Rebecca sighed hard, "It was a scare tactic mission, but like you both already know. One of the hired thugs overreacted when Claire fought back." She cleared her throat, moving away from Claire and closer to the opposite side of Ivan, "I glossed over the last pieces before you, far too angry to read between the lines." She tapped Ivan on the shoulder to take over for her.
Ivan nodded, patting her arm before he spoke, spinning in his chair to look at us. "I also found it odd that a CIA agent was asking for more makeup effect resources than a Spielberg movie. So I poked around, I was able to find Agent Halston’s initial briefing to her superiors. The leads on project Beekeeper, the same hidden faces that had her recruiting for Dr. Bourne over the early stages of Dr. Bourne starting up her project and getting approval for test subjects."
He pointed at the monitor directly in front of him, "She intended to be very hands off with scaring Dr. Avondale when she designed the operation. Just a simple breaking and entering, with a bit roughing up then be on their way. Only distracting you long enough to get into the mainframe. The makeup was to create a disguise for Agent Halston to pop by the next day and visit you as a local law enforcement official collecting statements after the break in. Get closer to you and be able to install bugs and hidden USB's on some of the computers you had lying about. I have more about Agent Halston in a minute."
Ivan looked at Claire, his face falling, "But you fighting back, being injured and then eliminating your attackers in the fashion you did, it brought a huge spotlight down on the CIA. As a result Agent Halston was the sacrifice to protect the CIA from further incident or investigation."
Claire tensed up, moving back away from the computers to sit back in the chair. She leaned forward on her knees, covering her face. Ivan looked at Rebecca, "We can take a break, if you'd like Dr. Avondale, Ms. Witmer?"
I looked back at Claire, her head not moving from her hands. I shook my head, moving to look at the two staring at Claire, "I think we need to hear it all, and quickly."
Ivan nodded in slow agreement, turning back to attack his keyboard with lighting fast strokes, "Well, after Becky and I found that, I was able to connect why Agent Halston was sent to the middle east to an isolated outpost. The CIA was punishing her for failing. She was sent to do basic surveillance and undercover work. Tailing and injecting herself into the local insurgent groups or arms dealers. Basic low level agent stuff."
Ivan paused, taking a deep breath in, looking over at Davey, "Until the summer of 2010, approximately six months after Malibu." Ivan paused, his face turning pale with nerves. He swallowed hard as my gut began to tell me something about Halston, that there was a heavy reason why Rebecca and Ivan were so nervous to finish telling us everything. "Agent Halston was injured while undercover in a small town outside of Fallujah. She had integrated herself into a small group of Russian arms dealers selling stolen American weaponry to a pocket of insurgents." Ivan picked up a thick file from the table top, handing it over to me. "I printed this out. It's sensitive information and I didn't know how long it will be up on the deep web."
I took the file from him, looking over at Claire who was staring blankly ahead. She was doing her best to continue to listen when I could see every fiber of her being was begging her to run out of the room. I let out a sigh and lifted the first page, "Keep talking while I read, Ivan, please."
The kid nodded curtly, taking in a deep calming breath, "Agent Halston entered the Russians vehicle that was parked over an IED placed by the insurgents. They wanted the weapons and to keep their money. The car was destroyed instantly, killing the two Russians she accompanied and leaving her paralyzed from the waist down, severe organ damage and well over ninety percent of her body was covered in burns."
I read the cold black and white CIA report mixed with the intake forms of the hospital in Germany they evacuated her to. I glossed over the specific medical terms I didn't understand, reading how the CIA once again saw Halston to be a failure. I shook my head when I heard Claire's harsh whisper, "She is Honey. Meredith Halston is honey." I thought back to the bits and pieces I read in Dr. Bourne's notebook about receiving her first human patient. All the injuries Honey had matched up to what I just read.
I raised my head looking over at Claire staring at the unscathed face of the woman on the side monitor. Ivan looked down at his hands, "She is. Yes." He looked up at Rebecca, "Becky and I dug around when we came to the same conclusion, knowing that the lab explosion had listed Honey to be a casualty, but we quickly found that the DNA they ran for all of the victims matched up. Except for Lieutenant Adam Oakes. The Navy had done bloodwork on him when he had pneumonia a few years ago. I pulled it, ran that bloodwork and found his blood type did not match the ones Dr. Bourne had for Honey listed in the minimal information that we had from the notebook you were able to get, Ms. Witmer."
