Chapter 70

I

Hmm, Jeremiah mused silently as he took papers off his printer; seems that little sister didn’t cover her tracks too well, if Collins-Ross was able to pick up her trail.

After two weeks of requests to the appropriate departments within CIA, Jeremiah was able to get a hold of JT Collins-Ross’ report on taking Julia down. He didn’t like what he read, because Julia had no idea how much danger she had put herself in. Worse yet, Julia still didn’t remember what happened during those three weeks she was gone.

“Dammit, Jules,” he muttered under his breath; “if you are going to do stupid shit like that, please allow someone to talk you out of it.”

He got on the phone and called Nik.

Before Nik could even say hello, Jeremiah said, “Brother, you have no fucking idea how close we came to losing Julia!”

Silence. Then, “What are you talking about Jere?” Nik asked. “How did we almost lose her?”

“I don’t want to give too much away over the phone,” Jeremiah said; “but while little sister was following who she thought was Lincoln Marsh, someone was following her. And that someone wasn’t just JT Collins-Ross.”

“Who was it, then?”

Jeremiah gave a name, which prompted Nik to say, “I’ll be over in ten minutes.”

The connection went dead in Jeremiah’s hands.

===

Holy fucking God! Nik said as he hung up with Jeremiah in shock; Todd Travis was following Julia with orders to kill?

Nik remembered Travis well. He was the one who called Nik Le Fantome, the Ghost, because of Nik’s fair complexion and white-blonde hair.

Who would have given Travis orders to kill Julia?

Only one man came to mind.

“Oh, My God!” Nik exclaimed half to himself so that KateLynn or the boys couldn’t hear. “Would he have really given orders to have his own daughter killed?”

That’s not possible! Nik thought. Jacob would not have ordered someone to do that!

Nik sat heavily in the chair at his desk and thought about it for a moment. If Julia had put up a struggle, and the only way to subdue her was to end her life, Nik could see Jacob giving that order, as much as it would kill him to do so.

So, was Travis a backup of sorts if Collins-Ross wasn’t able to take Julia down without harming her?

Nik didn’t want to think about that at that moment. He grabbed his softside briefcase and headed over to Jeremiah’s. Nik wanted to see that report for himself.

===

Natasha followed Mariah to her stateroom, where, once inside, Natasha could see it was more an office with a bed than a bedroom with a desk.

Mariah offered Natasha the office chair while she sat on the edge of the bed. Once they were comfortable, Natasha asked,

“How in the hell did you get mixed up with these people? Don’t you have a family?”

Mariah looked at Natasha sadly. Natasha knew that look well. It was Kylee’s when the two women met nearly twenty-five years before. When Kylee was afraid of everything once she was through completing an assignment.

“I have a husband and two children. A boy and a girl,” Mariah said; “One afternoon while working as a paralegal at the Attorney General’s office, a man came in and asked for me by name. I’d never seen him before, but he told me that he knew all about my work with the Disturbed Ones.

“I never discussed my past with anyone, except Greg, so I had no idea that anyone knew about my role in the Resistance other than those I worked with then. He knew he had my attention and started talking about this thing called ‘DeepCon’. ‘You’re a perfect fit for our organization,’ the man told me. ‘We can use your skills.’

“I told him that I hadn’t used my assassin’s skills since the end of the Occupation, and that I wasn’t interested in anything further he had to say. I told him I had a family now, and that they were my main focus.

“‘Really, now, Miss Sears,’ he said; ‘not even if it meant that you can have enough money to get your house out of foreclosure and comfortably afford the private school your children attend, instead of working a dead end state government job?’ I said no, and asked him to leave. He handed me his card and told me to call if I changed my mind. After he left, I put it through the shredder.”

“You were on the verge of losing your home?” Natasha said, surprised. “Why didn’t you say anything to any one of us. We’d have been more than happy to help you. We were sisters in arms, we had each other’s backs.”

“I didn’t want to have to owe you or the others anything,” Mariah said.

“So you lost your house?”

“Yes,” said Mariah sadly; “and I had to take the kids out of their school and enroll them in the public school system. It didn’t go well. My daughter got picked on the first day, and when her brother stood up for her, he was beaten so badly that he had to be hospitalized. It was then that I decided to reconsider the man’s offer. Greg was on board, but he was reluctant. Not only did we lose our home, our cars, and our plan to send the kids to good schools, but we now had hospital bills to pay. Randy was in the hospital and rehab for a total of 16 months. Greg took a leave of absense to teach the kids at home. I decided to join DeepCon. The cover was that I died of cancer.”

