BulletProof – Chapter 11

I would like to thank both my reviewers and readers for keeping me working on this story. My new followers also help me keep going.

My attempt to work on this story as part of Camp NaNoRiMo was over taken by real life. I will continue this story, most likely faster without the pressure of deadlines.


For the first month after his return from Italy, Carlisle spent hours going through footage of the kidnapping; reviewing the flight plan of the jet and delving into all other aspects of the case. He would roam through communication traffic for any reports from the Volturi generally or Edward specifically.

After many attempts to break into Carlisle's obsession, Carmen reached out to her husband. Eleazar had left his nephew to his efforts as Carlisle's myopic behavior had successfully identified a number of weaknesses in their security and added numerous individuals to the agencies database of known Volturi associates.

When his wife contacted him Eleazar was surprised at her ferocity however on his visit to Carlisle in the young man's office, Eleazar's relaxed attitude rapidly turned to one of concern. Carlisle's office resembled a cave, the desk was littered with paper files and printouts, scattered with various storage devices, USB sticks, hard drives and computer disks.

Two trestle tables had been set up with numerous laptops and tablets laid out. Every device was turned on; most displaying rapidly moving data, still and video footage or satellite and surveillance data. Others however stayed eerily blank, the white screens and flashing cursers unusually passive with the frantic movement surrounding them, as they waited to suddenly spring into action like their fellow machines.

At the far end of the tables, in full view of the bank of monitors, was a large recliner. The chair was draped with a crumpled duvet and on the floor beside was a discarded pillow, a pile of clothes and a tray of congealing food.

Eleazar stared in a mix of both admiration and horror. Carlisle had set up his own personal center of operations. Stepping up to the tables Eleazar was surprised at the materials both on the desk and on the computers. While Carlisle had authorised access to much of the information, a couple of the databases were clearly above his security access levels and he could see printouts from other secure sources.

This was no longer an issue of concern over his nephew's erratic behavior, but how Carlisle had obtained access to secure information and from what he could see had managed to perform analysis of it that surpassed many of his analysts.

Despite his nephews unauthorised access he was extremely proud of Carlisle's skills. But Carmen was right. Carlisle needed to be brought back to the fold, where his activities could be monitored and controlled.

Eleazar looked away from the computers at the sound of Carlisle entering the room from the ensuite. He had a towel in his hands, drying his hair. Seeing his uncle in the room Carlisle dropped the towel in a pile on the floor then ran a hand through his hair to tidy it.

"Good Morning, Eleazar" acknowledging his uncles presence in his room. "I presume Carmen has something to do with your being here today."

Eleazar gave his nephew a tight, almost uncomfortable, smile. "Well you know your aunt looks out for us both, she is worried about you."

"I know" Carlisle acknowledged, "I am not sure it is warranted, I am fine here with my work. I just need to be left to my research."

Eleazar shook his head slightly, "I had thought so too, but having seen all of this, "he gestured toward the cave like room. "I agree with her. Carlisle, this cannot be healthy.

"Healthy?," Carlisle's voice rose, "and how healthy is it for Edward to stay in Aro's clutches, falling deeper into that world. How long until he is lost to us, until he is indoctrinated further into believing he is one of them."

Eleazar sighed, "Carlisle, Edward chose to stay instead of leaving with you. He gave you no indication of wanting to leave with you, indeed according to your own report he was firmly against returning to the United States."

Carlisle stood still, face pale, shaking his head at Eleazar's words, "Eleazar, you cannot believe that he wasn't being influenced by others, threatened maybe, maybe he was protecting me. We cannot know for sure, but we also cannot leave him there."

"Carlisle, I know you want to believe that Edward was innocent in this situation, but you may have to consider that Edward may have been in part, or in full, complicit in his own disappearance." Eleazar stopped briefly as Carlisle's expression became furious but then continued.

"Carlisle it is not the first time one of ours has been lost to the Volturi, I am not saying that Edward has been, however I cannot spend time and resources rescuing a young man who does not wish to be rescued."

