PO Box 9000. I exhaled slowly to ease my stress, and I closed my eyes as I stuck the key inside and turned it. When I pulled the door ajar, I opened my eyes.
There it was. I gasped and a shuddered laugh slipped out. I glanced around to check if anyone heard me. The last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself. It was a one-by-one box, and I knew what was inside. Our data and an extra sample.
I carefully slid it out of the PO box and held it in my hands. There was an envelope stuck to the top, and I ripped it off, setting the box down momentarily to read it. I tore the envelope and pulled out the letter.
You’re welcome…
Get to your dad.
— Em
She signed her name Em. I cracked a smile at the thought. She always insisted that I call her Emily. Maybe she was warming up to me saying it. I shoved the letter in my jacket pocket and hoisted the box in my arms. With my free hand, I locked the PO box and exited the building. I felt a rush of energy surging through my body. My pulse quickened. I wasn’t in handcuffs. I didn’t see the black Denali anywhere in traffic, and I had the data I needed in my hands. Their lie couldn’t hold up forever. The country needed to know the truth about Black Monday.
“Taxi!” I shouted. One pulled up in front of me in seconds. I sat inside and set my box of evidence beside me. “Where to?” the driver asked, looking at me in the rearview.
“Corner of 8th and 41st.”
Fifteen blocks. When I stood up out of the taxi, I leaned back, staring up at the forty-story skyscraper that towered above me. On one of the buildings to the right, there were two huge posters that hung off of the roof with Owen’s and Rachel’s faces on them. At the top in bold, black letters was the word WANTED. I paused for a moment, staring at Rachel’s face. She looked familiar…too familiar…and I couldn’t figure out why. I had never seen her a day in my life, but for some reason it felt like I knew her at one point. Interesting.
With my box tightly grasped in my hands, I strode up the steps and into the revolving door. The warmth surrounded me as I made it inside. I didn’t stop at reception, I didn’t ask where I needed to go…because I already knew.
The stainless steel elevator doors opened, and once inside I pushed the button for the 37th floor. My stomach momentarily dropped as the elevator sped up. I used to run all around this building when I was a kid. I knew it like the back of my hand. When it opened, I was in front of a massive office space. A hundred people plus were all in their cubicles typing away or on their phones. I maneuvered through the maze of cubicles towards my dad’s office. When I reached the corner of the room, I saw his door was closed. I was so tempted just to pull it open and barge in, but who knows who could have been in there. Reluctantly, I turned to the left to face my dad’s assistant. She peered through her glasses that balanced at the very tip of her nose, and she glanced at my box, questionable as to why I was even here.
“Hi, Stefan.”
“Hello, Sharon,” I said.
“What can I help you with today?”
“I need to see my dad.”
She pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Do you have an appointment?”
There it was. That fucking word I had heard my entire young-adult life—appointment. I bit my lower lip to keep myself from flipping out on her. Normally, I did whatever she said, but today…today was different.
“Look, is anyone in his office or not? I am running out of time. It can’t wait.”
“Well, you know how he is…”
I turned and grabbed the doorknob.
“Stefan, just wait!” she called from behind me.
I pushed it open to see my dad sitting in his office chair with a pen and paper in his hands. His forehead creased in confusion.
“Stefan, what are you doing here?”
Sharon popped her head through the crack in the door. Her blonde hair was so big you could barely see her face. Someone needed to tell her that she should have left Aqua Net back in the eighties where it belonged.
“I’m sorry, Ian. I tried,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. Close the door, please.”
I sighed with relief. He must have been in a good mood today. I slid out a seat and did the same to another to set my box down. Now that I was closer, it appeared as if my father had aged a little more since the last time I had seen him, which was only a few months ago. It was a shame he hadn’t retired yet. He had enough money to last him a few lifetimes over. I’d watched it since I was a child. Of course, the progression of aging went conjointly with time, but with everything my dad had seen, it sped the process up. Sometimes I wished he would just leave his position and give it to someone else, but I knew he dreaded the thought of retiring. He had been in this position for almost twenty years and with the company for well over thirty.
“Son, what are you doing here? Are you okay?”
His question had a complex answer.
“Uh, I’m okay, for now.”
“What do you mean, for now?” he shot me an accusing glare.
“I don’t have much time to explain.”
He glanced down at his watch. “I have plenty. So you better get to it.”
“You have no idea how hard it was to get this here,” I informed him. My voice was shaky, and I began opening up the box. I handed him the manila envelope filled with data.
“What is this?” he asked. “I am so lost. You didn’t even text me to tell me you were coming.”
“There are reasons behind everything I did. It was all carefully planned to get that folder in your hands.”
He opened it and began flipping through the different papers and diagrams.
“Whose research is this?”
“Mine,” I answered flatly.
His eyes met mine and his expression was alarmed. He continued flipping through, and then I watched his eyes grow wide.
“Is this…is this what I think it is?”
