Lana continued telling her grandmother a G-rated version of the events that followed between Cory and her. Bowing her head to her chest, she blurted out, all in one breath, “I told Cory, and now he’s so upset with me. He completely ignores me and only talks to me to order me to do things or to make jabs at me. I’m trying to show him that I’m sorry, but it isn’t getting any easier. At this point, I just want to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out.”
“Slow down, Lana. Take a breather,” her grandmother coaxed, just like she used to when Lana was littler. “Honey, you may not have noticed, but you’re already crying your eyes out,” she joked, attempting to lighten the mood. “Look, the relationship you have with Cory is complicated and the two of you have been forced to mature quickly - especially that boy.”
Lana’s grandmother launched into her analysis of the situation, “But you’re not in the wrong for being vulnerable, which, knowing you, is completely expected behavior. How long did you think hostility, and arguments would go on before they took a toll on your psyche? In my opinion, Cory isn’t completely a man yet; he has so much difficulty expressing his emotions. This is not a good thing - he’s flawed, like every other human being. What makes him less of a person is that he refuses to address his shortcomings. Ignoring you isn’t a positive way of addressing his hurt from what you did with Doug - and trust me, honey, he’s hurt…extremely.”
“I know, Grandma, but he’s not going to listen to anything I say. I’m at my breaking point. After all I’ve dealt with, and all the things I’ve stayed for. I could endure it all because I knew he didn’t mean it; it was his anger and hysteria talking and not him. But when he’s calm and cold, it seems like he actually hates me, and it hurts so much more this way,” Lana admitted.
“Darling, I have no idea how Cory will respond, but you need to tell him what you just told me. I will make travel arrangements for you anyway. How does two weeks sound? You should be ready by then.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Grandma,” Lana said, still sobbing.
“Lana, darling, stop crying now. You don’t want puffy red eyes. I think you’ve cried enough for today. Promise me that you’ll tell Cory, and that you’ll be strong for your last few days.”
Lana promised, although she wasn’t sure she could speak with Cory the way her grandmother expected her to. Maybe it was for the best to leave everything behind and go be with her grandmother. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed her. But for now, she had to put her emotions aside and focus on the mission at hand. She’d promised herself that she would rescue Isabel, and she wouldn’t break that promise.
19
When Lana awoke the next morning, Cory was up doing research on his laptop.
“…find anything yet?” she asked, still yawning.
Again, Cory failed to acknowledge her, and his eyes never strayed from his computer screen.
Lana scowled at Cory as she made her way into the bathroom. Ugh! I can’t take this anymore; I need to talk to him… I’m going to talk to him right now. But is it too soon? No, it must be done now, Lana pondered, washing her face and brushing her teeth.
“Be strong, Lana, you can do this. Look at him straight in the eyes and don’t take no for an answer… and don’t cry,” Lana prepped herself before walking back into the bedroom.
She took a deep breath before marching up to Cory, who was sitting in his chair, and with a stern voice, she said, “Cory, we need to talk.”
Cory paused for a moment; flabbergasted at the confidence Lana had mustered to approach him. She must be crazy; he thought, sucking his teeth.
“Lana… get out of my face,” he snarled.
“N-no!” Lana stuttered, struggling to keep her composure. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk this through.”
Glaring into Lana’s eyes, he saw she was serious, and getting rid of her would not be as easy as just telling her to. Closing his laptop, he gazed at her.
“Lana, please I don’t have time for this, and there’s nothing to talk about,” he said, trying to convince her to leave him alone.
Don’t take no for an answer, Lana’s conscience reminded her. She stood in front of him, folded her arms together, and shook her head no.
“Okay, if you want to talk, then talk. I’m listening. Let’s put everything out on the table, but let this be the last time,” Cory lashed out.
“Fine, I plan on saying everything I have to say anyways,” Lana replied.
It was the face off before the match, and the tension in the air was thickening. This conversation would only brew another fight, but it was too late to stop it. As much as Cory wanted to be left alone, sooner or later they had to talk. A few seconds went by with complete silence. Lana was thinking of how to present her argument, while Cory beckoned her with hand gestures, urging her to speak. She took a deep breath and began.
“Okay, I’ve hurt you. And there’s no excuse for what I did, and you have every reason to hate me - because I hate myself for it too. I hope you’ll forgive me or at least understand why I did what I did.”
Cory didn’t bother looking at Lana while she spoke. Instead, he kept his head down and listened to every word she said, searching for a flaw in her story.
“It’s just that we’ve been fighting everyday nonstop,” Lana continued, struggling to keep her voice calm and even. “And I wasn’t in a good state of mind because of it. You didn’t really make me feel wanted - and, after a year, it was like I was wasting your air. I tried so hard to get you to open up to me, but it never worked.
“I didn’t know what I was to you, and even now, I’m still not sure what I am to you. I wasn’t sure if you even cared for me anymore, or if you still wanted this - us. When you left me with Doug, I was so vulnerable, and then you forgot to call me about Isabel, as if I wouldn’t be worried half to death. It didn’t seem like you cared for me. Then Doug opened up to me and told me stories—the way you used too.”
