Keeping Me (Spy Chronicles Book 2)(33)

“He chose to leave, didn’t he?”

“Not right away,” Dad says. “He got married to a girl he had been in love with since he was a freshman. They had a son. They were happy. Until... he wasn’t anymore. He wanted more power. More money. More... everything.”

“Why would he do that?” I ask.

“Like I said, some people choose things over love,” Dad says. “His wife refused to go with him. She took their son and they hid. With my help, of course. She eventually remarried and she raised her son right. He turned out to be a good person.”

“You talk like you know her son,” I say.

“I do,” Dad says. “Her son is Sebastian Soto.”

Which causes my heart to skip a few beats. “Does he know?”

“Yes. He’s always known,” he says. “His mom thought it was best to tell him the truth from the beginning. Which I completely agree with.”

Which explains so much. It’s why Sebastian doesn’t trust anybody. Anybody in his situation would be the same way.

“Sebastian’s dad is the most dangerous man in the world,” Dad says. “He might not be as strong as I am, but he’s darned close to it. And what he lacks in physical strength, he makes up for in his mind. I’ve never met anybody smarter than he is, besides your mom. And he would not hesitate to end your life if he had the chance.”

“Why is he coming after me?” I ask.

“Because I took his family away from him. Now he wants to do the same to me.”

“They wanted to leave,” I say. “It’s not like you did it to deliberately hurt him.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dad says. “Not to him.”

“Why are you telling me now?”

“Because he’s coming after you and I think that you deserve to know.”

“It’s why you wanted Sebastian here, right?”

“Part of the reason,” Dad says. “I want him here because he’s like his dad. He’s the best.”

“Except Sebastian isn’t evil,” I say.

“You’re right. Sebastian is a good guy. He’s a lot like his dad used to be... before,” he says. “You and Sebastian hit it off pretty much right away.”

“Are you kidding?” I ask. “He hated me when we met.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Well, he acted like he did,” I say.

“But you liked him,” Dad says.

“I like everybody.”

“Which makes you more like your mom than me.”

I pause for a second, thinking back to the day I first heard Protocol Lex Luthor. “Dad, was Sebastian’s dad after me when we were in St. Louis?”

“Yes.”

“I want to learn how to fight,” I say. “Like, for real fight.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“And I want Sebastian to teach me.”

My dad smiles at me. “You know, when you were a baby you were colicky. And the only thing that could get you to stop crying was if we would lay you down beside Sebastian. Even from a young age, the two of you were connected in a way that still blows my mind.”

“He’s my friend,” I say.

“He’s more than that,” Dad says, then stands up. “And I wish your mom were here to talk to you about that, because it makes me very uncomfortable to do so.”

Which makes me laugh.

“I love you, Dad.”

“Love you, too.”

He starts to talk to the door, but I stop him.

“Hey, Dad?” I ask.

He turns around. “What?”

“Why Lex Luthor?”

“In some stories, Clark Kent and Lex Luthor were friends before they became enemies,” Dad says. “It seemed fitting.”

I really need to watch some Superman stories.





Monday, October 2

He’s insane.





In America, October means fall. It means pumpkin flavored everything and cooler weather. But in New Zealand, it means spring. Flowers are starting to bloom and the weather is getting warmer. It’s very strange.

“How long are we going to be here?” I ask my dad.

We’ve been here for over a month now, and it’s the same thing every day. Running until I can’t anymore. Fighting Sebastian, even though I can’t ever seem to get a hit in. Learning to speak Swiss German, how to shoot a gun, and how to do all these crazy things that I’ve never even dreamed of. My dad is even trying to teach me how to disarm a bomb. He says it’s important. It’s not a real bomb. But he says someday, it might be. Which is a little scary.

Sebastian and I seem to have hit a plateau in our relationship. Since my dad told me about his dad, things between us have gotten... cold. Distant. And I don’t like it. It seems like no matter how hard I try, he doesn’t want anything to do with me other than training.

I hate it.

“We are going to be here a while longer,” Dad says. “But you get to take a break from training today.”

“I do?” I ask warily.

I feel like there is going to be a catch.

“Today, you’re jumping out of an airplane.”