Page 32 of Hacker Unknown

“Let’s all sit and I can explain. The most important thing was to get what was in the container out of the country undetected. With that threat gone I can explain.”

Sawyer and Sonali both sat on the beach chairs. I leaned against the tiki pole.

“I’m listening.”

“Mom had twins, a boy and girl. When she gave birth, she gave me to our dad. Sid Ledger is our father.”

Sid Ledger was the owner of a bio medical company. It supplied most of the medications for the entire country.

“Dad and mom met in college. He fell for her the day he laid eyes on her, but mom only cared about her experiments. Dad thought if she had his kid she would love him. Instead, when she figured out what she could do with your blood, it tore them farther apart.”

Sonali scrunched her nose. “Wait, you are really my brother?”

Sawyer nodded his head.

“I think I am going to be sick. This means earlier I watched you do sexual acts with a woman.”

“And my sister opened her legs showing me what I never wanted to see. That is why I ended the scene and snuck out.”

“Why even bring us here?”

“I needed Sonali protected and I knew AA Security could handle it until I got what I needed out of the country. I planned to reach out to her tomorrow. Everything derailed when the CIA came to AA Security for their proposed mission. You were supposed to protect her for a few days. But then word got back that you planned to bring her to Houston. I couldn’t have her connect me back to the op. So, I paid the Russo family to get you back to New York.”

Sonali jumped up from the chair. “You are the reason I was drugged?”

The more Sawyer talked the closer I was to killing the fucker.

“No, Vincenzo was supposed to incentivize you to go to New York. I figured you would put Sonali in a safe house. Instead shit blew up and when Antonio called Jared, I figured we could get you to this island. At dinner I wanted to figure out what the CIA knew. I didn’t think you would bring my sister into the actual club, because of the way she would need to dress.”

“I still want the research,” Sonali admitted and sighed.

“What if I told you I had a way to counteract your blood making it, so you never had to worry.”

Before Sonali could comment I cut in. “But wouldn’t she be vulnerable like the rest of us.”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell us what was in the container?” I pressed again.

Sawyer sighed. “It was our mom.”

“My mom died years ago,” Sonali whispered.

“The government had wanted her to create a way to make every baby like us. It’s not a simple drug. Mom had certain antibodies in her system from the research she’d done on herself over the years. The only way to protect her and you was for her to fake her own death. Mom and Devon thought you needed a fresh start away from everything if possible.”

“I can’t listen to this anymore. For years, I lived alone looking over my shoulder only to find out my family was back in the United States celebrating holidays together. Being there for each other’s accomplishments.” Sonali turned and headed back toward the bungalow.

Sawyer reached out and grabbed my arm. “We did it to protect Sonali. If the government gets their hands on her, they won’t stop doing tests. She needs to go back to Paris.”

“Except Benson put a call out for her on the Dark Web. She isn’t safe anywhere now. And you just added even more to making her feel like the world is after her.” I turned and jogged down the trail, but Sonali wasn’t in sight. When I saw the lights on in our room, I pushed the door open to find her leaning against the railing overlooking the water.

I walked up behind her and gingerly wrapped my arms around her. She turned and rested her head on my chest. Wet tears soaked my shirt. “My mom didn’t want me.”

“To me it sounded like she wanted to protect you.”

“How mad at me are you?” she asked.

That one simple question was so loaded. Before I’d followed her, I was extremely angry, hearing her crying made me slightly less. “My job is to protect you. Hiding things from me, especially when we were unsure of Sawyer’s motives have me unsettled. His actions were more about protecting your mother rather than making sure you were okay. I’m still not convinced she was the only thing he was transporting.”

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