Previously on PHOENIX… Regina’s work at Phoenix was interrupted by news from Sam that her father had another incident. She must return home to keep this news from spreading to those who will use it for ill.
Regina was learning to be more observant, especially when stepping into a car. She looked at the driver’s face, relieved to recognize him as one of the Richards’ main drivers. Wherever her driver or spy was now was none of her business.
They were silent on the ride to the manor, since none of the questions Regina wanted to ask could be asked, even with the driver present. Sam, as usual, did not waste a second of his day, keeping his entire spread of folders on his lap as he hurriedly scribbled comments in the margins. A quick glance at the contents indicated it was all memos. Specifically, memos for her father.
The main side effect of his incidents was the days that it took him to recover. Days in which Regina would lie on the phone whenever someone called after him, but it was Sam who took the brunt of the work. It wasn’t something they discussed, but she knew that he practically did his job for him when Russell was incapacitated. Even the scribbles in the margins were not Sam Thowley scribbles—they were written in Russell Richards’ signature all-caps handwriting.
Regina didn’t think her father knew all that Sam did for him. He was grateful, sure, but he didn’t know how many lies Sam had to concoct to keep his little secret hidden.
She tried not to think of the fact that her father was retreating further and further into his room, while Sam took even more of his duties. There was part of her that wished she could help him, but he’d never sought her assistance. It was something that she had to learn to understand. Her father didn’t understand her—he never had, but she still felt indebted to him, though for what she didn’t know.
They entered from the back entrance, where there was a very slim chance of being seen. The paparazzi sometimes monitored the front of their house, and it would raise more questions than answers if Regina and Sam were making a public appearance right now in the middle of the workday. The house was eerily silent. It was always quiet, but there was no pattering of feet, no maid scurrying around as usual.
Regina rang the bell at the base of the stairs, and Gerard appeared. He seemed ruffled, which was unusual since he was usually impeccably dressed. He had been working for Regina’s father as long as Regina could remember. He had a similar temperament, reserved and quiet, but with the stability that Regina’s father needed. Regina imagined that he was her father’s closest friend, in a way, and definitely his closest confidante besides Sam, of course.
“Come upstairs,” he said. “Your father wants to see you.”
Regina turned to Sam, whose eyes were just as surprised as hers. Her father was never usually awake and sober this soon after an incident. Well, maybe he wasn’t sober yet. At the top of the stairs, Gerard whispered to Regina, “I’ve taken care of as much of the cleaning as possible. Enough not to make the maids suspicious, but we were lucky this time. He didn’t manage to leave his room.”
In the past, her father had trashed multiple rooms. Regina remembered picking glass off the floor with Sam and Gerard, one of the only times she’d cleaned her own house.
“Thank you, Gerard,” Regina said. “I trust everything has been hidden as best as possible?”
He nodded. “Yes. I sent the maids on a variety of errands for a couple of hours. And both drivers were out.”
“Ah yes, speaking of the drivers. I’m afraid I left poor Lance at Phoenix. I did not have time to tell him I won’t need a ride. Can you take care of that?”
Gerard nodded. “Of course. Has he been doing well?”
Regina startled a little, though she tried to keep her face normal. “What do you mean?”
“Since he is new, I hope he’s doing his job well.” Gerard seemed puzzled by her response.
“Oh, yes, of course. He’s done great.” She declined to mention her first impression of him, which had, of course, been a kidnapping. As well as learning he was a spy for the man Regina had just met, whom she still couldn’t tell whether to trust. Besides those small details, he seemed like a good guy, so it wasn’t much of a lie.
Gerard nodded towards her father’s bedroom, probably thinking Regina wished to get there at once. She dragged her feet towards the door, waiting for Sam to enter first, only to find he was lingering by the doorframe, waiting to follow her. In many ways, Regina always felt that Sam was more of a Richards than she was. Her father would probably be more relieved to see him at his bedside in any case.
She motioned for Sam to enter with her, side by side. He hesitated, then obliged.
The room was cleaner than she’d imagined. Gerard had outdone himself. From the tone of Sam’s voice, she’d imagined this to be the worst of episodes, which it clearly had been. Her father had been carefully placed in his bed, but the sheets were tangled up around his legs as he moved around in a fitful sleep. He was not the picture of a patient, nicely tucked in between soft linen. No, this illness of his was not calm. It was savage and fearful, and Regina wanted nothing more than to leave the room until he was all better and sitting at the dining room table with his notebook and milk like he usually did. Some part of her, the child in her, was already running halfway down the hall. The adult part of her was watching Sam as he watched her father. He was so calm, so placid, but she could see the twitch in his eye, although she didn’t know what it meant. She could never quite understand him. She knew it was upsetting for him for her father to be so ill, but she didn’t know if it was because of the work it created for him or if he really was fond of her father.