Davey finally spoke up, "We all think that the records were switched to let Honey die in that fire when in reality she escaped." He rubbed at his perfectly clean shaven face, glancing at me, "There's more." He looked up at Rebecca, "Tell them your theory, the one you and Ivan came up with a few minutes ago while we waited for the girls."
I set the stack of papers on my lap, looking at Claire. She was fighting the tears as they sat at the edge of her eyes. I reached over, grabbing her hand and smiling softly as I felt her squeeze it tightly and pull it closer to her. I motioned to Rebecca to continue.
Rebecca moved to lean on the edge of the desk, folding her arms across her chest. She looked as pale as Ivan, and filled with nerves as she spoke, "After putting the pieces together that Halston is Honey, we started tossing around ideas, based on the information we had about Alistair. Utilizing a usual suspect idea of sorts. We laid out all the positive identifications we had. Benson, Cornwell, Halston and even Dr. Bourne. Comparing and contrasting the clues we had. The ability of how Cornwell got so close to you in Connecticut, Kit. Then we went back to Joseph Stansfield. Michael Anderson, Michaela Verger. How the ones you met had the dead blue eyes versus the actual, hazel, brown and green of the victims."
Rebecca rubbed at her temple, "Then boy wonder pointed something out in Halston's personnel file." She looked up at the ceiling, "Meredith Halston graduated from NYU with a degree in foreign policy and a minor in stage makeup. Seems she had a knack for makeup work, but wanted to have a substantial degree to fall back on in case Hollywood never came knocking on her door. She was listed as the CIA's top agents in creating disguises, identities, documents, etc. Basically she was better than Tony Mendez, made him look like a beauty school student, with her ability to quickly create a disguise. Mimicking body movements, stance, voice, etc." Rebecca stopped, dropping her head back to look at me. "We missed so much. Focusing on the CIA targeting Claire hiding under the religious groups, and using Alistair as a scapegoat. Nothing became clear until the CIA backed off after the motel incident."
I felt my stomach drop as Claire's grip tightened on my hand. "Are you telling me that, Meredith Halston, Honey, could also be Alistair Montgomery?" Rebecca stared at me in silence, letting Davey to pick up the conversation.
"Kit, it's a high possibility she is. All the dots line up. It would make sense the intense hatred towards Claire, the ability to move in and around all of us without detection until after the fact. Halston was a talented agent, she did her job better than anyone else even if her morals were questionable." He looked over at Claire, "I think her failing to recruit Claire, then failing to scare her into handing over her work, led to the CIA tossing her to Dr. Bourne without a thought, which lead to her wanting revenge..."
I cut him off, "Alistair is a man, I faced him in that motel basement. He lifted me up like a rag doll, stuck a knife in me deeper than any woman could." I felt Claire pull her hand free from mine, moving to stand up from the chair, I looked at her, continuing on, "His voice, everything about him. There's no way that..."
Davey interrupted me, "I thought that as well, when they presented this to me, but look at the facts, Kit. Hals
ton is a master of disguises. It wouldn't take much for her to imitate a man, a woman, a teenager, etc. She has proven herself to be a ghost hiding in plain sight." He moved to the monitors, "It's the only thing that makes sense in this whole mess, Kit. Halston has motive, she has the drive, the apparent lingering genetic mutations leftover from god knows what Dr. Bourne did to her and the skill to integrate into any environment." Davey looked at Claire who had her head down, arms folded and shrinking down as the weight of the revelations were beginning to bear down.
I felt my own anger beginning to rise, my mind and gut were telling me that the facts all lined up perfectly. Pointing right at Halston being Honey and becoming Alistair Montgomery to exact some strange revenge on Claire. The photographs in the basement of the motel going all the way back to a teenage Claire. The way it seemed Alistair was always one step ahead of us or right next to us. I ran my hands over my hair, staring up at the sound proof ceiling tiles. "Everyone thinks Alistair is a man, it's a perfect ruse. A perfect disguise, no one would dare look at a woman."
