Dead and Departed

Chapter Fourteen:

Ow, Charlotte thought as she sat up. Her head hurt. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was going downstairs. Now she lay in her bed. She got up and headed downstairs to get breakfast, still thinking about it. Had someone knocked her out or was it just a dream?

But when she got downstairs she saw him. Mitchel. And Lucy. She jumped back and nearly screamed. He was standing near the table with Lucy.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Charlotte yelled. "How'd you even get in?"

"The spare key under your doormat. You should really find a different place for that," Mitchel replied, crossing his arms.

"You shouldn't be telling me what I should or shouldn't do!" Charlotte said, feeling anger rising up in her chest. "Why are you here?"

Lucy and Mitchel shared a look, but didn't answer.

"Well?" Charlotte prompted. "Does this have something to do with why my head is sore? Or with the noises I heard last night?"

"Someone broke into your house," Lucy said. "They knocked you out but we were able to stop them from getting this. They ran away, though." She held out the letter from Xander. It was all crumpled now.

"What would anyone want with this?" Charlotte asked, taking the letter. "It's gibberish."

"It's code." Mitchel said. "We just don't know how to decipher it yet."

"So, wait. I have a lot of questions," Charlotte said, sitting down at the table when she realized her hand was shaking. "How did you two know someone was breaking in? How do you two even know each other? How do you know this letter is code? What do you mean you haven't found the key yet? Why did people break into my house and knock me out just for a letter? Wha—"

"Whoa, slow down," Lucy interrupted. "Charlotte, this is a lot. But since someone broke in and you almost got seriously injured, we figured we should tell you. Xander wouldn't have wanted it, but we feel you should know. Don't make us regret it."

"Know what?" Charlotte cleared her voice when it cracked. "Why wouldn't Xander have wanted me to know? What's going on?"

"We're involved in an anti-terrorist group," Mitchel said. "Xander was too. He joined around four years ago but quickly rose to a higher position. The terrorists figured out his identity and killed him."

"Are you saying he didn't die in a car crash?" Charlotte's voice wavered again.

"No, he did," Mitchel replied. "Did you ever wonder how that car that caused the crash survived and drove off?"

"Yes, but—"

"It was because it was built to crash into other cars. It had extra protection, it was made of stronger metal, it had everything to ensure it would be able to withstand a crash big enough to kill the people in the other car."

"Terrorists killed him?" Charlotte said. "Why would he even be involved in this? Why did he join? Didn't he see this could happen? He had a family, didn't he care? Vega died too!"

"When he joined, he said something about avenging your parents." Lucy told her. She looked down. "Al qaeda is our main nemesis and your parents died in the 9/11 attack on the twin towers. He was angry."

Charlotte was stunned. She felt like crying again, but the tears didn't come. "I was so upset... and angry when my parents died... I guess he cared too much." She put her head in her hands.

"That letter holds information." Mitchel pointed to the letter that Charlotte had set on the table. "But Lucy and I are more linguistically talented than code-breaking talented, so we have to deliver it to our superiors who know the code. We have to take it."

"Then take it. Whatever. I don't want anything to do with it." Charlotte said.

"We understand how you feel, but you are involved," Lucy replied, sitting down next to Charlotte. "We intercepted their radioing. The terrorists believe you know what the letter says. They may try to hurt you if they can't get their hands on the letter."

"Why now?" Charlotte asked. She had a sinking feeling in her gut. "Why are they just coming for it now?"

"Because you found it yesterday," Mitchel explained. "We also found a hack in your security cameras, and one of them had conveniently been angled enough to look in your window."

"Why was it like that?" Charlotte asked, looking out the window at the camera. She'd forgotten she even had them. "Have they been spying on me?"

"It looks like it. But they must have thought the information from the letter was long gone, or else they would have come way sooner." Lucy said.

"Wait, with all of this, why aren't the police here?" Charlotte asked, feeling as if her brain was moving like a snail.

"The police won't be able to help," Mitchel answered. "We're always a bit paranoid, so we don't like trusting a lot of people. Being paranoid actually saves us a lot, actually."

"What now, then?" Charlotte asked. Her brain was spinning. She'd just found out that Xander was part of an anti-terrorist group and that was why he was murdered along with their daughter in a definitely not-accidental crash. Oh, and it was probably Charlotte's fault because the only reason he joined in the first place was because of her.

"You'll probably want to stay with me for a couple days until we get this communicated with the rest of the group," Mitchel said. Charlotte suddenly felt ashamed. It wasn't his fault that Xander died and he hadn't deserved her rudeness.

"What do I bring? Can I still go to work?"

"We'll figure all that out." Lucy said. "Just pack a small bag with clothes and toothbrushes and stuff like that. You'll probably be able to come back soon."

Charlotte nodded and took a deep breath. "But how do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Well, everything makes sense now, doesn't it?" Lucy pointed out. "And you've known me forever."

"I knew Xander, too. Just not as well as I thought I did," Charlotte pointed out.

"You're just going to have to trust us, then," Mitchel said.

Charlotte bit her lip. She didn't know if she could trust anyone anymore.

I'm getting back into this story. Yay!

~Eudora Perine