Seventy-Four

I stood like a statue in the middle of that room, staring at the blond woman with a puzzled face in the corner. The silence was oppressive. To tell the truth, I didn’t know what to say, where to start or what to do. She looked at me with a contemptuous face and puzzled eyes.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked the first thing that came to my mind. She gave me a slight nod, and I wouldn’t notice if I wasn’t paying attention.
“The sister who abandoned me to the vultures.” Bitter words so full of resentment came out of her mouth. A slap on the face wouldn’t hurt so much.
She dragged herself up from the floor without taking her eyes off me as I accessed her body for injuries. She seemed a healthy woman, about my height, slender than me. Her hair fell in waves below her shoulders. Since daddy dearest told me she was alive, I pictured our reunion, but I would have never imagined like this, my sister prowling around me like a jungle cat, staring at my face with loath and scorn.
“I don’t know what they told you, Alice, but I found out you were alive two days ago. I’ve never abandoned you to no one!”
“You’re lying.”
“I can be anything but a liar!” I said with so much anger and assertiveness. She winced and sat herself at the end of the bed, looking at her hands resting on her lap. “I looked for you all these years, but they informed me you were dead. Once we are out of here, I can take you to your tomb, if you don’t believe me.” Her eyes snapped back to mine.
“I don’t believe you.” She gritted out. Her eyes fixed on me as I walked over and sat beside her, leaving some room between us. I didn’t want to intrude on her space.
“Look, you don’t need to believe me right now. The thing is, I can get us out of here. I just need time to think about it?” I didn’t like the funny look on her face, and I got a bad vibe, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. A lot was going on in her head. I felt the waves of suspicion coming to me, but what I didn’t like was the feeling of hatred in them. It made me sick. What did they tell her about me?
*‘Guys, I’m fine. I have my sister with me, but… I trailed off.’*
*‘But…’* both asked together.
*‘They brainwashed her against me, or she has some sort of Stockholm Syndrome, I think. But I can’t shed the feel that it has something off with her.’
‘Alex, be careful with her, don’t let your heart get in the way. We are in a war, think like a warrior!’* My dad was exceptional. From day one, he never let me down, not once.
“Alice, I believe our father sold us out… because how could they be expecting me if he was the only one knowing I was coming for you. He asked me to.”
“Our father?” She cut me off with puzzlement on her face.
“Doctor Blake! He said he met you occasionally. I thought you knew.”
“Yes, we met, I got sick a few times, and he was the one visiting me, and when I accompanied Radu to the Agency, Doctor Blake came and talked to me, since he leaves me alone in a room while he did whatever in that place. We bonded, but he never told me he was my father.”
I knew she was having a hard time believing in me, and I didn’t like the way this situation was taking shape. Alice was too composed for my liking, and her answers were matter of fact, cold, as if I was talking to a robot. But she didn’t count on the fact I could tap on the waves she was broadcasting without even realising. A total opposite of her semblance. Waves of concern and fear assaulted me to the point of sickening my stomach.
“Since when are you here?”
“As long as I can remember.”
“Did someone hurt you, did he hurt you in this meantime?”
“No! Never,” she blurted out too quick. Not a good sign.
“Are you sure, because if they or he did, I’ll make sure they suffer when I kill them.”
“No!” Frighten and anger came out of her, bathing my entire body. It got so intense, my hand pressed at my stomach as if I could stop the churning in it. Her eyes flickered, showing her hidden emotions, and it was bad, nasty bad. She cared for that puny punk, and sister dearest was acting in front of me, collecting info for the Agency.
The sound of the door being unlocked diverted my attention from her, and to my surprise, they shoved Doctor Blake inside. They had bugged the place, just as I imagined, and Doc getting thrown inside the room only confirmed it. His blue eyes brightened up at the sight of us and tears glinted there. I felt his happiness seeing us together, but how?
“If it’s not daddy, dearest! Join the party, traitor. You sold me out, how could you?” Rage engulfed me and I launched myself at him.
*‘Dragă, calm down. You must not give away your talents. Breathe.’* The soothing voice made its way to me, and I froze in the middle of the room. Looking at my father with murderous thoughts hovering in my head. Alice glanced between both of us with mockery in her face.
“I didn’t tell them anything, Alexandra!” He chastised me. “I told you all this should have an end.” He cast his arms around, exasperated.
“How do you explain all this? They were expecting me!”
“Somehow, they suspected you were going to look for me. As soon as you left my house, they held me hostage, and took me with them. They have eyes all over, it’s like you can’t escape them.”
“It wasn’t you who sent me the coordinates…” Suddenly, the information sank in me. How could I miss all of this, they played me all along? They may not have known where I was all the time, but they made themselves a step ahead of me. Fuckers!
*‘Liz, don’t bash at yourself. It was not your fault. Despite this hard shell you wear for the world, you’re a warm and caring woman. Deep down, you still believe the goodness of people.’* He was right. It was one of my many weaknesses, and I hated to feel this way.
*‘Love you, Grizzly.’* Warmth enveloped me, and I had to blink several times to dissipate the tears. I couldn’t let them know I had them with me.
“You’re my father, Doctor Blake?” Alice asked in a sweet, fake voice.
“Oh, cut the crap, sister dearest! I know you sold yourself for them. You already gave yourself out, bitch!” My patience flew out of the window, well not literally. There was no window in that shit hole. “You’re a horrible actress!”
“Who do you think you…” She stood up, advancing on me, but I cut her words short.
“I’m your big sister, and you’ve just got a personal nightmare to yourself. Sit the hell down.” My eyes flashed white, and she stepped back as if I had snakes for hair.
The happiness once in his face turned into deep concern as he glanced at Alice. To my displease or joy, he was being genuine. I didn’t want to get attached, give him a second chance, but if he was as much a victim as both of us, he deserved it, right? My sister may have turned against me, but she got raised by them. She didn’t know any other way. Alice didn’t have the chance of having a Tony in her life to pick up her pieces and put them together.
“I need to get us out of here and find Shane. They were torturing him. They’ve sent me a video and I’m worried he’s too hurt to help himself.” Guilt swamped me again just to think I put him in this position. “Alice, do you know where they are holding him?” She said nothing, and I grabbed her by the sweater, shaking her hard and coming face to face with her. “Tell me where he is or I swear, sister dearest, I’ll make you suffer.” I growled between my teeth, but what I got was a twitch on her lips and satisfaction glinting in those cold, bluish orbs. I let her go with a push, and she walked to the intercom by the door, pressing into it.
“Why don’t you come down and meet your friend? She’s asking about you,” she said with a wide smug grin dancing on her pink lips. The claws of betrayal and disappointment just reached for my lungs and squeezed to crap, leaving me no air to breathe, and I let myself fall on the bed, because my legs couldn’t hold me anymore.
*‘Dad, I’m sorry… I fucked up!'*