CHAPTER 2
"Cara," Maryann breathed, taking in how radiant her daughter looked both from maturity and the glow her pregnancy bestowed on her. "Please, come in."
Cara swallowed hard as she stepped in, avoiding physical contact with Maryann. Her heart stopped as she examined her mother's body. "You're not doing chemo," Cara said softly, taking note of her mother's hair still intact and the relative color to her face.
"No," Maryann replied gently, locking the door behind her. "There's not much point with stage four cancer."
"So you're just giving up, then?"
"Cara, you make it sound as though there's a victory to be had."
"Well, what if there was, Mom?" Cara asked, her tone sharp. "Would you even care to win, or would you rather have the attention that a slow, imminent death brings?" She hadn't meant her words to be so cruel, but the unresolved conflict of their relationship pushed through, rearing its ugly head before she could decapitate it with wise maturity.
"Cara," Maryann said, sighing, "I … I was hoping we could just talk." The fights they had for what seemed like forever exhausted both of them. They never gained any solid ground from the verbal battles that ensued, and at this point in her life, Maryann wanted peace.
"So talk," Cara said, realizing a moment later how she had demanded the same thing of her father shortly before his tragic end.
"How are you?" Maryann asked hesitantly.
"Fine."
"You look wonderful. Motherhood suits you."
There were plenty of negative retorts available in the selection of her mind, but Cara bit her tongue. "Thank you."
"Do you know the genders?"
"No."
"You're waiting to be surprised?"
Cara couldn't find more than one-word answers at the moment. "Yes."
"Oh. I admire that. I … well, I wanted to know straight away."
"Why?" Cara asked, genuinely curious.
"Because I was excited to know who you were," Maryann whispered.
"Could've fooled me."
"Cara-"
"Why am I here, Mom?" Cara asked, feeling the surge of emotions flow through her. "What do you want from me?"
"Cara … I wanted to talk to you." Maryann was careful, knowing her daughter was a ticking time bomb that could explode fully at any second. "So much has happened for you and-"
"Where were you, Mom?" Her voice was strained and she hated herself for it.
Maryann cleared her throat. "When I saw … what was on the news and couldn't get ahold of you … I … I thought William was … I thought William had taken you, like your father always feared they would." She eyed her daughter. "I didn't know what to do, Cara. So I went to the police. They were overruled by the FBI, and after I told them, the FBI never gave me any information on you." She paused, seeing her daughter was still listening. "I was terrified for you, Cara. I knew what your father had done to protect you, and I never forgave him for it."
"You told them Will kidnapped me?" Cara asked softly in disbelief.
"I didn't know better, Cara!" Maryann argued. "How could I?"
"He was my best friend and partner for seven years!" Cara yelled. "And you just decided he wasn't to be trusted?!"
"You're my daughter, Cara! What did you want me to think? I barely knew him!"
"Will has never, and would never hurt me, Mom," Cara growled. "I can't believe it was you who fed into the lie!"
"Cara-"
"He's the only thing I have in this world and you … you tried to convict him?"
"See it from my perspective, Caraline!" Maryann snapped. "My only child disappears, last seen with a man who nearly killed her. Do you think I honestly could have rationalized that William was innocent at that point?"
"You could've asked me!" Cara snapped back.
"I … I know," Maryann whispered. She was surprised Cara didn't immediately lash out again. "Cara, I know I wasn't a very good mother to you. I know … I know I made so many mistakes. It killed me what your father did to you. I couldn't stand the sight of him. I couldn't be there with him in that house."
"What was done to me wasn't my fault, Mom," Cara said, her tone dark.
"I know, sweetheart. I made … a terrible mistake." Maryann sniffed, wiping the escaping tears from her eyes. "I never wanted to lose you, Cara. I distanced myself from you because I knew you would leave. I knew what your father made you remember would drive you far away. I just couldn't bear the pain of it all. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, Cara." Maryann stroked more tears from her cheeks. "I am so sorry."
Cara wanted to continue down the darkened road she had chosen, devouring her mother in the years of anger and hatred she had lived in over her absence. She wanted to raise her voice, to scream her utter rage that boiled in her heart. It was the sound of one of her children speaking to her that made her stop and reconsider. She's going to die. Isn't that enough?
