His green eyes were soft as he looked over my face and smiled. Not another word was said as we both drifted off to sleep, looking into one another’s eyes. There was no need for words. We knew exactly what the other was thinking: this was the beginning of the rest of our lives.
XXIII.
THE LAST PIECE
Ben and I used the next days to recover from the last few weeks of extreme stress and physical exhaustion. By the end of the second day, my body had recovered tremendously so I could move around the cabin independently. Albeit slowly.
The wounds left by Warden’s torture seemed to be healing without infection and my muscles had lost their painful stiffness. After a day or two in bed, Ben looked well-rested, void of dark rings under his eyes and scruff on his chin.
On the morning of our third day together, I woke up as Ben stood from the sheets and disappeared into the hall toward the kitchen. Before I could sit up, he had come back into the bedroom and was standing next to the bed. In his hand was his phone, extended in offering to me.
I figured you would want to call Kate.
Oh my gosh! Yes! Are they okay?
Yes, I made sure to check on them before Warden was taken into custody. Richard found a place for them to hide out until the storm passed.
Relief washed over me as I learned of my friends’ safety. Quickly, I dialed the number for Kate and listened for her small voice to answer. There was barely time for two rings before I heard her worried voice.
Darcy?
Hey, Kate. How’s it going?
“How’s it going?” Is that really what you have to say after everything that has happened?
I laughed as I pictured my petite best friend with her hand on her hip, scolding me.
I’m fine. Are you okay? Noah and Richard too?
We’re fine. Still a little rattled after the last incident and as paranoid as it gets, but alive.
How’s the baby?
Still kicking my bladder like a punching bag.
I smiled with the knowledge their baby was still healthy and thriving inside its mother, that nothing had happened to them.
When are you planning on going back home?
Richard made travel plans back to Oregon. We leave tomorrow. He’s going to stay and help since Noah is still recovering and I’m getting bigger. I think he just doesn’t trust that it’s over.
Yeah, we know the feeling. Well, let me know when you make it back home. We will visit as soon as I am able.
Honey, you know I want to see you more than anything in the world but don’t rush it. Rest, recover.
I don’t think Ben is going to give me the option.
I looked over at Ben lying beside me as he shot a look out of the corner of his eye, a mischievous grin flashing across his face.
Love you, Kate.
Love you, Darcy.
As I ended the phone call, I turned over on my side to face Ben. He was already waiting for me, his eyes twinkling as he leaned forward and kissed my lips softly.
What now?
He furrowed his brow in confusion, searching my eyes for the reason behind my question.
What do you mean?
It’s over, right?
Well, not quite….
My stomach dropped as he revealed the lack of finality that had already been assumed. Desperately, my mind searched for any remaining threat, any reason for the battle to continue.
Warden was locked away for life and with no leadership, the Influencers would have no commands to follow. No missions. The locations of their facilities had been given to the FBI for further investigation.
Wait, what?
There’s still one more thing to be done.
Ben stood up from the bed and gestured for me to wait for an explanation. Instead of turning toward the kitchen, Ben walked into the office. Brimming with curiosity, I slowly followed him down the hall. When I reached the doorway of the office, he was already digging through the hollow bench near the window.
When he turned around, he had a small locked safe in his hands. He offered the box to me, looking at me with intensely dark eyes.
These are the pieces to the system.
You mean the FBI didn’t want these for themselves? I thought they would want to confirm the shutdown of the system.
It was a part of our agreement. I lead them to Warden and I get to destroy the system myself. This system is far too powerful for anyone to have. I didn’t trust that they wouldn’t use it for themselves.
The small metal safe was cold in my hands as I glanced down at its gray surface. Ben turned back to the bench and retrieved his father’s notebook from its contents.
I smiled as I watched him run his hands over the smooth, brown leather of its binding. He had received that piece of his father back. Flipping through the pages, he stopped on a page filled with diagrams.
My dad put directions in the notebook to destroy the system he created… but not the exact place it’s hidden.
So, we don’t know where it is?
Well, we know it’s here in the cabin. In his poem, he hints to it being here. But where?
Let me see that.
Ben handed me the notebook where the diagram of the device was drawn. On the top of the page, it was titled, “The BWL Protocol.”
BWL?
Benjamin Wade Lewis.
My eyes misted as I realized they had named it after their son. Even years ago, they had known he was the key to saving the world from the Influencers’ destruction.
Suddenly, Ben’s eyes lit up before he walked from the office and toward his childhood bedroom. As I passed through the doorway, I found him moving the heavy wooden toybox from out of the corner.
He stood over where the box had been with his hands resting on his waist. I walked over to stand beside him and saw three letters carved into the wood floor.
BWL.
They hid the device to shut down a global terrorist group under my childhood toybox.
We both laughed at his outlandish statement. Before I knew it, Ben had pulled a knife from the waistband of his pants and was prying the wood panels from the floor.
