After the Fall – Chapter 21
While Jolie sat on the ground wishing she could fall asleep so the night would pass more quickly, she kept thinking about the little girl who appeared moments ago. There was something so familiar about her. Had she met her sometime? Was she somebody she went to school with? And then it hit her: her portrait hung on the wall in the foyer of her home. It was Janie. The sister she never knew.
But that couldn't really be Janie. Janie was dead. So there had to be a logical explanation, like that it was all in her mind, probably because of the severe stress she was going through.
As soon as they arrived on the island, Matt took a look around and studied their options. Off to the East he saw a mansion, off to the West … woods.
"I bet that's Master's spread over there," he said, nodding to the East. "Okay, I think it's best if we divide and conquer. CJ you go with Jordan and watch the front. Johnny, stick with me and we'll go around back. Keep your radios set on channel two, keep the volume down so that no one overhears our chatter."
As Matt and Johnny started around the back entrance to the mansion, something in Matt's gut was propelling him to change course already. He was no stranger to following his gut – it rarely was wrong... and it was even stronger than usual. Perhaps it was his fatherly instinct.
He called CJ on the radio.
"Change of plans. We're going to search the woods first."
"Why? Did you see something?"
"No. I just want to check it out before we enter through the back."
"Okay. Do you want us to come with you?"
"No. Stay put for now. Just keep watching the house."
"Okay."
Matt and Johnny started trekking through the woods hoping they'd find some indication that Jolie had been there. After walking almost a mile they were quickly discouraged when they saw no trace of her, or anyone else for that matter. Matt started second guessing himself, thinking that they should have stuck with his original plan.
"Should go back?"
"No. Not yet. How about we should split up so we can cover more ground?"
"Okay."
Matt started walking South when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw the most unusual sight: a young girl wearing a yellow dress and smiling at him. Who was she? How did she get to be in the middle of the woods?
"Hello… please, whoever you are, don't be scared, I'm just looking for a twelve-year-old girl with dark hair and …"
She pointed to the East.
Matt took a quick glance in the direction she pointed. As soon as he turned back, though, she was gone.
"What the…?"
He didn't know if she was real or some kind of apparition. But the peacefulness about her struck a nerve with Matt. Maybe he should follow her advice. What harm could it do?
"Hey Johnny, let's go this way."
CJ and Jordan knelt down behind some bushes, watching and studying the house, staring in particular at the main entrance to the mansion. There was no one around, or at least it seemed that way.
"So tell me some more about this Truman Masters …"
CJ thought for a second and took a deep breath. There was a lot to tell.
"How much do you want to know?"
He shrugged. "Looks like we might be sitting here a while. How 'bout everything?"
And so she began telling her stepson the details of how Matt was abducted and brainwashed by Masters, a.k.a. Peter Delaney - the same man who attended medical school with his father and practiced brainwashing techniques on him. She spoke about her and Matt's relationship, how they were weeks away from becoming husband and wife when a concussion interfered with his memory, how she was essentially rescued by Gary, and the emotional heartache she endured for years of love for both men.
All the time she was telling him her story, she kept checking his expression for signs of acceptance. Several seconds after she was finished, he finally spoke.
"So, I bet you wish this Masters guy never existed."
She nodded.
"Houston and I would have married and had who knows how many kids by now."
"So do you regret meeting Dad? I mean, it really seemed to complicate your life a whole lot more than it already was."
She had already thought long and hard about that question.
"Sometimes I think it would have made my life simpler, but no," she said smiling. "If I hadn't known your father, I wouldn't have met you or your brother and I would have never had the chance to be your mother. I can't even imagine my life without you."
Jordan reciprocated her smile. He was really glad to know her, too.
All of a sudden a helicopter arrived and interrupted their conversation. They watched it land and Gary and Detective Giles emerge from it.
"Dad?"
"What is he doing here?"
They resisted the urge to greet Gary, opting instead to observe and stay hidden.
As the helicopter blades wound down, Samantha emerged from the front door of the mansion with an automatic weapon and her bodyguard Zito in tow.
She took several seconds just staring at Gary for it had been years. And then the shouting match began.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the world's greatest husband, Dr. Gary Pentin. What the hell are you doing here?"
Gary wasn't sure how to respond to her.
"Shouldn't I be asking you the same question? Except my version would go more like, where the hell have you been for the last fifteen years? Or has it been sixteen. You've been hanging around Delaney, haven't you? Is he inside?"
