“I do. Because you should know all of it.” Rustling sounds overwhelm the connection, and then he clears his throat. “Two months before he died, he’d made a mistake—one call on an unencrypted line, and that was enough for us to confirm he was working for the Loma Collectivo.
“If he’d stepped foot back on U.S. soil, he never would have seen the sun again. And he knew it. So he sent me an email. Only a handful of people in the entire world could have traced that message, but we had one on our team. Gil was counting on it. He wanted to lead us into a trap.”
“Heplannedon torturing you?” I choke back my sob as the true horrors of my brother’s actions sink in.
“I think so.” Austin swallows hard enough I can hear it, then continues. “The three guys he was working with all kept their faces covered. But not Gil. He wanted me to know he was in charge. That he was going to kill me. But he was going to make me suffer first.”
A single tear hovers at the corner of my right eye, and I refuse to let it fall as my brother’s voice drops to a hoarse whisper.
“That note he sent you? He only told you part of the story, squirt. Everything he did? Turning on the CIA, torturing me, almost killing Trevor? It was all because of what happened between his father and your birth mother.”
I don’t know that I can handle any more revelations tonight, but Austin’s never been this open with me about his days in Venezuela, despite how many times I asked him why Gil did what he did.
“What about her? All Gil ever said was that she left Venezuela when she was pregnant with me. I always knew we had different birth fathers, but he never told me why.”
“Are you sure you want to hear this, Dani? It’s not a good story.”
The hesitation in my brother’s tone just makes me more determined to find out the truth. “Yes.”
“Gil’s father, Jorge Sosa, kidnapped Kate Martinez from a beach resort in Aruba where she was celebrating spring break with friends. She was twenty-one. A creative writing major at Loyola. She wasn’t his lover, Dani. She was his prisoner. For six years. Luis Rojas was one of the asshole’s muscle men, and he and your mother fell in love. When she got pregnant with you, Luis helped her escape back to the United States.”
“Oh, God. So Gil’s father blamedme. It was my fault...”
“No! Dani, don’t go there. You can’t be at fault when you weren’t even born yet. Jorge Sosa is the one you should blame. A month before that unencrypted phone call, a Special Forces team dispatched to Venezuela to help ensure fair and democratic elections killed him. I think that’s what set Gil off.”
I can’t respond, but I’m pretty sure Austin can hear me lose the battle to keep my breathing steady.
“Gil wasn’t stable, sis. Not by a long shot. There’s no way he could have held anything but hatred for Luis Rojas. From the little I was able to get out of him while he was…working on me, Rojas stayed with Sosa for another fifteen years after he helped Kate flee, then turned on him and joined the Democrática Resistencia. My guess? Gil sent you that flash drive just to fuck with your head. Don’t let him.”
“Too late,” I manage. “Are you sure? What if you’re wrong?”
Pull yourself together, Dani. Now. You have a job to do.
“I’m not.” Austin sounds so sure, I believe him, which only makes me more determined to see this through.
“Then I have to do this. I have to meet Luis and tell his story.”
A sigh carries over the line. “I know. I wish you weren’t going. Or that you’d decided to expose corruption in a slightly safer country. Iraq maybe. Somalia. Afghanistan. Anywhere besides Venezuela. But if you had, you wouldn’t be...you.You’re the best damn investigative journalist I’ve ever known.”
“Hardly,” I snort.
“You broke the story of the German Ambassador spying for the Russians. You were the only one who saw the connection between Jessup, Parr, and Caroline Phillips. If you hadn’t, Trev wouldn’t have been able to find out they were after Ripper. Hell, if it weren’t for you, JSOC would have had so much egg on our faces, we’d never have been able to see the frying pan we were in, let alone make an omelet.”
“I only broke that story because you gave it to me.” I let my gaze soften, the city lights twinkling like little stars.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re the one who helped me figure out what the fuck those two were doing in the first place. You’ve always been brilliant, Dani. If you’d listened to me years ago, had come with me to the CIA, you’d be in charge of this place now instead of me.”
An uneasy laugh escapes. “Like anyone would have trusted me again after what Gil did.” As soon as I say the words, I regret them. “Austin, I’m—“
“Don’t. I fought my way back from that shit, and you would have too.” His voice takes on a resigned tone. “I’ve got to go. My wakeup call is at seven. You check in while you’re in Venezuela. Everysingleday. And listen to Trevor. He knows his shit. Do you understand?”
“I understand. Thanks, Austin. Love you.”
“Love you too, sis.”
After we end the call, I still can’t muster the energy to get up. Instead, I lie in bed, turning the flash drive over and over in my fingers until my eyelids are too heavy to keep open. I can pack in the morning.
* * *
