Crushed (53 page)

"I was delivering a program for Cleo, and it was his first time meeting a hacker. He wasn't smart at all." She rolled her eyes, a soft grin on her lips. "Then again, he could've had it all planned from the start." She turned to Sophie to explain. "His job was to pick up the program and leave, but he sat down and started a conversation. I didn't say one word to him, but he just kept talking. When I tried to leave, he'd find a reason for me to stay."

Sophie tried to imagine the man she'd only seen in pictures, and her heart clenched when she couldn't do it. She couldn't clearly remember what he looked like, even though she'd stared at his picture for hours.

"I don't know how long he'd been working for Cleo, but he'd already come up with a plan. He asked me if I wanted to join him and his wife, and I immediately said no."

"Join him?"

"He had this theory." Diana stared down at the bench. "His idea was to join everyone, hackers, thieves, and con-artists, so that we'd have some sort of insurance. He knew that this business was dangerous, and he was scared of the influence Cleo had. He wanted us to have a way to protect ourselves against them."

Sophie found herself smiling. Her father's plan seemed very similar to what she was doing now.

"He requested people to join them, but it was your mother who got people to stay. She was..." Diana's voice trailed off. "I guess the best way to put it is angelic. She had a way of smiling and lighting up a room."

"Did his plan work?"

"It worked on some of us. The first to join were your grandparent's, who your father charmed almost instantly. Rylan's father joined them, and eventually so did I. There was another hacker they invited, but she refused. She's the mother of the two children staying with you."

"Gwyn and Teddy?" Sophie asked, letting the information sink in. It was strange to think they were all so connected, even before they'd been born.

"Your father was confident that it would work. He convinced us all we could work together, even if we were from different areas."

"Did Cleo find out?"

"Of course she did. Cleo did everything in her power to shut him up. She gave your parent's the most difficult missions, and they proved themselves repeatedly by succeeding. They gradually made it to where they were irreplaceable."

"What changed?" Sophie asked, her voice low. She knew something had to have happened for her parent's to want to run away. She'd already realized what had happened to the pieces of the team her father had assembled. Her grandparent's had gone into hiding when she was just a baby, Rylan's father had later been caught by the police, Gwyn's mother had run away with wealth, and Diana had built her own empire with her skills.

The only link missing was her parents. Something had to have happened for the team to split up like they had.

"Would you be surprised if I told you I don't know?" Diana turned towards her. "Your parent's created an environment where we felt like we had rights. We felt safe when we worked as a team, but one day that all stopped. We all heard secondhand that they'd stolen from Max and Cleo, and all of a sudden the team was broken. It was shortly after you were born, and your parents just disappeared. Your grandparent's vanished as well, and we were all on our own again."

"You don't know?" Sophie tried to keep herself from sounding like she blamed Diana. She couldn't help that the woman didn't have all the answers. It was selfish of her to think she did.

"I have a few guesses." Diana's voice sounded old and worn. "All I can do for you is tell you the events leading up to their disappearance. After your parents ran away, I never spoke to them again. For the last remaining years of their lives they never contacted me."

"I want to hear anything you can tell me." Sophie had known better than to hope for anything more, but she felt a twinge of disappointment.

"I'll start from the beginning, I guess that's always best." Diana glanced at Sophie. "You might as well relax, we'll be here for a while."

Sophie leaned back against the bench, and closed her eyes.

"Let's begin." Diana whispered, her eyes far off, like she was in another world.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The only memory I have of my mother's voice came from one single letter. It wasn't much, yet at the same time, it was the entire world to me.

Gerard Parker rocked his daughter back and forth in his arms, watching as her tiny lips curled in a sleepy smile. The only light in the room came from a crack in the doorway of the room, but he could clearly see the rounded outline of her face.

"Sophia." He whispered, grinning at how innocent she looked as she slept. If he stared at her long enough, he could swear he saw his own face mirrored in hers. It amused him to no end that she was such a replica of himself.

The moments he spent with his daughter reminded him of the life he wanted for her. He glanced up from her face to take in the cold walls around him. The house was unusually silent for this time of night. Normally, the residents of the home would be wandering around, looking for something to ease their restless nerves. Gerard was one of the few thieves who hid his nerves well.

The others were simply too obvious, which is why Cleo, their boss, didn't trust them.

Gerard flinched as the sound of footsteps passed by his bedroom door. The shadowed figures were headed to the living room, and his smile faded when he recognized the two voices speaking.

One belonged to his beautiful wife, Susanne Parker, and the other belonged to their boss, who they knew only as Cleo.

