Chapter 14 - The Truth

“Walter, why did I always go by my middle name, instead of my first name?” “Because you wanted to be different from your sister.” “My sister, huh?” I gripped the bar that I was practicing gymnastics on tight and swung myself up, balancing perfectly on my hands. “I remembered. I remembered something about her.” “Did you? What did you remember?” “I remembered that she killed someone.” “Who did she kill?” “I can't-” “Kathrine. Remember. Who did she kill?” There was a flash of light and a bright little boy's face appeared. Next moment I was on the ground, pains running all throughout my body.

~*~AK~*~

“Pepper.... Explain.” Blake looked at the young woman who still had her knife in hand, hanging limp at her side, and staring out the window. She turned and returned her knife to its hidden sheath.

“I have nothing to say,” she said, making a move to leave the room.

“Oh, yes you do,” Linton corrected, standing up tall and straight before her.

“Are you really the head of this organization, Pepper?” Sydney asked, huddling behind Jack.

Pepper looked back and forth between her comrades. Then she looked down at the ground and began her little narrative.

“Alameda and I were twins. We had a little brother, named Eri. Eri and Alameda were very close, and they always played together. Then, something happened and my mother and Eri were both killed. My father took care of us and taught us how to defend ourselves, but Alameda didn't seem to see it as that. My father started this organization as a way to get rid of all evil in the world. But Alameda just thought it was to help the criminals. She didn't understand. One day, she just hit the brink and killed our father. I don't really know what happened to her afterwards. I inherited the organization when I was just 12 years old. It wasn't too long after that that I first heard of Ally Kat. I realized it must be my sister, because Ally is a nickname for Alameda and Kat is a nickname for Kathrine. What she's been doing or why, I don't really know. I guess she wants to kill me because I took my father's side, and she couldn't see that our father was really the good guy. I think when our mother and brother were killed, she lost her memories, and after a while she came to assume that it was me and our father who killed them. And yes, I am the Head of the Organization. I'm with you guys though because I wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly throughout the entire thing.”

“What exactly was this event that happened that caused your mother and brother to die?” Jack asked.

“I don't know. I can't remember,” Pepper replied.

“So, then.... Who is the person on the inside? Who is Alameda's helper?” Linton asked.

Everyone just stared at each other. Nobody could make a guess as to who it could possibly be.

~*~

Blake walked back from work with many thoughts in his mind. He rented a room in a hotel, since his apartment was all messed up, then walked on to get his things and pack up. The police were swarming around the apartment building and Blake didn't want any fuss made over him, especially not now, so he walked down into the alley that lead to the back where his window was. It was dark out, and a warm breeze made the alley seem stuffy. The air smelled of smoke, which he imagined was from last night's dealings. As he walked, someone suddenly grabbed him from behind, their hand over his mouth. Blake struggled until he heard a soft voice whisper, “Blake, calm down, it's me.” Blake recognized Ally Kat's voice and stopped struggling. He turned to look at her. He couldn't see anything except for the blue and green glint of her eyes, reflecting the light of the moon.

“Ally Kat. What are you doing here?” he asked coldly.

“Blake, I'm sorry I had to meet you in such a terrible manner. I only wanted to explain things.”

“No need. Pepper's already explained everything.”

“Katrina? Don't tell me you believed her!”

“I also happen to know that you don't have very good memories of your past, you told me so.”

“The past doesn't matter, Blake. I have proof from right now that what the organization is doing is wrong. Absolutely and positively wrong.”

“What proof is that?”

“How about we go to your headquarters and show him everything, Ally?” another voice spoke.

“Jack? What are you doing here?” there was a moment of silence and then it dawned on him. “You're the inside man... aren't you? You... the only one I really relied on. You're the traitor?”

“Yes, and you will be too when you see what Ally Kat has found. Come on.”

“No. I'm going to report this to the Head.”

There was the sound of a gun cocking and Blake felt the end of a pistol at his head.

“I hate to have to bring you in by force, Blake, but there's no time, and you have to see this,” Ally Kat insisted.

He was lead by gunpoint to a car a ways down the street. They all got in and Jack drove them into the outskirts of town while Ally Kat kept her eye on Blake.

“Here we are,” Jack said as they pulled up in a driveway. The house was a large cottage overlooking a small lagoon. They led Blake inside the structure and stepped into a completely normal place for living. They passed through the living room which had a fireplace and, on the mantle, Blake saw pictures. One showed the same cowboy who had been killed holding on to a little girl who had the brightest smile on. Another showed the cowboy holding the same girl and a little boy as well, with another girl sulking in the background. A different picture showed an older version of the first girl standing next to the cowboy. Blake could easily tell that these were pictures of Ally Kat, Pepper and their little brother Eri.

