Episode 21 In Athens, Greece, the American Embassy continually promoted a false sense of security to the public at large. Like a bright spot in a tainted world, it offered solace, and to some sanctuary. But unknown to most, the image the world knew so well was fabricated by PR and Marketing professionals who discerned exactly how to put the right spin on an ill situation. Graham Gray had learned well from his country's example. Nigel Bennett took note of his employer. He was sitting in a relaxed posture deciphering characters in an old manuscript. The man rubbed his mass of black hair in contemplation as he thumbed through yet another text on another timeworn relic he was in search of. An exasperated sigh escaped Nigel's lips as he turned to sip the now cold tea he'd made for himself. Tea time was a very English tradition. One he relished. Seeping a spot of Earl Gray helped to drain the tension from his worried mind. Maybe it was because it took time to make tea the old fashioned way - with loose leaves. The very act of boiling the water helped to take his mind off his troubles. It had been days since Phoenix and Scarlett disappeared. Exactly two days, ten hours to be precise, and his mind was consumed with doubts they'd ever be found alive. The television media constantly bombarded him with images of dead children discovered beaten and abused – and some even dead. He hoped that was not the fate of the Gray children. Over time Nigel had come to adore the twins. In the beginning they were a tad tiresome but some where between his first day on the job and today, Scarlett and Phoenix had earned a special place in his heart. This reason alone was why he constantly nagged his employer about paying more attention to them. It was no wonder they'd wandered off. Another minute ticked by and Nigel found he could bear it no longer. "Aren't you in the least bit worried?" he asked in quiet desperation. "Of course not, Nige, old buddy. My meeting with the state boys was rather remarkable if you ask me." Graham Gray glanced up for merely a second before his eyes were once again trained on the ancient weathered text. "I'm sure it was, sir, but I was referring to the twins." "What about them?" he asked casually, in a tone that spoke volumes. He obviously hadn't heard the news. "They're missing." "Well then, go out and find them. I'm sure they're in one of their usual haunts. Try the arcade down the street. They love that place." Graham carefully lifted a page filled with illuminated ancient words and turned it over so he could peruse the back. Nigel winced. "They loved <that place,> as you say, when they were ten. I'm sure they've quite outgrown it by now." Graham didn't respond. He only hummed and nodded his head like he was paying attention. Nigel knew he wasn't. How could a grown man with two wonderful children not care when they've been missing for two days? He knew the answer to that. Graham Gray only cared about one person – himself. And right now, the highest priority on his list and in his life was finding a manuscript that had been lost for centuries. His mind wasn't on his job or his children. It was on the prize he hoped to find. One that had forever eluded him. Instead of lashing out in anger, the Englishman sat at his desk on the other side of the room and sipped his tea. If his employer wasn't going to do something about the twin's disappearance – Nigel decided he would. *** As he pulled each stone away from the make shift coffin around Michela Forsythe's body, Kevin Fairchild couldn't help but wonder how long they'd been inside the monastery. It seemed like days and he was more than ready to see the light of day again. Heavily sighing, Kevin wrenched Michela free from the last stony obstacle covering her body. Slowly, he checked her for injuries. She seemed to be free of wounds but there was major bruising around the temples and cheeks. She'd have a good shiner for sure. It wouldn't be particularly eye catching but at least she'd be alive. There was only one thing worrying him... she was still unconscious. "Michela? Come on, Mike. Wake up, honey." Kevin's tones were sweet, soothing, like a lover would whisper to someone he adored. "You can do it."
