Chapter 8 Questions Without Answers #4
He looked nothing like the frightened child Terrence remembered.
Yet sometimes Terrence could still see that little boy inside him.
"Why'd you stop?" Tan asked.
Terrence frowned.
"Because you were in traffic."
"No."
Tan looked at him.
"After that."
"What do you mean?"
"You could've taken me to the hospital and gone home."
"You could've let CPS handle it."
"You had Travis and Ella."
"You had a whole life already."
Terrence understood.
"Why me?"
Tan asked.
Terrence looked toward the intersection.
"I've asked myself that question."
"And?"
"I don't have some dramatic answer."
He smiled.
"I saw a little boy who needed somebody."
"Then I couldn't stop thinking about him."
"Your mama couldn't either."
Tan nodded.
"You dreamed about me."
"That too."
"Do you still think God sent me?"
Terrence looked at him.
"I think God has used a lot of things I didn't understand until later."
Tan became quiet.
Terrence continued.
"I don't think losing your first family was good."
"I don't believe your pain had to happen just so we could get you."
"I'd never tell you that."
Tan appreciated the distinction.
"But I do believe God can meet us inside terrible situations and still create something good."
Tan looked toward him.
"Like us."
"Like us."
They stood together for a while.
Then Terrence asked,
"You decided what you're doing?"
Tan smiled.
"I did."
"College?"
"Eventually."
Terrence raised an eyebrow.
"Tan."
"Listen first."
"I am listening."
"I wanna be a cop."
Terrence stared.
Tan laughed.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"I want the academy."
"You're eighteen."
"I know."
"You're talking about law enforcement like it's summer camp."
"I'm serious."
Terrence crossed his arms.
"Why?"
Tan looked toward the street.
"Because somebody stopped for me."
The answer silenced him.
Tan continued.
"You always told me that a badge isn't supposed to make you more important than people."
"It's supposed to make you responsible for them."
Terrence's expression softened.
"I listened."
"Apparently."
"I wanna do what you do."
Tan smiled.
"Maybe without all the gray hair."
Terrence touched his head.
"You caused half of this."
Tan laughed.
Terrence put an arm around his shoulders.
"If you do this, you do it right."
"I know."
"No shortcuts."
"I know."
"You don't become the kind of cop who thinks everybody owes him respect because he's wearing a uniform."
"I know."
"You remember you're serving people, not ruling them."
"Dad."
"What?"
"I know."
Terrence studied him.
Then smiled.
"All right."
"All right what?"
"We'll talk about the academy."
Tan's face lit up.
"For real?"
"For real."
He hugged Terrence.
Terrence laughed.
"You're too old for this."
"Too bad."
Terrence hugged him back.
Across the busy intersection, the afternoon sun reflected off car windows.
Eighteen years old.
Thirteen years removed from the worst day of his childhood.
Tan still didn't know where Mei Chen Lee had gone.
He still didn't know what happened to his biological father.
He still didn't know whether Jin had returned to that empty apartment and found his little brother missing.
But now he knew something else.
He knew where he was going.
He wanted to wear the same badge as the man who'd stepped into traffic for him.
He wanted to become someone who stopped when everyone else kept moving.
Someone who noticed frightened children.
Someone who protected people who couldn't protect themselves.
Terrence looked at his son and felt a pride too large for words.
What neither of them knew was that the search for Tan's past wasn't over.
Far from it.
Inside a locked drawer at Terrence's home sat the corporate document bearing Jin Lee's name.
Inside Tan's chest rested the jade pendant generations of Lees had recognized.
And somewhere in Los Angeles, hidden behind legitimate businesses, shell companies, old loyalties, and carefully guarded secrets, a criminal empire continued operating beneath the city.
An empire that had once belonged to the Lee family.
An empire whose true heir had been missing for thirteen years.
And while Tan Lee David was preparing to follow his father's footsteps into law enforcement, the brother he'd spent half his life searching for was becoming something entirely different.
Something dangerous.
Something powerful.
Something that would one day bring the two brothers face-to-face again.
But that day had not arrived yet.
For now, Tan walked back toward the car beside his father.
Terrence tossed him the keys.
Tan caught them.
"You driving?"
"You said you wanted responsibility."
Tan grinned.
"I got it."
Terrence pointed toward his sedan.
"Scratch my car and your law-enforcement career ends today."
Tan laughed.
"Relax, old man."
Terrence stopped walking.
"Old man?"
Tan was already running toward the driver's side.
Terrence chased him.
"Give me my keys!"
Their laughter carried across the parking lot.
For one more season of their lives, the Davids remained untouched by the darkness waiting beyond the horizon.
And Tan was exactly where he belonged.
Beside his father.
Heading toward his future.