UNWANTED SON-IN-LAW

CHAPTER 5

The sun rose over the city like a hurt. Red and mean.

Nathan stood in the shower at the warehouse, watching blood slip down the drain. Three years of acting dead. Three years of holding anger in. Three years of being nothing.

That stopped today.

He put on clothes the team gave him. Black jacket. White shirt. No tie around his neck. He saw himself in the mirror and did not know the face. His face had marks from getting hit. His lip was fat and hurt. But his eyes had something new.

Want to do this.

Sarah came to the doorway. “Your dad wants you in the back room.”

“What is your name?” Nathan asked.

“Sarah Mitchell.” She looked at him. “I met your dad a long time ago. He was nice. He still is.”

“Why did you help me last night?”

“Because the Vale people killed my brother three years back. He worked at one of your dad’s plants. The one they broke. Twenty-three people died. My brother was one of them.”

Nathan felt tight in his chest. “I did not know.”

“No one knew. The Vale people kept it quiet. They paid families to not talk. But not mine. I wanted what is fair, not cash.” Sarah’s eyes got hard. “So when your dad asked me to help stop them, I said yes fast.”

“How many people here want to get back at them?”

“All of us. Each person in this place lost something to the Blackwell or Vale families. We are not just your dad’s team, Nathan. We are lost people wanting to hit back.”

They went to the back room. Six people sat at a table with maps and photos all over it. David stood at the top and pointed at a screen.

“Good morning. Today we start the first thing. Nathan, sit.”

Nathan took a seat. The others watched him with doubt. He was David’s son, but he had been hit for three years. They did not know what to think.

“At nine this morning,” David said, “the city office gets a box with no name on it. In it are fake papers for the Redwell city Heights thing. By ten, all the news will have them. By twelve, Edward Blackwell will talk to the feds.”

“What about cops?” Sarah asked. “They still hunt Nathan.”

“Let them hunt. When they know where he is, the news will be done with it. A wanted man does not matter when a rich guy gets in trouble.” David showed a video. “This is the Royale Hotel. Tonight at eight, Victoria sits with Harrison Vale and eats. Private room at the top.”

Nathan bent forward. “What guards are there?”

“Vale’s men. Four of them. Used to fight in wars. They check the room first. They check all doors. They check all staff.”

“So how do we get in?”

David smiled. “You do. You work there as a food giver.”

“They will see me.”

“Not if you look like another person.” David pointed at a man. “This is Robert Collins. He is good at making people look like other people. In two hours, you will be no one.”

Robert grinned. “In two hours, your own mom will not know you.”

“What do I do?” Nathan asked. “Just watch?”

“No. You hide a small camera and a small mic in the room. We hear and see what they say. Every word. Every plan. By dinner’s end, we have what we need to break them both.”

“What if I get caught?”

“Then you get out on your own. But Nathan, hear me.” David got serious. “Do not let anger run you. I know what Victoria did. I know what she took. But if you go in there wanting to hurt her, you die. Stay cold. Stay smart.”

Nathan put his head down, but inside, something cold came.

At eight in the morning, a box came to city hall.

By eight fifteen, a man opened it and got white.

By eight thirty, all the phones rang.

Nathan watched it on screens. News cars went to Blackwell’s. News people yelled questions. Edward’s man said none of it was true.

But it does not matter what you say when papers say you lied.

“The cost is down,” one man said. “Blackwell’s is down by twenty in one hour.”

“Good.” David looked at Nathan. “Robert is set.”

Two hours in a chair. Fake skin. Paint on face. Lenses that made brown eyes blue. Hair fake and light and neat.

When Robert was done, Nathan saw a new face. Not his face. Thin face. A face no one would recall.

“Good,” Robert said. “Even a machine that knows faces would not know you.”

Sarah gave him clothes to serve food. “The Royale gets people from a work place agency. We got into their computer and put you on the list for today. Your name is David Kim. You have been there six months. If they ask, say you moved from the other place.”

“What about the camera and mic?”

She showed two small things. One like a pen. One like a button. “The pen hears. Put it in the flowers. The button sees. Put it under the table. Both send with no wires. We sit in a van and hear all of it. Two hundred feet away.”

Nathan took them and put them in his clothes. “When do I go?”

