Out of Focus |finished|

45- fathers and arrests

"Please tell me what you mean by that."
Dr. Blankson managed to ask after staring at Peter for more than a minute.

There was a throbbing in his head already and his stitches itched like there were ants running up and down on them.

"Elder Benson. I swear I didn't know that would happen," Peter repeated, his voice choked with emotion.

He unclasped his hands and let out a huge sigh. He hadn't meant to reveal much but when he had opened his mouth, everything spilled out.

Normally Dr. Blankson would find the sight of Peter emotional unmoving but this was his son. After his separation with his ex-wife, she had sent him to court for sole custody for Peter. Their son had been only 4 years old then.

They'd fought tooth and nail and in the end, Dr. Blankson had won custody with monthly visits from Peter's mother. How he'd done it? He had planted false evidence on his ex-wife to make the judge think she was a drug addict. He'd done everything possible to keep his boy and this situation wasn't any different. He would do anything to keep Peter from getting into any more trouble.

Dr. Blankson held Peter's hand and when his son turned to look at him, he said, "Son, I don't say this but I love you. Tell me everything from scratch and I promise to help you any way possible."

Peter nodded and took out his phone. He opened to a folder in his documents and showed it to his father. The folder contained his reports for his handler.

"I went undercover with another student. I was supposed to get as many names as possible and it was going well. But then Elder Benson tried to blackmail one of my bosses and she sent me and another girl to meet him and give him what he wanted,"

"The same girl you went undercover with?"

"No, no, this was a different girl. We met him late at night and gave him what he asked for to him. I swear I only thought we'd mess him up a little. She hit him with a metal pipe and injected him with Chill. I don't know if she had other orders from our boss."

Dr. Blankson interrupted him again, "Why didn't you do anything?"

"I was shocked dad. And I couldn't do anything to reveal that I was undercover. After that, I tried to get out of the Chill Network but they wouldn't allow me."
Peter paused and looked at his father to gauge his reaction.

He'd expected to see a sneering or accusing look on his father's face but instead, there was only sympathy.
He continued, "They told me that they'd hurt me if I said anything and moved me to retailer status. I told them I wouldn't do that. Transporting Chill from one retailer to another."

"What happened next?"

"My boss got angry and sent her goons to beat you up."

"That's why they beat me up? I thought it was because I was searching into that boy's death."

Peter shook his head. "I'm really sorry dad. I messed up big time."

He remembered when he saw his dad being rushed into the emergency room. He had gone for lunch and was climbing the stairs at the ER to his work floor when an EMT shouted that he needed help. Peter had rushed to help him and was shocked to see his father's face so severely bruised it was impossible to determine where his features were.

He'd rushed him to his work floor because he knew Dr. Blankson and Dr. James were friends. One a philosophy doctor and the other, a medical doctor.

His father pulled Peter out of his thoughts. "It doesn't matter Peter. Nothing will happen to you. I'll send you overseas if I have to."

"They'll hurt you dad, if I disappear they will hurt you again."

"Leave me to deal with that yeah? What happened to the girl? The one who killed Elder Benson?" Dr. Blankson asked him.

Peter shrugged, "I don't know. She must be working somewhere else."

"You don't see her?"

Peter shook his head. "You have no idea how large their network is, dad. The whole school is just a fraction."

"What is her name?" Dr. Blankson asked him.

"Who?"

His father took a breath and answered, "The girl. The one who killed Elder."

Peter opened his mouth to speak but their doorbell rang and the sound reverberated through the living hall. Peter's heart jumped and his father noticed it.

"Stay here," he told Peter.

Dr. Blankson walked out of their house to the main gate to find out who it was. Maybe he should have been afraid but this was his son. He would do anything to protect him.
He opened the main gate to find three men all dressed in camo black.
They were muscular and looked frightening.

"Who are you?" Dr. Blankson asked.

The one in the middle watched Dr. Blankson from head to toe. As if it was wrong for someone like him to ask them questions.
He replied,
"Step aside Dr. Blankson. We're here for your son."

"This is my property. You have no authority here without a court order-,"

They didn't allow him to finish before slapping his chest with a paper. He winced in pain as his bruises were not fully healed. He looked through the paper as the men walked past him, the grass-like odour of their camo black engulfing his nose.

It was a court order for the arrest of Peter Blankson, for the distribution of illegal narcotics to individuals including minors.

When he turned to chase after the soldiers, they were already dragging his son out as if he were a common criminal. One of the men had held him by the collar and pulling him like a reluctant animal.

When Peter saw his father, he shouted, "Dad! Her name, I have to tell you the girl's name."

Dr. Blankson shook his head. Peter couldn't say anything that could incriminate himself more. Dr. Blankson shook his head again and put a finger on his lips.
Peter nodded in understanding and Dr. Blankson watched as they dragged his son out of the house.

Anger filled him and he rushed into the house and picked his phone. He had a call to make to his NSA friend who'd brought them into this mess.