13: Final Homecoming

A ‘hello again’ after the final goodbye is sometimes harder
than just keeping the goodbye as it was.

Jessiqua Wittman

Alli and Wendy’s quiet afternoon was disturbed by another unfamiliar vehicle honking its horn repeatedly outside.

“Who the hell?” Wendy asked, jerking upright, her eyes wide.

“Now I’m nervous,” Alli admitted. “We’re not expecting anyone, though again, I can’t imagine killers warning their victims ahead of time.”

“What should we do?”

“Grab a couple of the bigger kitchen knives to back me up, while I check to see who it is.”

Alli was nearly at the window when someone started pounding on the door. “Come on, girls. I know you’ve got nowhere else to be. I brought visitors!”

“Theo?”

“I’m waiting...” he called, though his voice had a slightly sweeter tone.

“Open the damn door!” Wendy insisted, rushing for the front door as her knives clattered, one falling to the hard ceramic-tile floor.

Beating her to the door, Alli threw it open, her eyes not recognizing anyone besides Theo. She just stood there, too stunned to respond, as Theo stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her.

“It’s wonderful seeing you, too,” he said. “It’s been way too long! By the way, since no one else will say it, welcome home, Theo!”

She fell into his embrace, but drew back, moments later. “How did ... Who gave you ... When ... What happened?” she stammered.

Realizing his chance, before Wendy slammed into him, he stepped back as Stacy handed him something. He grinned mischievously, extending a crystal vase containing a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers to Alli. “I thought, after staying here for so long, you might want something to make the place feel a little more ... homey.”

“Outta the way, woman! Don’t Bogart the Theo!” Wendy chided, nudging her aside before her mother could embrace him again. She clutched him fiercely, terrified of allowing any germs to survive in the space between them.

“Oh, Theo...” Alli stared at the flowers a moment, as if some mysterious entity she’d never encountered, before glancing around. “How’d you get away? How’d you get here? How’d you know where we are, and how did you find everyone to bring them here?”

“More importantly,” Wendy interrupted, “why are you here at all? Last we heard; you were expecting to die.”

He shrugged. “Leslie’s plan worked.”

Alli considered him, surveying him for wounds or bandages. “You said there was only a twenty percent chance of surviving?” she probed in a challenging tone, as if he’d been lying to her for years.

“They were better prepared than I thought. It was all very efficient, elegant in its sheer simplicity.”

“Do me a favor, Wendy, could you...”

“Never mind.” Stacy nudged them aside as she entered, taking the bouquet from Alli’s hand, and heading for the kitchen. “Honestly, I don’t know what you folks did without me for so long! It’s a wonder any of you are still alive.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not ever letting him go!” Wendy swore, not sounding especially masculine, her voice cracking as she struggled to prevent her overflowing joy from escaping. “Thank God you’re alright!”

“He did his part, though I needed to stop spinning in circles and decide what he planned for me all along.” A woman neither had met handed him something else.

“Alli, Wendy, this is Natalie. She no longer has much of a home to return to, and needs someplace to stay. I hope you don’t mind, as she kinda saved my life,” he said, handing Alli an electronic tablet. “This is hers.”

“These are advance copies of tomorrow’s Washington Post and the New York Times’ Special Editions,” he continued, as if it accounted for everything. “They sent these for the leakers to review. They don’t have the full details yet, but you’ll get the gist.”

Alli glanced at hers, the headline screaming “Super-Secret Gov’t Agency, with Highest Security Clearance, Folds.”

Showing no indication of releasing Theo, Lai sighed theatrically, nudging Wendy aside as she clutched her too, supporting her during both joys and tribulations. Holding Wendy’s Washington Post article over her head to make out the text, she read it aloud.

“Three Security Agents Reportedly Found Shot While Carrying Unregistered Weapons with Silencers Used in Multiple Unsolved Murder Cases.” She tilted it to make out the subheading. “Each carried badges ... when authorities investigated, their entire agency was shuttered.”

