Change in Plans

by Meagan Fink

  “Go!” she yells at him; she grabs his shirt and pushes him onto his feet, and they run into the woods.

  They stumble over reaching tree roots and get smacked by branches as they run. Tita can hear the sound of pursuit closely behind them. They need to hide, there’s no way they could outrun them.

  “Tita w-what do we do?” asks Dyton, breathing hard.

  She wishes she had a better answer to give him.

  “Just keep running,” she says, and they do. And then the shooting starts again. The shots hit the trees around them, missing only by inches; a bullet strikes a tree two inches to the left from Tita’s head. They couldn’t keep doing this, eventually they would either tire out or one of the shots would hit home. Something had to change.

  Then Dyton falls. He hits the ground hard, his foot entangled in the plants that grew on the forest floor. Tita stops and then comes running back, regretting her choice of leaving the gun back at the house. She drops to a knee and tries to undo the leaves and vines. The pounding of feet seems to be right on top of them. Tita glances at their surroundings, worried they were already trapped; but, they’re not, at least not yet.

  “Tita, just g-go; go, I’ll c-catch up,” he says, frantically tearing at the roots.

  “No way am I leaving you here,” she says, and then she sees the first man. He weaves through the trees, no longer firing at them; no need to waste ammo on a target that was just sitting there.

  She pushes Dyton down onto the ground telling him to stay quiet and play dead; she then moves behind a tree waiting for the man to come. His footsteps grow ever louder and she judges the distance between them, just a few more seconds. She counts to three and then steps out in front of the man. She runs into him and they both fall to the ground. The man gets onto his hands and knees, and then makes eye contact with her.

  She sucks in a deep breath, he was one of the men at the warehouse. He grins and then looks to the left. She follows his gaze and her eyes land on the gun, he must have dropped it when they collided.

  She pushes herself up and lunges for the gun, desperately trying to grab it but he shoves her away. He then dives and smoothly grabs it and rolls onto his feet pointing the gun at her.

  “Nice try,” he says panting. Not done yet, she thinks and jumps for the gun. He moves his finger onto the trigger; she grabs onto the barrel of the gun and aims it at the sky a second before he squeezes the trigger, the shot scaring some birds. She balls her hand into a fist and swings it at his face, but instead of a direct hit she only grazes the side of his head. He quickly shakes it off and then jerks the gun out of her grip. He aims it once again at her; but she tackles him to the ground, the shot hitting the ground. They struggle and the man then grabs the gun and hits her on the back of the head with the butt. Her vision goes dark as the pain seems to spread throughout her entire body.

  She wakes up with her face to the ground; the side of her face was wet and sticky, and she realizes that she had lost consciousness. She turns her head to see the man just now getting up, she must have only blacked out for a second. The man stands above her raising his gun and aiming it at her; she tries to stand up, but a wave of dizziness washes over her.

  “Just give it up kid and accept your fate,” he says and moves his finger over the trigger. She closes her eyes as the sound of a gunshot rings through the forest.

  23

  Tita had always wondered what it would be like to die. Would her life flash before her eyes, would she see her mom and dad, or would she simply stop thinking?

  She opens her eyes, wondering why she was still breathing and looks at the man still above her; he falls to his knees and then to his face.

  She looks beyond him and out into the forest. Luca stands about two hundred yards away lowering the assault rifle clutched in his hands. He nods at her and starts to walk over but movement behind him catches her eyes. Isaac stands about twenty yards behind him holding a pistol. She pushes herself up onto her hands and knees and manages a soft, “Behind you.” He probably wouldn’t have heard her so she lifts an arm and points. She thinks she sees him give a slight nod, and he then ducks behind a tree.

  Her attention on Luca and Isaac shifts when she hears a moan to her right. She looks over to see Dyton on his back, a red splotch in the center of his shirt.

  She freezes.

  He gives a wet cough and blood sprinkles his lips.

