Gilded Cage

“Yes?”

“Never grope my crotch like you did to Stanford. That’s gotta hurt.”

Suddenly, the dam of emotion fell apart. Lillian hit his chest and cried in his arms. “Stupid man. I thought you were dead. I…” Her words drowned in her sobs.

“I’m sorry, babe.” He patted her back. “Yakuza are pussies. They can’t kill me that easy. Come on, let’s hurry.”

Lillian felt as if she was dreaming as Brandon ushered her into the passenger seat of the tank-like car. He buckled her up and told her to sit still. A minute later, they were slicing through the roads until they reached the American naval base. Brandon slowed the car as they approached the heavily guarded gate. Several men in uniform waited for them by the entrance post. One of them looked at Brandon curiously and nodded.

“Are you Major Brandon Shea?” he asked.

“Just Brandon Shea. I’m no longer on active duty.”

“I’m Lieutenant Simpson. General MacCunnen has instructed me to escort you to the Kitty Hawk III.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Is that Miss Lillian Blackwell?”

“You are correct, Lieutenant.”

Lieutenant Simpson craned his neck lower, looking curious. “No offence, but you look like shit, sir.”

“Hey, same to you.”

Lieutenant Simpson took them straight to the sick bay where two corpsmen tended their injuries. Lillian was fine. The petty officer gave her an ice compress to reduce the swelling on her cheek, but Brandon was in pretty rough shape. Lillian winced as the medic guy stitched the gunshot wound on his

shoulder, and also a deep gash on his temple from the car accident. She didn’t know that Brandon had worn a Kevlar vest under his shirt. She’d wondered why he was able to survive after being shot three times in the chest.

After they finished receiving medical treatment, Lieutenant Simpson returned with the captain of Kitty Hawk III who introduced himself as Admiral Walter. The admiral came with a civilian man who looked as if he wanted to cry as soon as he saw her. He was blond and slender, looked neither young nor old, and was wrapped in an expensive black designer suit. Lillian felt as if she was looking in the mirror.

“Lillian, do you know who I am?” the man asked. “My name is Robert Thurman. I’m Keith Thurman’s twin brother. You might not know it, but you’re actually my niece.”

Brandon cut his eyes to her. “Say again?”

Lillian took Brandon’s hand and held him tight. “Maxwell Stanford told me who I really was when we were in the limo.” She then recited the revelation she’d found out from Stanford. About the three musketeers, her mother and her biological father’s murder. And Blackwell’s promise to Stanford to give her to him as his personal plaything.

“Sons of bitches.” Brandon looked taken aback. “Now I know the reason why you were treated like that.” He looked at Robert with suspicion. “How long have you known that Lillian is your niece? And how come you didn’t try to save her?”

“We did, Mr. Shea. We used you.”

Brandon blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Even though my brother and I were identical twins, we weren’t close. I was content running our family business while Keith…well, he seemed obsessed with the get-rich-quick schemes. We never got along. Keith shunned me when he befriended Blackwell and Stanford. One day, he just took off with them to Japan and we lost contact. I heard that my brother had become an overnight billionaire. I followed his news through the media. But nothing more until, out of the blue, my brother called me, saying he’d become a father. He told me there was a slight complication and he was working on it to make it right. He said I should look for my baby niece if something went wrong. That was the last I heard from Keith. Then I read about his death in the newspaper. My family and I were devastated.

“Over the years, I kept digging dirt about Blackwell and Stanford, looking for my baby niece. And as everyone knows, Blackwell kept Lillian well away from the public’s view. But I had a hunch that Lillian might be my brother’s daughter. The time of her birth and Keith’s death seemed too much to be coincidental. About a year ago, I was able to bribe one of Blackwell’s staff to obtain Lillian’s DNA sample. We compared it to mine and we came to the conclusion that Lillian is indeed my brother’s daughter.” Robert Thurman turned to Lillian. “I had to get you out of there, Lillian. I tried to initiate several lawsuits to get paternity tests and custody, but Blackwell’s lawyers bought the judges and shut down the suits. William Blackwell is untouchable.“

Thurman paused to take a deep breath. “Last spring, I came in contact with General MacCunnen. My company has an exclusive contract with the Pentagon. General MacCunnen heard about my case and agreed to help me. He told me if there was one man who was capable of smuggling Lillian out of Blackwell’s hand, that would be you, Mr. Shea.”

Brandon rounded his eyes. “So, this was a set up?”

“In a way. General MacCunnen said since this was a personal matter, he couldn’t possibly ask you, since he said you’d been through a rough time, but when he heard you were looking for a job, he thought you might be the right person to save Lillian. He spoke highly of you, Mr. Shea. He said you’re a person who couldn’t stand to see injustice. With the rumours I’d heard about how Lillian was being treated, we thought you might feel compelled to save her. So we arranged to have one of Gray’s security team incapacitated from his duty so you could take his place.”

“Are you saying Kurt Wolfe’s bar brawl was staged?”

“Indeed. We vetted out every security executive in Gray’s team and Kurt Wolfe was the easiest target to pick because of his temper. We paid a couple of freelancers to set up a bar brawl and make sure he wouldn’t be capable of working afterwards. With General MacCunnen’s connections, he was able to get you in to replace Kurt Wolfe’s position. If the rumours we heard about Lillian were true, General MacCunnen vouched to me that you wouldn’t sit still and watch her being abused.” Robert Thurman patted her on the shoulder dotingly. “I’m glad you’re now safe, Lillian. I know this might come as a shock, but I just want to let you know that you have a family who’s looking forward to meeting you. Especially your grandmother. She’s most eager to see Keith’s daughter. To be honest, he was always her favourite son.”

Lillian tightened her grip on Brandon’s hand. At first, she didn’t know what to say. She’d always thought she was all alone in the world, but now she’d discovered she had family she could go home to. She managed a nod, then her thanks. “I’m looking forward to meeting her, too.”