1

“Project Black Pearl”

By:
Shihaam Hassanali

Michiko Perera

Ransirini de Silva

Sashini Munasinghe
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CHAPTER 1

The hallway was silent as she peaked outside the door to her bedroom. “Time I got
out of here”, she thought. She closed the door behind her and walked down the
hallway, her heels echoing in spite of her trying to trend softly. The hallway had
been lit and the pale light from the candles threw shadows across the walls as they
flickered. It was only 4.00 in the afternoon, yet the mansion was dark.

She reached the end of the hallway and heisted ever so slightly before taking the
flight of stairs to her left. They led to the grand ballroom, which was now empty. The
mansion gave her the creeps. It was dark and gloomy and had a sense of hostility.
‘Yes, hostile’, she thought. She could think of no better word. She quickened her
steps and crossed the ballroom to the door that would take her to main entrance.
She hurried on not looking at the lines of portraits of the people who lived here once
long ago.

She reached the main door and yanked it open and ran out. Her car was exactly
where she had parked it. She reached into her handbag and fumbled inside
searching for her keys. She didn’t have to dig long. She thanked the Lord for her
somewhat obsessive compulsives about having things in order and in place. She
knew exactly where her keys would be.

She unlocked her car, got in and started the engine. She spun the car around and
headed for the gates. “Crap”, she said, as she saw the doors of the tall gates
chained shut. “They really don’t want me to leave. Fine, I guess I’ll just have to drive
through them. Let’s hope that works!” She hit the accelerator hard and sped
forward ramming the gates. They burst open as she sped through. “Phew” she
thought. She checked the review mirror and saw the mansion in the receding
background. ‘So far so good’, she thought. She didn’t slow down until she got to the
main road. She kept driving until she got to the freeway. It was only then that she
breathed a sigh of relief. She’d made it, although getting out seemed far too easy.
Did they just let her leave like that? Could they really have been oblivious to her
escape? She suddenly felt tired. It had been two long days and she looked forward
to a nice hot bath and some alone time. The hot bath she would get, but the alone
time wasn’t likely to materialize. She realized it was wiser to stay in the company of
 3
others until it was really safe to get out by herself. Matt’s, she decided, was as good
a place as any.

Her cell phone’s battery was dead, so that means she’d have to stop by a pay
phone to call Matt. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me coming over, she thought, but it
would be nicer to call and give him a head’s up. She found the payphone and made
the call. Matt was more than happy to have her over. It was a long drive to the city,
but soon enough she found herself in a familiar environment. She relaxed. She had
always been a city girl, and there was something about the city that gave her a
great deal of comfort.

*********************************

A man appeared at the gates of the mansion and looked at the smashed gates. He
smiled, ‘Soon…’, he said to himself. He turned and walked back up the drive way to
the mansion.

*********************************

The doorbell rang, and Matt opened it.

‘Linda! Are you ok? Come in, come in. You look exhausted!’ He led her to the sofa
and she sank down gratefully.

‘Can I get you anything, Linz?’ Linda nodded, ‘yeah, a cup of tea would be nice. I’m
parched. And I think I’ll go freshen up a bit’.

‘Of course. Make yourself at home, Linz’.

Linda was feeling much better after washing her face. She sighed. She really was
tired. But Matt would want to know what happened, and he deserved to know. She
looked at the photographs, of them with their other friends, on the table as she
walked to the living room. She smiled. She’d known Matt for years, and he had
always come through for her whenever she needed help.
 4
She sank down on the sofa and gratefully accepted the cup of tea Matt presented to
her. ‘Now, Linz, I know you must be exhausted, but what happened? We’ve been so
worried about you.’

‘I know, Matt, and I’m sorry. I should’ve called’, Linda took a deep breath and
launched into her story, ‘but thing is, it all just happened so fast I really didn’t have
time to ask for help.’

She hesitated for a minute thinking about the consequences of telling her story to
one of her dearest friends. She thought of the danger that would befall him. She did
not want to entwine Matt in the same web of secrets that she herself had found
herself in. Even with these thoughts streaming through her mind she decided that
she had no choice but to tell him.

Linda began her story:

“It was about 9.30 am when I got to work yesterday. And Kate, my Assistant, came
into the office and handed me my messages. There was a message from an
unknown caller, but all they had said was that they’d call later”.

Linda explained that she did not take much notice of it since she gets anonymous
messages from prospective clients looking to buy or sell their houses. She explained
that after about 45 minutes she received a call from the unnamed caller and her
initial thought of the caller being a client was proven true.

“He said that his name was Cole Tritton and that he would like to meet me and talk
about selling a house that he had inherited from a distant uncle after his passing. I
asked him to make an appointment with my Assistant but he said that he couldn’t
do that because he was leaving the country in a day or two. So he asked me to
meet him at the location. I agreed and told him that I would meet him there at
noon.”

Linda took a moment to collect herself before she continued her story. She met
Matt’s gaze and hoped that he would understand that she needed a little more time
to console herself. Matt gave a faint smile which Linda recognized as his way of
saying ‘I’m with you, all the way’. She took a deep breath and started her story
 5
where she left off.

“So I went to the location where we were supposed to meet. It was probably one the
biggest houses I’d ever seen. It wasn’t even a house…It was more like a mansion”.
She remembered thinking why anyone would want to sell a house like that and
immediately found herself comparing her small, worn out apartment to the
mansion.

“He was a little late so I thought of calling him and asking where he was, but I
remembered that I didn’t have his number. I waited until 12.20 and thought he was
a no-show so I started towards the car. But as I reached into my purse to get the
keys he turned into the drive way.”

Cole Tritton was the type who commanded attention in a very unassuming manner.
He was tall and had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was dressed immaculately
and appeared to have great taste it his choice of clothing. Linda was impressed. She
was also impressed by his speech, it was so eloquent.

Cole apologized to Linda for being late and gave a sign with his hand which Linda
interpreted as ‘ladies first’. As she walked into the mansion she sensed a chill run
down her spine. She ignored the feeling and asked Cole to give her a tour of the
mansion. As they climbed the creaky stairs couldn’t help but take pleasure in
looking at the portraits of certain people hanging on the wall. Linda made it a point
to ask Cole about portraits and the faces that it contained but she was more
concerned about keeping up with him in the mansion which was swarmed with halls
and passageways. She wondered if the previous occupants of the mansion had also
found the massive structure as confusing as she did.

“I know it isn’t any of my business but, why do you want to sell the house?”

He gave no reply. The mansion was built with pure stones so even with light there
was a certain darkness to it. She thought that Cole had not heard her the first time
so she repeated the question. When he didn’t answer her again she thought he was
one of those people who took pride in his privacy. She continued to follow him
through the hall which was covered with cob webs. She thought that the mansion
must have been unoccupied for a couple of months. ‘There was a noise that came
 6
from behind me. I turned around but there was no one there so I continued to follow
him’.