Ivan piped in, "It would also explain her use of that kabuki mask, hide the scars on her face to make it harder to identify, let alone the symbolism of the thing." Ivan smiled weakly, turning back to his computer, "Kabuki actors were often played by males and females. Allowing the roles of duality to play out unnoticed."
I moved closer to Claire. She shook her head and took a step away, clear she needed, wanted her space and a moment to wrap her head around this revelation. I sighed, turning back to Davey, "How do we find him, her?"
Davey shrugged, "I have no idea. Benson is being cooperative with the San Diego police and the Secret Service, but he has no idea where Alistair, Halston, is now. Only repeating that she was on her way to Geneva. But we have nothing pinging back in all of the surveillance footage at airports, train stations, car rental places. Even the local police have nothing to go on outside of the normal crime." Davey let his eyes settle on Claire, his own worry at how she was shutting down coming through, "We should probably move you and Claire into the safer recesses of the Centre until we get a lock on what Halston's next move is."
I nodded, opening my mouth to agree, when Claire spoke. "No. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not moving anywhere." She looked at Davey and I with glassy, bleary eyes, "Let her come to me, I'm tired of running. The only way she will stop is if I stop and give her what she wants."
I turned quickly, moving to Claire, "No, I am not letting that happen! We will move to the Centre and stay there until Ivan, Rebecca, Davey or I figure something out. I am not going to let you be the bait for this madwoman."
Claire looked at me hard, "I appreciate your sentiment Kit, but we both know this is what I have to do. It's the only way to stop this madness." She clenched her jaw, "It's my life. My life she has been torturing for the last fifteen years. Which means it’s my decision what we do next." Claire brushed past me, "Davidek, we are not changing anything. The security alert, the watch on the cottage, it all stays the same." Claire yanked the door open, letting a quick burst of light fill the room before the door slammed shut.
I went to chase after her when Davey, grabbed my arm, "Let her go, she can't leave the building without me or Rebecca telling security to unlock the all the exits." He forced me to look at him, "Kit, she needs to walk it off."
I pulled my arm free, "I can't let her be the bait." I clenched my jaw looking down at the floor, "I will put myself in her place if I have to."
Davey blew out a slow breath, "I know, but I can't let that happen. If you get hurt or worse, Claire will lose her mind."
Rebecca suddenly spoke up, "This is my fault." She moved to stand closer to me, "It was my fault this all slipped through the cracks. If I wasn't so adamant on seeking out my own desires to find those responsible and seeking their end, I would have picked up on Alistair sooner." Rebecca smiled tightly, "If anything, I will take the blame and the lead. I will be the bait if I have to, to draw her out."
Davey groaned, "You two need to stop, no one is going to be the bait. Not Claire, not Rebecca and not you Kit. This isn't about making up for mistakes. It's clear we all fumble fucked around too much and let the ghost in the attic free." He motioned to the monitors, "We do carry on as normal. We monitor and stick close to Claire and each other. Halston has been itchy lately, increasing her attacks, her boldness and soon she will slip up. Give us that little crack to break her apart and take her down."
He sighed hard, "There are three of us and a full security team. It will be a little harder for a lone mad woman to get very far. Knowing her ways, she will want to make a show or a declaration right before she pulls the proverbial trigger." He tossed his phone on the desk next to Ivan, "I can have more of my people fly out to help." Davey set his hands on his hips, "Plus we have no definite proof Halston is in Geneva yet."
"Um, Mr. Janes." Ivan's soft voice almost startled me, the air only filled with the strong adamant tones of three very angry protectors of Claire. I glanced at the kid, his face contorted in a way that he hated to interrupt us, but did. "This just came over on the local police scanner. The natural history museum has called for the police. It seems the night shift janitor found a body in the lower storage floors."