“Six at night. Food people come two hours early. You look like the rest. Do not talk. Do not stand out. When Harrison and Victoria come, you put them in place and go.”

“And if they know it is me?”

Sarah gave him a small gun. “Then you run out and we grab you. But it will not go that way. The fake face will work.”

The Royale Hotel went up high and was made of glass. It was all about being rich. Nathan came in from the side at six, in his food shirt that was clean.

The place to cook was loud and fast. Men yelled. Pots hit things. Hot air went up. No one saw Nathan.

“David Kim?” A boss called.

Nathan put his hand up. “Yes, I am here.”

“Go to the top. Private room. You work with the big guests. Do good work. This guest is big.”

“I will.”

The lift went up forty floors. Nathan’s heart beat fast but his face was flat. The room was nice. Big glass all around. A table for two sat in the middle with plates and cups all set.

“Do the plants first,” the food boss said. “Make it all look good.”

Nathan went to fix the plants. While he did it, he put the pen in with the flowers. It was hidden under the green.

One done.

He bent low like he was checking the cloth under the table. He took the button and put it stuck to the under part. A small click and it stayed.

Two done.

“You, new man.” The food boss said. “Go to the cook place. They need help.”

Nathan went back.

At seven thirty, the guard men came. Four of them in black shirts. They went to the glass. They went to the vents. They had a tool that saw all things in the room.

Nathan held his air. He saw from a small hole.

The tool went over the plants. Then the table.

Nothing said the tool found them.

The fake things did not send a signal the tool could see.

The men went away happy.

At seven fifty-five, the lift made a sound.

Harrison came out first. His shirt was rich. He had a face that said he owned the world. He was nice to look at. He had cash. A bad man in good clothes.

Then Victoria came from the lift.

Nathan could not get air.

She had on a red piece of cloth that held her tight. Her hair was down and black like waves. She was pretty. She looked happy.

She did not look like the woman who slept next to him for three years.

“Sir Vale, Miss Victoria, we are glad you came.” The food boss bent a little. “Your spot is set.”

They went in the room. The door shut.

In Nathan’s ear, Sarah’s voice said, “We see them. We hear them. You can go.”

But Nathan did not move. He sat there watching from the gap. He saw Harrison pull the chair for Victoria. He saw her smile at him. He saw them laugh like old friends.

“Nathan,” Sarah said fast. “Go now. Get out.”

He could not move. He was stuck there.

In the room, Harrison put wine in cups. “To new starts.”

Victoria put her cup up. “To be free.”

They drank.

Then Harrison got close and hard. “Did they find him yet?”

“No. But they will. Nathan is not smart. He can not hide.”

“Good, because I am done with this. When he is gone, we take Blackwell’s. It comes to Vale’s. Your folks will be good. And you and I can stop this act.”

Victoria smiled big. “I have acted for three years. What is a few more days?”

Harrison put his hand on Victoria’s. “You are worth more than him. You are worth more than this fake thing.”

“He did what he was set to do. He kept them from seeing us. Now his dad came back. We have a cause to kill all the Porter people.”

Nathan’s eyes went red.

His hand went to his gun.

In his ear, Sarah said loud, “Nathan, stop. Do not do this. Do not blow up the job. Nathan!”

His fingers held the gun.

Three years. Three years of lies. Three years of hurt. For what? So they could joke about him over wine?

He pulled the gun out.

Then his dad’s voice came. “Son. Think. One shot is you getting back. But wait and you get it all. Who will you be?”

Nathan did not move. The gun was half out.

In the room, Victoria and Harrison kept on. They did not know how close to death they were.

Slow, Nathan let go of the gun and went back.

“I am going,” he said soft.

He went to the way out.

Then he saw Edward Blackwell.

The old man stood in the hall with two guard men. His face was red and mad. His eyes looked at Nathan and knew who he was. The fake look did not help.

“You,” Edward said. “I knew you would come.”

The guards got their guns out.

Nathan went for his gun, but not quick enough.

A gun went boom in the small space.

But it did not hit Nathan.

It hit Edward right in the front of his body.

The old man’s eyes got big. Then he fell.

Nathan spun around.

Sarah stood far back with her gun out. Smoke came from it.

“Go!” she said loud. “Run!”

Loud sounds filled the place. Doors went open. All things went bad.

And Nathan ran, leaving Edward’s body and any hope of a calm hit back.