After walking through what seemed an unending passage she asked her disturbingly
quiet client how much further they had to walk. She was surprised to hear him say
that it was only a bit further.

She heard the noise approaching her but ignored it yet again. As they reached the
end of the passage Cole showed her into a room filled with books and antiques. She
admired all the books that were neatly stacked beside each other for what looked
like continuous rows on the walls. She was about to turn and face the entrance
where Cole was standing, but before she could do so the felt something hard
striking her head and she fell to the ground.

“Someone was pulling by my coat and dragging me across the hallway”. She
continued explaining her recollections of what happened.

“My head was throbbing from the blow that I really couldn’t see much of where I
was being taken. I remember being taken through bright lights and I could hear two
men talking to each other, but the pain was too excruciating to bear that I think I
passed out again. When I woke up I was in an empty room. I checked my watch and
it read that it was about 3.30. I thought that it was unusual because I knew I had
been there much longer. That's when I realized that I had been there for more than
one day. I looked around the room for routes to escape but noticed that there was
this old bureau with a lot of small compartments. I tried to open them but only one
opened. There was a piece of paper with the name Jonathan Harker and an
address”.

She showed the piece of paper to Matt and continued with her story.

“There was also a key in the bureau. I didn’t know what it meant but I thought it was
weird that those men would leave it right there for me to find. I tried to open the
other compartments with the key but they wouldn’t budge”.

After she finished trying the key in the locks she stuffed them into the pocket of her
jeans thinking that she would look into them as soon as she escaped. She heard
 7
someone approaching from the door which was placed in the North. She didn’t
waste any time in escaping through the only other door that lead to the eerie room.
She saw that the staircase was only a few feet away from the door and she made a
run for it. She hurried out of the house and into her car.

“The gate was closed but I was desperate. So I drove through the gate and made
my way here.” Matt seemed impressed when Linda mentioned about her driving
through the gate and Linda could see Matt’s mouth stretch as he smiled at her in
approval.

Linda wasted no time in telling Matt that she was going to track down the man
whose name was scrawled on the piece of paper. Matt wanted to protest, but he
knew that once Linda set her mind to something it was next to impossible to talk
her out of it.

Linda grabbed her car keys which she had rested on the table and started towards
the door.

CHAPTER 2

“Where do you think you’re going?” Matt looked worried and angry at the same
time. “You just came here after some random guy clubbed you over the head and
God knows what else he would have done to you. For all we know he might be
looking for you right this instant! Have you lost your mind?”

“‘I need to find out what this means.” She fluttered the piece of paper with address
written on it.
 8
“There’s something going on here and we both know it. The only difference is that I
have the guts to find out what it is and you wanna sit here and do God-knows-
what!”

At this point Matt could see that Linda was raging with anger. He had seen her this
mad only once during the time they’ve known each other and that was when her
brother had died and no one knew why. The doctors gave his cause of death some
fancy medical name but she was convinced that he was murdered. No one had
believed her except for Matt and he had seen the same rage fill her eyes as it did 5
years ago.

‘Ok. You wanna go somewhere…Fine! But I’m coming with you and that’s the end of
it!’ Linda nodded in agreement and they both left the apartment.

“So where are we going?”

“Back to my office”, said Linda as she opened the door in her car. “I need to go and
check if Cole Tritton left any information when he called Kate, and also, I need to
show my face there”, she muttered while fixing her hair, and putting some lipstick
on to look more formal than she was.
“They must be worried about me. There were a bunch of missed calls, but I don’t
know what to tell them when they ask”, she stated while gunning her engine to life.

“Just tell them you had a family emergency’, Matt said looking at her, appreciating
the fact that she could look beautiful even after escaping from some crazy mansion
loon.

Linda was about 5 ‘5”, petite in build with dark chestnut brown hair, and coffee
brown eyes. Her usual smiling mouth was drawn up in a line and she was wrinkling
her nose in her rare look of worry.

Linda did not talk the rest of the way, but seemed to be lost in thought, so Matt
decided to take the piece of paper with the name Jonathan Harper written on it and
examine it.
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“Linz…” Matt said after a while of staring at the paper, “What?” said Linda taking
her eyes off the road to take a look at Matt’s worried face and posture. Matt was
undoubtedly the hottest guy she had laid her eyes on.

Linda met Matt in high school, though not in the best circumstances. She had been
called to the principal’s office due to her getting late to homeroom every day. It
wasn’t her fault really, Conner, her younger brother had gotten her old truck in to
an accident and she had to ride the bike every day from home across town. It was
bad enough that she got mud splattered all over herself thanks to an inconsiderate
car driver, but the hottest guy she had ever seen around La Mero High School had
to be sitting there to witness her moment of shame.

“Well hello, Ms. Manette, about time”, said her principal before giving her detention.
The new guy looked at her and gave her a wink, and Linda wanted to die in
embarrassment. Her cheeks became red as she blushed under his gaze. The
principal, Mr. Konuka, realizing he was still there, introduced her to him, “Ms.
Manette this is Mr. Dayne, a new transfer from New Jersey, and it would be much
appreciated if you could show him around the school.”

Very conscious about my very mud splattered appearance, Linda shook hands with
him as he introduced himself as ‘Matt’.
“Linda”, she replied as they walked out of the office.

Since then, they’ve been best friends.

“What is it?” asked Linda flicking her eyes back and forth Matt and the road.

“This is weird,” muttered Matt as Linda pulled into the parking lot, and switched the
engine off.

Linda leaned towards him trying to take a look at the paper.

“I don’t think you noticed but there’s a picture of some sort of a scarab drawn at the
bottom,” Matt said turning the paper upside down, “what do you think that means?”
he asked, while giving Linda the paper to look at. She, took a long look at it,
puzzling over it, replied, “I don’t know Matt, but we’ll find out hopefully when we get
 10
to the bottom of all this.” Getting out of the car, Linda started to walk towards her
office while telling Matt to wait in the car.

‘I’ll be back as soon as I can Matt’, she called.

As she stepped quickly across the parking lot to get to the entrance of her office,
Linda heard Matt scream, “WATCH OUT!!!”

She whipped around to see a large black sedan hurtling towards her. In a split
second the adrenaline kicked in and she dived for the sidewalk, crashing onto the
rough, hard concrete and feeling the impact as it jarred through her body. As she lay
there she was vaguely aware of the car rushing past leaving a veil of smoke through
which she could see Matt running towards her.

“Linda! God…are you ok?” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and lifting
her head so it rested on his chest. Linda frowned as she tried to regain her bearings.
“Ow...” she muttered looking up into his eyes. “Thank God…That was too close, you
really had me worried” Matt said, momentarily tightening his arms around her.

