“But it was close?” I ask. “Around here somewhere?”
“It took probably an hour to get to where we stayed most of the time, but we rarely were in one place for long. He had us traveling all over.”
“How?” I ask. “How did you travel?”
“Jonah has a tremendous amount of influence. His network is huge. If it wasn’t for the sheer evil it’s allowed for; I’d say it was impressive. There was always a car or plane ready to take us wherever we needed to go. No documentation needed. Wherever we went, we stayed in houses, never hotels. There were always people ready to welcome him and do whatever he needed,” Greg explains.
“Alright. What can you tell us about his most trusted people? You said you were not his most trusted, but you were above others.”
“Yes,” he nods. “I was one of the ‘honored’, as he likes to describe it. I was brought in to listen to his rants about you and the life he was creating for you. In the beginning, he almost treated me like a friend, but really, he was trying to glean as much information from me as he possibly could. When he realized I wasn’t fully under his spell, he just tried to torture it out of me.”
“I’m so sorry,” I tell him.
“Don’t be. None of this is your fault. You couldn’t possibly have known what was happening. Besides, I thought I was getting involved in a critical undercover assignment that would bring down pervasive organized crime and terrorism. Maybe after everything I went through in there, that’s actually what I’m getting to do now.”
I nod.
“We’re going to find him. And we’re going to stop him.”
“I know you are,” he says.
“Does the name Martin Phillips mean anything to you?” Dean asks. “Did you know him when you were in there?”
“Martin?” Greg asks.
“He’s an orderly here at the hospital,” I explain. “Or at least, he was. He’s been taking care of you since you came in, but a couple of days ago, he drugged me and stuffed me in a body drawer in the morgue. Dean rescued me, and we realized Martin was missing. No one has seen him since, and the police investigation has come up with nothing. The only thing we were able to uncover is a video diary he made. He posted several videos on a private blog ranting completely incoherently about Lotan. That’s how we heard the name, to begin with. Did you know him?”
“None of us knew anybody by our actual names,” he says. “Just like Lotan, we were all called something different.”
“Did you get to decide what you were called?” I ask.
“No. Lotan chose it for us.”
“Of course he did,” Dean says.
The disgust in Dean’s voice is more pronounced now. Finding out his true paternity is crawling under his skin and digging into his soul. It’s chipping away at him, and I can only hope bringing an end to this will give him the vindication he needs.
I want to ask the question that’s on the very tip of my tongue, to find out what Jonah called Greg when he was under his power. But I stop myself. After everything he went through, the last thing Greg needs is to ever hear that name again. Whatever it was, it needs to stay wherever he pushed it until he wants to say it. Instead, I ask around it.
“What kind of names?”
“All kinds of things. It depends on the person and what they did within Leviathan. The ones closest to him were given new names. The man who signed the guest book was called Finn. He is the only person I know of other than me to get out alive. The only reason he had the opportunity was because he got close to Lotan. He was able to feed me more information about what was going on, and when he left, he offered to bring me.”
“Why didn’t you go?”
“You were in danger. You still are. I needed to do everything I could to keep you safe,” he says. Something close to humor sparkles in his eyes briefly. “I’m not vying for your heart, Emma. It wasn’t chivalry. You will always matter to me, but our past is our past.”
I nod my acknowledgement, not trusting myself to say anything about it. The guilt that started fading when the veil lifted between us loosens further, and it’s like I’ve been released.
“Can you think of any other names?” I ask.
“There was one. He was involved in several of the bigger plans while I was there and spent a lot of time with Lotan. He was very loyal and very devoted to continuing the mission. He had a gift for finding people to use as bait for Lotan’s schemes. I guess that’s how he got his name. Jonah called him Fisher.”
I take my laptop out and click on the window I already have up. Martin’s blog appears, and I show Greg, not starting the video.
“This is Martin. Does he look familiar?”
Greg looks at it for a few seconds, slowly shaking his head.
“I don’t think so. Can I watch it?” he asks.
“Are you sure you want to?”
“I want to hear what he has to say.”
I start the video. My eyes flicker back and forth to him, gauging his expression as he watches. It’s steady, almost cold, but I know it has to be affecting him. At the end of the video, he shakes his head again.
“No. I don’t know him. But that doesn’t mean much. Much of the control involved keeping us apart or against each other. You didn’t cross Lotan. The biggest risk I took wasn’t leaving that note for
