Chapter 16 - Sunflowers in the Darkness
Nobody moved.
Not Gideon.
Not Hannah.
Not the federal agents listening outside.
Sophie stood at the edge of the old boxing ring holding a sunflower in both hands.
Silas looked at it as if it were a weapon.
“Why did you hurt Ren?” she asked again.
His gun lowered an inch.
“I didn’t mean to.”
Sophie frowned.
“But you did.”
Silas closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Did you say sorry?”
Gideon felt something twist inside him.
Silas laughed weakly.
“To who?”
“Ren.”
“She’s dead.”
Sophie looked genuinely confused.
“My mommy says you can still be sorry.”
Silas stared at her.
Gideon spoke carefully.
“Sophie, go back to Hannah.”
“No.”
“Sophie.”
“I want him to answer.”
Silas looked toward Gideon.
“She sounds like Ren.”
Gideon’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t.”
“She does.”
“Don’t say her name.”
Silas laughed sadly.
“There you are.”
“What?”
“The old Gideon.”
The gun rose again.
“You were easier when you hated everything.”
Gideon slowly stepped between Sophie and Silas.
“Then hate me.”
“I do.”
“Good.”
“But I also loved her.”
Gideon froze.
Silas looked at the sunflower.
“You think I didn’t?”
“Love doesn’t look like what you did.”
“No.”
For the first time Silas agreed without argument.
“No, it doesn’t.”
He sat on the edge of the ring.
The gun rested against his knee.
Gideon watched carefully.
Silas continued.
“After the crash, I went to the hospital.”
“I know.”
“I stood outside the room.”
Gideon’s face hardened.
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
That surprised him.
Silas looked up.
“I had seen what you did to enemies.”
“You weren’t my enemy then.”
“I killed your daughter.”
“You killed her by accident.”
“And murdered men afterward to hide it.”
Silas smiled bitterly.
“Once you commit one unforgivable thing, the second becomes easier.”
Gideon looked at Sophie.
She was listening.
Too young for the conversation.
Too old, perhaps, because of everything she had survived.
Hannah reached for her.
This time Sophie allowed herself to be pulled back.
Silas continued.
“I told myself I was protecting what we built.”
“No.”
“I know.”
He wiped his face.
“I was protecting myself.”
Gideon sat several feet away.
Two enemies in a dead gym.
No audience they could see.
“You can stop now.”
Silas laughed.
“Prison?”
“Yes.”
“Confession?”
“Yes.”
“Spend the rest of my life in a cage?”
“Probably.”
Silas looked at the gun.
“And that sounds like hope to you?”
“No.”
“What does?”
Gideon looked toward Sophie.
“Not making tomorrow worse.”
Silas was silent.
Outside, Agent Donnelly whispered through Gideon’s hidden earpiece.
“Keep him talking.”
But Gideon removed the earpiece.
He placed it on the floor.
Silas noticed.
“Why?”
“Because this part isn’t for them.”
He stood.
“You asked why I didn’t kill you.”
“Yes.”
“Because I would have had to explain it to Sophie.”
Silas looked at the child.
“She isn’t yours.”
“No.”
“Then why do you care?”
Gideon thought of Ava arriving with the empty pot.
Of Sophie shivering in his doorway.
Of Ren’s video.
If you’re scared, find the light.
“Because she knocked.”
Silas frowned.
“What?”
“Two children came to my house because they believed I might help.”
Gideon almost laughed at the absurdity.
“The entire city believed I was a monster, and somehow their mother believed there was enough human left in me to protect them.”
Hannah’s eyes filled.
“I don’t want her to be wrong.”
Silas looked at the floor.
For a long time nothing happened.
Then he placed the gun down.
Gideon exhaled.
Slowly.
Silas pushed it away.
“I killed Daniel Hurst.”
Gideon looked at him.
“I ordered Mercer to falsify Ren’s records.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
“I paid Vane. I paid inspectors. I moved weapons using Crosswell containers after Gideon ordered the operation stopped.”
Every confession was being transmitted despite Gideon removing the earpiece because the device remained active.
Silas looked toward the gym entrance.
“Come arrest me.”
Agent Donnelly appeared seconds later.
Weapons remained trained.
Silas raised his hands.
Before they took him, Sophie stepped closer.
She offered the sunflower.
Silas stared.
“I don’t deserve that.”
Sophie shrugged.
“It’s just a flower.”
He almost smiled.
“No.”
He took it carefully.
“It really isn’t.”
Silas was led away.
Gideon stood beside Hannah.
“That was incredibly irresponsible.”
She gave him a look.
“You think I brought her intentionally?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Sophie looked up.
“Is he going to jail?”
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
“Maybe.”
“Will he be bad there?”
Gideon considered.
“That will be his choice.”
Sophie nodded as if satisfied.
Outside, dawn began to color the sky.
For the first time in days, the storm was gone.
Hannah looked at Gideon.
“What happens now?”
He knew what she meant.
Not Silas.
Not Vane.
Him.
Federal charges.
Confessions.
Twenty years of consequences.
“I don’t know.”
“That scares you.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t look scared.”
“I’ve had practice.”
Ava ran across the parking lot from Dana’s car.
She threw herself at Hannah.
Then Sophie.
Then, unexpectedly, Gideon.
He froze.
Ava hugged him around the waist.
“You got her back.”
He looked at Hannah.
“I had help.”
Ava released him.
“Are you going to jail?”
Children had terrible timing.
Gideon crouched.
“Maybe.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you do bad things?”
“Yes.”
Ava looked disappointed.
Not afraid.
That was somehow worse.
“Why?”
“Because sometimes I thought being powerful mattered more than being good.”
She considered this.
“Was that stupid?”
Marcus coughed to hide laughter.
Gideon nodded.
“Very.”
“Are you still stupid?”
“I’m trying not to be.”
Ava smiled slightly.
“Okay.”
She took his hand.
Gideon looked down at their fingers.
One adult hand covered in tattoos.
One small hand bruised from days of running.
Hannah watched.
So did Evelyn, arriving across the parking lot.
Gideon looked toward sunrise.
For the first time since Ren died, yellow light did not hurt.
Then Agent Donnelly approached.
“Gideon.”
He knew from her expression.
“What?”
“The U.S. Attorney made a decision.”
His stomach tightened.
“About me?”
“Yes.”
Hannah squeezed Sophie’s shoulder.
Evelyn came closer.
Donnelly held out a document.
“You should read this before you celebrate anything.”
Gideon accepted it.
The first line said:
May you like
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. GIDEON CROSSWELL.
Consequences had finally arrived.
