FIVE YEARS AGO
Mina’s eyes slowly opened, and the sunlight gave them the rudest welcome possible. The chair she’d fallen asleep in faced a window, and the sun had no mercy on her hungover eyes. She managed to turn aside just enough to avoid the direct light, and noticed Givens’ absence just before she heard his footsteps.
He looked at her with such contempt. “I’m a lot older than you and I still woke up before you. Disappointing.” Then he handed her a cup which she figured had coffee in it. He continued, “You’re lucky today’s a holiday. I would’ve fined your ass for coming in late.”
She shot back, “Who said I’d have been late?”
Givens simply pointed at the large clock to her left and sat back in his spot with a self-satisfied grin. She saw the time: 10:52am.
“Goddammit. Spoke too soon.”
Givens stared straight ahead as he drank his coffee. “How you like them apples?”
“Actually, this was planned. I wanted to talk to you yesterday about something, but tradition is tradition. So I waited till today.”
Givens placed his coffee on the table. “Yeah, the sleepover was a weird choice for a married woman.”
“Correction: a happily married woman. Also, Lucas is out of town on business.”
Givens sat up. “Well, what do you got?”
Mina breathed in slowly, then exhaled just as slow, and then began. “I need you to be completely honest with me.”
“When am I not?”
“You always are, and I really need you to be this time as well.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
“Alright. Does the name Joseph Jonas Jenkins mean anything to you?”
“Yeah, that’s the guy who investigated your father’s death. He was supposed to be a big shot detective, but then he was found to have been a crook, so his record was completely erased from history.”
“Was he the guy talking to Brigadier Jones at the party?”
“Yeah. Their families were close. Where’s this going, Mina?”
“Did you know Detective Jenkins?”
“Only from news reports. Not really in-person.”
“Are you absolutely sure you didn’t know this guy?”
“Mina, I did not know the guy personally.”
Mina sighed and slumped back in her seat. She felt weird, knowing that he’d just lied to her about knowing Jenkins. She wasn’t sure whether to confront him or just watch him. Until that moment, he’d never lied to her. What was so serious about this guy that Givens of all people would deny any knowledge of him?
Givens got up and walked to the shelf on the opposite end of the living room. He picked out a book and brought it back to Mina. “Well, my lady, that was a fun interrogation. Calm, composed, tactical, just like a Brigadier General should. Here’s your prize for doing that so well. It came from the same store as the Ellis Rose I got you for your birthday three years ago.”
At the mention of the last phrase, Mina’s eyes widened. “The same bookstore?”
“Same bookstore. They are really more like an antique show that sells a lot of books. One of these off days, we can go and take a peek.”
Mina almost got emotional, but then she held firm. “Most definitely, sir.”
*****
PRESENT DAY
The meeting was called to order. Athena rose from her seat and addressed the room. “Brothers, sisters, it is with great sadness that I announce the demise of our friend, Pegasus. Pegasus was the lead on our Girl and Rescues operation, which was literally blown to bits three days ago. As is tradition, we waited three days before calling this meeting, and now a toast to our friend.”
The four men and four women at the table rose up and raised their glasses.
“To our fallen friend. Godspeed. Hail Hermes.”
They all responded, “Hail Hermes” and clinked their glasses together.
*****
Across from the Express Hotel, Connie and Sukuyaa sat in a van, watching the camera feed from the conference room where the meeting was happening.
“I hope you told Thomas that we plan to reward him and take him to safety after all this is over. We need him to feel safe.”
“Yeah, I told him. Damn, that Athena lady has a gorgeous figure!”
“She does. A life of crime will have you looking like a supermodel in your old age too if you live long enough. Too bad they are wearing masquerade masks.”
“I know right. Sons of bitches. How dare they make it tough on us!”
******
Athena remained standing while the rest sat. “Aquarius, Leo.”
Barry and Les stood up.
“Leo, a key asset who was placed in your charge has managed to go missing. His status remains the same after five days. Hermes would like to know why. You have the floor.”
Barry, nervous as all hell, steeled himself and began his defence. “We currently have our man on the case. He’s closing in on a suspect and needs five more days.”
Athena, while seated, had a follow up. “Does he have names or possible locations? Anything concrete?”
“Not as of yet.”
“Aquarius, what is the status of our investigation into Pegasus’ death?”
“We’re currently tracking down multiple leads. Our guys should have more in the next few days.”
Athena stood up and directed the two men to sit. “So, in summary, there is nothing concrete to report from either of you after five days of investigations. Meanwhile a key piece of our business just suffered a major setback, and no one knows when we can rebuild it. Hermes is not pleased with anything you both said.”
*****
“Someone’s in trouble.” Sukuyaa said that while dragging the last part of the word ‘trouble.’
“I wish they’d take their masks off, cos I think I recognize the Leo guy.”
“How though? His build could be anyone’s.”
“Yeah, but his voice, I remember it from the day my parents died.”
