by Tara Brown
My feet wouldn't move as Servario pointed at me. Coop grabbed one of my hands, dragging me to the cave entrance.
We stepped into the darkness and all I could think about was the light behind me.
We trekked for a while before my eyes adjusted. The dark of the tunnel was annoying and never ending.
Coop didn’t let go of my hand. He squeezed tightly, pulling me through.
My CI brain switched on about halfway. Our pace slowed and I knew what was happening.
I never doubted for a second that each one of us assumed it was a trap of sorts.
We didn’t trust Servario, not completely.
We never heard Roxy’s story or James’.
We took everything Servario had said at face value.
In the dark, Jack whispered, “Is anyone else seeing that last scene in the movie The Usual Suspects rolling around in their head? You know, where Kevin Spacey leaves the police station and his limp slowly leaves?”
“I have that same bad feeling I had on the plane,” I added.
“I don’t know what to expect on the other side of this tunnel,” Coop whispered.
Luce laughed bitterly. “I’m waiting for him to shoot it with bombs and collapse it.”
That was it—we all started running.
I tripped but Coop dragged me up.
“Light!” Luce shouted back.
We slowed as it became brighter.
It was a door.
When we got closer we could see the light around the edges.
Coop went to the front. He ran his hands along the metal of the door, making an almost silent scratching noise against it.
“No handle.”
I shrugged. “Knock.”
He banged lightly.
Something made a grinding noise and suddenly dust moved in the beams of light that surrounded us from the door.
It pulled back and light filled the dank space.
My eyes needed a second to adjust, but when they did I didn’t believe what I saw.
The man appeared much older, gray-haired, and more wrinkled than before, but he was still my father.
His face split into a grin but there was panic in his eyes.
His smile was fake. He wasn’t happy to see me.
My father was alive. “Dad?” I whispered, mystified. I wanted to cry but the commander didn’t like crying. At least I didn’t think so until tears leaked from his old green eyes.
“Evie!” He held his arms out for me. I leapt into them. He wrapped and squeezed and I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t care.
“Mommy!” I heard the word being screamed from beyond my father and me. My ears caught it in the distance.
Dad kissed me on the cheek and pulled me back. “Go see them. They’ve missed you something fierce.”
The walls collapsed inside me as I broke free of him and ran along the cobblestone, dropping to my knees when they jumped me. I cried as hard as they did. My hands shook and I couldn't get enough of their smell or feel.
“You took too long!” Jules squeaked at me.
“I know.” I sniffled. “I’m so sorry. It was more work than I thought.”
Coop ruffled Mitch’s head. “Hey, kid.”
Mitch stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. “Hey, Coop.”
I smiled at the way he tried to be a big boy around Coop. They had seemed to hit it off the moment they met back at the house after James’ funeral. Jules clung to me for a second longer and then pulled my hand. “Come see. There’s a real princess.”
“What?” I smiled and glimpsed back at Luce and Jack. He mouthed, “I knew it. The Ise Grand Shrine temple.”
“Great!” I gave him the thumbs up. “I don’t know what that means,” I mouthed back.
Jack made a face. “What?”
I replied aloud, “Nothing.”
Taking in the view of the mountains and high walls of the fortress-like estate we were in was confusing, and yet stunningly impressive. I didn't expect any of what I saw: old buildings that looked like ruins, in amongst temples that seemed much newer. There were gardens everywhere and massive shaped willow trees. The heavy air smelled of jasmine and lilacs, and the wind rustled softly in the bushes and trees.
It reminded me of a park I’d seen once in Canada that was designed to resemble an oriental garden. But this was the real thing. People walked between the buildings as if it were a university campus or a public park. They chatted amongst themselves, people of every creed. For a temple garden in Japan, it was surprising how few Japanese people there were. Everyone wore the robes and sandals but seemed comfortable in their attire.
Stunned by it all, I questioned my dad, “How?” I was being cryptic because of the others around us.
Dad grinned, knowing I meant how had they fooled me all along. He shrugged subtly. “A hell of a lot of work.”
“So Mom and you both?”
“Yes.” He nodded, growing serious again. “Your mom more than me.”
“It’s so insane.” I was still baffled. “How?”
“A hell of a lot of work!” he repeated as he linked arms with me. Luce and Jack introduced themselves to Jules. She dragged them up the road. Coop and Mitch walked behind them.
“You were right about James.”
“I know, princess. I tried to make him do the right thing by you, and I made a bigger mess. I’m sorry. I should have been honest with you. I liked to imagine my rank influenced him. The guy was an asshole.” He gave me a sideways glance. “A dead asshole hopefully?”
“Yeah,” I replied, knowing he would want full details when we were completely alone.
“Did he at least suffer?”
“Sort of.”
“Good.” He sighed. “I take it you and Servario have met then?”
“Yes, sir.”
“He’s a strange guy. He came to me when he was twenty-something and asked my permission to date you. I kick myself now for telling him no. I told him the secret was more important. Fat lot of good that did me. Your life was terrible and James dragged you into far more shit than Servario ever would have. He would’ve at least protected you. I think he was quite infatuated with you once.”