She lost herself in the blackness. It felt so freeing having the weight of the world off her shoulders. Michela opened her eyes and saw before her a man who still retained boyish childhood aspects in his adult face. He was probably closer to her own age than she could pin point accurately. The one thing she did know was that the man staring intently at her had the warmest hazel eyes. Eyes that could see into a person's very soul. Eyes she could gaze into for the rest of her life. She blinked quickly hoping the apparition before her wouldn't disappear. He didn't. He was still there and he was the most handsome creature she had ever laid eyes on. She tried to sit up but the man held her down with one hand. He was stronger than he looked. Another point in the damn cute column. The more time she spent with him she was sure the pro column would be overflowing with check marks and the con devoid of them. "Don't get up," the man said with concern. "I haven't finished checking you out yet." He ran his hands up and down her arms and across her stomach and face checking for injuries. "If you keep rubbing me like that you're gonna find more than you bargained for." She gazed at him like a woman would a lover. She hoped he noticed. Kevin's eyes grew wide. Not too many things in this world could shock him. That just had. What had gotten into her, he wondered. If he didn't know better, he'd say that very sultry speech was a subtle pick up line. But he knew better. She was in love with his brother. How could he forget. She reminded him of it every day and every night for four months. He sighed. If only she could forget Ethan entirely and give him a chance. "So, how am I, Doc?" said Michela seductively after Kevin finished examining her. "You seem fine. Seem being the key word in that sentence." He paused looking at her intently. "Think you can get up?" He held her waist and she grabbed him around the neck. For a second it looked like she might make it, but the pain was too unbearable. "Ah, no. I think I better stay down here for now." Kevin placed her back on the hard wooden floor. "Whatever the princess wants," he said jokingly. "Princess?" Her eyes glanced questioningly at him. "What's wrong? That's what I always call you. Are you sure you're feeling all right?" "Fine. Marvelous, actually. Except for this nagging pain in my back. At least I'm alive." She massaged her middle back and leaned back on her hands. "So, you call me princess, huh?" "Yeah, I thought we already knew that?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Are we lovers?" Now that question threw him. His head whipped in her direction like a spring. "What? No." "Why not?" Michela didn't seem to think it was an inappropriate question. This was getting weirder by the minute. How many times had he asked himself a similar question. Now she was asking it to him? Maybe there really was a God. "Michela, are you sure you're all right?" Kevin asked. "I think so." "Maybe you have a concussion from the explosion. How many fingers am I holding up?" He waved two fingers in front of her eyes. She batted them away in annoyance. "Two." "Good." Kevin stared deeply into her eyes looking for some inconsistency. "What's my name?" Michela sat dumbfounded for a second. "I should know this." She thought hard and pressed her fingers into her temples. It wasn't coming. She gazed up at him with complete shock in her eyes. "I don't know." *** The cemetery was quiet. The sun had not yet set but ghostly memories swirled around him. It had been so long since he last visited her grave. So long since he had last kissed his wife. The thought of her brought an ache into his heart. The remembrance of who killed her brought a different sort of ache. An ache for vengeance. He sighed as a light rain descended upon him. So little time with which to spend with his loved ones. The rat race was so rushed these days. His driver and body guard, Cameron Cash, leaned against the long dark limousine like a silhouetted statue in the quickly darkening partly wooded area. He could see Cam tap his watch. Time was curiously his enemy today. It was so quite here. She would have liked that. Janette liked the silence of her surroundings. Gingerly, he touched the stark red rose running his fingers over the thorns up to the petals. "For you, my love. Let us never forget." The wind blew past him like a soft kiss and he reveled in the slight caress. Her spirit was here. It was at peace, but somehow he knew he never would be. Lightly, he trailed the rose down the grave stone and placed it as a token on the grass covering the grave site. "I will return soon. Hopefully, with good news." The man with dark hair and even darker eyes folded himself into the black limousine. He was a man out for vengeance. He was a man with an agenda. He was a man who had lost the only thing he had truly ever loved. And everyone involved with her death would pay a great price.... with their own death. "Come on, Julian," said Cameron in a slightly Canadian tone that told of French influence. "We have a schedule to keep." Cameron's blond curly locks ruffled in the breeze. "I know. Just one more minute." Cameron closed the limo door and eased into the driver's seat. He hated this day. He was glad it came only once a year. He was even more thankful that Julian Black would be his old self in the morning. Yes, he would again be his old self, but he would never forget. Sometimes Cameron wished he would. If not for his sanity, for his heart. *** "Okay, I don't remember your name. Big deal. It will come back to me. But I do know one thing, you're my boyfriend, right?" "What? Michela, no. You're my brother, Ethan's girl. At least... you use to be." Kevin could feel his heart lurch as he told Mike the truth about who she really loved. God, he was such a sap. "Use to be?" "Yeah, you had a sort of... falling out." "Falling out of love?" Michela asked. "No, not really. He does still love you, as stubborn as he is but something happened that is keeping you apart. Something you can never tell him about." "About you and me?" "NO! There is nothing going on with you and I. We're just friends. Jeez, do I have to spell it out for you?" "But you do like me in <that> way, I can tell. Don't you?" There was a silent pause before Kevin spoke again turning away from the woman in front of him. "You could never tell before." Kevin averted his eyes from Michela's. "Then I was a fool." Michela stared up at him like she was looking at him for the first time and finally seeing him for what he had always been. "How come I never saw you before?" Michela asked him wearily. "Don't worry about that now. We just need to get you out of here." He grabbed her around the waist to lift her and she twirled her fingers in his hair. It was a distraction he