Episode 7: Desperately Seeking Michela

London was filled with tea rooms, coffee shops and smoothie stands but the London Tea Room was an institution.  Dried leaves of all sorts lined the shelves in decorative glass containers. There was an old -world feeling to the space. Dark wood and aromatic air greeted customers as they entered the shoppe.

The Tea Room conjured warm memories of Mila's childhood with a special blend of peppermint, vanilla and caramel apple. She'd never had all these scents in one place since she was back home in the Forsythe mansion in America. It was strange to think of that place as home but with both of her parents in the service industry, they'd never had the luxury of a real, white picket fenced house.

Now with this latest development, Mila Ferguson was torn. All her life she thought she knew who she was. Now it could all be a bunch of lies. Her father; Mila had to force herself to think of him by his name, Fergus, Chandelor had paid them to watch over her.

Her entire life was one big lie.

Mila tried to block out all the hurt by putting her focus on something else. Something that would keep her from replaying that horrible moment over and over.

The three at the next table were easy to focus on. The blonde lady was quite beautiful even though she was dressed in dark jeans and a ragged hoodie. The two men had their own sort of good looks. Neither was Hollywood handsome but she doubted either had trouble finding dates. The three of them were the perfect distraction from her horrible day.

Mila couldn't hear everything they were saying, but once they mentioned Michela's name, she knew she had to find out more about these people. Plus, Michela could help her get back to America.

Mila wished she could forget what she had heard outside Chandelor Knight's office. That one conversation had changed her life forever. If her parent's weren't her parents who was she really?

She inched closer to the table where the three had been talking about Michela.

"I need to see Michela for myself," Ethan said.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you are good at breaking and entering then," Alison said with a smile.

The three of them left the tea shoppe together and Mila pulled out her suitcase and wheeled it behind her. She exited the shoppe right after the three agents. But she wasn't the only one watching. Someone else in the shoppe also had their eyes on her.

Kevin stayed back as Mila walked past him through the entry way. He followed her closely until she was a block away from the tea room. Then he kicked the suitcase out of her hand, grabbed her shoulder and put her into a head lock. 

Mila  barely had time to react. She was significantly smaller than he. "You're crushing me."

"Why are you watching us?" Kevin growled in her ear.

Mila's heart pounded. She swooned and felt as if she might pass out.

"Kevin. Stop! You're scaring her." Alison Corday pulled Kevin away from Mila. "Don't mind him. He's not wired for subtle."

"She was eavesdropping on us! Any normal person would be dead by now. You're lucky I have great restraint."

Mila yanked her arm from Kevin's grasp and kneaded the muscle in her shoulder. "I'm sorry, but you mentioned Michela's name and I couldn't help myself."

"You know, Michela?" Ethan asked.

"My mother is the Forsythe's housekeeper."

"Sophia?" Ethan's voice was tinted with surprise. "That means your father is Fergus."

"Yes," she said choking back emotion. "I came to visit him in London, but I can't stay at the mansion anymore. Something's happened and I don't feel comfortable there any more. I was hoping Michela might have a place for me to stay."

"And that's it?" Alison said incredulously. "You just need a little help?" She sounded skeptical. Alison wasn't quick to trust ever since her sister, Dyan betrayed them all.

"What else would I want?" Mila's innocent eyes took in the experienced spies and she didn't even know what deadly eyes she was gazing into.

Ethan put an arm around Mila's shoulder. She was quivering, the fear in her body was amped up.

"Come with us. We'll take you to Michela," Ethan said.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Alison asked, pulling Ethan to the side. "Michela isn't exactly in her right mind."

"Maybe seeing some familiar faces will trigger something," Ethan said, then whispered in a lower tone. "Check out Mila on the DL. I want to make sure she's kosher before we put her and Michela together."

"This could set Michela back completely. She already thinks she's living in the past. She talked to me for twenty minutes yesterday about some boyfriend she had in high school that even I didn't remember," Alison said.

"Michela was a romantic target in high school. Her family was rich and many people in school weren't."

"You didn't go to school with Michela. I would have remembered you," Alison said.

"I was a friend of Michael Donovan. I met her when she was dating him."

"So, you've always been a jet-setting playboy? Alison muttered. "I should have figured."

Ethan's childhood was anything but jet-setting. He'd grown up in an orphanage that was run by Franklin's oldest sibling, Sister Mary Rosa and her superior Father Macaire Ambrose. The orphanage wasn't the worst place in the world, but Mary Rosa did everything in her power to make sure they were all well cared for.

He hated reflecting on his past. It reminded him of everything he'd lost. Mary Rosa and Macaire were like parents to him, but he hadn't seen them in many years. Being a spy put everyone he loved in danger. It was easier and safer to stay away. It kept the target of his enemies off their backs.

Ethan pulled out his PDA and texted a secure message to Boswell. He was the head of the armory and inventor of many of their cool spy gadgets. The sixty-plus man dressed like a cross between a Hell's Angel and a hippie. He was sure Boswell would be on board to help the four of them slip back into headquarters.

As he texted his S.O.S., the message bounced back with an error.

"Damn!"

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked from the front seat of the taxi the four had commandeered once they were certain Mila wasn't a security threat.

"Liz has disabled secure Legacy communications.  She's become more of a thorn in our side than I suspected."

"Does anyone have Boswell's cell number?" Ethan asked. None of them had communicated  beyond the secure Legacy network. Now, since that was compromised, they needed to find a new way to get in contact with their friends inside HQ.

Alison did have an idea. Boswell was known as a sort of ladies man, if you could believe his constant stories about the topic.

"I think his latest gal pal is Dena Thorpe. That woman that owns the flower shop not far from Westminster."

"Maybe we can swipe her cell and send Boswell a quick message," Kevin suggested. "Anyone for a quick op?"

Ethan knew he could probably do this swiftly on his own. His nanites could wirelessly connect with any electronic device. They could walk into the flower shop and he'd be close enough to make a connection with her cell. But Kevin was chomping at the bit to dust off and stretch his spy skills.

Ethan couldn't deny him his fun.

Cloak & Dagger - Episode 6

Episode 6: Tea Time Tactics

ForeCross Publishing - London

"What seems to be the problem?" Ethan asked as he entered the office of Quentin Forsythe. His brother, Kevin, was already there standing by the large window staring out at the London skyline. "It's not very often you call for a pow wow."

"I've been concerned about Michela for awhile. Her behavior had been erratic. That's why I've been having people watching her," Quentin said.

"Getting your toes wet in the spy game, Quentin?" Kevin asked.

"Out of necessity, I'm afraid," he answered. "But I did discover something. The Legacy knew something like this might happen."

"Something like what?" Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. He was afraid he already knew what Quentin was referring to.

"One of my sources relayed information to me. Michela has had some sort of mental break. They think it's due to some experiment they did on her years ago. Something called Nightingale."

Ethan sighed. "Do you think it's from one of my father's experiments?"

"Dad would never do that to Michela," Kevin said. "She was like his own daughter."

