I know, long time no see. I kept having to rewrite this part because I wasn't sure how it should go but here it is. The end was going to be some long 6k something chapter so I split it into two parts. Second to last part of the story. Thank you for everyone who reviewed the past part. You know I love them!
The story also got a new favorite/follow (I think I'm thanking you E3 ATA ;) So thank you so much for that! You take the time to review every chapter and it means the world to me.Thank you to Erica Hale for such a nice review!!! It made my day!
Also, happy memorial day! Please thank members of the service that you know and remember all of the fallen. This chapter is dedicated to my grandpa, who served over forty years in the Navy and passed eariler this year. This is also deticated to my cousin's husband, who went missing in action in Vietnam and was found dead two years ago. He was only 26 but he gave his life for the country. I thank everyone who served and serves.
On that note, please enjoy.
I was beyond exhausted. Once the adrenalin wore off, the gravity of the situation sunk in. I had saved the world leaders of over a hundred countries. I (sorta) defeated SPYDER. And I was tired.
Once Erica and Audrey finished having their little 'moment', we trudged our way through the maze of a basement and somehow found a door that led outside. It was a relief to see. Sunlight, real natural light, hitting my skin. After being underground so long, I was starting to feel like a mole.
We got out of there just in time. Just as we got to a parking lot, a motorcade of police officers, security, secret service from a hundred countries and news vans sped towards Rump Towers. Apparently, according to the buzz on the streets, a few bomb-sniffing dogs were just being escorted out of the building at around 10:45 (forty five minutes after the meeting started) and the dogs suddenly went crazy when they were near the entrance to the basement. Security checked it out and found the bomb Joshua planted in the freezing room that stopped the bomb.
During this, Erica stole a car from the parking lot. (she claims she is so sick and tried of all this chaos, she doesn't care that she's stealing a car. And honestly, at this point, I didn't care either.) We hopped in the car and turned the radio on to the local news to get more updates on the situation. We started to head towards a drive-through coffee shop, since, according to Audrey, we earned the right to some caffeine after 'saving the world'.
The local news told us the bomb sniffing dogs and security found the bomb and could tell it was disabled by someone. After further investigation, they found a bunch of empty handcuffs, some cuffed to a pipe, deeper inside the basement. Secret service is scrambling to find whoever planted the bomb, whoever used to be in the handcuffs and even the people who dismantled the bomb.
This meant two things for us: Mr. E, Joshua and Jacob got away. Upon hearing the news, Erica swore loudly and Audrey kicked the dashboard. Erica also said it was impossible for them to have woken up this fast, since they were hit pretty hard on the head. Therefore, Mr. E must have gotten help, escaped and was still out there. But that was a fight for another day. They wouldn't make a risky move now that the government was on to them.
Another thing that the news meant was that the secret service was after us. Despite saving the day, we were still involved and the government would probably still want to question us and ask us why we ran instead of reporting it. But we didn't want to deal with that so we were going to flee.
The car we stole was a nonscript early 2000's Honda from the Rump Towers parking lot. The girls quickly called the front seat, so like a child, I was stuck in the back.
Because the government was after us, we had to run. Looking at Audrey's phone, we found that the secret service had some very blurry and grainy footage of us in the basement. Luckily, you couldn't distinguish anything about us or our features. All you could tell was that three people were there. But to be honest, a case could have been made that it was three orangutans. The video was that bad. There was some grainy shots of Mr. E, Jacob and Joshua, but the quality was equally bad, so there was no incriminating evidence. The government was in the process of getting the leaders and officials out of the tower.
We pulled into a local drive through coffee joint. The line was a mile long, seeing it was around 11:15 in the morning. Erica and Audrey were the only ones who could drive (despite the fact Audrey was still under age without a permit) and weren't too happy about it. Apparently, the rest of my friends back at the motel decided Washington DC wasn't safe from SPYDER or the government, so they made an executive decision to move out of the motel. According to a text from Zoe, they found a remote cabin they could stay in for a few days in the outskirts of Virginia. Unfortunately for us, it's at least a three hour drive (with no traffic and everyone knows in DC that's not possible). Erica was so exasperated that she promised to strangle Zoe and Jawa when we see them for making this decision without our consent.
But we were too tried to give a crap. We finally neared the front of the line for drinks. We found money in the glove compartment.
"Ben, what do you want?" Erica asked from the drivers seat.
"Um… a lemonade?" I replied sheepishly.
"A lemonade?" Audrey scoffed, "What are you-five? You're not getting anything caffeinated? How are you not about to fall asleep right now? I'm totally exhausted."
"Exactly," I retorted, "I don't want caffeine because I'm going to sleep on the long drive. If I get a coffee or something, I'll never sleep."
"I hate you," Erica grumbled as she bought our drinks. Again, I couldn't drive whatsoever and this was the first time I was thankful for that. I could snooze off while they had to stay alert.
After they teased me mercilessly for my lemonade, the drive became quieter. We were on our way to the new cabin hotel. I felt my eyes get heavier and heavier, to the point where I couldn't keep them open for much longer.
XXX
I don't recall a time where I had slept better in my life. Because I was alone in the back, I had the freedom to stretch out and fall into a beautiful slumber.
We hit a bumb that jolted me awake. I snapped open my eyes to see the wonderful outdoors of Virginia. Gone was the bustling town of Washington DC. Hello, wilderness.
I glanced at the clock and noticed I only slept for two hours. I prayed it would be easy to drift off once more. But suddenly, heard hushed voices from the front seat.
"I'm sorry," was Audrey's quiet statement. She was lounging in the passenger seat.
Erica glanced over from where she was focusing on the road and asked, "For what?"
"I think you know. Everything."
