Balance (63 page)

The elevator stops moving.  She feel
s a breath on her cheek,
like butterfly wings,
an angel whispers into her ear,
“Come back to me sister, please come back to me … I love
you
.”

The doors open.  A flurry of movement and anoth
er body joins her on the ground, followed by the sound of rubber-soled shoes
on tile fading into the distance.
F
eet
and legs run
toward her, t
hen
Rena
sees him.  S
o
far
away,
he
descend
s
like an angel,
a
dark
shape,
his
long
black
coat bill
owing out behind him
,
wings.
H
e moves so fast
, un-naturally fast,
everything else seems to move in slow motion
. 
M
o
re bodies join her on the floo
r, she watches as
this
arch
angel dispens
es
death with
vengeance.

It’s quiet now, no more movement, no more anything
…
only the chill of death. 
She can hear him
…
the
n
death’s
dark
shroud
envelops
her.  S
he closes her eyes … ready to be taken.

Rena wakes,
her eyes fearfully darting back and forth.  Taking in her world, she hopes against hope she’s not alone, wishing Michael were there to take away the shadows.  S
canning
the
silent
,
dark room, t
he only light
emanates
from the
machines
attached
to h
er.  She thinks about Meg,
Waters
and
finally
Michael, the people who love
her
and those she has come to love
.
S
he think
s
about
all the pain she has caused and all the pain she will cause in the future.  Pulling the sheets up to her face, she cries.

Running
for
nearly
an hour, the extreme training regime Michael and Rena
put her through
proving
invaluable,
Meg
finally
rests, finding herself in
a
n
Elite
business di
strict. 
Staying to the shadows, and away from surveillance cameras, she locates
an upscale
nightclub
.
Hiding
the server data
i
n an alley, she
w
ork
s
her way thro
ugh the crowd then back outside.  R
etrieving the storage device
and removing
a
few hundred
Euros
from four wallets she appropriated, Meg departs the district
,
dispos
ing
of
the evidence down
a
sewer.

Relocating
to a seedier part of the city,
she
us
es
her stolen funds to
secur
e
a room for the nig
ht. 
Locking
herself ins
ide,
she
sit
s
down on the bed
, finally able to relax and contemplate the events of the last three hours
. 
Removing
the envelope from her pocket
, Meg
stares at it, hoping that
whatever’s written inside
,
will not be the last words Rena ever says to her
.

Slowly, as if defusing a bomb, she
tears the envelope
open. 
Inside, she
finds a letter
, written on stationary,
and a card with a name and numbers
printed on it.  R
eco
gnizing Rena’s handwriting, Meg
covers
her face
with her hands
, crying into them for
comfort.  “Please Rena …
please live.”

Dear Megan.

My dear little sister, if you’re reading this letter, I am so proud of you.  First things first, you did what you had to
and what I needed you to do. 
Let’s
hope
the anatomy lessons pay off.  Don’t shed tears for me, I don’t deserve them.

As I told you, your life was in danger.  I know, you’re probably saying to yourself that all our lives are at risk.  I don’t disagree, but your situation was different
.

Takada felt I had become too valuable to al
low in
the field anymore.  The relationship I s
hared with Michael was also too important to his effectiveness.
S
o the solu
tion was to bring in a third
that could replace me in the field
, s
omeone
with whom,
Michael and I would
form a
bond,
a bond
used to keep us in check
.

Takada left it to Michael and
I
to pick the third, only we w
ere not made aware of this plan
.

When I saved your life in the dining hall the first night, I sealed your fate
. 
I realized
later
Takada deemed you expendable
,
a
condition I could not live with.

Chris realized it too.  Unfortunately
,
he could say or do nothing for fear of all our lives.  Takada also did not intend fo
r you to bond with someone else
outside the team.  Chris does not know of any of this plan, nor does Michael.

I suspect the program I gave you is
at least
everything I said it was.  This program cannot
find its way
to
Chango or any
one else
.  I leave its fate in your capable hands.