  “Dyton,” she says, and tries to stand up but her balance fails. The harder she tries to get to him the clumsier her movements become. She then gives up walking and crawls over to him on hands and knees trying to remain conscious. This had to be a dream; she was still unconscious, that was why she was seeing this. Dyton wasn’t really hurt.

  What had happened? When did he get shot?

  The bullet she had deflected. She had thought it had hit the ground but it had hit Dyton instead. She crawls over to him, her vision blurry.

  “Dyton,” she says again. She reaches him and grabs his head and pulls him onto her lap. She covers the bullet wound in his chest with her hand keeping pressure on it. Her other hand is wrapped around his shoulders clinging to him.

  “Tita,” he moans and coughs again.

  “It’s me Dyton, its OK everything’s going to be OK,” she says.

  He looks up at her with fear-filled eyes. “He shot me,” he says.

  She nods and she holds on to him tighter. He was going to be OK, he had to be. “I know but we’re going to get you to a doctor, you’re going to be OK, Dyton,” she says. A single tear manages to escape and then she can’t keep them back.

  “Help! Someone help!” she screams. She knows she’s more likely to attract an enemy than someone that would help them.

  “You’ll be OK, you’re going to be OK,” she whispers, more to herself than to Dyton. She looks around the forest looking for anyone coming their way.

  “Tita, I want to go home,” Dyton says.

  She nods as the tears stream down her face. “Me too,” she says and holds him in her arms. She rocks back and forth trying to remain strong for Dyton. He had to be scared, so she had to be brave for him.

  Dyton grabs her hand shakily and looks her in the eyes. “You’ll still go to D.C., right?” he asks.

  She laughs, that was what he wanted to know?

  “Yeah, we will, you and me Dyton, we’ll go. We’ll go and we’ll start fresh, forget about the Morans and everything they did,” she says. She grips his bloody hand, holding on for dear life. She couldn’t lose him. He was only 11; he had his whole life ahead of him, he couldn’t lose all of that.

  “It’s gonna be okay, Tita, right?” he whispers. There’s a line of blood now at the edges of his mouth and he’s getting pale. His eyes peer into hers looking for some sign of hope.

  “Of course, yeah, we just need to wait for Luca, he’ll help us,” she says, even though she doesn’t believe it. Luca could be dead for all she knew. Who else was there to help? Her grandfather was too much of a coward to risk being exposed by helping them.

  “Brave for a few seconds,” he mutters. His eyes slowly drifting away from hers and focuses on nothing.

  “A few moments of fear and then it’s over,” she barely even whispers it.

  His grip on her hand starts to loosen and his eyes start to flutter shut.

  “No you don’t Dyton, don’t you dare!” She grips him tighter and pulls him higher up onto her lap, his head now resting on her chest. He opens his eyes again, but he looks exhausted.

  “Come on! We just need to wait for Luca. He’ll know what to do,” she says, as she looks in the direction she had last seen Luca, but he wasn’t there. Where is he?

  She looks back down at Dyton, it seems like only yesterday when he had been clutching onto her because of a bad dream. He had gone to her for help, for support, and now she was holding onto him. The nightmare had become their lives.
r />   “We’ll make it through this, Dyton,” she whispers in his ear.

  She looks him in the eyes as he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. His hand goes slack and his head lolls to the side.

  “Dyton?” she asks. She shakes him, “Dyton?” she says more forcefully. She leans her head down to his chest and listens to the silence.

  “No,” she says and shakes her head. “No!!!” Her resolve breaks and the tears come as a torrent, her body shakes as she clutches him to her. The sound of gunshots ring through the forest, the sound echoing off of the pine trees so that she can’t tell if they are coming from a mile away or right next to her. She cowers over Dyton covering his body with hers. There’s a scream and the shots stop. She glances up anxiously, was it Luca? Did Isaac kill him? She ignores what is going on around her and focuses only on Dyton’s face.