Rebecca, Davey and I crowded around the smaller monitor Ivan was using, he scrunched down further into a ball as we hovered, "From what it looks like, the janitor found the body of an older female. Nude with a large laceration to the forehead and upper frontal skull region. They also have found what looks like to be a mask, wig, and a discarded tour guide uniform." Ivan tapped on the keyboard, "They don't have a positive identity yet, but it looks to be one of the museums older employees."
I stumbled back from the others, swallowing down the bile that was rising fast. "Marie." I covered my mouth, flashes of the older woman and her gentle smile as she imparted worldly wisdom on me. I looked up at Davey, "Halston is already here." I swung around, quick stepping to the door, "Claire..."
I wanted to run, run down the halls and scream. Scream out the rage, frustration and fear boiling up inside of me. Instead I walked slowly, my arms wrapped around my chest so tight, I couldn't take a deep breath. I kept my head down, only nodding as the occasional staff member passed by, issuing a polite Hello.
I clenched my jaw to the point it would snap and I would welcome it. Anything to funnel out the throbbing emotions that started in my head, choked my heart and turned my stomach. Fifteen years of hell, chasing, hiding, looking over my shoulder and surviving. All coming to a head in the matter of minutes.
I was a victim of someone's revenge all because they failed to recruit me. Revenge because of the bumbling idiots she hired wanted blood more than they wanted the couple hundreds of dollars she offered to scare me in my own home. Those deaths I carried with me, were proven to no longer be my fault, but still felt like my fault.
If I really thought about it, it was my fault. If I had just gone with the CIA, so many lives would have been spared. Kit would have been spared facing death twice and the handful of victims who suffered at Halston's hand would still be alive.
I turned a corner, looking up to see that I was near the atrium of the second level. A large open space that I had built from the ground floor up to the fifth floor. Allowing all of the staff to have a break from the cold, sterile walls of the Centre. Give them a place to sit, eat and walk around the massive Japanese maples that grew straight up and out to meet a glass ceiling, letting in a tremendous amount of light and fresh air. Creating an escape from the science and medicine under a canopy of bright red and burgundy leaves. I knew Davidek and Rebecca had locked the entire compound down, leaving me trapped in the Centre until they were ready for me to leave with them one either side of me, but I needed air.
I pushed through the large glass door, taking a deep breath of the cool clean air. Pushing my lungs to take in as much as possible even as my arms refused to let go of the hold I had. I was barely holding on the last thread of strength I had, I wanted to fall apart, but c
ouldn't. I saw the fear and guilt in all of my protector’s eyes, specifically Rebecca's. It wasn't her fault that she opted to focus on retribution for my attack instead of the smaller details that would have brought her to Alistair's true identity sooner. I had done have done the same thing.
Leaning on the steel railing, I looked up to the tops of the Japanese maple. Their branches stretching out in curves and angles in a way that made them look like the vascular system of a human. I closed my eyes, my head still up, trying to breathe in and out evenly. I felt like I was trapped in a four side vice, all the sides slowly closing in on me and nowhere to run. That's why I told Kit and the others I was done running, that it was time to let Halston have what she wanted. Me.
I would make it easier for her to get to me, maybe this way I could stop the killing and the unnecessary deaths left in my footsteps. I wasn't offering myself up as the sacrifice, just the bait needed to capture her. I dropped my head down, tears slipping free. I didn't want to die, but if my death meant that stopping this madness, it was something I'd consider. I wiped at the few tears I allowed to roll down my cheek and fall off my chin, shaking my head as I whispered out loud to no one but the trees and leaves, "Don't be martyr for her cause, Claire, you're smarter than this."
"You are smarter than that, Claire." Kit's unyielding tone startled me in the stark silence of the atrium. I didn't turn even as I felt her stop right behind me. "You won't be doing this alone. Taking her on, I won't allow it."
I wanted to smile at Kit's tenacity, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. "I have to. I am the one she wants." I turned my head back to the branches. My eyes latching on a particularly thick one, following its curves and bends. "I can't allow anyone else to die in my place."
Kit moved closer, her body warmth making me shiver as she was merely centimeters away from me. "You might be the one she wants, Claire, but she will be getting me and Davey and Rebecca." I heard her issue a hard exhale, "You are not alone anymore."
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