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And I wasn’t the only one he hurt.
“It was a relief to find out that this was all a show, that you were still yourself,” Brendan continues. “It was nice to be vindicated, to know I was right. Sometimes I wondered if I was fooling myself, pretending that what I was seeing wasn’t real. What if you weren’t putting on an act? What if I never really knew you as well as I thought?”
That must have been difficult. I would have given anything to tell him he was right, even if he had to keep it secret.
“But I refused to believe it. I blamed Ingram, actually. I knew he was involved in something bad, and so whatever was happening to you had to be his doing. I didn’t know the full extent of it, about Anton’s involvement. You can imagine my suspicion when Ingram came to see me and recruit me as his silent partner.”
“What made you decide to trust him?” I ask.
Brendan grunts a laugh.
“Well, he told me everything I’d need to put him in jail, should I go to the police. He certainly didn’t need to do that unless he needed my help. I never imagined working with him, but he seemed sincere enough about wanting to rescue you, and I doubted there would be a better chance for me to do something. I still had my reservations about Ingram’s methods, but it was clear he loved you, and that he would do anything for you. Most importantly, he had a plan.”
“It doesn’t bother you that you’ve assisted an organization that’s killed… well, a lot of people?” I ask. It would be nice if he had a good way to justify it — one of us should.
He shrugs, eating a few forkfuls of eggs.
“It’s a war, I guess,” he says. “We’re not hurting any innocent civilians. We’re fighting a dangerous criminal conspiracy. They have to be stopped for the good of the world, and we’re probably the only ones who can. Or we were, anyway. We have all the evidence we need to go to the authorities.”
“The Masters have influence in high places,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t trust them not to shove this under the rug. We have to stop the Masters ourselves.”
“Possibly,” says Brendan. “I’ll trust Ingram’s judgment. I’m with you, either way. If this is what we have to do, I’m in.”
When we finish eating, I show Brendan around the compound.
“So you’ve never been here before?” I ask as we watch mercenaries training in the gym.
“No, never. I didn’t even know this was where they were headquartered. I figured they had a place not too far from the city, but I never asked and Ingram never told me. We were fairly careful on the phone, just in case. And we didn’t see each other in person very often. I had to assume I was being watched by Anton.”
“It’s no way to live, is it?”
He sighs.
“I can’t even imagine how bad that must have been for you. That whole time, watching every single word, every reaction… You must have been so tempted to get on the air and tell them everything.”
I point to my implant removal scars.
“I would have died. You too. If it was just me, I might have done it, but I couldn’t live with the idea that Anton would hurt you or anyone else because of my actions.”
“I appreciate that.”
“How’s John, by the way?” I ask. “I haven’t heard anything about him.”
Brendan turns to me, shaking his head.
“He’s still at LPN, but he didn’t take things well. He’s mad that you shut him out of your life; he has no idea it wasn’t up to you. I couldn’t dare tell him. We talked a lot back when you left to do the TV show. He didn’t understand why you did that, and he was mad that you wouldn’t talk about it.”
“Oh.”
He has every right to be upset. As a close friend of my father’s, John’s known me since I was a kid. We used to talk every day. For me to just cut him out of my life without warning must have been a dagger in his chest.
“It’ll be okay,” says Brendan. “Once he learns the truth, he’ll forgive you.”
“I hope so.”
“Kate… he and I said things in anger… things I regret. John will too.”
“Don’t even worry about that,” I say, taking his hand. “It doesn’t matter. A lot of people have said things about me, I’m sure. It’s not important.”
