to.”
Deacon finally agreed to something between participation and captivity.
Khalida would come.
But she would remain under security.
The exchange location was an abandoned train depot near the river.
Victor wanted the actual ledger.
Deacon brought a copy.
Khalida asked, “Will he know?”
“Eventually.”
“Eventually sounds dangerous.”
“It usually is.”
Night settled heavily over the city.
The depot smelled of rust, rain, and old oil.
Deacon walked beside Khalida.
Three security men stayed hidden nearby.
Victor Soren waited under a broken overhead light.
He was older than Khalida expected.
Seventies.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
He smiled when he saw her.
“Faris’s daughter.”
Khalida hated him instantly.
“Where is my father?”
Victor looked at Deacon.
“You brought Vale.”
“You said alone,” Khalida replied. “You didn’t say whose definition.”
Victor laughed.
“You have Faris’s attitude.”
“My father.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Where is he?”
Victor gestured.
A car door opened.
An older man stepped out.
Khalida forgot how to breathe.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A limp.
But the eyes were the same.
Her eyes.
“Dad?”
Faris stopped.
His face collapsed.
“Khalida.”
She moved before Deacon could stop her.
Pain barely registered.
Faris opened his arms.
For twenty years Khalida had imagined impossible reunions.
None resembled this.
She struck him first.
A slap across the chest.
“You left us!”
Then she hugged him.
Faris wrapped his arms around her carefully.
“I’m sorry.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I hated you for dying.”
His voice broke.
“I know.”
Sarah came moments later from another vehicle with Mariam, despite Deacon’s instructions that they remain away.
The reunion was chaos.
Tears.
Anger.
Questions.
Victor watched with irritation.
“Touching.”
Deacon moved between him and the family.
“The ledger.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
Deacon tossed him a secure drive.
Victor examined it.
“You think I won’t notice a copy?”
“I think you’ll notice too late.”
Victor’s smile faded.
Faris whispered, “Deacon, don’t.”
Khalida looked at him.
“You know what’s happening?”
Faris nodded.
“Victor doesn’t want the ledger because it can expose him.”
“Then why?”
“He wants one file.”
Deacon looked at Faris.
“Which?”
“Project Aster.”
Victor’s face changed.
That was enough.
Deacon understood.
“What is it?”
Faris sighed.
“A list of protected witnesses, hidden identities, relocated families.”
Khalida stared.
“So if Victor gets it…”
“He can sell every person on that list.”
Victor said calmly, “Idealism is expensive, Faris.”
“You used to believe in something.”
“I believe in survival.”
Khalida looked at her father.
“Why did you make the ledger?”
“To expose men like him.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because too many innocent people were embedded inside the same system.”
Deacon watched Victor.
“You won’t get Aster.”
Victor smiled again.
“I already have enough.”
He turned toward Khalida.
“Did Greg never tell you why he chose you?”
Khalida’s skin crawled.
“He didn’t choose me.”
“No?”
Victor looked amused.
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because he fell in love with you.”
She stared.
“Don’t.”
“It complicated everything.”
“Greg hurt me.”
“Yes.”
“But before that, he spent almost two years lying to me.”
Victor shrugged.
“He was supposed to observe you for six weeks.”
Khalida felt sick.
“He stayed because he didn’t want to leave.”
“That isn’t love.”
“No.”
Victor tilted his head.
“But humans are rarely clean categories.”
Deacon stepped closer.
“Enough.”
Victor looked toward him.
“You’re another example.”
Deacon’s expression went still.
Victor glanced at Khalida.
“Do you think he came because of honor?”
Khalida frowned.
“He came because I texted him.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
Deacon said sharply, “Victor.”
But Khalida turned.
“What does he mean?”
Victor smiled.
“Ask him why he still had your father’s number after eleven years.”
Deacon’s jaw tightened.
Khalida looked at him.
“You said your father gave it to you.”
“He did.”
“Why keep it active?”
Deacon said nothing.
Victor answered.
“Because Deacon had been looking for Faris too.”
Khalida’s stomach turned.
“For what?”
Victor looked delighted.
“The ledger.”
Khalida stepped back.
Deacon immediately said, “Not for the reason he thinks.”
“You used me.”
“No.”
“Did you know my father might be alive?”
“I suspected.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I had no proof.”
“You told me you were protecting me because your father made you promise.”
“That part is true.”
“Is any part not true?”
His silence hurt more than the answer.
Victor watched.
“Trust is such a fragile thing.”
Then lights suddenly went out across the depot.
Darkness swallowed them.
Voices shouted.
Deacon grabbed Khalida.
“Down.”
A struggle erupted somewhere beyond them.
No gunfire.
No visible violence.
Only footsteps and confusion.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Victor was gone.
So was the drive.
Deacon looked furious.
Faris looked terrified.
“It doesn’t matter,” Deacon said. “It was encrypted.”
Faris stared.
“No.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t need to decrypt it.”
“Why?”
Faris looked at Khalida.
“Because the final encryption key isn’t digital.”
Khalida’s pulse jumped.
“What is it?”
Faris closed his eyes.
May you like
“You.”
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