Under the slabs of wood and a false bottom, there was a box carved with Ben’s initials on its lid. He bent over the hole and retrieved the sizable container from its hiding place.
His eyes never left the box as he placed it on the floor between us, both of us falling to our knees before it. There was something humbling about the box. Yet, it was not the container that brought us to our knees but the possibility of the end, the key to our future together.
It’s locked… but I don’t see a keyhole.
I furrowed my brow at the impossibility of his statement. Surely, if it was locked, there would be a place for a key.
I don’t understand. Then, how are we supposed to open it?
I have no idea. There has to be a way.
Leaning forward to examine his side of the container, I heard a click come from inside the box. I sat back and searched for the source of the noise. Glancing back at Ben, his eyes were focused on the container as the sound of moving gears filled the silent room.
Suddenly, the lid of the box snapped open, leaving a small gap where it had been sealed all these years. As my oblivious mind searched for the reason it had opened, I noticed Ben’s eyes had found a new focus: his mother’s necklace on my chest.
He put the key to it in my mother’s necklace.
My fingers clutched the cool pearl around my neck, the rough ring of diamonds contrasting its smoothness.
But how did it open the safe?
My father must have put a reader in the box and an RFID chip in the necklace. When near one another, it opens the lock.
So, you’re saying I have had the key around my neck this entire time? Worse yet, the shutdown I caused could have buried it hundreds of feet under a mountain had you not escaped with it in your pocket?
Ben just nodded, stunned by the overwhelming chance of failure we had faced. His hands raised
to open the container and we both leaned forward to look at its contents.
Carefully, he pulled the device out of the box and placed it on the floor between us. To the untrained eye, it looked like a very outdated laptop. I handed him the lockbox containing the system pieces and watched as he lined them up next to the device.
So how is this one computer supposed to destroy a system spread across the globe?
To simplify the long explanation Brendan gave me, my dad created this system to be almost like a web. The mother system is at the center with the sister systems depending on it to function. Although they act independently, my dad created the weakness of the mother system for this exact occasion.
So why couldn’t we just smash it with a bat?
Destroying the physical computer won’t destroy the original system. The protocol my father created literally follows the connections to the sister systems, destroys it, and disconnects it from the rest of the system until there is only the original network left.
And then it destroys the mother system?
Exactly.
Ben inhaled a deep breath as he looked back down at the laptop. His hands were nimble as he opened the device to the screen and felt for the switch to turn it on. We both nearly jumped out of our skin as the machine began speaking, a small gasp escaping my throat. The screen glowed with an odd green light.
BWL Protocol initiated. Insert chips.
Ben slowly and cautiously placed each of the four chips into their slots on the top of the metal device. With each insert of a chip, the screen created a list of identification numbers. The list disappeared with the insert of the last chip.
The machine began to speak again but this time, it was a man’s voice.
If you’re hearing this message, it means you have found this device and the four chips necessary for the BWL Protocol. You have solved one of my greatest puzzles.
Ben’s eyes were wide and glossy with tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. It must have been his father’s voice on the machine.
I would say I am surprised this feat was accomplished but it would be a lie.
Ben’s brow furrowed in confusion as the recording of his father continued.
There is only one person who could have known how to piece together all my hints and read my notebook of nonsense. I’m so proud of you, son.
My chest stiffened as tears relentlessly spilled down Ben’s face, his body shaking in sorrow.
If you have found this device and its pieces, it also means the group we created has been exploited for evil. Your mother and I are sorry for leaving you, Ben, but there are terrible people looking for us. We wanted to protect you. Our only hope, if we don’t survive, is that you will find this someday. We are sorry we couldn’t watch you grow into the man we know you will become. Even now as a young teenager, we can see your potential for greatness.
Tears had begun to fall down my face as I listened to the heartfelt message to Ben from his father.
Don’t be afraid to destroy our creation, son. This is not our legacy, you are. I love you, Ben.
In the background of the recording, a tender female voice sounded. His mother.
I love you, Benny, more than the world.
Suddenly, the recording came to a stop and the device beeped before a message came across the green screen.
INITIATE BWL PROTOCOL?
Ben’s shaking hand reached for the confirmation button near the screen. As soon as he pressed it, the device began flashing with rapid coding and algorithms. Finally, it let out a high-pitched frequency before sparks flew from where the chips had been inserted.
We watched as the screen’s light flickered as the life left it forever. As our tear-filled eyes met over the device, we knew it was over. I crawled toward where Ben sat on the floor and wrapped my arms around his neck.
Intertwined, we cried over his parents’ last words to him, over everything we had been through. Tears of relief, of joy, of mourning. In the room where his father had created the Influencers and the system to destroy it, we sat, not as victors, but as survivors.
XXIV.
HOPE
Over two months had passed since Ben discovered his father’s device in the office of the cabin. Since then, we had traveled around the country thanking friends who had risked their lives to help us.
