Sam and I get back into the car, and he looks over at me as we pull away from the driveway.
“Have you heard from your dad?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I nod. “I talked to him for just a couple of minutes last week. He can’t really spend a lot of time on the phone.”
“Is he going to be able to come for Thanksgiving?”
He asks it with the hesitant heaviness that comes with already knowing the answer to the question. I shake my head.
“No. He said he’s making a lot of progress building up trust with the chapter of The Order in Iowa and he doesn’t want to compromise that at all,” I say. “Apparently only a couple of people who were there when he was are still active in the chapter. Some of the younger ones are less trusting of someone showing back up after so long. Especially someone who is widely known to have been missing for ten years.”
“I thought you said some of The Order members helped him while he was deep undercover,” Sam says.
“They did. But they are members of other chapters. Besides that, they can’t talk about their involvement in his undercover work with the other members. It could compromise the cases he was working on, particularly everything dealing with Jonah. The last thing we need with him is to provide any fuel for appeals or motion for a new trial. Dad just needs to work his way back into the trust of the chapter,” I say. “From there, he’ll try to figure out everything he can about the chapter in Harlan.”
“Are they going to believe him?” Sam asks. “We already know that chapter was rogue. If Sterling Jennings and the other members went to other chapters for help, I can’t imagine they would just come right out and say what they were running from. Whatever they came up with to get their help, your father’s going to have to convince the ones helping them that he knows better.”
“That’s the next challenge,” I say.
“Do you believe Lilith when she says she doesn’t know where they are?” he asks.
I nod. “I do. She doesn’t really have any reason to keep lying for them. Everything they put her through and the manipulation they used to get her to kill her husband then serve them for more than a decade tore her apart. She gave them up as much as she could, then almost killed herself because she couldn’t live with what she did and didn’t want them to be able to get to her. She’s doing so much better now. I really think if she had any idea where they might have gone, or how we could find them, she would tell us.”
I let out a sigh and turn to look out the window beside me.
“What is it?” Sam asks.
I turn back and press my lips together, piecing through the thoughts rushing through my head.
“What if he doesn’t find anything?” I ask.
“The different chapters of The Order associate with each other. Somebody knows something. And your father is the best of the best when it comes to getting people to tell him what they know. They won’t even realize he’s trying to get information out of them, and they’ll let something slip.”
“If they’re with another chapter at all,” I say.
“What do you mean?”
“The Order elders aren’t the only people missing,” I say.
“You mean The Dragon?” he asks.
“No one has been able to track him down in the last couple of weeks, either. He disappeared the night he tried to kill Xavier and hasn’t been heard from since. At least, by me. We already know he had connections to The Order. Each of them owed each other at some point or another. They paid those debts, but that means that they are in a mutually beneficial relationship now. They know they have something on each other. But they also know they can work together. What if the elders didn’t go to another chapter for protection? What if they went to Darren instead?”
“Where would he go?” Sam asks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “It hasn’t been all that long that I have known he isn’t dead. I don’t know where he’s been or who’s been helping him. But if he’s been protecting the elder members of The Order, my father’s on the wrong path. He won’t be able to find out anything.”
“Then we find The Dragon,” Sam says with a wink, as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. “And we slay him.”
I knew there was a reason I love this man.
Chapter Fourteen
Thirteen years ago …Third Week of November
Monday: Final exam. I’m finally done with Murillo’s class. Looking forward to Thursday and not having to see her during class time. For some reason, she seemed almost mad that I came for the exam. As if she wanted me to have to come back for the next two classes and take the exam in December. I would think she would want to be rid of me.
Tuesday: Visit at 3 (Mom: Volunteering at hospital). Make sure boxes are shipped.
Wednesday: Confirm train reservation. They had a cancellation that opened up a sleeper car for the trip. I was so excited. Is it sad that I’m at a point where getting an upgrade on a train feels like a victory to me?
Thursday: Study group. Visit at 3 (Mom: Volunteering at hospital). One week. I still don’t know what to do. I can’t believe I’m even having to make this choice. I know what I want to do. But that’s never going to happen. I think this is just my life now.
Friday: Friendsgiving with Emma. I was supposed to be at Emma’s at 2:00 to help her cook for the dinner but couldn’t get away. He knew I was supposed to be there, but he kept coming up with new things to stall me and stop me from leaving. I don’t understand why he does this. He can make
