37. Daisy
Chapter thirty-seven
Daisy
By the time the wheels of the aircraft touch down on the runway, I’m fully cognizant. While Bennett is up front talking with the pilots, I whisper to Eva through the gap in the seat.
“I’m glad you’re still alive,” I tell her. “We were searching for you.”
There’s a sniffle and a deep breath before I hear her reply, “I’m not glad to be alive. My ‘rehabilitation,’ as Bennett so eloquently put, is going to be torture.”
This woman needs hope, but I can’t lie to her and deny her fear either as I have no idea what’s in store for her. “Kenneth is still alive. He found us and has been really worried about you.”
“That’s good. It’s one less thing I have to worry about.”
“We’re going to get out of this, Eva. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but my team won’t rest until we’re safe. That’s a promise I can make and not worry about reneging on. They’re probably already on their way here.”
“They’ll never find us where we’re going, at least not in time.”
The plane comes to a stop, and Bennett opens the door.
He walks over to us, shaking a knife back and forth between his fingers.
“I’m going to cut away your restraints, but you have to promise to be good girls.
If you try to run…” He removes a tranquilizer dart gun from under his shirt and shows us the consequences we’ll face.
“…then it’s going to be nap time. When you wake up, Hades will seem like a destination resort. So, what will it be?”
“We won’t be a problem,” I say.
“Eva? I need you to say it,” Bennett quips.
“I won’t run away or try to kill you. Is that good enough?”
I try not to smile, because hearing the grit and determination in her voice means she hasn’t given up.
Bennett lets out an exaggerated sigh. “I guess that will have to do.”
We exit the plane inside a hangar and find four vehicles waiting for us. Bennett gestures to the second one where a man is waiting by an open passenger door of a minivan.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but a minivan certainly wasn’t it. My face must register the confusion because Bennett chuckles. “Are you disappointed it’s a mom-mobile rather than a luxury vehicle?”
“‘Surprised’ is a better word. For the record, modern-day minivans are meant for parents, not just moms. Have you seen the newer models? They’re practically a man-cave on wheels.
Flat screen televisions, Wi-Fi, center console coolers, and some even come with pop-up tables for playing cards.
You can’t get most of those amenities in a sports coupe. ”
“Why are there four of them?” Eva asks. “Are we expecting company?”
“Eva dear. Have you forgotten all your training?” Bennett asks. “While I doubt we’re being watched, one can never be too careful. Once the vehicles split and go in different directions, each will run a surveillance detection route to ensure they aren’t being followed.”
Eva sneers at Bennett. “I’ve evaded detection for 15 years.
Trust me, I know how to run an SDR. There are four cameras in the hangar that are clearly visible, one in each corner.
I also assume that you have three which are hidden, two pointed at the hangar door and one at the side entrance.
If I were to make a run for it, I wouldn’t get far.
Not because you’d shoot me with another tranquilizing agent, but because there are half a dozen more on every hangar along the tarmac. ”
Bennett waits for us to get into the third row of bucket seating and then follows behind us.
He sits across from us, smiling at Eva while the driver closes the door.
He keeps the gun in his hand, resting it on his thigh.
“You were such an amazing agent, Eva. Why couldn’t you just do what you were told?
Your handler would have protected you. Rather than living on the run, you could have lived out the rest of your life in comfort. ”
“Because I was told to kill my fiancé, Officer Gray. My loyalty was no longer to the agency. It was to Andrus. He was kind, caring, and loving. He showed me what loyalty to his people really looked like, and it wasn’t pretending to be something he’s not.
The agency asked me to build him up, support him, and prime him for a position of authority.
I did that. But when it happened faster than they wanted, I was ordered to destroy the life I’d built.
I couldn’t do it because I loved him more than I loved myself. ”
Sheer disappointment radiates from Bennett. “You broke the cardinal rule, Eva: Never fall for your mark. It muddies the waters until you can’t see which way to swim. Inevitably, you drown.”
“Love makes things clear,” I say in her defense. “Was Andrus a terrorist planning to nuke an American city or blow up a bomb at a football game?”
