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Lilly finished taping up the last box and slid it with her foot across the floor to join the others by the wall. Her twin sister walked into the room with several photographs in her hand just as the door opened and Ben Madison popped his head in.
“You girls ready, we should have been out of here ten minutes ago. Don’t want to drag this out. That nosy little super is always driving around. I haven’t spotted anyone else, but let’s get a move on. You checked everything out?”
The girls looked at each other. “Yes,” Kate nodded, “it’s all back to normal. I compared the whole place to the pictures we took before I moved in. We put it back correctly.”
“Well, make sure,” Ben, said, “Don’t want you to leave anything personal behind.”
“I’ve already wiped the place down,” Lilly said, “it’s clean of Kate’s prints.”
The sisters picked up the rest of the boxes and headed for the door. Taking a quick peek outside, Ben motioned them to follow and close up the place behind them. “I feel bad about doing this,” Kate said, as she walked down the steps, quickly wiping away a rebellious tear threatening to blur her vision. “He is a great guy and doesn’t deserve this.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lilly answered. “Don’t go getting mopey again. You knew this was a difficult assignment, and you had to be out of here soon. It was necessary to cut it off with Matt one of these days anyway; we just needed to cut the job a little shorter than we expected. Ben wouldn’t have pulled you out today, but since Matt got those hockey tickets, he didn’t have a choice. You would have been seen by a lot of people at the game, and the dome is televised. We can’t take the chance their cameras might pick you up in the crowd, or you could be seen on TV, there would be a record of you. It’s much harder for you to disappear if there is evidence of you on tape. Just in case Matt goes looking for you. Police could check on seat tickets, people around you would swear you were there. They’d be able to describe you.
“It was different with the neighbors and people around here. No one has paid any attention to you, that’s how people are, but the hockey game would have been a different story. You know that. Besides we’ve talked about this many times, it’s just a job. National security and all that stuff ... have to save the world you know.”
“Yeah, right.” Kate could barely answer. Her mind was on the past morning, and the feel of Matt’s arms around her.
“Do you think he might look for me?” she asked, a bit of hope brightening her heart. “Just once I would like to hang onto some normalcy in my life. You know, be the person a man like Matt wanted to come home to and live a normal life.”
“Yeah, you will someday. If it’s meant to be, you will find someone like Matt again. I believe that.” Lilly said, giving her sister a quick hug.
“It’s hard to explain, but from the day I met him, I could tell Matt was perfect for me. He’s been through a lot. I didn’t have to pretend much. It was easy to try and make him happy. Make him believe he deserved to be happy. He has horrible baggage he carries with him. Pain he doesn’t deserve. It’s so sad I have to hurt him like this, and he’ll never know why ... or what happened.”
“You know that’s Ben’s way. He doesn’t like loose ends, and Matt knowing who you are would just cause problems, and—”
“Got it all?” Ben interrupted.
“Yes.”
“Okay, then lock it up and let’s move.”
“Done,” Lilly said, throwing a warning look at Kate. “You’ll be okay, I promise.” Ben started the van. They had learned all they could from Matt. It was time to end the assignment.
***
KATE CHAMPION AND HER sister Lilly had worked with Ben Madison and the CIA for more than eight years. They were recruited right out of high school. Both girls were national honor students and graduated at the top of their class, earning their highest awards in science and math. When Ben first approached them with the prospect of working for the government, neither girl took him seriously, but eventually, they were convinced enough to sit down and listen to him with open minds.
Ben had been with the agency for nearly twenty-seven years and was one of their main recruiters. He drafted over eighty government employees. His job was to identify potential employees from every region of the country to work in over twenty-two different departments of the government. If he took a personal interest in the employees, as he did with Kate and Lilly, he often acted as their handler if they proved worthy. The girls caught Ben’s attention as he reviewed student records from across the U.S. They had exceptional scholastic abilities and well-rounded backgrounds. Both girls were athletic and excelled in sports. They shared a love of the arts and were members of their school's drama group, even taking the lead roles in several stage presentations. Kate, with Lilly as her campaign manager, was elected class president. Lilly was class valedictorian.
Since childhood, the two were inseparable and often made a formidable team, whether it was in sports, politics or playing pranks on friends and family. The latter was always a great source of amusement to them due to their identical features. Only their mother could distinguish which one was which if they chose to deliberately confuse people.
Their father, however, was never sure which little blond angel was wrapping him around her tiny finger. As young as five or six years old, they learned what being identical could do for them. Parents, teachers, friends, and neighbors all became pawns in their games of fun. It didn’t take them long to discover they could raise all sorts of havoc and no one was sure whom to blame. The poor parents realized the only way to control their exuberant offspring was to punish both regardless of the culprit.
When Ben approached the twins, he outlined for them successful careers with the U.S. Government if they were able to maintain their high academic standards throughout college, and achieve stringent goals within a curriculum, which would be directed by Ben himself.
The choice of the finest universities in the country was open to them, paid for of course, by government scholarships. The girls and their parents met several times with Ben before they were all comfortable with the concept. A contract was drawn up explained all expenses would be paid for their entire college experience. In exchange, upon graduation, they would work for the U.S. State Department, for not less than ten years, at assignments of the government’s choosing, wherever they were needed.
Having a guaranteed job as soon as they graduated didn’t seem to be a bad thing to the twins or their parents. However, the parents did have some concerns about where they may be posted, but Ben assured them the careers he had in mind for the girls would pose them no danger.
Ben’s emphasis was on national security and the contribution the girls could make to their country’s welfare. As he explained it, “the cold war was dead.” He was not recruiting agents for cloak and dagger operations. To be selectively chosen and groomed as one of the best and brightest in the country, to help staff some of the highest departments of the nation’s capital were honors not to be taken lightly. It was also good business for the country. By the time he was through with the sales pitch, they practically stood up and saluted him. The way he told it; the government was pleading for their support. The patriotic family could hardly refuse. Ben was a good salesman when he was inspired. And for the girls, he had intriguing ideas on how he could use identical twins in the field to his advantage.
The twins excitedly chose the University of Michigan and settled into college life, embarking on four years of a grueling test of their abilities. In spite of the unusually varied program, Ben designed for them, including science, psychology, languages, human cultures, law, and the arts, the girls did Ben and their parents proud. They lived up to every expectation. As graduation drew closer, Ben’s visits grew to be more often.
“Checking up on your investments?” the girls chided him, although by this time the trio had bonded to a unique closeness.
Ben was like family to them. He guided, mentored, pushed, encouraged, threatened, and cajoled them. He celebrated their successes along the way and picked them up when they needed encouragement. In May, shortly before their graduation with honors, their father suffered a massive heart attack and was dead before he reached the floor.
Elizabeth Champion was pragmatic enough to realize, at least, the girl’s futures were secure. However, their long-awaited graduation was diminished by their father’s absence.
In the following weeks, Ben made more frequent visits to see them. They were allowed a brief vacation spent at home before the girls were asked to report to Langley Air Base in Virginia for a thorough training in government protocol and the more serious business of espionage.