PRESENT DAY
Stella held Karla in the conference room as the video screen faded to black. Before Karla could reach for the computer, the woman on the other side in the mask took the computer and stood up.
“You have the room for as long as you want. Whenever you’re ready, just walk out through the door. Rosa will be waiting to get you back to your room.”
With that, she left.
To say that Karla was stunned would be the understatement of the century. As she lay on Stella’s lap, she held her head while Stella looked tenderly at her.
“You never knew, did you?”
Karla could only respond with a blank look. They sat in silence for a little while, both still processing the sheer amount of information they’d just received from that video.
“Well, on one hand, now we know why our island got hit. We also know that Kane’s really dead. On the other hand… holy hell.”
Karla rubbed her forehead. “Yeah.”
Stella tried to lift her up. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”
Karla gently shook her head.
“No, I’d rather be here in your arms if that’s alright.”
“Honey, I cannot begin to imagine how much that video fucked you up, but you haven’t had anything to eat or drink. We need to get something in you.”
Karla still refused to move.
“Stella, I just found out that while one brother of mine tried to use drugs to control me, the other one, who I didn’t know existed, by the way, tried to have me framed for murder so he could take what he never worked for. When that didn’t work, he tried to literally blow me to bits. My brothers were basically greedy men who never cared about me.”
Stella kissed her forehead and looked her dead in the eyes.
“You have me. You will always have me. I will never leave you till the day we die. I promise you.”
Karla smiled at her and looked away, still sad and rubbing her head. Stella leaned down and kissed her on the lips, gradually lifting her up.
“Together forever.”
Karla nodded. “Together forever.”
Karla leaned her head on Stella’s shoulder, still processing. Stella was also still making sense of everything, but then she had a smirk on her face.
“I won’t lie though, that was a grade A face job.”
Karla looked at her in confusion as she continued.
“Body job, even. I could not differentiate between Kane and the other guy in the side-by-side photos. I need their surgeon’s info stat.”
Karla playfully punched her in the shoulder while she laughed. Stella kept going.
“I’m just saying, that man was perfectly built to look like someone I had spent quite some time with, and I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference if both of them stood in front of me.”
Karla was losing her mind at that point.
“You are ridiculous, woman. All the things going through your mind and that was the one you chose to let fly? You are such a dumbass.”
Stella shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who’s brother tried to kill us. I just want his surgeon’s info.”
“Bitch, if you ever alter any part of this body, I will put you on that goddamn island and launch the missiles in myself, you hear me? That’s my body and I haven’t said I want any changes.”
Stella looked at her with a knowing smile. Karla wondered why she was smiling, and then she finally put it together.
“Oh you motherfucker!”
Now it was Stella’s turn to laugh. Karla got up and started heading towards the door but Stella caught up with her just in time.
“Hey, give me my credit, I got you in a better mood.”
Karla tried to slap her but Stella caught the hand and used it to pin Karla against the door. Karla tried to break free, but Stella leaned in until she was literally breathing into Karla’s eyes. Karla finally broke.
“Fine. You win. But it’ll still be a while before I can digest that full video.”
“Let’s get some food and then we can process together.”
Karla nodded, then she kissed Stella deeply.
“I love you, you massive teddy bear.”
“I love you too, you tiny little thing.”
“Let’s go.”
*******
Inspector Kpodo stopped the car right outside of an abandoned area far outside of town. He had quietly kept his eye on this lady passenger of his the entire time, hoping she was not about to try to kill him, but she’d made no moves to suggest he was a target of hers.
A car had sped past them just as they’d gotten there. He saw Kane in the back of the car and wanted to turn, but the woman reached out her hand to stop him.
“You’ll get him. I promise you’ll get him. But not right now.”
Kpodo was not used to working like this, so he remained skeptical. Still, something within him had made him feel comfortable giving this stranger the benefit of the doubt, which went against every ounce of training he’d received. So he chose to believe her until she proved his gut wrong.
“Before you go in, I need you to know that I know about the attempts on your life. The explosions.”
She took out a file from the side pocket of her door and gave it to him.
“This will explain everything. I’ll give you a few minutes to read the top pages before we go in. You can read the rest later.”
Kpodo opened the file and the first thing he saw was a picture of the chief of his station shaking hands with Kane. Then another picture of the internal affairs’ investigator sharing a drink with Kane at a bar. He looked at the woman in surprise.
“I told you the entire force was corrupt. Those explosions were originally designed to take you out, but there was no way to warn you without raising suspicions. We had to get creative there. Thank God you made it out alive each time. Read the last page.”
Kpodo, still mad about what he’d just learned, flipped over to the last page. There were two photos, side-by-side, of what looked like the same person. The woman pointed at the one on the left, then the one on the right.
“That’s Marcus, the guy who was in your morgue, and that’s his long-lost brother who walked into your office and impersonated him.”
Before Kpodo could fully process that piece of information, the woman’s phone buzzed.
“We have to go now. Make sure you bring your walkie cos we’ll need a lot of help.”
Insane!!! So all along, Marcus actually was dead. And it’s been Aurelius moving about all along. Damn, this is a shocker! No wonder the ladies were stunned…
