The Answer

Chapter 10

Gerard and Travis stood rooted to their places as the silence looked over them. It was almost as if the darkness and silence had consumed them both. Travis cleared his throat awkwardly, moving away to put on some lights in the cottage. Gerard too snapped out of his trance and looked around the place, had Travis been here ever since?

It didn't make any sense, he saw Travis die as he carried him to the ambulance. The whole precinct attended his public funeral. It seemed so real, how did he manage to miss the clues that his friend was still alive?

"Why now?" Gerard found himself saying, looking at Travis. "It's been two years, you haven't tried to get in touch even once in all this time. Why now?"

Travis looked away, avoiding Gerard's gaze. "I stayed away to protect you. I'm intervening now because staying away only made things worse."

"Protect me from whom?" Gerard scowled; he didn't need protecting.

"The mafia, Gerard. We poked the bear constantly, did you think we were invincible? That nobody would ever try to kill us?"

Gerard was stunned by his reply, he distinctly remembered Travis telling him not to be paranoid about that. Why did he lie to him about that?

"Explain everything, right from the start." Gerard demanded.

"Okay."

Travis sat down on the couch, rubbing his hands on his pants nervously. "I was raised by the mafia boss, Peter Lang. They plucked me and my brother up from an orphanage when His three wives complained about not having a child to care for, not having a purpose apart from sitting at home and doing household chores and such. Once we reached their home, they took us in with all the love they had to offer and fussed over us all the time. Jason and I felt mostly neglected at the group home we were in before that because the other kids had a harder time fitting in. We were quiet, obeyed the rules in the first go."

Gerard sat down across from Travis, amazed by this life Travis had hidden from him. "Okay, go on."

"They gave us everything- sent us to private school, showered us with presents and supported us in every sense. We weren't close to Peter, he was rarely home and honestly I think he lived elsewhere. We didn't care, our moms were all we needed. Part of the deal for getting this life was being silent about the details. We never spoke of our home or anything that went on there."

"I see."

"Another part of the deal, which we didn't think much about was loyalty to Peter and the mafia in any way they seemed fit."

"Was there a contract?" Gerard leaned in.

"Yeah, we signed it before we got adopted."

"It was Peter's influence that got me into the best of schools, and even into the police academy. My only loyalty to provide then was to not interfere in their business."

"But we went after Mafia stuff before, we'd been hunting them for so long. We were always close, why didn't you say anything?"

"My loyalty was to my family, my moms whom I'm afraid he'd harm if I didn't do what he wanted."

"What changed then?" Gerard leaned forward.

"The bomb blast did. I always reported to Frank about all the people I had in my life. It was a means to keep me in check, they took stock of people I may have told about my family or even gown to care for. I shared that information on the condition that none of you would be hurt by it. It was just an insurance, but they misused it and hurt them."

Gerard felt the heat searing through his body; he felt betrayed and a concentrated rage that he finally had a person to target at. He stood up and steadily walked a safe distance away and picked up a glass vase, "So it's your fault?"

"No, Gerard, I swear I didn't-"

The glass vase wizzed past Travis face, smashing loudly right behind him. Travis saw the wild anger in Gerard's eyes and stood up, trying to reason with him.

"I swear, they gathered this information over a span of many years and they didn't tell me about the plan. I just found out about it and tried to stop it!"

Travis sucked as Gerard hurled a chair at him, screaming "How dare you jeopardise my family's safety? You took them away from me!"

"No, Gerard, listen to me Max is alive."

Gerard froze, a broken chair leg in his hands. The he huffing and the wild look in his eyes began to die down.

"Where?" He growled.

"Somewhere safe." Travis inched forward.

"WHERE?" Gerard smashes the window next to him, Travis flinched.

"I can't take you there now." Travis said cautiously, "He's being held captive in an abandoned factory but he's being watched around the clock. I've been trying to sneak in and get him. I was the one that pulled him out of the bus."

Gerard studied Travis suspiciously. Travis sighed, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I stayed to save you from all of this. They were going to kill you. I took the fall instead and decided to fake my own death so they couldn't get to you."

Travis put his hands up, "Please, Gerard, you have to believe me. I was only trying to save you all but they hid this plot from me, by the time I found out I was racing against the clock to get them out of there. Please believe me."

Gerard dropped the wooden leg to the floor, shoulders slumping, "I believe you, I just don't trust you anymore."

The words rang on Travis' ears, he knew he deserved it but it stung all the same. He studied Gerard and couldn't tell what he was thinking, in that moment he questioned his loyalty to his family even more than he ever had in his life. He loved his mothers but what if asking him to be loyal meant they weren't as good as he made them to be in his head?

He looked down at his hands, "Ever since that day I've questioned my loyalty to my family. The bomb blast just shattered some illusions for me. It's taking everything to break away from what I grew up with and I can't apologise enough for not doing it sooner."

Gerard knew very well how hard it could be to break away from things you know and open yourself up to the uncertainties of life. Now that the rage subsided, he could see clearly- Travis was a broken man, much like he was after the incident. Maybe he still knew something about this person before him after all.

"I feel like I don't know who you are," Gerard put on his jacket, "but I understand how you feel. Just to make things clear, you aren't forgiven but I'm willing to use your resources to find my son."

"I understand. Do you need a ride back to the city?"

"No, I'll just go with David."

Travis raised an eyebrow to which Gerard shrugged, "I'm not an idiot, I can see his car outside and only he knew where I was. He was obviously in on this with you."

David stepped out from the other room, "I knew you were suspicious of me for hiding something. You wouldn't be the famous Detective Gerard without not trusting me."

"I definitely was and somehow I'm not upset with you for it. It's not like I ever gave you a chance to tell me."

Davis nodded, "Fair point, in any case I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I figured you'd have best heard it from the horse's mouth."

"I guess. Can I have your keys please?"

David tossed him the keys, looking questioningly at Travis. Gerard pocketed the keys. "Thanks, I'll be taking your vehicle. You two can figure out your own way out of here."

With that, Gerard left and drove away to the city. David and Travis remained rotted to their places, unsure of what had just happened and what was to come.

"What did he mean by finding our own way out of here?" David asked.

"I don't know, but I think it's best we packed up this place. Either we have a chance or we've been compromised."