Now that she had started talking, the words flow smoother. She dropped her arms to her side, taking a deep breath, she continue, “He reminded me so much of how you used to be, that I naturally gravitated toward him. He appreciated me being there, and then one thing led to another, we kissed…and that was it. Trust me when I say we did nothing else but kiss. It was stupid, and I don’t like him at all. I was just missing you…the old you.”
Cory lifted his head up to look into Lana’s eyes and grasp her soul.
“I’m not sure what to believe anymore,” he said. “The way I see it, you crossed the line when you kissed Doug. You betrayed my trust, and now you expect me to believe that you guys did nothing but kiss—”
“But that’s all we did. I swear!” Lana interrupted.
“I don’t believe you, and that’s not even the most fucked-up thing about it,” Cory said, through gritted teeth.
“Okay, what then?”
“I’ll get to that. First off, I admit I should have called you right away and told you about Bell, but I was trying to calm her down and figure out what was going on. Regardless, I still planned on calling you afterwards. The fact that you beat me to it is unfortunate - that’s my bad - but do you really think so badly of me to say that I don’t care about you?”
Cory lowered his eyes and added, “Everything I do is because of you! Not a single decision is made without you in mind. Why is it I’m always so protective of you if you don’t think I care?”
“I don’t know,” Lana murmured, shrugging her shoulders.
Looking back into her eyes, he said, “Why is it that every guy who looks at you funny always puts me on edge?” Cory clinched his fists as he continued, “Time and time again I have shown you that I care, but nah, you don’t want the actions - you want the words. I have always shown you that I cared the best way I knew how, but that’s never been good enough for you - and I always took the blame whenever something went wrong in our relationship, but now that you’ve kissed somebody else, you still want to stand here and blame me, Lana?”
> Lana stood still, letting every word resonate through her. The mixture of the guilt and the hurt in Cory’s eyes were too much to bear. She tried to control her emotions, but stinging tears lingered on the edges of her eye, waiting to slide down her crimson face.
“Stop acting like you’re never in the wrong and man up to the choices you make. You kissing Doug - that’s not what makes me sick, though - it’s the fact that you have absolutely zero respect for me that gets me. How dare you kiss that bitch, and then have sex with me on the same night? How dare you kiss him and then kiss me right after, you didn’t even brush your teeth yet! How could you ever disrespect me like that with a man who doesn’t even care for you,” Cory said with moist eyes.
“But—” Lana started only to get interrupted.
“But nothing, Lana,” Cory exclaimed, slamming his fist on his lap. “You can chalk it up however you want; it still doesn’t change a thing. I have more respect for myself to ever let you put me in the same league as Doug.”
“You’re not,” Lana shouted. “I’m so, so sorry, Cory. Please - you’ve got to believe me! I know how much you care for me. If I could take it back, I would, but I can’t. Doug means nothing to me; I love you!”
“I see that you’re sorry, but I can’t think of ‘us’ right now. Lana, I need to get my family back, and I need you in order to do that. And if I go into that prison and never come back, I want you to know…” Cory took a calming breath, “I want you to know that I love you, and nothing will ever change that. But as far as us, right now, Lana, I don’t know…”
Lana shook her head, numb at hearing Cory say, “I love you.” But these were not the circumstances she envisioned hearing those precious words from him. She stood there crying. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Cory and feared that it was happening.
Cory stood to console her. As he hugged Lana, he said, “Stop crying, I will always do what’s best for you. I need time to figure us out, but right now my sister needs the both of us. I need you to be strong - for me. Can you do that?”
She nodded as she pressed her head onto Cory’s chest, drenching his shirt with tears.
They stood in each other’s arms for several minutes until Lana pulled away and excused herself into the bathroom. She’d needed that conversation with Cory, and she still had hope that she could win back his trust and their relationship. When she walked out of the bathroom, she saw Cory had not moved from his chair.
He looked at her and kindly said, “Hey, can you help me out with these blueprints?”
Lana nodded and smiled, “Yeah, sure.”
They went over the blueprint until it was time to meet with the others. They all gathered around the dining room table to discuss their plans over lunch.
“Okay, so what do we have so far?” Adam said.
“Well, the first thing we should do is destroy their communication. That way, when we hit them, they’ll be running around like their heads were cut off,” Cory replied.
“I should be able to scramble their radio signals,” Adam said.
“Great, but how about the security cameras?” Destiny asked.
“Lana might be able to access their cameras, giving us direct feed while sabotaging theirs,” Cory responded.
“Yup, you just have to show me how to hack into the government database without being caught. That way I can use the same method on the security camera,” Lana said, looking at Adam.
“Sounds good, but the cameras might not be online –you might have to get close enough to the control center to hack into it,” Adam said.
“We’ll manage. Now, I don’t think we should split up. Instead, let’s station two or three people to keep an eye on the prison while the rest will be at the research facility. We’ll capture Dr. Phils and use him to gain access to the prison. With the added men, it’ll be a lot easier to take control,” Cory suggested.
“Once we’re inside, we need to take control of the armory. That way, we can cut their firepower in half. We should do that right after we take over the control center,” Destiny added.