  He couldn’t be gone. She would never hear that laugh, the stutter that would come up when he was frustrated, or the stupid stories that he would tell over and over again.

  The shooting starts up again, and she can’t handle it.

  “Stop it! Stop it, you stupid apes!” she yells, thinking of the worst insult she could manage.

  Footsteps come running toward her but she doesn’t bother to look up, so what if they’ve come to kill me, it would be the most gracious thing they’ve done yet.

  The footsteps stop in front of her and she waits for the shot to end her misery.

  “Do it! Just end it!” she sobs, when nothing happens. She glances up. Luca looks down at her and Dyton, a look of shock and terror on his face. He doesn’t say anything but just stands there. A cut on his head causes blood to cover his left eyebrow and there’s a gunshot wound in his right bicep. Shots continue to ring out but nowhere near them.

  She looks back down at Dyton and shakes her head.

  “He’s gone,” she says, her voice breaking. Luca kneels down next to her and rests a hand on her shoulder, staying silent, letting her cry. The sound of yelling echoes through the forest. The noise fills her with a fury she had never thought a human being could feel, but it filled every part of her. Those people killed her brother; they had killed her entire family.

  Blackheart had killed them.

  “Tita, I’m sorry but we need to go,” says Luca gently. She looks away from the body of her brother and into the woods.

  They killed Dyton. But it wasn’t just those men, it was the whole organization. Luca helps her stand, and she leans heavily on him as another wave of dizziness comes but it doesn’t diminish her anger. Blackheart had killed too many people to stay unharmed, and ruined too many lives and families to get away with it.

  “They did this. They did this to me, to all of us,” she mutters with a deep loathing.

  She was going to make sure they didn’t hurt any more people. That was what Blackheart was all about originally, their goal was to protect people. That was what her family had believed in. That was what she believed in.

  As she looks out at the woods noting the movement of the people who wanted to kill them, she made her decision of what she was going to do; and, if Luca was willing, she could use his help. She was going to destroy Blackheart, once and for all.

  Epilogue

  Isaac slams the doors open to the entrance of Blackheart and walks through the hallway toward his office. People look up from their work and quickly glance away when he makes eye contact. There was a tension in the air that he didn’t understand. People were more on edge than usual.

  Aidan rounds a corner and when he sees Isaac he stops in his tracks. His face pales and he’s visibly starts shaking. He struggles to walk forward as if something were restraining him. Aidan stops in front of Isaac and keeps his eyes to the ground.

  “What is it?” Isaac growls.

  “The news about the mission reached Germany,” Aidan mutters.

  Isaac’s next words get caught in his throat. How had it spread so quickly?

  “And what exactly was said?”

  “Well, just that the mission failed. And that the Laskos have escaped, along with Luca; but I’m sure the blame was on the men, not on you, sir,” says Aidan, he becomes tense waiting for Isaac’s reaction.

  He knew that Isaac was concerned with how Jason would react. No one could know that he was concerned about what someone else thought, it just couldn’t stand.

  Isaac straightens and raises his chin, “And we will find them again, and when we do I will not waste any time with them. The people under my command will just need to accept that, whether they are located here, or in Germany.” Isaac brushes past him and continues on toward his office, the sound of Aidan’s shoes indicating that he was following.

  “Sir, there is something that you should know---”

  “Not now!” says Isaac, as he reaches his office and opens the door.

  “But sir, he’s---” says Aidan, as Isaac swings the door open and walks inside.

  “Hello, Isaac.” Isaac stops in mid-gait and almost trips. He glances in the direction of the voice and a shiver runs down his spine. “Jason?” says Isaac.

  Jason smiles coldly as he sees Isaac’s discomfort. He’s sitting in Isaac’s chair with his feet up on the desk with a book opened in his hands that he flips through idly.

  “Please, have a seat,” he says, and he gestures to one of the sofas in the middle of the room.

  Isaac glances back at Aidan and puts a hand on his shoulder and walks him back toward the door. He pushes him through the doorway and whispers. “Thank you for the warning, you fool,” and closes the door.

