The refueling took longer than expected, so they weren’t ready to leave until early evening. Brentle had already finished adjusting Lydia’s braces and warned her to be careful. “Try to bring them back in one piece this time,” he said.
“I’ll try,” she said. “No promises though.” He drummed his bony fingers together and chewed his lip nervously until she added, “Okay, I’ll be careful with them. I promise.”
Wren, Donny, Ryan, and Janice came to see the trio off. “Good luck!” Donny shouted, waving his pudgy arms while they climbed the stairs.
“Have fun!” Wren said.
On the plane, Jando selected his own section in the rear of the cabin and kicked up his feet onto the table separating his two seats from the ones facing him. “I’ve missed this,” he said, stretching out fully. Aidan sat farther ahead, and Lydia chose a spot on the middle right, propping her legs underneath the table on the pair of seats across from her. The soft seats were nice and perfect for a short doze.
Sylvia entered and passed out a folder to each of them. “This is all the information we’ve gathered on Heather Stanson. Read through it, then I’ll brief you.”
“No thanks,” Jando said, cracking open the file. “I prefer to go commando today.”
Lydia gave him a deadpan eye, but she smirked while Sylvia ignored Jando. Sylvia headed to the front while they read. Soon, the plane started up, and they taxied down the Cave’s runway. Within minutes, they lifted off.
Heather’s file was of little help to Lydia. It contained an estimated age, last known physical description, other statistics, and an old, out-of-focus picture from a security camera. It revealed a blurry woman, with half of her face hidden in a coat. All of this, Lydia thought, was no match for her actually meeting Heather. Twice.
However, there were a few pages about her ability. She skimmed most of it, reading silently to herself. Gas builds up in cervical area. Pretty obvious. Two kinds. One lethal, the other makes victims susceptible to her influence, particularly weak-willed or exhausted targets. We already knew part of that about Heather. And so far, there is no information about where she obtained her ability, or any methods of counteracting the effects of her non-lethal gas, besides waiting for the effects to wear off. Wonderful.
Aidan shared her inner sentiments, loudly voicing, “What exactly does this tell us that we didn’t know?”
“That she ages gracefully?” Jando said. “That picture is kind of old, after all.”
“I think half of this file was created from our experience with Heather.” Aidan pushed it across his table. “Doubt they had this much before we fought her.”
“Yeah,” Lydia said. She did find a short history on Heather. According to the research, Heather had moved around quite often before joining Rooke. Most of her known associates were in the medical field, and she worked at a variety of places where she would have access to medical supplies and facilities. Heather was adept at first aid and emergency care, as well as several related skills. Many of the associates reported she wanted to know more about BEP conditions and her own ability.
No known cure currently exists for her condition, and that is what Heather seeks. Yeah, she told me as much, Lydia thought. For if she doesn’t release her gas on a regular basis, it builds in her system and will poison her body. The poison is likely to be highly lethal. She stopped there. Okay, that’s new.
Under the known associates, she found Mark and Finster. A cold hate crept into her heart, especially when she fixated on Finster’s name. Her father’s murderer. The hostage situation at the bank, where Finster, Heather, and Mark had kidnapped her parents, and then used them to lure Lydia to the bank. The particular moment when her father died going toe-to-toe with Finster, all in an effort to save her, replayed in her mind. Ghost pain flashed through her leg. She squeezed the spot where the weathervane had pierced her during her final fight with Finster and shut the file.
Sylvia entered and called their attention to her. “If you haven’t finished going over the file, you can do so later. For now, I need to brief you. As of several hours ago, Heather was last seen in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington. Our mission is to find and capture her. Preferably before she crosses the border into Canada.”
“Why’s that?” Lydia asked.
“Because Canada’s BEP Division has been unable to send any agents to the border. Law enforcement is standing by in case she slips past us, but we would like to contain this situation to our own country if we can help it.”
“Wait.” Lydia tilted her head. “There’s a Canadian BEP Division?”
Sylvia leaned on a pair of seats and crossed her arms. “Yes, Ms. Penner. Every country has a BEP Division of some kind. Different names, different organizational structure, but all serve the same function as ours. BEPs don’t only appear in the U.S. after all.”
That made sense. Lydia had never considered that other BEPs had sprung up all around the world. It was strange and exciting to think about.
