Agent with a History by Guy Stanton III Page B

hard.
    “Lisa, I could have killed you at any point
over the past two years, since I’ve known of your whereabouts, if I
had so wished to.”
    I met his gaze unflinchingly. “Perhaps you
were waiting till you could do it yourself.” I said evenly.
    “I have to admit your sharp tongue has been a
pain at times, but killing you would be such a waste!” As he said
it his hand left my neck to slide around and pull my chin up.
    His smile disappeared as his thumb stroked
the healing cut on my cheek bone. “Who did this?”
    “One of your men!”
    “I will see that he is dealt with!” Which
meant killed, I dryly acknowledged in unspoken terms.
    “You needn’t bother, he’s already dead.” I
replied.
    “Good girl!” He said before stroking my cheek
once more with his thumb before letting go entirely, which I was
grateful for.
    He moved to his chair and sat down a little
too heavily. He was getting older. He studied me for a little
while.
    “Since we have settled the issue of you not
being here to kill me and I you in return, what is the real reason
for this visit?”
    “What’s going on father?”
    He looked away out over the ocean and then
back to me, “The same thing that has been going on for thousands of
years, ever since Alexander the Great! The world wants our
treasure!”
    “It’s not your treasure! It’s the
peoples!”
    His gaze grew stormy and I shook my head
slightly, “How do you expect me to trust you when you say you have
no intention of killing me? You were ready to kill me at sixteen,
when I wouldn’t tell you what I know about the treasure. Tell me
father, what’s changed?”
    His expression grew serious, “Despite what
you may have thought, I was not going to kill you, but I did push
you too far. That was very foolish of you to swim across such an
expanse of water at night. But it also took strength and courage,
both of which, you know, I admire. To be the success you have
become in your own right without any help from me, well that has
been exceptional to see. You have exceeded all your brothers and
sisters in that one regard alone. I look at you and I see more of
myself than I can say of any of them!” He said, gesturing towards
the house. “You have made me proud!” He finished on a deep note,
but I was not impressed.
    “Flattery won’t get you any closer to the
treasure of our people dear father.”
    His expression turned rueful and he shrugged
his massive shoulders, “It was worth a shot.”
    I shook my head and looked out toward the
sea. “Why did you have to torture those men like that? Couldn’t you
just put a bullet in their heads if they had betrayed you?”
    “They were warned what would happen to them
if they talked. They thought I would forget. NO! Examples had to be
made of them! You do not cross Iya Muatombo and live!” He said
slamming his hand down on the table for emphasis. “It’s because of
their betrayal that your life is now in danger!”
    “How is that possible?”
    He looked at me disgustedly and reached
across the table to smack me in the head. “I taught you to think
better than that. What have your years of being a detective not
taught you? They both, after betraying me moved to New York City,
because it’s one of the best places to hide in. Philippe, ever the
gambler got into debt and had to pull off risky jobs in order to
feed his expensive habits! He got caught and he told the Americans
what he knew to get out of the bind he was in. The stupid Americans
let the Chinese steal the information away from them right under
their noses and now they too want the treasure and that isn’t the
worst of it! Ahmed did Philippe one better! He sold his information
to terrorists, who will stop at nothing to get the treasure.
Imagine a terrorist network in full control of an unlimited source
of wealth such as the treasure of our people! It would be a
disaster! I have taken what I wanted and I have broken the laws of
many nations, but never have I wanted the world