All Roads Lead to Gallagher

A deafening silence hung over the room once John stopped talking, as though everyone was waiting for him to say something else. When it became clear that he had nothing left to say, Lee stormed out of the room, his anger clear on his face. No one bothered to try and calm him down or deter him from leaving. They all knew he was justified; his father had done some terrible things and was no doubt one of the people John had blackmailed, even if the boy’s father had an obvious disdain for John.

It was his father-in-law who spoke up first. “What you did isn’t completely right, but it’s not as bad as what I’ve heard some of the other people wrapped up in this whole affair have done. You did it to keep my daughter and grandson safe. As far as I’m concerned, that makes it alright with me.” His mother-in-law nodded in agreement.

“Even if I don’t necessarily agree with the blackmail,” Rebecca said, standing up and placing a hand on John’s shoulder, “I do agree with your decision to publish that article on Gomez in the first place and why you did it. Evidently, so does the man who put us in danger again. Maybe that’s the real reason he signed you up for his game: because he agreed with your ideals, but disagreed with your methods.”

John let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Once again, I’m reminded that I married a woman much smarter than me.” He pulled her in for a hug. “Guess the biggest mistake I made was failing to bring you into this.”

“Only thing we can do now is make it right,” she replied.

He pulled away and said, “Well, I can go and talk to Lee, I’m sure I know why he’s upset.”

“No, it’s probably best I do it,” his mother-in-law interjected. “I doubt he’ll take it well coming from you.”

“Well, thank you, Carolyn.” With a nod, his mother-in-law walked away towards Lee’s room. John checked the ART as she disappeared.

31:24.

There was still a little over a day left until the game was officially over and yet something in his gut told him that he wouldn’t need to wait that long to close the book on this chapter of his life. Moreover, something was eating away at the back of his mind, enough so that he began to unconsciously pace the room. Something about Rebecca’s words felt familiar. The fact that he had checked his watch had only made the thought’s bite even stronger, as though it had evolved from a mere mosquito into a large dog.

“Methods, ideals, tracking,” John began to mumble to himself.

“What’s he doing?” his father-in-law asked.

“He gets like this when he’s thinking about something important,” Rebecca answered. She waved her hand to get his attention and inquired, “Honey, what are you thinking about?”

“Well, I was just ruminating a little bit,” he began, the pieces finally falling into place. “As we walked over here, Lee proposed the idea that Gallagher could be using the GPS inside of these things to track us. Then what you said about ideology and methodology made it click a little bit.” He took the journal out of his pocket, which was looking a little bent from his nap. “I visited Gallagher’s mansion earlier last night and found this in his bedroom. It shows that we’re alike in another way beyond our attempts to stop those who have hidden from the law through wealth and influence: we both value our families.”

“Do you happen to know anything about his family, though? I thought you’d done an investigation on him and came up dry,” Rebecca said.

“Last I checked, a major part of the man’s schtick was being this mysterious tech genius,” his father-in-law interjected.

With a snap of his fingers, John continued. “Exactly. The journal details a bit of his past. The man known as Scott Gallagher has no living family, at least that he would associate with. However, if he’s tracking the players of his game, he needs a place to do so without being found by the authorities. I thought I’d checked his entire mansion, but I hadn’t really. I was tired, I was emotional, and I hadn’t yet made the connection you did, dear.” He gestured at Rebecca. “If it was me and I owned a mansion like that, I’d hide in the last place anyone would expect: my own house. The only thing is, I’d make sure to have a secret room or passageway installed so that no one would know I was there.”

“Big whoop,” his father-in-law said. “Doesn’t do you or any of us any good, not if that timer of yours hasn’t counted down.”

“He does have a point,” Rebecca added.

“True, but that’s the thing: I don’t think Gallagher counted on anyone finding him until the watches had all finished counting down,” John refuted. “Realistically, he had hoped that everyone would be arrested or killed first, but I can likely stop his game prematurely if I can get to whatever control center he has.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Rebecca said, standing up. John forced her to sit back down.

“No, you’re going to stay here,” he said gravely. “Assuming that I’m still being tracked, Gallagher might try to send someone to kill me before I get there. I’d rather you stay as safe as humanly possible. Watch over Matthew and keep him safe, too.”

She didn’t seem to like that idea, but she couldn’t deny his logic. Rebecca was, after all, a woman with an intellect to match his own and someone who wanted to live just as much as anyone else. It certainly didn’t hurt that she’d rather not leave her son alone with her parents.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I trust you. Just come back in one piece.”

“I will,” he promised, embracing her once more. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He bid farewell to the remainder of his family, including baby Matthew, who remained asleep (something he was incredibly grateful for). Lee refused to say anything to him, but he hoped that he’d be able to patch things up once he came back. If he came back.

Things would be different from now on, there was no avoiding that. His family knew about what he'd done, even if they had said they were fine with it. Gallagher had forever changed them in a way they couldn't predict. Whether or not he could resolve things with Lee, let alone if he'd want to remain in his in-laws', was another matter entirely. Even though his resolve remained strong, there was something else that nagged at his mind: no amount of resolve could kill the fear in his heart. He knew that there was a strong potential that he was walking to his death. The hope that his family had and that he had promised to them was something that had not penetrated all the way to his heart.

There was something about having to lie about that hope that felt worse than anything else he had done in his life.