“Hey take it easy…are you sure you’re not hurt?” He said as she defiantly struggled
to stand up with his support. “I’m fine…just bruised a bit, I think” said Linda feeling
very sore but at the same time amazed and grateful that she wasn’t seriously
injured.

“Look Linz, it’s not safe for you to be here. Whoever was in that car was obviously
out to hurt you and knows where you work. You may have escaped this time but
there’s no telling what could happen if they came back” Matt said as he led her
back to the car.

“You’re right…I think its best if we go to my apartment. I can call Kate from there
and find out what I need.” said Linda as she sank into the passenger seat, thankful
that she had Matt to drive her home.

When they reached her apartment Linda lead Matt inside and went to have that
long overdue hot shower she’d been waiting for. When she returned she was
surprised to find that Matt had prepared dinner and was waiting for her at the
 11
kitchen table. As she sat down to eat, Linda felt relaxed and grateful to be home but
couldn’t stop thinking about the strange events that had taken place. She had
called her assistant but couldn’t get any useful information. What confused her was
why she was allowed to escape so easily from the mansion in which she had lain
unconscious, and then was nearly killed by a speeding sedan a few hours later. It
just didn’t seem logical to assume that the same people from the mansion could
have been behind this second attack.

“Linz, that chicken’s already dead you know. You don’t need to keep stabbing it with
your fork” said Matt with a slight grin. Linda looked up at him with an embarrassed
smile. “Sorry Matt, everything that’s happened has just been so crazy and none of it
makes any sense……you know if Connor had been here, I’m sure he would have
known what to do to figure things out..” she said softly as her gaze turned distant.

Connor, Linda’s younger brother had always been active, adventurous and daring.
Since their childhood he had had a knack for getting into trouble and was always in
search of excitement. Certain instances like crashing Linda’s old truck while out on a
joy ride, making false announcements on the school PA system or breaking into the
principal’s office, were common when it came to Connor’s behavior. Therefore it was
no surprise that he went on to passionately pursue investigative journalism instead
of a more stable, predictable career path. While his work at The Chicago Tribune
entailed spending months at a time in different locations across the world, Connor
always made it a point to call Linda at least once a week thereby continuing to
maintain a close relationship with her.

However things took an unexpected turn five years ago when Connor was on
assignment in Sierra Leon. Linda received the usual weekly phone call from Connor
but this time he sounded tense and agitated. It seemed like he was in a hurry and
he didn’t give any details but promised to call again soon. Three days later she was
told that he had passed away suddenly after contracting a relatively unknown
tropical disease but Linda always thought there was more to his death than had
been revealed.

“Well, I know I can never be a replacement for Connor but I’m not going anywhere
and I promise I’ll help you get through this.” said Matt, his eyes kind as he placed
his hand on hers. “Thank you Matt…for everything” said Linda as she looked into his
 12
eyes.

“You better get some rest now, you’ve had a long day” said Matt as he stood up “I’ll
take the couch.”

CHAPTER 3

The next morning Linda woke up determined and craving for answers and she knew
the only way she could make some headway was to find Jonathan Harker by
following the address on the piece of paper she had found. So she and Matt drove
across town and finally arrived at a medium sized white clapboard house with a
neglected lawn, sitting quietly on a narrow and deserted street.

Linda parked the car next to the sidewalk and was about to step out when Matt said,
“Hey, let me go check it out first and see if it’s safe. I’ll come back for you”. Before
she could even respond in opposition he had stepped on to the sidewalk and began
walking up the driveway. Frustrated, Linda sat in the car and flicked her eyes from
house to house surveying the surroundings. Matt was standing at the doorway
about to press the doorbell when Linda noticed the front bumper of a large black
sedan peeking out from behind the side of the house.

Matt paused, his hand mid-air to the doorbell when he realized that the door was
actually slightly open.

Cautiously he swung the door inward only to find the house turned upside down.
The place had been ransacked. Books were thrown all over the place, cushions
slashed and the contents settled around it big clouds of white all over the place, the
sofas were slashed the same way almost as if someone had expected something
hidden within the seams. Matt took it all in, and wondered what the hell had
happened here. ‘Who are you Jonathan Harker?” Matt thought.
 13
‘Wow! What happened here?!’ came a whisper.
Matt jumped. ‘Geez Linz. You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought I told you to
stay in the car’, he whispered.

‘I know, but I saw…’

Just then there was a loud noise, like something had fallen, and someone cursed.
Matt put his finger to his mouth and beckoned Linda to follow him. They crept
cautiously to where the sound came from and found themselves approaching a
study. The door was partially open and just as Matt was about to swing it open, a
voice sounded from right behind them, “What the HELL do you think you’re doing??”

They spun around in shock and found themselves looking at very angry man. He
had his hands on his hips, and looked incredulously at them. He was tall and thin
and was dressed in a shirt that was rolled up to the elbow and trousers. He also
wore glasses and had a stubble on his chin.

“I’m sorry’, said Matt. ‘The door was open….errrm, we’re looking for a Jonathan
Harker. Is this his house?’

The man’s anger had abated slightly. ‘Yeah, that’s me. Who are you?’

Linda stepped forward, ‘My name is Linda Manette, and this is Matt Dayne. I’m
sorry if this is a bad time’, indicating the mess around them, ‘but I was hoping you
could help me.’

‘Well Ms Manette, I don’t know how I can, but let’s see what I can do. Come this
way’, he lead them to the kitchen. Matt and Linda looked into a beautiful room, with
state of the art kitchen equipment, and marble table tops. In the middle was a tall
table with bar chairs. The kitchen over looked the back garden which appeared to
be well cared for other than the weeds sprouting all over the place. Jonathan Harker
went around rolling up the bamboo tats that added to the charm of the kitchen.
Sunlight streamed in from the windows.

‘Please sit down. I’m sorry for my behavior earlier but I’d just come back home after
a business trip and found my house like this. So you can imagine my anger. This
seems to be the only part of the house wasn’t gone over with a fine toothed comb.’
 14

Matt and Linda perched themselves on the high seats.

‘I’ll be right back,’ said Jonathan

Linda looked at Matt, ‘This is lovely, Matt. A kitchen I’ve always wanted.’

‘Sorry, just went to shut the front door. I don’t want any more surprises!’

‘You have beautiful house Mr Harker’, Linda remarked.

‘Thank you. Yes the house is not what it seems to be from the outside isn’t it? So
what can I do for you?’

“Do you know a Cole Tritton?’ asked Linda

‘The name rings a bell I must say’, said Jonathan. ‘Could you be a little more
specific?’

‘He apparently owns a mansion a few miles outside of New York.’

