Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 25•

•Word Count: 2,600

"Organised crime"

By the look on Herr Bastian's face, I could safely assume that he wasn't willing to uncover that particular secret.
I'm thankful Armin had the initiative and the courtesy to do it.

Waves of cognition, mingled with remote fragments of my memory begin to assemble inside my mind, forming clearer pictures I could look at.

First one, a sentence off my mother's goodbye letter;

"We crossed powerful people"

The immediate second one, the General's words;

"Your parents were assigned to one of the most consequential operations ever to be."

Following closely after, is a supposition that may -but I hope not- confirm my suspicion.

I brace myself for the impact of the response, placing my hand on the closest piece of furniture behind me, "Organised crime as in Mafia ?"

The two of them nod slowly. My eyelids slide close.

What were my parents thinking ? From what little I know about the Mafia, they're indestructible. Why would my parents ever entertain the lunatic idea of crossing them? Unless...

"What did the BND exactly task my parents with ?"

Herr Bastian hesitates but Armin strokes his chin with his index finger, looking straight ahead, "They were supposed to bring down the German Mafia for good,"

My thoughts are at the tip of my tongue, "How could someone possibly bring down the mafia ? Aren't they too powerful?"

Armin pushes himself from the desk, going round the desk and disappearing under it, "Darwin and Ruba came up with this promising scheme to bring down the mafia by gradually dismantling their empire,"

How does he even know this much? I'm slightly jealous he knows more about my parents than myself.

He comes back up, after a rummaging trip through the drawers, "The Mafia's indestructibility comes from their covert ties to the government; in other words, by gaining the alliance of a judge, a commissioning officer, an attorney, etc.
The list of lawful figures stretches on."

He begins flipping through a file, "Your parents dug through records and went through pains to get tabs on every person in the legalised circle associated with the mafia, starting with the lowest ranking to the highest ranking, and turned them in to the German government, who dealt with them accordingly."

His words are too much to process, too much to digest, so I choose to take a breath,                                                                        and then take my time dissecting his words, one at a time.

Lowest ranking to highest ranking.

Where did I see that ? My brain squeezes on itself, trying to juice out that strangely familiar wording.

"Their scheme was stopped short however, sentencing the whole mission to discontinuation," He says carefully.

Herr Bastian finally decides to go from his watchful silence to intervention, stepping in and uncrossing his wrinkled arms, "There's something I need to show you. I think it's time you meet her,"

Herr Bastian leads the way out of the room, and with one last look around the office, I follow closely after, with Armin on my heels, head staring at the floor and hands in his pockets.
We descend a few flights of stairs, breathing in the delectable aroma drifting from the kitchen on our way, before reaching the bottom and taking the last flight to where I assume would lead to the basement.