Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 clues, nor do I own the verse "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah my foes and oh my friends — It gives a lovely light." by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
A\N: I wanted to post this before the release of DOD, but that apparently didn't work out, so here it is: a story about Sinead that has nothing to do with DOD. This is my first single-chap, so please R&R!
Two-time Betrayer
"My candle burns at both ends…"
The dark, magnificent mansion stood silently by the highway. It was two hours past midnight and yet quite a few windows let out bright and warm lights.
Sinead Starling, now also Vesper Three, crouched behind a tall tree next to the iron gates.
After a quick glance at her surroundings, she nimbly climbed up the tree and with a powerful leap, she landed soundlessly on the wide fence next to the gates. She knew that there were at least three security cameras directed at the area around the fence, but who would bother to watch now?
Still, there was the risk of being caught, and Sinead didn't really feel like meeting some outraged Cahills this night.
Carefully she got down from the top of the fence and sprinted to another tree that was right under a third floor window.
After another glance around she grabbed hold of a sturdy branch and pulled herself up. The window next to the tree led to the comm. center.
And from that window everyone in the comm. center would be within shooting range.
Sinead touched the gun hanging from her belt, and then fingered the smooth leather handle of the dagger next to it.
Very soon one of the two weapons would be a tool of murder. Again.
Ever since Vesper One decided to reveal Sinead's identity as the Vesper mole in order to hurt Amy Cahill emotionally, he'd given her twelve "tasks" to do.
Seven times her dagger was tainted by blood, and the other five times she'd pressed the trigger of her gun.
Now V-1 had given her the thirteenth task:
V-3: Kill V-2's son when he is in the CCC. ―V-1
V-2 was Isabel Kabra, and her son, of course, was Ian Kabra.
She'd received the message just minutes after finishing her twelfth task.
That was just a few hours ago, and after another minutes or so, Ian Kabra would be dead.
It would have been much more easier if she'd murdered Ian when he was in his room, but V-1 had been very specific about where this would happen. And Sinead knew that at least one Vesper was watching her at all times, waiting for her to make a wrong move.
She steadied herself on a branch and looked through the window. Just as she'd expected, Ian was alone in the room. The door was closed, probably because Ian wanted to prevent Saladin from going in and attacking him.
Ian was sitting before one of the computers, and Sinead could see his profile clearly. It would be an easy shot to send the bullet straight into his heart.
Everything was perfect enough.
Sinead reached for her gun, and then hesitated.
She remembered how she'd used him as the blame-taker. She'd told Amy that Ian was the Vesper mole.
She smiled to herself grimly, but then the smile immediately turned into a grimace as she was reminded of her task. She was supposed to murder him.
Shaking her head slightly she aimed the gun at Ian, and directed the muzzle until it was pointing directly at the center of his heart.
She then reached into her shirt pocket and produced a Swiss Army Knife. Or rather, it was a Vesper Knife, designed and fitted with much more tools than a Swiss Arm Knife. Including a glass-cutter.
She slid open the knife and picked out the glass-cutter. Fitting the blade expertly under the mark she'd made with a marker showing where the bullet would go through she cut a round hole into the glass of the bullet-proof window. With a practiced flick, she caught the small round piece of cut-out glass with the flat side of the blade and flipped it out before it could fall inside the room and give her away. The glass piece fell down like a crystal and disappeared into the bushes below.
Now for the final step…
She took out her gun again and aimed it carefully through the hole.
Almost unconsciously her gaze drifted to Ian's face. It was just a fraction of a second, but it caught Sinead's attention.
Ian's face seemed even more gaunt and hollow than before. Now at least he was free of any accusations of being the Vesper mole.
Sinead stared at him for a few long eerie seconds, completely mesmerized.
Could she actually kill him?
Just press the trigger! The other part of herself screamed inside her head. You have to! You have to do this for your brothers!
Her hand shook slightly as she got ready to fire.
Ian looked troubled, worried, and tired. He was probably worrying about his sister.
Sinead took a deep breath. She had to do this.
But…
This week she'd murdered Cahills of all five branches, and even non-Cahills.
Killing Ian couldn't be hard.
So why did she feel like she couldn't do it?
She'd failed when doing it with Amy, so was that why Vesper One wanted her to do this? To prove herself worthy of being able to murder somebody she knew well? Or maybe just to make her fail…
This wouldn't even be so hard.
She laughed silently. What had she been thinking about?
She aimed the gun again.
But somehow, her gaze rested on Ian's face again.
Some cat scratches were still there behind his ear and on his cheek, making his face look so….imposing, and yet so amusing at the same time.
"Ow!"
"Hold still," she ordered. "And don't be such a baby." She dabbed at the angry red mark behind Ian's ear. "Cat scratches are prone to infection, you know."
"And that's my fault?" Ian raged. "Why don't you lock that animal in the ―"
Just press the trigger, she told herself.
