Chapter 553: He Who Doesn't Trust Enough Won't Be Trusted

Just to be safe, Damien, Katherine, and the rest of the team decided not to bring Director Sandra Hughes to the safe house, so they brought her to one of Damien's hotels in the city.

Chris still needed to be in hiding, and they did not want to risk it, given the fact that they still had to talk to Hughes about what was happening at the moment. The two hadn't spoken to each other for days since the incident with Chris being targeted by Shadow agents, and anything could happen during those days.

So while they were still a bit wary about Hughes, Katherine believed that the priority was to save her from Shadow first.

…

Crown Hotel

In a presidential suite at Crown Hotel, Katherine, Damien, and Director Hughes sat on a sofa. The room upheld CRG's brand. From floor to ceiling and wall to wall, everything was luxurious and had classy decorations. However, none of those mattered at the moment when they had just narrowly escaped from Shadow's hands.

Just an hour ago, Katherine had come face to face with Parker. An incident that she didn't expect to happen this soon. But of course, in every operation, she should expect something unexpected.

Sandra Hughes was a woman in her late fifties with a short bob hair that was neatly combed to the side. She had some visible crows feet around her eyes, but she was aging beautifully like she had taken care of herself despite her hectic schedule due to her line of work.

"You… Where have I seen you before?" Director Hughes asked Katherine as she placed the warm cup of tea on the table and faced the couple who rescued her earlier.

Katherine and Damien exchanged looks. They had talked to Chris before coming here to the hotel earlier, and they discussed how to go about conversing with the director. Still a bit wary, she took a deep breath and cleared her throat as she looked at the older woman in the eye and began, "My name is Katherine Young."

"Ah… I've heard about you on the news recently…" Director Hughes responded, her expression laced with confusion while she darted her gaze between the two. "How do you know about Shadow?"

Damien had briefly told the director about the man she saw before they arrived, informing her that Shadow agents were there that night, and she was their target. It didn't take long for Hughes to believe him and so she willingly went with them.

"Before I answer that, how much can I trust you? How can I know you're not… corrupt?" Katherine asked without pretenses. She knew people could lie, heck—it's easy for her to lie. But she still had to ask anyway.

A small smile formed on the director's lips while her eyes remained stern. She understood what trust meant to people who had been burnt a lot in the past. It was so hard for them to trust again. "I grew up in the next town, and our family is old money. I don't need more if that's what you're worried about. As for power, I worked hard to get to where I am now. I have made enemies along the way, but those people have only become my enemies because they couldn't stand that I don't take bribes."

When Katherine and Damien exchanged looks again, the director added, "You don't have to trust me. But you already saved me tonight… I think that already speaks a lot."

Thinking that she could put a gamble to it, Katherine decided to fess up, "My name's Katherine, and my identity code is Q78336. I was once a shadow agent."

Director Hughes was stunned upon learning the new discovery, and so she listened as Katherine told her some truths about her identity. It was hard for the latter to talk about her past, even if she had already come to terms with it. It was like confessing all her sins, and doing that to someone she barely knew was definitely uncomfortable.

The entire time, Damien kept quiet while sitting next to her, allowing her to speak what she had to share.

And when she was done telling what she thought the director needed to know, they began to talk about how they found out about her being the target.

"That must be a mistake…" Director Hughes muttered after hearing Katherine and Damien's explanation. "Josiah would never do that… Why would he—"

Her voice trailed off when she came to a realization. "The bodyguards… he asked me to send them home tonight. And then after the speech, he told me to wait in the suite for a surprise." She scoffed in disbelief. "How could he do this? Are you sure?"

Damien leaned forward slightly and answered, "We have substantial evidence, but we don't have a motive."

Steering the topic to a different matter, Katherine questioned, "Director, why would your husband work with Parker? We have a feeling that their partnership isn't as simple as… exchange of services."

The director rubbed her forehead, still trying to wrap her head around the situation. Not only was she about to be killed that night, but she also found out that her husband had ordered a hit on her. After letting out a heavy sigh, she stammered, "I-I don't really know. Our marriage isn't an ideal one. It was like a business agreement between our parents many years ago. We never had a child despite our thirty years of marriage… But we didn't hate each other enough to want to kill the other—at least that's what I thought. So hearing this about him, it's hard to believe. I thought I knew him…" She shook her head, clearly looking defeated.

"I'm sorry that you had to find out this way," said Katherine.

Just then, the tablet in Damien's hands rang—it was a video conference request from Styles's workstation in the safe house. Setting up the tablet so that Director Hughes was facing the camera, Katherine and Damien stayed to her left.

Once they pressed the button, the call went through, and then Chris's face appeared on the screen. He and the director exchanged greetings briefly and immediately talked about the matter at hand.

"I couldn't keep in contact with you, Christopher. I had been receiving death threats left and right lately, so I had to keep my communication lines closed," said Director Hughes.

"Who are these people after you?" he asked, referring to the death threats she's been receiving. It's not how Shadow operated, so he didn't think it was them.

"I don't know yet. I'm working on several cases, not just one… And it's not the first time that I've received threats like this, but they are persistent this time. It's one of the reasons why I couldn't come to you so easily. I know that you need to stay away for now, and if I come to you, I might just put you in danger."

Chris nodded. It was understandably difficult for both of them—for all of them actually.

Seeing that Chris didn't know what to say, Katherine decided to chime in, "Director, Chris told us that you're working on closing down Shadow's operations. How soon can this happen? Even your life is already in danger. We're doing everything that we can for weeks, but we're still coming up short."

Director Hughes shook her hand, along with her head as she firmly told them, "It's best to lay low for now. Do not do any investigations for a while. These things need time, and I'm not talking about days. It could take more months, years even."

Then she turned to Katherine. "You are lucky you came out alive—you and Christopher. But you could be in more danger if you go about this head first. You said you met Parker before you came out of the hotel?"

"You what?!" Chris snapped. He didn't know about this yet as the teams had split earlier, and Styles and Amelia had just arrived in the safe house.

"Nothing happened," Katherine quickly reassured. The thought of the incident from earlier slowly crept back inside her head, and she was beginning to feel sick again. She shook her head to brush away her thoughts of it.

"Still," Director Hughes cautioned. "You know how perceptive he is. Both of you had worked with the man in the past. It's best to assume that you have been found out and that he could strike anytime. You should be careful."

The air was quiet for a few seconds until the buzzing noise of Katherine's phone broke the silence. She quickly fished for her phone out of her purse and answered the call as soon as she saw that it was her grandfather's phone number flashing on the screen.

"Grandpa?"

"Young Madam, this is Frank," answered Chairman Young's assistant. "Your grandfather has been brought to the hospital just now. Where are you? We will send a car to pick you up right away..."

Katherine gasped in horror as she listened to the voice from the other line, feeling as though her heart had been crushed upon hearing the news. She shot up from her seat, and in a panic, she rushed towards the door without saying anything.

"Katherine! Where are you going?" Damien worried.

Hearing his voice, she snapped out of her trance and whipped her head around to face him. Unknowingly, tears trickled down her face as she answered, "It's Grandpa… Damien, I need to go!"