Page 30 of The Hijack

“As a secretary?” I gasped. Anger washed over me at the thought of the British government taking advantage of my sweet old nana. Of course she would help them with whatever they asked of her; she was just that kind of person.

“Theo,” Clark scolded.

“What?” I demanded.

“Just because I could type didn’t mean that was all I was capable of,” Nana pointed out.

“Of course.” I walked back my statement. “I just meant that they didn’t give you any sort of formal training.”

“They did, actually,” she corrected me. “For two years, I went to my secretarial job during the day and trained at night.”

“Where was Mom?” I asked, suddenly anxious about the prospect of my mother being left alone in her crib while my grandmother went off to perfect her spycraft.

“Your mother wasn’t born yet,” Nana assured me.

I crossed my arms over my chest, a pitiful yet reassuring stance. Nana noticed and continued her statement in the gentlest tone possible.

“You will never know how proud I was that you decided to follow in my footsteps,” she concluded.

“I didn’t know I was following in your footsteps,” I muttered.

“And it seems like you’ve done a wonderful job,” Nana said. “Except for the bit about killing other agents.”

“I didn’t kill any other agents!” I objected.

“I know, dear.” Nana reached across the table to pat my hand. “But the world thinks you did. And that gives them a license to kill.”

I exhaled, looking over at Clark. We were right back where we’d started. After a trip into the distant past, we’d circled around to the quandary that Clark and I were facing. No matter what skills Nana may have had, I didn’t want her involved. She might have been Clark’s equal back in her prime, but she was at least eighty years old. The thought of her trying to take on Regg’s assailants was painful. I was beginning to rethink the decision I’d made by following her onboard.

“Where did you get this yacht?” I asked.

“I bought it,” Nana said. “I’m not a thief.”

I shook my head, discouraged. “That wasn’t what I was asking.”

“I live on a beautiful island. Maybe you’ve heard of it,” Nana said. “Fiji.”

“That’s where you went?” I replied, shocked. “I looked for you. I looked all over for you.”

“When I don’t want to be found, you won’t be able to find me,” Nana said. “Of course, now that I’m getting a little bit...older...” She checked the room to see if either of us were going to comment on that. I held my tongue, and Clark did the same. “It’s not so easy anymore,” Nana finished, summing up her tale though there weren’t a thousand threads left unanswered.

“Forgive me for being so blunt,” I began. “But I don’t want to put you in any danger. You should drop Clark and me off somewhere. We can reconnect with her family and um...”—I wasn’t sure how to say what I wanted to say without incriminating myself or sounding crude—”fix things so that there won’t be a problem anymore.”

“You mean kill Reginald?” Nana said, surprising me once again.

“No,” I protested. “That’s not what I meant. Nana, tell me you haven’t killed anyone.”

“I haven’t killed anyone,” she responded so quickly that I wasn’t sure if I believed her.

“Anyway,” I continued, “I don’t just kill people. We need to figure out what Regg has been up to and expose his plan. That way, all the bad guys go to jail, and all the good guys can go free.”

“Sweetheart,” Nana said, talking down to me as if I was a child. “That’s not the world we live in.”

“Give him a break,” Clark suggested. “His jaw is still on the floor over you being a spy.”

“I can understand why that would be a difficult pill to swallow,” Nana agreed.

“Did Grandad know?” I asked, feeling adrift.