Swerve (14 page)

Maxwell continued to tell her more, much more. He told her what was not found in the files. “So now you know.”

“So you're telling me that my mother was a spy. That she was some kind of international assassin?” Romia said, almost laughing out loud.

Maxwell nodded. “And so much more.”

“What more? Are you saying she was traitor to this Phoenix person or are you saying she was a traitor to the government?” Romia now gave in to the laughter. “You're crazy. What kind of madness is this?” she went on. “What kind of fool are you? This story is madness,” she said, feeling hysteria growing. “And has nothing to do with me.”

“Romia, listen to me.” Maxwell retrieved the brief case he carried and again pulled out the manila folder that contained the photos. He pulled out the one of the woman. “This is your mother. She was murdered for being a member of the Phoenix family. You have to believe me. She was a cold-blooded killer hired by the government to resolve matters of national security before she became a loose cannon—a swerve, as you cops call it.”

Romia stared at the photo before ripping it from his hands for a closer look. “This can't be my mother. This woman is too old to be my mother. My mother died over twenty years ago. She was a young woman, a girl, when she died. She was hit by a car. We were together and she was hit by a car! This woman is clearly in her forties.”

Romia's eyes burned as if onions had been rubbed into them. Again, she studied the picture. The facial features looked similar, but there was no way this woman was her mother. She had watched her mother go over the hood of that car. She saw her die. “She was blond, for crying out loud.”

Quickly biting her knuckles to keep from crying out, Romia threw the picture and turned toward the window. “That's not my mother,” she blurted. “She would have contacted me. She would have wanted to make me know she was alive. No matter her position with the government, she would not have abandoned me.”

At that, Maxwell shook the picture toward her. “Yes, she may have tried to warn you about what was to come of you just for being her daughter.”

“My being her daughter means what exactly?”

“There are many out there waiting for just the moment that you would come of age, and realized of who you are, so as to kill you.

Romia, now with eyes blazing, turned to him. She fought the question that burned in her mind. If she were to believe this story, if she were to give in for just one more moment, she knew she must now ask the obvious. Her eyes fought with her brain to look at the picture of her mother again. Her eyes won out. After staring at the photo for a minute or two, she quickly turned away. “Who am I?”

“You are a threat.”

Romia's head spun back to him. “A threat to who? The government? Hardly.”

“You are a threat to those who wish to rebuild the Phoenix legacy.”

“Why?”

“Because the Phoenix is your father, and right now, you're on the opposite side of the fence. Which is where you want to be, however, your being there is a threat to those who want to keep that legacy alive, and you are a target to those who seek to destroy it.”

“You're crazy. First you tell me my mother was a spy and then you tell me that my father is the leader of some international cult spy gang? You're insane.”

“Haven't you ever wondered who your father is?”

“No,” Romia lied. Her eyes then caught Royale's in a gaze that was nothing less than hynoptic. It was as if he, too, had wondered similar things about his own life.

“Fine. Listen. I've been at this a long time. We have to stop these people. We have to find the remainders of the team and bring them to justice. The leader is your father. You have to help me find him. You have to gain his trust and then lead him to me. You have to trust me,” Maxwell said, shoving the pictures roughly back into the folder that was nestled in the soft leather briefcase.

“Oh my God, that's a laugh. First you have golden boy here kick my ass, then you frame me for murder, then you beat the snot outta my…” She stammered, “my friends. and you want me to trust you? You haven't given me any information. All you've given me is a fairy tale, which, by the way, I don't believe.”

“Haven't you ever wondered about the things you can do? Your abilities? Oh, yes.” He nodded excitedly. “I've watched you for years. I've followed you. As soon as I realized who you were, I followed you. You're just like her in so many ways.”

“Like who? My mother? What abilities?”

“Romia. You are the only one who can help him.”

“Him?”

Maxwell nodded. “You need to convince him to turn himself in. He'll trust you.”

Romia looked at Royale and at the man and woman who had now come into the cabin where they had been listening to Maxwell explaining their assignment. She sighed heavily, showing her confusion. “Turn himself in? Help him?”

“They are going to kill you otherwise. Those men who came after you, he sent them. Right now, not knowing where your loyalties are, you're a threat to him and he's a threat to national security.”

“You're bounty hunters. You're after.” The light suddenly came on. “You're after my father. You're saying my father is the Phoenix. That has to be what you're saying to me. That has to be why those men called me that.” She chuckled out loud, repeating what she'd heard, only in her own words now, assimilated through her own thoughts. “You're saying my mother was a part of this team and she was murdered because of it. You're saying that they are some…some weirdos with some ‘talents' that are, like, unusual, and that makes them extra dangerous or useful to the government who hired them. Like a missile that they were sorry they built, and now they want to dismantle, so they hired you to kill them all. Ooh, but they are fighting back and you can't stop 'em.”

“Romia. Listen to me. Your father and those he's brought into his fold are powerful, more powerful than you can imagine. I'm not trying to hurt him. I'm trying to stop him before they go too far. The government is trying to stop them. They are haywire.”