I decided to save thinking on any of that for later. “What is this place?”
“This is the Burrow.” He glanced around in awe. “This place is perfect for our purpose. It’s a Japanese temple that’s dedicated to a goddess. There are a hundred and twenty-three temple shrines here. Regular visitors are forbidden access to this particular one. No one may enter, and then there’s the fact they renovate every twenty years. Anyway, the legend claims that a daughter of some guy wandered the woods for twenty years trying to find the perfect place to worship this goddess. She ended up here in Ise. It’s completely rebuilt every twenty years to maintain the respect of the order of things. The natural decay cycles. So we can be here, moving in amongst the shrines, staying hidden.”
“Why would the Japanese ever agree to this? They hate Americans and rightfully so.”
“You’re wrong.” He looked down on me intensely. “Fat Man and Little Boy did terrible things to Japan but the healing process brought about knowledge other countries don't have. After the Second World War, the Japanese became dedicated to the preservation of the world. Few cultures care about nature and balance like they do. Once we dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese royals were in. They wanted the immediate control of the weapons that ruined so much of their country. They gave us their most sacred temple as a show of their dedication to the Burrow. They don’t hate Americans, they hate disrespect. And the few officials that know of the Burrow keep the secret of this place.”
“I did not see this coming.” I watched the people all around us walking past. They were multicultural. “So everyone here is a threat to the world in some way?”
“Every single person,” he confirmed.
“Wow.”
“You have no idea.” He suddenly sounded distant. “And now you guys
coming here is a huge mess. I’ll be lucky to get out of this mess alive.”
“What?”
It explained the nervousness in his eyes as he shrugged. “It won’t be an easy one to explain away.”
“Right, I can imagine. What have you told the kids?”
“Not much. That they’re in Thailand, visiting an ashram for meditation. They’re pretty mad at you for picking this as a vacation. I told them it was James’ idea.”
My mom came walking down the road. Her smile made my throat thick. There was no way I could see the monster in her, not when she wrapped around me and whispered, “My baby.”
My sister was close behind with quivering hands and a slight tremble in her breathing.
“Sissy.” I knew she would be in the dark. She wouldn’t know and wouldn’t want to. She was a typical hippie from a commune on the West Coast. She never liked what Dad did for a living and never cared to know anything.
“Are you in some kind of shit?” Sissy muttered.
Mom gave her a look. “No swearing in the temple.”
“I didn't.” Sis scowled at me. “How did this happen? We’re vacationing here and Dad’s alive. What the heck is going on?”
“I know nothing.”
She narrowed her gaze. “I see.”
Dad tapped me on the shoulder. “We have somewhere to be.”
Mom smiled but it was hollow and devoid of emotion. She and Sissy grabbed the kids’ hands and walked to one of the gardens.
We strolled up the road between several larger buildings. I smelled the blossoming trees and took in the beauty of it all.
“They’ll make you clean this up or die. That’s the only option.”
I stared at my father. “What?”
“Yes.” The grim expression I’d seen on his face when he first saw me was back.
“Clean up what?” I asked, although I feared the answer.
“Everything,” he said. “My hands are tied. James screwed you hard, kid. He put you in a pickle, and I’m not positive how you’ll get out of it.”
“What do you mean?” I started to panic, but he grabbed both my arms and pulled me to him.
“Evie, if anyone is going to figure out a way to get out of it, it’s you.”
“You think so?” My faith in my survival was dwindling but I trusted him.
“Yes. That Coop kid is intense but I really like him. He reminds me of me when I was his age. Luce seems reliable, and Jack is a genius. The kid speaks fake languages.” He offered a bewildered look.
“I know.”
“You four are going to have to do something that no one has done before.” His eyes sparkled with desperation and mischief. It was a deadly combination. He turned and dragged me up the short hill. We entered a small building that became huge inside.
Everyone else was already in there. Jack laughed. “It’s like the Harry Potter tents, way bigger inside.” He was right but it was far more intense with steel doors and thicker walls than I might have imagined.
“Let’s face the music.” Dad led the way into another room.
We stepped into a steel elevator, feeling it drop fast.
It came to an abrupt stop and we all stepped out gingerly. The room was a state-of-the-art laboratory or tech testing building. It reminded me of the intelligence and Doppler rooms in the navy.
Dad brought us to a black door and paused as he put his hand on it. “Say yes to everything,” he whispered. “No matter what it is. Or they will kill you on the spot.”
Coop eyed me, perhaps noting all the color leaving my skin as my bowels nearly emptied.
Sighing, Dad pushed on the door and I almost had a heart attack. The room was bright and huge and set up like a senate. It was filled with people from everywhere, high in the rows above us with what appeared to be a speaking stadium below.
We entered the middle of the stadium causing voices from all sides of the room to erupt in varying languages.
My palms were sweating, but I continued to follow my dad to the center of the circle. He put his hands in the air, silencing everyone.
A woman, who had dark hair and an evil sort of sparkle in her eyes, spoke with a thick British accent, “You have a choice. You will join our efforts to end the threat to the Burrow or you will forfeit your lives.”
