Broken Mirrors, Part 4 - A new dawn
"NO! Zack ease the steering wheel. Don’t wrench it."
Zack for the hundredth time tried not to sigh. It was not that he didn’t
appreciate the kind gesture that his sister was trying to do for him. Yet,
he inwardly wished that she didn’t yell and wince at every mistake he
had made. Fuming, he considered stopping the C-5 car right there at
the sidewalk and ordering the Player to C-5 him to Tatiana’s
coordinates. He would rather make a fool of himself in front of her than
continue with this ‘driving lesson’.
Ivy glanced worriedly at Zack. He had been unresponsive throughout
the whole drive. His shoulders were hunched as if bracing himself for
some unseen blow. If she didn’t know better, his expression came
close to sulking. What was wrong with him? Usually, a drive with him
was filled with banter and she would tease him about his driving. Then
he would retaliate by saying that a few years ago, her judgement about
life wasn’t so sound as she had been flattered by Lee Jordan’s
attentions before he went bad. Lee Jordan and Carmen Sandiego.
She had a grudge to settle against them, Lee was already taken care
of but Carmen was another matter. I will catch you, Carmen.
Suddenly, Zack pulled over and stopped the car. Staring silently in
space. His whole body seemed to send off waves of coldness. Ivy
waited for him to speak. Whatever was troubling Zack, he needed to
get it off his chest. The silence stretched and Ivy began to hear the
slight drumming of her heartbeat. This was not a good sign. Zack must
be really mad if his face had that set but reluctant look about it. His
eyes were like ice. Finally, he turned to look at her. The beep of their
comlinks cut off whatever he wanted to say.
Zack sent a thankful prayer for the interruption. He had been about to
throw all his fury at Ivy without a thought how she must feel. The pain
and contrition in her eyes would not have stopped his avalanche. The
Chief appeared in their windscreen and told them about the email. As
he continued, Zack wondered if he should have stayed in bed.
**********************
Carmen smiled serenely at them, though she couldn’t see them. Ivy and
Zack had been replaying the email again in case they had missed
something. Zack concentrated on what she was saying.
"An eye for an eye, detectives? I helped you with Maelstrom. Isn’t it only
fair that you return the favor?" Carmen said cheerfully. Her expression
became serious. "No tricks and no chases." A mischievous glint
appeared. "I can’t resist a game though. Solve this clue and you’ll find
me:
"Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
"William Blake, again," Ivy muttered.
Zack nodded, "First stanza of ‘The Tyger’. Player, infoscan tigers."
The Chief gave the usual data concerning tigers, most was found in
India and was endangered. Ivy ordered the Player to rev up the C5 for
India when Zack stopped her.
"Hold on, sis. What about that part concerning forests and night? If
Carmen wanted us to go to India, she would not have included them.
And don’t say it was to throw us off-track."
Ivy closed her mouth; she had been about to suggest such a thing.
Frowning, she considered the possibilities. She spoke them out loud.
"’In forests of the night’ could mean night safaris. What places have
night safaris?"
"Well, Singapore has a well known night safari. It’s a park dedicated to
nocturnal creatures of jungles and forests," Zack responded.
"Does it have tigers?"
Zack smiled. "There’s only one way to find out."
They jumped into the C-5.
*******************
Carmen saw the C-5 opened up from her hiding place in a tree. The
park was closed. Zack and Ivy were searching their surroundings,
calling for her to show herself. They soon reached the tree she was
hiding in. When their backs were turned, she landed lightly behind
them. Ivy heard the slight rustle and spun. She saw Carmen and
automatically assumed a defensive stance, which Carmen noted and
smiled in amusement. Zack folded his arms and waited.
"What is it that you want from us, Carmen?" Ivy demanded harshly. The
sudden rustle behind her had caused her heart to freeze before she
saw Carmen. Her body quivered with the need to run or lash out.
Carmen’s amusement deepened at Ivy’s nervousness. She explained
to them her dreams. She left out the encounter of Avalon in the
mansion. That was too personal to discuss. Ivy and Zack exchanged
looks during her speech. Zack’s frown had changed to one of
puzzlement.
