Contracts, Matt Rogers [phonics reading books TXT] 📗

what you think of Parker.’

‘He is good man.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘I spend time with him here. Three days. Whole time, he no seem bad. He care about daughter. He want her to be safe.’

‘Has he done anything that’s made you suspicious?’

‘No. No suspicious. He is telling truth with what he says.’

Slater nodded, somewhat relieved. ‘Thank you, Sejun. I trust you.’

‘I’m glad. I don’t like to be suspected. I not bad person. I try to do right thing.’

‘You have,’ Slater said, and offered a hand. ‘Thank you for staying here with him. It sounds like he needed the support.’

‘Of course.’

Slater slid out of his chair. ‘I’ll be right back. Need to check in with my friend.’

‘Good luck.’

He patted Sejun reassuringly on the shoulder on the way past.

He found them in a back room. Parker had his head on the table, seemingly wracked with emotion, and King was sitting across from him, bolt upright, watching and calculating.

When Slater appeared in the doorway, King looked up.

Parker didn’t.

King said, ‘Glad you showed up. I need you here.’

Slater said, ‘Why?’

‘Because he’s overacting.’

Parker’s head bolted off the table, shocked.

23

Before Parker could utter a word, King said, ‘Shut up.’

He added a certain aggressiveness to it.

Parker obliged.

King ushered Slater over, who took the seat beside him. Together they stared daggers at the greying, slightly-overweight man across from them. Parker didn’t know where to look. He stayed quiet, tears in his eyes, alternating between gazing into space and glancing briefly at each of them. But he couldn’t hold eye contact. Their gazes were withering. He paled in the face of it. It was fairly obvious he’d never been more uncomfortable.

Parker finally said, ‘What are you talking about?’

King said, ‘You’re overacting.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What do you think I mean?’

He shrugged and held both hands out, apparently flabbergasted. ‘I don’t know—’

Slater leant forward and said, ‘He means you’re trying to sell it too hard. He means that you’d better start explaining exactly what you’re doing, and why, or it’s going to look very suspicious very quickly. So do you have a reason why you’re pretending to be sadder than you are?’

‘What makes you assume that—?’

King said, ‘Because I’ve seen it before. And I know. You might be distraught but you’re overdoing it. It had better be because we’re here and you feel the need to perform. There’d better not be anything more sinister behind it.’

Parker didn’t immediately respond. He sat there, rubbing his hands together. There were still tears in his eyes, but he wasn’t burying his head in his hands anymore.

The knot in King’s stomach untwisted. He’d instantly assumed the worst, but these were trying times. There were any number of reasons for Parker to sell an image that wasn’t accurate. Sure, one of them could be covering up the fact that he was involved, but it was seeming less and less likely as time went on.

He hadn’t run out of the room.

He just sat there, looking awkward.

Slater said, ‘Speak.’

Parker said, ‘I’m confused, okay? I’ve spent years operating in the same world as you both. Maybe not on the frontline, but it still requires a serious grip on your emotions. You need to be calm, level-headed, even in the face of the worst case scenario. But I didn’t know if the pair of you would understand. I thought you might show up here and see me calm and quiet and rational and suspect that I had something to do with it. So I panicked, and figured I’d break down in tears a few times to sell the truth. I didn’t realise you’d figure me out. I swear that’s all there is to it.’

Slater stared.

King stared.

Parker stared back.

No longer awkward.

No longer a blubbering wreck.

King said, ‘I believe you.’

‘I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t,’ Parker said.

Slater said, ‘I do, too. You pass the test.’

Despite himself, Parker showed relief.

Slater turned to King and said, ‘Any updates I missed?’

‘One.’

‘Important?’

‘Very.’

Slater raised his eyebrows. ‘How important?’

King pointed at Parker. ‘He’s planning a presidential campaign.’

Slater furrowed a brow. ‘But no one knows who he is.’

‘He has connections in high places. And if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a long process. Maybe five years, even.’

‘I’m right here, guys,’ Parker said.

‘We know,’ Slater said.

Parker said, ‘Yes, it’s a long process. And I already told your friend here that no-one knows about it besides you two and a handful of people I trust with my life.’

‘Was Oscar Perry in that handful?’ Slater said.

‘No.’

‘You sure?’

‘You think I’d cover that up?’

‘I think you might. If it makes you look like an idiot.’

‘You think I’d rather let my daughter die than look like an idiot?’

Slater shrugged. ‘Nothing would surprise me anymore.’

‘I’m not the monster you think I am.’

‘We don’t think you’re a monster,’ King said, almost rolling his eyes. ‘We’re just taking precautions. Instantly clearing people of suspicion has got us in plenty of trouble in the past.’

Parker looked first at King, then at Slater. ‘You know … I’ve heard about you two.’

‘Let me guess,’ Slater said. ‘You coordinated some of our past operations behind the scenes?’

‘Yes.’

‘What does that look like, if you don’t mind me asking?’

Parker stared at him. ‘You know I can’t tell you that.’

‘Be a good sport.’

‘I’m always a good sport. Unless it involves NDAs handed down to me from the highest levels. Then I keep my mouth shut.’

‘You really can’t tell us a thing?’

‘It’s best that way. Separates the bureaucracy from the active operators. But I’m sure you’ve heard that speech before.’

King and Slater both nodded.

The trio sat there, more comfortable in the silence. They’d broken the ice. They seemed to understand each other a little better.

King was satisfied.

He didn’t know about Slater.

Parker said, ‘So — what exactly is the plan?’

‘We’re waiting on intel,’ King said. ‘When it comes, we’ll—’

The satellite phone barked in his pocket.

Slater said, ‘And there it is.’

24

King stepped outside and shut the door behind him and put the phone to his ear and said, ‘Yes?’

Violetta said, ‘We’ve got something.’

‘Enough to let us get started?’

‘More than that. We spoke directly to a couple