by Alice Reeds
There were so many questions in my mind, so many things that barely made any sense, the hurt of Carla’s betrayal still raw, something that would stick with me for longer than I was willing to admit to myself. Silently I watched the ship slowly get smaller as we made our way in the opposite direction, into the darkness. Once we were far enough away, McCarty turned on a lamp she’d grabbed off of the ship so we could see each other and at least something of where we were going, not that there was much to see. I didn’t know if we had some kind of destination, if McCarty had a plan, and in that moment, it barely mattered, anyway. Gail was dead, and we had made it off of that God-forsaken ship.
I expected to feel bad about Gail’s death, the way I felt guilty after Ji died, but found that I didn’t. It was either her or us, and right then and still right now, I preferred her dead on the floor instead of Miles and me.
Quietly I moved closer to Miles, the simple gesture earning me a small smile from him, before resting my head against his shoulder. He helped me to relax and after everything that happened I was in desperate need of it. My body was screaming at me, tired and drained both mentally and physically, running on reserves I didn’t know I had. Miles took my hand into his, the gesture comforting and calming, exactly what I needed.
“Who are you really?” Miles asked after a while, raising his eyes from his unconscious brother lying at our feet and toward McCarty. “If you’re not with them, then…?”
“My name really is Nikita McCarty, and I am an FBI agent, that wasn’t a lie. My badge is real, but I’m a double-agent,” she said calmly, her eyes flicking from the horizon toward us and back. “I am happy to see that the two of you are alive and well, that I got there before Gail could do more damage than she’d already caused. I am deeply sorry for what you two had to go through, I really am.”
“We’re just happy that we’re off that ship and away from them,” Miles said. Somehow, even though I knew that, in theory, everything could finally be okay now—that maybe, just maybe, we were done, the nightmare over—I still struggled with even thinking it. There were so many times I’d given in to the illusion of safety, just to be forcefully ripped out of it again, that I was almost afraid to do it again.
Even if this was the moment we would finally reach the good ending of this journey, there was so much left uncertain. Carla wasn’t my mother, had sold me off to these people, and my father surely was in on it, too, which meant that I couldn’t go home. And really, neither could Miles. But if we couldn’t go home, where would we go and what would we do? What would happen to us, what future waited for us on the other side?
And even after making it off the ship, would Briola really give up on investments they’d spent more than three million dollars on?
“This really is it, I promise you,” McCarty said, genuinely, with a smile. “I am ashamed of my actions, of the fact that I didn’t believe Joe when his daughter disappeared and he tried to tell me what he found out about you, Miss Wolf. Maybe if I had, everything would’ve gone differently. That’s why I volunteered for this operation, snuck into that part of the agency wanting to find out more, the things Joe wouldn’t be able to access no matter how hard he tried. I knew something was going on, Joe telling me about the things he found, and I just had to know for myself. I hoped that it would all turn out to be false information but we all know it wasn’t.”
“Joe saved our lives even if that meant he had to die in the process,” I said, even though we all knew that. “He’s a hero.”
“That he is, most definitely. Knowing Joe, he did it for you because he couldn’t do it for Ivy. It was his way to atone for what happened. He couldn’t save Ivy, but at least he could save you.”
I forever owed my life to Joe, and I knew that somehow I would make his sacrifice worth it. I didn’t know how, quite yet, but sooner or later I would figure it out.
The memory of Joe, the fact that he truly was gone, brought back the sadness I’d tried so hard to push away. I didn’t want to cry, not again, but in that moment, I didn’t have any strength to stop it. I’d already cried so much that night that I wondered how much more I could cry before I ran out of tears.
“Sorry,” I said while Miles put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me even closer toward him.
“No need to apologize,” McCarty said, sympathetically. “I cannot even imagine how hard this must’ve been for you, the trauma of losing a friend in such a way. Crying is more than a natural reaction to it.”
“Someone slipped us documents containing information about us, about who sold us to Briola,” I said instead of commenting on McCarty’s words, trying my best to keep my voice from shaking. Someone on that ship had to be on our side and, looking at what happened, it only made sense that it would be her. “Was that you?”
“I needed a way to show you that Lido and especially Gail were not to be trusted, and that seemed like the easiest way to do it, to show you that this was all part of a scheme to make you believe they were here to save you when really they simply wanted to hand you over to Briola,” she explained.
It clicked in my mind then, and I wondered how I’d been too dense to realize it sooner. We’d seen her walk down that hallway away from our room after she left the papers, something so obvious I had no idea how I hadn’t put one and one together sooner.
“So, our parents really did sell us?”
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “I’m really sorry. I cannot fathom how you must feel because of it, seeing it so bluntly on paper, but I thought it would help if you knew.”
“What is all of this about really? Why did Briola go through all this trouble with us?” Miles asked.