"Dad experimented on Ian when he was sick. I wouldnt put it past him to do something to Michela."

"I've arranged for you to meet with my contact inside the Legacy. Maybe she can shed light on why this happened to Michela." Quentin handed Ethan a business card for a tea room on the other side of London. "Have an afternoon tea and buscuit on me."

Ethan caught his drift. Speaking about Legacy matters even in his office was dangerous.

"Thanks," Kevin said, swiping the card out of Ethan's hand. "We'll take you up on that. I am feeling a bit parched."

___

Alison Corday observed Ethan and Kevin leaving ForeCross. Bette Marstan was also waiting in the shadows. She observed Bette for some time while the Fairchild brothers met with Quentin. She was making a newbie mistake. You didn't tail a person that closely.

At the next block Ethan hailed a cab. Bette tried to approach them but Alison ran into her knocking them both to the ground. Bette was new to the Legacy so she wasn't yet familiar with everyone who worked there. Alison opened a secret compartment in side her ring an pricked Bette in the forearm. The substance on the pin took effect in seconds. The ring was pretty old school, but these days sometimes low tech was the best way to go.

Bette slumped against Alison. She smiled at people passing her on the sidewalk.  "She's fine," she told them. "Just a little too much wine with lunch."

The people stared at them oddly but kept walking. Most people didn't want to get involved in the lives of strangers.

Alison hailed a cab and shoved Bette inside. She gave the cabbie directions to Bette's flat. When she woke up, she wouldn't remember anything about the last forty-eight hours.

___

The London Tea Room was a quaint shoppe hidden among a row of brownstones. Mile Ferguson shoved her suitcase under the table with one foot while wiping her tears. The Tea Room was so bustling no one noticed a sad young girl sitting in the corner. The waitress sat a cup of steaming tea in front of her. She thanked the woman and began sipping at the beverage. She watched the crowd and wondered if she had enough money to return to America. She knew too few people in England and wouldn't dare ask anyone from the Ambrose estate to assist her. She hadn't exactly left there on good terms.

___

Ethan and Kevin Fairchild entered the tea shoppe a few minutes before four. Mila didn't recognize them, but she could hardly keep her eyes from the two rugged men who claimed a booth two tables away from her.

They waved Alison Corday over to them and she quickly joined them.

"What's all the cloak and dagger for? You couldn't have discussed this back at HQ?" Kevin asked.

"We know there's something on the inside. A person? A faction? We don't know. But they're getting to our agents. Phelps and Charlie Christie showed up DOA last week at a London hospital. We have to be very careful who we trust. Someone's coming after us individually."

"Phelps and Christie? They're legends," Ethan said. "If they can get those two, they can get to anyone."

"That's why we're meeting here. You're more vulnerable than any of us. Those nanites may give you cool powers, but they also can drain you to the point of death if we're not careful."

"Plus, he's been hacked once," Kevin said.

"That's not good," Alison said. Those are the types of vulnerabilities they're attacking. Michela thinks she's seventeen because of a screwy flaw in the Nightingale programming."

"We'll need to get back inside Legacy Headquarters and check this out," Ethan said.

"It won't be easy. Chandelor Knight has appointed Liz Hunter as the person in charge. She's even above Fouts. She's put HQ on lockdown."

"Isn't she the kid that Moses extracted from Echelon not long ago? I thought she was sent to deprogramming," Kevin said.

"Yeah, Bellingham Psychiatric Hospital. The Legacy runs it on the DL. That's where we also sent her partner, Marcus," Alison said. "Word is she wants him back in a bad way."

Working on a possible book cover...

I've been playing around with a possible book cover. What do you think?

Cloak & Dagger - Episode 5

Episode 5: Land of the Knight

The land around the Knight estate was well-guarded and monitored around the clock. Daniel Fouts and Faith Fairchild kept their distance from the mansion. Liz probably had full run of the house by now.''

"She's a devious little sucker," Faith said. "When I first met her I thought she was my friend but she was just using me.  She is completely loyal to this Echelon corporation. It's freaky."

"Maybe she's just programmed that way," Daniel suggested. "Echelon does have the ADP. Maybe they're using it on Liz too."

"So, underneath she could be Sally Straigh-Laced from Surry? And not this cold- blooded, manipulative killer?"

"I wouldn't put anything past them," Daniel said.

Faith began to wonder if such a technology could be used against her brother, Ethan. Ethan's twin, Ian had been on the missing list forever. The sudden reappearance of Ian had Faith worried, especially with all this Chandelor Knight nonsense.

"Remember how you said Ian thought he was Ethan?" Faith asked. "Did you actually physically see Ian or did someone send you intel about it?"

"We have it from a reliable source. Daniel started to speak but Faith interrupted him.

"Maybe this reliable source is working for Echelon too. Maybe this Ian is just some flunky with Ian's personality downloaded into his brain. Maybe Ethan's walking straight into a trap."

Faith had grown up in the spy game and coming up with elaborate plots was child's play to her. If half of what she theorized was possible, someone probably had Ian captive and were going after Ethan next.

"Do you think they're going after my family?" Faith asked.

"I think they're going after the Legacy and anyone who had any tie to that Bulgarian mission ten years ago. That's when we discovered the nanites. Maybe they're trying to advance the ADP even more."

The more speculating they did, the more awful the scenario became Faith didn't like where any of this was heading.

The image of Liz Hunter passed the window where the blueprints indicated lay Chandelor's study. The Library window next to it was dark.

"She's making herself right at home, Daniel said, spying her through field binoculars.

"What's the plan?" Faith asked. "Confront Liz or talk Chandelor?"

"Chandelor first. I want to see where his head is."

"I think I can help you with that," said a voice from behind. Fouts and Faith turned around and found Fergus standing behind them.

The duo was momentarily startled but quickly learned that this could be an opportunity.

"Great," said Daniel. "I wasn't looking forward to brushing up on my breaking and entering skills."

"The thing about working a job for seventeen years... the staff is still loyal to me. I consider them my extended family. Plus, my daughter is in there and I have to get her out. She's in more danger than she realizes," Fergus said.

"Lead the way." Daniel and Faith followed Fergus. His white hair seemed to shine like a beacon in the dark. They weaved through the trees to an odd structure jutting out of the ground south of the estate.

"What is this?" Faith asked. The structure was three times as big as a red London telephone booth but made completely of rock.

"It's one of the emergency exits Mr. Knight had built into the mansion. Rarely used. I doubt Ms. Hunter has discovered it yet. The mansion is quite large."

"One thing to our advantage," Fouts said.

Once inside the room opened up even more. The walls were all rock but the wall into the estate was pure steel. Fergus extracted a key from a large key ring in his pocket.

"Those Chandelor's too?" Fouts asked.

"He didn't ask for them back and I didn't have time to return them once I was ushered from the estate." Fergus hinted a smile at his lips. He didn't seem the type to defy order very often but they didn't have a book where this was  a normal occurrence.

