by J. E. Swift
Unfortunately for Garrett, Lionel may have been privy to this information, which could have caused Lionel’s ire towards Garrett in the first place. They would not know for certain until Garrett awoke. Upon the Council’s insistence, they still wanted the information about Garrett’s true identity kept quiet. They insisted that Garrett was not a threat to the Trust, and to make his identity known would only cause problems. Declan was not pleased with this and certainly did not agree, but he would accept the determination of the Council as he always had. The Council had put a gag order on Caitlyn, Caleb, and himself regarding this matter. However, while he agreed to keep his identity a secret, it would be irresponsible of him not to ferret out as much information on him as possible. Where Garrett was otherwise incapacitated, he needed to go to Caitlyn to see if Garrett had perhaps unknowingly provided her some information.
He walked into the Healer’s Center on the other side of the campus. He never liked this building, they kept it stark white and it seemed so cold and unfeeling; the exact opposite of what the Healer’s really were. He passed room after room before reaching the white desk at the end of the hall.
A young healer looked up from her paperwork, smiling at him. “Is there something I can help you with? Declan, isn’t it?”
He hated being so well known within the organization. It always seemed to make his job so much harder. Yet, Garrett, who is the son of Nathaniel, enjoyed the perks of anonymity. He by all accounts should be more famous than Declan, and yet, people just thought him Garrett Stevens, son of Mary, not Garrett Livingston. He turned his thoughts back to the young woman. “Yes, Declan McPherson. Is Garrett Stevens awake?”
The girl pursed her lips. “I’m sorry, I can’t disclose any person information about a person who may or may not be in here. Only immediate family may get updates on the status of a patient.”
Declan expected that response. Caitlyn must be going out of her mind at this point if she was not allowed to see Garrett. “I understand. Do you know if Caitlyn Young is around? She would have been here to see Mr. Stevens and I am sure she is very upset. They are… very close.”
The girl nodded, and pointed her hand down the hall on the right. He passed through a set of double doors and saw Caitlyn sitting on a bench. Her face was buried in her hands, and he could tell she had been crying. Declan sat down next to her, wrapping his left arm around her in comfort. “I heard they are not letting anyone see Garrett. Are you okay?” He thought to her.
She responded by burying her face now in his shoulder. Sobs racked her tiny frame and her arms clung to Declan in desperation. “They won’t even tell me if he is here, never mind if he is alright. They are stating… for security reasons. I would have been better off taking him to a regular hospital!”
“They would have just transported him back here. Trust me when I say that he is in much better hands here. These are the strongest healers in the entire Trust. I think that sometimes the policy they have in place is stupid, but in his case, he is better off. He has some people that are most likely after him. To be honest, Caitlyn, they probably have Garrett at an undisclosed location for his treatment. They do that for their high profile members, and as you and I both know now, he is very high profile.”
Caitlyn’s tears began to subside. Rubbing her eyes, she lifted her head to look at him. “I know. You know, I am not even sure what to make of all of this. I never thought Garrett would hide anything from me, and yet, this information…”
Declan pressed his lips together, gently caressing her hair to soothe her. “Caitlyn, I need to talk to you about all of that and what you know. In private. After my research on my own, I was just made privy to information by the Council and in order to do my job, I need to know as much information as possible about him. Would you be okay with this?”
“Yes.”
Declan thought for a moment on where to take her to talk. He would have suggested the forest clearing, but after yesterday, that would be too emotional for both him and her. The last thing he needed was for her to feel guilt ridden on top of all the uncertainty that she was already saddled with. It would be best if they went somewhere neutral. He thought that one of his apartments he had been setting up over the years would be a good location. He knew that several of them would be compromised; but there were a couple that he knew the Trust and Lionel were not aware of. At this point, he needed some place that was completely safe for the two of them. If Lionel was still alive, he doubted Lionel had time to recover and regroup, but it was better to be safe than sorry. “I want to take some precautions and go to a secure location. I have an apartment in London that should be safe to go to.”
She scrunched her head in thought. “Okay. Should we go separately or together?”
“Together. Otherwise, you would have no idea if you reached the right location.”
She agreed. “Hold on to me and then begin thinking of the destination in as much detail as possible. I will mimic those thoughts and hopefully we will end up there. You and I have always gone to places I’ve known before.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“I think so. Let’s try it. Worst case scenario, we end up in the middle of the Atlantic ocean or something like that.”
Declan laughed lightly. Declan grabbed her hand, focusing in on his London flat, sending her the thoughts of the location such as the street address, the description of the apartment, where it was in relation to major tourist attractions. Her face was twisted up in concentration. A moment later, they were in a tiny London apartment that he used sparingly when on international assignment.
“Is this your apartment?” Caitlyn asked, taking in her surroundings. When Declan affirmed that it was, Caitlyn wore a subdued look of accomplishment. “I did it!”
