Independence & Consequences by M J Marlow (best color ebook reader .TXT) 📕

you were going to an execution instead of a reunion.” Close, Rafael thought as he took the tray of vegetables down the passageway and into the lounge. As he set it down on the coffee table, he saw his father rise to his feet. They stood staring at each other for several moments and then Enrique nodded, gathered his papers, and left the yacht. Rafael sank down into a chair with a sigh of relief. He had not been ready to face his father, not with the look he had just received. He turned to see his uncle looking at him and he shrugged. “What can I do, Tio?” Rafael asked as he took another carrot stick off the tray. “He still has not forgiven me for choosing a life of my own.” “He is a stubborn fool,” Ricardo nodded, “but he is my brother. It hurts us all that the two of you can not set aside such differences.” He saw Rafael’s expression and knew he was not here to discuss his poor relationship with his father. “Something is bothering you, Rafael.” “I may be mistaken, Tio,” he said to his uncle slowly. He looked into Ricardo’s eyes and knew he had to do this, even if it meant he never spoke to his father again. “I was at the Ritz Carlton this afternoon when a child walked in with a woman. I followed her to the park and had my thoughts confirmed.” Ricardo was still looking confused, so Rafael just blurted it out. “I believe it was your daughter, Tio.” “Are you certain?” Ricardo hissed. He shook his head. “It can not be. I searched for her. Her uncle Gordon searched for her. She and her cousin had vanished.” “Well, someone who looks like your lost Cassandra has made an reappearance, sir,” Rafael said to him. “She was going to the opera that night, so I bought a ticket.” Ricardo looked at him strangely and he shrugged. “My abhorrence for the art form was superceded by my need to know.” He remembered it all quite clearly. “She was there with your friend, Gordon Talbot.” “He knew of her and did not tell me?” Ricardo was on his feet and at the phone. “Director Talbot.” He frowned as he was told where Gordon was. “In DC? No,” he said tightly, “there is no message. I will deliver it personally.” He slammed down the phone and turned to Rafael. “He is in DC for a meeting. I will go to him. He will tell me why he kept such news from me in person.” He sank down into a chair and looked at Rafael. “I can not expect you to do this for me, nephew, but…” “I will keep an eye on her for you, Tio,” Rafael broke in. “As I can between shifts at the hospital.” “Ah, si!” Ricardo smiled then, remembering why he was so proud of the young man. “To my nephew,” he toasted with his half empty whiskey glass, “the noble healer!” He raised his head as he caught sight of an annoyed woman in the passageway. “Elisabeta has prepared a special dinner for this occasion. We should not keep her waiting.” * Lang Tolliver watched from his hiding place as Isabel drove off in her uncle’s car. He remembered the girl’s mother, Cassandra. For a brief moment, when he was a very young child, she had almost become his new mother. Seeing her daughter had brought back those bittersweet memories. Lang left the car at the Federal Building and got into his own car. He had been in town a month now, and finally felt up to the reunion with his family. As he headed out of town, he found himself thinking about the pretty girl he had surprised in Talbot’s office. She looked almost exactly like her mother, but there was an innocence about her, as if she had been raised in a bubble. He heard a horn blare and looked up in time to see his car suddenly cut off by a van. He swerved to avoid it and hit the ditch. He hit the wheel hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. Before he could recover, he was dragged out of his car and into the van. “Don’t damage him,” a man’s voice hissed from behind the wheel as Lang was blindfolded. “Our employer wants that pleasure for himself.” “Your employer is in for a world of hurt abducting a federal agent,” Lang hissed as his wrists were tied behind his back. “Let me go now before this goes any further.” There was only laughter in response to his demand. Lang hadn’t really expected his abductors to listen to him. He sank back against the seat they dragged him into and bided his time. There was a reason for this move; he would learn what that was when he met their ‘employer,’ he was certain. Half an hour later, the van stopped and he was dragged out of it. They herded him down a flight of stairs and shoved him into a room. He hit a hard concrete floor and only had a moment to realize that before he was dragged to his feet and shoved into a chair. He was bound to it; the ropes they used tight against his arms and legs. “Your guest is here, sir,” the man from the van said coldly as the door opened. “He was not as eager to come as we had hoped.” “I am certain he will be more interested when he learns why he has been invited here,” a voice Lang was quite familiar with spoke. Enrique Alvarez, the man he had been investigating the past three years. “You will leave us alone a moment.” The door opened and closed and Lang knew he was alone with the man. “Agent Tolliver,” the man said coldly, “we meet at last.” “I don’t know why you’ve abducted me, Alvarez,” Lang