Now, the part
I look forward to.  You are free.  I would recommend removing the chip, just in case.  I have been known to make mistakes, some end up leading us to someone we learn to love
.

This card is your ba
n
k account.  You are free to use it as you see fit.  For Michael and I, please live
.

This
part is up to you, I hope to contact you at least one more time.  I will
reach out to
you through your bank account
.

As you are probably wondering, Yes, I do have a plan
.

I hope
to see you soon
.

Love, Rena

Sisters

Meg rereads the letter, tea
rs of joy running down her face.
S
he whispers to herself, “Please live Rena, please live.”

Michael wake
s
with a start.

S
itting
naked
,
unable to move, his hands and
feet
las
hed to a chair.
B
een like this for what feels like days, sliding in and out of consciousness.  As much as this
is a punishment, it’
s a lesson,
an education for not only him
,
but Rena as well
.

It
’
s for
that reason …
for
R
ena;
he will not relent, taking
all
Takada has to offer
, all of his
anger
.

Michael understands
,
the more brutal the punishment
the
more important
the lesson.  At some point, there would be nothing gained in leveling an
y
retribution on
Rena
, nothing
more for
her
to learn. 
T
he pain a
nd anguish
she’ll
feel for
him
would be more than any
Takada
could inflict on her directly
.

Michael
knows he
has to hold out
,
as long as
it takes
.

Rena was right, Takada does know far more than the skills he
taught
. 
He
laughs, turns out Takada is one sadistic son-of-a-bitch, trained in some truly creative
means
of
torment
. 
He
tries to imagine
what
Takada’s
childhood
might
have
been
like.
W
hen could anyone have had enough time to learn all of
those
different
fighting
styles and
yet
found
time to pick up some truly twisted
methods
of
torture?

…

Rena wak
es.  S
he’s been in the infirmary for two weeks, in and out of
consciousness
, losing track of time
… sedatives.  Michael’
s been
in
to see her
, but it seems like days since she
last
saw him
; when
,
she can’
t remember.  The
realization
bring
s
her
mind
completely
in
to
focus
, pushing through the drugs
.
 
Terrified, s
he
starts pulling
the tubes from her arms.

“
Rena dear, what are you doing?
”
Ms. Smith
’s voice alerts
her to another’s presence in the room
.

“Where’s Michael?  Where’s Michael dammit?”

“Easy dear,
i
t’s okay.” 
Ms. Smith
step
s
to
the side of
Rena’s
bed
, deep concern etched across her face
.

“Where’s Michael?”  Rena asks, fea
r and anger
in her voice
, tears forming in her eyes
.

“He’s okay.  He had a training accident.  He’s been resting in your quarters.” 
Ms. Smith
explains
, looking
anxious
.

“Training accident
…
?
”  Rena can tell by the look on
Ms. Smith
’s
face
,
this
is the story
ordered
to
give
.  Michael did not have an ac
cident.
Takada punished him, to punish her for messing up.  The tear
s
flow
from her eyes
.

Ms. Smith
exhales
,
her
fear subsiding
…
Rena
understan
ds.  Takada will not
punish her as well.
 
“Rena, you are the strongest
,
most intelligent young wom
a
n I’ve ever met
.  Remember that
.
  Now, please just rest.
” 
Kissing
the broken girl
on the forehead
, and w
aiting
until she falls back to sleep,
Ms. Smith
departs, headed to Takada’s office with her recommendation
.

Early
morning
, Waters’ arrival
is
met with contained frustration.  W
aiting
impatiently for an hour, Rena has
not seen Michael for almost the entire
three weeks
she’
s been
in the infirmary
. 
She
understands …
the
‘accident’ was to
make a point to both of them
.

“Have you seen him?  Is he okay?” She asks once they are out of the infirmary
and away from intrusive ears
.

Waters leans forward, whispering,
“He’ll be okay.  He didn’t want to worry you, so he stayed away.
”

“How bad was it?
” She
asks, her voice cracking with the pain of knowing what really happened.

