Dictator s Daughter (32 page)

The doctor closed the door and walked to each
window and shut the blinds. Sean watched him curiously, not
understanding why he would do such a thing. Then it hit him,
Eliwese was dying. The doctor was creating a peaceful room for her
to slip away and for him to grieve in private.

“She is the strongest willed young lady I’ve
ever met.” Dr. Tindel stated humbly.

“Yes, she is.”

“She is a fighter and I’m honored to have
known her.”

Sean didn’t answer. His voice didn’t work, he
could only nod.

“I’ll leave you two alone now. I’m sure she
has much to say to you.” Sean was confused at this statement.

Once the door shut, Eliwese squeezed Sean’s
hand. Sean had been focusing on the doctor and hadn’t noticed
Eliwese was awake.

“Hey,” he said softly with a smile, “how do
you feel?”

“You were very brave at the library, Sean. I
just wanted you to know.” She sounded so weak and frail.

“Thanks. You weren’t so bad yourself.” He
tried lightening the mood. “Dr. Tindel is going to get you better
and we’ll get you out of here before you—”

“That’s not going to happen, Sean.” She
closed her eyes and took a slow deep breath.

“Sure it will. You are strong and you’re
going to pull through this. You’ve been through so much worse…” his
voice caught in his throat.

“I’ve gone as far as I’m going to go with
this. There is nothing more to do. In a short while, I’ll be
free.”

Sean pleaded with her. “Please don’t talk
like that.”

“You freed me, Sean,” she whispered and he
scooted closer to her; he needed to be closer to her. “Never forget
it.”

“We will be free, on a beautiful Caribbean
island. We’ll make a new life there and your father will never find
us!”

“I’m not worried about my father anymore. I’m
worried about you.”

“No, don’t waste your energy worrying about
me. Save your strength.”

“Sean, I have to tell you something and I’m
worried you won’t want me after I tell you.” Her tone had changed.
It alarmed Sean, though, he didn’t know why.

“Eliwese, nothing you could say would make me
not want you. I’ve wanted you in my life since the day I found out
you were a girl and then retroactively to the first time we talked
about Chandra. I feel like I’ve known you forever. I love you and
nothing you say or do would ever change that.”

“Thank you, Sean. I love you too. I guess
that’s why I worry because I don’t want to lose you.”

“Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Sean, would you still love me if I
disappointed you?” she asked him.

“Of course, but you never could.”

“Would you still love me if I deceived
you?”

“Yes. But why would you ask such a
thing?”

“Because I have deceived you Sean; but not
maliciously. Can you forgive an unmalicious deception, if that’s
even a word?”

“Yes,” he answered but with a wavering in his
voice. His face was heating up with fear and his mind racing. Is
this the part where she says she is a spy?

The door opened and the doctor entered. He
didn’t seem rushed or hurried or alarmed. He merely entered and
existed in the same space as them.

“Sean,” Eliwese asked, “can you help me sit
up?”

He did as she asked and propped pillows
behind her. She motioned for him to sit with her on the bed. He
did.

“I knew my father would keep me at the mall
the moment I realized how hard the blackmail video hit him and I
suspected it would work that way from the beginning. I pleaded with
you to not try and save me. I wanted you to go with your family and
stick to the plan of leaving the country, but more than anything, I
wanted to tell you I had a backup plan. I couldn’t because my
father put a wire on me.”

Sean was confused. “You had a backup plan and
didn’t tell me about it at the hotel?”

“I’m sorry, Sean. Dr. Randall insisted on the
secrecy, he figured the blackmail plan would work and the
alternative plan wouldn’t be necessary. When we arrived in town
yesterday, we stopped by this hospital and set everything up in
case the meeting went sour. I think he worried about implicating
the hospital staff which would place targets on their heads.

“No one could have guessed my father would
wire so much money; that was his mistake. I would have never
guessed you would try to use it to blackmail my father. I told you
to leave and head north, to not waste your time with me, but you
had to be the hero.

