Chapter 26 - FATHER
David Hale entered the prison under federal protection.
Dustin did not know he was coming.
The door opened.
Dustin looked up.
Then froze.
David stopped three steps inside.
Neither man spoke.
Thirteen years disappeared in silence.
Then Dustin laughed.
A broken sound.
“No.”
David's eyes filled.
“Son.”
Dustin stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
“No.”
David stayed still.
Dustin pointed at him.
“You don't get to say that.”
“I know.”
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think I wasn't worth staying for.”
David closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Dustin slammed both hands onto the table.
The guard stepped forward.
Daniel, watching behind the glass, raised one hand.
Wait.
Dustin stared at his father.
“Why?”
David told him.
Not everything.
Enough.
Vale.
Carver.
The photographs.
The threats.
The decision to disappear.
Dustin sat down slowly.
Then David said the hardest part.
“Carver used what I told him about you.”
Dustin looked up.
“What?”
“When you were a kid, you hated feeling weak.”
Dustin said nothing.
“You'd rather get hurt than look scared.”
David swallowed.
“I wrote that in a family observation report.”
Dustin stared at him.
“And Carver read it.”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Dustin finally understood.
Every insult.
Every challenge.
Every time Carver called him soft.
Every time he rewarded him for ignoring the bell.
Every time he told him stopping was failure.
Carver hadn't discovered Dustin's weakness.
He had inherited the instructions.
Dustin looked toward the glass.
He knew Daniel was there.
“I still hit Leah.”
David nodded.
“Yes.”
Dustin's eyes filled.
“No file made me do that.”
“No.”
“No program.”
“No.”
Dustin looked back at him.
“I did.”
David sat across from his son.
“Yes.”
Dustin wiped his face angrily.
Then he whispered:
“I remember Director.”
David's head lifted.
“What?”
“The man Carver used to meet.”
“What about him?”
Dustin looked toward Daniel behind the glass.
“He wasn't old.”
Daniel frowned.
Dustin continued.
“The old guy was a decoy.”
David went still.
Dustin said:
“Carver called somebody else Director when nobody was around.”
“Who?”
Dustin answered.
“Marcus.”
May you like
Behind the glass, Daniel slowly turned.
Marcus Bell was no longer standing beside him.