“Yes,” I said. “It’s proof.”
His mouth hung open and almost all the papers were spread out on his desk.
“You did this research?”
“Yes, Dad. Well, I had the help of one of my colleagues, too.”
“Cats from the Danger Zone. Who would have thought you’d be lucky enough to find not one, but two, that were still alive? Does your professor know you were conducting these experiments?”
“So, yeah, when you asked me if I was okay, that’s the reason I said ‘for now’…”
He gave me an accusing glare that only a worried parent could produce.
“Please, don’t tell me you’re in any kind of trouble.”
“Like I said, for now, I’m okay. My ex-girlfriend who works at the EPA squealed on us about the experiments we were conducting.”
“You had a girlfriend recently? Why didn’t you introduce me to her?”
“It was a short-term thing. If I didn’t have to make an appointment to see my own father, maybe I would have, but that’s a whole other conversation.”
He sighed and pressed his lips together. I thought I caught guilt in his expression.
“I have a cell phone, you know.”
“That you rarely answer,” I added.
He huffed. “For Christ’s sake, Stefan! Call the office if you want to talk.”
“It’s all right. I know you’re busy.”
“So, what happened when she squealed? And to whom did she rat you out?”
“The FBI.”
He dropped his pen on his desk. I thought his eyes were going to pop out.
“Please, please tell me you’re joking.”
“Unfortunately, I’m not, Dad. That is why I’m here.”
“Have you been followed?!” his tone of voice jumped around in fright.
“Not that I know of. I escaped in an intelligent way.”
“Escaped?!” I thought he was going to turn blue in the face. “From where?!”
“I guess I used the wrong wording. My apartment was
being watched by an FBI agent. I used four friends and dressed them in the same thing I was wearing. We left and took taxis all in the same direction.”
“Did you not think twice about the fact that they might assume you would come here first?”
“Of course, Dad. I’m not stupid, but I had to get you this. If I didn’t get you this information all of my research would have been in vain. The day before we got busted, my colleague Emily sent the research, along with a sample, to your PO box.”
He was still fuming. Angry and confused…but as my words settled in, I saw a smug smile begin to emerge.
“That’s a pretty damn good plan, actually,” he admitted.
“Hey, I guess you taught me a thing or two, old man.”
“Smartass,” he mumbled and let out a throaty laugh.
“Dad, in all seriousness, what do you think?”
He glanced down at all the papers in front of him and shuffled through them again before looking back up at me.
“I think you have irrefutable evidence of something the government has used all of their effort to keep under wraps. I’m impressed, Son.”
I tried to suppress my growing smile, but I couldn’t. A sweltering warmth flushed throughout my body, and I felt proud. No matter what I did, I always was in my father’s shadow. I remembered career day in elementary school. Some of my classmates’ parents were cops, doctors, and firefighters. When my dad came in, it was like a free-for-all. Editor in Chief of the New York Times. The kids would surround him and ask questions. I was always left in the background. They looked up to him like he was the President or something. My classmates knew the neighborhood I lived in. Some people in this city grew up dirt poor, they had nothing. As odd as it sounded, sometimes I wished I had less. I dreaded my birthdays. My friends would pay more attention to my massive house than me. Just like that. Always in the shadows…
I was never good with words like my dad. Science was the language in which I was most fluent. Now, maybe I could be in his spotlight.
“Thanks, Dad. I tried to be thorough. I even brought one of the samples.” I tapped on the box beside me.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. Everything Emily and I worked for is in this box. I came here on the Greyhound. I left my phone at home—everything. They told me if I spoke to you or our lawyer that I would be locked up indefinitely and charged with treason. They threatened to take away my citizenship.”
His forehead creased and his eyes turned angry.
“Those fucking cowards,” he growled.
“I know. I’m still pissed about the whole thing. I was just doing independent research. It only affirms the fact that they are trying to cover up a lie.”
He rubbed his forehead and let out a long exhale. He stood up and walked to the edge of his office, looking down at the city streets below.
“Find the other pieces to the puzzle…” He muttered under his breath.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
“Find the other pieces to the puzzle,” he repeated.
“What puzzle?”
“Their lie. That’s the puzzle. Rachel was right. It’s not just one lie—it’s a string of lies. They have spread themselves too thin because the lies are not just in one place.”
“Yeah, and my lie was the first one. The radioactive material found on Black Monday was not Strontium. It was something else. Russia wasn’t involved. They did it.”
My dad began pacing around his office. His hand was covering his mouth.
“Wait, did you just say Rachel? Rachel who?”
He turned to me and approached his desk.
“Rachel Flores. The one on that gigantic banner hanging from the building next door.”
“Why would you talk to her? How do you even know her?”
His forehead creased and his jaw dropped.
“Stefan, do you not remember her?”
“Hell no! Why would I remember her? I’ve never met her!”
“My God. I shouldn’t have kept you two apart for so long. She was just so far away.”
