‘You sure we’re in the right place, Rosedale?’ Cooper looked uncertain as they walked along the narrow mud paths on the outskirts of Kinshasa where a group of young boys wearing faded soccer shorts and worn down flip-flops played in the sludge by an open sewer.
Rosedale stood in front of Maddie and Cooper, glancing around the alleyways.
‘It’d help if this place had street signs. It seems like we’ve already been along here. A person could lose their way.’
Cooper laughed. ‘That’s not very reassuring, Rosedale, coming from a guy who’s spent a big part of his life working in the CIA.’
Rosedale leaned on the white crumbling wall and lit the cigar he’d had in his mouth for the past hour. He smirked. And it got right under Cooper’s skin.
‘The same could be said about you, Thomas, a highly decorated ex-military man such as yourself, who needs to keep his wits about him at all times – especially as you feel it was your wits which let you down when it mattered the most. And as such you barely sleep in case you miss another moment. You pop your pills as if they were candy, hoping no-one will notice. But you can’t give them up because they’re the only way you can sleep, and they’re the only way you can keep awake. But you don’t care, do you, Thomas? Because the only thing that matters to you is you don’t miss another chance to get it right.’
Cooper visibly stiffened at the unexpected but accurate analysis.
‘So it surprises me, Thomas, you failed to notice I used the words, seems and could. It seems like we’ve already been here. A person could lose their way. Which is not the same as saying, we are lost. Quite the contrary, Thomas, if you look to your right, the run-down building at the end of the path is, in fact, the place we’re looking for.’
Maddie hissed at Rosedale, not wanting Cooper to hear.
‘Don’t you ever get tired of playing these games no-one’s interested in?’
‘You feeling left out, Maddison? Well let’s see now, shall we? You joined the military because you needed to prove to yourself and to show Daddy, who never loved you enough, that you weren’t a victim. But when you joined it wasn’t for you and you felt more like a victim than ever. You’ve got average pilot skills but that doesn’t matter, because Onyx needed to employ a woman. It’s an unspoken secret you got pregnant to get Thomas to marry you. He may be a lot of things but he’s a gentleman, so you knew it’d work. If you had a choice you’d leave, but you can’t, because that’d mean you couldn’t look after Thomas, and even though you’re no longer together, you’re hoping someday he’ll give up his ghost and you’ll be a family again.’
The slap to Rosedale’s face created an angry sound, along with an angry mark. He rubbed his face. Tilted his head. Broke into a smile. ‘Well I’ll be damned, there’s me thinking we were only playing games.’
Maddie stepped back, hands on her hips. ‘Oh we are, and you were wrong. I’m damn good at my job and my Daddy couldn’t give me any more love if he tried. But hey, now it’s my turn… Let’s see, shall we? You joined the Navy because you had nowhere else to go. Nobody to care and the nearest you got to love was when your daddy dropped you off at a children’s home and said goodbye. You couldn’t cut it in the SEALs because you didn’t know how to relate to other people so you joined the Clandestine Service in the CIA so you could spend your life pretending you were someone else, because the real you is a neglected little boy from Texas. You would cry but you don’t know how to, just like you don’t know how to love… How did I do? Did I win?’
Rosedale stared at Maddie and as he turned to walk away he quietly said, ‘Yeah, Miss Maddison, you did. You won.’