Episode 13: A Lost Odyssey
Part 1
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…”
It was raining that Sunday afternoon. The weather was fitting, given the circumstances of that day. Though there were plenty of people at the service, Nick only had eyes for those he cared about. Next to him, Pearl was weeping openly, a rare sight for her. In fact, Nick couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her cry. A floating umbrella hovered above her; he could hear the quiet hum of her machinery. He hugged her close, feeling the tears seeping into the shoulder of his suit. Not that it mattered; the downpour was soaking them anyway.
Diamond was on his left, sniffling and dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief, trying not to mess up her makeup. Agent 009, Leo DiCrapio, was also at her side, holding an umbrella to cover the two of them. Neither of them spoke, though Leo seemed to look around a lot, as if in search of someone. After scrutinizing Leo, Nick’s gaze settled on Kevin beside the grave; he appeared silently lost in thought as the motion of his stare mimicked the descending casket. Once it settled into the ground, Jay kissed a rose before tossing it into the grave. Jay turned back to Red, who hugged him tightly, crying into his chest.
Styx was at the back of the crowd, looking distant. Others from HimTak had gone out of respect, but the rest didn’t matter. He recognized government agents and a young woman who looked like she could be Opal’s older sister. He knew she had one named Anjali. He remembered Brian mentioning her at one point. The resemblance was striking, though she had none of Opal’s innocence in her appearance.
Nick wanted to scream, do something. He’d been the last one who had heard from her alive. How could this have happened? Why? Opal Odyssey — Ashavari Desai — was a gentle soul who had no enemies Nick could think of. Yet, the events of the past week had led up to this finale, one none of them could have predicted. It had ended in the loss of someone who wanted to do good. Someone too good for the evils that surrounded her in the world she wanted to help save.
Finally, he found the one he was looking for. The man was about five foot seven, wearing a long black overcoat. The falling rain drenched him, plastering his golden curls to his head. However, when he turned and met Nick’s gaze, he appeared unaffected by the weather. His normally jovial blue eyes were empty, stony, and cold. Like the soul within them had been stolen the day his lover died.
Nick walked over to him, unsure how to comfort his friend but wanting to do so anyway. It was hard to believe he had once despised the CIA officer, but a lot had changed since then. Too much. They hadn’t spoken since Opal had been found. Nick hadn’t known what to say. Brian had shut out everyone around him. He’d even done something he never would’ve predicted from him.
He walked out of the CIA and away from protecting the country he loved.
“Brian…”
Brian stared ahead at the grave before them. His eyes scanned over the sleek mahogany casket, the very thing that held the now lifeless body of the woman he loved. Never would he hear her laugh or see her smile ever again. He stared at it intently, as if that could change or undo it. Kevin stepped up to them, placing a hand on his cousin’s shoulder.
Brian whirled around, his face contorted with a rage Nick had never seen in him. “Save it. I don’t want to hear it. You didn’t do a damn thing to try and save her, so you’re as responsible as the rest of them.”
Nick opened his mouth to say something, appalled at the Southern man’s reaction and the bitterness that was so unnatural in him. Before he could, however, Brian’s cold, intense stare met him once again.
“And you know what, Nick? You were right. The government IS fucked! But, here’s the thing: you don’t realize that your precious organization is just as fucked as the ones you hate!” he screamed before leaving in a fury.
Brian didn’t even give one single glance back at the crowd, who now stared at Nick and Kevin. No words were said to any who cared about him. Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating all of them in the dark as Nick watched his friend walk away.
The last words he heard from Brian that day were, “Somehow, someway, Ashie, I’m going to find the ones who did this to you. And they’re going to pay.”
***
Seven Days Earlier
“I can’t believe this!” Ashavari exclaimed as she walked into the country home she shared with Brian just outside of Washington D.C., shutting the door behind her.
Brian sat on the couch with a slew of paperwork spread out on the coffee table in front of him. He looked up at her with a smile, his eyes lighting up when he saw her. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? Just the fact the FBI is filled with cowards!” She set her laptop case down and slammed her briefcase on the table.
Brian frowned; he wasn’t used to her being so angry. What he’d always loved about her was her easygoing nature. He stood, wrapping his arm over her shoulders, and guided her back to the couch to sit beside him. “Hey, what happened? Why are they cowards?”
“They’re negotiating with some terrorist group. It’s about the alien technology and language Pearl and I cracked. Someone got a hold of it somehow, but they want to know how to use it. I was just coming in to submit my reports when I overheard the conversation.”
Brian’s brows knitted together worriedly. “Babe, maybe they’re going along with it so they can catch the guy.”
“No, I know what that’s like. This isn’t it. They heard me before I could leave. Told me I needed to crack the code so that they could keep this quiet. I got threatened with treason if I tell anyone they’re cooperating with scum!”
“So I don’t count again.”
A smile formed on her face for a moment. “You know what I mean.” Her expression grew serious once again. “They don’t know we cracked it. But as soon as they do, they’re going to give it to people who are just going to use it to kill innocent people!”
“I’m sure there’s another reason behind this.”
“There isn’t!”
“Do you know who it is trying to blackmail them?”
“I wish I did.” She sighed. “You know you have the right idea working with HimTak instead of against them. If we’d just unite with them completely, we’d probably be able to shut down terrorists like that without a problem.”
“You know, I’ve thought that at times myself. But there’s reasons why we don’t. I’m sure of that.”
Ashavari stood again, walking over to the bay window next to the front door. She stared out at the tree-filled yard before looking back at Brian, her jade eyes melancholy. “I’m not anymore. Maybe Nick isn’t as deluded about our government as we always thought.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Honestly? I think I am.”