“I know,” Natasha said; “it was a topic of conversation at my wedding reception. I wish I had known all this, Kylee! We were once closer than sisters, being the first two women in BlackOps. I feel terrible that you felt you couldn’t come to me.”

“I did what I thought was best for my family, Natasha!” Mariah said. “It’s a mistake I’ll live with for the rest of my life! Don’t you think I know that? I miss my husband, I miss my kids. I want out now. If I couldn’t hide my identity from you, then I can’t hide it from anyone no matter how much surgery I undergo to change my appearance.”

“It was your habit of twirling your hair when you’re nervous that gave you away,” Natasha said; “You can change your looks, but little things like the hair twirling and the limp you have when you’re tired will out you to anyone who knows you well enough. Even your husband and kids.”

“Who knows in DeepCon knows that I figured out who you were?” asked Natasha.

Mariah hung her head; “Just my supervisor, and he wanted me to tell you that you were mistaken about who you thought I was.”

“What’s his name, his position... anything I can use to get to him?” asked Natasha.

Mariah wrote down a name, a phone number, and the man’s title and handed the piece of paper to Natasha, who then stuck it in her purse in the same compartment that her weapons would normally be in.

“What are you going to do with that information, Natasha?” asked Mariah.

“Don’t concern yourself with that,” Natasha said; “If I can do what I’m thinking, you and your family will be in the witness protection program. Officially, DeepCon doesn’t exist, which means neither do you. Darren isn’t happy that DeepCon is on this ship. This was supposed to be our honeymoon.”

“Your husband is the Director,” Mariah said; “you’re telling me that he doesn’t know anything about this? I was led to believe that our presence here was at his request.”

“I seriously doubt that he would have greenlighted something like this,” Natasha said; “but I will speak to him about it. Who else is DeepCon watching?”

“Your nieces and your children,” Mariah said; “There are two agents in Georgetown now. One watches the house, the other watches the occupants.”

“Who else?”

“Nik’s daughter and Joe Donovan’s daughter. The ones who live with you.”

“Nik’s daughter just got engaged,” Natasha said; “Is someone watching her fiance’?”

“I don’t know.”

Natasha saw that Mariah had been though enough for one day. I’m going to get her off this ship, back to her family, and into a protection program if it’s the last thing I do, she thought.

She got up and sat next to Mariah on the bed and took her hand wordlessly. The look in her eyes told Mariah that everything was okay, and that Natasha would help her.

“Natasha, I only have one thing to ask of you,” she said.

“Name it.”

“I want to be Kylee again. Please, call me Kylee?”

“Of course, Kylee,” Natasha said, kissing the top of Kylee’s head. “Anything for my little sister in arms.”

===

II

Nik was at Jeremiah’s within ten minutes. When he walked in, Jeremiah was in the middle of giving a grammar lesson to Aaliyah, Adam, and Zach Summers.

“You look a bit busy, Jere,” Nik said; “Should I come back?”

“No, Nik, it’s okay,” Jeremiah said; “They’re about to have an exam, and that will take a bit. It includes an essay. Adam’s essay is for his college applications. Liyah and Zach are just being tested in usage and syntax.”

“It’s really easy, Uncle Nik,” Zach said.

“I can make it more difficult if you want, Zachary,” Jeremiah said sternly.

Zach had no response.

“Thought so,” Jeremiah said; “You have an hour to complete your exam and essays. When you are finished and I’m not back from talking to Uncle Nik by that time, you are to stay in your seats until I tell you that you can leave.”

“Yes, sir,” all three said.

Once in Jeremiah’s office, Nik said, “You channelling Peter or Kiera today?”

“Both,” Jeremiah said. “Kiera’s grammar lessons and Peter’s lessons on doing what one is told.”

“Okay, now that you’ve got the kids busy,” Nik said; “tell me all you know about Todd Travis’ orders to kill Julia.”

“He was ordered by Jacob,” Jeremiah said; “If for some reason JT could not complete his task to bring Julia home safely, like if she killed him, then Travis was to kill her. Dixon knew of this plan, by the way. Why he didn’t tell us about it, I have no idea.”

