How to Raise an Assassin

CHAPTER 45: FORT PEACE

Friday came faster than I would have wanted. On the car ride with Xavier and my father to the Mayor's private house west of the city center, we were mostly quiet until we were ten minutes away from the destination.

It was there that my father took his eyes off of his tablet and looked at me. "Is there any other information I should know about your friend's father?"

Besides the fact that he's also the leader of the Locusts in Chicago, then no. I kept my mouth shut.

"Za-Za," he sighed. "This mission will be difficult for the both of us." He didn't elaborate. He just went back to tapping away on his tablet. That only left me with serious doubts. I honestly didn't believe that this contract would pose a problem for my father.

Once we arrived at the modest suburban house with a well catered lawn, we walked the stone pathway to a patio, and stopped before a screen door. Surrounding the house were multiple guards dressed in suits keeping an eye on us while also avoiding direct eye contact.

Anticipating our arrival, Ash was the one who opened up the door. He put on a big false smile and looked like he wasn't in league to murder the man he was greeting with such kindness. "Hello Mr. Mata. Please come in. Would you like me to grab your coat?"

My father took off his coat and handed it to Ash. Spring was here in the city, but the suburbs hadn't gotten the memo yet. The withering trees on the way here were proof enough. I handed Ash my coat too and we exchanged a look, confirming if we were going through with this.

Then the Mayor stepped into the hallway, holding a glass of wine. He looked genuinely surprised to see who my father was even though he knew from the first time we chatted. Politicians are great actors.

"Pas," he said with a smile and opening himself for a hug. He gave my father a brotherly hug and patted his back. "It's been years."

Ash and I looked at each other confused. Pas?

"Dex," my father muttered. "Glad to see you climbing the socio-political ladder. What's next? Senator Dayton?"

"Maybe in a decade," Dex laughed. "I still have my terms to finish out as Mayor."

"That's if you get reelected," my father corrected.

The Mayor chuckled. "Always the optimist." He wrapped one hand around his shoulder. "Pascal, we need to get you a drink and catch up."

My father's name was Savage, but the Mayor calling him Pascal made me wonder if Savage wasn't his real name after all. Yet, it was on all his signed documents, even his driver's license.

"Yes," my father agreed. "We should. The last time we talked I went to study computer science and you went to join the Chicago PD."

The Mayor poured a drink of wine and handed my father the cup. "I rose up to Sergeant before I left the force."

My father sipped the drink. "And six years later you're mayor of the third most populated city in the United States. You had quite a fast track to success."

"Not without its many obstacles," Mayor Dex said as he sat down on a couch. The living room was decorated with police medals, pictures of the family, including a huge photo of Ash's mother. She had a thick frame, but still would rock a beauty show. She wore a pink dress in the photo, had her hair braided like a forest of vine stretching down to her lower back. She had a smile that looked sincere—as if she was watching your back and making sure that everything was okay.

My father noticed me looking at the photo and he made a connection. "Oh," he apologized. "Your wife. I see now." My father gripped his glass and drained the rest of the wine in a single gulp. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you during such a turbulent time."