“Swerves,” she said, with a sneer coming to her words. He nooded. “No…” She balked, growing uncomfortable in her seat. “You find him yourself.”

“No. You're going to help me. Now, we're the good guys and—”

“You're not. You want to kill my father, and you probably killed my mother and…” Romia stood. “You want me to betray my father so that you can kill him just like you killed my mother. I can't help you.”

“Romia you're wrong,” Maxwell said looking up at her.

She glanced over at Royale in search of confirmation of Maxwell's story. She couldn't find it. She only saw confusion in his eyes. He was just like her. For whatever reason, he too had been brought into Maxwell's trust as an unwitting participant in his hunt for the Phoenix—her father.
What is Royale's connection to all of this?
she wondered. She fell upon her wits now, for they were all she had. “Does it matter if I believe you?”

“What are your options?” Maxwell asked.

Suddenly, Romia felt a cold chill run through her. “I can go back and tell the truth.”

Maxwell grinned wickedly. “Romia, you can never go back. As we speak they are forming a posse to find you and to take you in. They are planning to prosecute you for first-degree murder and assault on two fellow officers. You are a lethal weapon. You're armed and dangerous just by existing. They won't hesitate to kill you on sight. If you think you had hard time believing this story, you just try to run it by a judge who was paid to put that confidential file out of his mind and out of existence.”

“Keliegh would never believe that I'm a killer. He—” she began.

“He what? He loves you? Not anymore.” The woman chuckled in a nasty fashion before leaving the cabin for the front of the plane where she had been previously. She appeared bored with the whole situation. This was just a job to her, that Romia could tell. Who knew how many other of her “family” this woman had been a part of tricking into Maxwell's snare, only to be betrayed and possibly murdered without a trial for their crimes against the system—or worse—for their crimes of being “different.”

“What did you do?” Romia asked the woman.

“I did magic,” she said in broken English.

Romia stepped up to her. “Did you kill him?”

“Does it matter? You'll be just as dead soon.”

Two weeks passed quickly for those left to wonder about Romia Smith. There hadn't been a sight or sound out of her. Even Keliegh had to confess that he was disappointed by her silence.

The story of the Phoenix and his team wasn't just strange trivia to Tommy. All she could think was that if it had been that easy for Jim to gather the information, how much easier would it befor someone with murder on his mind? How could anyone with that intent not see the connection between this group and Romia Smith? A simple cross-reference of Romia, her date of birth, and a few preserved documents would bring that all together. “Killed by a bounty hunter? So it was murder,” Tommy mumbled under her breath, thinking aloud about Romia's mother. She had taken all that Jim had told her he'd found, and now was putting it in her own mind the way she understood it.

Maybe Romia is out for revenge. Maybe she found out who killed her mother and all this is about revenge. Does that make sense, Tommy? This woman was a good cop. She was unconcerned about the life she knew nothing about, right?

Knocking hard on the door, Tommy waited for an answer. There was none, just the muffled sound of distant conversation. She listened hard at the door. She could hear the voice of a woman speaking. She knocked again. Slowly, it opened. The older woman looked shy and reserved.

“Hello, I'd like to speak with you for a moment.” She flashed her badge quickly, as was her common way. No one needed to know her name, and she rarely exposed her badge long enough for anyone to find it out.

The woman stared hard at her. “About what? I've not broken the law.”

“No, you haven't, but I have to ask you some questions.”

“About what? I've not witnessed any crimes, either.”

“Oh, I think you did. It was just a little over twenty years ago. The woman's name was Capri.”

The woman's eyes grew wide but she didn't slam the door as Tommy expected she would. She was older, and probably contemplated an escape should she need to do such a thing. There would be no getting away for her. Tommy wasn't aware that the woman's eyes were as bad as they were, but soon she came to realize that she couldn't escape if she wanted to.

“I'm not Capri,” the woman admitted. Looking up and down the hallway, she looked Tommy up and down. “I knew her. I told her one day this plan would fall short, but she wanted to do it. Did you know her? My God.” The woman gasped. “Of course you do. You're Romia.”

Tommy contemplated the lie. “Yes.”

“Well, of course you would be. She told me one day you'd come looking for me.” The woman stood back from the door to allow Tommy entrance.

Tommy entered the apartment.

“She did?”

“She said that one day you'd need to see me. She said you'd want answers.”

“Yes,” Tommy played along. She'd hit pay dirt and wasn't about to let the woman know she wasn't Romia. “Have you watched the news?”

“No. I'm legally blind so I can't read or watch television. But I listen. I've heard on the news they're looking for you.”

“Yes, they are.”

“And they won't stop until they find you. They didn't stop until they found Capri, bless her heart. She used to tell me all the time they were looking for her. I thought she was a little…”—the woman swirled her fingers around her ears—“that is, until they killed her.”

“When is the last time you saw Ca…” Tommy hesitated. “My mother?”

“Child, she's been dead for years. You were there.”

“Well, I have my suspicions about everything now. I don't believe anything about my life. The report I read said you were my mother so…”

The woman cackled. “I was too old then to be your mother and I'm really too old now.”