“When my father sent me in the library, he
told me you had just signed my death warrant. I thought for sure we
were going to die and I was a little angry with you for not
following my instructions and leaving town. But you pulled it off
and it seemed we would make a clean get-away. Plus, Riley was taken
out, in all his splendor. I couldn’t have planned it better
myself.

“I knew you were feeling pretty good at that
moment, thinking we were escaping, but I knew differently. I
realized my father would be hot on our heels and we didn’t stand a
chance of escaping, especially with his money. So, as we left the
library I swallowed one of these.” She reached over to the side
table and picked up a capsule. “It caused me to vomit what looked
like blood.”

“What are you saying?”

“I deceived you into thinking I was dying
when I’m actually not.”

“You’re not dying? You’re faking this?” He
was flabbergasted.

“This eye here is make-up.” She tugged and
pulled the putty and coloring from her eye. “These bruises are
real,” pointing to her arms and cheek.

“You weren’t beaten last night?”

“Oh, I was. I have a cracked rib if you want
to see the x-ray to prove it,”

Sean shook his head while all sorts of
emotions raced through his body.

She must have sensed his befuddlement and she
added, “I took the blood pill because the time was right to take my
father down.”

“You could have told me what was going
on.”

“You barely wanted to stop so I could vomit.
Do you really think if I told you I wanted to go meet with the
police, you would have turned around? You would have insisted on
waiting ‘till the next town. The window of opportunity would have
closed; my father would have had time to cross the border.”

Sean knew it was true. “You wanted to talk to
the police?”

“The last two hours have been spent in an
operating room but not for surgery, instead I held a meeting with
the police and investigators and your government’s special task
force. They have wanted a valid reason to arrest my father for some
time and now they have it. I also turned my story over to the
network-broadcasting people. I answered their questions for their
verification. It’s breaking news as we speak with the whole story
hitting the five o’clock news.”

“So, what was the escape plan?”

“Well, naturally I would have swallowed a
capsule which would have landed me here and in surgery for the
‘abdominal bleeding’. The fake surgery would last five hours which
would be enough time to transport me by helicopter beyond the
reaches of my father. By the time he would have found out I left
the hospital, I would be boarding a plane to the Caribbean”

Sean sat staring off into nothingness, trying
to wrap his mind around the situation.

“So, I need to ask you, Sean. Will you
forgive me?” Her voice had worry in it again and he looked at her
with a soft smile.

“Eliwese, you don’t need to ask for my
forgiveness because you’ve done nothing wrong. You made a judgment
call the same way I did. We’ve had to deceive all along the way in
order to succeed. So the real question is did we succeed?”

“Yes. My father was arrested at the border
and is being brought back here to the jail. Any moment longer and
he would have been able to cross the border into his safe realm. We
waited to get you until we knew the outcome of it all. I’m sorry
for leaving you alone with such a burden of stress, but I wanted to
protect you and your family from the onslaught of the media.”

The doctor coughed and brought the attention
to him. “Eliwese, tell me what we’re going to do now. Are you
leaving or staying?”

“I want to see him behind bars and
imprisoned.”

“I’ll make some calls.” Dr. Tindel left the
room.

Eliwese turned to Sean. “I need to see him
imprisoned. I hope you can understand, Sean.”

“I understand. You need that cathartic moment
where you see the tables turned, where he is the prisoner and you
are free.”

“Are you upset with me, Sean?”

“No. How could I ever be upset with you? You
are the best thing to ever happen to me. You make me want to be a
better person. Besides, you are the only one who can properly
insult my brother. Why would I ever be upset with you? Except if
you revealed you really were a spy all along.”

“Noted. I’ll never tell you that.”

“How hard would it be to get out of your
marriage to Prince What’s-His-Face?”

“Probably not too hard, why?”

“I think you know why.” Sean took both her
hands in his and kissed them gently, and then leaned forward and
kissed her sweet lips.

“Eliwese,” The doctor put his head in the
door of her room, “your father will be arriving at the jail in
twenty minutes. I’ve arranged for you to see him once he’s
processed.”