"The system takes a key and a code," Fergus explained. "They shouldn't have changed the code yet."

He typed the digits into the keypad and received a glaring red light for his trouble.

"I wouldn't take that bet if  were you." She pushed both men out of the way and approached the keypad. "Stand aside. Let a woman work her magic."

"What are you doing?" Fouts asked.

"Being awesome, so now hush. Awesomeness requires silence. She dislodged the face plate and began picking through wires. Red, green and blue wires were haphazardly attached in certain places inside the box. Faith rerouted three of the ends to different connections. "Wah-la. Magic."

Fergus turned his key again and the light turned green.

"Thats what's I'm talking about." Faith squealed and gave herself a fist pump for good measure. "Autographs will be available after the show," she said as the three of them entered the mansion at its lowest level.

"What do they keep down here? Bodies?" Faith walked into a large room made of concrete with a big winding staircase that led upward. Everything was a dull gray color, the walls, the floor, probably even the ceiling, if she could see it. It was a decorator's nightmare. She wiped dust off the handrail.

"I guess the cleaning lady doesn't get down here much, huh?" Faith crinkled her nose in mock disgust. Her sarcasm became more prevalent the closer to danger they became. Daniel hadn't seen her so animated since he pulled her out of Paris two years ago.

"No. No one  is allowed in these security areas," Fergus said. "Mr. Knight kept the escape routes bare bones. No need t spend money on flooring and wallpaper  no one would ever see. One of the exits leads from his study to the basement. The other leads to the library."

"Let's hope our adventure ends at the Library."

Web Page For The Legacy

Here is the web page for The Legacy. Check out the "missions" link to read all the episodes.

http://webspace.webring.com/people/sl/legacy_adventure/

Cloak & Dagger - Episode 4

Episode 4: Nightingale Effect

Fouts' Apartment

Daniel Fouts tried to leave the problems of the world and the Legacy at the office, but sometimes it just wasn't possible. He threw his keys on the counter and dropped his briefcase under the roll-top desk in the corner of the room.

Everything in this space was decorated for a male. There were no visible signs that made it seem a female lived here or was even on the premises. But he had sensed Faith Fairchild the moment he entered his apartment. That hint of citrus perfume she always wore infused the air with happiness. It was an emotion that didn't cloud the atmosphere of his home very often.

A gleeful scream of victory came from his study. As he slowly approached the room, he fully expected what he saw. She was playing a boxing game on the Wii wearing the running outfit and iPod she came in. The headphone cords swung wildly around her head.

"Take that sucker!" she squealed as she punched her electronic opponent.

Daniel scowled. She was killing his high score. Playing video games was his was of blowing off steam after a hard day directing the spies of the world. Faith had only recently discovered video games.  Getting her away from the console was about as easy as taking candy from  two year old.

He relaxed in the recliner waiting for her to finish. He was nearly asleep when her shouts woke him. "See if you can beat that, Fouts!"

Daniel smiled. She was his exact opposite. Full of emotion and easily connected to the world, to a joy he just couldn't access in his own life. He shook his head. That wasn't the way he wanted to forget his day.

"Come here." Daniel gathered her into his arms. He held onto her like she was the last breath of fresh air on the earth.

"Easy," she said with a smile. "Don't use me up all in one sitting."

She stared into his eyes. "Are you okay? More Legacy weirdness? You can tell me. It's okay. I've been pre-approved for this sort of thing."

Faith was right. She more than he knew what this business was all about. Both her brothers were elite spies inside the Legacy ranks and her father used to be the Director.

"We think Echelon is getting to our agents. Michela's Nightingale programming is resurfacing in strange ways. Today she woke up and thought she was seventeen. The effect still hasn't worn off."

"Does she look seventeen?" Faith asked with a smile, clearly not expecting the answer to be yes. "Because that would be a cool side effect."

"No, she looks the same as she always has. But all of her Legacy training is lost. This is completely in her head."

"Bummer. Think of all the re-training she'll have to go through."

"There will be no re-training until we find out exactly why this happened," Fouts said. "Echelon could be a bigger threat than we realized."

"Bigger than Julian Black?" Faith commented as a funny, but Daniel wasn't smiling.

"We believe the Black Council and Echelon has been working together. The Black Council had its PARIS artificial intelligence virus. And this is light years beyond that."

Suddenly, Daniel's phone buzzed. It wasn't unusual for him to get calls in the evenings. Espionage didn't sleep.

He glanced down at the caller. The words on his mini screen said 'High Council'."

"I have to take this."

Faith was used to such distractions. She moved to the door and paused on the threshold. "I'll go for some take out. Take your time."

She kissed him on the lips and closed the door.

The High Council's message was brief. What it said had him both concerned and baffled. Their recent asset acquisition from the Echelon Facility, Liz Hunter had just been promoted.

She was now his superior!

___

Next day, Fouts' Office.

"They're doing what?" Faith was baffled by the High Council's new decision. Even Daniel was a bit taken a back, and he was a man without expression. Every look he gave his staff was stern and serious. But underneath it all, she knew he was a pussy cat.

"They've made Liz in charge of our division," Fouts said, his jaw clinching in repressed anger.

"I thought you were in charge," she asked staring out his office window at the skyline.

"Liz has convinced Chandelor Knight that she has certain qualification. I'm not sure how she did it. Chandelor should be used to people trying to play him."

"Maybe he has the holiday spirit and is feeling especially charitable," Faith suggested.

A knock came at the door, but the person didn't wait to enter. The man was dressed in a very fashionable outfit with spit-shined shoes.

"May I help you?" Daniel asked. He didn't want to fathom how a walk-in got in through all their security at the front door.

The man looked lost. His white hair was short and expertly styled. His face was quite a contrast to his clothing. His face was pale and gaunt. He was definitely in the early stages of shock.

"I'm here for my severance check. Is this the right place? My name is Charles Ferguson. Fergus to most. And I am... well, I mean... I was... the long-time butler to Mr. Chandelor Knight."

"You're Mila's father, right?" Faith asked.

"Yes, I am."

"If I'm not being too forward," Faith enquired. "What exactly happened?"

"A woman came into the mansion three days ago and now suddenly I've lost the job I've had for seventeen years. I don't know how she got to him so quickly."

"Maybe she had help in that department," Daniel suggested.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked.

"Echelon. We know they've got the technology to download a personality into someone else's brain. They call it an ADP, Advanced Digital Personality. And getting to someone like Chanedlor wouldn't be easy."

"How did Liz get access to him?" Faith asked. "Chandelor doesn't trust a lot of people."

"That's something we're going to have to find out."

"Does this mean I may get my job back?" Fergus said with a hopeful lilt to his voice.

"I'll do everything in my power to get Chanedlor back into his right mind."

"Thank you, sir." The butler bowed and exited, closing the door.

"What if we can't get Chandelor back to his stuffy old self?" Faith asked.

