Scene
16
Darkness
fell on the Bulgarian countryside but the remnants of the
night wasn't noticed inside the dim monastery. Mike watched
Ethan as he slept. He had taken a room near the back of
the hall and was crashed out like some teenager lying on
the bed fully clothed. His chest rose in sharp degrees and
fell a bit too rapidly for her liking but she had to remember
he was injured. That had to account for his heavy breathing.
She remembered a time when she was the only thing that rose
his blood pressure to that extreme. That had been so long
ago. A time before Franklin's untimely accident. A time
before Franklin had asked her to make the biggest sacrifice
of her life. The decision was still haunting her.
She
had to stop thinking like this. Her life with Ethan was
over, and it was all because of this damn Paris project.
Ethan would never know that she was doing this for him.
That she was pushing him away to save his life. To save
him from the Foundation and the Black Council. To them,
the ends justified the means but Michela wasn't willing
to pay such a high price. Ethan's life was worth more than
turning him into one of the Council's personal assassins.
He was meant to do just what he was doing, working for the
Legacy and saving the lives of the innocent, not taking
them.
The
massive door creaked behind her as she closed it. She trained
her eyes on Ethan's face watching it every second as the
door closed completely finally tearing him from her sight.
Before she had time to turn around, Michela tripped over
something behind her on the floor.The sound of her gasps
reverberated down the hall as she tumbled over the massive
object in her path.
Kevin
howled as Michela stepped on his arm and then his chest
on her way down. They were a tangle of arms and legs looking
more like a tarantula than two different people. Michela
blew a long piece of hair out of her face but it plummeted
back to where it was. It continued to block her vision.
She glared at Kevin through her mussed hair.
"Planning
on sleeping in front of Ethan's door all night? Or is this
what you call roughing it?" Michela said through gritted
teeth. "I can't believe you're lying here in the middle
of the hallway. You could have killed me."
"Settle
down princess. I'm only here to stand guard. We talked about
this before we came, remember?" Kevin watched Michela sigh
as a glimmer of their earlier conversation penetrated through
her anger.
"Of
course I remember," she snapped. "How could I forget something
like that?"
"Maybe
because that big lunk in the next room is acting like a
major jerk again? It still bothers you doesn't it?" Kevin
wadded up a sleeping bag to use as a pillow and jammed it
under his arm.
"Well,
if you must know... yes, it's still getting to me. But I
can handle it. I just never expected him to hate me so much.
He never did that with any of the other girls he dated."
"You
weren't any of the other girls. You're the only one who
managed to crack that shell he lives in. He may not admit
it but he loves you."
"And
I betrayed him in the worst possible way. I took my love
from him and ripped his father's memory away at the same
time. I'm a horrid, horrid person, Kevin. How can you be
associated with me?" For the first time since she could
remember she let herself feel and a tear slid down her cheek.
"You
don't have to be strong all the time. What you're doing
is damn hard. I don't think I could do it with such grace
and dignity. Don't sweat it. When this is all over you'll
be back together."
"If
this is all over, you mean. I wish I was as positive as
you but I'm beginning to think this assignment will never
end. That it will be the end of what Ethan and I once had."
Mike wiped the tears from her face and set her features
back to what she'd come to know as her normal daily look.
The groves in her head set in two long deep lines and her
eyes which once had sparkled with life were now dull and
hooded. Somewhere between then and now she'd lost her zest
for life.
Michela
pivoted her legs away from Kevin's chest and positioned
herself in the middle of the floor next to him stretching
her arms over her head.
"You
never answered me before. Are you planning on staying out
here all night?"
"Maybe."
Kevin slapped the sleeping bag beneath his head a few times
and tried to find a more comfortable position on the solid
wood floor. "Care to join me, princess?"
"If
you call me that one more time your ass has had it." Mike
tried not to crack a smile but failed miserably. "How did
our lives get so screwed up anyway?"
"Justify
it like I do, blame it all on Dad. He's the one who got
us into this mess to begin with." Kevin stared at the wood
beams angling down the cathedral ceiling. "He may not have
been ultimately responsible but he set the wheels in motion.
Neither one of us wanted our lives to be like this, Mike."
"I
wish we could get a lead on who WAS responsible. I KNOW
your Dad knows. He won't tell me because he's afraid I'll
go out and kill someone and ruin his plans." Mike made imaginary
quotations in the air when she said the word, plans.
"We
may not entirely know what's going on, but I'll bet dollars
to donuts that Gia and Philip are in this up to their eyeballs."
Mike
cocked her head to the right and looked at him in contemplation.
"I can understand Philip, but you really think Gia would
stoop so low?"
"Lower."
The comment drew long stare from Mike who sat up and studied
him curious to hear the entire story. "You don't know her
like Ethan and I do. That is one cold bitch."