“Connie, you were three, and you were also unconscious.”
“Yeah, but I still have bits and pieces. My mum kissing my dad, the sound of something slamming the table, my dad screaming, random stuff. Leo’s voice is part of the random mix.”
“Goddamn cocoon never forgets.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, you don’t know the saying? I read or heard it somewhere, but its something about a butterfly larva never forgetting the pain it goes through while in its cocoon. I’m sure it’s a load of bullsh*t, but the cocoon never forgets, apparently.”
“There is a distinct possibility that it is the case in this instance.”
“Anyway, we can set the explosives off now, and confirm your suspicions from the dead body.”
“It might be more prudent to let their ceremony play out. My gut tells me we may learn something.”
*******
“Poseidon, would you please do me the honor of pulling up the screen?”
The man next to Barry took the remote from the table and pressed a button. Part of the wooden portion on the front wall began to split in two, revealing a large TV screen. Athena stood up, and the rest followed suit.
“All Hail Hermes.”
“All Hail Hermes.”
They continued the chant as Poseidon walked over to Athena and handed her the remote, and she turned the TV on. Hermes appeared on the screen, dressed for a formal event, but without his mask. Everyone in the room followed suit and took their masks off.
********
“These people are doing way too much. It looks less like a mob meeting and more like a cult.”
“It is indeed a cult, Sukis. Have you forgotten already?”
Sukuyaa’s memory went back to her days as a private investigator, when she first learned of the Bell Syndicate. She remembered the pictures of lungs and intestines that had been cut out of little girls, apparently for a ritual ceremony where they would be eaten. She learned that from an escapee who was nearly a victim but killed herself because the trauma was too much for her. There were tales of girls being snatched in the middle of the night, sedated and f*cked right in front of everyone. Anyone who dared to scream or cry loudly became the next victim. The Hula-Roos may have been the degenerates who carried out the crimes, but the Bell syndicate were the issuers of the mandate.
“Look, the TV screen is pulling up. Maybe we will finally learn of Hermes’ identity.”
Sukuyaa snapped back to the present as Connie anxiously watched the camera feed. The TV screen came on, and the face that showed up had Connie rocking back in her chair. All the blood drained from her face and was replaced with pure bewilderment.
Sukuyaa looked at the feed. “Well, Leo is definitely the harbormaster Les Crankson, and Aquarius looks like the police chief at Hildenstad. Is that the voice you recognize from your childhood?”
Connie said nothing, remaining in such shock that she looked like a mummified corpse.
*****
“Aquarius, Leo, step to the front.”
The two men did as they were told.
“Your efforts in the help of our cause have been truly disappointing. Leo, not only did you spare the life of a man who rejected a job which revealed too much to him, you have now allowed this man to go missing. Aquarius, you have yet to even identify a suspect in the death of Pegasus, so we can determine whether or not it was an isolated incident, or our organization is under attack. You have failed to live up to the credo of the Bell Syndicate. Athena.”
Athena pulled out two small remotes from her bag. She stood directly behind Aquarius and Leo, who were still looking at Hermes on the TV, as Poseidon and another lady placed a big, plastic rubber in front of the men. Athena pressed the only button on both remotes.
At first, it didn’t look like anything had happened, and then the two men both yelped, and fell straight onto the rubber. Poseidon and the lady wrapped the men up and went back to their seats.
Hermes continued. “Athena, alert our man that he is now the point man on both cases. If he acquits himself well enough, he will be the next in either of the seats Aquarius and Leo once occupied, whichever one he desires. Now, let us begin to work on the story for the press.”
******
“Oh my god, did you just see that! Yet no one will ever know the truth. We need to blow them up now while we still have the chance.” Sukuyaa was horrified at the sight of what she’d just witnessed.
Connie was still in shock, except she now had tears running down her face.
“Connie, did you hear anything I said? We need to light them up now! We need to-”
“Sukis-”
“activate the explosives so we have-”
“Sukis-”
“Enough time to-”
“Sukis!”
Sukuyaa stopped and looked at Connie, whose face was now awash with tears. “We do not know anything that we thought we knew.”
“What do you mean? We have faces to put to the names and names we didn’t know before.”
“You see the motherf*cker talking on the TV screen?”
“Hermes?”
“His name is Kennard William Murson. And the bitch that goes by Athena, her name is Leah Lilian Murson.”
“Hold on. Aren’t those-”
“Yup. The motherf*ckers who gave birth to me.”
Sukuyaa’s jaw hit the floor as she took in the absolute stunner she’d just heard. She gingerly lowered herself onto her chair and almost missed it. She looked at the camera feed and then looked at Connie, who was shaken to her very core.
“Son of a bitch!”
Wait a minute, what?? Mina/Connie’s parents are actually alive?? And are the heads of this evil syndicate?? So everything she’s known is a lie? Bruh, this is unbelievable!!
