Chapter 1
She looked at the computer in front of her and recognised the familiar heading 'Remember Me'. She always got an email with that heading on the 1st of February and it always contained the same thing- a photo of her.
She was happy in all of the 7 pictures and again smiling in this one. She was stood on the lawn with a rake in her hands and surrounded by neat piles of mown grass. She had long wavy black hair like her mothers and a well tanned, tall slim body. She wore black jeans, a strapless blue top, black fingerless gloves and sun glasses that always covered her eyes. She had a necklace on, the same in every picture, a small amethyst surrounded by a dozen diamonds on a gold chain.
Why was she taken? Why only days after Tali's death? Where was she now? Why hadn't anyone found her-she was still alive? Why did her kidnapper send pictures of her on her birthday every year about the same time? Was it to torment her?
I looked at Nicholas as he took the picture, he always did on my birthday and he would send it to my mother. Why I don't know, she tried to kill me so nick took me in as his daughter so I wouldn't become a kid in care.
He was a good guy, he already had a son and an adopted daughter who's my best friend. We all live together in a huge mansion with 25 bedrooms in, I own 3 on my own and so do Michael and Talia and we have a massive stable block round back where the 12 horse are kept. I own 1, Michael owns 6, Talia owns 2 and nick owns 4 as race horses so he never side them.
"Alex get over here so we can start you cake and you open our pressies" Talia called from the garden table where my birthday lunch was laid out. I walked over leaving the rake to drop to the floor behind me.
BANG
seconds later I was lying on the floor with a wailing sound filling my ears and blinded by a sincerely bright light. Stun grenades.
I felt something trickle down the side of my face before tasting a salty copper liquid in my mouth. Blood. I looked around me blinking as my sight came back to see Nicholas, Michael and Talia lying on the floor covered in blood. I gasped, they weren't breathing.
A wailing siren sound came from behind me where people stood, some screaming, some crying others on the phone or running over the vast lawn to help.
I crawled over to Talia and pulled her onto my lap, she was dead. I cradled her in my arms and let the hot tears run down my face. Who did this? Why attack us? We had no importance to the criminal world or politics. Why was my caring family torn away from my in such a horrid way? What would happen to me now?
Paramedics arrived in minutes and led me to sit on some steps a few meters away while other looked at the rubble which had once been my house and made a call to what sounded like naval investigators.
Why would they call the navy? Nicholas had a few navy friends but they wouldn't have done this. Then I remembered, Joseph had been invited over to the party and he was navy. He was sat next to nick when the bomb went off.
The paramedics put a plaster like thing over the cut in my forehead and told me to stay there until I had my statement taken.
I couldn't be bothered to wait so I went over to where Talia's limp dead body lay. I sat next to her and cried.
When I looked up there were 4 men and 1 woman walking over, straight under the tape. I couldn't help but think that I had seen her before somewhere. I stood up and started for the gait way when I realised who she was.
She was ima, my ima, and she had tried to kill me when I was 6. Before Nick had saved my life and he had cared for me ever since. I ran, if she tried once there was no way to tell if she would try again.
Two of the navy investigators started after me. They chased me out of the garden, into the street and up the thin pathway to the cliffs. They were continuously calling me, telling me they meant no harm, and wanting me to stop so we could talk properly. I ignored them and continued to the top where I stood facing them waiting for the to catch up, they were slow but then again they must have been in late twenties or early thirties.
They caught up and stopped when they realized that I would step off the cliffs edge and allow myself to fall to what they thought would be my death.
"Please come away from the edge, you could get hurt, my am special agent Anthony DiNozzo and this is special agent Timothy McGee" the cute one said stepping forwards as if to take my hand.
"Goodbye" I said softly, lifting my hand to wave.
I looked at them and took a half-step back before turning and throwing myself off the cliffs edge to plunge down into the dark depths of the sea.