Family Reunion - Part 2
Part 1
Part 2
I ran the last few yards, and reached out to grab his arm.
“Desmond!” I shouted out, he turned back so quickly that it unsettled me, he jerked his arm free and instead held my hand in a hurtful clasp. He didn’t answer, only looked at me, waiting. I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but his lack of reaction was more horrible than anything I could have expected.
“What happened to you?” I asked in a painful cry. “You’re hurting me...” I said and he released my hand. I made two steps back, but my temper was rising.
“You left me with no explanation, nothing! Just disappeared completely! Why?” my voice was shriller with every new word. His silence annoyed me out of my wits. He didn’t have time to open his mouth though because two bullets just whooshed by my ear, I gave a loud shriek when I realized what it was.
He only hesitated one second, grabbed my hand again whispering
“Come” and we ran along the shore hand in hand. He reached inside his coat with his left and I saw a gun glinting in the moonlight as he pulled it out. I was so shocked that it didn’t even occur to me to argue. Someone was following us and they sent bullets after us... but why? The run brought back memories and extraordinary as our encounter was, it was the first time when I felt a touch of familiarity about the evening.
The road reached to a dead end, we needed a place to hide. He jumped on board of a small boat without hesitation, I followed without questioning. He opened the trapdoor and we descended into the small cabin of the boat. He signaled me to bend down and stay quiet then climbed some steps to look out from under the door and listened intently.
Ten nervous minutes passed without a sound when he finally jumped down to my level. He felt the walls around for a switch and in a minute or so a weak bulb flooded us with yellowish light, accompanied by a low hum of the generator somewhere upstairs. I blinked a few times disconcertedly, he looked me square in the face.
“Now we have to clear out a few things” he said slowly. His voice was unfamiliar, he had a strange accent but it certainly wasn’t Scottish. At a close look - although the resemblance was astonishing - it was obvious that it wasn’t him. The same face looked back at me, only without Desmond’s softness, his eyes - same shape, same color were shining with curious lights lacking the openness that I was so familiar with. It was too strange, I didn’t know what to think.
“You’re not Desmond” I said composedly. It occurred to me that he might think I was a raving lunatic.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you darling” he said with a small smile. Even his smile was different, sharp and ironic.
“Then why didn’t you say so before? Why did you let me rant at you on the street?”
“I have to apologize for that. It’s a question of habit I suppose. People in anger are very easy on giving out information” he said seriously.
“Who are you then?” I asked bewildered. “You look exactly like him… like Des” I said and I couldn’t stop a trace of sadness slipping into my words as I uttered his name. I haven’t said his name out loud for more than six weeks.
“The question is not who I am, but who are you? And why were those people following you?”
“Following me? You must be joking! You are the one with the gun.” I said angrily.
“They were aiming at you, darling” he said indifferently. It made some sense as the bullets whooshed past my ear, not his. I frowned, why indeed would somebody shoot at me? Dharma, the hostiles the island came to my mind but it still didn’t make any sense. And why now, after weeks and weeks? Perhaps Desmond never looked me up because he was hurt, or worse!
“You are talking about Desmond Hume, aren’t you?” I jumped at his words, it sounded like he just listened to my thought.
“Yes, do you know him?”
“Not personally, no. But obviously you do” he said while he was taking a seat on a wooden crate, folding his arms. The cabin was full to the brim with crates.
“Yes. I do” I said quietly, blushing. All my anger was replaced with concern now, it urged me to do something, act. But the situation was too absurd, it blocked my thoughts completely.
“You realize that this is surreal, yea?” I asked half mad, half amused. “I sit in a boat with a total stranger who looks exactly like Des... while people are trying to kill me? It just sounds like a very bad movie” I said sitting down on another crate in front of him.
“Welcome to my world” he said, the touch of self-irony was quite becoming. It was the first sign that I might be able to trust him. But not just yet.
“How do you know about him, if you never met him?” I asked carefully.
“Well, in my job it is a great advantage to have a face-double.” I must have looked blankly at him, because he added smiling “I never had to use it though”
“What are you? An actor? King of some exotic country? Great, I just fell into the Prisoner of Zenda” I said annoyed. He laughed heartily.