In any case, Regina approached the bed, spurred on by Gerard and Sam’s waiting expressions. She didn’t know why they seemed to be deferring to her in this situation, since all she wanted was to get this over with as soon as possible.
Now, her father seemed to regain some consciousness. He turned onto his side so that his eyes faced hers directly. They were bloodshot and scattered, taking a few moments before they found her face.
“Regina,” he muttered. “I’m glad you are here.”
Regina patted his hand, which was clenched in the blanket. “Are you doing better?”
He nodded. “I will be.” His eyes started to droop closed again.
“Make sure to rest.” She stood up, preparing to leave.
“Regina.” His hand reached out to grasp hers with a surprising force. “Listen to me,” he said, “They’re after me. You need to stop them. They’re trying to get me.”
Regina looked to Sam, who looked just as puzzled as she felt. “What do you mean? Who is after you?”
“I don’t know. But they are coming. I see them in the windows. I see them outside the car. Regina, you must do something!”
“He has been repeating much of the same since his incident,” Gerard said. This must have been the alcohol. Her father had the top security—the most in the Settlement, only behind Chancellor Royce Richards himself.
“Don’t worry.” Regina disentangled her hand from her father’s. “I will figure it out.”
Outside his room, she turned to Sam. “What is he talking about? Do you have any idea what he’s saying?”
Sam shook his head. “No. This is something new.”
“You must take on his responsibilities for now. Let me know what I can help with.” She always offered, and like always, Sam would decline. He would give her no more than a menial task. “I have it all covered.” He turned down the hallway without another word.
Regina turned toward her father’s office, the flash drive in her pocket suddenly catching her attention. This was the perfect opportunity, with her father convalescing for who knows how long in his room, Gerard attending his needs, Sam gone who knew where, and all the servants at home until there was no risk of a scandal.
Amid the mess with her father and all of Rosalind’s commands for her in Phoenix, Regina had barely had any time to think about the mission she had been given. The other night, she had loaded up her computers just out of habit, only to remember right as it loaded that her mother was really missing, and only the random man she’d been kidnapped by in the Banks could help her.
The practical part of her was unsure that this was the right decision. She was giving away information—what she didn’t even know—all to have a chance of getting information about her mother.
She carefully slid the door open, not because anyone would be there, but to make sure Gerard wouldn’t hear her. She didn’t know how she would explain her current position, seeing as she hadn’t entered her father’s office in years. He usually kept it under wraps, just like almost every other component of his life.
Regina remembered walking outside the door when she was young, right after her mother left, peeking through the crack in the door, hoping her father would invite her in and say something, anything, to her, but he never did.
The silence was always disconcerting for Regina. Time had not improved it. Sometimes she wanted to scream, just to see what would happen if she did.
His office was sparse and minimalistic, as Regina would expect. There was an enormous bookcase on the back wall, full of books before the Dome, all merely for display. Each was worth enormous sums of money and was thus treated like solid gold.
A small wooden desk stood behind the window, modest in comparison to the wealth of information surrounding him. Regina eased the door closed and began to investigate the drawers, of which there were only a few.
The first was full of papers, stacked neatly into file folders. So far, Regina had yet to see any form of technology, which somewhat surprised her, maybe because she was used to her multiple displays hidden in her room. Tablets were less common in the Settlement than in the Banks, but they were still used, especially by her father’s colleagues for official communication. The real question was where he put it. For something so essential, she would imagine it would be somewhat easily accessible, and therefore easy for her to copy down the information onto the hard drive.
She opened the second drawer, finding a couple of books, which she gently moved out of the way, exposing the object of her wishes below. It was a peculiar hiding spot, not quite hidden enough to prevent people from finding it, yet too out of place for her father to have done it by accident.
Regina inserted the flash drive into the tablet’s port, waiting for the screen to light up. She didn’t know what Ahmed’s plan was with this information, which made her somewhat nervous. She hoped he wasn’t stupid enough to do something traceable, yet she still felt like she was making a mistake. The image of her mom’s missing signal on the computer flooded her mind, and all the doubts were cleared away. She had to remember what was important. Ahmed could find her mom. If only she could confirm that she was alright, then everything would be okay. All those little digs from her coworkers at Phoenix, all her aunt’s schemes, and her father’s condition would be bearable if she could only have peace of mind knowing her mother was safe.
