Stone drove his rental car toward JFK airport. He had received a text that Freya’s return ticket had been booked and her plane was to arrive in a few hours. That gave him plenty of time to think about exactly what had happened over the past day.
And none of it was good.
He ignored the no smoking clause on his rental car contract by lighting a cigarette. He kept the windows up for good measure. Let Cole fine him. Besides, why would they put a cigarette lighter in a car if they did not want you to smoke in it?
Stone began to feel calm as the nicotine entered his system, but he was still troubled. His cellphone rang and the caller ID flashed the fake pizza number that Cole used as cover.
“It’s me,” Stone said.
“Stone, what happened?” Ben asked.
“They’re no longer a problem,” Stone said.
“They are both still alive and they know about you,” Ben said. “How is that not a problem?”
“They don’t know jack!” Stone said. “The only documentation they had was my military record and I took it. Everything else was just rumors. I put the fear of God in them. They think I’m some kind of alien.”
”That’s not the point. The targets were to be sanitized.”
Stone heard Ben groan. He could almost see him leaning his forehead on his hand.
“Did you at least find out who they got their information from?”
Stone took a deep drag on his cigarette.
“An admiral named Sandoval. Billy had been blackmailing him for years.”
There was a pause on the line as Ben typed in Sandoval’s name in the search bar. Instantly, his entire military career was displayed on Ben’s computer. There had been rumors that the admiral had been sexually promiscuous with several of his aides over the years, but in each of the cases, all charges were dropped for lack of proof.
Ben found a recent record where the admiral accused his lieutenant of breaching national security. Several of the files involved classified NASA activity, but Ben noted that one of the files accessed was Winston Smith’s military file. In a matter of moments, Ben made sure that the lieutenant would be reinstated and his record cleared. A few more clicks guaranteed that the admiral would have a very bad day tomorrow.
“We will discuss this once you return to the office,” Ben finally said. “I see Freya has booked her return tickets.”
“I should be at JFK in a couple of hours,” Stone said, dragging deeply on his cigarette. “You know, Cole, sometimes I really hate this job.”
Ben paused as an alert came across his monitor. Several reports were coming in from Scotland, detailing a mass murder on one of the island chains north of the mainland. He tagged the reports for further investigation and returned his attention to Stone.
“I will continue to search for your mother per our agreement,” he said, knowing that there was no way Stone would ever find out that she was only an hour away from his present location.
Sometimes, Ben hated his job, too.
Stone thought about it for a moment. Did he really want to go through this again?
“Don’t bother,” he said. “I’m all ‘Mom’d out’ right now.”
“But your contract specifically calls for…” Ben began.
“Look, I don’t feel like talking business right now. I had a job to do, I made a field decision and I’ll take full responsibility for it, case closed.”
There was a pause on the other end and then the phone disconnected. Stone did not know whether it was because Cole had a heart or that he knew that Stone was in a mood.
Stone searched the radio until he found a hard rock station and cranked the speakers as loud as they would go. He needed to clear his mind before he picked up Freya. There was no sense in raining on her parade.
He hoped she had fun visiting the land of her ancestors.
Freya numbly watched from her window seat as the plane approached the American coastline. Not too long ago, she marveled at the thought of flying in an airplane. Seeing clouds from the other side was an unbelievable sight. But now, it was just another mode of transport — a machine to take her home.
Freya had learned more about Lakluun in her short time there than all the years her mother had spoken about it. Part of her had come to think of Lakluun as home, even as a part of her life, but now, that was no longer possible. She had been unable to sleep for most of the flight. For the past few hours, she had seen nothing but the Atlantic Ocean and her mind wandered aimlessly.
There was nothing she could ever do to bring Lakluun back to the way it was, nothing to win back her friendship with Eleanora. In a matter of days, she had destroyed a several thousand-year-old culture. What would her mother have thought? What would Sunny Joe think?
Those in Lakluun who had lived on some of the smaller islands still lived, but the entire upper caste of Lakluun society had been killed. She could still see the King in his armor. He looked so regal…
The thin slice of land on the horizon meant that her journey was nearly over, bringing her closer to home.
Home.
Freya felt guilty returning to the safety of the Sinanju reservation while Eleanora was struggling to rebuild her entire way of life. She hoped that Stone would be waiting for her at the airport. She really needed to talk to someone.
The moment Stone saw Freya emerge from the baggage section, red flags began going off in his mind. Her downcast face and numb walk did not remotely remind him of the bubbly, energetic sister he had last seen. As soon as she recognized him, she began running. When she reached him, she grabbed him in a tight hug.
Stone wondered what possibly could have happened to make her tremble.
“Sis, what’s wrong?”
Freya would not speak. She just continued to hold him tightly. After a minute, Stone pulled her back from him and looked into her eyes. They were bloodshot from crying.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Freya wiped her tears on her sleeves and looked around. People were already staring at her. “Not here,” she replied.
Stone walked with her until they found a gate that was not in service. They sat near the window, far away from the casual eyes of travelers lining the airport hallways.
And then they talked.
At first, Freya spoke of the good things — meeting new friends and learning about life in Lakluun. She spoke of the game and the food. She left out any mention of Mother until the end. And when she finally explained to Stone what had happened, a chill raced through his bones. After Mexico, he thought that she had gained control over the power.
“This is too big for us, Sis. We need to talk with Sunny Joe…or maybe even Remo.”
Freya’s eyes opened wide. She could not bear for her father to know what happened.
“Stone, I swear, I will tell Sunny Joe, but I need some time.”
“Sis, if you can’t trust Sunny Joe, you can’t trust anyone.”
Freya’s eyes began to well up again.
“I’m afraid of what he will think of me.”
Stone grabbed his sister and held her. Rebecca Fitzpatrick may not have been Stone’s real mother, but she was right about one thing: The world was a messy and violent place that made no sense.
Stone did not know what would happen next, how Sunny Joe would react to Freya’s news or how it would affect Sinanju’s relationship with the other world tribes. The Trial was the only thing keeping the tribes from warring with each other, and from what Freya told him, her attack would probably be seen by some of the other tribes as an act of war.
But as he looked at his sister sobbing next to him, he realized that was a problem for another day. They had each other and Sunny Joe.
For now, that was enough.
THE END
