KATIKA-Treason is never far away (Part.1)

Chapter 18 | The old fool

For the third time, Rebecca demanded that he explain why he had to leave 'for an indefinite period.'

Going into detail was impossible for him: it was absolutely necessary for the well-being of his sweetheart, their child, and for the smooth running of the mission that only three people knew about the plan: John, Carter and the Anonymous Mole.

'I have to go to Europe to... meet important people in the business world and rebuild a new life with you,' he replied.

The lie was enormous, but the bigger it was, the more credible it became. After all, who would believe that he would make up such a story? Especially when it was known that the feds were scrutinizing his every move.

Yes, but... Because there's always a 'but,' Rebecca and he had never even considered the idea of ​​committing to each other long-term as a couple. Despite a little one on the way, there was no guarantee that they would take the plunge together.

Yet, John had gone too far by talking about 'rebuilding a life with her.'

'What an idiot!' he thought, 'couldn't you come up with a less embarrassing excuse?'

Reclining on her sofa, the young woman gazed at her lover suspiciously but hinted by her bewildered expression that his words had struck a chord in her heart.

'Rebuilding a life with me?' she repeated, 'and how can you even leave the country with this investigation?'

How could she mix the subject of his leaving the country with the sentimental prospect he had raised? Did she have no mercy for him whatsoever?

'What's the connection?' John asked.

With widened eyebrows, the young secretary scrutinized the gaze of the father of her future child. Everything about him sparked immediate distrust: his apparent stress, the few drops of sweat that the 20 degrees Celsius couldn't explain alone...

But more than that, his gaze was evasive, darting between the observation of the door and Rebecca's pretty face. And that, she had never seen in him before: usually, John's eyes devoured hers whenever she was in his presence.

'The connection is that if you want to build a lasting life with me, you must be honest from now on and tell me what you're planning,' she declared.

John was truly a terrible liar, but putting her in danger by exposing her to what was going on was beyond his capabilities. Besides, under pressure, she might betray him.

Betrayal was a trauma that John kept deep within himself... An old affair experienced when he was 20 years old. At the time, he went to a nightclub with college buddies, except for Mikhail, who never had time for fun due to family obligations and his seriousness in studies. Without a license or a car, a friend named James had promised to drop him off at his place on the way back. This James... after Mikhail, John considered him his second-best friend for whom he would have been ready to make any possible and imaginable sacrifices...

With alcohol flowing freely, the young man had emptied his stomach, under James' mockery, who had the audacity to film it all and even make him pay for extra beers at his own expense. Worse than anything: he had pulled a real dirty trick by abandoning him as a traitor when John's phone had run out of battery.

Result of the races: on a dark and icy night, lost in a city he didn't know with no taxi in sight, John had to walk for an hour to the nearest station... closed, deserted, forcing him to sleep on the ground under the gaze of passersby mistaking him for a homeless person.

Waking up, John discovered meager coins and endured a shame and humiliation he had never forgotten, nor forgiven to that frightful snake he had once considered his friend. At the time, John had Mikhail's support to get through this ordeal and continue the thread of his existence.