The screen buzzed after a moment before ejecting the flash drive. Regina examined it, finding it no different from before. She wondered if she would be able to know what was inside if she plugged it into her computer upstairs. Regina was dying to know what Ahmed wanted.
Regina placed the tablet back under all the books, trying to arrange them just as they had been. She glanced over at her father’s office, still trying to take it in. She knew it was rare for there to be rooms in her homes that she never entered. She knew other families didn’t behave the way that hers did. But she didn’t like to dwell on what could’ve been, who she could’ve been in a different circumstance. There was nothing she could do. Her mother had run away. Her father had fallen into himself. As their only child, she ensured their well-being, kept the ministers at bay, and watched her mother from a distance.
When Regina descended the stairs for dinner, a bouquet of flowers was waiting by the door. Nearby was Gerard, who looked troubled and held a small cream envelope carefully. Regina’s heels echoed in the empty entryway as she examined the artfully arranged white lilies. She held back a sneeze, overcome by their sickly-sweet scent. They were real—meaning they were all the more expensive. Artificial flowers were far more popular these days, and they perfectly matched the originals, although with a distinctly mild, standard scent.
“Who sent these?” she asked. “No one’s died.”
Gerard handed her the envelope. “This was delivered with it.”
Regina tore open the letter, revealing a square card embossed with a family crest she knew well—her own. Two R’s, interlocked back-to-back, written in deep red. No other words were written, only the crest.
Only two other people in the entire Dome could use the crest, and only one of them ever copied it in red.
Rosalind.
Regina turned to Gerard. “How did she know?”
Grim-faced, he replied, “Everyone knows. The press has picked it up now, as well.”
“And what are they saying?”
“It’s just a minor story so far, but…” The rest of his comment was left unsaid, but Regina knew what could happen. This was the moment for her father’s enemies to swoop in for the kill. Russell Richards rarely left a chink in his armor, and they would not waste the opportunity to strike.
“Mr. Jefferies has called the house. I didn’t pick up, but he left a message saying that he wants to talk to your father as soon as possible.
Regina placed the card and envelope next to the flowers. “Don’t accept any calls. Has Sam left the house?”
“He did. Just minutes ago.”
“We need to find him. Did he say where he was going?” Regina asked, even though the answer was usually work or errands for her father—there was never anywhere else he would be.
“No, but he took the small car.” The small car was usually the one that she took.
Regina nodded. “Thank you, Gerard”
She went to look at the telephone log. It hung on the entryway wall, just like it had done back in the days long before the Dome. The design was purely ornamental, since it operated with the highest technology available, allowing her to see the caller and their messages.
Just as Gerard had said, Mr. Jefferies was on the call log, as well as several more names that Regina could recognize, but not place a face to. Friends or foes, she didn’t know which. At this time, everyone was a foe. Her father’s enemies would pay mind-boggling sums of money for anyone willing to sell a tip to the news. And how were Regina and Sam to know whose claims of loyalty were stronger than a life-changing bribe?
She turned from the phone, remembering her father’s words, how he’d implored that someone was out to get him. Maybe not quite in the way that he’d explained, but his enemies were surely lining up at the moment. Regina dialed Sam’s number, unsurprised when it went silent. It had been her first instinct to call him back to the Manor, but she realized he was more useful among the Council. He had a way of making his points known and defending her father even to his harshest critics. They loved Sam and respected him so highly that it had made it impossible for Regina to ever follow in her father’s footsteps. Rosalind had a similar story. She’d only started Phoenix after being pushed out of politics, even though she had studied under her father and was his oldest child.
Regina hated to draw the similarity with her aunt. There was something in her that Regina never wanted to emulate. Something sinister made her issue missions and commands to all her workers, each instruction counteracting the last, so they were all indebted to their shrewd leader. This delivery of flowers was no accident. Regina knew her aunt well enough to know this. She adored a cryptic message.
Before she could get a distance from the phone, she heard it ring again. Gerard approached as well, but Regina paused him when she saw the caller ID.
Rosalind Richards.
Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed this latest installment. If you did, leave a like or a comment! If you want more from Writing by Raya, check out my page for short fiction, book reviews, and more. New chapters of PHOENIX drop every Wednesday!