Ten years they'd worked under Cleo, stealing whatever she'd decided she wanted in the moment. No matter how insane the request, Gerard and Susanne would do anything they could to retrieve their target. In the beginning, it'd been hard to adapt to a life of crime, but by now they were hardened criminals, with a firm grasp on what it was their boss wanted from them.

Susanne's tone was unusually strict, and Gerard knew why. Tonight she would be discussing with Cleo for the first time the topic of their retirement. When they'd joined on a decade ago they'd only planned to stay three years maximum. That plan had been expanded by the promise of wealth beyond their imagination, and their greed had driven them to continue.

Now, with a two-year-old daughter to think about, their minds had finally been cleared from the shadow of greed. Their desire for wealth had been replaced by the need to provide their daughter with a safer, more promising life. It had taken them two years to snap out back to themselves, but they were now driven to run away.

He could only hear bits had pieces of the conversation coming from the living room, but he knew exactly what they were saying. His wife had rehearsed her speech over and over in the mirror this afternoon. While he'd offered to take her place, she'd wanted to speak to Cleo herself.

Susanne Parker was not known as a strong woman. She was small, pale, and often looked sickly. Her compassion and loyalty had won over her coworkers, but had always held her back as a thief. She'd learned to lie effortlessly, though stealing took its' tole on her. Susanne was not made for the anxiety and worry that came with being a thief. She knew she was lacking, and in moments like this tried to make up for her weakness by being brave.

It was one of the reasons he loved her, and one of the reasons it killed him to have her fighting by herself now.

He could imagine her shaking as she stared directly into Cleo's eyes. He'd memorized how her chin would quiver when she was unsure of herself, and how she would constantly brush strands of her hair out of her eyes. He knew her voice would remain steady, despite how much she was doubting herself. She didn't have faith that she could succeed in this task, but she tried it anyway. That was simply the kind of person she was.

Gerard also knew how Cleo would react to the information. Susanne would tell her that they were thinking of retiring, and Cleo's first response would be to offer them a higher paycheck. She'd done this in the past, on the fifth year anniversary of them becoming thieves, and on the night Sophie was born. It was her method of influencing them to stay, and it had worked in the past.

Susanne would turn down the money. She'd looked over their bank account earlier that day with Gerard. They had more than enough money to support themselves for at least five years without having to work, and even longer if they conserved their money. Cleo had only paid them a portion of what was due, but they were willing to forfeit that for their freedom.

Cleo would be startled by Susanne's refusal. She would pause, waiting for her to change her mind. When Cleo realized Susanne was already set on leaving, she would ask for her reasons.

Susanne would undoubtedly say it was their daughter. She would unwaveringly speak about the future she'd planned out. How she wanted Sophie to go to college, to find a steady job, and friends to support her. She hoped that one day Sophie would fall in love with a good man, and live a happy, worry-free life. She wished nothing more than for Sophie to never know that her parents were wanted criminals.

Cleo, having listened patiently to the entire story could only have one reaction: disgust.

Gerard knew his boss almost as well as he knew his wife. Cleo was calmer than most of her circle. Compared to her adversary, Max, she was a sane individual who tried to provide for her thieves. However, she was also proud, and greedy. She was like a child who did not wish to relinquish her new toys.

Concepts like family would not matter to her. Cleo viewed them as pawns, and while she pretended to treat them humanely, they were still her possessions. She decided when they were allowed to leave, which would coincidentally be when their usefulness ran out.

Gerard and Susanne had known Cleo's mentality since day one of joining her. They'd gradually built up their own team of support for when this moment would come. Over their ten years working for her, they'd gathered thieves, hackers, and con-artists throughout their ranks in the hopes of having a back up plan. Alone, they were no match for their powerful bosses, but together they would stand a chance. Together, they wouldn't have to fear death or imprisonment if they failed.

The plan had been Gerard's to begin with, but Susanne had understood it's importance. He offered the others the chance, and they agreed to it because of her. When she spoke about friendship and being a team, it became real to the others, who had spent most of their lives alone. The kind of people attracted to working for Cleo and Max were mostly loners, and those beaten down by the outside world. People who could not find another outlet for success came to them in the hopes of being given a second chance.

The voices coming from the other room began to rise. Soon, both Cleo and Susanne were shouting at each other. Susanne was desperate now, searching for ways to make Cleo let them go. Cleo was scared, and reaching her breaking point.

"We've been loyal only to you! This has been our only request!"