Carlisle took in Eleazar's words and frowned, "Who have we lost to the Volturi?" In his life he could not recall being told of any defectors.

Eleazar paused, "It was a long time ago, circumstances were different…"

"But who?" Carlisle interrupted.

"It does not matter" snapped Eleazar. "All that matters is that you put this obsession aside and return to your duties."

Carlisle opened his mouth to protest, Eleazar spoke before he could voice his complaint.

"It is clear that you are going to argue with me about this, I don't have the time to justify my orders to you, so I will tell you what is going to happen next." He paused as if to settle his temper.

"We are going to pack all of this up, while I will not destroy your work I will keep it safe until I feel you can be less obsessive about your research. In the mean time you will move back to the estate and your apartment there. You can continue your medical and research duties from there. These offices will be shut down for now."

"You can't" Carlisle breathed.

"I can and I will," Eleazar shouted. "You are one of my staff and you will obey my orders."

Movement at the doorway drew both of their attention, the woman drawn to the room by the raised voices. Eleazar gestured to his wife to enter the room, "Carmen, please assist Carlisle in packing his personal belongings, I would like him to be relocated to the estate and these offices closed up by the end of today."

Eleazar looked at his fuming nephew. Resting his hand on Carlisle's arm he murmured, "I know more than most how hard it is to let things rest, to let others continue your research. We will find out the truth of Edwards relocation to Italy, but officially and without emotion."

Eleazar patted Carlisle's arm and swept out of the room, leaving Carlisle and Carmen looking at each other, Carlisle in anger and Carmen in apology.

Carmen moved to Carlisle, reaching up to embrace him, Carlisle stiffened at her touch taking a step back, and then walked stiffly to the door.

"I had better pack" he turned and walked stiffy through the door.

~*.*~

It was with trepidation that Carlisle went down into the storage vault where the personal property of his parents, Edward Snr and now Ed Jnr each security locked. Before today he had no desire to visit these spaces. He had retrieved those things from his parents belongings when Carmen first brought him to live here and he had never felt inclined to delve further into their past.

Carlisle had been living at the estate for over a month, cooling his heels. It had taken two weeks before Eleazar had been willing to allow Carlisle back into any of the operations rooms at the estate and two more before he had grudgingly allowed Carlisle to recommence his research into Edward's disappearance.

However there had been caveats applied, he was limited to the data and information he had access prior to being pulled off the case and anything else he had security access to both internally and externally. Any other access would need to be cleared by Eleazar upon request.

With those limitations in force he had wracked his brain for possible leads and sources of information. It was a throwaway comment by his aunt at dinner one night, she had asked the family butler to retrieve some wine from the vaults, and he recalled that, in addition to wine, the vaults contained a hidden source of possible information and a documented history that would not be available elsewhere.

Opening the first vault he steeled himself. Inside were the remaining belongings of Carlisle, Esme and Tanya Cullen. After their deaths all the property and assets had been sold off or liquidated to be put in trust for Carlisle's education and living expenses.

What remained were items of sentimental value. His mother's jewelry and wedding dress and the painting his father had commissioned of the family, which he had never seen as it was commissioned only weeks before their deaths and delivered weeks after to Carmen who had locked. Also contained within the vault were his father's files and papers and a collection of professional and personal archival materials.

Of Carlisle's sister Tanya little remained. The child was only four years old when her body had been incinerated in the crash.

The small container that housed the girl's possessions included pictures drawn in her young style which by all measures demonstrated a flare for colour and life that would have developed into a wonderful talent.

Carlisle wiped away the tears that had restricted his vision. Moving the pictures aside he picked up the little floral hat decorated with images of blue iris and trimmed with blue ribbons. The hat was Tanya's favorite and her pride and joy. It was only a case of head lice that meant it had been left behind, much to the devastation of its owner. The hat had been fumigated however Carlisle could see left over blond hairs embedded in the fabric inside.

When placing the hat back in the box, he knocked over a small container that rattled as it tipped over. Much like the hat the delicate container was decorated with flowers, specifically blue iris, which had been Tanya's favorite flower from the moment she could express a preference.