“No,” Bennett replies. “He was on the verge of destabilizing a country that was entering seamlessly into the European Union. The United States and the EU are allies, and we needed Estonia to integrate into the conglomeration of countries that allow us to operate freely.”
I’m not much of a politics person, leaving that to my brother who often gives me the quick version of the news so I’m not “in the dark” on current events. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what he’s telling me.
“The CIA needed Estonia for a strategic advantage against Russia.”
Bennett touches his index finger to his nose.
“Bingo. You’ve recently seen what happens when an Eastern Bloc country tries to move westward.
Andrus’ death, while tragic, was a necessary evil to prevent the same thing then that has been happening in Ukraine recently.
He was supposed to come and lead his people several years after the transition into an economic boom—a boom that we would have facilitated.
His rise was meteoric, and there was only one way to stop it.
In the end, his death saved countless lives before a war could break out. ”
I press my palms to my eyes. “Sacrifice the one for the many.”
“Exactly.”
“And if Emily was still alive, and she was the one who had to be sacrificed in this scenario instead of Andrus, would you still feel the same way?”
When Bennett’s only response is gritted teeth and a tight jaw, I needle him further.
“I’ve read Emily’s paper outlining her research project.
It was meant to help trauma victims who haven’t reached adulthood so they can live an emotionally healthy life.
What she didn’t realize is that not all suffering results in emotional instability.
Many times, it strengthens a person; toughens them up to face future challenges.
Life cannot be free from pain, whether physical or emotional.
Otherwise, there would be no understanding of love, joy, or true happiness.
Dominion took that and twisted it even further. ”
I go in for the final blow. “From what I read, Emily’s death was a hiking accident. But have you ever wondered if she was killed for that research? Killed because she didn’t agree with Dominion and would have exposed them? I mean, after all, it’s the ‘one for the many,’ right?”
Eva watches me stand up to the man who took us all those years ago, getting under his skin and implanting an idea in his mind without resorting to drugs, torture, or years of subliminal messaging. Just one idea to take root, and the mind will do the rest.
Without thinking, I say, “For all I know, you were the one who killed her. Maybe it was your idea to twist the research to fit the CIA agenda, and Dominion was the key to making that happen. Emily didn’t agree, so you waited until she was alone and confronted her.
Tried to plead your case and justify the end by any means necessary.
Did you push her? Or was it an accident?
Either way, guilt ate you up inside. Is that why you faked your own death and became someone else?
So, you could live in a fantasy world where someone else is to blame?
Was it Dominion who gave you the new identity so you could live with yourself?
Or was it the CIA so you could anonymously do their bidding? ”
Before I can say anything else, Bennett raises his gun and shoots me with a tranquilizer dart. The last thing I see before the world closes in on me is the tears in Bennett’s eyes. The last words he says are, “I think you’ve gotten more than enough answers for now.”
My eyes open and I watch as Bennett jams a needle into Eva’s arm. He notices me and explains. “I’ve never had to use the neostigmine before, but I need the two of you awake and able to walk on your own. I ripped my stitches when grabbing Genevieve. I’d rather not do it again.”
I sit up and look around, seeing nothing but green hills and an overcast sky. “Where are we?”
“The last place anyone would come looking for you. We need to walk about 1,000 meters to our north to reach our final destination.”
It takes about ten minutes for Eva and me to get our limbs to function the way we want them to and for the grogginess to wear off. Once we get moving, I admire the beauty of the landscape as Bennett walks behind us.
Eva turns to Bennett and says, “I should make you shoot me again just so you have to carry me.”
“I’ll just make Daisy drag you along,” Bennett replies.
I laugh at his logic. “I could just make you shoot me with another dart by running. Then what would you do?”
Bennett lifts his pant leg to show me an ankle holster, and I don’t need to bother questioning if the gun inside it shoots bullets. “Do you really want to find out? Now keep walking.”
Eva gets close to me and in a hushed voice says, “You really made him mad when you accused him of killing his sister. I thought he would deny it, but he didn’t.”
I cough to hide the smug smile slowly making its way across my face. “No, he just put me to sleep to shut me up. Why did he knock you out?”