“Because we’d probably object!” Nik said hotly. “If anyone was going to kill anyone, Julia or anyone else, don’t you think Dixon should have sent one of us?”

“He wouldn’t have sent you, Nik, because of Natasha,” Jeremiah said; “Why he would put Julia and JT up against each other, I don’t know, and I don’t care to know. Julia’s home now and there’s really no official record of Travis even being part of the plan. Jacob made sure of that.”

“And I suppose we’re not to tell Julia,” Nik said.

“The little that Julia knows about this, the better off she’ll be,” Jeremiah said; “But you know, if she ever figures it out, and finds out we knew about it, we probably deserve anything we get.”

“Agreed,” Nik said; “So at this point, the story is that JT was the only one to go after her, and Todd Travis’ role in this is conveniently forgotten.”

“Travis runs a protection service now,” Jeremiah said; “A civilian version of BlackOps. Guns for hire, that sort of thing.”

“Lovely,” Nik said; “But Travis was always a little gung ho about how he did his job.”

“You’d know more about that than I would,” Jeremiah said; “You knew him better.”

“But, you know, if he breathes a word of his role in all this, I will blow him away,” Nik said; “No one fucks with my little sister and gets away with it.”

“Even if little sister has no memory of anything she did?” asked Jeremiah. “It’d be her word against his. Personally, I hope she never remembers those three weeks. She might not be able to live with herself if she did.”

“How so?” asked Nik.

“She has no idea of the firepower she carried in that little car of Ryan’s,” Jeremiah said; “If someone had hit her, there wouldn’t have been enough of her to bury. She had a rocket launcher that was taller than she is. Where Ryan got that, I couldn’t even begin to guess.”

“So she was prepared to use that kind of force on Lincoln Marsh?!” Nik asked. “God damn, Julia really did lose her mind, didn’t she?”

“And Marsh had no idea,” Jeremiah said. “She apparently let him escape, so where he is now, or whether he’s still alive, is anyone’s guess.”

“And I know he’s not talking,” Nik said.

“Nope, not a peep,” Jeremiah said.

===

“I kinda thought I’d find you two in here like that.”

Vixen and Kylee looked up from Kylee’s bed, shocked to see Morbus standing in what both young women thought was a locked doorway.

“We can explain, Morbus,” Kylee stammered.  


“No need,” Morbus said. “It’s kind of a turn on to stand here and watch you two.”

“How long had you been standing there?” asked Vixen.

“About two, maybe three minutes; enough to see what you were doing to one another.”

Vixen and Kylee looked at each other, not knowing what to think, much less what to say.

“And...?” Vixen began. She almost knew what was coming.

“Is this a A-B thing, or can I ‘C’ my way in?” asked Morbus with a wickedly lascivious grin on his disfigured face.

“You want a threesome then, do ya, big guy?” Vixen asked seductively; “You wanna do both me and Kylee, or do you just wanna watch while Kylee and I do each other?”

Kylee could see that watching her and Vixen caused Morbus to become aroused. At least that part of him is normal, she thought. Would it really be so bad just this once? She had only been part of one other threesome, and that was with two men who both did her.

“I wanna play, Vixen,” Morbus said; “Can I play with two gorgeously kinky ladies?”

“Sure, big guy,” Vixen purred as she stroked Kylee’s excited womanhood. “Come do both of us, we’ll both do you, and we’ll never speak of it again. Is that agreeable?”

Morbus climbed on the bed and allowed Kylee and Vixen to undress him. Soon, playtime began, and it was enjoyed by all three participants. As suddenly as Morbus appeared, he disappeared. The three of them were together maybe an hour.

“Did that just happen, Vixen?” asked Kylee as she snuggled against the older girl’s nakedness.

“It did, and he’ll be back,” Vixen said.

“How do you know?”

“A good whore always has repeat clientele,” was all Vixen said in response.

Oh dear God! Natasha thought as she woke up. Where am I and where did that dream come from?

She looked over and saw Kylee sleeping next to her.

Natasha vaguely remembered Kylee asking her to not call her “Mariah” when they were alone. She vaguely remembered undressing Kylee, and Kylee doing the same to her. She did remember Kylee remarking about the scars on Natasha’s back and why after all the time that had passed, had she not had plastic surgery to lessen the scarring.  

