Father
Chapter One
Rudy stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, at the file in front of him. Disbelief didn't begin to cover it. "Is this for real?" he asked Oscar slowly. With the recent re-structuring of the NSB, new information on Jaime's background had been culled from its long forgotten files and was now sitting before them in stark black and white.
"Hansen didn't write it," Oscar surmised, "so I suppose it's true."
"Does...Jaime know?"
"I doubt it, and I don't see that it would serve any purpose to tell her now." Oscar glanced at Rudy, then looked closer. He was far more affected by the news than he normally should have been. "Rudy...?" Oscar asked searchingly.
"Jaime's mother was almost two months pregnant when she married James Sommers," Rudy repeated slowly to himself. "My God..."
"It was a long term relationship, and they did get married. I don't see where there's a problem," Oscar stated, eying his friend curiously. Rudy was still staring at the file and his face had blanched to pale white. "What is it?" Oscar asked, getting worried now.
"Anne was...on a mission in Austria...while I was studying there. We met at a cafe for coffee – two Americans out of their element but making the best of it, you know..." Rudy did some quick calculations in his head and tried to figure out the right way to say what had taken him so thoroughly off guard. "We got to know each other fairly quickly – became very close..."
Oscar frowned. "What are you getting at?"
"It was two months before she married James. Oscar...I could be Jaime's father!"
--
Jaime had no idea what was taking place in Oscar's office; she had far greater things to be worried about. Her current mission had been going well. She had located and single-handedly destroyed a terror cell's base nestled on the edge of Death Valley. She'd already radioed news of her success to Oscar and was happily awaiting the chopper that would take her back to Los Angeles when she was grabbed from behind and overpowered by chloroform. She opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by white-hot sand and not much of anything else, just in time to see a man raise a gun from the back of a retreating jeep. She faded from consciousness before she felt the burning pain in her side or saw the second bullet rip through her leg.
Now that she was fully awake, Jaime knew she was in serious trouble. She had no idea where in the desert she actually was, and the sun reflecting off the sand was enough to nearly blind her. How long had she been unconscious? She had no provisions with her, not even a compass; she'd been on her way home! Her throat was parched and her head was spinning as she tried to struggle to her feet, only to find she wouldn't be going anywhere soon. It wasn't until she fell back onto the sand that she realized she was bleeding...
--
"Rudy, are you sure?" Oscar asked incredulously.
"Positive? No, but the dates match up. How can I tell Jaime? Should I tell her? I mean, what point is there in destroying her sense of who she is – who her family is? Still, I never had children of my own, and I'd like to know...if it really is true." Rudy buried his face in his hands as he tried to figure out what to do. "I have Jaime's DNA on file. I suppose I could run a test, compare it to mine. I wouldn't have to tell her...but I just don't know -"
The buzz of Oscar's intercom put a temporary end to the conversation. "Yes, Callahan?" he answered brusquely.
"Line Two, Mr. Goldman – it's urgent."
Oscar picked up the phone and his face quickly paled to match Rudy's. "What? When? What do you mean, you can't find her? Find her!" Oscar slammed down the phone and sighed heavily. "We've got big problems," he told Rudy. "It's Jaime. I just spoke with her an hour ago, and she was waiting for the chopper to bring her back. It was due any minute. That was the pilot; she wasn't at the pick-up point or anywhere in the area. He's been circling for more than half an hour and can't find a trace of her. Rudy...Jaime's missing."
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