really didn't need at the moment. Kevin tried to dissuade her but she wouldn't be drawn from the subject of the two of them. "So, I liked someone named Ethan? What about you?" Michela placed her hand on Kevin's face and he held his breath as she slid it down to his neck. "Why didn't I like you? I think I would have liked you much better than this Ethan person." He cleared his throat and forced his body to stop reacting to her touch. "You don't know what you're saying." Kevin pulled her hand free from his neck. "Of course I do." With that one simple statement she raised herself from the uneven surface on which she was sitting and kissed him. It wasn't a friendly little peck either. It shocked him all the way to his toes. It was that sort of kiss. One he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. The seconds seemed like hours. Lips touching, tongues meeting, hearts giving in. A minute later she was limp in his arms. She was out cold again. A minute after that Kevin knew he was seriously falling in love with her. *** He'd lost her. Faith's voice was no longer audible. He didn't want to move from his current location or risk losing his sister Scarlett's stony tomb as well. First he'd free Scarlett then find Faith. It was as simple as that, he hoped. Phoenix scanned the dimly lit monastery. It was crumbling around him. Every few minutes a new rain shower of debris hit him on the head or fell around him. He figured that within an hour the entire mountain would cave in on them all. It wasn't a thought he wanted to dwell on. Getting back into the small hole he'd escaped from wasn't as easy the second time around. The wood lodged in his leg caught on the rocks pushing it further into his skin. Phoenix screamed in agony. This time he felt the pain. *** Scarlett heard the howling and tried to open her eyes. It was so very hard to open them, and it was so very cold. Her back felt wet and sticky and her head throbbed like her heart was beating inside her brain. Something within her told her this wasn't good. Something inside her told her if she didn't get up and fight she was surely dead. *** Freeing Michela had been relatively easy. The hard part had been unwrapping her from his arms when she passed out. He didn't want to leave her. She looked so vulnerable dead to the world like she was. No, dead wasn't the right word, passed out, unconscious. He had to remain positive. Isn't that what his father had taught him? All he knew for sure was that at least she was safe in the hallway where the torches lined the wall. His main concern at the moment was Mike's head injury and the fact that she was unconscious again. He didn't want to leave her there but he had to find Faith and the other two teenagers. "Scarlett's down there." Phoenix panted and sweat poured down his face. "Don't worry. We'll get her out. Have you seen Faith?" Phoenix's eyes swelled. The fear in his stare was apparent. "A few minutes ago... well, I guess it was a few minutes ago. It seems like longer..." "Phoenix, you're rambling. Where's Faith?" "I heard her cry out. Then she stopped." A tear mixed with the sweat on his face. "I think she's dead." *** The offices in the American Embassy were nearly empty. It was now after 8 pm. Nigel was brewing his second pot of tea searching the cupboard for any sign of real sugar. He hated that pink packaged stuff. "Nigel!" He could hear the bellow even from down the long hallway. "Nigel," his boss screamed again. "I've lost my good magnifying glass. Do you know where it is?" Nigel Bennett sighed. The man would surely lose his egocentric head if it were not attached to his very thick neck. "Coming." he said, with a barely noticeable British accent. He had worked hard to make his voice sound neutral. Grabbing a handful of white sugar packets, he quickly thrust them into a small whicker bowl, grabbed some stir sticks and squeezed out of the small storage closet. As he locked the door behind him, he could hear footsteps clicking down the hallway. They weren't women's high heels. They sounded more like men's hard soled loafers. His eyes grew wide and glasses slipped down his nose as he jostled the contents of the whicker basket. "No," he said, reassuring himself. "It couldn't be. He wouldn't dare get involved with him again." Nigel raced down the hall, small white packets of sugar flying behind him leaving a sort of bread crumb trail. *** By the time Kevin maneuvered through the small opening to where Scarlett was lying he had severely lacerated his back with long scratches. He gritted his teeth to conceal the pain but it wasn't working. It took several minutes to work the stones free from around Scarlett's body. Rocks fell around them like miniature hail stones, and the rumbling inside the monastery was only getting worse. Before long the entire room would collapse in on itself. "Phoenix!" Kevin yelled from below. "Grab her arms." Phoenix's head poked through the opening and Kevin gently handed Scarlett up to him. "Be careful. She's bleeding badly. We have to get her to a hosptial as soon as possible," said Kevin as he pushed her body up through the opening to higher ground. A small tremor hit as Kevin was halfway through the hole. He grabbed onto both sides of the opening and braced himself. His face contorted in concentration as he held his body up like a gymnast. The tremor lessened leaving time for Kevin to escape the small crypt-like cavern. The next tremor hit severely shaking the entire room. The hole Kevin had just escaped from suddenly filled in. Phoenix gaped at the sight. The uneven ground under his feet shifted and he tumbled backward. Kevin reached out and caught his arm jerking him forward. "We have to get out of here, NOW!" Kevin grabbed Scarlett like she was a baby and ran around the boulders that were covering the ground not to mention showering down all about them. Phoenix trailed close behind holding his arms above his head like a makeshift umbrella. Kevin finally felt somewhat safe as he deposited Scarlett's body next to Michela's. Michela seemed to be stirring but something was different. Someone had been there! Kevin ran to the end of the corridor surveying the scene. A door that hadn't been visible before was now open. He hoped it was a way out. As he leaned his shoulder through the opening, something flew straight at him. He tumbled backward when a large black bat soared through the darkness beyond the door. It hit him in the face tattooing him with long bat fingernail marks down his cheek. "Dammit!" Kevin dabbed his face. The damn bat had drawn blood. Before he could examine the blood staining this hand he felt a familiar sensation at his neck. It was the barrel of a gun. "Don't move or I swear you're a dead man!" |
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