"I
guess I'll have to take your word for it, then. I must be
thinking of someone else."
Kevin
closed his eyes but they flew open suddenly.
"Are
you saying you might have known Gia before she was in the
Legacy?" He sat up eager to hear anything about the Legacy's
most mysterious operative. "She's been a enigma for years.
I've heard rumors that she has amnesia but I'm not buying
it. You can't fake an attitude like that. I have always
wanted to put a chink in that icy armor of hers. Tell me
about this woman you knew. Maybe it's her, maybe it's not
but it beats counting the ceiling tiles while we guard my
big brother."
"The
way you talk about her, I'm not certain it is the same woman."
She swiveled around and leaned against the closed door to
Ethan's room. "Five years ago I was masquerading as a college
professor in Amsterdam. I could have sworn from the pictures
Frank showed me that she was the same woman I knew back
then. Same hair, same body shape, but apparently a different
personality." Mike closed her eyes as she vividly remembered
the flower lady of Amsterdam.
"Her
name was Gina, and she lived next door to the University.
The land around their estate was amazing. Flowers every
where. All shapes and sizes and her garden bloomed in all
seasons. It truly looked like a scene right out of the Secret
Garden. Many of the other professors liked to comment on
her purple cone flowers and Shasta daises. It had come to
be a joke on campus. Daises were everywhere. She even decorated
her kitchen with them. She was the ultimate daisy freak."
Kevin
began to laugh. "Has to be a different woman. Gia and daises
doesn't compute."
"Well,
all I can tell you is that the woman I knew had a flourish
with nature. From what you tell me of Gia, they're probably
two completely different women."
Kevin
ruminated on the thought of Gia interacting with nature.
"Nah, couldn't be her. Only thing Gia does is kill things.
_______
While
Kevin and Michela spoke in soft tones outside Ethan's door,
a mysterious figure cloaked in black appeared from a secret
passageway crafted eloquently into a corner of the room
behind a fireplace. From her looks she was most definitely
a woman, slim, long chestnut hair and a gas mask covering
her face. Slowly throughout the night she had let a drop
of mercury bead on the bare light bulb which dangled above
his sleeping figure. Clearly he was now into hallucinating
about his darkest fears. He thrashed on the bed mumbling.
Another
face appeared through the passageway, this one blonde. She
too had a mask fitted on her face. Together they pulled
his pale, limp, sweating body from the bed and dragged him
through the secret passageway. As they slipped through,
the fireplace slowly closed behind them leaving no trace
that the intruders had been there.
_______
An
hour later Michela flinched drawing her from sleep. "Did
you hear that?" she said in a muffled tone. Her eyes were
droopy and sleep was quickly claiming her body again.
Kevin
mumbled no and turned over facing her. He was blissfully
snoozing away as Mike was drifting somewhere between awake
and asleep.
"All
right then, good night." A second later she was out like
a light.
______
Back
at Headquarters, Jeffrey paced in front of his computer
terminal glancing with concern at the blinking red word.
It flashed the word DARK over and over.
"It
can't be," he said somewhat in shock. "She couldn't have
gone dark. I didn't initiate the protocol."
This
had Jeffrey more than concerned. Both Gia and Philip were
gone and he didn't know what to do. This was a serious problem.
An operative went dark only under certain circumstances
and the Bulgarian mission didn't warrant going dark. There
was no reason to. He glanced up to Gia's darkened office
and knew he had to get advice from the only other senior
member in the building.
"Hey
there little buddy. You look down. What's the problem?"
Boswell Chapman said as soon as Jeffrey entered the weapon
and computer arsenal where he was working on fixing a broken
Palm Pilot.
"I
wish you wouldn't call me that," he said in a somewhat harsh
tone that was very unlike him.
"Sorry,
old habits die hard. What's up?"
Jeffrey
moved closer and turned his back to the security camera
near the front of Boswell's office.
"Something
fishy is going on. Octavia went dark."
"So?
What's the problem with that? You've implemented the dark
procedure many times." Boswell didn't take his eyes off
the computer before him as they talked.
"That's
just the problem. I didn't implement it. It was done remotely
from somewhere in Bulgaria." Jeffrey sighed. In all his
years in the Legacy he had never had to deal with such a
problem alone.
"Yup,"
Boswell said absently. "Sounds like a problem."
"Well?"
he asked, searching for some answers. "What should I do?"
"What
can any of us do? Pray." Boswell picked up the now working
palm pilot and replaced it in one of the clear sliding compartments
around him.
"But
Boswell, that's not my only problem. Look at this." Jeffrey
pulled a mini CD from his pocket and placed it into the
computer in front of them. The image was only partially
there and most of it was static and white snow from the
interference but what he wanted Boswell to see was indeed
on the tape.
"What
am I looking at?"
