Chapter 9
Zozo didn't know what he wanted to do. He could either bash the stupid imbecile's head in with a candlestick and have his other men clean-up the mess or fire him and turn him into a fall guy. Either way Hodor better find another person to fill his ranks because this screw-up wasn't going to go unnoticed.
"Get him out of my sight," growled Zozo and Hodor motioned for his other man to grab the kid who had shot Gold and throw the kid out.
"You have to clean this up Hodor," said Zozo. "I don't care how, just clean it up. That imbecile is to be taken care of before sunrise, am I clear?"
"Yes, Mr. Greene," replied Hodor and to his last man, he nodded and the two were left alone.
"You should have gone with them in the first place!" hissed Zozo. "I've told you before Hodor! If we want to make sure our plans work perfectly, we have to be part of it altogether. Look how Ethan Dove played out? Now, we have a problem on our sides."
"I'm sure young Mr. Oz can deal with our little mishap," replied Hodor.
"Little mishap?" challenged Zozo. "This isn't just about the Times, Hodor. Think! Peter Malcolm might just withdraw his support because of this!"
"Or be afraid that you will push through with your threat," countered Hodor. "Mr. Greene with all due respect-"
"It's my name on the line here, Hodor, not yours," came the reply and Hodor had to bow down his head at the tone. No one messed with Greene when he was in this mood...well no one who lived to tell the tale about it. "I will do the thinking thank you very much."
Hodor swallowed and prepared for the worst. But Zozo sighed and sank down on his desk chair. "I trust that even with this turn of events, your men still did as they were tasked."
"Yes," came the quick reply. "Mr. Oz has confirmed it as well. The package was delivered."
"Good," replied Zozo, rubbing a tired hand over his face. "At least they did their job."
He looked at Hodor straight in the eye. "Make sure this doesn't link back to us, Hodor." He stared down his man. "Or else."
"Yes, Mr. Greene," managed Hodor, knowing fully well that was a dismissal. He gently bowed his head and left the study, already having a plan in motion.
Zozo on the other hand was still too stressed with recent events. He sat on his desk chair for quite sometime, not even noticing his wife enter his study until she all but pushed his chair.
"You won't be able to do anything if you just stare blankly into space, Zozo," said Mrs. Greene as she took her husband's hand and dragged him out of his chair.
"You can say it if you want," replied Zozo as he stood. "You were right, again."
"I'm not in the habit of saying 'I told you so' my dear," replied Mrs. Greene but after a beat she added, "But I did warn you about things not going according to plan."
Zozo groaned as his wife led him to the tray of drinks and poured him one. "As long as Hodor cleans this up, everyone can they think whatever they want to think. They won't be able to pin anything on me."
"I hope for your sake, that will come true."
Even with a splitting headache, Adam couldn't bring himself to sleep, or even rest for that matter. His mind was throwing ideas one over the other and it was hard to keep up. Luckily his phone still had some battery and there he was typing furiously some notes he could manage.
Why would someone attempt breaking into the archives of the Times? It's not like there's anything valuable stored there or any information that could be worth millions to anyone. Were these people targeting the Times itself? Who would do such a thing? The interview with Greene ended alright and Adam didn't give the man any excuse to attack them.
Then why?
Gold stopped typing and his gaze was far away. None of it made sense...yet. But it will eventually once he could think straight and not have the nagging pain in the side of his skull to occupy his thoughts.
He was missing a very important piece of the puzzle. This could be connected to Greene or it could be a bigger conspiracy that he has yet to uncover...either way this wasn't going to be shelved.
"Is this a bad time?" came the voice from the door and Gold finally looked up to see Peter Malcolm hovering by the door to his hospital room. It looked like he had knocked but Gold was too engrossed in his thoughts to have heard the gesture.
"No...not at all," Adam managed, after getting over his surprise. "Why can I do for you minister?"
"Nothing, actually," came the reply as Malcolm slowly entered the room. "Felix had a bad case of the flu and I brought him over just to be on the safe side and I happen to notice a lot of people from the Times in the waiting area." He stopped and studied the man on the bed, noticing the bandage wrapped around his head. "I thought they were just covering some story but I met Blue in the lobby and she informed me of what had happened." He paused and Adam waited to see if the man was going to say anything more.
"Are you alright?" Was the last thing Adam had expected the minister would say next.