“Oh…him’, said Jonathan. ‘Yes I’ve met him. A cold man I must say. He has an
ancestry that dates back to royalty. He is an aristocrat in every sense of the word.
Why do you ask about him?’

‘To be frank Mr Harker, I found your name and address on a piece of paper in a room
in the mansion. And I have to ask, is that your sedan parked outside?’

‘Yes the sedan’s mine. I’m sorry Ms Manette, I’m a little confused. What IS going
on?’

‘That sedan nearly killed Linda today’, Matt interjected angrily.

‘What!! That’s not possible. If you think it was me, you are mistaken. Like I told you I
only just got back from a business trip. I was in England. Perhaps…perhaps the
same people who ransacked my house took my car on a joy ride?’
 15
‘Mr Harker, I am a real estate agent, so when Tritton asked me to take a look at the
mansion, I did not expect to be bashed on the head and knocked out for a whole
day. When I came to I was in a room, and when I looked around I found this paper
and this key in a cupboard.’ She held up both the paper and the key. ‘To top it off I
was nearly run over by your sedan. So I really would like some answers.’ Linda
paused and took a deep breath to calm herself. ‘Why would your name and address
be where I found it?’

Jonathan looked quite startled by Linda’s outburst. ‘You knocked out? Oh my

goodness. Well I have no idea why my name was there, but that key belongs to me.
How in the world did it wind up at the mansion?’ Jonathan looked at the key puzzled.

“What does it open?’ asked Matt.

Jonathan looked up. He removed his glasses and cleaned them on the corner of his
shirt and put them back on before answering Matt. He appeared to be trying to
collect his thoughts.

‘Before I tell you that, I must make something clear, about what I do. I am for the
most part these days a freelance write. I also have an interest in anthropology.
However, I am currently an Event Organizer. I met Cole Tritton at an Art Exhibition
that I organized for a friend of mine a few months ago. When I was introduced to
Cole Tritton, I was told he was on a mission to discover his ancestry, and having
some knowledge in anthropology, he asked me to help trace his ancestry. The key
opens to a box where I keep important documents – documents pertaining to Cole
Tritton amongst others. Ms. Manette, I have to ask, are you by any chance related to
a Conner Manette?’

Linda was taken aback. ‘Err, ye – yes’, she stuttered. ‘He is…was…my brother.
Why?’

‘Oh!’ replied Jonathan thoughtfully, ‘His name came up in my investigation into the
Tritton ancestry. I was about to proceed further, but I was told to kindly drop the
entire case, and pretend I did not know anything. I was puzzled, but I thought it
wiser to do as I was told. So I left it at that. The last I’d heard from Tritton was three
months ago. I wonder…hmm, excuse me, I need to check on something.’
 16

Linda looked at Matt worried, “What is going on Matt? What has Cole Tritton got to
do with Conner?’

“I don’t know Linz, but we’ll get to the bottom of this, ok?’ He placed his hand over
hers.

‘They were looking for the box’, announced Jonathan. ‘Whoever was here was
looking for something. Nothing is stolen. The box is safe and so is my key.’ He held
up another key. ‘But how did Tritton come to have a copy of my key? And why would
he want the box since I gave copies of my discoveries to him?’

‘You think the break in is connected to Tritton?’ asked Matt.

‘Well, it must be’, replied Jonathan. ‘How else would you explain the key and my
name and address on a paper in the mansion, and someone trying to run over Ms
Manette in my sedan. Something is fishy. It looks like someone is trying to frame me
for something.
If you’ll don’t mind I think I need to call in the police, and I think you should talk to
them too. If someone attempted to kill you, Ms Manette, you should alert the
authorities.’

Matt looked at Linda. ‘He’s right you know Linz’.

Linda looked hesitant but agreed.

‘I have a friend who is in the force, who will take a personal interest in the case if I
called him. I won’t be a moment’, said Jonathan.

Soon Matt and Linda heard him on the phone.

‘OK, he said he’d be here in 10 minutes.’ Jonathan looked at them. ‘Oh I do

apologize I didn’t offer you’ll anything to drink. What would you like?’ He opened the
door to a well stocked fridge.

‘Juice?’
 17

‘Yeah juice is fine, thanks Mr Harker,’ said Linda.

As Jonathan was pouring two tall glasses of orange juice the door bell rang.

‘That must be him’ said Jonathan and disappeared from the kitchen.

CHAPTER 4

‘Come this way Jenks. Yes I know my house is ruined. I do hope you can help us. I’d
like to introduce you to Ms Linda Manette and Mr Matt Dayne’ said Jonathan waving
his hand at them.
‘This is Lieutenant Jenkins, from the NYPD.’

Greetings were passed around.

Lieutenant Jenkins was a 6 footer, muscular and athletic. He looked like he was in
his early 30’s.
 18

‘So what happened here Jon? You have a lot of explaining to do’ said Lieutenant
Jenkins.

‘Yes so I do. Let me explain…’ and Jonathan began the story with the Linda and Matt
adding to it as he went along.

After they were done, Jenkins sat back and looked thoughtfully into space.

‘Ma’am,’ he said after a few minutes had passed to Linda, ‘I think you and your
friend here, need to have protection, and I’d advice you to file a formal complaint
against this Tritton after the happenings at the mansion. I will arrange for plain
clothes officers to watch you around the clock until this has been sorted out.’

Linda nodded, ‘thanks.’

Jenkins continued, ‘So next we need to get the two of you out of here and
somewhere safe.’ He looked at Matt and then at Linda.

‘Is there anywhere that the two of you can stay? A place that’s safe I mean,’ Jenkins
asked with a perplexed look.

Matt was first to answer, ‘Yeah, I have a place down town. It’s not that far from
here.’ As soon as he finished Linda said that she too had an apartments not too far
away and that she could stay there. But Jenkins soon answered that it would be best
if the two of them remained in the same place. ‘It would be must safer for the both
of you.’

After a few minutes of silence the 6 foot cop stood up, a move that Matt and Linda
understood to be his way of saying ‘it’s time to go.’

Jonathan led the three of his visitors to the door and told them to be careful.

When they were outside of Harkers’ house, Jenkins asked them as to whose
apartment they were going to take refuge in. After some deliberation they both
agreed that it would be best if they stayed at Matt’s house. Linda thought that this
 19
would be the best idea under the circumstances. Since her assailants were clearly
interested in Linda she thought that they would even have found out where she was
living, among other things.

‘Lead the way’, Jenkins said and got into his car. Matt and Linda got into their car
and drove on to the freeway.

Linda looked quite puzzled. Matt asked her why but she did not respond. He didn’t
push her. Linda was deep in thought. She was thinking why someone would
intentionally give her the name and address of this man Jonathan Harker along with
a key which lead to the documents. Something did not quite fit in. ‘Oh damn!’ Linda
exclaimed. Matt was startled.