"Have I not given you enough? I've supported you all these years. You call this loyalty?"

"You promised us a new life! Please, let us go."

Gerard closed his eyes. He'd known all along how this would end. As a thief, he'd learned how to predict outcomes from his decisions. It was survival technique he'd grown accustomed to, and now it was returning to him.

"You want a new life? I'll give it to you!" Cleo was easily playing the victim in the situation. "I'll give your daughter a good life. She can work for me when she gets older. Follow in your footsteps. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Silence followed Cleo's suggestion.

Neither Susanne or Gerard had expected this turn.

If Cleo was going to threaten someone, they thought it would be them. Bringing their daughter into the fight was cruel, which was just what Cleo was aiming for.

Her message wasn't any clearer. She was daring them to leave while she still wanted them here. In the past she'd made it more than clear the span of her influence. If she wanted she could have them hunted down and thrown in prison. There was also the chance that she could kill them, which while unlikely was still an option.

Susanne was sobbing when she replied. "Cleo, don't do this. We don't want to fight you."

Gerard fought the urge to run to her. A deep anger was stirring in his chest at the unfairness of it all. He'd known Cleo was not to be trusted, but this betrayal ran too deep. They'd risked themselves time after time for her whims, and the woman was still unable to give them what they truly wanted.

His wrists grew heavy with the shackles that had just been placed over them. He was clever enough to see the writing on the wall. Their window of freedom has just closed.

Everything was a lie, from the very start.

Sophie squirmed in his arms, and he realized for a long time he hadn't be rocking her. When he glanced down at his daughter, he found her green eyes staring back at him. She'd been awake for some time, watching her father's changing expressions.

He tried to smile for her, but tears welled up in her eyes, like she knew he was lying.

"Everything's okay." He whispered in his soothing voice. Now, he wasn't sure if he was talking to her, or reassuring himself. "Don't worry, little one."

She reached up to hug him close, and his heart melted. Here in his arms were all the reasons he couldn't bare to stay here any longer. Fear consumed him at the thought that this little girl would one day have to face the same shackles he was wearing now.

What if he was arrested on a mission, or worse, killed? What would happen if she had to grow up without her parents because of their professions? Would she still love them, knowing they were criminals?

The innocent child in his arms was so warm and perfect. He couldn't bare to sentence her to this kind of life.

"Time for bed, darling." He lifted her in his arms, and carried her to their bed. Tucking her snuggly under the covers he gave her a soft kiss. He made sure to close the bedroom door so that the remaining conversation from outside could not filter in.

He waited until he was sure Sophie had fallen asleep to pick up the phone on his desk.

He slowly dialed the memorized number with shaking hands. It was three rings before someone picked up.

"It's time." Gerard whispered into the receiver. "If we don't strike now, we'll never have another chance."

*  *  *

"So they told you about their plan?" Sophie was watching Diana with rapt attention.

"The person your father called that night was your grandfather. He passed on the message to me a few days later." Diana's eyes narrowed. "That phone call took place a year before your parents stole from Cleo and Max. For months we were all prepared to fight them. We had everything figured out on how they would escape."

"A year?"

"We spent most of the time waiting and planning. By that point your parents were isolated from us. Cleo moved them to a new location away from the other thieves. The only contact we had with them was through phone calls and letters. Every message we received told us to keep waiting, that it wasn't time yet. One evening, while working on a project for Max, I was informed of their disappearance. A few hours later I learned that paintings in Cleo's most protected vault had vanished."

It was nearly impossible for Sophie to absorb this new information.

"It was very similar to what you went through today with Luke. You found out that Max's house was on fire, and that Luke was behind it. The shock was similar, if not worse on my part. I couldn't imagine your parents taking that big of a risk while thinking about you."

"How did my grandparents come into the picture?"

"Your grandparent's had 'retired' a few weeks earlier. For them, retirement was staying somewhere Cleo and Max knew, while waiting for special requests. They were getting older, and new con artists needed to be trained. They were the first people Cleo went to when her paintings were stolen. By the time she arrived they were already off the map, most likely taking you with them."

"Then, that was it?" Sophie's eyebrows furrowed. "One day they were there, and gone the next?"

"Yes, exactly. You can understand why we were all so shocked. It was so out of character for them." Diana bit her lip, her eyes glazing over momentarily. "I spent the next few years assuming they'd escaped. I was happy for them, thinking they'd done what no one before them could do. I used their example to become a stronger person, and was finally able to stand on my own. Then, almost seven years later..." Her voice trailed off.

"You found out they were murdered?"