Daniel grabbed his coat. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Shattered-The Trust: Episode 6

Shattered-The Trust

Episode 6: Breakout

- Hank petitions the director of Alpha Site to assist in the retrieval of Jenna West.

- Jenna and Phoenix make a break for it as the Echelon zombie killers come after them.

Check out the next episode of Shattered-The Trust over at my Shattered-The Trust blog...
http://shatteredseries.blogspot.com/2011/12/shattered-trust-episode-6.html

Cloak & Dagger - Episode 3

Episode 3: Strange Case of Amnesia

"What's happening to her?" Daniel Fouts had been called to the infirmary not long after Michela was brought in.

"I haven't seen anything like it. She's having a strange case of amnesia. The last thing she remembers is in 1987." Lee Myers, the medical professional who headed the infirmary tapped a pen against his mouth. "It could be a new virus one of our enemies are working on," he surmised.

"Or the Nightingale program has finally taken its toll on her brain." Fouts muttered.

Lee glanced at Daniel in surprise. "Isn't that program a little before your time?"

"I was fully debriefed about everything the Foundation found... troubling. This was Chandelor's fear. One of Franklin's experiments going sideways."

Lee patted Fouts' shoulder. "I wouldn't jump off the deep end just yet. Sometimes these things have a way of working themselves out."

"I hope you're right, Dr. Myers."

___

Michela Forsythe thought she was having a dream. Maybe this whole spy agency deal was just a figment of her imagination. Things like this couldn't possibly be real They were only things people wrote about in books.

The doctors had come around taking blood and mentoring her heart rate. She really doubted they'd find anything enlightening in those readings. She was beginning to wonder if this was some kind of freakish time travel accident like "Back to the Future." Maybe she was in the future for a reason.

She sat up and felt her hair. It was probably a rat's nest. Maybe one of the nurses would have a brush. She made her way to the mirror to make out the damage. The second she glanced at the reflective surface she screamed.

"Holy Freaky Friday! That is not me!" She shouted stumbling away from the mirror and then began pounding on the metal door. "Nurse! Nurse!"

Dr. Myers and Fouts appeared at the doorway in seconds. They'd been watching her from the two way mirror in the next room.

"What is wrong with me?" she screamed at them. "Have you seen my face? I'm old! Yesterday, I looked like myself and today I don't! What have you done to me?"

Michela tried to elbow her way out of the room, but with Myers and Fouts securely clamped on each arm, she knew she wasn't  going anywhere.

"Calm down, Miss Forsythe. We'll figure this thing out." Lee Myers tried to soothe her but his voice wasn't doing the trick. Fouts motioned to a nurse to apply sedative.

"Figure it out? Figure it out? How old am I now? This isn't something you can fix!" She pulled at he skin which wasn't as peaches and cream as it once was.

"You turned forty-two on your last birthday." Fouts said in a stiff monotone.

"Forty-two? My God, I'm ancient!"

Fouts grimaced at her declaration. As the sedative began to take effect, Michela curled up on the bed and began to weep.

"I guess we can rule out the theory that she's faking it," Lee said.

Fouts showed no emotion. "I want a brain scan done immediately. There has to be some medical reason this."

The medical staff didn't question his order. They wheeled her bed out of the door leaving Fouts alone in the room. He pulled out his encrypted cell and called a familiar number.

"I didn't get the intel, but I'll let you know when I do." Fouts didn't say goodbye. He snapped the cell closed and shoved it into his jacket pocket.

____

In a hidden mine under a mountain, masked agents guarded two men housed in separate cells. One man, the older of the two, had been there for many years. He was gaunt and sickly. Much too skinny for his height. He had lost count of his days and nights in captivity, but he knew it was a long time.

The younger man in the other cell was healthier and full of motivation. The idea of staying her for any amount of time was out of the question for him. It was something he couldn't fathom, something he wouldn't accept.

The older man's name was Franklin Fairchild and he had no idea the atrocities that had been committed in his name. He didn't know the Black Council had created a necklace device that could change any man to look like him. He didn't know about the experiments in the Legacy on its agents. He didn't know what had happened to his family since he fell off the grid. But it was the memory of his children that got him through each day.

Now focusing on the younger man in the other cell, the man he couldn't see was keeping his mind off how miserable he felt. Having the young man to focus on was now the only thing keeping him alive.

___

Mila Ferguson thought visiting her father in England would be fun and exciting. She'd never been to the home of her father's employer before. The house was an estate in the country, much bigger than she ever imagined. She had marveled at how lovely the mansion where her father worked truly was. The entire trip had been very exciting until she took a wrong turn on the stairwell and ended up outside of Chandelor Knight's office.

"She's more beautiful than your photos," Chandelor steepled his fingers in thought.  "She has Julian's eyes."

"That hasn't been determined yet, sir," Fergus said. "We'll know much more after the blood tests."

"I know this has to be hard for you. You see her as your daughter, but I thank you for keeping her safe all these years. You were well compensated. She was even living under Quentin's roof and he never once suspected she could be his granddaughter."

Mila was horrified by what she'd overheard. Was it possible she really was someone else's daughter? She ran into her room, gathered her things and fled from the estate.

Cloak & Dagger - Episode 2

Episode 2: The Unknown

London, 2011

"Technically, she didn't blow him up," Director Daniel Fouts explained to Ethan Fairchild. "A detonator malfunctioned causing the death of Cal Yates."

"I set the charge," Bette Marstan said. "His death was my responsibility."

Ethan didn't respond like he wanted. He still needed time to assess his new recruit before passing judgement.

"Disrespecting your superior officer, even in death, just isn't done, Agent Marstan," Fouts said.

Bette nodded. "Duly noted, director."

Fouts motioned toward his office. The three entered and as they were seated the fiberglass walls morphed from see-through to opaque. This part of their conversation was confidential.

"Ethan, I know you were surprised by my knowledge of the search for your brother but your new assignment has everything to do with your past."

Ethan didn't like the idea of others getting involved in his recent obsession. Even his sister, Faith, knew nothing about his search for Ian. She and Ian had never been close. Even though Ian was Ethan's twin.

"We've been aware of your brother's location ever since Bulgaria. We thought the problem eventually would work itself out, but unfortunately it didn't."

"Problem?" Ethan asked. "What exactly is the problem?"

Daniel wasn't comfortable revealing this truth even though the decision concerning Ian weren't his.

"Ian believes he's you."

___

Gateway City, 1987

Michela Forsythe was in a rush, per usual. Her boyfriend, Cade, the newly crowned King jock of Gateway High was waiting in the car. She gave her mother a wave and blew her a kiss.

"Please try to be on time tonight," Mrs. Forsythe asked her daughter who was already out the door. She sighed and turned back to her Eggs Benedict. "That girl is going to be the death of me."

Michela and Cade walked onto campus as seniors at the top echelon of the social scene. Cade migrated toward the footballers and she found her best friend, Bliss, slamming poor, dorky Alison Corday into a locker and pouring soda on her head. Not exactly one of Bliss' better moments but the all consuming power of being a senior from the popular crowd was going straight to her head.

