Shauna let me simmer about the video until we got to the airport where she revealed to me that the only video that was taken last night was by the official photographer of the German embassy and that the ambassador had prohibited the release of any part of it. I had been so focused on stabilizing Stephen that I hadn’t seen that the ambassador was standing a few feet away from me watching everything unfold. No one had dared pull out their phones to record anything for fear of upsetting her as she watched her son struggle to live.
Relief swept over me at the news and I was torn between elation and the almost overwhelming desire to punch Shauna for not telling me earlier. Alexander was also on my shit list for that. Ethan too. Did Jenny and Gabriel know? I’d have to find out and take appropriate action. My mind had been buzzing with worry over the reporters I’d have to fend off for the next month and I’d wondered if I’d get grief from someone over my unauthorized use of a restricted medical procedure. With my brain finally able to relax, I fell asleep on takeoff and woke up a few minutes before landing.
I parted ways with the team once we landed, explaining that Eva was picking me up, and slipped into L2. My car was parked just inside the terminal and I took off for Hannah’s Home. I wanted ‘Roger’ to have already dropped off the new servers by the time the team got back. There was going to be enough questions about why Roger was in Washington at the same time as we were. There was no way to hide that the servers had been copied on the same dates that we visited Washington and that I wasn’t with the team for most of our stay. Having me casually drop off the drives would have added even more suspicion in some of their minds. Finding the drives already stacked neatly on the corner of Jenny’s desk might surprise the team enough that they didn’t make those pesky connections.
Dad was still at work when I got home. I texted him that I was back to let him know that I was safe and sound. Although the protest and shooting had made the news, no mention had been made of the German embassy party so dad would have had no reason to worry, even if he did watch the news. Which he didn’t. I’d have to give him the whole story when he got home though. For him to hear about it from someone else wouldn’t go over very well.
While I waited for dad to come home, I booted up the laptop that I’d bought from Howie last year and I started logging on to corporate servers one after another, looking to see if there was any information that I could find that would have a significant impact on their share value. It wasn’t earnings report season, but not all companies followed that season and I found that three of the over seventy companies that I now had insider access to were preparing to file their earnings. One of the three companies had gotten unofficial confirmation that the permit for their new construction project would finally be granted in two weeks. The two years of delay on getting the permit had hit their stock hard and with the project now getting the green light there was huge upside.
I wrote a summary of the situation to James, along with a my ‘speculation’ about a half dozen other companies. He’d been directing the trades since the summer and between my insights and his understanding of how best to trade on those insights, he’d already grown the initial twenty million dollars by eleven percent! That was huge. In four months, he’d almost grown the funds to recover the entire cost of buying Hannah’s Home. Of course, this was before taxes, so we weren’t quite there yet. My own portfolio wasn’t doing too badly either. I was earning a lot more that I was spending.
It was getting late so I started getting dinner ready. Pull some ready-made dough out of the fridge, roll it out, slather sauce all over the top side of it, sprinkle on a layer or two of cheese, and slap it in the oven for fifteen minutes at 450 degrees. Et Viola! Pizza! Food of the gods. As if on cue, dad walked in just as the pizza came out of the oven. It wasn’t just with cookies that dad had impeccable timing. All baked goods yielded similar results.
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Dad ate his pizza while I told him all about getting the Order of Merit, my speech and about the shooting. He stopped eating when I got to the shooting part and I had his undivided attention throughout the rest of my story. He only relaxed enough to start eating again after I’d told him about how the video wasn’t going to be released. He didn’t want the reporters calling any more than I did.
“It sounds like you took charge when no one else knew what to do and I’m really proud of you for saving Stephen, Abby. Not many people would know what to do in a situation like that. You did though and you didn’t panic.”
“You know, Abby, if someone had asked me before if you knew anything about medicine, I’d have told them quite confidently that you had no interest in it at all. The same goes for your speaking German. Have I been working too much and neglecting you so badly that I don’t know my own daughter anymore?”
Dad was joking and not joking at the same time. It’s his defense mechanism. He says something that he really means only in a joking manner so that it seems like its not important. He was also giving me an out. I could continue the joke and keep my secrets, or I could talk to him. I chose a middle ground.
“I’ve been more interested in medicine since Evan died and I’ve been reading some medical textbooks over the past month. So this is new and you haven’t been neglecting me at all. You’re still the best daddy in the world!”
“And the German?”
“Oh. I knew I had the party at the embassy, so I read a few German language learning books. You know, ‘when in Berlin’ and all that.” I tried to pass it off as nothing special.
“I recall that three years ago I needed to hire a tutor to help you with your Spanish course. Now you can read a few books on German and you can understand it enough to make jokes in it to a room full of Germans? All this in the weeks since you received the invitation and while you were also busy absorbing several medical textbooks, going to school for eight hours a day, working almost every night on your Kung Fu and texting with your boyfriend.” He had set his trap and closed it right on me. He had me dead to rights. There was just no way I could dance my way out of this one. It was time to come clean. Well, partially clean. Cleaner?
“For a neglectful father, you sure seem to know a lot about my activities.”
“For a dutiful daughter, you sure seem to have a lot of secret activities.”
“They’re not secret. I just hadn’t gotten around to mentioning them yet.”
He just looked at me and waited me out.
I sighed and told him a partial truth. “Lately, I’ve been able to retain most of what I read. I can also integrate it faster. I don’t just remember the words. The information is organized in my brain so that it feels like I learned it years ago. I can also do it in Kung Fu. Uncle Magnum has seen a difference in my Kung Fu, but when he tried to ask me about it, I changed the subject.”
Dad took a few moments to collect his thoughts. “I have heard that some people can have a photographic memory, but I have never met anyone who does. Until just now, I didn’t think it was real. I don’t know what could cause you to develop such an ability, but it is a gift, Abby, and you should take full advantage of it. What comes without warning may leave without warning. Take the time to learn as much as you can about anything that interests you and maybe some things that don’t interest you right now. Perhaps you could brush up on your Spanish while you’re at it.”
“It’s already next on my list.”
“That’s good. Also, you shouldn’t keep this from Paul anymore. He’s not only your uncle, he’s your teacher and he needs to know what you can do in order to push your skills to their maximum.”
“Ok. I’ll tell him soon.”
“Now, is there anything else that you’d like to share with me that you haven’t gotten around to yet?”
“You mean besides Tyler wanting to be your apprentice?”
With that one question, I’d caught him completely by surprise and suddenly all thoughts of whatever secrets I might me hiding dissolved into dust. I love deflection!