Their time together wasn’t the way Natasha remembered it. Kylee didn’t feel like the girl she had briefly slept with until other women started joining BlackOps. Well, we are almost three decades older, after all, Natasha thought; but that wasn’t it. There was something about Kylee’s body that bothered Natasha. Something foreign, not like the passage of time with having children, getting older, getting softer.

Natasha thought she should get dressed and head back to her own stateroom. Darren’s probably wondering what the hell happened to me, she thought.

She looked at Kylee sleeping so peacefully. That hadn’t changed, Natasha thought. Kylee was still a beautiful angel when she slept.

“Kylee...” Natasha said, “I have to get back.”

Kylee woke up and looked at Natasha. “You’re dressed? Don’t go, Natasha, not yet!” she said, fear suddenly in her voice.

“If you want to be free of these people, I have work to do,” Natasha said; “I’ll let you know what I find out. The cruise still has two weeks to run. We’ll get together and talk again. I promise.”

“Will your husband be mad that you gave in to your desires?”

“He knows what I was,” Natasha said; “I’ve had to use them when I was an agent. He’s been good to me and I love him more than life itself. He’ll understand, especially if I’m trying to help you. He’s among those who think you’re dead.”

“Then he doesn’t know about DeepCon, does he?” Kylee asked.

“It’s not supposed to exist,” Natasha said; “Someone is doing their best to keep it going against the President’s wishes. I’m going to find out who’s behind it. It could be a plot to get the Occupationists back in power. I know you don’t want to be part of that.”

“Oh, God!” Kylee said; “I didn’t even think that! God, I walked right into their trap!”

“And my job, dearest Kyle Lee, is to get you and any others out,” Natasha said. “Let me work on it. You keep pretending you’re Mariah, and I’ll pretend to be on my honeymoon.”

“Natasha,” Kylee said; “Thank you for all you’re trying to do for me.”

“You’re one of the few women I considered close enough to be like a sister to me,” Natasha said. “I’ll do all I can to get to the bottom of this and free you from this so you can return to your family.”

===

III

Natasha returned to her stateroom where Darren was waiting. He was working on something as she walked in.

He turned to look when the door opened. “I trust that the brunch was fun and you made new friends?” he asked knowing that the last thing Natasha wanted to do on their honeymoon was make new friends.

“The brunch was a crashing bore, Darren,” Natasha said; “I’ve never seen so many overly made up old women in my entire life! Who the fuck were they trying to impress? Not me, surely.”

“People do weird things when they think they’re in the same place with someone famous,” Darren said; “Most everyone on board knows we just got married, and they know what I do for the government.”

“There was really only one person there I wanted to talk to, and I got that opportunity,” Natasha said; “And, that person has gotten herself into a mess she’s not sure she can escape with her life.”

Darren looked at her and asked, “Mariah?”

Natasha nodded.

“So she is who you thought she was, then?”

“Yes,” Natasha said; “And she’s in trouble. She’s in too deep with these DeepCon people, and I have my suspicions about them that they aren’t as noble as people would like them to believe.”

“That’s what I was trying to find out when you walked in,” Darren said; “Believe me when I tell you that I did a lot of ass chewing to people in Washington. I am not happy that an arm of my agency that isn’t supposed to exist does, and that they’re here, spying on me during my fucking honeymoon!”

“They’re spying on us?” Natasha asked, shocked.

“Yes, Tash,” Darren said, pointing to a corner of their stateroom that, to Natasha, looked perfectly normal. “Go take a closer look at that corner and tell me what you see in the sconce on the wall.”

She took a look. It didn’t take long for her to spy the camera lens in the base of the sconce. It was situated on the wall opposite their bed.

“Those dirty motherfuckers!” she said angrily. “They’re watching us have sex, sleep, and watching this conversation going on between us!”

“No sound, Tash,” Darren said. “And at the moment, no camera. I disabled it when I discovered it. We’re being watched, so someone always knows when we’re here, and when we’re not.”

My God, Natasha thought; It’s a good thing we went to Kylee’s stateroom instead of here!

Then she thought, if they’re putting a camera in our room, then her room is bugged as well!

“The phone, Darren!” she said; “Is the phone bugged?”

She didn’t wait for Darren to answer, instead walking over to the phone sitting on the desk where Darren was. She unscrewed the cover from the mouthpiece, and the electronic device fell into her hands.