The image of her face on the banner reappeared in my mind. Her dark-brown hair and eyes, her tan skin and youthful complexion.
“When I saw the banner…” I mumbled. “She looked familiar.”
My dad snorted and began his pacing again.
“Oh, she’s familiar all right. She’s my goddaughter. You met her once, as a child.”
“What?!” I shouted. “You’re joking, right?”
“No, Son, I’m not. Do you remember the photographs on the mantle at our house?”
“Yes. If they haven’t changed, then yes.”
“Do you remember the one of the Hispanic guy in the suit holding a little girl in his arms outside of this very building?”
I tried to recall the image…and it worked. It was blurry in my head.
“Vaguely,” I admitted.
“That’s Emilio,” he said, and turned around a picture on his desk to face me. “Emilio, my best friend who died when you were just a child. Rachel is his daughter. That banner outside is her, she’s just grown up.”
A chill raced up my spine as I realized the connection. A memory began to fade in. I was swinging in a park, and beside me was a little, dark-headed girl swinging along with me.
“Why didn’t you talk about Rachel like you did Emilio? Why keep her from me? I was the youngest of three brothers, Dad, and I always wanted a sister.”
“I know you did, Stefan. I am sorry. She lived in Miami with her mother at the time. You had school, she had school. You grew up fourteen hundred miles apart. I thought it would be easier on you both. I only saw her for birthdays and other special occasions. She did grow up without her father, you know.”
I almost felt insulted. Like I had missed out on something, perhaps a friendship, or a bond I could have had. I realized, though, he was right. It would have complicated things.
“When did I meet her?” I asked.
“Remember that vacation we took when you were eight?”
“To Miami, then Disneyworld…” I mumbled. “Yes,” he replied. “We flew to Miami first to visit her and her mother. We spent a few days there, but you and Rachel liked playing in the city park the most.”
“I remember,” I said. I accepted knowing someone I had no idea about. It didn’t feel right, but it was the truth.
“She called me here, the other day,” he said.
“What did she have to say?”
“Exactly what I told you. She wanted me to find the other pieces of the puzzle, of the lie. She is with Owen. Her line was secure, but she couldn’t tell me anything else, just in case anybody was listening to my office lines.”
My dad glanced down at his watch and paced around the perimeter of his office. He seemed to be searching the streets below.
“You can’t stay here,” he announced. “You have to leave, soon.”
“Seriously?!”
“Son, you were the one who told me the FBI threatened you. If you stay here, it will risk all of this.” He walked over and grabbed my box of information.
“I don’t even know when the next bus leaves back to Boston.”
“That doesn’t matter,” he said. I saw sweat beading on his forehead. “My driver will take you back to Boston. It will be safer, and a lot quicker.”
“Dad, you realize I’ve already fucked up by coming here, right? They could be barging into your office door any second. They are smart enough to know I would come here.”
“That’s exactly my point!” he gasped, rubbing his forehead.
“What are you going to do with my data? How will you keep everything safe? Do you know when you will talk to Rachel next?”
“No, I’ve secured a line for her when she calls, but I don’t know when that will be. I have people. Intelligent people. People who could put up walls high enough to keep them out…but for now, you must leave. Get up, Son.”
I stood up out of the office chair with my mouth agape. What a qui
ck visit.
“But Dad, I want to be with you when you’re figuring all of this out. I can’t even go within one mile of the campus. I am trapped up there. They didn’t say I couldn’t come visit you…”
He paused as if he was contemplating something.
“Do you still have the keys to the house?”
“Of course,” I answered.
“Okay, my driver will take you there.”
“Can’t I stay a little longer? So we can discuss the plan?” I knew how dumb my question sounded when it came out.
“They could be listening, you know that.”
“I know…” I mumbled.
He ushered me to his door and pulled my shoulder back before I could grab the door handle.
“Stefan, you’ve done your part. You are one of the pieces of the puzzle that Rachel spoke of. If they come to the house, play dumb. I will do the same if they come here. I doubt they will.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He laughed. “Think about it. If they shut down the biggest newspaper in the country, people would know something is wrong. They most likely don’t want to draw any attention to what they are doing before the election. They would want everything to remain transparent. If they take me, I will shut everything down, and I will make sure they are aware of that.”
“Damn, good fucking point,” I admitted.
“Watch that sailor’s mouth of yours,” he said with a chuckle.
“Like father like son,” I said, smugly.
“I have to say, excellent job, Stefan. I am proud of you. With your evidence, this thing may actually have a shot at being a real story. Now we just have to wait.”
“For what?”
“For Rachel’s phone call.”
This was it. Today was the day. We pulled up to the departures drop-off and the car stopped. My stomach dropped as it did so.
“Well, Owen. It’s been a pleasure having you…and hiding you. Yeah, that’s a little more accurate,” Vinny chuckled. I snorted at his humor but appreciated the sentiment.
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