‘What? What’s wrong?’ he inquired.

‘We left the documents at his house! The documents about Tritton’ Linda looked as
if she has lost something very precious to her.

‘Don’t worry. We’ll tell Lieutenant Jenkins to get it. Problem solved!’ Matt seemed
quite pleased with himself. It looked as if it was the best idea he’s ever come up
with.

Linda relaxed in her car seat and went into deep thought. After about 10 minutes
they arrived at Matt’s apartment. Jenkins stopped his car about two blocks ahead of
Matt’s apartment. Matt and Linda were puzzled. ‘What is he blind?’ Linda looked
irritated.

After parking his car Jenkins started to walk toward them. While he was gaining in
on them he signed for them go inside the building. Matt and Linda looking puzzled
did exactly what he asked with little hesitation. After about 5 minutes Jenkins
walked into the building and Matt and Linda were standing near the entryway. He
looked at their faces and knew exactly what they were thinking about.

‘I stopped two blocks away ‘coz if the perp who’s after you saw that there was a cop
car parked in front of your building he might suspect that the police are involved.
The last thing you need is for this guy to be slyer and get an upper hand.’ He could
 20
see that Matt and Linda were impressed and puzzled at the same time. He gave a
faint smile. ‘So…you wanna hang around in the hall or shall we go upstairs?’

CHAPTER 5

After Jenkins had inspected the apartment for possible break-in areas he gave his
number and had left.

Linda was still convinced there was something more to this than what appeared.
Matt sat down on the opposing chair and gave a loud sigh. Linda took no notice. She
was trying to remember what the other man whom she had seen with Tritton in the
mansion looked like. She could not get a clear picture in her head.

‘We can’t just sit here and do nothing!’ Linda finally said. ‘Remember Harker said
that he was asked to abandon his investigation? And that Connor was involved as
well?? Nothing adds up Matt! There’s so much more to this. I just know it. We have
to do something.’ She looked at Matt. He stood up from where he was sitting and
gazed outside of the window for a few seconds.

‘OK fine. There’s no one on the street. Let’s go.’ Linda was surprised that Matt had
actually listened to her without arguing with her. She had at least expected him to
fight her a little bit.

‘Well are you coming or not?’ Matt was at the door holding it open for Linda to go
through. She grabbed her coat and sped out of the apartment and into the car.
‘Where are we going?’ She asked him.

‘First we’re going to do ahead and get the documents that were at Harkers’ house
and then we’ll take it from there.’ Matt said. He looked far more enthusiastic about
this ‘mystery’ and she was a bit startled.
They approached Harkers’ house and stopped the car where it was parked when
they were there that morning. They went inside and sure enough Harker was sitting
on an old chair and stood up in surprise when he saw them.
 21
‘What are you kids doing here? Thought you would be staying out of sight for a
couple of days.’

‘We forgot to take the documents in the box’, said Matt.

‘Right. Well…….. I’ll be right back.’ He went into the house and after a few seconds
came out with the documents and handed it to them. ‘Now you kids be careful.
Don’t know when that guy chasing after you will catch up with you.’

They thanked him for the documents and left. Once in the car Linda did not waste
anytime in looking over the documents. She opened the cover and the first thing
she saw was a picture of a tall, beautiful woman with long brown hair, and man, who
was taller, with black hair, dark eyes and athletic body, and what looked like their
children. There were three. They were standing in front of a huge mansion. Linda
quickly recognized it to be the mansion that Cole Tritton had asked her to come to
and then assaulted her. At the back of the picture there was some writing. The
writing seemed to be more recent than the picture, ‘Here lies the answer that you
are seeking.’
Linda pondered on this for sometime and then turned her attention to the other
documents in the think folder. As she skimmed through the documents something
caught her attention. In dark, bold letters was the name “Connor Manette”. From
what she read she could only gather that her brother was in some way involved to
Tritton and this bizarre case. She could not gather any important facts about her
brother. She hastily turned the page and…‘Oh My God!!’ Linda exclaimed. Matt did
not know what had caused this reaction and he stopped car on the side of the road.

‘What?? What’s wrong?’ Linda looked up at him in sheer horror.

Matt leaned over to see what had caused the horrific look on Linda’s face and found
himself looking at a collection of photographs of Connor and Cole Tritton around the
mansion compounds. Matt looked up at Linda confused. By this time Linda had
composed herself and quickly turned to the picture of the couple and their children.
The photograph was old and somewhat faded but she soon recognized the children.
They were two boys and a girl. The oldest boy looked around 9 years old, the girl 5
years and the little boy 3 years.
 22
“Oh my God”, whispered Linda.
She looked at Matt and pointed at the girl in the photograph, “Matt that’s me, and
this little boy here is Connor, and this boy has a strong resemblance to Cole. Matt
and I think these are my parents. Matt, do you remember how I told you that my
parents disappeared and later where found at a car crash just after my 5th
birthday? I think I must have blocked all this out. This photograph was taken just
days before that accident.”
Matt looked at Linda and said, “So that means…”

But Linda continued on, “When we were sent to live with foster family, Connor and I
were fortunate enough to get into the same home. I must’ve been under so much
trauma that I blocked this out…Matt, Cole is my brother!”

Matt looked at Linda in shock. “What?!! But how could you have forgotten your
brother, Linz?”

“Well, you see, Cole was always away at boarding school and it seemed like he was
never around. We only ever saw him during school vacation and even then he was
always so quiet. We were so tiny when our parents died and had enough to cope
with, that I guess Connor and I just forgot him. Oh my…I can’t believe this. I
remember so much now. It’s still all so hazy. I guess my mind always had this
information. I just never knew. And we never knew what happened to Cole, where
he went what he did, and like I said we blocked it all out.”

Linda looked out the window of the car with a glazed expression, flashes of
memories playing in her head…laughter…playing hide and seek, oh so care free,
running into her mother’s arms and eating her lunch at the kitchen table recounting
to her mother her day with her small vocabulary.

“Ok, so say Cole is your brother,” said Matt, “this still doesn’t explain why you’ll are
outside this mansion, and why a much older Cole and Connor are outside the
mansion as well.”

“Oh, but Matt, this mansion was where we lived for the first few years of my life.
And I suppose Connor either remembered something from his childhood, but that’s
 23
unlikely since he was about two years old when mom and dad died, or he by chance
stumbled upon Cole and discovered all this.”

Linda frowned, “Matt, but his name wasn’t Cole. It was Craig.”

“So he changed his name, recreated his identity and all for what?” said Matt.
“Harker told us that Cole was on a quest to discover his ancestry. Did he mean your
family? Could the Trittons be Cole’s foster family?”

“I don’t KNOW, Matt!” snapped Linda, “I have as many questions as you do about
this.”

