Infinity and Beyond
-Chapter 18-
Coup de Grace, Part One
Mommy leads me up a set of stairs and past two men as she puts her black purse and cellphone on a white table. The man on the other side of the table takes it. In front of us is what almost looks like a door frame, but there's no door. The frame is mostly white. 'Metal detector: a device used to detect metallic weapons'.
Mommy lets go of my hand. "Alright sweetie, just follow mommy after mommy walks through that thing, okay?" Mommy points to the white frame.
"Okay, mommy." I nod. Mommy smiles before walking through the white frame. Then she turns back to me. "Come here, sweetie." She waves at me, smiling. "Come to mommy."
I bite my bottom lip as I take little steps until I pass the white frame. I squeeze my eyes shut as I walk through it. I still don't know what that thing does. I don't open my almond-shaped dark brown eyes until I feel mommy hug me. "Good girl." She murmurs to me before taking my hand and getting her purse and cellphone back.
Mommy leads me to a place where there's glass everywhere and there are lots of blue things hanging up. 'Banners.' Computer mama tells me before I see a man unrolling a blue rug.
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"Eleven minutes." Alex says. "That's how long it will take to kill Prince Erik of Georgia." She turns to mommy.
"And you'll be posing as members of Georgian Armed forced." Mommy nods before saying something else, but I'm playing with mommy's necklace so I'm not really listening.
"So Georgia's president hired Division?" Alex frowns as she sits down next to mommy.
"They dress up as his own guys now." Mommy shakes her head. "It's definitely a false flag mission. Someone wants the president to take the fall for killing the prince."
"Good way to start a coup." Alex mutters before turning her attention to the TV.
"...And I warned her that I uh... don't own a castle." The man on the TV says. "But she still said yes."
"I did buy him some shiny garment for a wedding present." The blonde woman sitting next to him says.
"Yes, very difficult to get dry cleaned." He says.
"I can imagine." An older blonde woman sitting in front of them laughs. "But Princess Kristina, you're also from royalty, correct?"
"Yes, Erik and I both come from families with claims to the throne." Princess Kristina says. "And uniting our bloodline has given our supporters a huge boost. But beyond that, I've always taken my heritage seriously. That's why I'm so excited about the crown jewel exhibit we brought to America."
I hear a beep as mommy presses a button on the remote. "That's pretty high profile OP for your first mission. Michael must really believe in you."
"No, Michael's not in on it." Alex shakes her head as she stands up and walks to a table.
"He's not?" Mommy asks.
"You know how he feels about Percy's missions for hire." Alex says as she pours some water for herself. "Besides he's busy reconfiguring Division's defenses. You exposed some pretty big holes when you busted out of there." She smiles at mommy before drinking her water.
I stand up and walk over to her, the necklace still in my hand. I pull on her shirt. "Can I have some? I'm thirsty." I look up at her.
"Sure." She smiles before crouching down and feeding it to me. "Here, drink slowly, don't choke." She stands back up once I'm done.
"Has he asked about me?" Mommy frowns. "In operational context, that is."
"Not lately." Alex says. Mommy looks a little sad so I walk over to her and climb onto her lap. I give her a big hug. I hear mommy laugh quietly.
"So what was the deal with you and Michael?" Alex clears her throat.
"Let's just focus on the mission." Mommy says quietly. "What kind of intel does Division have?"
"Everything." Alex says. "Security detail, personnel list, itinerary for the royal couple, all official."
"We're going to need to get a copy of those..." Mommy tells her.
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After mommy and Alex are done talking, Alex went home. Mommy walks over to me as I'm still playing with her necklace while I'm sitting on the floor. "Oh sweetie, you got my necklace all tangled." Mommy smiles as she hugs me from behind.
"Just like my hair." I grin.
"Yes sweetie." Mommy laughs. "Just like your hair." She turns me around before picking me up. "Now I've to fix your hair and my necklace." She kisses my neck before walking to where the hairbrush is. I giggle as I hug mommy.
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"It won't be easy." Mommy tells Alex as I'm playing with blocks. "Has to be someone with an inside source. Someone with top-level clearance." Mommy's typing something on the computer. "General Anton Zahidov. Head of intelligence services. He had have the most gain from an assassination. Looks like Zahidov's been openly critical of the president. With some popular support, he can start an uprising."
"He'll have plenty of it after the prince's assassinated." Alex says from beside her. "So we need to get to the prince."
"Zahidov's security will be watching him like a hawk." Mommy says.
"What about Kristina?" Alex frowns, making mommy look at her. "You want to get past Jafar, you go straight to Princess Jasmine, right?"