Michela's theory was that everyone was allowed at least one pre-season foible. Bliss was just getting it out of her system early.

"You're going to hell. You know that, right?" Michela said trying to keep the smile off her lips.

Bliss pulled out a string of her mother's pearls and began rubbing the beads dramatically as if they were a rosary and the key to her salvation.

"I'll say ten hail Mary's and then all will be good. I have Father Benedict in my back pocket. He can put in a good word for me upstairs."

"So, that's how it's done?" Michela snickered. "I knew I'd been doing something wrong."

Michela couldn't say she had it bad. In fact, her life was pretty awesome. Could she help it that she wanted everyone to know it?

Michela's father owned one of the biggest publishing companies in the world. And all the money he raked in being a workaholic was very attractive to all her friends. Sometimes she wondered if what money didn't stick to me might be transfered to them.

She knew being popular wouldn't get her anything in the outside world. Her older sister, Diana, spoke the theory like a mantra. Once out of high school, she'd lost nearly everyone of her best friends to other people who had things her friends wanted that Diana couldn't give them.

In the end, Michela took advantage of the perks of her father's job. She had the best of everything she wanted. Super-sized birthday parties and clothes from designers who had collections that weren't even out yet. Everything under the sun was available to  her... except more time.

That evening she stood outside the school all alone waiting for someone to pick her up. She assumed it would be Pierre, her father's driver, but he'd been detained with some corporate bigwig.

She dialed her father's phone for the third time but it kept going to voicemail. She guessed this was what it felt like to be truly forgotten. She experienced a good five minutes of feeling sorry for herself. It was cruel but she needed it. These were the things that could truly keep her grounded in the future.

Fifteen minutes later, her sister came tooling down the avenue in her new Buick. As she watched Diana's car round the corner, it took her sister too long to react as a dog ran into her path. Diana immediately lost control of the vehicle. She swerved back into her lane but the damage was done. The vehicle was coming straight at Michela faster than the speed limit in that area condoned. The terror in her sister's eyes was the last thing Michela saw before everything went black.

___

London 2011

The streets of London were still bustling when Ethan exited headquarters two hours later. He hadn't heard much of the debriefing after Fouts dropped the bomb about his brother. The notion completely boggled his mind.

Ethan clearly remembered the Bulgarian mission. At least, he thought he did. There were technologies out there that could easily do what Fouts explained. It made him wonder momentarily exactly who was the impostor. Maybe Ian's memories of Bulgaria had been implanted to cover up a conspiracy. Anything was possible when it came to dealing with his father's experiments. If he wanted to know what really happened back then, he had to go to the source.

___

Bette Marstan wasn't a newcomer to the world of espionage. Fouts wanted her to stick to Ethan like glue, and that's what she intended to do. The only problem being that he was very good at ditching a tail. Which is why she found herself outside the London branch of ForeCross Publishing wondering where he could have run off to.

The Legacy wasn't  good at sharing the details of an agent's life, but Bette had run across a photo of Ethan with a  brunette woman she didn't recognize and a man frowning in the background. She fingered it as she searched the scene for Ethan. The other man in the photo resembled a picture she'd once seen of Ethan's brother, Kevin. There was plenty of bad blood between the brothers. So, she was more than surprised when she spotted Kevin Fairchild entering ForeCross. The coincidence was too strange. It gave Bette the perfect motive to follow Kevin inside.

___

Undisclosed Location 2011

Michela found herself lying on the street. The gritty surface covered her hands and cheek. She must have passed out. And Michela wondered how much this fender bender was going to cost her daddy. All she could think was that she was glad she wasn't the one driving. Diana would have to take the blame for this accident.

She opened her eyes and scrambled to her feet but what she saw wasn't the parking lot at school. It was a dark alley way too close to a pier that reeked of fish guts and motor oil

"Michela? What are you doing?" The voice seemed to come from nowhere. She wheeled around looking for the source.

"Who's there?" she whispered. She looked around seeing no one in the darkness. "I think I'm losing my mind. All she could wonder was how had she gotten here and where exactly was here? It definitely wasn't the high school parking lot.

"Lose your mind later," said the voice again. "You have a mission to complete."

"Mission? If this is God, you're barking up the wrong cheerleader. The only mission I have is to go home and practice my routine until all eyes are on me."

It was in this moment she finally realized something was in her ear, some sort of device like a hearing aid. She studied it momentarily.

"Your technology is cool and all but ... can I get a ride home? Mom and Dad are going to be miffed if I'm late again."

Another voice came over the ear piece. This one was distinctly feminine and perfectly familiar. Alison Corday.

"Michela? What are you talking about? Your mother's been dead for years. Have you been compromised? Is this channel being monitored?"

Michela stilled. "Dead? I just talked to her this morning."

"You couldn't have. You've been on this mission for the last forty-eight hours." Alison's voice was speaking in riddles and nothing she was saying was making sense.

Michela shook her head. "No, no. That's not right. I've just started my senior year. I've never been on any sort of  mission. Alison? You believe me, right? You saw me this morning."

"We've got to get her out of there." Alison was speaking to someone else. Someone Michela couldn't hear. "She's been affected mentally. We knew this could be a problem."

The sound of a car engine roared to life near Michela's position. She flinched and her heart raced. The more she focused on her surroundings and the dark shadows, the more fearful she became.

Footsteps sounded like gunshots as they drew closer. "Someone's coming," she whispered. "Alison, you have to help me!"

"Some things never change," Alison muttered. "We're sending in an extraction team. Stay put."

The only problem was that Michela didn't stay put. She ran off toward the dock and the ear piece she'd been studying was now lying on the ground.

Cloak & Dagger - Episode 1

 
Cloak & Dagger

He should have known better. Getting involved with another Kassoff would only lead him down the road of misery. But in his life, misery had been a strangely faithful friend.

Ethan jogged through the tunnels near Westminster Abbey not seeing the popular tourist attraction the media had recently claimed was leaning. His eyes followed the dark waters of the Thames as his feet pounded the pavement.

He had returned from a mission more confused than he'd been before. All the leads he'd uncovered on the disappearance of his brother, Ian, took him down deserted roads that led to nowhere. Each scrap of hope had become yet another piece of disappointment.

He'd run into Athena Kassoff on his last journey and that chance meeting had been messing with his head.

"You think you're the responsible one?" she taunted. "You left me behind to bear the consequences of both our actions."

He'd attributed her words to consuming too much ale. She was spouting other threats but that one had stuck with him as he traveled back to London to rejoin his team.

The holiday had not been as relaxing or productive as he would have liked. And the memories nipping at his heels had faded with time.

His flat was a cookie-cutter brownstone that resembled every other on the block. Nothing stood out. Nothing distinctive. Being a ghost was something he did well in all aspects of life.

His breaths came in an even rhythm. He was an athletic man who kept himself in good physical condition. He didn't have movie star good looks like his older brother, Carter, but his chiseled jaw and rough appearance had its admirers.