“Sorry Lindz, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s ok Matt, I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just that…it’s just that we need
answers and I guess the only way we’re going to find out is we try to get more
information of what happened to Cole after our parents died.”

Matt started the car again, “Yeah, you’re right. So what’s next?”

“We need to study this file because whatever is in here, somebody doesn’t want out
in the open.”

“Ok, Linz, but I think we should bring Lieutenant Jenkins up to date on all this. If
anyone can help us it’s him.”

“You’re right, Matt. Let’s head back to your place and give him a call and ask him to
come round to discuss this.”
 24

CHAPTER 6

Back at Matt’s place, they called the Lieutenant, who said he’s come round shortly,
and Linda settled down with Matt to study the file. Soon enough Lieutenant Jenkins
arrived and when he heard that Matt and Linda had left the apartment he gave
them a piece of his mind.

“Yes Lieutenant, we should have told you where we were going,” said Linda, “but we
needed to DO something without just sitting around. We need to be able to get out
and discover things by ourselves, and anyway we were only retrieving the file we
left behind at Jonathan Harker’s house.”

The Lieutenant grunted in response.

Finally he conceded, “So what happened?”

Linda began explaining everything and pointed at the photographs so the

Lieutenant would see what she meant. The Lieutenant wasn’t nearly as stunned as
Matt had been but nevertheless, he was somewhat taken aback by the recent
developments.

He asked Linda, “So did you find anything new in the file that will help us?”
 25
“I did,” replied Linda, “but I have to say this now, it looks like we might have to go
back to the mansion, because that’s where we’ll find most of our answers. And the
back of this photograph”, Linda flipped over the photo of she and her family, “says
this ‘Here lies the answer that you are seeking’. I don’t know who wrote this but the
writing seems familiar and from the texture of the ink it seems this was written in
the last year or two.”

“You’re right Ms Manette,” said Lieutenant Jenkins, “So what else did you find?”

“Well,” said Linda, “You won’t believe this, but….”

But before she could finish Lieutenant Jenkins received a call on his phone. He asked
Matt if there was anyplace private where he can talk and Matt graciously led him to
his bedroom. When Matt came back to the living room Linda was walking back and
forth inside the apartment.

“Ok. What are you thinking?” inquired Matt. Seeing her walking around the
apartment as if she was on fire trembled Matt’s mind a bit. He was not used to
seeing Linda acting this way. Then again he wasn’t used to anything that was
happening right now.

“We have to go back to the mansion.” Linda was almost whispering now and Matt
had to lean in a bit to hear what she was saying. “Everything we need to know is in
that mansion. We have to get to the bottom of this Matt!” Linda looked at him with
tear stricken eyes hoping that he would appear to be sympathetic to her situation
and back her up.

At first Matt did not say a word. He thought about the whole situation that was
surrounding them. When he finally looked at Linda he saw her silently begging for
his help. He instantly knew that Linda’s only hope for assistance was him and that
he had already made her a promise that he would be with her no Matter what. “Ok.
Fine. We’ll go to the mansion”, but before Linda could get excited he immediately
added that they would do so only after Jenkins had left. “If he finds out that we’re
going back there after everything that has happened he’ll never let us out of his
sight”.

So they patiently, but eagerly awaited Jenkins’ arrival from Matt’s bedroom. It was
 26
taking quite sometime and Linda was gradually becoming impatient, but after a few
more minutes he came out and Linda jumped out of her seat.

“Sorry kids, but I have to go now. Some emergency down town and they need
somebody in the vicinity to take care of it. Now, I don’t need to tell you kids that you
have to stay indoors right? The last thing we need is you kids getting hurt.” After he
gave Matt and Linda a well rounded speech on safety and a million different reasons
as to why they should not go outside, he made his way out.

As soon as he left Linda reached for her coat and was already holding the door
knob. Matt immediately got a hold of her hand and pulled her aside.

“What on earth are you doing?” Linda looked puzzled as Matt agreed to check out
the mansion earlier.

“What? You said we could go to the mansion and see what we could find. What’s
wrong with you know?!” Linda inquired. She almost seemed in a rage and Matt
wasted no time in explaining his reasons.

“Jenkins just left! That’s what’s wrong! Don’t you think that we should wait for a
bout 10 minutes until we’re sure that he’s out of sight and then go?!” Matt himself
was a little agitated by Linda’s impatience. He couldn’t understand why Linda had
to be in such a hurry all the time. But then again, it’s not his family history and life
that was at stake.

After 10 minutes passed Linda and Matt left the apartment and got into the car.
Matt was still a little agitated and decided that he would not talk to Linda on the
entire ride to the mansion. He thought it would be a good cool down time for the
two of them; however he had to decided against it as he did know where the
mansion was.

CHAPTER 7

In approximately 45 minutes they arrived at the mansion. On the way to the

mansion they were betting on the fact that the gates would be locked and they had
 27
even been contemplating as to how they were going to get into the mansion. Linda
had even suggested that they climb over the 8 feet walls and make their way in.
Hearing this suggestion Matt was convinced that Linda was desperate.

To their dismay the gates had been wide open as if whoever was in the house was
expecting them at any moment now. As they entered the mansion Linda felt a slight
chill go down her spine. For some reason she knew that everything she needed to
know was inside those confusing passageways and large saloon-like rooms. She
knew that it would end here. Today.

When they were a few feet into through the mansion gates they saw a very familiar
car. After approaching it a bit further they were startled to uncover that the car
indeed belonged to Lieutenant Jenkins.

Matt and Linda looked at each other in dismay. Earlier when Jenkins had left he said
that he had to take off because of an emergency down town. This was NOWHERE
down town. They both got down from the car and hesitantly arrived at the front
door.
Matt and Linda were convinced that they would have to break into the house,
however they were surprised again as the front door was not even closed. It was
open halfway through.

Matt led the way and Linda eagerly, but a little bit frightened, followed close behind.
They inspected the ground floor and discovered nothing out of the ordinary. So they
decided to head upstairs in the hopes of getting a bit luckier and solving this
seemingly never-ending puzzle.

As they made their way upstairs, Matt too noticed the portraits on the wall and
couldn’t help but stop and stare at some of them. Linda, without making a noise,
kept shoving him from behind as if to say “Move it! When all this is over you can
stare at them all you want!”

After making their way upstairs they heard a few voices from a room which was
located far inside the hallway. As they kept on going the voices were getting louder
and a bit clearer.
 28
Linda could not help but remember what had happened to her within these very
walls.

“Ok. They’re inside this room”, Linda was so deep in thought that when she heard
this she almost jumped in fear. “Whoever is inside has got to know something about
this mansion and something about what happened to you and Connor.” Matt looked
around and found a large iron bar lying on the side of the passage and grabbed it
immediately as if there was someone else was reaching for it too. “You wait here. I’ll
slam the door open and go inside and then you come in. Ok?” Linda nodded
obediently. She was not going to ruin their possible last chance of getting some
answers by causing any unnecessary surprises. This was it.