“Nothing that romantic I assure you.”
“Not a mobster?” I gulped, and then smiled at my own clumsy question.
“No” he shook his head.
“Pfft, like you’d tell me if you were” I answered rolling my eyes. He looked at me with warmer gaze as I rattled on.
“Do you happen to know anything about him?” I asked getting more serious, fretting his answer.
“You mean lately? I just know that he entered some boat race and disappeared a few years ago. Has been declared dead about a year ago...” he added quietly, and it was the first time that he showed any real emotion at all, he looked sad. If he was sorry for him or for bringing me bad news I couldn’t tell. But that was the reason I decided to open up to him.
“He is not dead. At least he wasn’t six weeks ago, when we arrived back to LA.”
“Back from where?” he asked eagerly.
I hesitated. If somebody was really trying to kill me, it was because of the bloody island. But I was spared of the decision to answer because in that moment the boat’s engine gave a loud roar and I fell off my crate when it jerked into motion.
The stranger jumped forward with his gun ready and switched the light off, then tried the door but it was blocked.
“We are stuck” he whispered in the darkness. I jumped to my feet and shrank back to a corner. “They discovered us”
I didn’t dare to breathe... I wished so hard that I’d skipped my evening ride that day. I asked myself panicking. The darkness only made it worse, so I asked tentatively
“If they already know we are here, do we really need to sit in the dark?”
“No, there is no need. I could have seen better what’s outside if the door opened, but as it is...” he answered and lit the light back on. I sank back to a crate a bit calmer.
“What do we do now?” I asked hopelessly.
“I need you to tell me more about those guys out there” he jerked his head in the direction of the door.
“I don’t know who you are, I don’t even know your name” I said frowning, I tried to look brave but the shaking of my hands kind of gave me away.
“My name is Theo Stoller” he said bending down in front of me so that he could look me in the face. He attempted to take me by the hand in order to calm me down - he saw I was shaking. I pulled away a bit, hid my hand from him.
“I’m not going to hurt you. You dragged me into this darling so...” he said shrugging.
“Don’t call me darling” I sulked at him.
“What can I call you then?”
“I’m Rebecca. Rebecca Jones.” I said
“Alright, Rebecca Jones. Now that we were formally introduced, can you tell me more about the men that are trying to do you in?”
“Not until you tell me how you know Desmond” I folded my arms. “You didn’t tell me a thing, why would I trust you?”
He sank his head, thinking. Then he looked me in the eyes and nodded slightly.
“He is my brother” he said simply. I gaped at him speechlessly.
“How?” it was the only thing I could utter.
“Our parents were very young and very poor when they had us. They just couldn’t cope with two babies at once... and the hospital had connections for cases exactly like this. You see, they weren’t the only ones in those days... So they gave me up to a German family, never told anybody a word about me.”
“Desmond doesn’t know about you” I nodded decidedly.
“No, he doesn’t, nor do any of our younger brothers. They even lied to our mother. She was told I died shortly after birth. Good old dad handled it alone” he said, I was awed because he was speaking without emotions.
“How did you find out?” I asked compassionately. No matter how composed he was, when your family makes a choice like this, gives you away willingly it is not something you can accept easily.
“It was when I joined the feds... unlimited access to information you know”
“Oh, so you’re an agent” I said smiling, but somehow it didn’t seem that strange anymore.
“At the German Secret Service” he nodded.
I tried to wrap my brain around the astonishing facts: here I was, locked inside a boat with the German twin brother of the man I loved.
“Crazy” I concluded. “But how can you be so serene through all this?”
“I’m not” he smiled. “And things worked out strangely well” he shrugged. “The Stollers are very nice people, rich and well connected, they gave me a good life. Our parents are long gone and there is no one left to be angry at” he said.
“Didn’t you want to get to know your family? You have four brothers, isn’t that worth...”
“I didn’t choose my life” he interrupted me darkly. “I already have the family I need.”
“Believe me, Desmond is worth knowing” I said quietly, reddening again, but looking him directly in the eye.
“You care for him” he smiled impishly.
“He is a wonderful, warm, giving person.” I said and swallowed back the tears that were burning my throat again.