Ethan ran down a familiar tunnel nodding at check points, men dressed as bums wearing wireless microphones. The last bum directed him to the entrance of the day with a simple playing card lying on the ground.

Ace of spades. So, it was the front door today. But the front door of the headquarters of The Legacy wasn't exactly a normal store front. It had a door, yes. A door to an empty room filled with pipes and hanging wires. He clamped two specific wires together, spun a handle counter clockwise two times and engaged the handle on the power box after flipping two breakers to the off position.

A door opened next to the power box and he stepped into the darkness. It was a small elevator leading him down into the bowels of the earth.

He emerged into what looked like a normal office. A receptionist sat behind a tall desk. She grimaced at his sweaty appearance.

"You look ghastly," Becca Ramsey told him. She was in her mid-fifties with hair the color of artificial chestnuts. "The director is expecting you in ten. You might want to change before then. A shower, perhaps?"

"Yes, mum. Always so concerned about me."

"Someone must. It's not like you'd do it on your own prompting." She returned to her computer monitor.

Ethan breezed past her and into the locker room. It wasn't one of those offices where you were familiar with everyone. Besides Becca and the director, he didn't have contact with anyone else on site at headquarters.

The analysts were too focused on their current assignments to worry about a strange man entering the locker room. But unusually, one analyst did observe him with a watchful eye as he wandered around the office. Her screen was dark, as if she was only occupying a cubicle and not actually using it.

She moved the typing glasses farther down her nose and followed Ethan with her eyes as he entered the director's office. Daniel Fouts was a dark-haired, hard-eyed man who rarely showed any emotion. He accepted Ethan into the fiberglass-walled office and gestured to a chair.

"Thank you for meeting with me. I know it's unorthodox to come all the way into Headquarters especially when you're spending every off minute searching for your brother."

Ethan's eyes narrowed. No one was supposed to know he was looking into his brother's disappearance. Especially no one in the upper echelon of management.

"I assume there is a reason you wanted to see me?" His voice was gruff. Any happy-go-lucky manner he had in his demeanor previous to now was completely extinguished.

"I'm adding someone to your team." Fouts motioned to the woman standing near the doorway. She was a beautiful blonde that looked like she'd been pulled straight from a Betty Crocker manual. "Bette Marstan, this is Ethan Fairchild. Your new team commander."

"What happened to her last team commander?" Ethan asked curiously.

Bette smiled impishly. "I blew him up."

By Any Other Name

Check out my web serial, By Any Other Name over at its own blog...
baon-series.blogspot.com

Last Author Standing... not me

I was involved in a fun endeavor over at LiveJournal called Original Fiction - Last Author Standing. It is now week 3 and I have been voted off the island. Shucks. Here is the story that got me booted. Tell me what you think.

My LiveJournal:

http:// leg-alphasite.livejournal.com

Camelot in Carolton

In retrospect, I really didn’t mean for Keely Simmons to die. 

It wasn’t intentional. In fact, it was all Ali Harper’s fault. If she hadn’t stolen my boyfriend, Jason, a week before the prom, none of this would have ever happened.

By Any Other Name - Episode 15

Episode 15: The Return

By Toni Walker

Nick Boyd changed his mind at the last minute. He had to honor what he told his mother. He had to find Emilie. Mal would just have to wait until later. He wasn’t sure what he’d find when he arrived at Rand’s ranch. But it wasn’t this. He fingered the handcuffs dangling from the front door handle. And attached to them was a 2x4 wedged against the lock. It was a pretty nifty trick, easy to assemble and effective.

“What are you looking at?” Rio Cruz said over the walkie-talkie? Rio was doing a walk-about around the property line to make sure Emilie hadn’t gotten away from them. Considering her horse was here at the cabin, she couldn’t be far away.

“Looks like someone is making sure people stay out or someone stays in. And I seriously doubt its Rand. He’s not big on locking his doors, especially like this.”

“You think we have an intruder?” Rio asked. 

“I think we have something,” Nick replied. “Keep this channel open in case I need back up.” He peered into a window. He knew Rand had built this cabin for privacy not security. There had to be more than one way inside.

*** 

Patrick Donovan inched forward as he scanned the darkened basement. He held Carrie behind him. If there was anything fishy going on down here, he didn’t want her to be hurt by it.

“You heard that noise earlier, right?” Patrick asked, trying to appear confident. Their earlier romantic liaison had been interrupted by a collapse of the porch circling around the house. The area beneath that section of deck was in line with the basement. That was where Patrick and Carrie were heading.

“Can’t you use your psychic mojo to feel out if this is a dangerous suspect?”

Carrie sighed. People who didn’t have psychic abilities didn’t quite understand how they worked. “My gift doesn’t work that way. And lately my ‘mojo’, as you call it, has been a bit off.”

“Hey, no pressure. Just wanting to feel out my options.” Patrick really wished he could feel his hands closing around the neck of a baseball bat. Or something he could use as a weapon.

Carrie Hawkins turned around, peering into the dark corner of the basement. Something niggled at her spider sense. Whomever it was, they were close and nearly as gifted as she was.

Patrick read the searching expression on Carrie’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone’s here. Someone beside the thing/person that fell through the porch.” Carrie said.

“Good to know. Not sure what to do with the information, but good to know.”

He stepped forward and his foot came into contact with splintered pieces of rotten wood. They looked up and saw the night sky peeking through a large hole in the ceiling.

“I told Rand that this place was an accident waiting to happen,” Patrick said. “Where do you think the thing is that fell down here?”

Carrie already had a pretty good idea. She’d quickly honed in on the energy patterns of the room. And pointed toward a set of cabinets along the right wall. She held a finger to her lips and inched closer.

When she lunged forward and opened the nearest door, a surprise lay waiting for her behind door number one.

A little girl squealed. It was Emilie.

Patrick stepped back a few paces, the shock of her appearance quickly fading. “You just scared the living crap out of me, kid.”

Emilie mumbled a heartfelt apology and crawled from inside the cabinet.

“Someone’s out there,” she said. “Before I fell, I could feel them watching me.”

“You guys and your spider sense make quite a pair. Please tell me it’s not something you can catch, like the flu. I don’t want nor need other people’s emotions piggy back riding in my head. I have enough trouble dealing with my own issues.” 

Patrick didn’t appreciate the fine art of psychic intuition. He liked facts. Facts were easy to figure out, easy to relate. All Carrie and Emilie’s inner mumbo-jumbo just freaked him the hell out.

“Did you actually see someone out there?” Carrie asked the youth.

“Just shadows,” Emilie admitted. “I did see Patrick kissing you, though.”

A look of horrified realization filled Patrick’s eyes. “You can’t tell anyone about that. We just lost our heads for a moment.”

Emilie chuckled. “I think Carly would lose her head of she saw that too.” She turned to Carrie. “Carly scares me sometimes. Just the look in her eyes .. .” she shuddered. 

