"No way," said Virginia to the man. "What's your name?"
She needed to know, in case she needed to find him.
The disheveled man ran his hands through his hair, making it more disheveled. "Ryan Needles."
"You better have proof it's Calvert. Why would he care about my dad?"
As she asked, she realized the answer.
Her father was going after Calvert.
She also knew why he was going after Calvert. It only made sense. She should have anticipated it sooner. She'd always been planning on going after Calvert one day, but her father had beat her to it, and he hadn't told her about it.
"He touched the third rail," said Needles. "Calvert is untouchable, and this proves it."
"Is my father alive?"
"I believe he is. I believe they took him."
"Who's your lead?"
Needles took a deep breath and looked away from her.
"What's wrong?"
"You can't tell him this came from me."
"Tell me."
"My boss. Senator Johnson."
"What do you mean? He knows where my father is?"
"I don't know what he knows. I know he knows something. He's on the committee with your father. He's been acting strange. I've heard things. Seen things. I'm starting to believe he has a connection with Calvert."
"Any hard evidence?"
Needles shook his head. "A feeling."
"You're saying I should talk to this senator?"
He thought about that, slowly nodded. "I'm not saying what you should do. I'm just telling you my feeling."
"Why have you been up the past two nights?"
"Looking for hard evidence, then realizing I don't want to have anything to do with this. I don't want to attract Calvert's attention or get involved."
"You're talking to me."
"I gave a lot of thought to this."
He took a sip of coffee.
"And?" Virginia asked.
"I'm selling my house. I have a good savings. I'm packing everything up and leaving the country. I'm going to disappear. Forever." He gulped down a sip of coffee, staring absently at her window.
Virginia understood. She nodded. "Need any help?"
"No. Just talk to Senator Johnson."
"You're sure it's Calvert."
He nodded. "I got to where I am today from being perceptive. I've overheard and seen things that even you would be shocked to learn."
"Such as?"
"Politicians don't always get their money from good people. Dark money buys dark politics."
"That's not new."
"There are people in our government who support terrorism; who take money from terrorists."
"That's not new."
"It's new to me."
"Sounds like you're growing up," Virginia said. "The only good politicians are the ones who aren't bought off, and even then."
"How do we fix it?"
Virginia laughed. "It's never going to stop. Nor do I care to stop it. It's the way the world is."
"Of course you care," he said. "That's why you joined USI. You want to make the world a better place. That's why I went into politics. It's why people vote and talk about politics and donate money to candidates. We all want to make the world better."
Virginia took a sip of coffee. "Not true. There are many people who want to make the world a worse place. That's what you're missing. You're living in a fairy tale where you think everyone wants what's best for the world. People want what's best for themselves, whatever the definition of that is."
"That's cynical."
"The world is an awful place."
Virginia was only half paying attention to the conversation.
Her pulse had risen. She was picturing her father, picturing where he might be. Picturing him getting kidnapped for going after an evil man. She pictured Senator Johnson. She knew his face, had seen him around.
"Disappear, and do a good job at it. They'll trace this back to you," Virginia said.
Ryan Needles, a man with false hopes, took a final sip of coffee, set it down on the coffee table and rose to his feet.
"Thanks for stopping by," Virginia said. "I understand what you did for me."
"I don't want to believe that the whole world is evil. There are great people, and politicians," he said.
"Like my dad," Virginia said, a pang of sadness hitting and then flowing through her heart, down into her stomach. If something happened to him, she was going to move heaven and earth to take down whoever was responsible.
"Exactly," he said.
She walked him to the door. "The whole world is not evil," she said. "But most of it is. And it's never going to change."
"Maybe in the future," he said.
"Never. A man's heart is desperately evil."
"People are led astray by bad education. I think we can make the world a better place," Ryan said, as she opened the door. She decided to let him believe it. She didn't have time to talk, nor did she actually care to talk.
"Where's Johnson right now?"
"At a fundraiser."
"Disappear. Fast," she said. Closed the door after he stepped out.
She immediately went to her laptop and opened it up. Looked up the location of the fundraiser and slipped back into her dress—put her hair back up.
In four minutes, she was out of the apartment.