Page 5 of Forging Caine

The churning in my stomach grew into a torrent.

I needed answers.

And I was pretty sure the man in the next room had them.

Chapter 2

Samantha

Iwalkedoutofthe foyer, reading and re-reading Lucy’s translation of the code. Not just a code, but a letter from my father. I had exactly one photograph of him and now this letter. Not even any memories left.

I handed Elliot the coded letter and Lucy’s translation. His fingers grazed across the original code with its unintelligible characters. It was an almost tender moment. His free hand covered his lips and his shoulders drew up with a deep inhale.

The last time I saw him like this was on the plane to Italy in January. We were talking about my mother and how she’d secured my internship with Elliot.

“This is your name, isn’t it?” I whispered. “You knew him?”

He didn’t even look up at me.

I snatched the translation from him and read, unable to keep my voice from shaking. “‘Dear Deb, I know we agreed I was finished after my last trip, but something’s come up. I’m going back East with Elliot and I’m not sure when I’ll be in touch. I’m sorry to do this to you again, but we both knew what I did for a living and went in with our eyes open. Tell the girls I love them, and I hope to see you in a few months. Love, Charles.’”

Elliot slid out a chair and sank into it, no trace of my always-in-control mentor to be seen. And no explanation either.

“He’s talking about you, isn’t he?” I slammed the sheet down on the table. “Talk to me, dammit! You didn’t just know my mother. You knew my father?”

Elliot’s hand dragged down to his chest. “I feel like all I ever do is ask you to come back to the FBI and give you difficult news.”

My gaze flicked toward the letter and up at him again. “Difficult?”

He placed the original coded letter on the table next to the translation. “Deb and I agreed that when you had sufficient security clearance, we’d tell you the truth.”

A shudder ran through me, goosebumps launching up my arms and legs. I was right.

“I was going to tell you after your graduation from Quantico, but when she… I didn’t think it was a good time. Then you left the Bureau and I wasn’t sure what to do.” His relationship with my mother was only a professional one. They’d worked on a case together or so they’d told me. How much more was there? “Did you ever learn to lean on Antonio, like I recommended?”

“What?” Why talk about Antonio when he was supposed to be telling me about my father?

“It’s what I told you on the plane in January.”

I scrubbed a hand over my forehead, like I could draw out some understanding. “Yeah, I guess.”

It wasn’t just a guess. Ididlean on Antonio. More than even my sister.

He nodded as he scanned the grid of letters Lucy and I had written on the bottom of the translation. “I should have known this secret wouldn’t stay hidden forever, but as the years went by, I started thinking I’d never get to tell you the truth.”

This wasn’t going to end with him simply knowing my father. There was more. I eased into the chair across the table from him. “What truth, Elliot?”

“I’ve been with the FBI for twenty years. I think you knew that, but we never talked about my first career.”

“No.”

“I did a few internships with the CIA while I was studying finance in college—like you did with me—and hired on after I graduated. I moved into the Clandestine Service pretty quickly.”

My head spun. Theories and ideas taking form. What did this story have to do with my father? Why did they go somewhere together? Surely my father wasn’t with the CIA. That couldn’t be what Elliot was telling me.

“There’s only so much control you have over your schedule in that role. Sometimes, they tell you it’s time to leave, and they mean that very second. There’s no chance for drawn out goodbyes or even for goodbyes at all. So, my mentor taught me this code he learned from his mentor before him.”

The churning in my stomach gained such speed I was going to be sick.

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