“It’s all part of a top-secret project,” McCarty said and then sighed. “There’s a ship not too far away from here. That ship is filled with my people, agents I have trained and who are trustworthy. I promise once we get there, one of them will explain everything to you, the purpose behind Briola’s actions, in a manner that I wouldn’t be able to. I had people look into it after Joe reached out for my help, but personally, I didn’t go into too many details, although I probably should have. Regardless of why all of it happened, the only thing that truly does matter right now is that everything is over and that you are safe now.”
What kind of madman would contrive a top-secret project that not only required millions of dollars but also cost literal lives of minors? And what kind of project involved implants and fake bears, what purpose did that serve, what did it prove or test? If the FBI knew something about this, just how much bigger was this than we thought?
Neither of us said any more, so McCarty used the moment to reach for something she’d hidden in her bag, a transponder device of some sort, as far as I could see. She pushed a button on the side, and a small green light appeared at the top. Slowly she typed something in and then waited, a voice coming through a moment later.
We listened as she talked to someone on the other end, starting off by saying her own name and then some number, along with asking for voice verification. The voice confirmed what she said, and she proceeded by letting the other person know that we were coming and asking for location clarification. Once she was done with her relatively short conversation, she typed something into the device again and slightly adjusted our direction to the right.
“Do you know how long it’ll take until Leon is back to normal?” Miles asked after a while, breaking the silence. He was still unconscious, and I wondered how long it would stay that way, and what he’d do if he woke up before the injection wore off.
“A few hours, a day, maximum,” McCarty said after thinking about it. “As far as I’ve seen, it won’t leave any permanent damage. He’ll be okay.”
Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Miles just nodded and remained silent.
I didn’t know how long it took until a light appeared on the horizon, a white ship coming into view bearing no name, flag or signs. It seemed so much bigger than the one we’d come from. I’d never been happier to see pe
ople dressed in military attire and the same black and gray suits that McCarty and Lido had worn.
With a little help, we secured the boat to their ship and managed to get on board, two of the FBI-attired guys climbing back onto the raft to get Leon and bring him inside. Catching Miles’s expression, McCarty informed him that one of the medically trained agents would look him over to make sure I hadn’t done any lasting damage in my angry eagerness. Miles nodded, earning a smile from McCarty.
“Follow me. I’ll show you to your room and explain what happens next,” she said and motioned for us to come along. Taking everything in, the clean floors and the agents moving about, we walked behind her through the door into the ship, down a flight of steep stairs into the belly of the ship, where the flooring was light parquet instead of simple metal, the interior painted in shades of white and brown, the lighting a warm yellow instead of cold, clinical white.
McCarty opened a door down the hallway, and we walked into a small bedroom, the furniture sparse but still seeming like a dream to me. After we’d spent so much time on the island, in our cave, even the simple beds with thin mattresses and sheets seemed like a blessing, an unimaginable luxury. Another door led to a bathroom, McCarty informing us that a fresh change of clothing, along with toothbrushes and other toiletries were there for us so we would feel welcome and see that this really was the end of the road, that we really were safe.
Never in my life did I appreciate bland toothpaste, slightly scratchy towels, and clean clothes as much as right then. It felt amazing, impossible in every way. It was something I’d dreamed about when we were on the island. Looking at myself in the mirror, ignoring the tired circles under my eyes and the few slowly forming bruises scattered across my body from the strikes that Leon had landed, I actually looked almost normal again. My hair was nothing like what it was before this nightmare, the blue faded out, leaving almost only blond hair behind, along with darker roots.
I smiled as I looked at Miles’s reflection next to mine, his hair in dire need of a cut falling into his eyes, but besides that, just like me, he looked almost like himself again. We weren’t who we used to be before all of this, but that was unimportant. The only important thing in all of this was that we had made it through that nightmare alive. Together.
Before we’d talk to them, listen to why we ended up on the island and what would happen next, there was one thing I felt needed to be said. It was something Miles already had, yet I didn’t, even though we both knew it was true. I watched that beautiful smile grow on his face as I said, “I love you, Miles Echo.”
…
My life was a lie. But sometimes truths were built on lies. I knew that now. And Miles had his brother back, something I was sure he’d never even dared dream of.
Ten minutes later McCarty returned to our room with two manila folders in her hands. Quietly we sat down, Miles and I on one bed and McCarty on the other one, and waited for her to speak.
“As I promised before, I think now would be a good time to talk about what has happened to you,” she said. “Unfortunately, we don’t yet know all the details, haven’t managed to decode all the information, but what we do know is this: Briola Bio Tech has acquired you for a top-secret and highly illegal human trial. They’d flown you out and left you on the island so no one would find out. We also know that you’ve been chosen based on talents and traits, specific ones that fit into their scheme.”
“My titles,” I said. I suspected as much on the other ship. That it must’ve been why my father went so hard on me for all those years, and now I had my confirmation. Maybe his efforts to make me afraid of authority also had something to do with this, some kind of plan to make me more compliant despite my strength?
McCarty nodded. “It’s the most likely answer, since your mental and physical strength were highlighted in all the documents concerning you. As for Mr. Echo, intelligence but also gullibility and a possible mental weakness, though the latter two were usually marked as uncertain.”
