Runaway

Chapter 40

Mr. Vicari grinned. "Exactly that. Your mother literally fought with me to have your first name as Finnian, and not Alfonso. Are you trying to make his childhood at school difficult?, she told me. Bah, I still think you would've made an excellent Alfonso. Although I think your sister would have fun teasing you with that." 

"Sister?," Finn asked, utterly confused. "I don't remember having a sister." 

"She was born less than a year after you were taken from us. Your mother had just gotten pregnant with her, and we were getting ready to tell everyone, but..." Mr. Vicari clenched his fists, then opened the door for us into the proper terminal. "That's when you were kidnapped, so you never knew." 

Finn was so shocked he didn't blink or say anything for a good two minutes. "Finny?" I put a hand on his shoulder gently. 

He spoke testily. "I have a little sister?" His father nodded. "That means she's eleven right now. She'll be going into high school soon." He gritted his teeth and marched on ahead of his father towards the gate while muttering, "That bastard's going to pay for this."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Mr. Vicari watched after his son worriedly. "Who is he talking about? Don't tell me it's whoever took him from my wife and I." 

"Yes. It's the same man who took us from all of our families," Becca spoke up. "We were kidnapped when we were five also. We don't know anything about our families. At least Danika here-" Becca gestured towards me "-has her brother, the one who flew off to England. You must know how imperative it is that we find him." 

He nodded. "I do. I've been searching for my son since he was taken from us. I'll help you get back to your families as well. Here." Mr. Vicari reached into his back pocket and pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to Becca. "For whenever you need to get back." 

"Thank you, Mr. Vicari. You've been an enormous help." Ajax shook hands with him, Becca and I following suit. 

"Just bring my son back with you. Now that I've found him, I don't want to lose him again." He looked over to Finn who was sitting in one of the seats by the window overlooking the tarmac. 

"We promise," I said as reassuringly as I could. "We've got his back, so don't worry." 

"Thank you. Could you send him over to me please? I'd like to speak to Finnian in private." 

"Of course." We walked over to Finn, relayed his father's message then sat down. Finn and Mr. Vicari sat in seats a little ways away from us, probably catching up, though how you were supposed to summarize the past thirteen years in less than an hour I had no idea. 

Soon enough, the plane arrived at the gate, and I witnessed Finn's tearful goodbye and fierce hug. Once we boarded the plane and were assigned first class seats (thank you Mr. Vicari), I reached across the aisle to tap Finn's shoulder. "Hm?" 

"Hey. Are you okay? You seemed pretty upset back there." 

"I am. I finally find my father again after all these years and I have to fly across the damned Atlantic. I don't blame Eric though. He's looking for family, like the rest of us. I blame the f*cking General. Because of him, I missed out on a normal childhood and my little sister's." His eyes were mixed with sadness, fury and fear as he looked at me. "Dee, I'm so mad at him. I'm furious. If he was right here in front of me, I wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in his brain. But I'm scared too. I've never felt this way. I don't think I've ever felt this violent in my life." His breathing grew heavier. 

"Finny..." Finn had always been a gentle spirit with the patience of a saint. I'd never seen him mad once in all the years I'd known him. Annoyed and irritated, yes, but never this enraged. I could only imagine what he was feeling. I asked Becca to trade seats with Finn and she did. Once we were settled again, I pushed Finn's head onto my shoulder so he could rest. "It'll be okay. We'll find Eric first, then track down that bastard. I promise."