“Your calls to Washington to chew people out, Darren,” she said; “they’re listening to them! They know you’re not happy about this!”

“Fuck!” Darren said under his breath. “We’ve walked into a trap, Tash! Now how do we free ourselves?”

Natasha gave Darren an evil smile, and he knew what she was thinking. It was up to them to put a stop to this.

“The bossman is on board,” she said; “Kylee gave me his stateroom number. Say I go pay him a visit.”

“Take a weapon, Tash.”

“Oh, I’ll do better than that, my darling,” Natasha said. “I’ll make sure he never fucks with us, with Kylee, or with anyone else who wants out of this organization. I’m almost certain it’s an Occupationist set up.”

“Great,” Darren said disgustedly. “That’s all we need. The damn Occupationists to try and get a foothold into this government again.”

“Sweep the room for other electronic devices, then call Sandy and Danica,” said Natasha. “Kylee said there are ‘agents’ watching the house.”

“You never stop worrying about the enemy,” said Darren. “It’s something I should have been doing. Let’s nip this in the bud so your friend can return to her family, and others in the organization can leave if they wish. If the mastermind of this plot is on the ship, take him out.”

“I plan to,” Natasha said. “But first I need to tell Kylee what’s going on. Something happened between us today that I don’t want just anyone to know about. If her room is bugged like ours was, they can use what they heard and saw against her.”

Darren came back to the desk with one other electronic bug in his hand. “This was in the bathroom, pointed at the shower. These people are sick! There are no others that I can find, but trust me, I’ll keep looking. Their time is coming to an end. I’ll stake my reputation on it.”

===

The phone rang at Natasha’s house, and Nikolai answered the phone.

“Vincent residence, Nikolai speaking.”

“Nikky, it’s Darren,” the boy’s stepfather said; “Is Sandy or Danica around?”

“They’re both here, Darren,” Nikolai said; “You want to talk to one of them?”

“If I can talk to both of them, that would be great.”

“Okay, I’ll have Vixen get them.”

Once Sandrina and Danica were in Natasha’s office upstairs, Darren told them about what Natasha had found out.

“Sweep the house for electronic bugs, and look in places that you wouldn’t think a bug could be put; places like lamps, cupboards, your bedrooms, the bathrooms,” Darren instructed; “even the safe room.  Check all the landlines and the computers to make sure there isn’t any spyware or keystroke counters.”

“Why would someone want to bug us?” Sandrina asked.

“Because of my position,” Darren said; “Whoever these people are, they want as much information about me, your Aunt Natasha, you two, and the twins as possible. Your aunt seems to believe that this group isn’t just protecting us, but wants to use us in some sick and twisted bid to get the Occupationists back in power.”

Sandrina looked over at Danica and saw her go pale. Oh, shit! Sandrina thought; Danica’s seeing that guy who’s watching the house!

“We’ll all check for bugs,” Danica managed to say, trying not to let the shock be heard in her voice; “We all know what they look like. I’ll have Vixen check the computers, since she’s really good at finding things like that.”

“Good,” Darren said; “Natasha thinks the man who ordered all this is on the ship with us. She’s going to pay him a little visit later this evening.”

“I hope she blows the motherfucker to kingdom come,” Danica said angrily.

“We’ll take care of things here, Darren,” Sandrina said; “We’ve noticed people outside who are watching the house. We’ll get some information out of them.”

Darren bid the girls goodnight, and Sandrina hung up the phone. She looked at her cousin again, and she was still pale, and now, shaking with anger.

“I know what you’re thinking, Danica,” she said; “We’ll have to talk to Bryan and his friend to find out what they know.”

“I can’t believe I fell for his lines!” Danica said; “But he’s mixed, so what happens to him if this is an Occupationists plot?”

“I don’t even want to think about that,” Sandrina said. “Lets get the twins and play exterminator.”

===

IV

It was late. Very late. Most passengers and crew were in bed, sleeping.

Except one Natasha Viktoria Vincent.

She was on her way to talk to a man about what his organization really does.

And she suspected it wasn’t solely about protecting her husband. Using audio and video bugs to blackmail them is what she thought they were up to, and everyone who worked for him was also bugged. It would make “crimes against the New Occupational Government” stick.