***
“Brian, I think I’m going to resign…”
He stared at her, trying to understand. “Why would you quit your job? I know you’re frustrated, but this isn’t the answer.”
“Then what is the answer? Why do you think I’d be ready to walk away from everything I’ve worked for if I thought there was another solution?”
“If I had any idea, I wouldn’t be asking. Ashie, come on. You just threw your entire career away based on what? The FBI pissing you off?”
Her green eyes flashed with an uncharacteristic fury as she whirled around on Brian in the living room. In the two days since she’d first expressed her frustrations with the FBI, Ashavari had become more frazzled and more paranoid; it worried Brian more than ever. He could sense there were things she wasn’t saying, things she kept even from him. Hearing her yelling at their department director over the phone had brought him rushing downstairs to see what was happening.
“It’s not that simple, Brian! God, don’t you think better of me?”
“Of course I do! So help me understand!”
“I can’t if you don’t want to!”
“Try me, please, baby.”
All he’d caught clearly was the tail end of the conversation, her usually soft-spoken voice practically shouting, “I can’t work for an organization that makes deals with terrorists but puts down the group actually trying to stop them! Something needs to change!”
Obviously she’d been referencing HimTak, but why? Why had she brought them up in all this? Besides the fact that their top scientist, Pearl, had helped Opal crack the code to the alien language that had baffled the government agencies, HimTak was relatively uninvolved at the moment, focusing on their own internal issues that Kevin refused to discuss. Close as the cousins were, they both accepted that, due to their careers, there would be many untold secrets between them.
“Because now I know Nick is right, Brian. I think the CIA, the FBI, they’re all self-serving, and we were too blind to see it!”
His brow furrowed as a frown formed. “I know you’re upset that the feds are behaving this way, but maybe there’s more we don’t know and–”
“It’s not just this, though, and that’s more than enough. Look at the Carmen Sandiego escapade we had to deal with last year! They wouldn’t give us, one of their own, a chance to even breathe. They assumed we were guilty and were determined to paint us as such. No ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ No chance to explain. Had I not gone on the run to find out the truth, we’d both be in federal prison right now!”
A sigh followed. “The feds did that. I think our agency would’ve sought the truth out and remedied it soon enough.”
“Then why didn’t they?!”
“We didn’t exactly give them a chance.”
She walked over determinedly, gazing up at him. “If you’d really believed that, you would’ve gotten me asylum with work rather than your cousin’s agency.”
Before he could reply further, she looked away toward the mantle above the fireplace, where an old photo of the pair adorned the shelf. A photo from happier times when he’d been a new recruit and head over heels in love at first sight. “I’m going upstairs. I need to think. I need space. I need to… I don’t know. But I hope you try and understand. Really think about what I’m saying. I need you to. Please, Brian.” She kissed his cheek softly, almost sadly, with a note of resignation in the air. Then up she went without another glance behind her.
He watched her go, running a hand through his blond curls. Part of him wanted to follow her, to try again to understand. But that wasn’t what she needed right now, and he knew it, as much as it pained him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the iPod Touch Pearl had customized and upgraded as a gift for his last birthday. It communicated directly with whoever he wanted to within HimTak on a private and untraceable line. And he knew that all he had to do was choose the right “song” and then press the buttons in a certain order — because, unlike a certain other blond, he actually read the instructions.
Brian thumbed through his “playlist” of contacts before finally settling on “Mambo No. 5.” Within minutes, Nick’s face appeared on the small screen, a brow raised. “Hey, country boy, what’s cookin’?” He grinned. “You look like someone stepped on your favorite cowboy hat.”
Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen Nick to talk about this with. “Look, Opal’s…” His eyes shifted upwards. “She’s acting strange, and, crazily enough, I thought maybe you’d help me understand why.”
“Is she okay?” Nick had the biggest soft spot for Brian’s girlfriend. It was actually rather endearing, even though he’d never admit it to him. Theirs was a playful rivalry these days.
“She quit the CIA.”
“What?” Nick literally fist pumped. “Fuck yeah! Go Opal!”
“You’re not helping.”
“Sorry. Look, you know how I feel about the government, man… Maybe she’s seeing the light.”
“Maybe I should’ve called K…”
“Hey now, come on, Brian.” Nick yawned, leaning back in his chair. From what Brian could see, the agent was down in Pearl’s lab yet again, though he couldn’t see the scientist herself anywhere. “I was kidding. Sort of. Did they do something? I thought it was the FBI who were on her last nerve between recruiting her for that alien tech and the Copenhagen incident.”
“It wasn’t that, though it added to it. She hasn’t talked about it as much as I’d like.”
“C’mon, spill!”
Brian rolled his eyes. “This isn’t gossip time.”
“I’m sorry. Really.”
It felt more and more like a bad idea. “Well… they’re…” He knew he shouldn’t be telling Nick, though he was sure Himitsu Takana would find out soon enough if they didn’t know already. Wasn’t that why he’d called to begin with, to try to get the perspective of someone who might see it differently?
A ding interrupted Brian’s thoughts, though it came from Nick’s end of their chat. “Shit. I have to go. Meeting.” Nick smirked. “High priority, and K threatened to have Lancy style me again if I’m late for another one. But, dude, I’ll call you after it’s done, alright? Help you get to the bottom of this.”
Brian nodded, though he thought that this might be for the best. A sign that he should try and work this out with his girlfriend on his own. Once Ashavari calmed down, she might be more forthcoming. While definitely more in line with her perspective, Nick might give him advice that would aggravate the situation even more. After giving his friend a wave, he shut off his iPod Touch and went to get a cup of coffee to take out onto his front porch.
What he needed, more than anything, was time to think.
***