Her blood boiled. For all the years they had been apart, she had never lost her disdain for the man.
"I don't owe you any explanations. I don't need to answer any of your questions!"
"Maybe not to me, but don't you think you owe a couple to your sons? Do you have any idea what you put them through? Do you know how hard it was for them to find out that their sister AND their mother were both gone from their lives?!"
"You of all people should know I had no choice!"
He edged closer to her, softening his tone a bit.
"Sam, there's so much you need to know. Like for starters, that day a week after Janie died."
A week? CJ shook her head at the thought of Samantha being brutally attacked while dealing the worst thing a parent could go through. She could empathize with her - she knew the pain of being attacked by one's husband and having a child missing.
"No, I'm not listening to any of your lame excuses. In case you haven't noticed, I never got over what you did to me, nor do I have any plans to forgive you in the near or distant future!"
"Fine. Do want you want with me. My only concern is getting Jolie safe back home where she belongs. Where is she? Is she inside with Delaney?"
Samantha was in no mood to answer Gary's questions. And she was in no mood to hand over his daughter to him either, even if she knew where she was. Revenge is what she wanted - pure and simple. She wanted Gary to experience pain worse than she had been through.
"She might be inside … or ..."
"Or ... what?"
"Or … she might be dead."
"WHAT?!"
CJ dug her fingers into Jordan's arm, bracing for Samantha's next words.
Gary started fuming.
"What did you do to her?"
But, Samantha refused to answer.
Gary approached closer and grabbed ahold of her.
"Well, answer me! What did you to do Jolie?"
CJ saw the body language on her husband, all too painfully familiar to her. She looked over at Jordan wishing she could shield him from the events that she knew were about to occur, but she was powerless to stop it.
"I told you she's dead. We had no use for her anymore. She was merely the bait to get you."
"How could you! You bitch!"
This testimony by Samantha hit CJ in her gut like a sharp knife. Was she was telling the truth? Did Samantha murder her daughter as part of a sadistic plot to evoke revenge against Gary?
She looked at Jordan and cued him with a simple nod. It was time to make their presence known to his parents and everyone else around. Jordan rose with his gun braced in front of him, shielding his stepmother from potential gunfire. Samantha and her bodyguard turned in their direction, staring in particular at the young man who had raised his gun at her. She didn't know who he was until she heard CJ say his name.
"Jordan … wait."
Samantha stared at him a minute, mouthing his name in disbelief.
CJ saw the expression on her face.
"That's right, you probably don't recognize him … the last time you saw him he was only a toddler, right?"
Jordan took a good look at the woman, searching his memory for any familiarity about her whatsoever. He turned towards CJ.
"Mom – is this …?" Not only didn't he recognize her, he didn't know what to call her either.
CJ set her jaw, reluctantly nodding.
"Yes, Jordan. This is your 'mother'."
Samantha ignored Gary and stared at Jordan instead, aghast to see him at long last - so grown up … and referring to CJ as 'Mom'.
Matt and Johnny walked through the dark woods, shining their flashlights and wishing they could go at a faster place then they were. But between the darkness, the amount of thick brush and the danger of wild animals they couldn't. Matt shuttered to think that his daughter was here somewhere in the dense, strange forest alone.
They felt like they had been walking for hours, possibly in circles. Feeling discouraged and indecisive, they stopped to regroup.
"It's too dark to find her in this now. Maybe we should come back at first light?"
Matt looked sideways at Johnny.
"And leave your sister out here all night?! No, I have a feeling she's near."
After hearing the pain in Matt's voice - the same pain he had heard in his father's voice when he spoke of Jolie, Johnny wasn't going to debate him. His sister was one lucky girl to have two fathers who both adored her.
"Okay then, which way do you want to go?"
Matt searched the ground again with his flashlight trying to decide just that.
And then he saw something he'd thought he'd never be so glad to see: Ducky.
As he picked it up his heart beat faster. Jolie was indeed around here somewhere. She would never abandon Ducky on purpose … unless she was trying to leave him a clue.
Several helicopters carrying Navy SEALS started arriving, breaking everyone's attention. Samantha released her stare from Jordan and turned her attention and her automatic weapon back on Gary.
"Stay right there, Gary. Don't come any closer or I'll blow your head off!"
CJ instinctively knew what was going to happen and felt helpless to stop it. Her heart beat a mile a minute, contradicting with what seemed like the slow motion video unfolding before her.