The embrace she initiated with her mother was the first time she had touched her in now five years, only having felt her physical contact when she last visited her at Christmas in 2007. After, though they lived in the same city, she made it a point to keep her distance. She felt her mother's tears under her, as she was slightly taller than her, and Cara knew she stiffened when Maryann's arms around around her back. The intimacy of the moment scared Cara - it made her tense and rigid inside, her heart racing in fear as she allowed her mother to sink into her.
A few moments later, her mother pulled away from her, her cheeks red from the sadness she expressed. She scanned her daughter's eyes, seeing Timothy's so clearly as she examined them. "I'm so proud of you," Maryann said softly, stroking Cara's cheek. "Please know I am."
That was all it took. Cara unraveled at the seams, her sobs releasing from her with force as she found herself the one being embraced, her head stroked lovingly by her mother as her tears dampened her mother's shoulder. "Shh," Maryann whispered, clutching onto her, stroking her back. Cara couldn't close the floodgates once they opened - she clung onto her mother's shirt, letting the last decade seep from her, flowing through her like a raging current. For the first time in ages, she felt vulnerable and weak - she was the frightened girl with a wad of cash in her pocket, no place to call home. She was the girl who was bullied at school for having a slut for a mother and a psycho for a father. She was the girl who clawed her way to the top of the academy, bearing such a tough exterior so she wouldn't be hurt, all while hanging on to the mental image of a stranger in a park. She was the girl who so desperately sought the unexplainable because fantasy was far easier to embrace than her reality.
It was a long while later when Cara finally found the strength to part from her mother, not realizing that Maryann had led them to the couch and guided her to sit during her weeping. Cara breathed deeply, feeling the last of the pain she had clung onto slip away from her as she felt her mother's hand over hers. "I love you, Caraline," Maryann whispered, tenderly stroking her daughter's face. "We were never good for you, your father and I. But look at you now. You're so incredibly strong and have achieved so much." She smiled gently. "You have a wonderful husband who loves you, and two beautiful children to call your own."
"Mom …" Cara found it hard to breathe, her inhales accompanied with shudders as she thought of Will. "Mom, I betrayed Will," she whispered. "I left him behind. I don't know if he'll ever forgive me …"
"Of course he will," Maryann insisted. "It would have beeen far too dangerous for him to have come here with you to see me, and you know that."
"I'm not talking about that, Mom. I'm talking about the risk I'm going to take."
"What do you mean risk, Cara?" Maryann whispered, genuine concern filling her at her daughter's revelation.
"Mom, it's just how Dad said it would be. It's all ending, Mom."
"What is?"
"The world. It's ending."
"Cara-"
"No, Mom! You need to listen to me!" Cara was firm through her tears. "What Dad was working on … what he did with the Project … it was all for this time right now. There are forces that are trying to take over the earth, and I might be the only thing to be able to stop them."
"Caraline, what are you talking about?"
"The Shield, Mom!" Cara said, crying. She paused, seeing the hesitation and confusion in her mother. She was stunned into silence momentarily. "Wait … didn't Dad tell you?"
"What Shield, Cara?" Maryann breathed, panicking.
"Me, Mom. The Shield is me."
Maryann's jaw dropped; she instantly became pale. "Oh God," she whispered, horrified. "That son of a bitch!"
"Mom-"
"He lied to me!"
"What do you mean?"
Maryann trembled as she gripped her daughter's hand. "Your bastard of a father told me you weren't successful … that we had nothing to worry about. That …" Her eyes widened. "Caraline, listen to me. You need to leave immediately."
"What are you talking about, Mom?"
"Leave, Cara!" Maryann yanked her up to stand. "For Christ's sake, leave now! Get as far away from here as you can!"
"Mom!"
Maryann gasped when she heard a car door slam shut. "GO!" she hoarsely whispered, shoving her toward the back door. Cara saw the fear in her mother's eyes and her heart began to race.
"Mom, what's going on?" Maryann's mouth was open, but nothing came out. "Mom!"
"Go, please! Go!" her mother managed through her tears.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on!"
Cara jumped when the front door swung open with force, seeing an older man in a suit with silvered white hair gazing intently at her, smoke escaping from his lips from the cigarette perched between his thumb and middle finger of his right hand. "Howard," she heard her mother whisper in horror, almost hearing her mind rapidly fit the pieces of the puzzle into place. "No, Howard! You wouldn't ..." Maryann gasped, pushing Cara behind her.
Cara was in shock - it was the Smoking Man from her memories, the same man who had terrified her as a child in the complex, now staring at her face-to-face in her reality. Her mom called him Howard - she knew he most likely used a false identity in order to gain access. Whoever he really was, he didn't deserve a name other than perhaps Satan or the Devil.
