Episode 13: A Lost Odyssey
Part 5
“Excuse me.” Dr. Rough shuffled out of the room, closing the bright purple door behind him. The room certainly needed an acquired taste.
While he was gone, Ashavari pulled on the chains to no avail. More than just giving Dr. Rough the keys to her database, she’d given him a clue that she knew more about Himitsu Takana than she should. Getting to HimTak had always been her plan, but now the timeline was more urgent. She would have to escape the clutches of this madman before Brian started worrying about her. She continued to pull forlornly at the chains.
At that moment, the obnoxious purple door opened again, and Dr. Rough strode back in. Rather than the frenzied twitch of his eye, a warm smile covered his face — it was more unsettling than the eye. Drums followed closely behind him.
“Change of plans,” Dr. Rough cooed. “As Drums has other business to attend to, I will collect your laptop personally.”
Ashavari’s heartbeat pounded in her ears as her chest constricted. Somehow, she’d need to find a way out of his claws and get her laptop to HimTak safely. A lone tear trickled down her cheek. If she called him, Brian would rush to her side immediately. In his Southern drawl, he would tell her everything would be okay before giving her a gentle kiss. If he knew about the kidnapping, he might even take her to HimTak himself. She swallowed, sniffling away the tear. Right before he sought out Dr. Rough himself, she thought.
Drums grabbed her arms, then Dr. Rough undid her chains slowly. Ashavari shuddered, thinking that they were clearly experts at taking hostages. Drums wordlessly pulled her from the bed, then led her back through the house – out of the perfectly purple room, into the orangish-red living room with striped wallpaper, and finally through the main door where a bright purple Corvette waited. Maintaining his hold on her hands, he opened the door and shoved her in. Once her cuffs were reattached to the car, he grinned and buckled her in. “Ya betta not pull any funny bizness, yo. I gotta eye on you.”
“Drums, no need to make threats. She has given us the information we asked for and cooperated this whole time.”
Opal bit her lip, trying to hide her suspicion at their “good cop, bad cop” routine as Dr. Rough sank into the ostentatious vehicle. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she memorized the number of the yellow cottage. Once Dr. Rough sped down the hill, passing the cheery purple mailbox at the bottom, she committed the street to memory as well. 1993 Back Street.
Would Pearl be able to rescue her from this? Would Pearl know how to stop Dr. Rough? Ashavari sighed. She needed brawn to escape this. Even without Pearl’s brains, Nick would know what to do. Or, at least he would come up with something.
With her plan firm in her mind, Ashavari’s thoughts drifted to Brian. Whether he toiled at his desk or if he had gotten a second cup of coffee from the breakroom. If he was thinking of her and deciding whether to interrupt her day with Anjali. How sweet he was for believing her little white lie. How sweet he always was. She swallowed. Maybe he wouldn’t have fought with her if she had told him the truth. How she wanted to go to HimTak so she could still help people, but get away from the CIA. If he knew the whole plan, maybe he would have trusted her. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes again. No matter what, she had to see Brian again.
“Oh no, it seems we missed the turn.” The abrupt screech of the brakes interrupted her thoughts. Dr. Rough careened back to the street that led toward their quiet little cul de sac.
“Once I give you the laptop, you’ll let me go?” Ashavari mumbled.
“Of course. The data is all we need now,” Dr. Rough cooed. The sickeningly sweet voice seemed like a clever ploy.
Ashavari frowned, trying to figure out if she could stall him long enough for Nick to arrive. HimTak had private jets, didn’t it?
That was when the familiar pale blue colonial sprang into view. It was time to turn her vague plan into action.
After parking the car, Dr. Rough strolled over to her side and opened the door. As soon as he unhooked her handcuffs, she swiftly kicked his groin, then his abdomen, hurtling him to the ground.
Ashavari leaped over his prone body, then ran to the front door and locked it behind her. Without any indication of how long he would be out, and knowing that wouldn’t be enough time for Nick to arrive after receiving her call, backup security was necessary. She grabbed the coat rack and looped one of the hangers around the door, barricading herself in. Then she sprinted to the kitchen and blocked that door with a kitchen chair. She rushed up the stairs two at a time until she reached their bedroom and locked herself in, pushing the dresser against the door.
