“There are still loose ends to take care of but your lack of skills has made it difficult to easily maneuver. We should have had that file back by now, and it’s not. I promise you this,” she said, pointing a short, red nail very close to his face, “If the Circle has gotten back their list…”
“Their list? I thought it belonged to us,” said Richard, before he could catch himself.
“How did you ever get promoted in this organization?” she said, angrily. “The list belongs to the other side but our informants tell us it contains more than just Circle information, which would be valuable enough. Someone has leaked information about our recruits to them. We have enemies among us, you know. Getting that thumb drive would tell us who they are,” she said, looking pointedly at Richard, “as well as break the back of the Circle. Listen to me carefully,” she said, leaning in, “if we miss this opportunity to break into the Circle because of you, I will take care of you personally, again.” She spat the last word out as a sneer.
Robin stepped back and smiled broadly before lumbering through the door and out onto the stage. Richard followed meekly behind her and folded himself into one of the chairs on the stage. He had a smile firmly in place but made a point of not making eye contact with anyone.
Three attempts and he still hadn’t been able to get the file. A Watcher had the file for a moment but before anyone could open it, the McDonough woman had stolen it. That had been the last straw for Richard.
At this point he wasn’t even sure where it was anymore. It had to be quickly travelling back up the ranks of the Circle by now, if it still even existed. Follow Stanley Woermer, Richard thought, wiping away the uncharacteristic sweat that was forming on his brow. He’ll lead me to it.
Chapter Sixteen
“You didn’t mind when I told you about all of this three years ago, Wallis.” It was Julia, slowly walking up behind her in the darkness, moving the straps of her large green Jelly bag further up her shoulder. Bunko was over and everyone was quickly heading home, back to familiar routines.
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember? That time we met at your office and we went for lunch at Appleby’s? I told you about the tea party and what they had offered and you said it sounded nice. Like the old boy network was finally growing up and inviting newcomers. You even congratulated me.”
Wallis had a flicker of a memory about the lunch.
“I know. You weren’t really listening, which is okay,” said Julia, stopping right in front of Wallis. There were tears in her eyes making Wallis regret her words even more. “My life isn’t all that interesting. But I don’t see why you’d suddenly think there was something wrong now just because Roger gets such a nice opportunity. I mean, I know how you feel about the old Richmond crowd, but…”
“It’s not that,” said Wallis, quietly.
“Look, Sam and I will be lucky if we can pay for Roger’s college, and Roger’s a good kid. He deserves to get a chance at whatever he wants to be.”
“That’s kind of my point.”
“And, if taking a little help gets that for him then we’ll swallow our pride and do it.”
Wallis suddenly saw what Julia was getting at and grabbed her hand, squeezing tight. “No, no, Julia. I didn’t mean… Of course I’m happy for any great things that come your way. Roger’s a great kid and you’re doing a great job. You know I wouldn’t judge…”
“Well, I wouldn’t have thought so,” she whimpered.
“No, I wouldn’t,” she said firmly. “But how do you know you’re getting something for nothing? How do you know for sure?”
“We haven’t had to sign anything,” said Julia, “and they gave us a document that says as long as Roger maintains a C average they’ll pay the tuition through high school. We had a lawyer check it out. We’re not liable for anything.” A tear slid down Julia’s cheek.
Wallis hugged Julia close, whispering, “Then why are you so upset?”
“We’re good parents,” said Julia, still in Wallis’ embrace.
Wallis pulled back and looked at Julia’s face.
“I know that. Never doubted it, even for a moment. I am sorry about my tone back there. Chalk it up to my annual outburst. Look, I’ll come to the tea and make nice. Okay?”
Julia smiled, a tear getting caught in her lips. “Okay, but without the lawyerly interrogation. It’s a tea, deal?”
“Yeah, deal.”
Wallis knew Julia wasn’t telling her everything but didn’t know how far in Julia had already gotten herself, or Roger, and couldn’t risk telling Julia anything just yet.
What more is there to know, she thought.