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Frosty silence. Then, “You out of the slammer, boy?” my father demands.
At sixty-eight, my four-star general father with over five decades of military experience in his back pocket has learned the art of projecting his disapproval and disappointment in his steely silences.
I feel my skin curling with anger, which cascades into familiar shame that his blood runs through my veins.
It’s the reason I took my mother’s surname when I joined up. Not to mention that we were estranged even long before then.
There was a time when I’d advanced quickly up the army’s ranks that he’d come within a whisker of being a proper father, just so he could collect the accolades, but even that had been crushed beneath the hard boot of his naked ambition and sheer assholeness.
“Are you going to tell me what you want or are you under the illusion that I have time to waste playing guessing games with you?”
My fingers stiffen around the phone and I consider hanging the hell up.
Then my eyes drop to Kitty.
My hope.
My future.
My life.
Her wide, pleading eyes implore me to pull a miracle to save her from the threatening mob.
She’s the reason I must look past my anger. The reason I need to swallow my pride and beg.
“I need your help,” I say through gritted teeth.
General Riley doesn’t answer immediately. He makes me stew for a long stretch. “Does it have anything to do with the shit show on the news about a riot at your prison?”
He knows. Of course he knows.
Did he even try to find out if I was okay? I dismiss the thought. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters right now is Kitty.
“Yes. I have a situation here that needs urgent attention.”
“You thinking of breaking out, boy? Because you’re deluded if you think I’ll help you?—”
“The favor isn’t for me,” I break in crisply, hardening my voice. If there’s one thing he respects and approves of, it’s a show of strength. “It’s for my…it’s for the warden’s daughter. Security is compromised and she needs an evac asap.”
Another stretch of silence fries my nerves, the relentless hammering on the door bowing the steel enough that I can see flashes of orange-clad men through the gaps.
One of them peers into the room and leers at my girl. I make a note of his face. He’ll be getting a visit from me in the next few days.
If we live through this.
I tuck her behind me, baring my teeth at the bald-headed motherfucker with the full-body tattoo.
“A phone call is all it’ll take to get a covert team together. I’m not speaking on a secure line so I’m sure you don’t want me to name the teams the army has in the area?” I lay down the mild threat and I feel his furious disapproval.
“Asking me to get involved is dragging me into your mess. You don’t think you’ve done enough damage to the family name?” he snarls.
“Lucky for you, very few people know I’m your son, Dad.” I can’t help my bitterness. “But maybe you’ll respect me more and do what I want if I threaten to spread the word that I’m General Riley’s son? Is that what you really want?”
A harsh exhale alarms me that I may have gone too far. But his grunt a moment later eases my tension a touch. “Half an hour,” he snaps. “Think you can keep this girl you’ve dragged into your crap from getting hurt before then?”
Half an hour feels like forever but I clench my gut. “Yes, I can.”
“And son?”