Despite his recent nice guy act, there was no way Dr. Rough would just let her come back home, especially after she kicked him. At least at HimTak, they could keep her safe and secure. Brian would understand. This was the best choice.
With a shaking hand, she grabbed the opal necklace from the top of the dresser and hurriedly clasped it around her neck. She pressed the bottom diamond in the halo, and the opal crackled to life.
“Call Nick,” she whispered. When the crackle disappeared, she spoke louder. “Hello?”
***
Inside the two-story colonial, Drums bounded down the stairs. The CIA officer could never know that FANS had been inside his home. Everything had to look like an accident.
In the living room, he knocked over the vase and picture frames from a side table, letting their glass cascade across the ground. As he rounded the couch, he haphazardly tossed the throw pillows to the floor. Beside the TV, he popped open CD and DVD cases, then threw them to the ground, careful to use his robotic hand and keep everything free from prints. Clues to his identity had to remain absent.
As Drums worked, he chuckled to himself scornfully. Dis da way da good guys live? he thought to himself bitterly. If only HimTak had done better, though that hardly mattered now.
In the kitchen, he swung every cabinet open and gingerly plucked the pristine plates and beautiful bowls from the shelves before hurtling each one to the ground as he walked across the tile floor. After batting a wooden fruit bowl across the counter, he unlodged the chair from the doorknob, then tucked it beneath the tiny breakfast nook table.
In the small office, he finally spied the item Dr. Rough had requested: a laptop in the middle of a desk with pictures of Opal and Brian and Opal and her family. Before triumphantly seizing the laptop, he yanked Brian’s diploma from the wall and dropped it on the ground. After stomping on it, he retrieved the laptop and headed back toward the main entry.
The coat hanger was surprisingly difficult to unhook one-handed. Drums grimaced, remembering how difficult life had been with a hook. How difficult life had been with 00Carter controlling his life. Drums wrenched the wooden coat hanger from the handle and slammed it into the ground beside the door. The door swung open with a click, and he let it sway aimlessly behind him.
“Dis da way it be… bro…” he muttered.
***
“Drums!” Dr. Rough hissed.
Drums swung his legs to the ground from the arm of the thinking chair as he sucked his celebratory milk through a straw. Thank goodness Steve had a nice sandbox with a shovel and pail. “Mission accomplished, D-Rough.”
“Well now you have a new mission!” Dr. Rough’s eye twitched violently. “She recognizes him! We can’t let our mole’s cover get blown and ruin our plans!”
“Whaddya wanna do?”
“I will drive her home. You will get ahead of us on the road. Go into the house and get the laptop.”
“Dis is whack, D–”
“I understand your concern. Of course she’ll call HimTak.” A wicked grin crossed Dr. Rough’s face as his eye continued to twitch. “Keep an eye on her until she calls them. Then shoot her.”
***
Before he had ransacked the house, Drums peered through the slats in the bedroom’s closet door, patiently waiting as Dr. Rough provided a distraction. He’d originally caught her post-shower, so he assumed she would have to eventually come back to the bedroom and change her clothes.
Luckily, she not only returned to the bedroom, but trapped both of them inside by pushing the dresser against the door. As long as he was stealthy, he would have the upper hand.
Opal’s hand shook as she grabbed a jeweled necklace from the dresser, then clasped it around her neck. She pressed it lightly, then began to speak. “Call Nick,” she whispered.
Drums shuddered. She had a private link to HimTak. Quietly, he raised his gun and pressed against the closet door. These were his orders.
“Hello?” She turned and walked toward the bed. As she sat, Drums gently opened the door, just enough to poke the gun through. He was supposed to kill her as soon as she called them. Those were his orders. “Hello? Nick?” Her voice shook as she spoke. Her eyes locked on the barricaded door, but she ignored the ajar closet.
“Opal?” Nick’s voice sprang from thin air as the necklace twinkled. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Sneering, Drums clenched the gun tightly.
“Hello?” Tears trickled down Opal’s cheeks.
“O–”
The bullet sprang from the gun, hitting Opal between her eyebrows and knocking her back against the pillows. A lone trickle of blood fell from the hole. It was a clean shot, the kind only good marksmen made.
“Opal?”
The kind of shot Brian would suspect from a member of his home team.
“Opal!”
The kind of shot HimTak would clearly recognize.
“OPAL!”
The kind of shot that would make 00Carter suffer.
“OPAL!!”
***