“He does fit a profile, but so do you. So do a lot of men in the country. They’re not all suspects. He is because we have credible evidence. We just need an airtight case. We’ll only get one shot at him. He’s slippery as fuck.”
“I can’t help you. Like I said, we didn’t grow up together. We haven’t had any reason to be in each other’s lives. We’re practically strangers.”
He purses his lips and looks up at the ceiling like he’s thinking. “Hmmmm. And your father? When will you see him next?”
I sit up straight, sensing danger I hadn’t before. “What has my father got to do with Oz’s potential criminality?”
“That’s what we’d like to know. Given his support of that last regime, we can’t ignore his penchant for cozying up to bad actors. Even if he himself isn’t bad, it’s a question of judgement.”
“My father has excellent judgment.”
“I hope so, because if even half of what we suspect Annan is involved in turns out to be true, then your father is doing business with a dangerous, ruthless man who will do anything for money and who has no loyalty to any country or person.”
I mean, I knew he was an asshole with no integrity. But my head spins to hear Oz described that way. “Is my father in danger?” I ask.
“No.” He shakes his head. “But your job prospects could be.”
Resignation and resentment form a weight in my stomach. “Unless what?”
“All you’d have to do is put this little device I’ll give you within ten feet of his phone for at least ninety seconds, and we’ll do the rest.”
Time seems to slow, my pulse thrum in my ears. I shake my head, incredulous. “You want me to collect intel on myownfather?”
His expression grows cold and he slaps a hand on the desk. “If he’s collaborating with an enemy of this country, Iexpectyou to.”
“He’s not. If he was, I’d be the first person to turn him in. Your intel is bad. He’s not doing business with him.”
He looks at me with eyes narrowed, shakes his head like I’ve got to be an idiot. “They’re in it together, and you know it.”
I balk at his characterization. “Saying that won’t make it true. You’re wrong.”
“If I am, what have you to got to lose by helping me confirm it?”
Everything. My only living parent, practically the only family I’ve got.
“They were together in London last summer. A transport on its way to Dover was robbed and a cache of ivory that had just been confiscated was stolen two days after Annan arrived and less than forty-eight hours before he hopped back on a plane to DC. A plane, I might add, that belongs to your father.” He leans back in his chair and folds his hands behind his head.
He’s making leaps in logic based on intel that’s not complete but he’s not going to take my word for it.
“Kwame, help us with the investigation. Prove your loyalty and trustworthiness and patriotism. And once Oz is out of the picture, your dad won’t be important enough to merit a mention in the report I’ll submit to the hiring committee. And if you don’t help us, we’ll find anotherway to get what we need.”
Dread courses through me at the unmistakable threat in his voice.
He gets to his feet. “You have until the end of April.”
“So, if I don’t rat my father out, I don’t get the job?”
“If you won’t cooperate with the government, then you become an enemy of it. And we will treat you like one.”
An icy pool of dread and impotent rage forms in my gut as he leaves my office.
I wait until security downstairs confirms he’s left the building before I text the Governor.
“I think I’m in trouble.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Sin
