Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kain
I had just finished a meeting with a contractor in downtown Boston when Godfrey called me.
“Are you busy?”
“For now. What’s up?” I walked into the garage, heading for my car.
“I spotted Andrew Snow. Remember him from Hawthorne’s security?”
How could I forget? Andrew and Ben had kidnapped me.
“Where did you see him?”
“My team used facial recognition software and aged him. It picked up on a guy walking around the financial district on Congress Street a few days ago. A woman and a girl about ten years old were with him. He looks different with darker hair and dark bushy eyebrows, but I’m eighty percent certain it’s him. Wanna go see?”
Hope sparked. “Where?”
“There’s a STEM event for kids at the Museum of Science. There’s a room block for the event at the Royal Sonesta Boston. A man with the name Andy Fleming booked a room with two king-sized beds there. We can check out the event now.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
Fifteen minutes later, I met up with Godfrey, purchased our tickets, and entered the lobby.
I glanced at my phone, reviewing the current images Godfrey had sent to me.
“That’s definitely him, even with the new hair color,” I said, staring at the image of the brown-haired man who used to be blond. He had darkened even his thick eyebrows.
We made our way down to the robotics and engineering displays.
A group of kids with tablets controlled their robots in a race to the finish line.
While we walked, I kept my eyes open for a man resembling Andrew Snow.
Was his partner, Ben Tilling, with him? Was one of them the Bleeding Hearts Killer?
We passed booths from MIT and MathWorks and entered aisles with coding stations, tables where kids made slime, wind tunnels for testing paper airplanes, digital microscopes showing cells and insects, and tables with kids wiring LED lights.
“Imagine where we’d be if we had gone this route,” Godfrey said.
“You’d be inventing a droid to do your laundry.”
“I still want that.” He laughed.
“But you have a cleaning service and an assistant who takes your clothes to the dry cleaners.”
“So? I can still have a droid.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. To spar?”
I shook my head and glanced around. Then my eyes landed on a man sitting at a table with his wife and daughter. “Look.”
We each grabbed a plate of fish and chips and walked over to a table close to Andrew’s.
He noticed me, and the color drained from his face.
As though he understood our presence, he said something to his wife, who was swiping something on her tablet.
His daughter was playing with a purple robot when two kids came to her table with their science kits.
Chatter and electronic noises filled the air.
Andrew approached our table, and I gestured for him to sit across from us. “Long time no see.”
Godfrey wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin, tossing it on the table. “I like your new disguise.”
Andrew’s nostrils flared. “What do you want?”
“Not liking your rude attitude, Andrew,” Godfrey said.
“What do you think we want?” I asked, staring at the dark and thick eyebrows that changed his appearance.
Andrew was about ten years older than me, but right now he looked much older.
A life of crime didn’t bode well for him.
I should be furious with him, but I’d wasted so much energy over the years being angry.
All it did was drain me. Andrew was merely a small fish in a deep pond.
I’d rather channel my energy toward catching the shark.
“Please leave my family out of this,” he said.
“You should’ve thought about that before you started murdering people,” I replied, watching him. “I’m sure those people begged for mercy too.”
His lips thinned, knowing I was right.
“Is Hawthorne alive? How many people escaped the destruction back then?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is that the answer to the first or the second question?” Godfrey leaned into the table.
“Both.”
“I’m going to introduce myself to your wife and daughter. Do they know about your occupation?” I got up from my seat. “Maybe it’s time they knew you kidnapped people, even children, for a living.”
Andrew bolted up, releasing a heavy sigh.
“Please don’t.” He glanced around the arena cautiously before sitting back down.
“Many people died that day, but some of us survived.” His voice lowered.
“I don’t know if Hawthorne is alive. I heard his car flipped several times, and his driver died.
But someone has taken over his organization. ”
“Who?”
“Not sure. We only talk through a burner, but his voice is altered when we talk.”
“Are you still working for him?”
“Not of my own volition.” His fingers curled into a fist.
“They threatened your family?” Godfrey asked.
Andrew nodded. “I wanted to start over after the destruction. I got a new identity, got married, and started a family. They found me somehow.”
“What are you doing for them?” I asked.
“Kidnap people for them. There’s a lot of money in the business.
” Andrew glanced over at his family. “I just want to cut ties, move to another country . . . redeem myself for my sins.” He looked at me and then at Godfrey.
“I didn’t realize the sins I committed until I had my family.
I’m sorry for making your life hell back then. For ruining your childhood.”
Godfrey sat back and crossed his arms, considering Andrew’s words.
Andrew was part of something so dark that the blood on his hands could never be cleansed.
Even though I appreciated his intentions, I took his words with caution.
Over the years, I’d learned what people were capable of.
Deception often reigned supreme for those with greed for power.
I didn’t know Andrew well, but he’d worked for a psychopath.
How could I be sure Hawthorne didn’t affect him?
But I could use Andrew to get what I needed.
“We’ll help you get to any country you want. I have access to private planes,” I said. “But you need to help us too.”
“What do I need to do?” Hope sparked in Andrew’s eyes.
“Lure out the individual,” I said, formulating a plan in my head. “Next time he calls you, let us know right away.”