He couldn’t help but smile broadly at the achievement. Lionel had been right about one thing, she really was impressive. Declan admired her as she walked around the flat. He liked watching Caitlyn in his apartment. He envisioned her living here with him, laughing, cooking, and making love in the bed in the other room. It took every ounce of his willpower not to walk over to her now and kiss her. She commented that she liked the place, and it felt cozy. It pleased him that she thought that. The place was decorated sparingly, but still held a few comforts from home, as it was his favorite. He was last here two months ago, just for a day to talk to some of the European faction of the Trust. Europe was not faring as well with the fight against the Cine Tofa. Their numbers were increasing and the Trust was losing valuable members to their recruitment. Declan knew that something would need to be done quickly about that. Unfortunately, he now had bigger issues to focus on.
He reached out to her, touching her arm lightly. “Caitlyn…”
He felt her relax at the touch. “Yes, Declan?”
“Before we begin, why don’t we start some tea?” He wasn’t here enough to have much else, but he did have tea. What sort of proper London flat did not have tea?
“I would like that. I need something to soothe me at the moment.”
He wrestled through the kitchen cabinets, to the tin of chamomile tea. He prepared two cups, one for himself and one for her. She gratefully accepted it when he handed her the mug. She took a sip, her eyes rolling back a little with pleasure. “Thank you. This is what I needed.”
“Good.” He sat down next to her on his loveseat. He took a sip himself. Caitlyn was finally becoming relaxed; you could see the past twenty-four hours had taken its toll on her. Her eyes were blood shot from the tears and her usually straight hair was frizzled. She was still stunningly beautiful to him however. The last thing he wanted to do was have her recount her time with Garrett and Lionel, but he knew he must. “Caitlyn… I need to talk to you about Garrett.”
Her body began to tense but he continued. “I met with the Council late last night. After briefing them on what I knew, they wanted to bring you in for questioning to be on the safe side, even though they appeared to know more than either you or I did. I convinced my f
ather that it was not the best idea at this time. The full Council’s sessions are intense to state the least.”
She eyed Declan appreciatively. “Thank you. I don’t know that I could handle that today or the next few days.”
“But I still need to ask you questions. The Council… well, as you and I discussed yesterday morning, Garrett is not who everyone thinks he is.”
She sighed, and placed down the tea after taking a small sip. Weariness surrounded her body. “No, he is not.”
“Did Garrett ever talk at all of Nathaniel Livingston?”
Caitlyn clenched her fists lightly at the mention of Nathaniel. So he was not surprised when she answered softly, “No. I’ve only known as long as you have. A little over twenty-four hours ago? Until yesterday, I knew him as Garrett Stevens and there was definitely no mention of Nathaniel Livingston. In fact, he talked very rarely of any specifics regarding the Cine Tofa. When you came to me with that information, I was as shocked as you were.”
“He never mentioned anything?” He could not believe that. He knew that Garrett treasured Caitlyn more than life itself. That was a major secret he kept from her. Declan knew he needed to ask more, but she looked so hurt, he couldn’t bear it. Declan wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, Declan. How is anything at the moment okay?” She leaned into his touch. He could not ignore that electricity that moved between them at the contact. Declan’s heart began to race and hers did as well. He tipped up her chin to look at her. Before he did anything foolish, he pulled away abruptly. She needed comforting not more confusion. And he needed answers. That is what he was here for. Answers.
“I guess it wouldn’t be. What do you know about Garrett’s affiliation with the Cine Tofa?” He knew the Council trusted Garrett, but he had yet to be convinced. If his mentor could be a traitor, he found it difficult to place his trust in a man whose father was the head of the Cine Tofa.
Caitlyn sighed and said with confidence, “I know that he is not associated with them. Garrett has severe disdain with what the Cine Tofa represents, Declan. I’ve always known that with absolute certainty. And believe me, when I saw him with Lionel yesterday before he got hit, I saw the loathing in his eyes. Look-” Caitlyn’s hand touched his shoulder, “I know that Lionel betrayed you. I know it must have destroyed you the way it would have me if I found out you betrayed the Trust and lied to me. I understand your suspicion of Garrett, but trust me when I say it is unfounded. Am I hurt that he left such an important detail of his life out of our relationship? More than you could know. Despite that, I still trust him, and he is severely injured due to his loyalty of the Trust.”
Declan shook his head. He was going to break her. The little information the Council made him privy to was going to assure that. “How can you know that Caitlyn? What if Lionel just hates him?”
Caitlyn never broke eye contact. “Because I just know. I know him, Declan. Just the way that I know you. And I know you would never betray this organization.”
Declan sighed. “Caitlyn, you don’t. God, I don’t want to do this…”
Caitlyn stood up straighter. “What is it?”
“Garrett left his mother when he was sixteen to live and learn underneath his father for the Cine Tofa.”
Her face paled. “That… that’s not possible. It’s a lie. If that were true, he would not be here now.”
“Caitlyn, I promise, I will never, ever, lie to you. It is true. He came back at the age of nineteen, almost twenty. From what my father told me, Garrett decided that his father’s views were too extreme.” He did not want to continue, but he knew he must. “Do you know if Garrett was able to gather any intelligence about the Cine Tofa’s motives while he was on assignment? Did he ever mention anything?”
“Garrett did not disclose anything to me. But I knew that his assignments were top secret. I would never have put him in that position.”