“Actually, that’s not quite accurate.” Theo clarified. “All the top-level officials and agents went dark, heading for the hills, leaving the more-expendable employees to shred the incriminating documents. Their disappearance was only discovered when the police went to the agency’s headquarters to determine whether those killed were employed there or not. However, there were so many records to dispose of, they barely made a dent, leaving tons of top-secret records for the investigators. It’ll take the authorities months to decipher and compile the evidence.”

As everyone shuffled round, intent on the articles, Theo continued. “After Natalie’s boyfriend threatened to expose us, unintentionally saving our necks, she lost everything and followed me home, having nothing better to do.” He paused a moment, before widening his eyes, beseechingly. “Can we keep her, please?”

“They killed Nate, my house is still a crime scene, and I was fired,” she expounded, ignoring his teasing.

“Can they do that?” Alli asked.

She too shrugged. “I told my employer I was in hiding, with killers hunting us. My boss immediately asked whether I was part of the latest news reports. When I refused to confirm it, he terminated me for lying.” She paused, grinning. “But this should work out nicely.”

“So, what happened?” Alli demanded, tossing the newspaper aside.

“Leslie’s friends, having spent their lives under the agency’s control, have planned this for some time. Leslie was hesitant, but as I kept prodding—after changing tactics—she decided to trust me.”

Theo stopped, heading for a nearby chair, realizing his explanation would take time, sitting as Stacy returned with Alli’s vase full of flowers. Everyone followed Theo, spreading out around him, either finding chairs or settling on the floor like Wendy and Lai, or Alli, who settled on his lap.

“We’ll have to work on this,” Stacy warned, perching on the armrest as Theo opened his arm, pulling her in.

“I had to keep them moving and off-center, while they were prepared to take me out at any moment. So, I revealed one detail at a time of what I’d discovered. Not wanting me to stop—despite planning to torture me anyway, I drew them deep into the empty warehouse. Her friends took them out rapidly, no more than a second or two for each.”

“But all those people got away?” Alli demanded. “Won’t they still come after you?”

“Strangely, that’s not how they operate. Rather than trading information among the agency, anytime they lost a team they’d drop the entire mission as a lost cause. But ... they won’t get away.”

“When the police identified the bodies, based on their badges and IDs, any compromised government officials sheltering them wouldn’t dare object,” Natalie explained.

“Knowing they couldn’t count on the story being buried, the senior staff split,” Theo continued. “They were so cocksure of their invulnerability; they never developed contingency plans. While Leslie’s friends were efficient in their simplicity, the agency’s same elegant simplicity was their downfall.”

“But...”

“No one’s escaping,” Theo assured them. “Since all these ex-agents were constantly watched, knowing how the operation worked, they’ve long copied sensitive documents, aware they’d be blamed once the shit hit the fan. When this first started, Leslie spread the word ahead of time, and their associates began securing the information. Again, the high-level officials assumed they were untouchable, while the underlings knew they were considered expendable, and were covering their asses for years.

“Thinking they got away clean, they abandoned the agency, the source of their intelligence gathering and went underground. But when the authorities start examining the records, the lower-level personal will begin releasing the names, locations and cover identities of the executives, starting at the top. As the FBI picks them up, a few at a time, most won’t realize what’s happening. Or they’ll assume once the uppermost levels fall, the pressure will be off.

“But the ex-agent’s lists are comprehensive, dating back decades and including a huge amount of incriminating evidence. The feds will be cleaning up these people for years, but none will escape unscathed. Their best bet is to cooperate, lessening their culpability, though I doubt they’ll realize it in time.”

“We weren’t sure someone wouldn’t come after us anyway, despite their assurances to Theo,” Natalie confided. “But with no other options, we headed back and never encountered the slightest problem. Again, they knew how the agency works, and their information was reliable.”

“So, you go from a slim chance of survival to taking down the country’s most secretive intelligence outfit, while no one suspects you were even part of it?”

“That’s where I come in,” Natalie said, leaning forward. “With nothing else to do, Theo passed my name to Leslie, who spread the word around her associates. I’ll spend my downtime documenting the entire story, getting personal experiences from those involved, without identifying who they were or where they were stationed.

“In additional, Theo’s been communicating with the original FBI agent investigating Leslie’s activities, Drew Lynen. He’s shipping me his accumulated evidence against the group, naming names and listing specific crimes.