“How do you know him?” he asked, his eyes were glinting warmly and he resembled Desmond more than ever.
I still hesitated, but if somebody was bound to believe our story, it was this man who had such an extraordinary life. So I recounted our adventures beginning with the crash and ending with our farewell. He was listening intently, interrupting only to ask quick questions when things weren’t clear enough to him.
“You stumbled upon something that you shouldn’t have” he shook his head. “Somebody will try and silence you. I guess meeting an agent from abroad didn’t help your cause” he said pensively.
“That’s why they acted today out of any other?” I asked with wide eyes.
“Your guess is as good as mine. But it would at least unsettle me if I was in their shoes” he nodded.
The boat finally came to its destination, it halted, the engine died too. It was still rocking slightly then gradually it froze into a peaceful slumber. We were hearing footsteps from above for some time, but slowly those died too, and an unnerving silence surrounded us. I checked my watch, it was 2am.
“James must be in a frenzy” I said to myself, when he looked at me inquiringly, I added “My brother. I put him through a lot lately” I said smiling sadly.
“We can’t do anything until morning. I left my cell-phone in my car” His calmness annoyed me but it reassured me as well.
“Some agent” I mumbled, he pretended that he didn’t hear it.
It was getting cold as the hours passed, I sat in a corner shivering and miserable while he was trying all kinds of tricks with the trapdoor, unsuccessfully.
“No use. I try again in the morning” he said descending. “You should get some sleep, here, take this” he handed me his cloak, I took it gratefully and wrapped myself up to my nose, it still kept his body-warmth and the smell of his cologne. It was comforting, but seeing him walk around in a thin shirt made me feel guilty.
“Aren’t you cold?” I asked hesitantly.
“We’ve still got snow in Germany” he smiled. “I’m fine”
“You are a gentleman” I mumbled sleepily. “But I don’t want you on my conscience. Come, sit.” I lifted a corner of his cloak to signal him to take a seat under it. He hesitated, so I added “I’m still cold” He smiled and sank to the floor beside me. I propped myself next to his shoulder and I dozed off in seconds.
(to be continued)
Part 3
Part 2
I ran the last few yards, and reached out to grab his arm.
“Desmond!” I shouted out, he turned back so quickly that it unsettled me, he jerked his arm free and instead held my hand in a hurtful clasp. He didn’t answer, only looked at me, waiting. I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but his lack of reaction was more horrible than anything I could have expected.
“What happened to you?” I asked in a painful cry. “You’re hurting me...” I said and he released my hand. I made two steps back, but my temper was rising.
“You left me with no explanation, nothing! Just disappeared completely! Why?” my voice was shriller with every new word. His silence annoyed me out of my wits. He didn’t have time to open his mouth though because two bullets just whooshed by my ear, I gave a loud shriek when I realized what it was.
He only hesitated one second, grabbed my hand again whispering
“Come” and we ran along the shore hand in hand. He reached inside his coat with his left and I saw a gun glinting in the moonlight as he pulled it out. I was so shocked that it didn’t even occur to me to argue. Someone was following us and they sent bullets after us... but why? The run brought back memories and extraordinary as our encounter was, it was the first time when I felt a touch of familiarity about the evening.
The road reached to a dead end, we needed a place to hide. He jumped on board of a small boat without hesitation, I followed without questioning. He opened the trapdoor and we descended into the small cabin of the boat. He signaled me to bend down and stay quiet then climbed some steps to look out from under the door and listened intently.
Ten nervous minutes passed without a sound when he finally jumped down to my level. He felt the walls around for a switch and in a minute or so a weak bulb flooded us with yellowish light, accompanied by a low hum of the generator somewhere upstairs. I blinked a few times disconcertedly, he looked me square in the face.
“Now we have to clear out a few things” he said slowly. His voice was unfamiliar, he had a strange accent but it certainly wasn’t Scottish. At a close look - although the resemblance was astonishing - it was obvious that it wasn’t him. The same face looked back at me, only without Desmond’s softness, his eyes - same shape, same color were shining with curious lights lacking the openness that I was so familiar with. It was too strange, I didn’t know what to think.
