“I don’t think she’ll be much of a babysitter for a while,” I said, “so monitor Billy, I think it’s time to visit his mum and her father. Are they alone?”
“Yes, he’s still on the phone.”
I bounced into Alberton’s office. It was neat, no papers lying around, two chairs in front of a custom desk, pictures of Alberton with various important people on the walls. A plastic plant in the corner by the window, which looked out to a green area and a parking lot.
He put the phone down, he knew immediately where his daughter was, or at least, he knew what had happened. Pippa jumped out of her chair and was about to run to me, but she hesitated. She stood still, I could see she’d been crying.
Alberton spoke first. “Is she alright?”
I nodded. “Disorientated, she fainted initially, but she’s awake now, she tried to run but realized it was pointless.”
“Where?” he asked.
“Alaska.”
Both Alberton and Pippa gulped.
“Billy’s fine, he’s watching TV,” I said.
Pippa sniveled and pulled out a tissue to blow her nose.
“Swop,” I said. Alberton knew.
He examined me carefully, up and down. When I’d entered the room, he was fraught, a distressed father. I understood perfectly how he felt. Now he was gathering himself, breathing evenly, almost thankful. The unknown had become known.
“They don’t know, do they?”
I shook my head. “Are they oaky?”
“Scared, bewildered, but we haven’t harmed them.”
I nodded, a sign of gratefulness.
“You’ve changed their lives. They can’t go back; they are my children and must accept that. What you did was wrong, very wrong. I came to you, I told you who I was, I showed you what I can do and I used the technology to help you and you stabbed me in the back. How am I supposed to proceed now?”
He didn’t say anything. He just stared at me, fear still shone in his eyes. Pippa was the same. But she knew I wouldn’t hurt Billy, she’d seen me with him, we’d been together, we’d slept in the same bed. She radiated sadness, regret, mistakes, it was as if she wanted to fling her arms around my neck and kiss me again, but she realized that would never happen.
Alberton hadn’t agreed yet and I wrestled with an alternative from his view and I didn’t like anything I came up with.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked.
He didn’t reply immediately he pushed his chair back from his desk, stood up and turned to look out of the window. His back was to me.
“This is my last day,” he said, the tone was mournful. “I was wrong.” He didn’t look around. “The Europeans are besieging us; with your intelligence, they’ve rounded up more than a hundred people. They have so much evidence they don’t know which way to turn. They are calling you a God. They are desperate to meet you.” He turned back, his voice became quieter. “They are frightened, also. I think when they hear what you’ve told us, they will be even more so. It will take a long time to accept you, maybe we never will, I don’t know. I’m sorry. For your children, I understand why you would want to keep this a secret from them. We can try, I’ll request a directive that hides their identity, I’ll say that the raid on your home in San Francisco was unrelated. It might work, I don’t know.”
“What did you tell them?” I asked.
He stood by the desk, his fingertips on his right-hand resting on the surface, his left hand lifted to his forehead and he pinched the side of his temple and frowned. “That you were a fugitive and we were using them to find you.”
“Maggie’s a police office.”
“She knew we were outside the law. She said what we claimed was ridiculous. We used a lie detector test, they don’t know anything. I’m sorry.” He bowed his head. “How do we do this?”
“Did you tell them I was, Jo-el, or the Birdman?”
He shook his head, “No.”
“Take them home,” I said.
He nodded.
“What about our children?” It was Pippa.
I wanted to tell them that when my children were home I’d release Becky and Billy, but why wait? If they lied to me I’d just grab them again, they knew that.
“I can bring Billy here, now, if you’d like.” Pippa’s face brightened, her eyes lifted, she was a mother again. “What should I do with Becky?” I looked at Alberton.
“Take me to her,” he said without hesitation. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Okay.”
I bounced to the cabin and picked up Billy, he was still the contented little boy I’d left in front of the TV. Pippa had a great kid. I wondered what she would do next. I was back in Alberton’s office in less than a minute. Pippa cried and held her son close in her arms. I apologized again to her but she didn’t listen. As far as Billy was concerned I don’t think he would suffer any trauma from the events of the morning.
Alberton came over to me and I held him under the arm and bounced back to the cabin. Becky was sitting on the sofa, where she’d fainted. There was a glazed look across her face, this episode in her life would take time to dissipate, I hoped she would be okay. Alberton hugged his daughter, there was an obvious bond between them, it was truly encouraging to see.
“I’m sorry, Becky,” I said. She stared at me like I was a ghost or a daemon in a horror movie. She didn’t understand what had happened, I wondered how Alberton would explain it. I think in time she would look back and see it as an adventure, or that’s what I hoped.
He told her to close her eyes and he held her very close, her head in his shoulder. I bounced them to his office. I asked Sally where Maggie and Sean were.
“Above ground, in a car, heading for the airport.”
I left the two of them and went back to the hotel room in San Francisco. The maid at the cabin would be surprised, she’d left the TV on and the heating turned up and there were groceries in the kitchen.
“Let’s get some coffee,” I said to the wall. Sally appeared, grinning widely; she took my arm.
Chapter 42
THE BAD GUYS
“I feel like I’ve finally taken a step in the right direction.” We were in the Hyatt coffee shop, I was Jason Lee, handsome Asian business man. Sally had accommodated my change of identity, she too was Asian, slim, with jet black hair, brown eyes, bright, red lipstick, but still the face structure of Sally. Truly beautiful. I studied her across the table and imagined the delight for so many men if their wives could do what she did. Or, was that wrong? Was I pandering to the sin of man when they noticed a beautiful woman, while their wife was on their arm. But it would work both ways, right? I could be whatever she desired. Would holographic technology end divorce? It was an interesting idea.
“I think you should have whacked the little shit.” Sally said.
“Alberton?” She nodded. I guess the personality hadn’t changed, hold the divorce laws.
“What next?” Sally asked.
“I think I need an update. I set a lot of wheels in motion yesterday.”
“Where do you want me to start?” she asked.
“Europe. Alberton said they want to meet me!”
“They do, the French, Germans, Italians, Spanish, Dutch, Belgium’s, have sent emails to the Americans requesting an introduction. Maureen Fields has sent you three messages, very apologetic, asking for a meeting with you and the Home Secretary. There’s been frantic communication between many of the European countries trying to find out if anyone knows more than and next.”
“What about the press, over there?”
“Crazy, you are the only news item, well not actually you, but the arrests in every country. Some are saying it’s a blessing from God, there’s a lot of rubbish being said.”