Blood Line Read Online Free PDF Page A

paused, looking at me, and then said, “If I run across any other inaccuracies, please stop me so I can correct the file, okay?”
    I said nothing.
    “You were honorably discharged from the service at the rank of Sergeant in 1990. I’m reading from your Army file now,” he offered. “I’m paraphrasing now. The US Army says that you were of unlimited potential. You performed off the charts on all physical and mental tests, and looking at you now, I can see that even at forty-six years old, you are in excellent physical condition. When you were discharged, your height and weight were listed at six feet and 200 pounds. I can see that hasn’t changed much. A little gray in those sandy blonde locks of yours, and the green eyes to match. Yes, I’d say you’re pretty much the same as your Army file described you upon discharge.”
    He turned a couple of pages in the file and began reading. “You enrolled at the University of Georgia and completed both your undergrad and graduate degree in Business by the Fall of 1996, at which time one of your former Army Commanding Officers – a Nicholas Hyder – recommended you for employment at the CIA. Tell me about your time with the CIA, Ron. Let’s talk about the years between 1996 and 2003. What did you do before you went to work for the family business at INESCO?”
    It was a bit unsettling to have my life laid out in front of me like that, just facts, devoid of all nuance and emotion. I looked from my wife to my daughter, and noticed both had downcast eyes. Valerie was looking at the floor in hopes her life wouldn’t be laid bare in front of our daughter as mine had. Leecy was also looking at the floor, but the microprocessor that was her brain was working at the speed of light. I was hoping she wasn’t mad at me for keeping secrets from her.
    “You seem to have all the answers; why don’t you tell me?” I said.
    Porter closed my file and folded his hands together on top of it like a fourth grader when his test was completed. “First, tell me about your Great Uncle John. Is that right? I mean that’s his name, right? The Indian?”
    “He has nothing to do with the reason you’re here.”
    “Oh, I know. I’m just curious. It’s not every day I read a file of a man of half Irish, half Native American descent.”
    “There’s nothing to tell that you can’t read for yourself. My grandfather was Irish. My uncle was a full-blooded American Indian. They shared a father. That’s it.”
    “Oh, come on, Ron. Where’s the harm in telling me what tribe your uncle came from?”
    There was no harm in telling him; I just didn’t like nosey people. I thought about how the information could be used against me and decided it was okay to share.
    “Great Uncle John wasn’t Apache; he was Comanche.”
    “Thank you. I’ll bet you have some great stories from your childhood. Must have been interesting being raised by half brothers that were so different from each other. That brings me to my next question: what happened to your parents?”
    I was prepared for that question. I’d been asked that by better interrogators than Agent Porter and had never revealed anything about my parents to anyone other than my wife. I wasn’t about to answer Agent Porter’s question, and judging from the look on his face, he knew it.
    “No comment.”
    He continued by changing the subject. “Your time with the CIA is classified till 2035. If we want to figure out why an attempt was made to kidnap Leecy, I’m going to need you to share that classified information.”
    “As you well know, or should, I can’t break the seal of confidentiality without fear of imprisonment. I’m allowed to say that I don’t think anything I may or may not have been involved with between the years of 1996 and 2003 has anything to do with what happened at our home. You can always get on the phone and call someone at Langley with the proper clearance level to read the classified file for you,” I said, and then