“You’re not Desmond” I said composedly. It occurred to me that he might think I was a raving lunatic.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you darling” he said with a small smile. Even his smile was different, sharp and ironic.
“Then why didn’t you say so before? Why did you let me rant at you on the street?”
“I have to apologize for that. It’s a question of habit I suppose. People in anger are very easy on giving out information” he said seriously.
“Who are you then?” I asked bewildered. “You look exactly like him… like Des” I said and I couldn’t stop a trace of sadness slipping into my words as I uttered his name. I haven’t said his name out loud for more than six weeks.
“The question is not who I am, but who are you? And why were those people following you?”
“Following me? You must be joking! You are the one with the gun.” I said angrily.
“They were aiming at you, darling” he said indifferently. It made some sense as the bullets whooshed past my ear, not his. I frowned, why indeed would somebody shoot at me? Dharma, the hostiles the island came to my mind but it still didn’t make any sense. And why now, after weeks and weeks? Perhaps Desmond never looked me up because he was hurt, or worse!
“You are talking about Desmond Hume, aren’t you?” I jumped at his words, it sounded like he just listened to my thought.
“Yes, do you know him?”
“Not personally, no. But obviously you do” he said while he was taking a seat on a wooden crate, folding his arms. The cabin was full to the brim with crates.
“Yes. I do” I said quietly, blushing. All my anger was replaced with concern now, it urged me to do something, act. But the situation was too absurd, it blocked my thoughts completely.
“You realize that this is surreal, yea?” I asked half mad, half amused. “I sit in a boat with a total stranger who looks exactly like Des... while people are trying to kill me? It just sounds like a very bad movie” I said sitting down on another crate in front of him.
“Welcome to my world” he said, the touch of self-irony was quite becoming. It was the first sign that I might be able to trust him. But not just yet.
“How do you know about him, if you never met him?” I asked carefully.
“Well, in my job it is a great advantage to have a face-double.” I must have looked blankly at him, because he added smiling “I never had to use it though”
“What are you? An actor? King of some exotic country? Great, I just fell into the Prisoner of Zenda” I said annoyed. He laughed heartily.
“Nothing that romantic I assure you.”
“Not a mobster?” I gulped, and then smiled at my own clumsy question.
“No” he shook his head.
“Pfft, like you’d tell me if you were” I answered rolling my eyes. He looked at me with warmer gaze as I rattled on.
“Do you happen to know anything about him?” I asked getting more serious, fretting his answer.
“You mean lately? I just know that he entered some boat race and disappeared a few years ago. Has been declared dead about a year ago...” he added quietly, and it was the first time that he showed any real emotion at all, he looked sad. If he was sorry for him or for bringing me bad news I couldn’t tell. But that was the reason I decided to open up to him.
“He is not dead. At least he wasn’t six weeks ago, when we arrived back to LA.”
“Back from where?” he asked eagerly.
I hesitated. If somebody was really trying to kill me, it was because of the bloody island. But I was spared of the decision to answer because in that moment the boat’s engine gave a loud roar and I fell off my crate when it jerked into motion.
The stranger jumped forward with his gun ready and switched the light off, then tried the door but it was blocked.
“We are stuck” he whispered in the darkness. I jumped to my feet and shrank back to a corner. “They discovered us”
I didn’t dare to breathe... I wished so hard that I’d skipped my evening ride that day. I asked myself panicking. The darkness only made it worse, so I asked tentatively
“If they already know we are here, do we really need to sit in the dark?”
“No, there is no need. I could have seen better what’s outside if the door opened, but as it is...” he answered and lit the light back on. I sank back to a crate a bit calmer.
“What do we do now?” I asked hopelessly.
“I need you to tell me more about those guys out there” he jerked his head in the direction of the door.
“I don’t know who you are, I don’t even know your name” I said frowning, I tried to look brave but the shaking of my hands kind of gave me away.
“My name is Theo Stoller” he said bending down in front of me so that he could look me in the face. He attempted to take me by the hand in order to calm me down - he saw I was shaking. I pulled away a bit, hid my hand from him.
“I’m not going to hurt you. You dragged me into this darling so...” he said shrugging.
“Don’t call me darling” I sulked at him.
