Chapter 20
Ben Marvin knew the call was coming. It was just a matter of time. And so he sat in his favorite easy chair, clothed in a luxurious robe and sipping some brandy. The finer things weren’t all life had to offer.
But they sure were nice.
He lifted his gaze to the painting above his fireplace. It was an old family portrait, painted with oil on canvas. It depicted him as a young boy, cradled in his sitting mother’s arms. His father, Roy Marvin, stood to the side and about a foot behind them. The portrait was vibrant and full of beautiful color. And yet, it was also undeniably cold. His mother’s smile seemed forced and his father stood a little too far away. Like he didn’t really belong in the picture.
It had held a place of honor in the family home until his mother’s stroke and subsequent death. Afterward, Roy had packed it away in a trunk. It gathered dust for years until Ben found it after his father’s death.
This was the Roy he remembered. The cold, bitter man with mussed hair, hooded eyes and shallow cheeks. The man who largely ignored his family, preferring instead to lock himself away in his study during almost every non-sleeping hour.
Although Roy wasn’t much of a father, Ben had never felt hatred or even indifference for the man. Rather, blazing curiosity consumed him. What had happened to Roy? Why did the man seem so beaten down by life?
Occasionally, Roy would come out of seclusion. He’d throw angry tirades about nuclear weapons, the Cold War, the military-industrial complex, socialism, and more. In a weird sort of way, Ben looked forward to those rants and what they revealed about his father.
After Roy’s death, Ben had scoured the man’s papers and belongings. And gradually, a very strange story had unfolded before his eyes. A story about the post-war American government and a mysterious project known as Capitalist Curtain. A story about triumph destroyed in an instant and all the indignities and problems Roy had been forced to endure in the aftermath.
Indignities and problems. Those were constant staples of his father’s brilliant, but marred career. Still, his father might’ve survived them in a better state of mind if he hadn’t already been destroyed by the ultra-strange events of December 14, 1949. Or, as Roy had referred to it in his notes, the Shrieker Tower Incident.
So far, Ben had managed to avoid the sort of career-killing, life-sucking moment that had ruined his father. In fact, Secretary Horst’s change-of-mind was the first real crisis he’d faced since joining forces with the other members of the Working Group on Capital Markets. Thankfully, he’d survived the crisis intact, thanks in no small part to her.
Ahh, the charmingly-named Willow Marvin. His beloved daughter, closest confidante, and the brilliant hacker known worldwide as Malware. It was hard to believe he’d only known of her existence for the last three years.
A long time ago, he’d met the love of his life, the sculptor Sally Keller. Sally was headstrong and spirited and most importantly, the complete opposite of the proper, well-mannered ladies he normally dated. She preferred art to science, the outdoors to television, and bare feet to shoes. Her heart was big and she regularly adopted elderly dogs in order to give them as much love as possible before they passed on to doggie heaven. And of course, she was an emotional basket case, capable of laughing like a lunatic one moment and crying like a mourner the next.
Back in those days, Ben had been more than a little intrigued by this crazed, lively woman. But he was also taken aback and often embarrassed by her antics. Even worse, he was changing in ways that disturbed him. For example, he began to lose focus at work. He started to read fiction instead of research papers. He laughed more and cried more too. And so he did what any young, clueless guy would do… he began to to distance himself from his one great love.
Sally fought for him. Oh, she fought like crazy. But while she was his one and only, it simply wasn’t the right time. He just wasn’t ready to fully accept the whirlwind known as Sally Keller into his life. Thus, he’d continued to distance himself until she felt compelled to give him an ultimatum and he felt compelled to ignore it.
And so, she left him. She moved out of New York City, out of New York State, even out of the United States altogether. She moved across the ocean to London and he never heard from her again.
His friends and colleagues had patted him on the back at the time. It’s for the best, they’d told him. Career-wise, they were right. But personally? Well, that was the day he stopped laughing, stopped crying. Stopped feeling.
Three years ago, Willow had showed up on his doorstep, claiming to be his and Sally’s offspring. One look in her bright eyes and he knew she was telling the truth. Of course, he’d still ordered genetic tests because that was the prudent thing to do. But afterward, she’d told him everything. Their life in London. Sally’s battles with manic depression and inability to achieve creative happiness. Willow’s love of art and science. Sally’s torrid affairs with a string of deadbeats and abusers. Willow’s interest in computers, her career as a coder, and her foray into hacking. And worst of all, Sally’s premature death due to complications brought about by breast cancer.
Oh, that had been a crushing day. For the first time in years, Ben had broken down in tears. Willow had comforted him and thus, they began the awkward transition from strangers to family members.
They’d spent lots of time together over the last three years. Ben had told her all about his side of the family. But most of all, he’d talking about his own father, the troubled Roy Marvin. After Roy’s death, he’d found the Capitalist Curtain files and learned how his hard, embittered father had sacrificed everything in an epic quest to achieve world peace. He’d shared his discovery with Willow and his newfound desire to achieve his father’s dream, just in a different way. Willow, in turn, had wanted to help him with this quest. And so, they’d begun to plan, to plot, to strategize. Together, they were going to remake this country, this world, this everything into something glorious.
A soft buzzing noise caught Ben’s attention. Glancing to his right, he saw his smartphone on a side table, vibrating with the expected call.
He took another sip of brandy, savoring the taste on his tongue. Then he picked up the phone, checked the Caller ID, and accepted the call. “Hello, sir. I was just about to call you.”
“So, you heard the news?” The president’s rich voice erupted out of the tiny speaker. He sounded hurried, yet in control.
“News?” Ben feigned confusion. “You mean about that riot in New York?”
Earlier in the evening, a massive riot had erupted in Manhattan’s ultra-wealthy Upper East Side neighborhood. While the location would undoubtedly bring it extra attention, it was just another in a growing list of civil disturbances that had rocked the nation to its very core. Of course, this particular riot was different than those other ones. Namely, because Willow — acting as Malware — had instigated it.
“No. I mean about Terry Horst.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“She’s dead, Ben. Terry’s dead.”
Ben remained quiet for several seconds.
“A pizza delivery guy lost control, crashed right into her car. I don’t know all the details, but paramedics announced her dead on arrival.”
Ben inhaled a sharp breath. A car crash? Caused by a separate driver? Willow had really outdone herself this time. “Jesus Christ.”
“This is a disaster, Ben. An unmitigated disaster. Between this and that mess in Manhattan, the stock market is going to get crushed all over again on Monday.”