"This
is the beginning of Octavia's mission. Look here." Jeffrey
pointed to an older man nearing sixty. "He was initially
the target."
"So?
What went wrong? Did he get away or something?" Boswell
was getting impatient with Jeffrey's deductive reasoning.
"No,
ah, well, yes, he got away but he wasn't suppose to. Octavia
shot the other man, here." He enlarged the shot of the two
men near the picnic table. "Now tell me, who does that look
like to you?"
Boswell
stared at the image but couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"That's not...? Ethan? Damn, what are they doing? I had
a feeling something like this might happen one day."
"You
knew that someone would try and kill Ethan?" Jeffrey stepped
back in horror that Boswell would let Ethan go in without
adequate information to save his life.
"No,
no. I didn't know anyone would kill Ethan but it fits. I've
heard rumors over the years. Knights Foundation doing experiments
with implanting chips into operatives brains trying to make
the perfect soldier. An agent with no conscience who would
kill then could be switched back to their normal personality.
But it was only rumors. I never believed them. But the grapevine
has been getting worse over the years. I've heard more stories
in the last six months than the entire time I've worked
here."
"There's
more," Jeffrey said as he fast forwarded the tape. "I was
able to enhance this part so we could see what was happening.
"Ethan got away. Look, he has an injury but he somehow managed
to get away with the help of these two kids."
"Kids?
Like we need that complication. Who are they?"
Jeffrey
closed out of the CD image and settled in front of the keyboard
clicking away until the information he wanted appeared before
them both. A photo of each teen was displayed before them.
"Scarlett
and Phoenix Gray. Their father is Graham Gray, the NATO
lawyer. I put a few feelers out and he's listed them as
missing."
"Just
what we need. A NATO lawyer sticking his nose into Legacy
business. So, what do you think this is, a Knights Foundation
scheme or one of Gia and Phil's?"
Jeffrey
sighed and remembered back to when he was in Philip's office.
"I don't think Lancaster is involved. He seemed pretty miffed
when he discovered the mission log had been deleted for
the Bulgarian mission. I got the distinct impression that
he didn't order it even though the log says differently."
"Must
be Gia then, Ms. Mystery Bitch herself."
"What
am I going to do? If Octavia and Gia are working together
that means this has been ongoing for quite awhile. Octavia
is Ethan's girlfriend and has been for two months."
"Shit,"
Boswell mouthed trying to keep his cool. His gray salt and
pepper hair flipped around as he turned to grab his coat.
"Make the preparations. We're going to Bulgaria."
�
Scene
17
All
Ethan Fairchild could make out was that he was lying prone
on a bed, a very lumpy bed. Somewhere above him a light
swung slowly back and forth in an irritating rhythm. The
rest of the room seemed dark as pitch but the light was
extremely bright. He didn't actually know this for certain
but through his closed eyelids an arch of red crossed the
horizon above him. He wondered why red and not white. Lights
weren't red. He couldn't open is eyes to make sure They
felt heavy as if pulled down by some massive weight.
For
awhile he remained in a somewhat agitated state. Every little
noise startled him. The vent coming on above him every fifteen
minutes was of particular annoyance. He thrashed on the
tiny bed afraid to open his eyes. In the back of his mind
he found the situation quite humorous. The great Ethan Fairchild
was afraid to open his eyes. How pathetic was that? How
great was he now?
Then
his thinking shifted when he heard the tingle of laughter,
Michela's laughter. What was she chuckling about? Wondering
about this increased his agitation. Was she laughing at
him? Were she and Kevin both laughing at him? Had she moved
on with her life and found a future with his own brother?
The sounds grew louder in his head. Now Kevin was laughing
at him, pointing at him. He could see Kevin right in front
of him holding Mike and beaming, both howling with laughter
and pointing. He held his hands over his ears but the movement
didn't diminish the snickers.
"Shut
up! Shut up!" he yelled. "Stop it. Make it stop!"
Sweat
beaded on his forehead and thoughts of Michela ran rampant
through his psyche. He flashed back to all the times they
shared before. She smiled up and him from a rumpled bed
and told him she loved him. The scene quickly changed. She
was getting ready for a night on the town standing in front
of a full length mirror placing a silver bobble on her earlobe.
She smiled at him through the mirror and positioned the
matching earring in place on the other ear.
"What
are you looking at?" she said in the vision.
"You,"
he remembered saying. "You're beautiful."
She
then smiled the most radiant grin and kissed him lightly
on the lips. "You should have a better line that that to
win a girl's heart."
"With
you I never needed a line."
"True,
but you should come up with one and keep it handy. You never
know when you might need it."
If
Ethan could have physically thrown the image from his mind,
he would have. Watching the past replayed was too painful.