shot back, trying to loosen the knots at his wrists, “but I won’t tell you anything.” “You will break, young man,” Enrique said softly, his voice a veiled threat. “By the time I am through with you, I will know everything you have told your superior.” He saw the stubborn look on the young man’s face. “I could always speak of this with your superior’s niece,” he said coldly. “I know she has seen the file you left on Talbot’s desk. The pretty child will not be able to withstand what I mean to subject you to.” “You’d never hurt a child!” Lang shot back. “It’s an empty threat.” “The girl is alone,” Enrique smiled nastily. “Only a dog to defend her. It would be ridiculously easy for my men to get to her.” He saw Lang beginning to understand his meaning. “I do not have to hurt her. Making her uncle believe she will be hurt will be more than enough.” He leaned closer to Lang. “So, Agent Tolliver,” he said as he grabbed Lang’s chin and squeezed until she saw pain in the man’s eyes, “it is up to you. You talk or pretty Isabel disappears.” “Go to hell!” Lang shot back. “I won’t tell you anything!” “You heard him, Sebastian,” Enrique sighed with regret and looked at the man standing behind Lang. “You will move on the girl. You know what to do with her.” “Why are you doing this?” Lang demanded as he heard someone moving off. “Because it suits my purpose,” Enrique told his prisoner. He laughed at the young man’s anger. “Take our young friend to his quarters and see he sleeps well tonight. We will begin the questioning in the morning.” Lang was freed from the chair and, as the ropes fell off his wrists, he was at the men who came for him and nearly out the door. He came face to face with his double. He was distracted long enough by the shock of the sight for the man to ram his fist into Lang’s abdomen, driving the agent to his knees. He laughed as the guards caught up with them and Lang was dragged away. Jake was looking forward to playing with the Tolliver family. He owed the older Tolliver son for what he had done to him in the service. “You know what you are to do, Jake?” Enrique asked the false Lang. “I would do more,” Jake nodded. “I am grateful to you for giving me this opportunity to bring down my old friend.” “It is a pleasure, mi amigo,” Enrique smiled coldly. “The Tollivers are a thorn in my side it is past time I had removed.” He watched the man leave and turned towards the door into the next room. “Well, hija? Your thoughts.” “Are you really that certain your double will fool his family and friends, Papa,” an 18 year old girl with his eyes and long black hair asked as she came in from the next room. “This young agent is quite unique.” “He impresses you, child?” “He has been undercover in the organization for three years, Papa. It was a fluke that he was ever found out,” Alejandra replied, her eyes continuing to follow the agent as he was half led, half dragged out of the room. “I have yet to meet a man among your lieutenants who can match him.” “Not even Guerrero, hija?” He laughed at her flinch. “You think I do not know you are playing with him, Ana? He is a very dangerous man. He will do what he thinks he must to gain what he wants…” “He wants your place, Papa,” Alejandra told him bluntly. She saw his shocked look and smiled. “I am not the innocent child. I have learned how to read a man from watching you.” She laid her hand on her father’s chest and looked up at him with the most innocent expression. “He has a weakness for a pretty face; especially when it is attached to power and position. And,” she giggled as she went up on tiptoe to kiss her father’s cheek, “you have led him to believe that he will gain it all through the pretty Isabel.” “A very interesting ploy, hija,” Enrique nodded. “Especially as we have no idea whether she is your cousin or not.” He shrugged. “It hardly matters. If he fails us, he will fall.” “And he would not dare cry ‘foul,’ Papa.” Alejandra smiled as she stepped away and the little girl routine was dropped. “He knows what will happen if he says anything to tie this back to us.” “Do not count on that, mi angel,” Enrique frowned at her. “We may have to destroy him.” “He will not be missed,” Alejandra answered. The fate of one man was nothing to her. “You have other, even more capable, men in your employ.” “Such sentiments are disturbing in one so young.” He was amazed at how quickly his daughter had grown up. She was becoming the son he had always wanted. Unlike her brother, Alejandra seemed to understand that one had to be cruel and hard to get ahead. When she was ready, she would be a force to be reckoned with. “Do you not have an outing scheduled with your Tio?” “How much longer must I play the pampered princess for him, Papa?” Alejandra frowned. It bored her to be around her straight-laced uncle. All he ever wanted to talk about was what he would give her; mere trinkets. Today it was a visit to the jewelry store to choose a gift for her 18th birthday. “He is boring.” “Not much longer, hija,” Enrique replied. “He believes his daughter is found. He will soon be spending time hunting her.” He cupped Alejandra’s chin in his hand and smiled down at her. “I am quite proud of the job you have been doing with your uncle.” The front door bell rang and Alejandra put on her best impression