Carrie had to agree. The young girl had good instincts. She brushed the mussed hair out of her eyes and gave her a hug. “We’re going to get you home, okay?”

A rustling from above had them all looking up. “That might be a little difficult,” Nick Boyd said, peering down at them. “The tires on both cars have been slashed. Yours and Rand’s old pick up. But luckily, mine are perfectly in tact.”

“Perfect,” Patrick muttered. “The calvary has arrived.”

Out of their view, someone approached behind Nick. He didn’t suspect anyone might still be lurking around. The person held a large stone and brought it down hard on the back of Nick’s skull. 

He lost his balance and fell forward into the hole. He crashed at their feet after an amazingly awkward swan drive. It was almost sickening to watch. If he didn’t have broken bones, it would be a miracle. He laid sprawled out on his back. The fall had knocked him unconscious.

“What in the hell is going on?” Patrick said.


Carrie's eyes went blank a she felt herself slipping into an old memory. Sometimes things like this happened to her, but this was different. Someone was forcing her to remember.

“Oh, God. It’s starting again!” The hysteria in Carrie’s voice grew more insistent. “I should have never come back to work.”

“What are you talking about?” Patrick said, walking toward her. Nick stopped him. Carrie huddled next to the fireplace across the room.

“I think I know. Clay Garrison was a serial killer Carrie tracked for the police in Chicago. It was pretty bad. He targeted women who looked like Carrie, even kidnapped her daughter. She’s never gotten over it.”

“That’s horrible. I can’t imagine.”

“You don’t want to imagine. Trust me. I’ve seen the reports. Carrie’s been through hell.” Nick glanced back at her as she stared blankly at the roaring fire.

With Nick’s connection to the police department, he was able to get closer to Carrie in a way Patrick couldn’t. 

“Someone’s leaving her notes like last time. Just like Clay Garrison did.”

“But I thought he was dead.”

“So did we,” Nick said. “So did we.”


"You thought you were so smart, Kara."


It was the voice of Clayton Garrison, a voice she had thought she'd banished forever. She cringed at the nickname he'd given her. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want to relive the horror.


"You can't get rid of me that easily," he whispered. "You're a part of me. We're one."


"What have you done with my daughter?" Carrie had trouble getting the sentence out in one breath. The pain was closer to the surface tha she realized.


"She's quite a looker," he chuckled. "Growing up just like her mommy."


Carrie screamed but no one could hear her. She was trapped in her mind.

Familiar Adversary - Episode 13

Episode 13

I opened my eyes expecting white walls and a hospital and instead found Nick hovering over me with a concerned look on his face.

“What happened?” I asked. My mouth felt like cotton. I was dehydrated, but my headache was gone.

“One of the blood vessels in your head burst,” Nick said. The beautiful black woman was standing beside him.

“The human brain is only supposed to support less than ten percent of cognitive function. Your brain is working at thirty-five percent, three times the normal level. The problem with you is that what you do, you do naturally. You have no way of turning it off and on.”

This was too much information. All I wanted to do was sleep. I felt like I hadn’t gotten a lot of rest lately. And those odd flashes of my brother’s voice, the broken windshield and the blood were concerning me.

“I just want to go home. Sleep is my own bed. I’m tired of this strange waking nightmare.”

Mala took Nick aside. “You know what you have to do,” she told him. “The girl is too important to let her go now.”

“I know but she didn’t sign up for this,” Nick said.

“What she wants is irrelevant at this point,” Mala said her voice was ultra-calm. “If we want to succeed against our adversaries, we need her, no matter what we have to say to get her to believe us.

“Interdimentional war? Where did you come up with that?”

“Just testing the waters, Nickey boy. I want to see how easily she’ll detect a lie,” Mala said glancing over Nick’s shoulder.

“She’s right. You’re doing your damn psy-ops thing.” Nick stood as a baracade between the bed and Mala. “We need her. You said it yourself. Don’t scare her off before we can get the information we need.

Mala turned and faced the window looking out into the garden. “Don’t act so self-righteous. She doesn’t even know who you really are. You’ve changed since she first wrote about you.” 

Nick’s mouth set in a hard line. “I can’t change the past. I can only move forward.”

“And hope little girlie here doesn’t discover the truth.”

***

I had no idea what Mala and Nick were whispering about across the room. The only thing I did know was that their expressions were freaking me out. A few times Nick’s face looked downright evil.

I couldn’t get out of bed and attempt an escape. My head pounded just thinking about an escape route.

When Mala and Nick finished their pow-wow, orderlies came in and wheeled me into a very cozy-looking room. If we were still in the hospital, it was in the awfully fancy wing.

“Where’s your new best friend?” I asked Nick. He had been acting oddly since his conversation with Mala.

“She had things to attend to,” he said stiffly.

“Is it all right if I give the patient her meds?” The nurse looked expectantly at Nick who nodded.

“You need to rest. I’ll talk to you later.” When he left I felt a clutching sense of panic in my chest. And it wasn’t because Nick had left the room. Something was definitely fishy here.

“He’s not actually a bad guy,” the nurse said. Her accent was touched with an inflection of British.

“I don’t know what to think All I do know is that my bad vibes are pounding so strongly I can feel it pulsing inside my head.”

“We have to get you out of here,” the nurse said hoisting me up by the shoulder. She was stronger than she looked.

“What do you mean?” I asked my voice hitched with a tint of fear. “Where are you taking me?”

I could already feel the drug taking effect. Even if I resisted her eventually I’d pass out. What would happen then would be up to her.

“I don’t think this is a good idea. You shouldn’t move an injured woman so soon after surgery.”

“You don’t know what’s good for you, Walker,” the nurse said. She carried me to the window and signaled for someone beyond the garden.

“You know,” the nurse said. “The only reason you stopped writing about me is that I blocked my thoughts. I got pretty good at it, actually.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, slurring my words. 

“I’m one of those characters you wrote about in the beginning. I’m Angela Hastings. Ta-Da. Aren’t you excited to see one of your characters in the flesh?”

“Been there, done that,” I said weakly. The woman loosened my restraints and one of them I swear she broke in half. “Why are you helping me?”

“The Foundation wanted you here for a reason. I have to figure out what that reason is.”

Suddenly, I was face to face but I couldn’t move. The drugs Mala and Nick had given me slowed down my motor function. I’d be lucky if I could keep breathing at this point.

“I can’t move,” I said in as much panic as my weak and exhausted voice could manage.

She looked at me with concerned hazel eyes, then touched a device hidden in her ear. “Hank, we have a problem. She’s having trouble breathing.”

“My dossier says she has asthma. She’s probably reacting to the drug. Get her back here fast,” Hank said in his quick tone. I could hear him talking to himself and cursing the people of the Foundation. “Angela, if you don’t make it back here in five minutes, she won’t make it either.”

Somehow the woman must have had superhuman strength. She picked me up like I weighed nothing and tossed me over her shoulder. She’d made it all the way to the window when a voice shouted from the other side of the room.