“
He looks better than he did.  Rena, he withstood a lot during the ‘accident’, more than anyone
has
.  I think that may have actually helped your situation, concerning admirers.”

“Please don’t say that, it’s bad enough my mistakes are getting the people I love hurt.”

“Sometimes
,
they’re
not mistakes.”

“I don’t understand.” Rena
replies
, feigning
puzzlement, fully comprehending
Waters
’
impl
ication
,
unwilling to get anyone else pulled into her nightmare.

After a short walk with no further discussion, Rena’s mind
distracted
, worried about Michael, t
hey arrive at
her
residence
. 
She
hesitates
, afraid to go in, r
a
ising her trembling hand to touch the handle,
and
then
pulling it back
,
as if she touched something hot.

Kneeling
down next to her,
Waters
tak
es
her hand
s
in his, “Rena, I’ve talked to him.  He
would’ve
taken ten-times the
punishment for what you d
id, or did
no
t do.  As for me, I could not have done what you two have …
thank you.”
  He kisses her hand, then stands and
opens the door for her
.

She waits a moment
before
continuing
into the
dwelling alone
. 
The door closes behind her, preventing her withdrawal. 
The shared
common
room
is
quiet, dimmed.  She starts trembling, feeling
abandoned
and lost. 
Tears running down her
cheeks
, s
he lowers her
face
into her hands, down into her lap
.

No idea how long she’d
been
there
when
his strong ar
ms wrap around her shoulders.  S
he
refuses
to
look up, afraid of what she’ll see.

Michael, kneeling in front of her, whispers,
“You know, someday you
’re going to have to look at me
or I’m going to develop a complex.
”

The moment of levity lifts her spirits.
Rising her head, she gazes on Michael’s face.  She closes her eyes,
as sobs rack her body
. 
“Oh Michael, I’m so sorry.”
She cries.

“Rena, you
and I
knew going in. 
We did the right thing.  I’d do it again, no questions asked.  On a twisted note, Takada has many skills he hasn’t shared.”
He says softly
, another attempt at levity
.

“Michael … I’m tired of people getting hurt on account of me. 
M
y life does not justify the pain of others.”

“Whoa, what are you saying?
  I beg to disagree.
” Michael
professes;
worried
she might
try to do some
thing
rash
.

“I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.  Seems like whatever I do, whatever I say, someone gets
put in danger to protect me.
”

“Rena, don’t you understand
,
that
’s
what he wants.  Takada
wants
you to feel helpless
, isolated
.  Once he
has you so worried
about hurting others, he’
ll
have
all the
leverage
he needs
.  He’ll beat
you
and beat you, causing so much pain,
you
’ll
want to give
up
, just to make the pain stop. 
At
that moment,
just as you want to relent,
you have to stop, step back and
search for the reason you
were willing to put yourself through the pain.  You ask yourself … ‘Is it worth it?’ … Only then can you make that choice.”

“Michael …
A
re you s
ure it was
worth it.” Rena looks
down
,
not wanting to see
his
eyes, to face the truth
.

He
lifts her chin
so she can see his battered face, look
past
his
bruised
eyes and
into
his soul, “Rena, there is no amount of pain
,
no amount of torture,
he could inflict
on me that would make me question whether you are worth it.
”

“Why would you say that?
” She
asks, tears
filling
her eyes.

“
Until I met you, I was just a
shell
,
living from day to day. 
I see in you a desire to do the right thing and I see in you the person who will actually know what the right thing is.
” His eyes fixed on hers, unwilling to let her question the truth in
h
is answer, “
And most importantly, because
, quite simply …
I love you.
”

“So what now?”

“So now, you show me the right thing to do and we don’t stop until it’s done.” Michael expressing more conviction then she’d ever seen him
exhibit
.

“What about Takada?”

“The way I see it …
Chango can’t be too happy
he
was in charge when the program was lost
and
his best asset almost got killed, by the very asset
Takada
brought in to protect her
.  So regardless of w
hat you think you did wrong
, Meg’s escape did far more damage to Takada, than he could do to you or I.  Remember, Takada has much to lose as well.”