"Good." Mommy looks happy as she nods. "Now we're gonna cover to get to the museum event. We'll be in and out before Division even gets there." Mommy smiles.
"Sounds easy enough." Alex says, but she sounds a little nervous. She turns to Mommy, smiling. "So this is us, on the outside, working together."
"Whole new world." Mommy smiles back as I stack my blocks higher and higher like a tower.
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After Alex leaves, Mommy walks over to me and picks me up. I smile and hug her. "Are we going somewhere, mommy?"
"Not yet." Mommy smiles before walking back to the computer with me in her arms. She sits down with me on her lap. Mommy's playing with pictures of pretty diamonds on the computer.
"It's shiny, mommy." I point to it.
"Yes, it is." Mommy nods as she continues to play with the pictures. After she's done, she prints it out and looks at it. Then, she turns to me. "You wanna go and see the real thing?"
"Can we?" My eyes widen happily.
"Of course." Mommy smile.
"Yay!" I clap my hands together happily.
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Mommy takes me back to the place where there's glass everywhere. There are many pretty necklaces inside glass boxes, but I still think that mommy's much prettier. I bite my bottom lip as I giggle silently.
Mommy looks toward a woman wearing a shiny black jacket as she walks toward us. "Excuse me, miss..." Mommy stops her from walking away as she picks me up into her arms.
"Kateria, Leila Kateria." She smiles widely. She has an accent of some sort.
"Miss Kateria, I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's urgent that I speak with the princess." Mommy tells her.
"That may be difficult." Miss Kateria says. "Maybe later in the evening."
Mommy says something about a necklace. "Yes." Miss Kateria nods. "Right over there." She points it out to us.
"It's fake." Mommy tells her before opening the black folder in her hand quietly. "I wanna show you something, look at the chasing of the metal work, it has none of Pending's signature detail."
"You're certain?" Miss Kateria asks quietly.
"Look at the clarity of the stones, it's clearly all wrong." Mommy says. "Believe me, I've studied his work for many years."
"But the princess herself..."
"Hurried it in her collection I know." Mommy interrupts her. "Which is why I need to speak with her, save her the embarrassment for showing it in front of the media."
"Come with me." Miss Kateria nods as she leads us a few steps forward before a chubby man stops us.
"Who's this?" He asks. He has a funny accent too.
"She needs to speak to the princess." Miss Kateria tells him.
"What business?" He asks again.
"Couture." Miss Kateria answers.
He reaches out an empty hand before mommy gives the black folder to him. He checks it before giving it back to mommy. Miss Kateria continues to lead us forward.
"Don't mind him, someone forgot to take him out for a walk today." Miss Kateria tells us, making mommy laugh.
"One moment." She tells us before walking toward the blonde woman I've seen on TV. She says something to her before the blonde woman walks toward us with a big smile on her face. 'Princess Kristina.' I smile, mommy's prettier than a princess...
"I thought I knew all of Pending's experts." Princess Kristina shakes mommy's hand. "What an adorable little girl." She smiles at me. I smile back.
"Well, my expertise lies in a very specific area." Mommy says, making the princess frown a little. "Someone's going to kill your husband tonight." Mommy murmurs very quietly to her. "They know your every move and they'll strike within the hour." She hands the princess a piece of paper.
Princess Kristina's eyes widen. "This is my private itinerary."
"You need to warn the prince, now." Mommy whispers to her.
"Who are you?" Princess Kristina asks worriedly.
"A friend." Mommy answers quietly.
"Zehedov..." She calls out but mommy stops her.
"No, he's compromised." Mommy tells her quickly before Princess Kristina rushes over to him and whispers in his ear.
"I give him an excuse." Princess Kristina tells mommy after she walks back to us.
"Okay, you need to get out of here." Mommy says quietly as she quickly pulls her away with us.
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Princess Kristina leads us to a room where there are two men who sitting in front of many screens. "Gentlemen, could I trouble you for the room for a minute?" She asks them.
They silently stand up and leave before mommy walks over to an empty chair and sits down with me on her lap. "All the security tonight are our people, getting ready for his speech."
"I need to find him, get you two out." Mommy says as she's typing on the keyboard. "Is there any way you..."
Mommy's interrupted by a low buzzing sound before her head falls onto the table. "Mommy..." I whimper scaredly as I try to get one of my arms out as they're squished between mommy's body and the table. "Mommy, what's wrong?" I start crying a little.
"We've to get rid of her." Princess Kristina says to the man who's name is Zehedov. "Keep the child, we might have something to negotiate with."
The man nods silently before grabbing me roughly away from mommy. "No! I want mommy! Let go of me!" I cry loudly as I try to fight off his arms that are holding onto me tightly. "You hurt my mommy! I don't want to go with you!"
