The Heist

Chapter 11 (@a-glimpse-of-fantasy)

Breathing hard, deep as I could, I racked my brain, looking for a way to get Jake to talk about his past. Where should I start? From this Mark Willow?

I was scared. Scared to know what stories his past held. Jake himself stated that Mark Willow was a man who'd do anything to get his work done. And obviously, he was an evil man.

How in the world did someone like that become Jake's mentor? Does that mean Jake himself was working with him in the past? Doing evil stuff?

I took a deep breath, calming my heart, thumping anxiously. 'Let's trust him. Jake is the man I love. If I don't trust him...who else will?' I chanted in my head, taking his rough, wounded hands into mine.

"Jake. I...really didn't want to pry into your past...." It was harder than I thought; how could I get him to talk without hurting his feelings?

I was too naive. For Jake, his past was painful, whether Jake himself was good or bad. 'Let's do this quickly. Let's not get emotional. Be rational. Rational...'

"I tried my best not to. But I can't, not anymore." His eyes trembling, Jake stared right into my eyes. He knew.

He knew for sure what I was going to ask next.

"MC-I-I'm sorr-" I held my finger on his lips, interrupting him. An apology was the last thing I wanted to hear from Jake. My heart ached whenever Jake would apologize or look at me apologetically. Besides, they couldn't bring us anywhere.

"Jake. Stop saying sorry and tell me. Please, I think I deserve to know that much." As my grip on his hands strengthened, his head fell further. Jake was unable to look me in the eye.

This was something I had noticed in the past as well. Jake tends to declare his opinion and leave without giving me a chance to argue. Well, not anymore.

"How did you meet him? How did he become your mentor? What sort of work did you do together? I have tons of questions for you." Hearing him sigh heavily, I cupped his cheeks in my palms, gently raising his head to face me. "You told me that you were one of the good guys. I could tell that as I worked with you to find Hannah too." I kissed his forehead, to which he stiffened up, "And I believe everything you said. Jake, I believe you."

——————–

"Jake, I believe you."

Those words were the words he desperately wished to hear four years ago. He wanted someone to believe him, that he never had any ill will. That everything he did, was for a good reason.

But why was he hearing those words from this woman? She didn't even know him at that time. She knew nothing about what kind of a person he was before they met.

Yet this woman convinced him.

He had to tell her everything. For once, he 'wanted' to share his part of the story.

Licking his dried-up lips, Jake cleared his throat. "I first met master while I was in the final year in the uni. My friend Kyle and I used to develop programs for fun. We sometimes entered competitions as well. Kyle nor I had great financial situations. So we used to split up the prize money. That year, we won an international competition."

She nodded lightly to let him know that she was listening. "Many well-known companies offered us jobs after that. So we chose the best one out of them. Just as we graduated, we were hired, and the paycheck was also high. We thought..." A lump in his throat swallowed his voice. Remembering the past...was much harder than he imagined, especially with all the tragedies that fell upon them afterward. "-that all our misfortunes was over." After a pause, he continued.

"Master was our supervisor at the company. He was a great man who was very skilled as well. I always respected him, though he eventually became my hero."

——————–

Jake's eyes kept reddening as he continued. "Maybe I considered him a father figure. You know..." He said, a faint smile on his haggard face, "For kids, their father is their hero. But for me...I grew up never knowing who my father was. I only found out by chance."

My heart sank. Though he was Hannah's and Lily's father, Jake's father had never seemed to have considered Jake as his son. I wanted to go to Duskwood at once and kick him, at least once.

But this was not the time to get emotional. Be rational.

"One day, master told us a secret, me and Kyle. He was a vigilante. He would hack into government officials' computers and reveal their corruptions. Even some well-known companies were shut because of his work. I believed he was like a modern-time Robin Hood."

"Kyle didn't want to get involved, but I did. Unlike Kyle, I didn't have a family to protect, so it felt alright for me to take a little risk."

"So you worked together with him as a vigilante as well?" I asked, to which he nodded, confirming.

"We meddled in many things, especially in government affairs. Corruption was everywhere. I was disgusted with people while my respect towards master only increased day by day. Then one day, Kyle called me in the middle of the night. He seemed to be in a hurry. He told me, 'Master was not the man you believe him to be. He is deceiving you so he can use you.' He hung up and disappeared since that day."

"Disappeared?!" I exclaimed. Jake nodded. He seemed to have gotten more calm and collected.

"Soon, I found out what Kyle meant. Master's real job was to work for other organizations to bring down the power of the other companies. A gap in the hierarchy will appear whenever high officials or powerful companies are brought down. Those people would fill them. Master even worked for foreign governments, sometimes even leaking the national security data."

Why Jake was so persistent in not trusting anyone was clear now. His father figure betrayed him; of course, he wouldn't want to be betrayed again.

"I tried to expose him then. But before I could, the FBI suddenly came to arrest me. I managed to run away, then found out later that master had exposed me. After that, for four years, I tried my best to find Kyle. He seemed to know something. But there were no traces of him at all. Apparently, he had moved out with his mother and sister. His trail was cut off from there."

Jake leaned forward, tightly gripping my hands. His eyes seemed to plead. "Master always sees one step ahead. MC, even now, he must be planning to kill us and I-" His lips trembled, Jake was stressed, and he looked so helpless. Helpless for me. "I am honestly not confident in protecting you. So please-"

Jake's plea was cut off by a loud sound in the living room. Jake immediately moved in front of me, guarding me against any harm.