37. Daisy #2
She lifts one shoulder halfheartedly. “Like I said, you made him mad. I guess he didn’t want me poking the bear any further. I totally would have if given the chance. Do you really think he killed his sister?”
“I hadn’t thought so until I voiced it aloud. It just kind of came out.”
We continue walking for another few hundred meters when I ask Eva, “Have you seen Uri at all?”
She shakes her head so that her loose curls bounce with the motion. “Unlike God, Uri can’t be everywhere at once. I just figured God wanted Uri somewhere else since there are plenty of people who could use the help.”
“That’s what I figured as well. We could certainly use a little help too, and a miracle to boot.”
I glance back at Bennett, ten paces behind us, as he urges me to keep my eyes focused ahead. I do as his gesture suggests, but not before I notice the amount of pain he’s in. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.
“Kenneth said you wanted to take down Dominion. How did you plan on doing that? More importantly, how did you figure out they were behind it in the first place?”
Eva’s eyebrows furrow as she looks at me.
“You, of course. Uri led me to you and said that you were the key to blowing this whole thing wide open. There’s no way I could take them down on my own because I don’t have an army of ‘Knights,’ or the full weight of the FBI behind me.
As for figuring it out, it’s a long story. ”
“Can you condense it into the next 500 meters?”
“It started when I was alone in the hotel room I was sharing with Andrus. He was in a meeting, and I was getting ready for a political dinner event that we were supposed to attend later that evening. Uri was there in my room, sitting in an armchair and looking out the window. Goodness, he scared me half to death because there was never a knock on the door, nor did I hear it open. But when he spoke, there was instant trust and a sense of calm. I can’t explain it. ”
“No need. I totally get it.”
She smiles. “That’s right. You do. Anyway, he warned me that my life was in danger and snuck me out of the hotel.
He didn’t explain anything, but I knew he was telling me the truth.
I’d already been given the directive to kill Andrus.
Since I hadn’t done it yet, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were coming for me. ”
“Dominion.”
“No, the CIA. That’s where you have it wrong, Daisy.
Dominion was contracted by the CIA to conduct the experiments for a project known as CIPHER.
It started during the Cold War and then changed in the early 2000s after 9/11.
The CIA was developing assets to infiltrate all levels of government on a global scale.
Some of the girls became CIA officers, while others were used purely as assets to gather information.
Each of us were given a role based on personality traits, and I was trained in the art of seduction.
My job was to make Andrus fall in love with me and then help him rise to a leadership position by subtly offering suggestions he wouldn’t otherwise have considered.
I never meant to fall in love with him.”
I chuckle despite our situation being dire.
“Love sneaks up on you when you least expect it and at the most inopportune times. It did for Angel and me. Getting trapped in the mine was a blessing in disguise because we both realized that life is too short to hold grudges or wait for the right time. Okay, to be fair, it was me who finally came to my senses. I’m just grateful you and Uri showed up when you did.
And speaking of that, I have to ask: when Uri helped you escape from that hotel room, where did you go? ”
“To a small farm in rural Tennessee. The owners were a very kind family who took me in, fed me, clothed me, and hid me from the world. Mr. Morgan was a local pastor at a Bible church, as well as a farmer. You can’t live with a Christian family and not start asking questions.”
“Is that how you came to know the Lord?” I ask her.
She smiles. “Slowly, but surely. One would think meeting an angel would be reason enough to believe, right? Wrong. When you’ve been fed lies and don’t know truth from fiction, believing in anything is a feat.
It wasn’t until I contracted a virus that brought me close to death’s door that I knew for certain.
As I’m sure you can guess, trust and faith in anyone other than myself were scarce.
It was ten years ago when I had a fever of 104 degrees and was suffering from delirium.
A doctor came to the house, and I half expected it to be Uri. It wasn’t.”
We crest the hill and see a cliff up ahead and what appears to be a power station. That’s it. No buildings or signs of life. Eva keeps walking, and the sound of Bennett’s footsteps closing in signals me to keep moving.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know. I never got his name. He only said that the Great Physician sent him,” Eva says.
“He cleared the room so that it was just the two of us, laid his hand upon my head, and called upon the Father. The room glowed, and the fever instantly disappeared. He said to me, ‘You are healed in body, mind, and spirit. The next time we meet will be when you are called home.’ The next morning, I woke up remembering everything. I mean everything, including my parents, their love, and the life I had before Dominion played their mind games. I made two decisions on the spot. The first was to give my life to Jesus. The second was to take down Dominion. The first was easier than the latter.”
“Once you remembered the truth, why didn’t you go home to your family?”
Bennett pushes past us and answers for Eva.
“Because she was smart enough to know that we would have been watching the house.” He inputs a code into a keypad that unlocks the fence around the large metal container.
When he opens the door, rather than pipes, plumbing, or electrical wires, there’s a set of stairs. “After you.”
I scan the area and see the loch in front of me, taking in what could be my last breath of fresh air and realizing that we’re in Scotland.
As I look to the west, I see a patch of grass faintly move in the opposite direction of the wind, and a single blue eye peering back at me.
The other eye is behind a rifle scope that’s attached to a NLR556TLR.
There’s only one group of people with access to the prototype weapon: The Southern Knights.
I’m not sure how the team figured out where I was, or how they beat us here, but if they’re lying in wait, then they have already come up with a plan to rescue us. It’s time for me to go with the flow and trust them to get the job done, especially since I don’t have a weapon of my own.
Eva goes inside first, and I hide the smile that wants to burst free as I follow after her.
As I pass by Bennett, I say, “There’s not much of a security system. Doesn’t that worry you?”
“Daisy, take a look around. No one knows this place exists, which is its own brand of security.”