Servario nodded, "At this one. Jack downloaded all their hard drives though, and wiped everything. He’ll call the police from the air. We need to hurry—the girls should be reaching the ground level by now."
I looked at the kids, "What do we do about them?"
He looked pained, "I have a special place I put them." I couldn’t lie to myself. I didn’t trust his special place or him.
We rode the elevator to the top floor and ran for the helicopter. When we were inside and far enough away, Jack pressed a button and flew off. I frowned, "What was that?"
He muttered, "One of the EMP-style weapons that was used on your house in Boston. In case any part of the building is getting information from that floor, I just wiped out a block."
The three little girls huddled to me, staying as far from the men as they could. I wrapped around the three of them like I had wings to protect them and shield them with. I felt sick until we flew to something I hadn’t been prepared for…a church.
Servario got out of the helicopter, "Evie, bring the girls." They never made a sound, just gripped to me. I got out and let them hold onto me for dear life until we reached the grounds where a nun came out. She smiled at Servario, "Gustavo, how are you?" She was an older lady with a gentle smile and a huge scar on her cheek.
He nodded, "I am well, Sister. How are you?"
She looked at the three little girls, "Worried about the world we live in."
He nodded again, "As am I." My heart broke into a thousand tiny pieces as I watched the nuns greet him with warmth and kindness. They knew him, well.
The nuns turned and welcomed the girls with hugs and kisses and promises of safety for the rest of their lives.
I hugged each one, wishing we had tortured the men just a little longer. I had killed too quickly.
Servario took my hand, leading me to a bathroom inside of the old stone building. He leaned against the wall, “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head, “No. I conned him into thinking I liked having my hair pulled and a penis lodged in my throat.”
He laughed bitterly, “If only he had known you better. He might still be with us for me to let your mother skin him alive.”
I scowled, “You were watching us, the whole time?”
His eyes darkened, “I will forever be in the shadows, Evie. Just as I promised I would be.”
My insides ached, but I chose to ignore his words. “I like my way of killing him just fine.”
He scowled, “What did you do?”
I grinned at myself in the mirror, “Stabbed him in the taint and cut his voice box out.”
He wrestled with a look of horror, “Someone is remembering who she used to be, quite quickly.”
I laughed, “I never was this evil.” I looked at him accusingly. He nodded knowingly. He knew he had done that to me. Coop and Jack came in. Servario left the room.
Coop gave me a look, “You alright?”
I shook my head, “I don’t think I will ever get this one out of my heart.”
Jack gave me a sober look, “Me either, Evie.”
We all washed up, tended to Coop’s bullet wound, and got back in the helicopter.
When we landed on the roof of the yacht again, Servario looked back at me, "You are fearless."
I felt sick, "I need something hard to drink. Like bleach water."
Coop chuckled, "How bad was it with him?" He might have been laughing, but I could see the hurt in his eyes for me.
I shuddered, "It wasn’t good but I’ve been through worse." It was true, nothing would ever top watching the guard get backdoored by my children’s paternal grandmother.
Servario looked at us all, "I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership between the four of us."
Jack nodded, "And Luce, don’t forget Luce."
We made our way off the helicopter and down to the party. Coop shouted, "We're part of the mile-high club!"
Everyone on the boat cheered at him and gave me an approving nod. We went to the bar where Servario ordered four shots of tequila.
He held them in the air, "To the sisters at the convent for forgiving our trespasses today."
We all clinked and drank. He ordered four more. Jack lifted his, "To Lucile."
We clinked again. Eventually, we toasted everything under the sun and drank the bottle dry. But even then, we all had the same haunted look in our eyes. I knew the initial horror would fade away, but that night when I laid down to sleep in the arms of Coop, I could feel the stain of it would always be left on my soul.
As I drifted off to sleep, I tried not to think about the way the nun had known Servario so well. It was an odd thing, a drug dealer with a conscience.
Epilogue
My mom passed me one of Fitz’s coffees and sat on the huge back deck. I snuggled into the blanket and rocked my chair.
“It’s nice here, isn’t it?”
I nodded, “I’m surprised. I always thought Canada was snow and rain. This is just like Montana, very desert and country-like.”