“Alameda, I thought you said that the cowboy was the person who raised you,” Blake spoke.

“He was.”

“But wouldn't that have been after your father died?”

“Yes. But he knew us before that. He was the only one that knew the truth about what happened. But he never told me about it because he wanted me to find my memories on my own without any help from anyone.”

“I see....” Blake was just silent after that. “Then this must have been the place she grew up in from the time she was 12 to the time she moved out,” he thought. It gave him a strange feeling to be in that place. They continued on into a room with nothing but junk in it. Ally Kat picked up a rug and threw it aside, revealing a trapdoor underneath. The room below was completely empty, but Ally Kat warned them to only step where she did or else they would trigger one of the traps. When they reached the other side of the room, Alameda inputed a passcode into the security system next to the door which slid open.

“This place is well guarded,” Blake commented.

“It has to be. Do you know how many times the organization as tried to find this hideout and destroy it? It's because I have all the information that this organization wants to keep a secret from the rest of the world.”

They entered into a room with a giant computer and a ton of little locked compartments. There was also a second trapdoor which wasn't hidden leading to who-knows-where. Ally Kat sat down at the computer and began typing in a ton of different passwords to get in. Then she brought up a file and indicated for Blake to take a closer look at it. He leaned forward over the keyboard and his eyes widened as he read.

“The organization's true mission: To aid criminals in their crime, provide a place for them to hide out or to give them a mission to follow for those who have exhausted their usual ways of getting money, in exchange for %10 of their earnings.”

Following this introduction was a list of all the criminals who were doing missions for the organization or getting help from the organization. As Blake read some of the missions they were doing, he looked away and said, “Okay, okay, I've seen enough.”

“Do you believe me now?” Alameda asked him.

“This information was taken straight from the organization's computer by Ally Kat when she was thirteen years old. That's when I caught her and she showed me this. I've been helping her out ever since then,” Jack explained.

“Alameda.... What... what do you want me to do?” Blake gazed at Ally Kat with a new determination in his eye. Seeing some of the crimes of these people that he himself caught and handed over to the very people who were aiding them gave him a new vigor to help Ally Kat win against the organization.

“Ah! I knew you wouldn't fail me, Blake!” Ally Kat exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Alameda? Is your real personality Ally Kat's personality or Alameda's personality?”

Alameda laughed. “Of course it's Ally Kat's, silly! Ally Kat's mask is just because it would be weird to wear a mask and try to socialize with normal people without getting mistaken for a burglar. But my real mask was the one I wore when I was Alameda Bryce.”

“So, if I ask you to be my girlfriend while you're your true self, will you say yes? The only reason you said no before was because I didn't know you, right?”

“Nope! I lied. I said no simply because I didn't like you.”

“Boy, Blake, what a blow to your pride,” Jack laughed.

“Be quiet,” Blake sulked.

“Yes! Alright, time to get to work!” Ally Kat said, slamming her fist into her open hand in determination.

They spent all the rest of that night and day working out a plan. They simply didn't go into work at all, since it wasn't likely they would be traced to where they were.

“Ally, when you come face to face with your sister, are you really going to kill her?” Blake asked.

“I don't remember much, but I know I killed my father. I'm just finishing up the job I started is all,” she replied.

“Do as you like. But I think you would be better off leaving it to the police,” Blake said.

“You would say that,” Alameda replied.

“You don't really know what happened under the circumstances with your father. You might have killed him, but then, it might have simply been something out of self-defense. That's way different than seeking to murder someone.”

“Killing is killing. No matter what way you look at it, I'm guilty of murdering my father. Since I'm already guilty, why put this job on someone else who isn't?”

“But that was yesterday. Tomorrow you have a clean slate. Why dirty that one up as well?”

Alameda paused.

“This is just something I have to do. She's the one who killed Eri.”

“How do you know?”

Alameda was looking down, but Blake saw a single tear slide down her cheek and drop from her chin.

“That's the only memory I have. The memory of Katrina taking up her knife and stabbing Eri over and over again. What would you do if that was the only clear memory you had?”

“....I suppose I would want revenge. But that doesn't make it right.”

They all went to bed soon after that and slept through the day. That evening they got ready to put their plan into motion.