White Space Season 2

Roger Heller tell you? And second, who else did you tell?”
    Truth was, Don didn’t think he had much. He had theories based on random scraps loosely pieced together, but not the damning proof he’d need to actually pursue Conway Industries or Paladin. Nothing concrete. He’d hoped that Roger Heller’s flash drive would be the smoking gun, but alas, that was gone, and with it, Don’s hopes for nailing the bastards. As Don sat, bound to his seat, naked and helpless, he realized how weak his cards actually were. He probably didn’t have enough information to trade with.
    The house usually won, even when the gambler held solid cards. Don didn’t stand a chance. The best he could hope for was a bluff that might draw something from Kaiser before he was forced to show all of his hand.
    “I don’t want to know what I got right,” Don said. “And to be honest, I don’t care. Not anymore. I just want to know one thing. Then, and only then, will I tell you what you want to know.”
    Kaiser stared at Don for a long while, as if trying to weigh his approximate volume of shit. Maybe his electronic eye could somehow read heart rates, or in some other way calculate whether Don was lying about how much he knew. If so, there was nothing Don could do but try to believe his own deception, and perhaps broadcast an air of false confidence that might make Kaiser’s test easier to pass.
    Don tried thinking in those terms — how much he knew and how it would rock Conway Industries if revealed, hoping that if he thought it hard enough, he, and Kaiser, might believe it.
    Kaiser smiled, “Well, those weren’t the terms I offered, but never let it be said that I’m not an accommodating man. Go ahead, Mr. Bellows, please, ask me your question.”
    Don swallowed, giving voice to the only thing that meant anything. “Where is my family?”
    Kaiser leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling and cracking his neck right and left before returning his creepy gaze to Don.
    Kaiser smiled like an alligator.
    “You’re going to ask one question, and that’s what you ask? You sure you wouldn’t like to ask something else? I mean, come on, Mr. Bellows, I can tell you anything else you want to know. Anything at all about Conway Industries, Paladin, and all our secret stuff!” He leaned forward and seemed to whistle through his teeth. “Are you sure you want to ask about your family?”
    Don hated how the bastard titled his head, smiling as if he was holding the answer to an elaborate, and hilarious, riddle.
    “Yes, I’m sure.”
    “Your family left you, Don. They took a ferry to Seattle and left you behind.”
    “Bullshit!” Don cried out. “I checked with the police. There was no footage of my family taking the ferry!”
    “It was a lie, and the Chief was in on it. Helped orchestrate it, in fact. Your family was scared of you! Your wife said you’d gone off the deep end with your crazy conspiracies and endless tinfoil hat bullshit. She wanted to get your kids away from you, Mr. Bellows. Wanted to keep them safe.”
    “No!” Don said, furiously shaking his head, his entire body burning hot with rage, wanting to break free from his restraints, and punch the lying fucker in his big, fake eye.
    “Oh, yeah,” Kaiser continued as his smile spread wider. “In fact, the chief wasn’t even going to go along with it until one of your boys, Ryan, I think, cried about how his daddy was scary and might kill him in his sleep.”
    “Fuck you!” Don shouted. “That’s a lie!”
    “No, Mr. Bellows, I don’t lie. Unlike you. You who have been lying to yourself, lying to others, lying to that poor Milo Anderson kid, getting people all worked up with your crazy conspiracy theories! You are a threat, Don, to yourself, and everyone around you. Your wife was right to take the kids and leave. She was right to protect her family and keep them safe from you, because you and I both know, Mr. Bellows, you were just days from going all Roger Heller on your family.”
    “No!” Don cried. “I would never hurt my family! I loved them! I love them!”
    Kaiser laughed. “You keep telling yourself that, Mr. Bellows.” He slowly approached Don, still nursing his smug and ugly smile. Three feet from his prisoner, Kaiser’s phone buzzed. He pulled the cell from his shoulder pad and read the screen. “I’ll be back, Mr. Bellows. I have some pressing business. When I return, you will tell me the truth.”
    Kaiser left without another word,