She did just that, but just a second before doing so, she lowered the muzzle so that the bullet would still hit Ian, but not in a fatal way.
She was halfway down the tree when she heard the bloodcurdling scream.
Quickly she climbed down the tree. Her legs felt weak when her feet touched the ground. She felt the warm barrel of her gun and stared absentmindedly at the ground.
Had she lowered it down enough? Did anybody see her?
The sound of voices yelling and a door being slammed jolted Sinead out of her thoughts. She sprinted across the lawn, avoiding the searching lights that had already been turned on.
With one leap she jumped onto the top of the fence and climbed halfway down the tree. She watched the lights and listened to the frantic yelling and shouting for a few seconds before going the rest of the way down.
Her shoes touched the solid ground again, and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, nice job," it was a male voice.
Sinead spun around, one hand holding her gun, finger on the trigger. The other hand was balled tight into a fist, ready to deliver a painful blow if needed. But just as she was ready to attack, the figure stepped out of the shadows.
It was no other then Casper Wyoming.
The two were silent for a long moment, studying each other.
Casper Wyoming grinned slyly at Sinead. "Nice job. V-2 sent me to watch to make sure you did it."
Sinead looked at him incredulously for a second, completely revolted.
She'd guessed that V-2 knew that Ian would die, but Isabel had wanted to make sure?
Somehow, the thought of a mother wanting to make sure that her son was truly killed sickened her.
She forced a smile. "So you're going to report to her that..?"
Casper winked. "I don't really admire your style ― not letting your victim know who his or her murderer is, but I'll tell V-2 that you did your job perfectly. You should get outta here. They'll start searching."
Casper turned and disappeared into the trees. Sinead watched him go, then again let out a sigh of relief. She'd been oh so afraid that Casper had seen what she'd done… Or had she actually killed…?
The shouts and yells were getting louder, and almost every room in the mansion was awake with activity.
Sinead backed into a darker area behind the fence. Now it was the time for her to decide: stay with the Vespers and keep on killing people, or march into the mansion and declare that she'd shot Ian.
But they already knew now.
Security cameras.
And what else would happen if she chose the latter?
Amy Cahill would lock her up somewhere and torture her for information, that's what. The bruise from their last encounter was beginning to fade, but it still hurt when applied pressure on.
And Ted was still in the Vespers' hands. He'd refused to listen to Sinead's explanations and pleas, and the Vespers were only letting him stay alive out of Sinead's requests to give him some more time. If she left him…
"We're triplets," she'd said to Amy back at Yale. "and you can't possibly imagine what that means. Whatever you feel for Dan, it's nothing, not a rat's ass compared to ―"
Not a rat's ass compared to what I feel for my brothers.
She'd joined the Vespers mainly because doing so would hold a big chance of helping her brothers. And now that hope had been destroyed…
Sinead shook her head slightly. There was only one alternative left that would save both of her brothers. At least, the way held the biggest chance.
She turned, facing the highway. Lights flashed behind her, and she ran down the sidewalk, and didn't stop until the mansion was far, far away.
She slowed down, and kept walking as she waited for V-1's next message.
Everything was so clear, so obvious; she knew what she had to do.
Before she'd been the Vesper mole, but now she would also be the Cahill mole. But it would be different. She would be, and was already, Sinead Starling, the two time betrayer.
\
"…it will not last the night."
Vesper One came closer, a murderous and outraged look on his face. Sinead backed away and pressed her back against the brick wall behind her, but she knew that it was no use. She was cornered.
She knew she was in no shape to fight or defend herself. The deep cut on her left thigh throbbed painfully, and the cloth near the wound was soaked with crimson blood.
"So… All this time you were actually working for the Cahills?" Vesper One asked. "And let's see… What did they promise you for doing so?"
Sinead lifted her chin and met V-1's cold and steely gaze. She wanted to say that she'd been with the Cahills all along, but she knew that she would be dead in minutes. And she wanted her last words to be the truth.
"No, I decided to do this when you sent me to kill Ian Kabra. And ―" She gasped as her legs threatened to buckle because of the pain and loss of blood. "They don't know that I'm helping them, but they'll keep my brothers safe."
She smiled slightly as she was reminded of the only comfort she had now: Both of her brothers were safe.
V-1 sneered. "How helpful of you."
Sinead smirked back. "You never realized it, did you?"
"You ruined everything," Vesper One growled. "And now you're going to pay with your life. All those Cahills will be gloating about how they managed to defeat the Vespers by themselves. Too bad…"
He produced an injection needle out of his pocket. "Goodbye, Sinead Starling."
Sinead screamed as he kicked out and struck her injured leg. In slow motion she fell down and hit the ground hard. Vesper One knelt down beside her and grabbed her shirt collar with one hand. Using his other hand he buried the tip of the needle into her neck.
Sinead smiled again. Her brothers were safe, and the Vespers had been defeated with her help.
That was all she needed to know as she sank peacefully into the blessed oblivion.