Matt nodded at Linda and held the door knob securely in his hand. With the iron bar
in his other hand he immediately pushed open the door and confronted the men
who were inside.

Linda was still outside, but she could hear Matt’s voice, “What on earth?! What the
hell are you doing here?!” Linda could not resist. She entered the room and saw
what had left Matt surprised out of his wits.

Standing in the middle of the room was Cole Tritton, Lieutenant Jenkins and very
alive Conner Manette! Linda gasped in shock; her face had turned white as if she’d
seen a ghost, as she stared at the familiar tall person with brown hair, and piercing
black eyes. “Oh…my….God...!” she gasped out. “Conner??? Is that you?”

“Sis!” exclaimed Conner. As he moved towards her, Linda collapsed in a heap.

CHAPTER 8

“Linda…Linda….can you hear me?”

 29

Linda opened her eyes and tried to get them to focus. She saw a hazy image of Matt
looking over her very worried. “Linda…Linz…are you ok?”

Linda rubbed her eyes and muttered something unintelligible. She lay there for a
minute before remembering where she was and why she had come here. She
jumped up and looked around her. She saw Tritton, Jenkins and her brother
standing around her. She was lying on a sofa and Matt was sitting next to her on a
chair.

“Easy Linz, it’s ok, it’s ok. No one is here to hurt you.”

She looked at Matt, “how long have I been out?’

“The better part of an hour”, Matt replied. “You had us all worried”.

Linda struggled into a proper sitting position and looked at the men again. Her eyes
settled on her brother. Her brother. The brother whom she’s thought was dead all
these years. He looked back at her with pain in his eyes. He wanted to approach her
but was afraid of her reaction. Linda looked at him, “is it really you Conner?” she
asked him silently.
Seeming to read her mind, Conner said “It’s me sis. It really is.”

Her eyes travelled to Cole, her other brother. The one whom she’d blocked out all
these years. She shook her head vigorously trying to clear her head, make sense of
all that had happened.

She looked at them. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded.

“Why is Conner alive? Why are YOU here Lieutenant? Those pictures…? I know you
are our brother, Cole. What is going ON?” Linda exclaimed in frustration.

Conner approached her and sat down beside her and hugged her. “Oh sis, I’m so
sorry I couldn’t tell you I was alive all these years. You have no idea how much I
wanted to. But I had to keep quiet, for your own safety.” He looked at Cole and
Jenkins and then back at her. “We didn’t think things would get to such a point so
quickly.”
 30

Linda was by now sobbing quietly in Conner’s arms. He handed her a hanky and
said “We’ve already explained to Matt how things spanned out since my staged
death, and it’s time you knew the truth too.”

Linda looked up at him.

“Are you ok?”, asked Conner. Linda nodded.

“Linda, I have to apologize, I never meant for you to get hurt the day I showed you
the mansion”, said Cole. He pulled up a chair near Linda, looked her in the eyes and
said, “I only asked you to come by, in hopes that the place would jog your memory.
Unfortunately, I had some unexpected guests, which forced me to knock you out
and keep you hidden. Luckily Jenks here arrived in time to help me stash you inside
the room you woke up in. I could not let anyone see you. Your car however, was in
plain view of our unexpected guests.”

“Yeah, Cole and I had to make sure those people didn’t see you,” stated Jenkins.

“But WHY?” asked Linda.

“Well because,” replied Conner. “You are the link between Cole and me. The link
people have been looking for, for a long time. You are our sister. After mom and dad
died mysteriously and you and I went into one foster home, Cole went to another,
and we forgot about him.” Linda nodded.

“So when I accidentally met Cole, I was taken by surprise. I couldn’t believe it. He
told me who he was and that he has spent a long time trying to find you and me. He
showed me proof…pictures, places. It started all coming back to me. I remembered.
It was like waking up after a deep sleep. He told me he was taken in by a good
family, a very rich family, the Trittons, who loved him very much and was high up on
the social ladder. He also told me he was trying to find out what had happened to
our parents. I mean REALLY happened to them. It turns out things weren’t the way it
seemed and there was more to their ‘accident’ than what people said.”
 31
“Yeah,” nodded Linda. “I sort of realized that. I also was so sure you were murdered.
I didn’t believe it when the doctors said you died of some health problem. I mean
you were fit as a fiddle when I last saw you.”

“I know, sis. But that was a cover up. The doctors helped us with that.”

“You have many questions, I see,” said Cole noting Linda’s puzzled face. “Let me try
to explain. When you are part of a family that is well respected and important in
society, people will naturally yield to your wishes. But I have to admit I have made
some trustworthy friends over the years, most of whom I have helped out of a sticky
situation or two in the past. So I called on a few favors to help us write Conner off as
dead. If people thought he was dead, then they’d drop the case. By the way, you
may have wondered why I’d left Jonathan Harker’s name and address in the room
you were kept in. The reason was because I knew you’d find it.” Cole smiled. “You
have a naturally inquisitive mind”.

“You wanted me to find it?!” exclaimed Linda.

Cole nodded.

“So what happened to mom and dad? And who are these ‘people’ you keep
referring to? Was it the same people who tried to run me over? And your name…it
was Craig, wasn’t it??” asked Linda.

“Ahh!” replied Cole. “It was. But my new family thought Cole suited me better! As
for your other questions, let me explain…”

"No wait, I think I can do it better", said Connor.

Then he started his tale with Cole helping him on the way.
 32

CHAPTER 9

Their parents, Maryanne and Ned, originally met in West Africa, where they fell in
love. Both being US government agents they had their share of secrets and neither
party knew what the other was dealing initially. Ironically both were assigned to the
same project – Project Black Pearl. Science experiments were being conducted on
the natives in Liberia, and the headquarters for this was in Sierra Leon. These
experiments included finding a drug to cure Smallpox. In the 70s something went
wrong. Maryanne and Ned discovered that the tests on the natives were inhuman
and no cure was being sought for smallpox. They, together with two other agents,
decided to turn on the government in an attempt to free the people held as test
subjects.

One of the human test subjects was a little girl who had strong connections with the
most powerful people in Liberia, very similar to the various mafias around the world.
They were however quite displeased that the experiments were halted and that the
agents were rebelling from within the facility. They wanted the little girl to get better
from smallpox. They were unaware that the experiments were becoming inhuman
and less focus on a cure for smallpox. Soon enough, due to a variety of issues that
presented itself from both within the facility and outside from the people of Liberia,
Project Black Pearl was halted, and the little girl died.

