Chapter 11
Although Richard wasn't hurt, thanks to Kate, the doctor insisted on keeping him in a room for observation, because the FBI was going to meet him and investigate Alexis's case, accompanied by the police, because of the damage he had caused in the avenue.
Richard walked from side to side, thinking of his friends from CIA and other agencies, wanting to ask for their help. His daughter had been kidnapped and Kate hadn't returned yet, and he doubted she would reappear, because the way he had treated her.
"Kate, if you're here, turn up, please... I'm sorry for mistreating you..." He said sadly, looking around, his eyes filling with tears for their losses that day.
Little did he know that Kate had returned and was at his side, invisible and ashamed for not saving Alexis, although deep inside she knew that she had done all she could, exhausting herself. It hurt to see him in such pain and it hurt even more imagining how scared Alexis must be. She started to appear for Richard, when a male voice said:
"Hey, get ready."
Richard looked at the door, where an old but strong man came in, closing the door behind him. He wore a blazer and carried a hand bag with him. Richard found him slightly familiar, and asked, frowning:
"Who are you?"
"Listen, we don't have time for presentations now my boy, just call me Hunt." It was all he said as he picked up Richard's change of clothes that was there and threw at him. "We have to go."
"Go where? I won't go out with someone I've just met, my daughter has been kidnapped!" He exclaimed, throwing the clothes on the bed and crossing his arms.
Kate watched Hunt cautiously, but something told her that he wasn't dangerous. The man sighed, putting a hand to his forehead and glancing toward the door, knowing that at any time the FBI would come.
"We have no time, if you want to save Alexis you need to move and move now, there isn't much that the FBI can do for her!"
"What do you know about my daughter? Do you know where she is?" Richard asked desperate for any piece of information, but Hunt pointed to the clothes.
"I speak and you dress." Not having much choice, Richard began to dress himself while the man turned his back to him and said: "Your daughter was taken to Paris by Gregory Volkov's henchmen."
"Who is Volkov? And how do you know about my daughter?"
"I'll tell you in the way, we have no time. You want to save your daughter, regardless of any risk?"
"Of course!" Richard exclaimed angrily, his eyes burning with determination to find his little girl and then he picked up a paper, leaving a note for his mother, just giving a clue about Paris.
"Then let's go!"
Hunt opened the door, motioning for him to follow him and Richard looked once more to the room, when Kate whispered in his ear:
"We will save her."
"Kate..."
She gave him a small smile as she pushed him toward Hunt. Part of her was still hurt with his words and losing Alexis, and Richard, embarrassed by shouting at her.
But just as she appeared, she became invisible again, but this time against her will. What was happening to her? Was it the result for breaking the rules? She closed her eyes tightly, concentrating, but realized he still couldn't see her.
Richard frowned, not understanding why she was gone again, but there was no time because Hunt rushed him, guiding them through the emergency exit, reaching a deserted street behind the hospital with the angel following them.
"To where?" The writer asked, still concerned about the sudden disappearance of Kate.
"I have a jet waiting for us around here."
"And how are we going to France without documents, passports?"
"I already have everything under control." Hunt assured, smiling.
There was a black car stopped there, where the old man guided Richard and soon they were in a warehouse where a jet was waiting and Richard couldn't help but say:
"This is just like one of my books."
Inside the jet, there was a small table where Hunt opened a map of Paris, attached with a photo of Alexis and Volkov. Richard frowned, taking the picture of Alexis, from the day he had taken the girl to the park, and he turned to the man suspiciously:
"Why do you have a picture of my daughter?" Hunt started to interrupt him, but Richard cut him irritated by the lack of information: "How can I trust you if you've been watching Alexis?!"
The man took the picture from Richard's hand and then pulled out from his wallet another picture showing Richard when he was at the age of Alexis, in front of his school with Martha. Richard shook his head, unable to understand and Hunt placed a hand on his shoulder, breathing deeply and saying seriously:
"Richard, I am your father."
Richard stared at him, not knowing what to say and Kate was surprised by the revelation, now noting the similarity between the two.
The man's eyes seemed to glow and then his son hugged him, still shocked. It was a short hug, where both tried not to get too emotional and when they parted, Hunt said:
"While I've been away, I never stopped keeping an eye on you, on your mother and my granddaughter."
"But why you never showed up?" He asked curious and a little disappointed, for the years he had spent trying to figure out who would be his father.
"I was a CIA agent, they didn't allow me to be with other people." He revealed bitterly and Richard gaped at the news that his newfound father was a CIA agent.
"You're a spy?"
Kate rolled her eyes. With so many questions, it was obvious that this would be the first one that he would ask.
"When I met your mother, I fell in love and I was ready to drop the CIA. But I couldn't, because the next day I was recruited for an important mission and only a year later, I found out about you. So whenever I could, I would come and watch you two from afar. Remember that book 'Casino Royale'?"
"It was you!" He exclaimed, remembering the day he received the book that inspired him to be a writer. "That's what inspired me to write about Storm."
"And thanks to me that you got information from CIA for your books."
There were so many things that Richard wanted to ask his father, but he had to concentrate on the mainly one:
"But why did they take Alexis? What's the point?" She was only five years and Richard didn't know who Gregory Volkov was.
"Revenge. He wants to reach me hurting you and my granddaughter."
Seeing the panic in his face's son, Hunt squeezed his shoulder and then told him that they had little time and couldn't panic, they needed to create a strategy to save Alexis and with that, the two returned to focus on the map.
Kate was standing next to Richard, angry and in tears. She couldn't appear to him or touch him. She wanted to have said at least how much she loved him, there in the hospital, when he had seen her for the last time, so they wouldn't be as hurt as they were now. She ran a hand through his hair, but he couldn't feel it and the angel ran a hand through her own face desperately, when the jet began to land and Hunt and Richard rose, packing their things.