"Shut up!" He growls as he grabs me very tightly, it makes me hurt a lot. I scream as more tears fall out of my eyes. "Mommy, help me! It hurts..."
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Vision
"I'll be right there." Zahedov said into a black speaker as he wheeled a large white box-like thing into a room where there are a lot of these box-like things. He stopped pulled it. 'Nikita's in there.'
He pulled out a knife. I'm scared as I gasp loudly. I feel goosebumps pop up my olive skin as I'm starting to cry again. He was going to hurt mommy again.
He flipped open the white cover and mommy jumped up right away. I smile happily, she was okay. Mommy fought him.
She wrapped a white cover around his neck and with a quick crack sound. Zehedov looked like he had fallen asleep as he fell into the empty box-like thing. 'It's a laundry basket.' I frown and tilt my head. Who would have that much dirty clothes?
She wheeled it to a wall, then she walked over to where there was a large wooden box. She took off her scary high-heeled shoes and broke their heels by hitting it on the edge of the wooden box before putting them back on.
"The child is in position for trade by the lecture hall..." Sound came out of the black speakers.
"I'll be right there, sweetie..." I hear her muttering very quietly as she ran off...
End Vision
Two men are standing beside me. I bite my bottom lip nervously as I try to stop crying. I'm scared, I hope mommy gets here soon.
Just then, I hear the sound of a fight. I turn around to see mommy knock a man down. Mommy fights off some men as the two men who are standing beside me joins in.
Mommy knocks all the other men down before grabbing the man I've seen on TV, Prince Erik. "What is this?" He asks nervously.
"Your life's in danger." Mommy mutters quietly as I quickly run over to her happily. "You've to come with me." Mommy tells him as she quickly picks me up with her free arm.
We hear gunshots as we see people wearing black clothes with big guns shooting. Everybody else's screaming. "Who are they?" Prince Erik pants quietly. "Who are you?"
"Intros later." Mommy tells him. "Now run!" She pushes him toward the stairs as she follows him with me in her arms.
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"Can we stop?" Erik pants as we run past white screen-like things. "What's going on?"
"People are trying to kill you." Mommy mutters to him as she leads him to hide behind a wall. Her eyes are on a moving black camera.
"I gathered that." Erik says quietly.
"Mommy, I'm scared." I whimper as I hug her tightly.
"Shh, it's okay." Mommy whispers into my ear as she hugs me back. "Nothing bad is going to happen."
"Why?" Erik asks as mommy leads him away from the wall to two big glass cases, crouching down halfway.
"Power." Mommy answers him as they crouch down completely. "Who? Well, Zahidov's in on it. So is Kristina." Mommy says before getting up again and leading him to another wall.
"Kristina?!" Erik sounds surprised as he follows behind her quietly. "I never thought she would go this far."
"What do you mean go this far?" Mommy asks as she starts moving again. "Go." She tells him as Erik walks quietly across from her.
"The wedding." Erik says. "Our marriage, it was something for people to rally around. Our families thought that together we could restore constitutional monarchy to Georgia. The way it's been for the Russians."
"Sounds good." Mommy says as she moves slowly forward, her eyes still on the camera. "What happened?"
"I told Kristina that I was done after this trip." Erik says. "I'm giving up the throne."
"Why?" Mommy frowns again, but Erik just pants and don't answer her, but mommy seems to understand. "You don't love her." Mommy nods. I tilt my oval-shaped face toward mommy and put my lips on her cheek. I love mommy!
Mommy smiles and rubs my head. "I love you too."
"People in love don't try to kill each other." Erik says as he continues following mommy.
"Are you serious?" Mommy sounds annoyed before leading him away again.
"I'm in love with someone else." Erik says. "Leila."
"Leila, the assistant?" Mommy's eyes widen. I smile, I like Leila, she seems nice.
"It's not what you think." Erik says, making me tilt my head silently. How does he know what mommy's thinking? "Kristina knows, I told her, she doesn't care."
"Apparently, she does." Mommy tells him. "You step down, she loses her path to power. In the other hand, you die a martyr, she rides that way with sympathy to the throne."
Erik lets out a quiet sigh before mommy continues. "Do you trust Leila?"
"With my life." Erik nods.
"Good." Mommy says as she looks down at the black walkie talkie in her hands as she turns a round button-like thing on it. "That's what I'm gonna do."
"What's this?" Erik asks.
"Leila has a headset on." Mommy answers. "It wasn't hard to find the frequency. I need you to get a message to her." She throws the walkie talkie to Erik.
"Leila, can you hear me?" Erik talks through the walkie talkie.
"Erik?" Leila's voice sounds.
