Quicksilver Dreams(196)
“Paul! Oh, God, Paul!” The gray-haired man I’d seen in Paul’s memory appeared and blanched at the sight of his son. He tried to rush across the room toward him, but after a nod from Frank, Crew Cut and Baldy grabbed him and shoved him back. He struggled with urgency to get past them, but they held firm.
“Get off me, you sons of bitches!” Rosser demanded, stalling his efforts to pull away.
“Rosser, your son has been a bad, bad boy.” Frank shook his head. “He won’t tell us the location of the mylunate.”
“So you beat him? Please! Let me take care of him! He’s my son! He needs medical care!” Rosser’s voice cracked.
“Not until he spills the beans,” Frank said pleasantly enough.
“Pauly!” Rosser renewed his struggles, only to have Baldy thrust a fist into his gut, causing him to grunt and gasp for air, stilling his resistance.
“I’d stay put if I were you,” Frank offered helpfully.
“Dad, what the hell were you thinking?” Paul asked tiredly through his swollen lips. “How could you make plans with terrorists?”
Tears of helplessness began dripping from Rosser’s eyes. He loved his son and couldn’t handle seeing him like this. With gasping breaths, he said, “Pauly, Pauly...I didn’t want you to know... I’m so sorry... The business was in trouble... I’m in trouble... I acted on tips I was given and sank the whole ship. I’m going to jail if I can’t cover the loss.” To Frank he yelled, “Do you have to keep him tied up? He’s not going to hurt anything!”
“Wrong,” Frank replied coldly, calmly. “He’s feeling a bout of patriotism, humanity, call it what you will, and despite numerous attempts at persuasion, he won’t come clean.”
“Tell them where the mylunate is, Pauly,” his father pleaded. “Then I can get you out of here.”
“They’re terrorists, Dad. They’re going to kill people! I just...just can’t believe that you...would do this.” The depth of Paul’s disappointment, his sudden comprehension of who his father was, was almost painful. This was an intimate conversation between father and son that was happening with an audience.
“Goddammit! You don’t fuck around with these guys! They’re going to kill you!” Rosser’s voice rose in panicked distress.
“I know. I’ll die with a clean conscience.”
I looked up at Paul from my position on the floor, soaked in the violence that surrounded me, and realized that he truly believed that he was going to die. He’d given up. I could only imagine what all had been done to him, and he’d spent his time here making peace with himself.
“But what about your father?” Frank pulled a gun out of his side pocket and aimed it at Rosser, who was visibly startled to see it pointing in his direction. His face flushed.
“What the hell is this? Who the hell do you think you are to come into my house and start making demands on people? I’ve been here for you almost twenty years now! Where’s the loyalty? The appreciation? Put that goddamn gun away!”
“Rosser, I am loyal to myself. Loyalty to anyone else is foolish and only brings pain,” Frank stated grimly.
In that moment, gone was the facade of levity, and in its place were the cold-blooded eyes of a killer. We all got a good look into the dark depravity that was Ranik Grayson. Even Baldy and Crew Cut cast nervous glances at each other before looking back at Ranik. He had secrets. Secrets that had twisted him.