Gingerly picking up the container, Carlisle turned it in his hands. Despite the noise it made when moved, it looked too delicate to be a rattle or toy. Opening it, he gasped. Contained inside were teeth, his sister's baby teeth, collected by their parents in exchange for the tooth fairy reward.

Closing the container, Carlisle returned it and the other belongings to the box which he then closed and resealed. Gently putting it aside he moved to the boxes of his father's personal papers and archival materials. These materials had been consolidated into two archive boxes which had been labelled with his father's name and the date range of records contained within.

Taking one last look at the family portrait, he picked up the two boxes and left the vault. Placing the cartons on the waiting trolley he locked the vault.

Next Carlisle moved to the vault containing Edward Masen Snr's belongings. Unlike his family's vault, this one contained nothing more than business and personal papers.

Looking inside the vault Carlisle was surprised that there were only half a dozen archive boxes. Opening one he found hundreds of disks and USB sticks. On the top of the box was a label advising that the contents had been migrated into the centers database. This meant he did not need to take them with him as a search of the central operations system would allow him to mine the data required.

Looking around he found two boxes in a corner, the first was labelled Edward Music and the second Edward Miscellaneous. Neither box had any additional labels or information, the seals suggesting that they had not been looked at since Edward Snr died. On a gut feeling he moved these boxes to his trolley.

Locking the vault he moved to the third and last vault of interest. Edward Jnr's vault was the hardest to stand in front of, let alone go into. It was only when he became aware that his legs and arms were trembling did he admit to himself that he could not venture into the vault.

Rather than push himself he decided to work through what he had and return to his loves belongings another time. This resolved, Carlisle returned to his trolley and headed to this suite.

Upon returning to his rooms, Carlisle methodically opened and sorted the papers. He scanned each document into the agency database, before re-packing the boxes being sure to return the materials as he had found them, then stacking them against a wall.

Running an OCR engine over the documents he was able to index some of the material however poor penmanship left many documents too difficult for the technology to decipher. These documents needed to be manually transcribed, which took a lot of concentration as well as a physical toll squinting at the computer screen trying to work out if the letter was an 'a' or 'e'.

As he progressed, he became familiar with the authors handwriting which allowed him to speed up a bit. But it still took time. The process slowed further as he became immersed in the documents that he was transcribing.

Frustrated that he was getting bogged down in the process, he forced himself to take a break and then returning resolved to focus on the text of the documents rather than the content and context. Three days after he removed the boxes from the vaults he had successfully registered all of the documents, saving them both in the agency system and on his backup external drive.

Now all was ready for him to delve into the prepared documents.

Carlisle rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Moving to the door he locked it, ensuring electronic access was restricted to him and Carmen. Pulling up his most comfortable chair to his desk he tapped on the screen, opening up the first document.

Starting with the documents from his father's vault, he began to form a picture of this parents of which he had been unaware. His father, a doctor from the states had whisked his mother away from her family and life in Italy. They had started a normal life in the USA until Carlisle Snr had been drafted into the organisation within which his mother was also an active agent, her life and times in Italy making her invaluable.

As a child Carlisle was unaware of any of this; he knew his father was an important doctor in the government but not that he was a founding member of the organisation that Carlisle now worked for. Carlisle Snr and Esme had been recruited by Carlisle's uncle Eleazar.

As he progressed with the document analysis, Carlisle tagged the each document. He identified key data elements within each document allowing him the ability to link the documents by date, place, persons and topics.

After a couple of hours he decided to run a number of searches to make sure that the document linking was correct. He stood up and stretched his back while the system prepared the results report. Glancing down at his results he was amazed to find the system making recommendations for documents that had been previously registered in the database, as well as the creation of links to other material in the system.

Carlisle was amazed that this information seemed to be suddenly and freely available in the system and presumed that he was now making the correct enquiries as to procedure the results. This presumption was thrown into doubt when based upon some correspondence that he had found in the files he ran some queries into his parents deaths. Prior attempts to retrieve any information on his parents had only resulted in official reports of the car accidence and the official autopsy's.