“Good idea! Lana, Adam, you two must remain safe at all times. This will not work without you two being able to access their systems,” Cory said.
They continued to discuss and tweak their plan until they were confident enough to propose it to Bienaimé.
“Good work guys,” Adam said as they got up. “I’ll tell Professor we came up with the perfect plan.”
They scattered into different parts of the house. Instead of going back to the bedroom with Lana, Cory headed to the game room. He was busy playing pool when Destiny appeared.
“Oh, hey! Wassup, Destiny?” Cory greeted.
“Nothing much. I came up here to relax,” she replied.
“Oh yeah? Well, I’m just about done here if you need your space.”
“No, stay…I could use the company, and maybe I can teach you a thing or two about pool,” Destiny said with a smile.
The two spent a couple of hours talking over a game of pool. Cory felt comfortable around Destiny. He wasn’t pressured to express himself, like he did with Lana, and his thoughts and words flowed freely.
“Thanks for taking us in. I really appreciate how you guys have treated us,” Cory said, grabbing his pool stick and lowering his body over the table.
“Oh, no problem! It’s nice having company for a change,” Destiny replied, watching Cory take aim. “You sure about that shot?”
“Yup,” Cory said, not breaking concentration.
“I don’t know,” Destiny drawled. “Maybe you need me to show you how to hold that stick.”
“Nope,” Cory said, hitting a stripped ball into the corner pocket. “See, it’s all about the stroke.”
Destiny laughed, “Lucky shot.”
“I smell jealousy on your breath,” Cory teased, nudging Destiny on her arm. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you - who is it that the Government took away from you?”
“Her name is Kelly. She’s my best friend. Well, we’re practically sisters,” Destiny replied, rubbing chalk on the tip of her pool stick. “We did everything together. Funny, she even waited a year for me to graduate just so we could attend college together.” She paused, tilting her head down. “At the hardest point of my life, when suicide seemed like the only option, she was the one there for me – the only one who understood. If it wasn’t for her support, I don’t know if I’d even be here today… Man, I can’t wait to see her again.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get her back…all of them,” Cory said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “How about Adam, who did he lose?”
“His fiancé or girlfriend. I’m not too sure, which is which. He never talks about her that much,” Destiny answered.
They played a few more games until Lana walked in on them. She wore a blank expression, but forged a fake smile when Cory and Destiny noticed her.
“Hey Lana, come join us!” Destiny said with enthusiasm.
“No, it’s fine. I’m looking for the USB that Adam gave us. I might have left it here last night,” Lana lied.
Before things got awkward, she pretended to look around for the USB before making her exit. She had wondered where Cory was since he’d been gone for so long. She never expected to find him hanging out with Destiny. Pacing back to the bedroom, she grabbed her headphones. I don’t trust her, she sulked, as she lay in bed, letting the music take her mind off Cory.
*
When Cory walked in, Lana was staring at the ceiling with music blaring from her headphones. She felt his presence, but ignored it.
“Lana, Lana, Lana,” Cory shouted to be heard.
“What?” Lana said, taking off her headset.
What’s gotten into her? Cory did not appreciate Lana’s sudden attitude.
“Bienaimé just got home. We’re going to go talk to him now,” he said, choosing not to acknowledge her current mood.
Lana said nothing in reply. Wordlessly, she followed Cory downstairs, where they all shared the deta
ils of their plan with Bienaimé.
“That might actually work,” Bienaimé said, climbing up the stairs. “Now, let me get out of these dirty clothes, then we can head over to the meeting spot.”
A while later, Bienaimé came back down dressed in an Italian suit topped by a farmer’s hat.
“All right, let’s go,” he said as he guided them to the garage. “Adam, you guys take Cory and Lana in your car. I’ll drive solo.”
Cory and Lana sat quietly in the back as Adam followed Bienaimé off the premises. They drove to a secluded area, not far away, in a small town that appeared to be deserted. It was six in the evening, and no one was in sight. Adam pulled up into an abandoned old warehouse behind Bienaimé. They exited the vehicles and walked to the building. As soon as they opened the door, they were stopped in their tracks - two men dressed in black appeared, carrying semi-automatic weapons and ready to attack.
“Easy, son, it’s me,” Bienaimé said, prompting them to lower their guns.
“Sorry, sir. Go ahead,” they replied in unison, stepping aside to let them pass.
The warehouse was empty except for a few wooden crates scattered here and there, and the eye-stinging odor of rats and rusty nails permeated everything. The windows were boarded up, making it dark and gloomy. Cory and Lana moved cautiously. The place looked like it might collapse.
A few other people roamed about, but no one acknowledged them. Bienaimé led them to a set of rotten wooden doors. Before entering, he faced Cory and the others.
“Past this point, I’m only allowed to have two personnel with me, so which one of y’all is brave enough?” Bienaimé asked.
“Let Cory go - he probably knows the plan better than any of us,” Adam suggested.
“Okay, I’ll take Cory and Destiny. Adam, you stay here and watch over Lana…we should be back shortly,” Bienaimé ordered.
The Sabbath Page 14