\
"But ah my foes and oh my friends…"
Amy Cahill surveyed the wreckage. The building had collapsed just a few days ago. She knew that she ought to be celebrating, but there was much work to do.
Before the ruins had been a Vesper safe house, but that was only part of the reason why Amy was here.
Sinead Starling had been seen here, or at least someone had reported that she'd been spotted around this area.
Amy was still furious at Sinead. She'd treated Sinead's brothers kindly, but Sinead was a different case.
She wanted….revenge.
She didn't know why Sinead had shot Ian in the thigh. Had that just been a warning that many people would get hurt or die, or was it something else?
"Want to take a closer look?" Dan asked her. "Maybe we'll find something."
Amy shrugged and walked towards the ruins. The first floor's roof was gone, but most of the walls were intact.
Amy and Dan picked their way through the debris. They found nothing but money machines and plenty of money.
After a while, they came to a room that had an absolutely clean floor. Amy's heartbeat quickened when she saw a figure lying on the floor, motionless.
She and Dan rushed over, and found Sinead Starling's lifeless body lying next to the wall. There was a deep gash on her left thigh that Amy couldn't look at straight.
Dab pointed at a smashed glass syringe on the floor next to Sinead. It was almost identical to the one V-1 had used to murder the trapeze artist.
"Vesper One killed her," he told Amy. "But why?"
Amy didn't answer. Instead, she glanced at Sinead's face again. If V-1 had killed her…
Sinead looked so…peaceful now, like she was perfectly content with everything. But could that mean suicide?
Amy was then reminded of the anonymous person who'd provided the Cahills with information on the Vespers during the week when they'd begun to stop the Vespers from completing the doomsday device. Could Sinead actually be that person?
Could her former friend actually do all that? And was that why Sinead hadn't killed Ian that time?
Amy shook her head. Things were getting too complicated now. She wanted to believe that Sinead was not all that bad, for she was still aching from that horrible betrayal.
"We'd better call the others," she murmured. "Maybe they'll figure all this out."
Everything seemed to fit together almost perfectly, but Amy Cahill felt that she could trust nothing now.
\
Ned Starling stared down at the lines, dots, and circles that formed the code on that sheet of paper. From his sister.
He knew what the code was. It was the code the triplets had invented when they were twp years old, and they'd used it to write messages to each other.
Ned could've solved it all out in less then ten seconds, but he hadn't done it yet even thought it was already days since they'd found Sinead's body. He kept telling himself that he couldn't concentrate because of his constant headaches, but the true reason why he hadn't solved it out yet was because it was simply too painful.
Sinead' funeral had been held yesterday. Both he and Ted had attended. It was over so quickly that they didn't even feel the whole weight of the grief yet. Just plain numbness, disbelief, and shock.
It had been a warm and sunny day, so unfitting. And only a handful of people attended the funeral. Amy had probably come out of a feeling of obligation, and Dan had actually worn traditional mourning clothes to the occasion, not the ninja costume Ned had thought he'd wear.
Why did you think of that? He scolded himself. You're supposed to be mourning, sad…
"Have you interpreted it yet?" Ted asked from behind him. "I know it's hard, but it might contain something that'll be able to convince everybody that Sinead…" His voice trailed off.
Ned understood exactly what Ted meant. He'd been stunned when being informed that his sister was the Vesper mole, and Ted…
Ned hated to think about what his brother had been through, so instead he started to decode the message. By what Ted and Amy had said, Sinead had really tried to help him and Ted while being with the Vespers.
At least I might be able to prove Sinead innocent…
Ned rearranged the dots, lines, and circles in a special pattern and went through some math equations in his head. Quickly he turned all the symbols into letters, but he felt a sickening sense of dismay as he saw the random letters that formed unrecognizable words on the paper.
MYRAEOSR, EAOL, VSLREI…
He glanced carefully at Ted, who was waiting patiently for his reply.
The words weren't of any language that Ned knew of. Then suddenly a thought struck him.
Right after that came a case of that painful headache. Ned gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate.
After a while the pain subsided, and Ned's mind focused again on the words formed by the seemingly random letters.
MYRAEOSR…
Ned frowned slightly, and concentrated harder on those letters. The gears in his head were turning faster and faster…
Scramble…
Rosemary.
Ned quickly unscrambled the other ones.
Aloe. Silver. Mercury. Salt.
Those words were strangely familiar.
Then the next word confirmed Ned's suspicions.
CINZ.
Zinc.
That was the clue they'd stolen from Bae Oh.
"Ted…" Ned started to say, but his voice came out as a barely audible whisper. And he guessed that Ted hadn't heard.
In absolute silence he unscrambled the rest of the message.
Eleven clues in all:
Rosemary,
Aloe,
Silver,
Mercury,
Salt,
Zinc,
Copper,
Lily,
Amber,
Mint,
Gold.
"…it gives a lovely light."