“That was all true. Everything right up until I was three days out of the surgery to fix my kidney. Commander Oldham wanted me dead for defying his orders in battle. Williams offered me another option.” Creed explained.
“He said that he would help me find the rest of my real blood family and release me of duty as a meta soldier if I completed two objectives for him,” Creed had never been to confession, but he felt an unreal need for absolution from these two men whom he had harmed.
“Keep talking,” growled Evan.
“My objectives were laid out by Williams. The first was to find and kill the ‘thief’ Margo Winter. The second was to bring the three ‘stolen’ assets back.”
“Just to be clear, we’re the ‘assets,’ right?” Alik looked sick to his stomach.
“Yes.”
“So your first objective—to kill our mom?” asked Alik.
“I didn’t complete that objective.”
“Williams is going to let her live?” asked Evan.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you ‘don’t know’?” Alik yelled.
“I mean, he was so thrilled that I got you three on a plane en route to Germany that he didn’t bring it up,” Creed explained.
“He’s not going to just let it go,” Alik said, deep in thought.
“So this whole thing with Meg getting sick was just a convenient excuse to get us back to Williams?” Evan asked, appalled.
Creed’s face fell. He didn’t say a word.
“No, little brother. It was all part of the plan.” Alik was revving up.
“What the hell did you do to our sister! Was it poison? A deadly virus? What did you do to Meg?” Alik was so angry spittle was flying from his mouth and now it was Evan who was holding him back.
“Gentlemen, the captain asks everyone to please calm down and take a seat. We’re headed for some unexpected turbulence, and you’ll need to fasten your seat belts.” Missy, the flight attendant spoke in a squeaky voice. The looks on the faces of the three huge, fighting men was arguably the scariest she had ever seen. Without saying another word, she turned-tail and slipped behind the blue velvet curtain.
Ignoring the attendant, Evan growled, “Answer him.”
“What?”
“Answer him! What did you do to Meg? Why is she so sick?” Evan’s voice rose with every word until he was yelling.
“I…I don’t know,” he stammered, running a shaky hand through his hair.
“What the hell do you mean, you ‘don’t know?’”
Creed looked painfully over at the frail waif of a girl dying because of him.
“Williams sent his assistant, a female meta named Farrow Schone, with something he called a ‘gift.’ Farrow shot Meg in the neck with it—it looked like a small, silver dart. As soon as she was hit, she fell. Whatever that dart was tipped with, that is what has made Meg so sick.”
“You knew all this time that Meg was poisoned and you didn’t stop this Farrow and you didn’t tell us so we’d know what to look for? You sick freak!” Alik flew into a rage. He grabbed the nearest arm rest of a passenger seat, yanked it off and started beating Creed.
All the guilt and self-loathing Creed felt forced his arms to hold at his side instead of up defensively. As Alik unloaded his anger, Creed knew he deserved it.
“All passengers please take your seats and fasten your safety belts. We’ve hit some unexpected turbulence. I’m sure you noticed we are pulling up, in an effort to fly over the bumpy air. Bear with us while we get the craft to a smoother flying altitude. Captain Jacobi, out.”
Alik administered one more whack to Creed’s neck with the chunk of plush leather wrapped around metal that was the arm rest. The three men glared at each other, not wanting to be the first to move. Feeling more a sense of responsibility to his sister than bravado, Evan turned toward Meg and started to walk down the aisle to check her safety harnesses for the umpteenth time. Under his breath he was mumbling furiously, but he was also forcing himself to calm down and think before he said another word.
Just then, the plane vibrated violently. The three men standing in the private jet’s passenger galley instinctively reached out to grab something to steady themselves.
The nose of the jet fell into a steep decline. From all around them, plastic and metal rattled fiercely indicating a worrisome level of breakability to what only moments before had seemed like a safe aircraft.