The loud murmurs of mixed languages coalesced within the open assembly room, scores of chairs packed with media personnel and others descending down towards a podium at the bottom, while further seating could be found even higher than us.
“They don’t usually let this happen,” Jack whispered to me, nodding with friendly affection and a thin smile at a passerby, while we set up a tripod and camera purely for show and surveillance of the area. “There’s a press room onsite, it was on the map. They must know that something big is to be found in the speech.”
I looked around anxiously, wondering if there were others who had horrible intentions for my father, and knowing it might be difficult to sniff them out. “Hopefully the wrong people don’t know that either. It was easy enough for us to get in.”
Jack nodded. “Keep an eye on the crowd, if you can,” he said, looking through the viewfinder on the digital camera. “If there’s anything to come, It'll be from around us.” He paused and looked at me reassuringly. “We’ll stop it,” he smiled tightly.
I bobbed my head slightly in acknowledgment, my gaze shifting off into the abyss while the mumbles grew quieter, as footsteps echoed up, clopping from down across the main stage.
Turning my attention, I spotted my father waving to the crowd demurely, scanning it, and noticing me with slight shock across his face, which soon turned to a brief smile and a subdued wink, as if we were both in on some joke that no one else in the room was privy to. I smiled ever so slightly in return, as he slowly took to the podium.
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After a moment of shuffling, he began, sending the room into a hush. “Thank you all for joining me here today,” he started out, adjusting the mic to meet his voice more properly. “Though I am not a regular fixture like many others, my work has been sound for many years and I have moved in circles for constructive advancement between nations. Something I am very proud of. Though...” he continued after a pause, “nothing that would eclipse the pride I have for my family.” He looked back up to me, tears brimming in his eyes. Honest pride.
Soon, I found my own eyes watering. “Dad...” I whispered under my breath.
Jack pulled his head away from the camera and grabbed my hand, clenching it tightly with an affirmation of the words reverberating throughout the hall, before returning to his duties.
“However,” Dad said, “there are things that I have done, which I am not proud of.” He lowered his head with shame. “I have embezzled funds, misled individuals, and disseminated confidential information.”
Gasps came up from the crowd, before settling back down to listen to my father. I felt a sinking feeling as well, even though I knew it was coming.
“I betrayed my own nation, and others.” He continued, before lifting his head back up triumphantly. “I was made promises by an organization, and then coerced by them. Threatened. My family attacked. And I will stand for it no longer!” He stood firm, his head held high.
I looked around the room, forgetting my own tasks, searching, and spotting nothing, before I eyed the upper most level. Suddenly, I spotted a camera lens dilating and opening up a hidden space with a sharp appendage sticking out. Black gloves made adjustments on the camera itself. Behind that, a man lifted his head up and focused on the podium before him, black glasses tilted slightly down on his face. A familiar head. A bald head.
“Oh god...” I cried silently, my hand instinctively reaching to cover my mouth as tears dribbled down my face at the realization.
“No...”
