Chapter 9 Following His Fathers Footsteps #4
"I was naked."
"You were eight months old."
"Mama!"
The family erupted again.
Tan looked around that night and realized something.
They were all moving forward.
Travis toward law.
Ella toward nursing.
Tan into policing.
The children who once chased one another through the hallway were becoming adults.
Terrence and Eva watched every step with pride.
And through it all, Tan's unanswered past remained quietly nearby.
Not controlling him.
Not forgotten.
Waiting.
Three years after joining the department, Tan stood in front of another mirror.
This time, the uniform was different.
Black tactical gear.
Body armor.
Boots.
SWAT insignia.
He had earned his position after grueling evaluations, advanced firearms qualifications, tactical training, physical assessments, and months of proving that he wanted the assignment for the right reasons.
Terrence entered the locker room after Tan's qualification ceremony.
He looked at the gear.
Then at his son.
"I was hoping you'd pick the traffic division."
Tan smiled.
"You hate traffic division."
"Suddenly I love it."
"Too late."
Terrence shook his head.
"Your mama knows?"
"She was at the ceremony."
"That's not what I asked."
Tan laughed.
"She's adjusting."
"Meaning?"
"She prayed for twenty minutes and then told me if I get shot she'll kill me."
Terrence nodded.
"Sounds like Eva."
Tan closed the locker.
"You proud?"
Terrence looked offended.
"Always."
Tan smiled.
Terrence put a hand on the back of his neck.
"Just remember something."
"Here we go."
"I'm serious."
Tan straightened.
"The more specialized you become, the easier it is to start seeing every situation as tactical."
Tan listened.
"Don't lose the part of you that sees people."
"I won't."
"You joined this job because somebody stopped for a child."
Terrence tapped his chest.
"Keep that boy in here."
Tan nodded.
"I will."
They walked toward the parking lot together.
Terrence had slowed a little over the years.
Not much.
But Tan noticed.
There were more silver hairs now.
Fine lines around his eyes.
Twenty-something years in law enforcement and a lifetime of worrying about three children had left their marks.
Tan wrapped an arm around his father's shoulders.
Terrence looked at him.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"You're getting sentimental."
"No."
"You are."
Tan laughed.
"Maybe you're getting old."
Terrence shoved him away.
"Walk by yourself."
That Sunday, the entire family gathered at New Covenant Baptist Church.
Travis had flown in from another city where he was finishing a prestigious legal internship.
Ella was home from nursing school.
Tan had the weekend off.
Gloria and Harold occupied their usual pew.
Terrence sat beside Eva.
For the first time in months, all three David children were together beneath one roof.
Near the end of service, Pastor Williams asked families to pray for one another.
Terrence reached for Tan's hand.
Tan took Ella's.
She took Travis's.
Travis connected with Eva.
Eva reached across toward Terrence.
A complete circle.
Tan bowed his head.
He still had questions for God.
Questions about his biological mother.
His father.
Jin.
The raid.
Why children suffer?
Why good people experience terrible things?
He had stopped believing that faith required pretending not to have questions.
Terrence had taught him otherwise.
Faith wasn't certainty.
Sometimes it was choosing where to stand while answers remained missing.
And Tan knew where he stood.
With his family.
When the prayer ended, Terrence squeezed his hand.
Tan looked over.
His father smiled.
No words.
None needed.
Tan smiled back.
The church choir began singing.
Around them, voices rose.
Tan closed his eyes.
He didn't know that somewhere else in Los Angeles, men connected to the Lee criminal organization were moving money through shipping companies, luxury properties, restaurants, and businesses that seemed completely legitimate from the outside.
He didn't know that the Jin Lee named on Terrence's old corporate document had become one of the most feared men in an underground network that reached far beyond Little Chinatown.
He didn't know that trafficking had become one of the organization's most profitable operations.
And Jin Lee had no idea the little brother he once left hiding behind a concealed wall had grown into a police officer.
A SWAT officer.
A David.
For years, the brothers' lives had traveled in opposite directions without touching.
One protecting people.
The other exploiting them.
One shaped by a father who taught him that power existed to serve.
The other consumed by the belief that power existed to control.
Neither man knew how close their worlds were becoming.
But they were moving toward the same case.
The same criminal network.
The same truth.
And when those worlds finally collided, the consequences would reach far beyond two brothers separated in childhood.
They would threaten everyone Tan loved.
But before bloodlines, murder, and vengeance came calling, something else was waiting for him.
Something Tan hadn't been searching for at all.
Love.