I looked over at Miles as McCarty spoke about him, noticed how his jaw clenched almost unnoticeably at her words but otherwise his expression didn’t change. I wondered who even came up with either of those things, though the gullibility part matched with what Leon said on the ship.
“Could the trial have something to do with the implants?” Miles asked instead of commenting.
McCarty frowned. “Implants?”
“Briola implanted us with something, though we’re not quite sure what. Maybe your people could try and figure it out?” I didn’t know if telling her about them, and even handing them over, was a good idea. McCarty had shot Gail, helped us get off the ship and brought us answers, but could we really, truly believe her? I was pretty sure that the answer was yes, but a tiny part of me would remain on the fence until we made it back to the States.
“I’d gladly have someone do that, though knowing about them at all will already be very helpful in our efforts to find out what exactly happened to you and Ivy.” Miles got up and retrieved our backpack, reached inside and pulled out our two vials. Just looking at them made me simultaneously angry and sick. McCarty inspected them curiously, held one of them up against the ceiling lamp, and then slipped them into the pocket of her jacket. “As soon as we have something, I will let you know.”
“What do our friends and school think happened to us?” I asked. Up until this moment I never even considered that, never wondered what Melany might’ve been told had happened to me, why I never called or emailed her. I felt bad for it.
“They think you died when your plane crashed only a few hours after takeoff and went up in flames, leaving nothing behind,” McCarty said. “You received closed casket funerals and your school even commissioned a memorial plate in the entrance.”
It was sad, and less than ideal, the fact that I could never see any of my friends again, our past lives gone, nonexistent now, but… “If everyone thinks we’re dead and our parents are the ones who sold us, what will happen to us now? We obviously can’t go home.”
At that, McCarty held out the two manila envelopes toward us. “In those you will find everything you need to know about your new identities along with new IDs, drivers’ licenses, passports, and birth certificates. Two agents have been ordered to take over the undercover job of playing your parents until your respective eighteenth birthdays. A small house has been quickly prepared for you, which will be rented for a year, when the agents will leave and you will be completely freed. Of course, occasionally someone will come by and check on you, make sure you are all right and well. Unfortunately, or maybe not, you two are not going back to Florida. As an additional layer of safety, your new lives have been arranged in California. It’s similar to witness protection, but not the same program.”
Curious, I reached into the envelope and pulled out my new driver’s license. In the corner of my eye I saw Miles do the same. It looked different from my old one, but the name was what really caught my eye. Fiona Wolf was no more. Kellie Jackson stared blankly back at me, the girl I would now be, free and alive.
“I know this is a lot for you to take in, so please take your time, go through your folders and acquaint yourself with your new lives,” McCarty said and stood up. “Once we get to Toamasina, we will board a plane back to the United States. Until then, please try to relax, and if you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask any of us. Also, should Leon wake up and be in a state suitable for visitors, one of us will come and get you.”
With that, McCarty smiled once again at us and then left the room, the door closing quietly behind her. I looked back at the driver’s license in my hand, the new me, my eyes scanning the words, all this new info I now had to learn about myself. My birthday used to be in late fall, and now it was in spring, my address in a different city and state, the word California prominent on the top above my picture, the layout and color scheme of the entire thing completely different from my old one.
The only things that hadn’t changed were
my height and eye color. Everything else was different.
“Oscar Lyel, what kind of name is that?” Miles chuckled and held his license out toward me. I took it from him and handed him mine. No matter how much I tried to say his new name in my mind, it didn’t fit, not the way his real name fit him, but we’d get used to it just like I would get used to mine.
“Nice to meet you, Oscar. I’m Kellie.” Miles shook his head as he took my hand and shook it, a smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. It was silly, but I didn’t care. It’d been so long since we had a reason to smile, actually smile, and laugh.
There were still things I didn’t understand, like the notebook entry, how that fit into any of it, what really happened to Leon that he ended up as Gail’s puppet, and if McCarty’s explanation of Briola’s actions really was the truth, but for now, what was important was the fact that we were okay. Briola tried to use us and tried so hard to silence us, yet against all odds, we’d still come out on top. And even if things went south on us again in the end, we would be able to face it together.
“It’s finally over, isn’t it?” Miles asked, pulling me into a hug, our position slightly awkward, both our folders falling onto the floor as I tried to move around to make it a bit more comfortable. In the end I climbed onto his lap, straddling him. “We’re all right. We’re alive. We’re together, and we are finally going home.”
Epilogue
Slowly breaking through the stupor and state of temporary unconsciousness, Gail blinked her eyes open, her chest a little sore from where the bullet had hit her bulletproof vest, her head pounding from having hit the floor. Leaning on her elbows, she looked across the deck, noting the missing boat and Joe’s body lying right where she remembered it. Taking it slow, Gail sat up and then got to her feet, rolling her shoulders and her neck to wake up her muscles, which had gone stiff from lying on the cold flooring for so long.