~*~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.
Hey Noelle! I just read all 14 chapters and I'm loving it!! Marvelous job! Can't wait for the next one to come out:) Hope you guys are doing well. - Mackenzie (your cousin) :))))
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks a bunch! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)
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