Brendan appeared extremely relieved by the news of the Society’s fate. He seemed content in Boston, his career and personal life now thriving. With a promotion and serious girlfriend, I felt confident Brendan had found his place in life.
As we continued our trek to Washington D.C., I had never seen Hannah more excited to see me. On the stairs of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, she ran and hugged me tightly. With the air squeezed from my lungs, I breathlessly looked down at my friend.
Her once long red hair had been cut to her shoulders and straightened. With neutral colored makeup and professional attire, she appeared five years older than when I last saw her.
Darcy, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried when Ben called and asked for my help.
I just wanted to thank you, Hannah. If it weren’t for you and your connections, I don’t know what would have happened.
As I looked down at Ben where he stood several steps below us, his intense eyes showed he knew exactly what would have happened.
Well, I might have helped save your life, but you helped save so many more. I’m glad that monster is in the supermax for life! He deserves it. Oh my gosh, I still can’t believe it is finally over!
Yeah, I know.
I smiled as my eyes met Ben’s, the green in his irises bright in the sunlight. In those eyes, I saw the man who cried at his father’s proud voice, the man in worn flannel sitting on a tree stump, and the man standing in the middle of the boxing ring alone.
Finally, after thanking Hannah and wishing her the best, we made our way to the opposite coast. Kate and Noah had purchased a house and were working on moving their possessions from their apartment with Richard’s help.
We pulled up to the house and honked, waving as Richard came from the backyard. As he pulled his hand from behind his back, I knew he had a gun in the waistband of his pants. I wondered if any of us would ever be the same, if we would ever stop waiting for someone to come for us.
The front door of the house flung open as Kate waddled down the stairs of the porch toward our car. Following closely behind her and providing support for each step was Noah, his arm no longer in a sling.
Hey, you guys didn’t take as long as I thought you would. I figured you would see some sights and take some time for just the two of you.
Kate’s descent down the front steps was slow as she called to us beside the car. I smiled as my small-framed friend held onto her now large baby bump. After catching her breath, she spread her arms for a hug from me and Ben.
As I released my hold of her and Ben stepped forward, Noah and Richard both reached for a hug from me.
We just missed you guys too much. Plus, you’re going to pop at any moment and we didn’t want to miss it.
Pop? How reassuring.
Although she chuckled, I could sense her apprehension of what she would be enduring in the coming days. I witnessed the same fear in her eyes that day as when she clutched my hand on the way to the hospital a week later.
Darcy, I can’t do this. I can’t.
Yes, you can, Kate. You are one of the strongest people I know. And you’ve survived much more than this.
She looked at me knowingly, flashes of our time in the facility likely running through her head, the sound of explosions resounding in her memories.
Just remember, after all of this, you’re going to have a beautiful baby who will be awesome just like you and Noah.
And her Aunt Darcy and Uncle Ben.
Noah sat on the opposite side of her, holding her other hand and encouraging her to breath. As Ben pulled the SUV into the parking lot of the hospital, Richard and Noah helped Kate out of the back door.
Ben turned around when I remained in the back seat, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Aren’t you going with her?
I’ll just park the car with you and then we can find them together.
He sighed as he watched Kate walk up to the hospital with Noah and Richard. When he turned to look back at me, his eyes were gentle.
Look, I know you don’t want to let me out of your sight in case something happens. I understand more than anyone else but it’s over, Darcy. We can’t keep living like this. Go with Kate and I will be right up.
Hesitantly, I nodded in agreement and leaned forward to kiss him on his soft, warm lips. As I slid out of the back seat of the car, I glanced back at him before joining the others as they walked through the entrance of the hospital.
Hours later, we still awaited the arrival of the newest member of our family. I looked up as Richard returned with a cup carrier full of coffee for the three of us.
Any news yet?
No, not yet. Thank you for the coffee.
You are welcome. I figured we might be waiting a while.
Ben nodded his appreciation as Richard passed a cup of coffee to him. Unsurprisingly, the two had formed a close relationship over their shared past and interests. Hours later with empty coffee cups, we heard the sound of the locked doors opening. Noah walked quickly out of the unit with a smile stretching from ear to ear.
It’s a girl! She’s here!
An excited applause filled the waiting room as the three of us jumped to our feet and reached to hug the new daddy. I had never seen Noah happier than I had in that moment as joy emanated from his innermost being.
Congratulations, Noah! How are they doing?
Mama and baby are doing well. They are cleaning them up and will be able to take visitors soon. Kate insisted I come tell you guys.
He smiled at us one last time before reentering the unit. I looked around at Richard and Ben’s glowing faces, my heart racing with excitement.
The newest addition to our family. That’s exactly what we had become, a family. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
***
Oh, my goodness! She is perfect!
The Legacy: The Influencers Book 2 (The Society) Page 16