"Um," began Adam, surprise evident in his face. "Yes, fine as I can be given the circumstances." He was at a loss on what to say next. There were only a select few who really did care about Adam's wellbeing and it was a surprise to have a complete stranger show any concern for him. Especially one he has had the unfortunate incident of facing in a heated argument due to an article.
The silence stretched and Adam swallowed before finally thinking of something say, "I hope Felix is alright."
"Yes, just precaution," replied Malcolm, standing awkwardly a good distance from Gold's bed. "Better to be safe than sorry, I believe."
Gold was again at a loss for words. He never interacted with Malcolm outside a professional capacity so he had no experience on what the man was truly like...only Blue's stories of the man.
"I never got to thank you for that piece you're doing of me," began Malcolm anew. "I never would have expected you would feature the likes of me actually."
"Well I've told you before how I admire your program for out of school youth, minister," began Adam, finally landing on some familiar grounds with the minister. "Those boys didn't have anyone looking out for them, more so for their education but you fought for them to have that right."
"Someone needed to look out for those youth that are lost," replied Malcolm, offering Gold a small smile. "I am thankful that you are alright Mr. Gold." Another silence settled between them, not as awkward as the one before but still not bearable. "I should leave you to rest."
Before Adam could say anything else, the man left the room, Adam's gaze following him until he was only staring at the empty doorway. He shifted his gaze, as more questions bombarded his mind. Of course the person with all the answers was standing outside his room.
"How much did you hear?" called Gold and he waited a few seconds before Harry Doon entered his room, hands inside his coat pockets, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Glad, Malcolm didn't see you lurking about. You could have been more subtle."
"I'll consider that the concussion talking and not hold it against you," replied Harry as he took the only chair in the room and placed it right next to Adam's bed. "He was too much inside his head to have noticed me standing right outside. Sure looked like he was distracted with something."
"Maybe what's eating him is what Greene has on him," replied Adam, studying the other man. "Which I am also guessing was the topic of our failed meeting tonight."
"Last night," corrected Harry as he leaned back on the chair. "Aren't you a tiny bit curious why he looked in on you?"
Adam remained silent and Harry took that as a yes. "I'm positive almost everyone knows you're little war with Greene and even the politicians are trying to stay out of it. Peter Malcolm may suspect that it was Greene who is responsible for what happened to you and he's looking at how much damage can the man create."
Adam remained silent as he digested the information Harry was giving him. "Now why would he do something like that," continued Harry, hinting at something and Adam didn't have the energy to play mind games with him right now.
"I have a headache of massive proportions Harry," whined Adam. "I really have no time for your tricks.
"Come now, Adam," replied Harry. "I'm sure you're oh so curious."
"I'm more interested in what you found out, to be honest," came the reply and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Never one for patience, were you Adam," said Harry but nevertheless continued. "Malcolm had the Darling brothers do a background check on someone. No idea who yet." He quickly added as Adam opened his mouth to ask. "Working on it. But the interesting part is, they also ordered a DNA test."
"Now," continued Harry. "You're the journalist, tell me...why would someone have another person investigated and looked into, not just historically and biologically as well?"
Adam remained silent. So that was what it was. Greene didn't have something on Malcolm...he had someone.
"So what are we looking at?" asked Adam. "Long lost sibling? Someone that could ruin Malcolm's already established life?"
"I don't think so," replied Harry. "The bits of information I managed to hear, the person he's been keeping tabs on is younger than him by a long shot."
Adam's eyes widened at Harry previous words earlier. "Malcolm was checking on me because he was trying to see what Greene is capable of."
"See the bump on your head didn't knock the intelligence out of you," said Harry playfully, resulting in a glare aimed his way. "I'm not really sure yet if Greene already has Malcolm's child, if it's really a child anyway. I'm working on pure speculation as we speak given the information I have."
"Here I thought you were going to be some actual use this time around, Harry," chided Gold as he gave the man an amused smile and Harry just glared at him. "What's your next move?"
"Well," began Harry. "This little chase has peeked my interest so I'm going to keep at it. I'll focus on the child front. But I'll keep my options open." He stopped and his gaze was far away. "What was the name of Blue and Malcolm's mutual friend again?"
"Vivienne Avalon," replied Gold. "Died in a car crash about 40 years ago in the UK."
"Rules her out then," said Harry. "I doubt Malcolm would have left her if he had known."
"Maybe he did," replied Adam, some things about the minister becoming clearer to him. "Maybe his education programs are rooted in a deep sense of making things right to abandoned boys and girls because he did it himself."
