Through the plane's headphones, they
listened to the Beatles. This was
Marissa and Phil's favorite album, and
she smiled at the thought of him. She'd
decided in her mind to return to Phil
and her dull, boring life of safety when
this was all over. Being with Phil made
it all worthwhile. How she longed to
brush aside that lock of hair on his
forehead, above those beautiful eyes.
"There's something else I haven't told
you," Jaun said gently.
Beneath his
muscular build and his good looks, he
was a kind soul, and telling her this
was very hard for him.
"I'm afraid the Turkish terrorists
have....have..." he gulped, knowing the
terrible news he had to deliver. "I'm
sorry to tell you this, but they've
murdered Phil."
He could feel the pain
in his stomach grow worse, and he wiped
away a small tear from his eye.
For that one moment, time and space
stood still for Kristen. All of the
unimportant troubles of life slipped
away, and she suddenly understood.
Seeing the look on Kristen's face, Jaun
became upset. "Kristen," he said, "Are
you all right?"
Kristen looked into Jaun's eyes, deeply,
down to his soul, it seemed to her. They
were such a deep blue she felt she could
sink into them forever. And just in that
moment, she realized she saw Phil and
her father, both smiling, alive and
happy.
As she allowed herself to fall
deeper into this relaxing, she heard
them both say, "It's all right, Kristen.
We've understood what you've been trying
to do all along. We've been helping
you."
She saw Phil turn to her father, and
say, "Do you see, I've kept my promise
to you, to keep her safe, until she was
ready to move on to a new life."
And her father replied "I know, Phil. I never
doubted for a moment that you would do
what's right. That's why I chose you to
help her through her darkest hours."
Then, like a wisp of smoke, they faded
away. There remained only a feeling of
contentment, the first time she'd felt
that way in a long, long time.
Jaun looked at Kristen and said, "I
don't know what just happened, but I
feel nothing can stop us now. Are you
all right?"
He was surprised at how relaxed he
suddenly felt. All feelings of
apprehension had disappeared, and he
felt stronger than he ever had before.
He brushed away a lock of hair from his
forehead. He knew what her answer would
be before she spoke.
Kristen started to answer him, but just
then, she looked up and realized that
they had just landed in Switzerland. She
looked out the window. And coming
towards the plane was a Jeep filled with
the Defense Department terrorist
faction, guns drawn. The plane was
surrounded by tanks!
As she looked toward the doorway of the
plane, she saw one of the terrorists
knocking aside the stewardess, and
heading towards her and Jaun. His rifle
was pointed directly at them.
"Hands up!", he shouted.
Kristen and Jaun
looked around and saw.....
The terrorists rifle was pointed
straight at them. They looked around and
saw there was no way to escape. With
their hands up, they stood in the aisle.
Kristen felt scared, but Jaun's presence
calmed her. And for some reason, she has
the same feeling of security that she
felt with Phil and her father.
All of a sudden, before Kristen and Jaun
could even realize what happened, they
heard a loud noise and the terrorist
dropped dead. They turned to see the
face of a CIA SharpShooter, who was now
headed for the cockpit. As he passed by,
Jaun just grabbed Kristen, held her
close to him and assured her everything
would be alright. He wouldn't let her
know how much it scared him that he
thought he had almost lost her just
then.
He had been sitting in the back of the
plane and the only clear shot he had was
right between Kristen and Jauns heads.
They stood there in shock not knowing
what just happend or how it happened.
The CIA agent comes back to them and
says, "We had to change the location of
your safe house. We knew the terrorists
were on to you and I volunteered to
personally escort you there safely."
He looks at Kristen, "Ma'am, I respected
your Father very much."
The stewardess comes back and asks them
to take their seats, they hadn't even
noticed they were going back down the
runway to take off again.
"Where are we going now?" Kristen asks the CIA agent.
"Well that is not important right now. I
just promise to get you there safely."
Kristen is sitting there with Jaun, her
mind just racing with everything that
has just happened and what she was told.
Jaun senses the turmoil she is going
through. "Kristen, I want you to just
sit back and relax as much as you can. I
have put my favorite album in here for
you to listen to. I hope you like it
too."
He hands her the headphones, and
as she puts them on she hears The
Beatles 'Abbey Road'. This sent chills
up her spine. She just looked at him and
smiled. This was Marissa & Phils
favorite album. She sat there thinking
about Phil and silently said her
good-byes to him.
About that time the CIA agent comes up
to them. "Ma'am we really need those
disks. There is no time. If I had not
been on this plane, those disks would be
in the hands of the terrorists. We think
it is best that you give us the disks
right now in case anything else turns up
like that."
Jaun immediately stood up, "I think
those disks are fine where they
are....Sir. As long are you are here we
wont run into any more problems right?"
The stewardess comes back and asks them
to return to their seats and buckle in
for landing. Kristen looks out the
window and is just elated to
see......
More soldiers than she'd ever seen in
her life spread out all over the tarmac!
Jaun looked out the small window in
perfect astonishment,"What the hell...."
Just then Kristen felt herself spun
around & pushed to the floor and lying
under a man's body!
"Its ok, ma'am! Stay still! Before anyone
gets to you they've got to go through me
1st!", He was saying, now she was
terrified!
"Alright Hinkly game's over!"
That voice! she knew that voice!
"You're dead!" shouted Jaun. With that he
opened fire and leapt toward where
Kristen was.
She could hear the tatoo of bullets! The
familiar other voice rang out again,
"No! Your dead for real!"
more shots! then,
"Kristen?"
"Daddy?"Oh God! Daddy!" she screamed,
pushing away the agent who was still
bodily protecting her!
Her father scooped her up & held her to
him. He could feel her shaking
uncontrollably while sobbing so deeply
he was afraid she would trigger a
breathing attack.
After they debarked and the Zanex the
doctor gave her kicked in and the shock
of seeing her father worn off. She was
ready for some answers.
Once again she was airborne. This time
though , with the one man who really did
love her. they were headed back to the
states where her father would be
debriefed at Quantico. He had gotten
permission for a 24 hour leave first to
settle Kristen in.
"...So we faked my death! but, geez,
Kristen..honeygirl what happened next was
really not expected! You!"
"Phil was a flunky for D'grero! he knew
you could access those disks. Jaun set it
up! all those tapes Phil had you listen
too, & then Jaun too were all loaded with
subliminal messages. My poor baby!" he
said while giving her a hug! "Jaun was
dirty! a turncoat.but he planned to get
you & the tapes to Switzerland so he could
blackmail D'Grero! He figured you'd be
the unsuspecting willing hostage that
would keep the company,our guys off his
tail for awhile! You were expendable! We
knew that & had to work fast! you know
the rest!"
Two of the landmarks she knew best were
now coming into view! Three mile island
& over there...the Susquehenna river!
they were heading into the Harrisburg ,
PA airport! She could barely contain her
happiness!
This area had been her childhood
home!her father would commute from his
"engineering " job in Virginia to see
her at the prestigious Etain Academy in
Gettysburg where his mother Grammy Marie
lived. She just then had a flash of
splitting her holidays with Grammy Elise
in Enola and Grammy Marie. oh to feel
that safety again!
home!......
Kristen finally got ahold of herself,
and she realized that she had
unknowingly brought this on herself when
she stole the disks in an attempt to
expose Chairman David D'Grero. But,
heck, she would avenge her father's
death no matter what it took.