"Well, that doesn’t explained what you want us to do," he said after
exchanging another look with his sister. It was strange that Carmen’s
life was unraveling, she was usually so in control of herself.
Carmen spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness and pleading.
Her voice, however, was far from those two emotions. It sounded tight,
like she was struggling with some inner beast. "Try to remember
anything you can about that night; perhaps after the helicopter’s
explosion. Please."
Ivy took a deep breath and began telling Carmen everything she could
remember of that dark night.
Ivy landed heavily on the tiled and sloping roof. The tiles were slick
and she nearly slid off. She and Zack helped Avalon to stand,
supporting his precarious balance. She was still recovering her breath
when she hears Lee’s voice.
"Heads up, Carmen! Say hello to the new king of crime."
Ivy stared uneasily at the gun Lee was pointing at Carmen. He leapt
from a nearby roof and landed near Carmen. The gun never was
wavering from her. His face was filled with malevolence and tinged with
bitter envy. She had to admire Carmen’s cool composer, letting only a
slight disdain for Lee to show through.
"Where in the world is Lee Jordan? Has a nice ring to it, don’tcha think?"
He laughed maniacally, cutting off abruptly. Ivy wondered how sane Lee
was. Lee smiled and seemed about to fire when a bola wrapped itself
around him. Armando!
Lee fired erratically as he fought to get free. He slipped on the roof and
the energy beams began to streak towards them. Ivy remembered the
large craters the beams made when they hit something. One streaked
by her and then another to Carmen. Her throat clenched as one
streaked dangerously close to Avalon. Blindfolded and bound, he
shied away from the beam and lost his balance. Zack made a
desperate grab but missed. In slow motion, Ivy saw Avalon fall to the
pavement.
"Daddy!" Carmen cried out softly in despair.
Carmen’s cry fueled the rage burning in Ivy. Slowly she turned to Lee
Jordan. He was going to pay.
Ivy blinked back sudden tears. A swirl of emotions, sadness and rage
tugged at her soul. It was very hard to hate Carmen at the moment. Ivy
felt shocked to see Carmen’s face mirror her own for an instant. When
she noticed Ivy looking, she was calm and as cool as ever. A mask, it
was just a mask.
Zack remembered his fear as he had made that desperate grab for
Avalon. If only he was faster. If only- no he was not going to blame
himself. If anyone was to blame for that tragedy it was Lee Jordan.
Carmen sighed; this was getting them nowhere. She was about to
them this when Ivy spoke up.
"I just thought of something."
Carmen suppressed a flare of hope. "Go on."
Ivy kept silent for a moment, sorting through her thoughts.
Themes- Salvation and Hope. Carmen was suffering from nightmares
based on that night. Slowly, it all fitted together. Ivy shook off the chill
she felt.
"You want something, Carmen. You only started only realizing it when
you did that caper with Avalon. I don’t know what you’re seeking. Only
you know that."
Carmen considered it for a moment before she gave Ivy a grudging
nod.
"Thank you, detectives."
She began walking away. She could feel Ivy and Zack’s frustration that
they’ll not be allowed to attempt to catch her. What could it hurt? She
turned back to them and smiled warmly.
"What are you waiting for, detectives?"
Zack looked hesitant. Ivy had sympathy on her face. Zack answered,
"Carmen, we-you’re-we-are sorry."
Carmen felt something grow inside her. Something she couldn’t define
but it pushed away the sorrow she had felt these past few weeks.
"I’m truly touched detectives. Self pity is a depthless hole which I would
not throw myself in."
Ivy broke into a wide smile and crept towards her. Zack moved to her
other side to flank Carmen. Carmen laughed and turned to flee.
**********************
The dawn was coming and it would light up the sky, frame the
headstones in a myriad of colors. Adding warmth to such a place of
sorrow. Carmen moved through the cemetery. According to her
research, today was the day. There was a sense of finality that she
couldn’t shake from her soul. Her breath fogged. It was going to rain
soon. She topped a rise and stopped dead in her tracks.