Although it did not make Declan’s job easier, he respected that tremendously. He was surprised when Caitlyn asked her own question.
“How are you handling everything? This has not been an easy time for you either.” She placed her hand on his.
He closed his eyes for the moment. He was still reeling from the betrayal of Lionel. His own mentor. The man he put as much trust in as his father. And he betrayed him, lied to him. Lionel knew almost every secret about the Trust. He knew its strengths, its weaknesses. And Declan had played right into his hands. That is how the Cine Tofa was able to destroy so many of their spies. It’s easy enough when your own spy was practically the one deploying them.
He knew one thing. Lionel had sent a message by not killing Garrett; either that, or Nathaniel did not want him to kill him. Either way, Declan was hoping he could use this information to his advantage to exact revenge on Lionel.
When he had not answered her, she replied simply. “The time will come when you will get your vengeance. And when that time comes, if you need me, I will be there, with you.”
Her sincerity was overwhelming. He loved her more than he thought it was possible to love another person. But he could not tell her that. Not today. “Thank you.”
He asked a few more questions about Garrett, but it all came down to the fact that Garrett had kept some very important things from Caitlyn. She now had to be questioning her entire relationship with him. Declan did not want to say what he was about to, but he cared for her too much not to comfort her.
“I know that there are a lot of questions you have right now about your relationship. But there is one thing you should never question. Even though he may have kept certain things from you, I know he loves you. I saw it in his eyes whenever he looked at you. Nothing will ever change that. Just remember that.”
She stared at her tea cup. “I don’t know if it’s enough.”
He took a sip from his now cold tea, feeling guilty that he hoped desperately it was not.
Chapter 27
Lionel snuffed out the cigarette he was smoking with his left foot as he looked at the time on his watch again. Nine twenty-two. Nathaniel was making him wait yet again. He hated it when he did that. He stared at his boss’s office door impatiently, debating on what the ramifications would be if he just strolled in there alone and waited for him on the leather couch. After a few moments, he quickly decided not to press his luck. Nathaniel was already going to be unhappy with his report and Lionel did not need to piss him off any further than was necessary tonight.
He heard a pair of loud footsteps coming down the hall. Nathaniel came walking in with his assistant Kayla. It was silent, but he was obviously discussing serious matters telepathically with her. Nathaniel just nodded his head in greeting to Lionel as he brushed past him and walked straight into his office. He followed suit, sneaking in behind him before the door slammed shut.
Lionel took his normal seat in the ergonomic chair that was on the other side of a large mahogany desk and looked at his boss appraisingly. Nathaniel looked to be in a serious mood, but that was par for the course with him in private. It was rare when something made him truly happy. Yet, Lionel, playing the lapdog to Nathaniel for years, was very rarely on the receiving end of his anger. Lionel wanted to keep it that way, but he feared that tonight, that would not be the case.
He sat there for another twenty minutes while Nathaniel finished up business with his assistant. When their work was complete, she silently took a confidential folder in her hands and got up to leave. Kayla glowered at him as she exited the room as silently as they entered. They were never really on the best of terms. Kayla desperately sought the respect that Nathaniel gave Lionel and was continually frustrated when Nathaniel showed his preference time and again for him. Once the door was shut, Nathaniel leaned back in his chair, placing his sole attention on Lionel.
“What news do you have for me, Lionel?”
“I made contact with your son as you requested.”
Nathaniel looked eagerly at him. Nathaniel was a larger than life
persona. His good looks and charisma made him a leader that people in the Cine Tofa eagerly followed. It was almost cult like in his opinion. Nathaniel spoke, people listened. Nathaniel ordered, people obeyed. His boss loved running the show, loved people loving him.
His public persona was affable and kind. It was what drew people naturally to him. People wanted a person who took charge, and Nathaniel was more than happy to take on that role for them. Although he would never admit this to a soul, Lionel personally thought that he was smarter than his boss and more fit for the role, but he knew people found his persona quirky and often times intimidating. It did not help his case that Nathaniel was naturally a stronger Actual.
Nathaniel had it all. He got whatever it was he wanted. Money, Power, and women all were part of the package deal of being head of the Cine Tofa. It wasn’t unusual for his friend to be off with one of his many mistresses that he kept around to keep him distracted. People gave money to him willingly and if Nathaniel got his way, in only a few short years after the Inception, he would have all the power he could ever dream of. Nathaniel had it all. Well, had it all, almost.
His chief had plans for his heir to take over the family business. Garrett was his only child and was just as charming and motivating as his father. If his mother had not had a change of heart and moved over to the Trust, Garrett would be second in command right this moment, ready to take over the reins any second that was needed.
Instead, his mother had fled with Garrett in the middle of the night when Garrett was six years old. They moved to Colorado, which at that time was a safe zone to Trust members as deemed by an old treaty agreement. At that point, the Trust was stronger than the Cine Tofa and had larger numbers so the father could not go after the son. Nathaniel was furious at his heir being taken away and as the years neglected to produce another child, Nathaniel became more and more desperate for his only son to be back in his clutches. It was then that Lionel, who was already living a double life, was asked to further infiltrate the Trust and keep tabs on the prodigal son.