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Thankfully, he listens and leaves me be. He resorts to pointing and small sign language between us. I can only nod or shake my head. He points to a small shop off to the side and I watch him walk through while I wait for us to be called. I feel bad for losing my shit with him. He walks back with a small coffee for both of us.
“Espresso and light cream?” A peace offering.
I grab the coffee from his hand and lift it toward him as a thank-you. They announce our row of seats is boarding and we walk side by side through the crowd of people and down the hallway leading to the plane.
We squeeze through the aircraft and people to find our seats. I made sure we were sitting separately, knowing how pissed Kevin would be, but I never expected my own anger. We need some space.
I take my seat by the window and Kevin sits across the aisle from me in his own window seat. The plane fills with all the different people and they finally announce our departure. I take a deep breath and close my eyes as the plane propels into the sky. We have a long flight ahead of us and I try to focus on my breathing. Flying isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I am doing my best. This one flight to a new life.
An overhead notification dings, letting us know that we can unbuckle our seat belts to move about. I unbuckle and feel some tension leave my body. The flight attendant stands in front of me and holds out a box. I look at the box and then at her.
“It was requested that I give it to you.” Her red lips smile at me as if she knows a secret.
“Who is it from?” I ask.
She shrugs her shoulders. “I am not sure of his name. It was an anonymous request.”
She is still holding the box out toward me and I slowly reach for it. This can be anything, and with someone acting like God out there, I can’t be too careful. As soon as I grip the box, she walks away to help another passenger.
I set the box on my unfolded table and take a few moments to open it. Ever so slowly, the top comes off.
A single chocolate chip croissant sits perfectly in the box.
I look over to Kevin, who has his face pressed against the window, looking at the passing ocean under us. I sit up and look around the cabin of the aircraft and I can’t see him. Only two people know about my love for chocolate chip croissants… or three…
I sit exposed among strangers.
CHAPTER 28
MARIONETTE
Donald Young, The Hacker
It was the explosion heard all around the city. Fucking Adam. I have the radios tuned into both the police and fire channels. The police channel was harder to crack because it was encrypted. Yet for a guy like me, it was child's play.
The information the radio pours out is pure chaos, setting up the triage areas, looking for survivors, looking for bodies.
“DuPont’s wife is on scene. She advised her husband was in the building,” is announced over the radio. That perks my ears up. Interesting.
The series of events that led up to tonight have Adam written all over them. I get a text message from the man himself.
Change of plans, but the cow is out to pasture, ready for retirement.
Adam has made it out of the building, but the change of plans worries me. I turn the radios up, hoping to hear anything useful. I click on my computer to bring up chatter on the dark web. Looking at DuPont’s stocks and hearing the conspiracy theories. Most people are saying he faked his death to get out of the financial downfall. Being reported to the SEC, his wife accused of murder, the DuPonts’ reputation is being pushed to the bottom of the trash bin. It’s unfortunate but expected for a man like that.
After a couple of hours of listening to the radio, the next announcement gives me chills. It’s Adam’s cabin.
“Fully evolved fire. Unknown if everyone is outside the structure. The call came from a third party who saw the smoke rising from the woods.”
Fucking hell, Adam. What did you do?
I dig deep into my drawer of electronics and pull out another radio. Adding batteries, it beeps to life, and I change the channel to cover Adam’s cabin. All the firefighters are talking over each other, causing static. I swear every firefighter gets a boner when they hear the word fire.
I think back to the conversation when I first connected with Adam. “No matter what, I do not exist.”
We met on the dark web, and he was like a lost puppy with everything. His skills in technology were just enough to get by, but he needed serious help with staying hidden. I became the puppeteer, and he was my marionette. That is the way it started, at least, but it quickly turned into me keeping up with him. It was like a live-action game of Battleship. He would drop a location and I would help sink the ship.
I type away on my computer with the radio chatter in the background. I first set up my location making sure it is being routed around to different locations throughout the world. If they dive deep into where this article comes from, it will be years of searching and paperwork before they find this apartment. I tap into the local news website to create my article to publish. Even if they find a body, there will be so much speculation that it will hinder the investigation.