A middle-aged man dressed in a tuxedo and expensive coat was
kneeling before two headstones. It was Avalon. So, that was where
there was a limousine parked outside the cemetery’s gates. A slight
mist of rain came. He didn’t have an umbrella and that coat would be
no shield against the rain.
She moved towards him, each step was a challenge. In her hand was
an umbrella that she opened and placed above him. He didn’t notice
her standing there for awhile. Slowly, he turned to look at her. He saw a
woman in her early thirties dressed in a splendid black dress and her
hands were black-gloved. It was her eyes that attracted him.
"Thank you for the shelter. Do I know you, miss?"
Carmen swallowed past the tightness in her throat. She managed a
slight shake of her head. Avalon frowned at her, puzzled. A hand crept
to rub a temple. Then he shrugged and looked down at the
headstones. Sadness entered his eyes.
Carmen pressed the umbrella’s handle in his hand and moved to go.
Avalon’s voice filled with pain and sorrow stopped her.
"I lost everything I loved over thirty years ago. An angel child and my
wife, Magarit to a fire."
Carmen placed a hand on her shoulder. Avalon continued; this stranger
had a silent strength in her, which he drew on. Her sympathy was not
false.
"If my daughter had lived, she would have grown up smart and brave,"
Avalon’s voice cracked at the last word.
Carmen struggled within herself. Pain seemed to crush her heart flat.
She closed her eyes but Avalon’s eyes filled with pain took her back to
that dreadful night.
Carmen ran quickly to where Avalon lay facedown. He seemed so
still. She was cold, so very cold as she knelt beside him. Gently, she
turned him over and took off the blindfold. His low moan tore at her
soul. Grief engulfed the tattered remains.
"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry," she whispered with sadness she did not try to
hide. Her face echoed the despair in her.
He opened his eyes. So green, so unlike her own. They were clouded
with pain and confusion. He struggled to speak.
"Who are you?" he managed.
Those words shattered Carmen’s soul. She wanted to speak but a
feeling of haplessness overcame her. She heard the band of
detectives approaching; gently she lay him down. Taking from his
breast pocket the gold locket. Then she fled.
After, when Lee and his goons had been taken away. Carmen had
stayed to make sure that Avalon was taken to the hospital. On the roof,
sihulotted by the moon, she watched the ambulance carry him away.
Her hand clutched the locket. She made a thousand wishes in her life
but she only wanted this one to come through. She wanted to know. But
she would never know- never have a family or father to call her own. A
tear streaked from her right eye as she slowly left the Forbidden City. It
felt like walking away from hope and into a pit of despair.
"Yes, she would," Carmen replied softly.
Avalon was amazed to see her cool composer crack and he saw
annihilating grief in her blue eyes. For an instant it was there, then it
was gone. He felt sorry for this stranger. This lady who had an aura of
confidence and spirit that a cloud of sadness couldn’t diminish.
"I believe the greatest thing about humans is their capacity to change,"
the words came haltingly as if from some buried memory. Avalon
frowned; he remembered hearing them before.
"Yes, I believe that too," Carmen said surprised. She felt a wave of
sadness go over her.
Avalon gave his goodbye and left. He wanted to return this pretty
woman the umbrella but she said to keep it for remembrance sake.
Something about her seemed awfully familiar. Carmen waited until
Avalon moved out of sight. The slight drizzle had turned into a
downpour. Slowly, she knelt and placed a single rose on both graves.
The sun was just rising. She did the hardest thing she had ever done.
Carmen let go of her only wish.
Carmen turned and walked into the new dawn. It was time to begin a
new chapter of her life.
********************
Player: Carmen, did you find what you were looking for?
Carmen: Perhaps, Player. Perhaps I never did need to look for it.
Perhaps it was already there and I was blind to see it.
Player: What are you going to do now, Carmen?
Carmen: It’s the dawning of a new day and I can’t wait to see what the
future holds.
The End.
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