"What would you have done in his place?" asked Harry, turning the tables on him.
"You know what," replied Adam sharply. "Never did it cross my mind nor Milah's to leave Bae and have someone else raise him."
"There's your answer then," replied Harry. "Look I'm not the biggest Peter Malcolm supporter, but based on what we have found out, it looks like he only did find out about this child of his recently and he tried to keep it quiet but eventually Greene found out."
"Either the Darlings couldn't keep their mouths shut or the mother spoke up," concluded Adam.
"We do crazy things for our family, Adam," replied Harry. "Looking at Malcolm, I think he's just trying to protect Felix from finding out what had happened and to protect his child from being dragged into his complicated life."
"Add dangerous to that," said Adam. "If Greene has threatened him, why not just go to the police and not tell Felix. I'm sure Graham can be trusted with discretion."
"Who knows why," replied Harry, stifling a yawn as he looked back at his watch. "And here I thought I could actually get a good night's rest." He turned to Adam. "Your best friend ruined something for me...and I was damn close to actually having a dream come true."
Adam raised a questioning eyebrow his way and Harry sighed. "Zelena Greene was at the Crossroads when you stood me up."
"Was she now?" came the smug reply and Harry had to bite back a groan. "Anything that will take her mind off her infatuation with me, I'm all for it."
"Her only flaw," said Harry. "Having a crush on someone like you."
"Is that jealousy I hear Harry?" teased Gold with a bigger smug smile. "I'm sure give her some time and push your charm level to a hundred percent and Zelena Greene will be just as madly in love with you as you are with her."
"I-"
"Don't deny it Harry," cut off Gold with a smug smile. "You've fallen, my friend. Fallen hard."
Harry glared at him but eventually sighed in resignation. "Nothing can ever get past you, does it Adam?"
Adam laughed. "Let's just say with affairs of the heart, I speak from recent experience."
"Is he alright?"
"He is." replied Malcolm as he talked to Wendy over the phone. He was right outside Felix's trauma room, speaking to Whale. "He's doing better than anyone would expect after getting a bullet graze."
"You think Greene did this?" asked Wendy, barely above a whisper.
"To be honest," began Malcolm. "I don't think it was his intention. By the looks of it, some men wanted to something from the Times' archives and from what I gather, Adam and his staff have been trying to dig up something on Greene ever since one of their own was attacked."
They remained silent for a while until Wendy broke it with another question. "What do you want to do?"
Malcolm sighed and turned to the open door and saw Felix and Whale were still talking. "I couldn't stop myself from checking if he was alright...I just had to see for myself."
"It's understandable what you did, Peter," began Wendy.
"But I may have just gotten his life in danger," hissed Malcolm, his anger towards Greene escalating. "I want you to set up a meeting with Greene this week Wendy. He thinks he has one up on me, but he should be warned that I never fail when I put my mind to it and I plan to protect my own, no matter what."
Over the phone, Wendy smiled. That was the Peter Malcolm she knew. "On it. Tell Felix to take it easy for me.'
"I will," replied Malcolm as Whale exited the room and nodded towards him. "Let's move our office hours later to around 10. But setting up that meet with Greene is a priority."
They said their goodbyes and Malcolm pocketed his phone just as he entered Felix's room. "All set?"
"Yes," replied Felix with a small smile. "I might not be able to help you the next couple of days. I'll just forward to Wendy alll your priority meetings and the other things that need to be handled this week."
"I'm sure Wendy and I will be able to take care of things," said Malcolm as he helped Felix to his feet. His partner was still feverish, and his touch was still very warm.
"Victor told me that Blue was here, with the rest of the Times," began Felix as they headed for their hospital entrance where Malcolm had already asked one of his aides to drive them back home. "Was there anyone we know that was injured?"
"Not a politician if that's what you're thinking," replied Malcolm. "Someone broke into the Times' Archive and in their haste managed to injure Adam Gold."
'Is he all right?" asked Felix, concern lining his voice. "I've met him a few times and he's a decent fellow, very passionate with his line of work...I guess you two have that in common."
"Uh-huh," swallowed Malcolm and offering Felix a small smile. "I believe he is on his way to a speedy recovery."
"Then good news all around," replied Felix. "I'm sure you'll be seeing him often enough with your last few days on the job. He wrote that wonderful piece on your program for the youth if I remember correctly."
"That he did," replied Malcolm, his thoughts far away…not just a question of where, but also when. "I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of Adam in the near future."