Soon after Maryanne and Ned fled back to the USA and assumed new identities to
protect themselves from the government if they were pursued. The couple married
soon after and settled down in Ned’s ancestral mansion and had a family of their
own.

“They knew, however, that because of the lives they lead as agents and their
experiences in Liberia, that they wouldn’t be safe for long,” said Cole, “which is why
 33
they left us a letter explaining the events that took place from Liberia up until their
last few days. It was left in my name as I was the eldest, but is addressed to all
three of us.”

Cole produced the letter written in their mother’s elegant writing.

“Around the time mom and dad died in the so called car crash, they were being
pursued, but not by the government,” said Connor. “The car crash was real, but it
was not an “accident”. They were already dead when they were placed in the car.
No one realized it and there wasn’t much evidence left after the car burst into
flames. The people after mom and dad killed them, and staged their death to look
like a car crash.”

Tears started to fall down Linda’s face, and Matt hugged her and tried to make her
feel better and keep her steady.

“I guess we know the story of what happened to the three of us after that” Connor
said brushing his nose with the back of his hand.

“Errr.. so wait I get that stuff, but who are these people who are coming after
us????” Matt tried to ask calmly looking around wondering when they might be
ambushed.

“And who were the people who killed our parents if it wasn’t the government?”
asked Linda.

“That’s the thing” Jenkins declared, “The people who killed your parents and chased
you two are one and the same. They call themselves the Desert Scarabs and are
mafia in Africa. Remember, the little girl in Liberia? Well like those two said,”
Gesturing to Connor and Cole, “she was related to some pretty powerful people.
They are the Desert Scarabs, only the next generation of ‘em”, said Jenkins.

“And now they want revenge for her death and are coming after everyone who had
anything to do with Project Black Pearl and their families” Cole said nervously, “The
letter tells us who the people chasing mom and dad were. We had to find out by
ourselves how they died. I wanted to protect the two of you when I found out, but
 34
Connor went asking for it in Sierra Leon and made a mess of it, which is how you got
involved Lindz.”

Linda was looking at him in sheer shock.

“By the time I got to Connor and decided to fake his death he had already found out
enough about Project Black Pearl and the Desert Scarabs. He was going to expose
them for what they had done to our parents. He knew that it was dangerous and so
he took the evidence with him. When the Desert Scarabs came to kill him they
found a pool of blood in the middle of the hall at his hotel room and assumed that
he was dead. They knew he had incriminating evidence against them and searched
everywhere. When they didn’t find it they assumed that he had given it to you since
you’re the second oldest and next on their list. And that is why they are after you.
They were the ones who stole Harker’s car and tried to run you over.” Cole stated
staring at her now.

“They made the connection between us and our parents through Connor and I”,
continued Cole, “and now they are after us, which is why I had to get the assistance
of my friend Jenkins. He’s from the FBI by the way, not the NYPD, as Harker thinks,
and they’ve been keeping and eye on you and Matt as a special request by me. And
as for Harker, well, I asked him to help me pull together information and therefore,
he knew about our family and that we were related even though he didn’t mention
it to you. It was to keep you safe. He was asked to drop this case and leave it alone
probably by the Desert Scarabs, and his house was ransacked also by them to find
anything that would help them.”… Cole drifted away as Linda tried to digest all of
this.

CHAPTER 10

“So what can we do now?” asked Linda,

“Nothing but wait,” said Cole, “the FBI have surrounded the mansion and are
waiting for the Desert Scarabs.
 35

“That’s right” said Jenkins nodding his head vigorously.

Just then Jenkins portable radio crackled and said, “Reporting to Agent J, this is Pete,
we’ve sighted our visitors. Permission to move? Over.”

“Agent Pete, this is Agent J,” responded Jenkins, “What’s our visitors’ status? Over”

The radio crackled, “They are coming around the back. They haven’t spotted us, Sir.
Over”

“Agent Pete, you have permission to move. Over”

“Roger that.”

“Ok,” said Jenkins, “Now we wait and pray our team is better than the mafia.”

Minutes later, gun shots were fired, shouts were being yelled and it seemed like the
FBI had busted the Desert Scarabs. Linda clutched Matt’s hand, while Connor
hugged her from the other side. Cole was pacing up and down.
Minutes passed by and soon enough they heard the running footsteps of someone
echoing through the halls. The footsteps were approaching the room where they
were all stationed.
Linda looked up in apprehension.

Jenkins took out his gun, unfastened the safety lock, and raised it to the door, ready
to fire if someone tried to break down the door.

Thud. Thud. Someone was banging on the door.

“Sir? Sir? Are you’ll in there?” came a voice.

“Identify yourself,” demanded Jenkins.

“Agent Pete, sir. I was sent to get you. It’s all over. I lost my radio sir.”
 36
“Excellent. We’re coming out.”

So saying Jenkins opened the door and ushered Linda, Matt, Connor and Cole out of
the room, through the hall to the main door and outside.

The entryway was covered with FBI vans and the local police cars that had arrived
after hearing the gun shots. They saw a huge number of members of the Dessert
Scarabs being handcuffed, read their Miranda rights and being hauled into the vans.

After this entire ordeal Linda was still in utter shock at the turn of events that had
taken place. Everything seemed like a blur in her mind. Her parent’s death,
Connor’s resurrection! It was all too much for her to handle, but she knew that with
time it would all be OK. She now had the brother that she thought she lost.

“So, Ms Manette, I guess this is goodbye then” said Jenkins looking at Linda.
“Thank you, Lieutenant…I mean Agent, for everything.” Linda wanted to say so
much more, but it was all she could muster up.

She saw Connor and Cole at a distance talking to a police officer and after they had
finished she made her way towards them. As she came closer her pace began to
increase and soon she was hugging both of them, tears streaking down her cheeks.

“I can’t believe it” Linda exclaimed. “You’re alive!” She looked at Connor and then
at Cole. She gave a wide smile and hugged them even harder. She thought she had
lost her only brother and she had received two.

*************************

A few weeks after the disturbing turn of events Linda found herself making her way
to the nearby Indian restaurant to meet up with Connor and Cole. Linda was still a
bit shaken after everything that had happened, but shook them off as she got
nearer to the restaurant.

After the incident she realized that her mind had been making its way back into the
past and reliving what had happened, but she was determined to forget all about it
and have a wonderful time with her brothers.
 37

“Hey what are you thinking about?” asked a worried Matt. She realized that he had
been watching her while driving.

“Nothing” she replied, and smiled at him.

The car finally came to a stop and they both got down. Linda waited near the
entrance for Matt and gave him a huge kiss before they went inside to meet her
brothers and Matt’s future brother-in-laws. Finally, everything was turning out to be
perfect and Linda realized that her life was getting back on track. She walked inside
leaving all her unpleasant memories at the entrance.