"Shh." Erik says. "Don't talk. Are you okay?"
"Yes." She says.
"Thank god you're okay." Erik breathes out. "I'm going to save you, alright? You need to know something. Kristina's behind this." Erik gives the walkie talkie back to mommy after that.
"Leila." Mommy says into the walkie talkie. "Do you see the terrorist, the brunette? Give her your headset, don't worry, she won't hurt you."
After a moment of different sounds, mommy speaks up again. "Alex, it's me."
"Where are you?" Alex says.
"I'm safe." Mommy tells her. "I've the prince, I'm guessing the agents are looking for us?"
"Two." Alex says.
"Okay, here's what I need you to do." Mommy says. "There's a trigger for a silent alarm in the security office, I saw it earlier. I need you to trip it."
There's a moment where a muffled guy's voice sounds, and then Alex speaks up again. "It's Nikita! Listen bitch, I caught you once and I can do it again."
I bite down on my red lips. I know they're doing that thing where they're pretending to fight. I don't know why grown-ups do that...
"Can you get to the security office?" Mommy says.
"I think you know the answer to that." Alex says.
"Good." Mommy says. "The prince will be safe with the police, but I can't get to them. You need to bring them to us. You and the other agents, you can just surrender, Percy will save you."
"You're never getting out!" Alex says as she's pretending to be mean again.
"Another thing, the woman, who give you the headset, she's with us." Mommy says. "Protect her."
There's a moment of silence and then Alex's muffled voice. 'She's giving the headset to another agent.'
"I'll give you one chance." Mommy speaks up again. "Leave now and none of you will get hurt."
"The fact that you want us out, means you're still in here." He says scarily. "That means we'll eventually find you."
"You can try." Mommy says. "But you'll have to divide your forces. Those hostages are gonna want to leave."
"You think you can wait us out?" He says as if he doesn't really believe what he's saying.
"Here's a better question, at what point do you think Percy would chop this mission up as a failure?" Mommy says, she doesn't sound worried at all... "When I was at Division... I mean, I never got one of those demurs, but I hear they suck."
Just then, there's a quick click of a door opening as someone walks in. Mommy quickly hugs me closer and shrinks back further into a hidden corner. I feel goosebumps pop up on my olive skin as I'm starting to get scared...
"Think about it." Mommy whispers into the walkie talkie again before putting it down. Her eyes are on two grown-ups who's head and face are hidden by a black wool hat, but they're carrying machine guns as they're walking around the room.
I feel my almond-shaped dark brown eyes getting wet, and stingy. I'm going to cry soon as I grab onto mommy tighter. I'm scared...
"Check back there." One of the grown-ups say as mommy whispers very quietly into my ear. "Stay here, don't move, and don't make a sound." She says before letting go of me as she quickly grabs a big, silver pole-like thing that has a big circley plate-like thing on one side.
She sneaks up behind them and attacks them before a real fight starts. I hear gunshots as I quickly squeeze my eyes shut nervously. I really hope mommy's okay. I don't want mommy to get hurt, if she's hurt, it will make me hurt too, and then I'll cry a lot.
"We'll get you." A man's voice sounds loudly from the speakers. I sniffle and whimper as I'm crying a little. I don't open my eyes until I feel mommy picking me up again.
"Shh, it's okay." Mommy whispers softly to me before picking up a sword from a scary costume. She walks over to where the big black camera is and cuts it off.
Then, she drops the sword and picks up the two machine guns. "We gotta go." Mommy says quickly to Erik, who's just standing there. "Come on!" She leads him out of the room with a run.
Mommy and Erik runs up to the rooftop. I can hear the sound of sirens. My oval-shaped face smile. I like the sound of sirens. "Wee-woo, wee-woo." I hum quietly along with the sirens.
"You need to go." Mommy says to Erik. "Police will protect you."
"I'm not leaving, not without Leila." Erik shakes his head.
"I'm going back for her." Mommy tells him. "You need to get to safety."
"I'm willing to give up the throne for this woman." Erik pants. "I'm not going to run when she needs me the most."
"Love over duty, huh?" Mommy mutters.
"Who wouldn't make that choice?" Erik shakes his head.
Mommy looks sad. "I know someone." She sounds like she's going to cry soon.
"I love you, mommy." I hug her tighter and tilt my head as my lips touch her cheek. "Don't be sad."
"I love you too, honey." Mommy smiles a little before kissing me on the cheek. Then she looks to Erik again. "We're not going anywhere." Mommy gives him a machine gun before leading him back into the building...
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Author's note: Hey, guys, sorry I haven't updated for so long, but here'a the next chapter. I promise I'll update sooner so please review!