“Now, we’ll be coordinating with local law enforcement to capture Heather. You are to respect them and follow their orders, unless you hear otherwise from me. You’re still agents in training, not agents yet. You’ll also be staying with me at all times. I must remind you that Heather could be hiding anywhere, so it’s imperative that you stick close and tread carefully. I know her. She’ll have some traps ready or an alarm system to warn her if we trip it. She’ll likely be armed, too. Any questions?”
Aidan raised his hand. “What if we get separated?”
“Try to find me or one of the others.”
“And if we should run into Heather first?”
Sylvia stared at him. “Do not engage under any circumstances on your own. I know you’ve heard that she’s injured, but believe me, that doesn’t make her any less dangerous.” She looked around at them, and her gaze lingered on Lydia for a moment longer than on the others. “Don’t let the past cloud your judgment. Am I understood?” They all nodded. “Any other questions?” There were none. “We’ll be doing this late at night, so I suggest you get some sleep after you finish the file. Can’t have any of you sluggish and unprepared, okay? If you need anything, I’ll be up front.” Then she left.
Jando browsed through some of the file, but soon succumbed to sleep. Aidan stayed awake, covering a piece of paper and writing. Lydia joined him on the other side of his table. “Can’t sleep either?” he asked.
“No.”
“Me either. First mission jitters too?”
“A little,” she said, drumming her fingers on the armrest.
He paused in his writing and looked up. “It’s Heather, isn’t it?” She gave a tired nod and rested her chin in her palm, staring at the beige carpet. “Afraid how you’ll react?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not sure what’ll happen. I vowed I’d keep myself under control and not seek revenge.”
“Well, saying and doing are two different things.”
She mock frowned. “Are you saying I’ll lose my temper?”
“No, not at all,” he said. “I’m just saying they’re separate. I believe you can control yourself.”
“Thanks.” Truth be told, she was fearful that the old hate would return and overwhelm her at a level she hadn’t experienced in months. She kept quiet about the way Finster’s name had caused a stir of that uncontrollable anger. If his name alone brought back to life those feelings, what would her seeing his accomplice in person do? “I haven’t really been sure what to feel. When they found Heather, all I knew is that I wanted to be a part of whatever happened.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” he said, setting down his pen. “Could be you’ve embraced your duties and are concerned about capturing a rogue BEP.”
She bounced the idea about. “Maybe.” Lydia wasn’t convinced, but there was no point running in circles. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” Aidan reached across the table and patted her hand. Then he appeared to remember his writing and hurriedly returned to
it.
“A letter?” Lydia asked, leaning back and closing her eyes. A short nap was in order.
“Yeah,” he said. “Hey, how do you spell Dariela’s name? I forgot.”
Lydia’s eyes snapped open and she peered more closely at the letter. His arms hid large sections of it, but she saw the addressed envelope tucked in close to his chest, with Dariela’s address already filled out. “W-Why?”
“Because the letter is for her.”
She sat up straighter and folded her hands. “Look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this.” She checked that nobody else was listening, but lowered her voice all the same. “You’re not using Dar as a rebound, are you?”
“A rebound?” His eyes widened in realization. “Oh, you mean about what happened? Oh, no, no, no. Who do you take me for? Jando? Get rejected, move onto the next?”
“Except I don’t get rejected,” Jando called out. “Don’t go spreading rumors about me.”
“No, you only get rejected by Lydia,” he said to him. “Go back to sleep.”
“She’ll come around soon enough.” Lydia didn’t even have to turn in her seat to know that he flashed a large grin. She chuckled and shook her head.
Aidan faced Lydia again, talking softly. “Anyway, no, it’s not like that. Dariela and I hung out and she was pretty cool. We like each other. Really.”
“And it has nothing to do with what happened before?”
“I’m not using her as a rebound. She’s your friend and I wouldn’t do that to you.” Holding out the letter, he asked, “Is it two or three a’s?”
“Two.” Lydia spelled the name for him and he thanked her. His answer eased Lydia, but not as much as she’d expected. There was still a discomfort in the pit of her stomach about the two of them. She wrote it off as simply the oddity of their match. Lydia headed back to her seat and settled in for a nap. However, she was hindered by the worry of finding Heather, envisioning that she would dole out deadly revenge and rationalize any punishment by claiming Heather was as responsible as Finster had been for her father’s death. She shoved the fear aside, but it stayed on the edge of her consciousness for a long while until she drifted off.