The woman then grew quiet and again gave Tommy a hard stare, as if trying to make out her features. She smacked her lips in frustration. “I wish I could see your face better.”

“I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry you're blind.”

“Yes, because I need to see your tattoo before I tell you anything more.”

“Tattoo?”

“Yes. I just remembered that. Capri said if you were to come to see me that you'd have a tattoo. You probably think it's a birthmark, but Capri tattooed you. She told me that so that I would know you when you came. I just didn't know it would be this long of a time, and I'd get these damned cataracts, and that half my mind would be gone. Show me the thing.”

“I…” Tommy stammered, thinking about her body art. She did have a couple of nice tats that she would be proud to show, but who knew where Capri had tattooed Romia?
What kind of mother tattoos a child, anyway!

Tommy tried to think about the possibilities of just picking a random one, but being wrong could end everything, and she had not gotten enough information from this woman to take that chance.

“Your right ankle! Come on, show me. But then again, I can't see shit.” The woman groaned. “Oh, I wish I could see it,” the woman said.

Tommy sighed, relieved at the woman's frustrated blurting. “My ankle? I'm sorry. I'm in a boot. I was hurt and I'm in a boot now so it's covered up or I'd show you.”

“I thought you sounded strange when you walked in. I have hardwood floors for that reason. One day I'll be totally blind and I'll need to rely on my senses. I'll need to be able to hear people walking and know who they are. Capri told me to always rely on my senses, that they were my greatest assets. I thought she was nuts back then but, damn, if that girl didn't know what she was talkin' about. I'm blind as a bat!”

“Yes, the senses are very important.”

“You should know,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Capri had very highly developed senses. That's how she knew so much about what was going to happen to her. She was truly amazing. Once you got past thinking she was a lunatic. She said one of her children had those kinds of gifts. Is it you?”

“Children? I…I'm not sure,” Tommy said, trying not to show her surprise.

“Do you sense things like when something is going to happen? Do you have strange dreams that tell the future and stuff like that?” the woman asked, sounding excited.

“Um, I don't know. Am I supposed to?”

“Oh, yes, all of the Phoenixes are supposed to; they have to survive you know. ‘They have to stay ahead of the enemy,' Capri would say,” the woman said, confirming what Jim had read in the secret report. “Capri said that your father could do other things that were truly just too fantastic to even believe. She said he could walk through fire. I didn't believe that part but…So what do you do special?” she asked, changing the subject quickly.

“Without my mother, how am I supposed to know what I do special?”

The woman's face frowned up a little. “By now, you should know something. My God, your father is supposed to have been extraordinarily gifted, or so Capri said. She said by the time you grew up, all of you would be reunited and ruling the world—well, she didn't say that, but the way she described it, you'd think that's what she meant. Phoenix this and Phoenix that—yeah, let that girl tell it, you all were royalty in the spy business.”

Tommy tried to imagine Romia with “gifts.” Romia was strange. Maybe she did know what her gifts were, and maybe that's why she was so strange.

Fire walking, telekinetic paranormal freak; yeah, that would be Romi. Poor thing,
Tommy thought, suddenly feeling the burden that would hinder a kid with “different” parents, like Romia apparently had. Like she needed people adding that to her resume of oddness. “I don't want to be different. Wait, you said spy,” Tommy then blurted, realizing what the woman had said.

“Oh, shit,” the woman spat, shaking her head again. “Well, hell, you probably know that already and are just pretending not to, but yeah. Your mother was a spy for government—or so she said.” The woman left the room and came back with a small envelope. “Here is a letter from your mother. I've never opened it. It's for you. When she died, we packed her things, me and Mildred. Mildred died a while back so I have most of the stuff now, but this is the only real important thing Capri really wanted you to have. I've kept it safe all these years. Even without my sight, I always kept my eye on this baby.”

Tommy took the letter and tucked it in her jacket. “Thank you. So you know for sure my mother's dead.”

“Yes. They killed her. Just like she said they would. I suspect she put up a huge fight I mean, how do you kill a person like her?”

“What about my father?”

The woman frowned again. “Now, Romia, you know I don't know anything about him, and you should know better than to ask.”

“But I thought you said my mother said we'd all reunite…”

The woman stood now and took a deep breath. She then smiled sadly. “I think you better go, young lady. If you really are Romia, they're looking for you, and I sure don't want them finding you here.”

“Do you know who
they
are?”

“The enemies of the Phoenix, of course. You and your twin are chosen and the last of your kind…well, unless you procreate.” She snickered. “But your poor mother saw what a mistake that was…no offense. So she hid the two of you in separate places so neither your father, grandfather or anybody could find you before it was time. Her dying messed it up, but that wasn't her fault. She was just an innocent girl who got involved with the wrong man.”

“You're saying she'd still be alive if she hadn't had me, I mean, us?” Tommy asked, standing up.

The woman shrugged. “That's how I figure it. I mean, they'da just killed your father and ended it at that. But I'm just an old woman—what do I know…”