She sighed, “You need to cut things off with Coop. You can’t be involved with a member of the team.”
I gave her a sideways glance, “Like you and Dad, you mean?”
She smiled, “Exactly. Look at my marriage, what kind of life is that?”
I shook my head, “I don’t know, but I know he makes me feel normal and safe. He is very good at this.”
She nodded, “You don’t have to tell me. He’s the best I’ve seen, besides Servario, who is the best ever.”
My heart skipped a beat. My mom must have heard it somehow. She gave me a knowing look, “You can’t fight what you feel. It won’t ever go away.”
I shrugged, “I’m okay with that. I don’t need it to go away, I just need it to not hurt so much.”
“Good luck with that.”
I rocked and took a deep breath, “We are safe here, aren’t we?”
She nodded, “Safe as we will ever be.”
“Why don’t you go and join Dad?”
Her smile became forced, “You are a mother, Evie. You know what you would do for your children. He made his decision and I made mine.”
I winced. She had chosen us over him, where as he had chosen the world over her. I hated that. She gave me a look, “Servario and your father are very much alike. Everything is about the cause.”
I swallowed my emotions. She didn’t need to know Servario might not be as much like Dad as she imagined him to be.
“When will this be over, Mom?”
She sipped her tea, “When the whole thing has been destroyed.”
“That sounds like treason.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything else. She didn’t have to. I felt the same as she did; I would rather destroy the whole thing than live the way we were, always looking over our shoulders.
Jack came out onto the deck with Luce right behind him. She gave me a grin, “We are headed for Dubai in three days.”
I grimaced, “Why?”
Jack gave me a look. It was the one from the helicopter. I nodded, looking down, “Are any of these people on the list, or are we just ridding the world of evil.”
Jack smiled at that, “No, this is a two birds with one stone sort of thing. Karl was on the list.”
Coop came out and sat on the huge bench next to Jack.
My mom smiled and pulled her phone out. She made a call, “We’re ready.”
She hung up and the four of us all gave her the same face. A car drove up to the house moments later and parked at the back of the house. It was a fully-tinted, red sports car of sorts. I couldn’t see who the driver was, but the car screamed Servario. The door opened and he stepped out. He pulled his sunglasses off and walked up to the back of the house. He climbed the steps and sat in the only empty chair.
“Nice house.”
I gave my mom a look. She laughed, “Servario and I have something to talk to you about.”
Jack laughed, “You’re getting married?”
Servario’s eyes never left mine. “I have been withholding information from you.”
I mocked a gasp, “Not you. Not you and my mother together, no way.”
He sighed, “The list of names was never just people searching for the Burrow. It is a list of people who are part of something much worse.”
Where Luce and Jack’s faces held the same apprehension and confusion as mine, Coop looked stoic. He knew what they were about to say. He didn’t turn his face to meet mine when I looked at him.
My mother smiled, “When I was first brought into this, I was asked to track down a group of people who had banded together after the Second World War. We called them the Organization.”
Jack cocked an eyebrow. My mom shook her head, “It’s not as cheesy as it sounds. The richest of the rich belong to it, as well as many of our presidents and other leaders. They work the markets of whole countries to get richer, ruin countries for sport, and dabble in the worst of the worst. They truly are the very worst people in the world. The people on that list are the ones who belong to the Organization.”
I gave Servario a blank look, “You belong to them?”
He nodded slowly.
“Double agent?”
He shook his head.
I scowled, “I don’t understand.”
Jack looked at my mom, “Fitz?”
She nodded.
Servario tapped his fingers against the chair, “I am for many of the things they do, but not the arms race for the Burrow.”
“You agree in the organized crime part though?”
He nodded, “I do.”
I sighed and looked at Coop, “And you knew all along about the Organization and that was who the mole in CI belongs to? Whoever the mole is, they are part of this Organization?”
Coop sighed, “Yup.”
“Does the commander know?”
He blinked, “The CI has members who are part of that. The CIA too. The Burrow is like a single island, all on its own and everyone is trying to find it. The arms race is actually controlled by one group of people. The Americans, the British, the Russians, the Germans, the Koreans, the Chinese, even some of the Japanese, and everyone else is part of it. Every government in the world has members and they want the Burrow to take control of the world.”