It made him aware of all that he'd lost. It had all been
taken from him in one fell swoop as if it had been planned
that way all along. How could he believe anything she'd
ever said to him? She was the one who killed their father.
He had given her his heart and she'd crushed it like yesterday's
newspaper.
He
wasn't one to give his heart to a woman. He'd never become
emotionally involved with one before. Too many complications.
Too many risks. But he'd seen something in Michela. At least,
he thought he had. It was all a sham. An elaborately planned
sham.
She
could be so sweet and vulnerable but at the same time tough
and bull headed. She did everything uniquely from the way
she dressed to the way she talked. Mike was someone he'd
come to want his sister Faith to look up to, and she had.
But Michela had played him for a fool. First the theft of
the money and then her part in their father's death. It
was all too much to think about and the pain was overwhelming.
Every mission after that made her seem more guilty, more
to blame. How could he ever forgive her for what she'd done?
She'd taken his father away from him.
Deep
inside he knew that this new relationship she'd started
with Kevin was the worst betrayal of all. And it only convinced
him more of her character, her true character. He hadn't
been able to see it before now, but now... now it was all
becoming perfectly clear.
_________
"What's
wrong with him?" Octavia placed a hand on the one way glass
and watched as the man in the room next to them thrashed
on the bed. His entire shirt was now drenched with sweat,
and he was mumbling incoherently. "Why is he acting like
that?"
"Don't
go all soft on me Octavia. This is what we've both wanted."
"You
don't hear me complaining, do you?"
Gia
offered a slight crack of a smile, something you didn't
see from her very often. This new direction the Black Council
and the Knight's Foundation had taken was providing her
with endless pleasure. Octavia could see the glee glimmering
in her eyes even if it was barely evident on her face.
"It's
the mercury vapor. It's inducing hallucinations."
"That
doesn't explain why he's shouting Mike's name like that.
He sounds like a wounded animal."
"Oh,
he's wounded all right and it's only going to get worse."
Gia produced a tape she'd been filtering into the room through
the ventilation system. "This is Michela Forsythe's greatest
hits." She played a snippet for Octavia's enjoyment but
it was more for her own entertainment.
"I
hate you, Ethan," the voice from the tape player snapped.
"I'll never love you. I killed your father and I enjoyed
it." Gia pressed the stop button.
"Where
did you get that? Did she actually say those things?"
"Of
course not, not Miss Goody Two Shoes. But Ethan doesn't
know that and in the state he's in, it will only make him
hate her more." Gia laughed but it didn't sound amusing.
It was hard and cold. "I had one of our computer team piece
together conversations between Mike and Ethan. Sounds flawless,
doesn't it?"
"Pure
perfection." Octavia smiled. It may not have been the way
she would have handled things but this tactic also worked
quite nicely. Quite nicely indeed.
_________
Faith
peered into the darkness made somehow more dreary by the
torch lights illuminating the clay walls of the monastery.
She knew Scarlett and Phoenix were ahead of her somewhere.
She could hear their footfalls echo down the corridor.
"Hi,"
she whispered from behind when she finally discovered them
deep in the monastery.
Scarlett
jumped and Phoenix snapped his head back and glared.
"Whatcha
doing?" Faith said with a smile.
The
gesture was sincere but Phoenix was riding on his last nerve
and Faith was about to step right on top of it. He stalked
off and lumbered ahead a short distance.
"Well,"
Scarlett sighed thoroughly ready to be back in her own warm
bed. "We'd be going home if we could only find our way out
of this maze." She picked up her pace and trotted forward
to catch up with her brother.
Faith
tried to hold in a snicker but wasn't successful. She grabbed
hold of Scarlett's arm and whipped her back around. "If
you want to get out of here..." The two gazed up the long
corridor. "That's *not* the way."
Phoenix
turned the corner up ahead and was stopped staring at something
on the wall. When the two girl's approached they discovered
what had him so fascinated.
"Faith,
what is that?"
She
examined it curiously and came up with only one answer.
"That, my friends, is a bomb."
"What?"
Scarlett shrieked. "Well, stop it or something." Her shrill
voice echoed down the hall.
"I'm
sorry," Faith tossed back sarcastically. "Bomb Disarming
101 isn't a course they teach at boarding school. But we
don't have anything to worry about, yet, that one isn't
armed."
"Let's
get it out of here. I don't want it exploding on us." Phoenix
tried to grab the device from it's place lodged between
two support beams but Faith blocked his move.
"Do
it and this monastery will become a crater."
He
snapped his hand back as if he'd been burned.
"We
have to warn Ethan and Kevin about this." Faith started
to run back the way she'd come but Scarlett's gasp stopped
her dead in her tracks. "What now?"
"The
panel. It's counting down." Scarlett latched on to her brother's
arm for support.
"If
it wasn't armed before," said Phoenix. "It is now."
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