His new enquiry resulted in a disclosure of multiple reports and records which he frantically saved and printed incase this gift slipped from his grasp. As he saved the last of the documents to his portable drive a single message appeared on his terminal.

Once you have read these. Please come and see me. Marcus.

Carlisle sat on the floor reading the last of the reports Marcus had allowed him to access. He didn't know why he should be surprised that he was not told the truth. His parents and sister had not died in a car accident. His parents had been murdered, execution style, and their bodies planted in the burning car. His sister's body was never found and had been presumed taken and killed elsewhere.

The conference in the UK that they were attending had been part of a clandestine operation for Eleazar which had gone horribly wrong. They had suspected a mole in the operation and a number of suspects had been permanently removed.

~*.*~

"Why? Why do you want to raise the dead?"

Carlisle leaned back in his chair where he across the large mahogany table from his Uncle. The sharpness of Marcus' tone caught him off guard at his request for more details on the family. Carlisle sat looking at his hands preparing to be scolded.

The old man shut his eyes and sighed. When he spoke again it was in barely a whisper but was still harsh and rough.

"I am sorry" Marcus murmured.

"The past is a place I try to forget but am always forced to remember. I am not like Eleazar, the past and its horrors within, drive him. The more he recalls, the less he speaks of it, it powers him like a furnace."

Marcus leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling briefly he returned his gaze to Carlisle.

"I am driven by the need to purge that which the past created. I will tell you my tale so I can try to bleed the pain from my soul through its telling."

"I am one of four brothers, I also had a sister. It is no secret that Aro Volturi is my eldest brother and Eleazar my half-brother, the former was instrumental in my leaving the family business and my exile from Italy while the latter provided me with opportunity to atone for the past sins of my family."

Marcus looked down at the table and quietly added, "My half-sister Esme, your mother, was a beautiful soul. In a family of boys she was the life and joy, when she was little she was my shadow, following me around every day. I was shattered when she was killed."

Carlisle felt like all of the oxygen had been removed from the room, he had always believed, had been led to believe, that his mother was Carmen's sister. Swallowing down his confusion and questions he waited for Marcus to continue. When the older man went silent Carlisle picked one question from the throng swarming his brain.

"You have three siblings, Aro, Eleazar, and Esme…" he swallowed hard against the grief rising at the thought of his mother and the fact that he had been misled as to her relationship with their family, "...and you are the fourth. Who is the fifth sibling?"

Marcus looked up at Carlisle, "My youngest brother was Edward Volturi, who you know as Edward Masen Snr. He was the only son of my father's mistress who had been hired as a ladies maid."

"What?" Carlisle chocked out, his mind whirling trying to piece together the family tree that had just been laid out before him.

The whole situation was bordering on the farcical, he understood the concept of need to know, but seriously as a member of this family didn't HE have a right to know.

He suddenly stops and looks at Marcus in shock, "Edward and I are cousins? That would have been good to know. Also what about Edward, I do not believe that he knew this." He turned white as a new thought crossed his mind.

"Do you think Aro would have told him, he had to have known? Could that be a reason why Edward didn't return with me, that he thought I knew and lied to him." Carlisle bent over with his head in his hands.

Marcus sat quietly watching his nephew's distress he made no comment watching as Carlisle settled and returned to once again look at the older man.

"Carlisle, there is no way of knowing what Aro has told Edward, unlike Eleazar I do believe that Aro would have told Edward of his family connection. As to Edward's reaction, you would know more about that than anyone else here, including his mother." Marcus lifted his hand to stop Carlisle from speaking.

"Carlisle, I believe that you are on the right track, there is something about this situation that feels as much about family as of business. Keep delving into the past, I will help you with what I know and I am sure Carmen will help too."

The older man stood without warning and made to leave the room. Carlisle stood and called out in protest.

"Marcus!"

Marcus turned, "Carlisle you have enough for now, keep digging. I suspect that retrieving Edward will depend on how deep you go."

With that he left the room. Carlisle stared at the door, trying to absorb what had transpired.

"What the hell?"