Gary charged, Samantha fired and Jordan screamed.
"NO!"
Jordan immediately rushed to Gary's side as CJ lunged at Samantha, while Giles raised his gun to Zito.
With superhuman-like strength CJ pounced on top of her, kicking her, prying the weapon away and tossing it out from her reach. She grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her neck back, twisting her arm around her back and locking her knee against her.
If it hadn't been for a few SEALS, CJ may have carried out her anger. It took two of them to pry her off as she kicked and spit in Samantha's face. And then CJ was hit with déjà vu: this was the same person who tried to kidnap Jolie a decade ago.
She collapsed on the ground, tired from the exertion and sobbed as Samantha was dragged away.
Matt heard the helicopters in the distance and figured maybe now was a good time to call out her name.
"Jolie! Jolie!"
His voice echoed through darkness. They waited a few seconds, listening for a response but heard nothing. Johnny turned the opposite way and cupped his hands.
"Jolie! Jolie!"
Then Matt screamed her name even louder.
"JOLIE! JO …."
Johnny grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Wait …"
"Did you hear something?"
"Shhh!"
And then like a soft whisper spinning in the air, they heard the faint sound of a something that sounded like Jolie's voice. Was it just wishful thinking? Was it the wind playing tricks on their brains?
"Jolie?"
"Houston?"
Her cry was music to his ears.
Their hearts raced as they tried to ascertain the source of her cries.
"Keep talking Jolie. Where are you?"
"I'm down here."
"Down here? Down where?"
"I don't know. Down ... I fell in some big hole."
They stopped and shone their flashlights towards the ground, frantically searching for signs of her until all of a sudden, they caught a glimpse of a giant aperture in the ground.
Matt ran over to it, lowered himself towards the ground and reached over the side.
"Jolie!"
"Houston! You found me!"
"Are you all right?"
"I am now!"
And then Johnny came into her view.
"Hey squirt. Whatcha doin' down there?"
"Hey, I'm the one who asks the questions around here, remember?"
Matt smiled at her witty response. She was all right.
He jumped down and threw his arms around her like he had never embraced anyone before. He was so relieved to find her safe and unharmed. He couldn't wait to see the expression on CJ's face when he returned Jolie to her.
"Hey, save one of those hugs for your big brother."
They smiled as Matt released his embrace and hoisted her up, then used his height and Johnny's reach to climb out of the aperture himself.
"C'mon. Let's get out of here."
CJ just sat there on the ground with her arms wrapped around her, looking in disbelief at all the commotion. The SEALS had stormed the mansion and brought out Masters and everyone else inside one at a time. But, Jolie wasn't among any of them. Both rage and disbelief filled her soul. How could a woman kill an innocent girl and put another mother through the same hell as she? All those years of trying to protect her daughter from something like this happening and now she was gone? How was going to go on without her? How was she going to tell Matt?
And then something caught Jordan's attention and he alerted her to turn around and look towards the woods.
"Mom … look."
She didn't want to obey him at first, but as she slowly swung around, she she couldn't believe her eyes. There was Jolie. Alive and well, walking in between Matt and Johnny.
"Jolie?!"
Her body filled with adrenalin as she ran screaming towards them, "She lied! Thank God she lied! Laughing and crying at the same time until she was close enough to throw her arms around her daughter, pick her up and swing her around with such force that it nearly knocked Jolie over. All the while repeating over and over, "My little girl's alive! Thank God! My little girl's alive!"
And then CJ released her daughter and placed her hands around her face.
"Are you okay?"
Jolie nodded.
"Just a little hungry and tired."
CJ hugged her again, gently rocking her in her embrace and crying tears of joy. Jolie beamed, thankful to have survived her adventure and be reunited with her entire family.
But, then they heard the commotion coming from over by the helicopter. They ran towards the scene where Gary lay dying, barely holding onto Jordan's hand. With his breath slow and labored he used every ounce of strength he had left to turn to look at Jolie's face.
"Jolie … sweetheart!"
And then he gasped his last breath and died in her sight.
"No! No!"
Matt rushed right to her side and turned her around from the scene and enveloped her in his arms. Her cries cut through right his heart like a knife. CJ's heart sank, heartbroken for Jolie to have to witness her father's death without a chance to say goodbye, and heartbroken to see her Gary lose his battle with his enemies.