“Thank you.”

Sean’s concern rose. “I have to say I don’t
agree with you going to the jailhouse. I think your life could be
in danger just being around him. I’d say wait ‘till he is settled
in a secure place with adequate security.”

“I appreciate your concern, Sean, but I still
want to go now.”

“Alright.”

Eliwese hurried out of bed and began changing
back into her clothes.

Sean’s cell rang with Ryan’s incoming
call.

“How is she doing?”

Sean watched her dress herself with care.
“She’s going to live.”

“Of course she is. She’s tough.”

“Yes, she is. Ryan, it looks like we will be
staying here for a little while. Eliwese needs to do one more
thing.”

“What’s that?”

“See her father behind bars. She turned him
in and he’s been arrested.”

Sean had to pull the phone away from his ear
as Ryan joyfully announced to his mother and sister the news.

“Oh, tell him about Riley,” Eliwese said.

Ryan heard her voice. “What about Riley?”

“He’s dead.”

“No shit. How?”

“I’ll tell you later, alright?”

“Should we come back there?”

“Well, I guess you could come back here,”

“No,” Eliwese interjected, “tell him your
father is waiting at the General Hospital in Densfield. Dr. Randall
made arrangements for your father when we were here making the
other preparations. We will be along after a little while and, in
fact, we will arrive at the hospital before they do because we’re
taking the helicopter—my father’s personal helicopter. I know the
pilot. I had him fly over from Rendier yesterday as part of my
back-up plan.”

Sean relayed the news to Ryan and bid him
farewell and a safe drive. Then they departed for the jail.

The media spectacle that had gathered in
front of the station house was incredible. Dr. Tindel had arranged
for Sean and Eliwese to enter through the back and as expected an
officer stood waiting for them.

Once inside, Eliwese and Sean were checked
for weapons and led to the visiting booth where they waited for
nearly an hour.

Rawlings was ushered in and Sean looked him
over. The confident man who’d sat across the table in the mall
surrounded by his goons was gone and replaced with a scared guy in
an orange jumpsuit surrounded by police. The once feared leader was
now a defeated man, and no more powerful than his attire was
stunning.

Eliwese stared at her father for several long
minutes before she picked up her receiver. He picked up his end and
she took a deep slow breath and said, “Father, you have only
enemies and no friends. Many of your enemies live in Baylend now,
thanks to Riley. Too bad this is where you’ll stand trial. Your
life is empty of accomplishments, save one: you taught me how to
destroy you. You will only be remembered as a ruthless, heartless
dictator and you will die a lonely man. If there is an afterlife, I
hope the many people you ordered killed will be waiting for you on
your way to hell. I don’t envy you father, and I don’t love you. I
will stand and testify against you in court, and I will rejoice,
like millions of others in this world, the day I hear of your
death.”

She hung up the phone and stared at him
through the glass. His voice was muffled to an almost inaudible
level as he yelled at his daughter. The arteries in his neck jutted
out in protest to his sudden rise in blood pressure. His words were
unrecognizable but the desperation behind them connected with
Sean.

They exited the jail house through the way
they had entered. The media circus was none the wiser. They drove
to the airport in silence. Sean was so proud of her and her
courage.

Sean came to the conclusion courage is not
something you’re born with and you don’t simply acquire it along
the way. You have to build courage, slice by slice, bit by bit,
until you have a solid wall of it; and Eliwese was the epitome of
courage. Her life had demanded she build her wall or perish.
Through this whole ordeal, he had built on his own stack of courage
within himself. Even Ryan had begun building his courage; yes,
there was hope for him after all.

They arrived at the airport and were escorted
to the waiting helicopter. The pilot greeted her and helped her
inside. He shook Sean’s hand and gave him a nod of approval.

Eliwese sat in the plush seat and the
emotional storm began to rage. Sean sat down beside her and pulled
her into an embrace, careful not to squeeze her ribs. She tried to
fight off the emotion that wanted out, but it was useless to
bother. She wrapped her arms around Sean and let it out.