Erica was quiet, but she accepted this answer. This felt like a private moment, but there was nowhere I could go and I couldn't possibly go back to sleep now. They didn't know I was awake, but I wasn't going to let them know I was, because they really seemed to need this conversation.
"I am too," Erica finally said.
This took Audrey by surprise, "For what?"
Erica let out a big breath, "For being a jerk to you and almost letting Josh shoot you. You are still my sister."
Audrey gave a little laugh, "I think I deserved it. After all, I was with a terrorist organization. Which I'm sorry for."
"You shouldn't be saying sorry to me," Erica shook her head, "You did something despicable and totally wrong, but I can see where you're coming from. Hell, I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your situation."
"I know what I did was wrong. I knew right when I met Ben that it wasn't the lifestyle I wanted."
It warmed my heart to hear that from Audrey. She did manipulate me in spy school, but she ended up helping us in the long run. I was, yet again, a pawn to advance someone else's plan, but I am so used to it now that I'm sick of complaining.
"So what actually happened with Dad and your situation? If you want to talk about it."
Audrey gave a big sigh, "I'll start at the beginning. I hacked and put all of this informatuon together from the CIA website, my life and my mom. So this is what happened: Alexander had a mission in California. My mom wasn't crucial to the mission at all, and didn't know anything about his real job. She thought he was just a cute guy that she met in a bar. One thing lead to another, and well, they hooked up."
"What year was this?" Erica interrupted, asking that underlying question.
"A year before I was born." Audrey replied in a soft voice, "So were they…"
"Yeah," Erica snapped more forcefully than nessicary, "My mom and Alexander were still married." I saw her knuckles go white on the steering wheel.
Audrey put a calming hand on her shoulder, "I'm so sorry. Do you want me to continue still?"
"Of course I do." Erica kind of snarled, ovbiously unhappy at her Dad's choices, "Dad is a grown man and he can mess up his own life if he wants too. No wonder Mom and Dad broke up."
"So, that fling resulted in me. Mom didn't tell Alexander she was pregnant. She was going to wait until her baby bump started to show. But suddenly, without warning and overnight, Alexander disappeared. Mom didn't know Alex was on a business trip. She thought he was moving in for good. So when he just abandoned her overnight, she was heartbroken. Turns out, he failed that mission and was going to get hell from the top brass. Probably because he was distracted."
I noticed a cold look in Erica's eyes in the rearview mirror. I was as shocked as she that Alexander Hale would do such a thing and hide it all these years.
"So, he never knew I existed. Now with a baby, Mom was super unprepared for a child and couldn't work as much as she used too. She was going to rely on Alex, but he left. Money was always super tight. We lived paycheck to paycheck until I was in about sixth grade. It was so bad then, we got evicted from the apartment. So we moved onto my Uncle's farm. Things were considerably better there. Uncle Lee taught me how to shoot a gun and fight, since he was a retired Navy officer. I got really good, so I started to compete in competitons, for some money. Even though we were considerably better, two more mouths to feed and all the costs coming from us weren't cheap to Uncle Lee. I tried to help out best I could."
Audrey drew in a giant breath for this one. Her story was sad to hear and I could understand more and more why SPYDER seemed to be a perfect opportunity.
"I had just won my first competition in hand-to-hand when Joshua found me. He was charming, good looking and presented me with an offer. I had won $200 from that fight. He said, if I join this organization called SPYDER, he would give me, upfront, $5,000. And for every month I worked, I got $100. I also got free food and housing. But mostly, he said he knew about my father and how I could get my revenge on him. You can imagine how good that sounded to a thirteen year old girl. Mom and Uncle Lee wouldn't have to worry about me or food and I would give them $5,200 plus whatever I make with this new organization. And I would also repay my dad for the horrors he put us through. It was an offer too good to be true. I thought the gods graced me with him. I quickly agreed and my mom was totally on board.
"Erica, after that for a few years, I didn't care what mayhem we were causing with these schemes. If I got my money, I was happy. It didn't occur to me innocent people were dying or even when I killed someone they could have a family. I was a selfish jerk. But when the mission at Spy School came up, I jumped at the chance. I was finally going to get my revenge on my dad and destroy the school he loves. When I met you, all I wanted to do was kill you. It hurt me that Alexander had a daughter he loved and cared for, when he had a daughter he abandoned. But when I met Ben, I realized that even if you're mad or bitter, life needs to move on and there are sweet people out there. And I coudln't do it. I couldn't bring myself to kill you or even Alexander. But it didn't stop me from completing the mission assigned for me. I lured you all into SPYDER's trap. But when I realized the biggest scheme I've ever seen was going to happen, I couldn't let Mr. E take over the world. It'd be a nightmare. So I changed my path in life and here I am."
The car was silent for a few moments, letting us all take in the information.
"I am happy for you. You got dealt a bad hand in life but you made the most of it, in the very end. If I were in your situation, I would have definitely done what you did and even probably would have killed you and Dad. I might even kill him now for what I know he did. But I'm glad you didn't. And I know this sounds insignificant, but I'm sorry for what you've gone through." I had no idea where this compassion from Erica was coming from. But it was very sweet.
"Thanks. I don't know what kind of trouble I'm in but I know it'll be a lot." Audrey sighed.
Erica waved it off, "You did the right thing in the end. That's what matters. We'll worry about it later."
"Oh and Ben?" Erica added as my blood turned cold, "I know you've been listening the whole time."
I sat up and shrugged. They didn't seem to mind too much. But I felt myself getting sleepier as it is and I was fast asleep once again.
There you go! That was Audrey's whole story. This was going to be a monster chapter (in my opinion reading anything more than 5K gets a little tedious) so I split it into two chapters. Next one is the offical end of the story where it should clear all of the loose ends. Please comment about the loose end you want tied up so I make sure to incorporate all of them. Thank you so much for reading!