"I was right, Maryann," the Smoking Man said calmly, still looking into Cara's eyes. "Nothing disappears without a trace." He took a drag of the cigarette, exhaling in Cara's direction.
"Please, Howard! Don't do this!" Maryann breathed, feeling faint with shock.
"Timothy and I had an arrangement," he replied, a small smile playing on his lips.
"He thought he could trust you!"
"His trust was his first mistake."
Cara gripped her mother and pulled her away from the man. "Step back," she warned, whipping out her pocket knife and holding the blade up to guard them.
The Smoking Man smiled. "A pocket knife? Now that's unexpected. Where's your gun, Caraline?" he taunted, stepping closer.
In this moment, she wished she had her gun, but she would never had made it to New Jersey from New Mexico without a paper trail for it. "I said, step back," Cara warned, shoving her mother deeper into the house as she moved away from the man in front of her.
"You looked shocked, Caraline," the Smoking Man said with a smile. "I bet your father in law told you stories of me being bound to a wheelchair." His smile widened as he inhaled from the stem of the cigarette. "It's amazing what ten years of medical advances can change. It can bring the dead back to life." He paused, stepping closer. "You know Caraline, when I first realized of your tremendous success in the Project, I was quite pleased with the possibilities." The Smoking Man's eyes shifting to Maryann.
"You leave her alone!" Maryann yelled in fear behind Cara, who stood firm with the knife in front of her.
"Then," he continued, "you disappointed me with your resistance. By now, you could have been a very high level player if you had stayed in the game. However, you vanished seemingly into thin air. Of course, you always were quite headstrong - it was something we could never break you of." The Smoking Man smiled as he glanced at Cara's full stomach. "Where's William? I was hoping to finally meet him as well."
"Mom, run!" Cara instructed, shoving her mother away from her.
"No, Cara!" Maryann replied, trembling.
"Where would she go, Caraline?" the Smoking Man asked. "After all, she too will be eliminated, just as I had your father eliminated."
Cara's mouth opened. "You were there."
"Of course," he said, inhaling on the stem of his cigarette. "Did you honestly think the bounty hunter was at the head of this? His singular way of thought alone would never be able to maintain such a delicate balance of force and restraint."
"I would think his intelligence would far surpass yours," Cara sneered, raising her knife slightly.
The Smoking Man exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Your spark intrigues me, Caraline. I can tell you'll still be an interesting pawn in the game."
"No!" Maryann gasped.
The back door flew open, causing Cara to turn toward it, still reaching behind herself to protect her mother. Her eyes went wide when she saw Billy Miles staring at her intently, his eyes focused on her swollen womb. "Stay back," she warned, still gripping her knife tightly, unaware of who he was or that he was a replacement.
"Just in time," the Smoking Man said, smiling.
Cara gasped when she saw Miles aim a gun at her mother. "NO!" she screamed. "Leave her alone!"
"I'm continually surprised at your ability to forgive so easily, Caraline," the Smoking Man commented, his cigarette hovering near his lips. "This situation looks familiar, doesn't it?"
"Don't hurt her! Just … take me if it's me you want," Cara said firmly, looking at the Smoking Man.
"I plan on it."
"No!" Maryann gasped, moving toward the Smoking Man.
"Mom, stay-"
The blast from the round expelled from Billy Miles' gun made Cara gasp in terror. She turned to her mother behind her, seeing her slump to the floor, the bullet lodged deep in her skull killing her instantly. "MOM!" she screamed, leaving herself open as she lowered herself to her mother's side, her hands hovering over her body as she shook with terror. "You bastard!" she screamed at the Smoking Man.
"From what I understood, you held quite a bit of resentment toward your mother," the Smoking Man said calmly, dragging on his lit cigarette.
"Damn you, you low-life son of a bitch!" Cara screamed, her tears clouding her eyes. She stood, holding her knife defensively as Miles closed the gap between them. He grabbed her arm, and she braced against him, driving her knife with force deep into his chest. Her eyes widened in horror when there was no blood and no stopping Miles. She tried to flee, but her arms were gripped in excruciating pain by Miles, who held her as she squirmed. "You bastard!" she screamed at the Smoking Man, who observed the fight while puffing on his cigarette.
"Save your energy, Caraline," the Smoking Man said cooly, exhaling thoughtfully. "You'll need it for when you call William."
