Her secrets

As Vivienne settled in the passenger seat, the red-haired man in the driver seat started the engine and drove away. While he was driving, he checked the tall blond man entered his white Mercedes pick-up truck from the rear mirror.

"Will he be alright?"

He asked Vivienne. Although uncle Harry was giving a hand to them, the cartel might not necessarily let them go. It was not possible for them to hold no grudge after they lost a group leader.

"Don't underestimate him," Vivienne said.

"Well, that's true," the man agreed. He had to acknowledge the fact that they were able to walk out alive from the main base of a subgroup with just four people. Even if they were provided with some information about the cartel, eventually it depended on how they used that information.

"The way he pulled off the disguise,..." The red-haired man had also seen the footage from Harry Carter so he knew how the four officers infiltrated the base. He could not help but admire Ryan's perfect disguise and decisive actions.

"... there's no way he's just a simple police officer."

"He's not," Vivienne answered.

The red-haired man waited for a few seconds for more elaboration but only silence followed. Sigh... He should have known better than that after knowing her for more than two decades.

"Could you please give me more details, my dear sister?"

"Oh..." She looked at her cousin as if it was a very strange thing to ask for more details.

"I thought you have also read his files," she added.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Why would I?"

Reading the reports in his uncle's stead was already too much for him. He did not mind making schemes or executing them but reading... that was one thing he would never enjoy.

"Well, after his parents' death, he was brought up by his grandfather who was a retired special forces soldier. His grandfather was running a private security agency back then and he helped out there whenever he was free from school. He even joined their missions as soon as he turned 18. "

"Why would he try so hard? Shouldn't he be chasing girls or having fun with kids his age at that time?"

Then, he thought of something and studied her face before continuing, "Was he... thinking of revenge for his parents?"

Vivienne shook her head.

"He always thought the man in the jail was the real murder of his mother and didn't you also spend your childhood in the same way. Always training under uncle Harry and athair[1] since you were a kid."

One side of the red-haired man's lips rose up.

"Well, my situation was different," he had huge responsibility on his shoulders despite his young age.

"I beg to differ. Actually, I think you guys are quite similar. You are both responsible men who strive for power so that you can protect the ones you cared for. May be because you both lost your parents at young age."

The red-haired man raised a brow. "True enough."

"Do you plan to tell him?" He added after some deliberation.

"I don't know," Vivienne sounded uncertain for once.

Silence dominated the car until Vivienne broke it again.

"Eoin,..."

"Huh?" The man responded to his name without moving his gaze from the front.

"Do I have to tell him? I... I don't want to lose him."

She actually enjoyed talking with that police captain. True. At first, she approached him because of his parents but now, she enjoyed his sheer accompany. Before meeting him, she never thought there would be such an optimistic person on earth, almost like an untainted sunlight no matter how much the darkness tried to swallow him.

Eoin sighed and removed one of his hands to hold Vivienne's cold ones. He knew it. He was expecting the day someone who would be able to fill warmth in her void heart would appear. But it was really unfortunate that...

"You have to... even more so if you want to stay by his side. Don't you think to be friends, you both need to be on equal standing? It won't be fair for him if you're keeping secrets."

"I understand," she replied in a whisper as she lowered her gaze.

Feeling her dejection, Eoin squeezed her hands as he said, "don't worry. If he's able to forgive his parents, he will be able to forgive you,too."

The next day at City X Central Police Department...

Julian was watching through the one-way mirror as Ryan and Allen interrogated the murderer they had caught today.

Then, he looked down at his hands which were still shaking. He knew he was supposed to shoot the man who raped and killed four women and who was already aiming his gun towards him. However, he could not pull the trigger no matter what. If his captain came a few seconds later, he might be out cold on the table at the mortuary.

Even if they were police officers, it was not everyday that they had to use their guns. He had never touched his gun during his days as a patrol officer except for training. And even after he came to City X, the only usage of the gun was to threaten the criminals and he never really had to shoot.

He could not help but feel useless as he saw his partner from his peripheral vision. When he saw Shelly shooting at the members of the cartel during their last mission, he thought it was natural and that it would be easy for him, too. He had also seen Allen and Ryan decisively used their guns during their last robbery case. Especially Ryan...

May be feeling something amiss, Shelly looked towards him.

"What's wrong, rookie?"

"I couldn't shoot..."

Shelly looked at her honest and naive partner and smiled.

"It's normal, boy. You've never shot at anyone yet, right? The first shot is always difficult."

Julian looked at her in disbelief, "Even for you?"

"Of course. We are human beings, not robots. We would be scared of pain as well as inflicting pain on other people, too. If you don't have that fear, you'd be a criminal by now."

"But..." he still felt uncomfortable for not being able to fulfill his duty.

"Just make sure you're ready by the next time," Shelly comforted him with a strong pat on his shoulder.

"Okay," he answered. Yes, there was no point crying over the spilt milk. He should just avoid making the same mistake. And... he focused his gaze on his captain as he thought of something.

"Can I be as good as captain one day?"

He still remembered the scene vividly when Ryan shot the gun in criminal's hand accurately from quite a distance while he was wavering.

Shelly laughed out loud as she gave a stronger pat on his back. Well, it felt more like a 'hit' than a 'pat' with that kind of force.

"It's good to dream big, boy. But I have to say. Our Cap used to be the king of shooting in 50 metre rifle with several gold medals under his name."

Julian sighed. Okay. May be he should keep a smaller goal for now.

"The more I know about him, the more I don't understand why he is here."

He had never seen a better police officer than his captain, even better than his former captain who was many years older than Ryan. Ryan would be the perfect role model if not for his parents. That kind of person should have been given a better role than being in City X.

"I heard he asked for it for some personal reasons," Shelly shrugged her shoulders to show her incomprehension. However, she had guessed the reason more or less after hearing about his parents.

At that time, both Allen and Ryan came out of the room.

"He had killed two more other than the four we know. We have to go find the corpses and inform the families."

Allen said as he held the confession in one hand.

"Roger, Rogers," Shelly made a silly pun as she took the papers from Allen.

The latter frowned as he grumbled, "What makes you think it's funny, stupid woman?"

"Wait," before the three officers walked out, Ryan stopped them. There were only four of them in the room right now.

"Don't move alone these days. Actually, be careful even if you are with others. Don't trust anyone."

Allen asked thoughtfully, "you think that the cartel might make a move?"

"Not just them. Now that we're getting closer to our target, the people behind the scenes are gonna get involved, too."

True to Ryan's suspicion, the move they were expecting came very soon.

athair[1] - father in irish