“Angela, stop!” It was Nick.

She did a half turn to look at him, her face frozen in a scowl.

“You really are alive,” he said.

“Yeah, Nickey, I am. No time to chat, though.”

Nick would see my face. I was trying to concentrate on taking slow deep breats but every second that ticked away make it harder and harder to breathe.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked.

“Whatever drug they gave her, I think she’s allergic. If you want her to live, I’ve gotta go.”

Nick nodded. He didn’t say the words, he just nodded.

Angela reached for the window when Mala and a group of military men burst into the room. The black woman barked orders and one of the men dressed in black fatigues grabbed Nick. The rest came forward toward us and fanned out across the room.  Angela stood on the window ledge and looked down. WE had to be on the second or third floor.

“What are you doing,” I whispered.

“Even you can’t make that jump,” Mala mocked. “Give the girl back to us. She’s no concern to you.”

Angela didn’t answer. She swiveled, stepped onto the ledge and jumped. As the concrete rushed toward us, I passed out.

***

I woke up with a start, jerking my head back. It impacted with a cushioned surface that I later realized was the head rest of my car. My eyes darted around frantic. What in the hell had just happened?

My breathing was just as strained as before and I felt a wetness coming through my shirt. It was blood. I looked at my bloody hand and my breath hitched coming faster

“What’s happening to me?” I muttered through shaky breaths. A minute ago I was falling to my death and now I was here. I could hear a faint voice calling to me. It took me a minute to realize it was my phone, my old clunky gray model from 1996 that should in no way still work. I put it to my ear almost afraid of what I’d hear.

“Hello?” I said. My voice was shaky and uneven. 

“Oh, thank God,” sighed a relived voice on the other end.

“Aaron?” It sounded like my brother, but I couldn’t be sure. Nothing about today was making sense.

“Yes. Yes, it’s me. Where are you?”

I looked around, high weeds surrounded me. The nose of my car was in water, maybe a ravine or a deep ditch. I couldn’t see anything else and the only thing I could hear was the silence of the country, birds, crickets and the wind. Nothing stood out as relevant.

“I don’t know. My car is face down in water. The only thing keeping this one on is the car battery. An old charger is connected to a cigarette lighter. If I wanted to get out and look around, I’d have to leave the phone here.”

“The cops are trying to triangulate your signal, but it’s more difficult since it’s analog.”

“I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t even remember how I got here.”

“You were coming to visit me like you always do.”

I held my breath when he made that comment. That wasn’t true. I hardly ever visited my brother due to the fact that he lived so far away. Who was this person? Or maybe it was Aaron and people were making him say these things. Maybe he’d been compromised.

I paused. Compromised? Who said things like that? My spy writing was definitely coming into the foreground coloring my wording.

“Right,” I said stalling. “I remember now. I was coming to visit you.”

“Did you remember to bring that gift for grandma?” he asked.

Grandma? My grandmother was dead. Maybe he meant his wife’s grandma.

“I don’t know if I brought it or not. If I did, it’s probably broken now. Everything here is smashed.”

“Okay,” he said. “Keep on the line and…” his voice faded into nothingness and the phone blinked off.  I hadn’t realized sometime during our conversation the interior light of my car had gone dark, even the radio ceased to play.

The car battery must be dead.

It was probably for the best. If some contingent of bad guys was after me, the less Aaron knew the better.

I reached into the back seat and opened the door to the rear compartment. The backseat doubled as a secret passage to the trunk. I grabbed the aluminum ball bat and tested its weight. If any bad guys approached me, at least I’d have something t protect myself with.

My head filled with possible dialogue for a scene. But I really didn’t want to write an episode right now. I wanted to go home, lie down and sleep for a week. Suddenly, I realized I’d been hearing the same phrase over and over in my head.

“You have to get out of the car.” It was distinct, spoken as if the person were right next to me. “Get out of the car,” the voice insisted. “Get out of the car NOW!”

I held the bat to my chest and ran from the vehicle. I stopped and leaned against a big oak tree not far from my abandoned car.

“What in the hell was that,” I screamed. “I just want to go home.” I slapped the tre and stared at my car. Even from this distance I could see the blinking light from inside the driver’s door. I had a sudden feeling that blinking light wasn’t a good sign and sprinted in the opposite direction. 

I could feel the force of the explosion even from a distance. The resulting energy wave knocked me to my hands and knees in the mud. If this was how the spy game was played, I really didn’t like it very much.

“I’m a good person,” I said. “Why are people trying to kill me?”

“What in the hell is wrong with you?” The voice in my head was now standing next to me. “Do you have a death wish or something?” Angela Hastings appeared to my right.”

“I don’t know what is wrong with me. I think I’m having blackouts.”

“Wonderful,” Angela muttered. “Hank, can you fix her?”

“Oh, right. Ask the impossible of me. I’m a scientist not a physician.”

“Just look at her.”

Hank looked nothing like I’d imagined. I was expecting an ultra thin geek, but instead this man was relatively good-looking. Smart and good-looking, what were the odds?

The scientist had a chiseled face and a European wine country look about him. His voice was a mixture of French and English accents. I could listen to him talk all day and never be bored. 

He reached into my ear canal and removed a small device. It must have been some sort of communication device, because suddenly the chattering in my head came to an end. That alone made me feel a bit more relaxed.

“We call it a ComLink. It’s one of the newer models. Not ours, however.” He grabbed his Swiss Army knife and used one of the blades to deactivate it. “That’s better.” He smiled at me. “You’re one popular girl.”

“Why is the sixty four thousand dollar question.” Hank put his hands on my stomach and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“No broken ribs. That’s a plus, but I’m going to have to bandage that wound. Take off your shirt.”

My face reddened. “Pardon me?”

“Your shirt. Take it off. I must be able to clean the wound thoroughly.” Hank rifled through his bag of tricks and came back with antiseptic and bandages. He really was too good to be true.

Angela and Hank didn’t know what to make of me. I think the only thing keeping me alive was the fact that the Foundation wanted me more than Angela and Hank did. Anything the Foundation wanted, they knew they had to keep a hold of.

I wasn’t sure where we were. I wasn’t even sure I was thinking clearly. My mind felt like mush, like it was constantly changing channels. One moment I was in a car ditched in a ravine and the next I was being rescued from the clutches of the Foundation by Angela and Hank. Who knew which scenario was the true one.

Night had fallen and the area where Angela had decided to use as a hideout looked vaguely familiar.

“Where are we?” I asked. Hank set a large metal suitcase on one of the tables. Vending machines lined one wall, but it was the cappuccino machine that brought a light bulb into my mind. We were at the rest area not far from my brother’s house. Somehow the two realities had finally converged.

“I don’t think Mala and the Foundation will be looking for you here,” Hank reassured me.

“We’ve slipped under their radar,” Angela said.  “We should be safe for tonight.”

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel reassured. This all had suddenly become all too real. I wish I knew why any of these people wanted to pay tug-of-war with my life.