The next morning
Saturday
It was in the early hours of the 26th December that I was awakened.
"Mindy, quick!"
It was Anne-Marie and she was in a panic, mumbling something about Stephanie. I jumped out of bed and followed my daughter upstairs to where I could hear sobbing. It was Stephanie and she was sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow. When I finally got her to talk, after carrying her downstairs to our bedroom, she kept saying the same sentence repeatedly.
"I killed them... I killed them..."
Dave had been awake when I had returned to the bedroom with Stephanie.
We were both more than a little concerned by her comments. Dave had a very grim expression on his face. I had no idea what it was all about, but it was obviously something from an early part of Stephanie's life.
Between us, we managed to calm the young girl down enough for us to find out what was going on. Stephanie explained that she had had a flashback about her parents' death, brought on by queries earlier that day and talk about adopting her, on Christmas Eve.
Over the space of an hour, she was able to recall the flashback.
...+...
"In this program, you will save the lives of our citizens..."
The voice was always the same; middle-aged, throaty and female. I had no idea who she was, but she spoke with a British accent; that in itself was strange as I knew full well that I was currently in the United States of America. The lecture was always something about patriotism, national pride and saving lives - usually American and British lives.
Never any other nationality, but the emphasis was on the British aspect, which I assumed was because I was British.
"As part of this program, you will need to sacrifice your old life..."
...+...
Stephanie was shaking as she detailed her thoughts and memories.
"I had been with them for about four weeks... I was prevented from sleeping... Noise in my cell – yes, it was a cell... I had been on holiday with my family and I was taken... Constant questions... Constant talking..."
I looked at Dave and his horrified expression mirrored my own.
...+...
Like always, I was in a small room.
I had no idea exactly where it was; I never did, but it looked like an examination room in a hospital. Against one wall was one of those wheeled hospital beds. In the middle of the room was a metal desk with a computer workstation sitting atop it.
Over in the farthest corner, were three occupied chairs with two adults, a male and female, and a young boy about the same age as me.
...+...
Stephanie began to cry again.
"Though they had hoods covering their heads, I knew exactly who they were. The hoods were not to hide their identities from me; but mine from them..."
I was still in the dark about exactly what was going on, but something at the back of my mind was adding things together and a nasty conclusion came into my mind, which I dismissed instantly as being too horrid to contemplate.
"They were my past – my family; my father, my mother and my younger brother, Jimmy..."
...+...
I became aware that there was someone beside me.
The owner of the voice; somehow, I felt that I knew her, but I had no idea who she was. She was thin, tall and horse-faced with greying dark hair. She was still lecturing me – as usual.
"An asset's greatest weakness are those who know them. People who know you can tell others about you; therefore, they must be eliminated..."
The woman stepped forward and stood before me. Her arm came up and in her hand was a pistol. I instantly recognised it as a Heckler & Koch P30SK.
...+...
The girl was shaking and sobbing, so we took a break and I went to get some water for Stephanie from the bathroom.
"Dave, I can't – it's too hard..."
"Take your time, Steph. However, I believe that you need to follow this through to the end. I have been through these things with Mindy and keeping things bottled up... Just trust me, you need to get it all out of your system and talk about it."
"I'll try..."
"That's good advice, Steph, believe me," I offered.
...+...
"Take this weapon and eliminate those closest to you. When you have done so, you will leave here not as who you were, but as Stephanie Walker."
Calmly, I took the weapon from the woman, grip first. I could tell it was loaded, by the weight – three rounds; one for each member of my family.
It was easy to do; it felt natural. Three gentle squeezes of the trigger and as the smoke from the gunshots was sucked away by the air-conditioning and the sound of the gunshots faded – three bodies lay dead. My family was dead.
The doctor walked over to them, pulled the hoods from the heads of their slumped bodies. I had shot all three in the head; instant, clean kills...
My first...
...+...
Holy, shit!
I stared at Dave, unable to speak. He was horror-struck, as was I. He held Stephanie tightly as she shook violently with each sob. I thought that my life had been fucked up – but I had never killed my own family as part of my brainwashing...
I just kept coming back to: holy, shit!
I felt for the girl, I really did.
I also wanted to kill that woman – she deserved to die; she deserved to suffer...
By the time we awoke, later that morning, Stephanie was back to her normal happy self.
She had stayed with us, in our room, on the couch. I had lain awake for quite a while, with Stephanie's story going around in my head. I was horrified, I was angry... Thank God we were getting away from Chicago for a week.
..._...
We all desperately needed a change of scene. Everybody was suffering from something, be it boredom, anxiety, PTSD – whatever... A holiday was required and what better than somewhere hot – a few weeks earlier, I had decided on the Caribbean; I had an asset there which should prove to be perfect.
Preparations had been ongoing since November.
"Can I see my passport?" Danny asked.
I grinned, handing it over and passing an identical looking one to his sister. I passed another to Stephanie.
"Wow!" Anne-Marie commented as she examined the small blue booklet.
I watched as Danny eagerly flicked to the photo page and he smiled happily. I knew why too.
"It says my surname is 'Lizewski'!" He announced proudly.
Anne-Marie dived to her own photo page and smiled too.
"Wondered if either of you would notice. You are both officially Lizewski kids!" I confirmed.
Anne-Marie then looked over at Stephanie.
"How come her passport is different?" She asked, noticing the differently coloured document.
I laughed, pleased with my daughter's powers of observation.
"Stephanie is British, so she has a British passport. You two are American citizens, so you have American passports."
Anne-Marie took Stephanie's passport while Stephanie took Anne-Marie's.
"European Union, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland," Anne-Marie read off the cover before flipping to the photo page – she laughed.
"You look a dork!"
"Says you, Yank!" Stephanie replied with a smirk as she held up Anne-Marie's photo.
..._...
I had enjoyed winding Chloe up before Christmas.
"Oh, Chloe?"
"Yeah!"
"You need to go shopping..."
"Cool – what do I need – besides another very revealing bikini?"
"Something to cover your body with – more specifically, a cocktail dress..."
"A cocktail dress?" Chloe repeated.
"Yeah..."
"Why?"
"Because we have been invited to a 'Cockers P', in Antigua."
Chloe looked majorly confused and a little wary.
"Sorry, I have absolutely no idea how to respond to that!" Chloe finally replied.
"It's a Royal Navy Cocktail Party; you know the Brits – they're a bit strange!" I went on to explain. "You remember Lieutenant Lawrence? He helped us during the Amber Alert at the beginning of October. Well, he is going to be in the Caribbean, in HMS Dragon, which is exercising with USS Churchill. They will both be alongside in Antigua when we are. Commander and Mrs Bennett were invited with guests – the Commander's daughter – you, and her partner – Joshua. Apparently, Mr and Mrs Lizewski rate their own invitation from the establishment!"
"I suppose that explains everything!" Chloe commented dryly.