Page 26 of Ride the Whirlwind

“My friend didn't leave one stone unturned. For the next six months, he sent private investigators to Chicago where the girl claimed she came from, who discreetly asked around with no result. A part of Graeme hoped she didn't leave San Francisco, so he formed many search parties, but the men came back empty-handed.” The doctor let out a long, heavy sigh, then fell silent, waiting for the next question.

“If the girl hid so well, how did your friend find out about the child's existence? I think she ran away because she found out about the pregnancy. For some reason, the expecting mother didn't want Mister MacGowan to be part of the child's life,” Alasdair continued in a softer voice.

“Five years after Camlann's mother disappeared, our men caught a guy Graeme suspected of stealing from him. After being gruesomely tortured for more than a day, he asked to talk to my friend, but, instead of admitting the theft, he told him about the boy.” Douglas stared blankly ahead for a moment, then continued. “She gave her son the name Graeme would have wanted for his firstborn, should it be a boy.”

Lady Barbara Sandrigham offered the doctor a sympathetic look, then spoke in a warm voice. “We made you betray your friend's secrets, and I deeply apologize on my teammates' behalf, but please understand that it was absolutely necessary. One last question: if the name of Mister MacGowan's son is Camlann, who is Keith?”

“A few weeks after Graeme brought him to San Francisco, the child started to have horrible nightmares that left him physically and emotionally drained. My friend didn't trust in shrinks, so we decided to give his son some pills that would help him to sleep better...by suppressing the bad memories.”

Doctor Douglas fell silent again, examining the people in that room. Except Fabian, who was the same age as Graeme, maybe a little older, and Alasdair, who, according to Ardan, was twenty-seven, all the others were in their mid-to-late thirties. They were all hellbent on protecting his friend's life from an invisible but very present threat without knowing him, and that alone made them worthy of his trust.

The doctor wondered if the things one or more unnamed persons wanted Graeme dead for weren't related to that part of the man's past hidden to everyone else but him. There was only one way to find out: he had to trust these total strangers with his friend's biggest secret.

CHAPTER 20

“There is something no living soul except me knows about Graeme.” Doctor Douglas broke the silence that had started to become uncomfortable. “But you must promise me that...”

“Your friend's secrets are safe with us,” Daniel spoke in a reassuring voice. “We just want to find out more about him and his son so we can try to figure out who of his inner circle spies on him for the FSB.”

“What do the Russians have to do with the job Graeme did for the CIA?” Douglas paused, gasping when he saw the confused looks on everyone's faces. “You had no idea about it, did you?” The doctor's eyes went wide when everyone nodded, and he suddenly felt lightheaded. “According to you, why does my friend and his son need the kind of protection you are offering?”

“Mister MacGowan and his sole heir stay in the way of Russia getting tens, maybe hundreds of billions dollars in minerals, including gold, uranium, plutonium, and diamonds,” Theodore said in a professional voice. “His grandfather inherited all those mines from Count Borovsky, a prominent figure to the last Tsar's court.”

“Graeme...he never told me about this, not even a word,” Douglas stuttered, shocked. “What if—I know it sounds crazy, but it's still a possibility—what if he doesn't know about this...inheritance, or whatever this is?”

“It doesn't sound crazy at all.” Lady Barbara nodded. “On the contrary, I think it's very plausible. His grandfather either forgot about the will, or he didn't give importance to it. For him, owning a snow-covered piece of land thousands of miles away must have been the same as owning land on the moon.”

“That would put Mister MacGowan in even greater danger,” Fabian spoke, making all the others turn their attention to him. “Once the man from his entourage spying for the FSB will realize he doesn't know that he owns all those mines, not to mention about the land itself, they won't hesitate to eliminate both him and Camlann on the spot.”

“However, finding the will still remain his top priority because otherwise, Graeme's lover's family could claim the fortune for themselves.” Douglas gasped as the realization hit him hard. “You said there's a remarkable resemblance between Keith and Ardan. What if the FSB agents saw it, too?”

The doctor's words made everyone freeze, horror written all over their faces. Fabian was the first who reacted, trying to fight off the fear that tried to overtake him. “I want all the MacNamara family members, their spouses, life partners, and children to be permanently guarded, and by permanently, I mean they will go accompanied everywhere, even to the bathroom.”

“I'm worried, too, Uncle Fabian,” Alasdair intervened in a shaky voice, “but we must act discreetly; otherwise, our actions could get unwanted attention.”

“Allow me to disagree with you.” Daniel turned to his cousin. “The security measures our uncle wisely suggested could be the perfect distraction. While the FSB and whoever else is after Mister MacGowan look this way, we can sneak to San Francisco and get there before they know it.”

Doctor Douglas cleared his throat, making everyone turn to him. “I started to tell you something about Graeme, his best kept secret second only to Camlann's identity. In the light of the new revelations about my friend, you have to know this. The FSB may not be the only secret service who want Graeme dead. The CIA and MI5 are also after him for a completely different reason.”

“Wow, your friend is a magnet for trouble,” Alasdair tried a joke, hoping to make the atmosphere less tense. “What did he do to get all this attention?”

“After Camlann's mother left, Graeme lost his will to live. He didn't even manifest interest in running the organization until one day, when he saw an ad in a newspaper. Someone was looking for a reliable security company, and he happened to run one, so he applied and was selected for the interview. It turned out the CIA needed an assassin, and they found Graeme perfect for the job.”

“Did your friend ever tell you who his targets were? I suppose the two of you talked about his side job, at least once in a while,” Theodore asked, making no efforts to hide his interest.

After pausing a little, Douglas said that, at first, Graeme was sent after the rogue or double agents, but, after a while, his superiors put him in charge of eliminating all those people who, one way or another, were guilty of treasonous activities. Most of the time, he got the name of the target days in advance, but in some cases, the identity of the next hit was revealed only hours before the execution.

Graeme didn't have remorse for what he did because his targets were mainly corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen who didn't hesitate to compromise the nation's stability and security in exchange for personal advantages. However, things changed radically when he was ordered to eliminate a group of journalists who investigated the not-so-legal actions of two prominent senators.

Instead of killing them like he was ordered, Graeme helped the journalists hide and started his own investigation, which proved the journalists were right about everything. Disappointed, the man questioned the methods and criteria the secret service used for determining who were the bad and the good guys.

From that point on, Graeme paid more attention to the reasons the CIA invoked when they sent him after a target and never eliminated the undesirable elements before doing some digging of his own. Also, he took advantage of the fact that he had access to classified information and made his own list with names of those who broke the law and got away with it.

“When Keith turned eighteen,” Doctor Douglas continued his story, “Graeme told him about the list and asked him if he was interested in serving justice that way. As expected, the kid jumped at the chance, and my friend started to train him. Two years later, on his twentieth birthday, Graeme gave him the first assignment.”

“From what Mister MacGowan told you, did the CIA suspect anything about his extracurricular activities? I'm also talking about the targets he helped one way or another instead of eliminating.” Fabian's voice was tense, the doctor's revelations coming as a shock.

“No, they didn't. He planned everything down to the smallest details.” The answer came almost instantly. “Sometimes, his superiors asked him random questions about a target or another, but they never caught him unprepared.”

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