“What can I call you then?”
“I’m Rebecca. Rebecca Jones.” I said
“Alright, Rebecca Jones. Now that we were formally introduced, can you tell me more about the men that are trying to do you in?”
“Not until you tell me how you know Desmond” I folded my arms. “You didn’t tell me a thing, why would I trust you?”
He sank his head, thinking. Then he looked me in the eyes and nodded slightly.
“He is my brother” he said simply. I gaped at him speechlessly.
“How?” it was the only thing I could utter.
“Our parents were very young and very poor when they had us. They just couldn’t cope with two babies at once... and the hospital had connections for cases exactly like this. You see, they weren’t the only ones in those days... So they gave me up to a German family, never told anybody a word about me.”
“Desmond doesn’t know about you” I nodded decidedly.
“No, he doesn’t, nor do any of our younger brothers. They even lied to our mother. She was told I died shortly after birth. Good old dad handled it alone” he said, I was awed because he was speaking without emotions.
“How did you find out?” I asked compassionately. No matter how composed he was, when your family makes a choice like this, gives you away willingly it is not something you can accept easily.
“It was when I joined the feds... unlimited access to information you know”
“Oh, so you’re an agent” I said smiling, but somehow it didn’t seem that strange anymore.
“At the German Secret Service” he nodded.
I tried to wrap my brain around the astonishing facts: here I was, locked inside a boat with the German twin brother of the man I loved.
“Crazy” I concluded. “But how can you be so serene through all this?”
“I’m not” he smiled. “And things worked out strangely well” he shrugged. “The Stollers are very nice people, rich and well connected, they gave me a good life. Our parents are long gone and there is no one left to be angry at” he said.
“Didn’t you want to get to know your family? You have four brothers, isn’t that worth...”
“I didn’t choose my life” he interrupted me darkly. “I already have the family I need.”
“Believe me, Desmond is worth knowing” I said quietly, reddening again, but looking him directly in the eye.
“You care for him” he smiled impishly.
“He is a wonderful, warm, giving person.” I said and swallowed back the tears that were burning my throat again.
“How do you know him?” he asked, his eyes were glinting warmly and he resembled Desmond more than ever.
I still hesitated, but if somebody was bound to believe our story, it was this man who had such an extraordinary life. So I recounted our adventures beginning with the crash and ending with our farewell. He was listening intently, interrupting only to ask quick questions when things weren’t clear enough to him.
“You stumbled upon something that you shouldn’t have” he shook his head. “Somebody will try and silence you. I guess meeting an agent from abroad didn’t help your cause” he said pensively.
“That’s why they acted today out of any other?” I asked with wide eyes.
“Your guess is as good as mine. But it would at least unsettle me if I was in their shoes” he nodded.
The boat finally came to its destination, it halted, the engine died too. It was still rocking slightly then gradually it froze into a peaceful slumber. We were hearing footsteps from above for some time, but slowly those died too, and an unnerving silence surrounded us. I checked my watch, it was 2am.
“James must be in a frenzy” I said to myself, when he looked at me inquiringly, I added “My brother. I put him through a lot lately” I said smiling sadly.
“We can’t do anything until morning. I left my cell-phone in my car” His calmness annoyed me but it reassured me as well.
“Some agent” I mumbled, he pretended that he didn’t hear it.
It was getting cold as the hours passed, I sat in a corner shivering and miserable while he was trying all kinds of tricks with the trapdoor, unsuccessfully.
“No use. I try again in the morning” he said descending. “You should get some sleep, here, take this” he handed me his cloak, I took it gratefully and wrapped myself up to my nose, it still kept his body-warmth and the smell of his cologne. It was comforting, but seeing him walk around in a thin shirt made me feel guilty.
“Aren’t you cold?” I asked hesitantly.
“We’ve still got snow in Germany” he smiled. “I’m fine”
“You are a gentleman” I mumbled sleepily. “But I don’t want you on my conscience. Come, sit.” I lifted a corner of his cloak to signal him to take a seat under it. He hesitated, so I added “I’m still cold” He smiled and sank to the floor beside me. I propped myself next to his shoulder and I dozed off in seconds.
(to be continued)
Part 3