Code of Silence

Code of Silence - Chapter 16

Theo heard his mother call up the stairs for the third time. "Theo, you're going to be late, please hurry!" This time he raised his head from the pillow slightly, stretched his arm out from under the duvet and clumsily grasped his phone. It had been ten days now since the family had been informed of Tony's disappearance. The British embassy in Moscow was doing everything they could to trace his last movements but had drawn a complete blank. They were apparently being supported by the Russian police, but it was anyone's guess as to how much help that actually was.

Nobody was clear on exactly what had happened. There were mixed reports. The Moscow city police had not been directly responsible, and could only tell them that his father was not being held in any of their establishments. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs had expressed concern and had committed to looking into the case, but this seemed to be a slow process. The GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, had not commented some ten days after the event, but they were not known for their levels of cooperation, particularly regarding foreign affairs. It was as if they all knew what had happened but were adopting a code of silence, or at least a code of seeming busy but not actually doing anything.

Theo heard his phone alert sound; it was his mother's messaging tone. She'd just left the house and was on her way to collect his older sister from the airport. Sophia had gone off-grid deep in central Ecuador. There was no internet, email or mobile connectivity, as the mountain range trek she had joined traversed some of the more rugged and sparsely populated areas of the region. She learned of the news about her father some three days after his disappearance, when she was able to connect online at a local internet café. Distraught and comforted by her friends, she travelled by foot for two days before she could even start her journey back by road, rail, and eventually a flight, which had been hurriedly booked by her mother to bring her home safely.

Theo had been hit hard by the news of his father's disappearance. He'd grown up in an environment where he'd wanted for nothing. By the time he and his sister had been born Tony had established Varkasoft, the business was going from strength to strength, and the family were able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.

Theo and his father got on well. They were similar in character, both had fiery tempers, were short and stocky and the family resemblance was instantly apparent when they were in the same room. Theo's father was elated when the news came that he'd had a baby boy as their second child. He came from a long line of Greek heritage dominated by a very patriarchal approach to life, and Theo was to be Tony's natural successor, or at least that's what Tony had hoped for.

Theo's bedroom was his sanctuary, the place he would retreat to when confronted with aspects of life and growing up which he didn't understand, or didn't really want to face up to. He'd locked himself away upon hearing the news about his father, only popping downstairs at mealtimes and reassuring his mother that he was coping.

Theo eventually did emerge from his room, showered and shaved, room as neat and tidy as it always was. He made himself some breakfast, although perhaps he'd call it brunch, he thought, looking at the clock in the kitchen. He'd had his time alone, barricaded in, safe from reality and the awful truth he was coming to terms with. He needed to be ready to help his mother and to support his sister when they arrived home. He'd also been doing a lot of thinking while hiding away. The university was aware of the circumstances and had been advised he wouldn't attend his courses for the next week or so. Theo overheard his mother have the conversation a day or two earlier, but he wasn't so sure that he wanted to return at all.

Up until this point, all he'd been thinking about was his father, the Christmas they'd spent together and the annual family ski holiday. About Vvox and their meeting with Ross, and what he was going to do next to help. Should he jump on a plane to Russia, ignoring his mother's advice, and go looking for his father? He'd seen angst-ridden parents do this in the news, travelling to some exotic location on the other side of the world, handing out homemade flyers with grainy photographs printed on them of their beloved offspring whose emails, texts and social media updates had suddenly ceased.