Kylee was not happy when she was told what Natasha’s suspicions were. Kylee found four video bugs and twenty-right audio bugs in her stateroom alone. Her employers now knew she wanted out.

Natasha feared that the only way Kyle Lee Sears was getting out of DeepCon was in a coffin.

They also knew of hers and Natasha’s secret rendezvous.

The “bossman” was a man named Hilton Nicholas. The cruise ship was his domain, and everyone who worked for him would be recruited into the Occupationists cause. Those who did not fit the Occupationists ideal of the perfect citizen would be exterminated. It was called the “Parksian Solution”.

Natasha was able to obtain keys to the man’s stateroom, and went to pay him a little visit.

She gained entry as he was watching tapes of the activities of the crew. He made notes on a pad next to him about what he was watching. Occasionally, he’d say, “Hmmm,” or “Ahhh.”

His back was to the door, and he never heard her enter. So intent he was in watching the tapes of his employees private moments that he had no idea that his life was in any kind of peril.

He did, however hear the click of the hammer of a gun in his ear. And the voice, tinged with evil intent say,

“Kyle Lee Sears. Name ring a bell, asshole?”

He turned around to face the person with the voice. It was someone he didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?”

“You tell me, Mr. Nicholas,” Natasha said; “You’ve been watching me and my husband’s exploits the entire time we’ve been on board. You sure know how to ruin a honeymoon, don’t you?”

“What does this have to do with Miss Sears?” Nicholas asked.

“You recruited her, enticed her away from her family, forced her to change her name, threatened her, bugged her stateroom,” Natasha said; “All so you could blackmail her into working for the Occupationists. You knew of her past, of her work with the Resistance. Who better to have on your team than a former Disturbed Ones assassin?”

“Put the gun down, Mrs. Dixon,” said Nicholas; “You aren’t going to shoot me. I know too much about you. About your husband; about your past. I even know about the man who provided you with the genetic material to make your twins happen. Besides, there are others who will back me up.”

“You think?”

“I know they will. I pay them well.”

“Not well enough. Between me, my husband, and Kyle Lee Sears, your little plan to blackmail us is about to backfire,” Natasha said, aiming her weapon between Nicholas’ eyes. “Every single one of your so-called loyal employees just sold your ass down the river. Some figured out what you were up to. Now they’re looking for revenge for spying on them.”

“I wasn’t spying on anyone,” Nicholas said. “It was to protect them.”

“Oh, so that’s why there are video bugs facing every bed in their staterooms, and every shower stall in the bathrooms,” Natasha said; “You sick motherfucking bastard! You get off watching people have sex in what they think is the privacy of their staterooms. Then you were going to use what you learned to blackmail them. Prepare to meet your maker, because you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I’m not scared of some two bit whore!” Nicholas said.

“You better be, because I hold your life in my hands, and it ain’t worth much.”

“Even if you kill me, there are others who will take my place,” Nicholas bragged. “We have bugs all over your house in Georgetown. Your computers are compromised; and someone is getting off watching your 13 year old daughter pleasure herself.”

As if Natasha couldn’t get any angrier, that tidbit of info did it.

“So you’re a pedophile, too? Doesn’t suprise me. Just give me the names of any agents watching my house!”

“It doesn’t matter because they’re both going to die. They’re Undesirables.”

“Once they’ve outlived their usefulness to you, then they’re gone? How Carl Parks of you.”

“Carl Parks should have been President after that bitch died,” Nicholas said. “We’d still be in power!”

“You’re going to the same place that insane dictator went, Mr. Nicholas,” Natasha said as she pulled the trigger. The bullet entered Nicholas’ skull, leaving a nice hole between his eyes. The back of his skull was blown out and brain matter splattered all over the video screens behind him.

Natasha removed a small digital recorder and a phone from her pocket. She turned off the recorder. Then she made a call.

“Kylee, send the others in to dispose of this creep. As of now, you’re no longer members of DeepCon. The cruise line pays your salaries, and when the ship docks in Norfolk two weeks from now, you’ll be placed into protective custody until arrangements can be made to reunite you and your coworkers with your families.”

Natasha felt no pity for the man she just killed. She knew who he reported to, and that man would be disposed of as well. It was the big boss that Natasha didn’t know the identity of, because no one else knew either.

She had no idea that in a few years time, he would be one of the most important men in the country. And that her children would be part of the team that brought him down.

===