  He walks back and stands in front of the desk, “Why are you here, Jason?”

  He looks from Isaac to the sofa and then back again, “I said to have a seat, Isaac.”

  “You’re in my seat.” Isaac grinds his teeth together in fury.

  Jason gives a light laugh, “Oh no, you see this seat is for the Ace of Blackheart.”

  “I am the Ace,” Isaac spits.

  “No,” says Jason and sets the book down on the desk and stands up, all traces of a smile gone. “The Ace is the leader, and you and I both know that the leader is the one who gives the orders, and that is me.”

  Isaac’s ears were ringing. All intimidation of Jason was gone, now he was mad. Isaac walks over to the book cabinet and leans against it and sighs.

  “I shouldn’t have left any witnesses that night,” he mutters, shaking his head.

  “No, you shouldn’t have that was bad planning on your part. The same bad planning that botched this mission. You put yourself in this position Isaac, you practically handed to me the leadership of this entire organization on a silver platter.”

  Isaac shakes his head, “And you need to learn when to stop talking.” He reaches around one of the books and grabs a pistol attached to the shelf. He whirls around and aims it at Jason.

  “No Jason, I am the one giving orders,” and he chambers a round.

  Jason looks at the gun in Isaac’s hand and then meets his gaze. He comes around from the desk so there is nothing between them. Isaac backs up a few steps while keeping the gun pointed at Jason’s chest.

  “Go ahead,” says Jason, and steps closer to the gun. “However, I might want to forewarn you.”

  Isaac falters, “Warn me about what?”

  “You didn’t expect me not to prepare for something like this to happen, did you?” he laughs. “No, Isaac, I plan for everything. I see everything, I know everything. And, because I knew that it would come down to this, I took some precautions. I know that we had agreed to keep your actions a secret; however, in my defense, I never have been good at keeping things from my organization.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Isaac says without conviction. “You would reveal yourself as well; you were a witness to a murder and yet you didn’t speak up.”

  “Oh yes, but that was only because you were threa
tening me Isaac. I was scared for my safety; but, for the sake of Blackheart, I finally confessed and the people pitied me for what you had put me through. Never underestimate what I will do for Blackheart, Isaac.”

  Isaac’s chest heaves with every breath. He takes a step closer to Jason and presses the barrel of the gun into Jason’s chest. Isaac’s arms were trembling and his left hand was curled into a fist. “Traitor,” he accuses, and he pulls the trigger.

  There’s a click. Isaac frowns and pulls the trigger again, another click.

  “I’m the traitor?” Jason asks, frowning. Jason reaches behind him and pulls out a small pin from his pocket.

  “You wouldn’t notice the difference in weight,” he says, as he bounces it lightly in his hand. “There’s only one option for you, Isaac,” says Jason.

  Isaac slowly lowers the gun until his hand is down to his side. “And what would that be?” says Isaac, as Jason walks up to him and holds out his hand. Isaac puts his hand out, and Jason drops the firing pin into his palm; Isaac closes his fingers around it and swallows.

  “You can’t go back out there now that they know what you did. Blackheart needs a real leader and that’s not you. I am sorry Isaac, but doesn’t it seem fitting for you to meet the same end as your father?”

  Jason walks to the door and grabs his jacket hanging from a hook and slips it on.

  “But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to finish what you started. Soon Luca and the Laskos will be joining you. Oh, and that nasty little rebellion you let slip away too.” He finishes buttoning his jacket and gives a finishing tug to each sleeve.

  Isaac looks down at the firing pin and gun in his hands. He turns around and meets Jason’s eyes, “Well played, Jason.”

  Jason gives a curt nod and opens the door, “Make it quick, it’s best not to draw it out.”

  Jason walks out and closes the door. Aidan is waiting outside and looks up when he walks out. His eyebrows draw together in confusion. Jason smiles at him and grabs his hat from a coat tree.