Jack and Luce seemed a bit surprised but Coop must have expected it. “We already intended to clean this up.”
“You will be asked to speak in a moment.” She scowled.
I turned to my dad. “Aren’t we fugitives as of now?”
“No, misinformation is being created to make it appear as though Servario took you all captive. You will walk away from this clear of any suspicions after the right people are dead, now that Servario knows who his mole is.” I didn’t understand how that was possible at all.
The woman viewed my father. “You and Servario know your jobs?”
He nodded once firmly and turned to me. “I love you more than anything on this planet. There is a custom here on this island.” He kissed my forehead. “I give you all my hope and love and strength.” He lifted the locket and smiled. “I gave it to you a long time ago.”
He kissed the locket and my cheek and turned on his heel in true military fashion, walking away from me. He was leaving.
It felt like he wasn’t planning on coming back. But I didn’t let myself have the second I needed to contemplate that. I shut it off and turned my attention back to the lady. Her eyes shone when she spoke, “I am sorry for your loss.”
My face was strong and brave.
“We are doing something we have never done before. The world is a different place than it was when we initiated this journey, and we all have voted and agreed that this is the best way to keep up with the changing climate and technology.”
I stole a glance at Coop, swallowing hard when I realized he too was lost. That was a bad sign.
She cleared her throat. “Welcome the new team who will protect us! Commence the swear-in ceremony.”
My stomach dropped. Coop took my hand in his, squeezing it hard.
I wanted to protest. I had kids. I was a single mom. It wasn’t fair. As I opened my lips, I noticed a man in the background. He was incredibly old. He smiled at me and waved. He had no fingers on the hand he lifted into the air.
Devastated and desperately wishing I could run out the door, I smiled at the man and lowered my eyes to the floor. I couldn't meet their gazes when my heart was attempting to leave my chest.
Hesitating for only a second, I put my right hand in the air and spoke the words of the sacred order I was being forced to join.
As the ceremony ended and we were all named as protectors of the Master Key, the lady who had spoken to us came down. She smiled when she spoke but there was severity in her eyes. “They have made such a sacrifice for you to be able to leave here and live normally. Even to your own covert operation you will be innocent.”
“They?”
She explained, “They both have to die. They have to clear the suspicions from your name and the temptation to harm you. Servario will not be suspected as the Master Key or linked to the Burrow. Your father’s remains will be found in Mexico and Servario’s in Boston. Once the rogue agents involved in this are killed, your agency will believe that the true Master Key killed Servario and your father's death will stop them from coming after you.”
My breathing hitched but I forced a nod.
“You will leave here tomorrow and you may never come back. Your father was granted special privileges to return and live here during his faked death, but that is something we never do. This whole mess is because we let him live.”
Would she have us killed when our usefulness ran out?
We walked from the circular room as we were dismissed.
“Did anyone else feel like we were just given a death sentence that we’re supposed to be grateful for?” Jack muttered.
“Yeah.” I pushed the elevator button but my heart was burning. “Pretty much.
Like this is a huge honor they’re bestowing on us. The assassin squad for the master key.” I sensed all the floors above threatening to come down on me. The avalanche of bad things was back. This time it was real. The elevator dinged and we stepped in like mindless zombies.
We left the next day.
I didn’t remember the flight.
When we got to Boston, I tried to accept the fact we had to be tortured. The pain and agony of the wounds being inflicted upon me were lessened by the image that was burned into my brain. It wasn't one I’d seen but one I created as I was being struck again and again. The image was of my father dead in Mexico and the expression on my mother’s face as she realized this had come to pass and I had made it happen.
After we were beaten, we were tied and left locked in the back of a van in the hotel parking lot.
We waited the necessary hours before we managed to escape and flee to another hotel where Coop called us in. We were brought in for questioning and cleared when it became obvious whoever was the Master Key had killed my father, James, the CIA agents who had put us on the case in the first place and worked with Servario, and of course Roxy. We had apparently killed Servario and escaped his craziness. It was a mess, a blood bath covered up with a plane crash.
After our questioning, the new commander came down and requested we start back after we all healed. We would be the new Burrow task force to stop this sort of thing from happening again. We needed to know where it was so we could protect our country from it. The CI and CIA had decided that regardless of what the Burrow's intent was, it was a threat to mankind and had to be stopped before it fell into the wrong hands.
There was irony in there that I couldn't laugh at, not yet.
An agent drove me to my car that was still parked at the Boston airport.
He dropped me off and drove away. I lifted a bruised hand to shield the midday sun and stared at it. The dam was about to burst inside me so I got into the car and drove home quickly.
When I got to my driveway, I looked up at my house. My family, what was left of it, came running out to greet me. They had been returned home from their lovely getaway in Thailand. Sissy, Mom, Jules, and Mitch were all there. They had tans and happy faces.
After we hugged on the lawn, and my kids got past the bruising from the horrible accident I had told them about, my mom draped her arms around my neck and whispered, “He loved you so much.” She sobbed and walked into the house. I felt a sickness I couldn’t let in. He had to be dead for her to act like that. But not dead as in “CIA” dead. My father was dead for real.