I was faced with a daunting task. And that task was sorting through the giant pile of mail that I had accumulated over the past 3 months. Mail was never my favourite thing. It often led to people taking what little money I had in my accounts or people asking for the money that was left. Thankfully, my mother had put all my mail in a shopping bag and shoved it under the counter when I went on my trip to Japan. But now I was back and there were things that had to be done…like getting my water and electricity turned back on.
I took the bag of mail and dumped it out in a giant pile in the middle of the living room floor. I took the top envelope off the pile and looked at it. Bill. The next one was also a bill. Then some fliers and a letter from my mom. By the time I was done looking through everything I was left with one, plain white unmarked letter sized envelope. The upper right hand corner was littered with red ink from different countries of the world. China, Japan, Australia. The back was blank except for my address and name. There was no return address. I decided that the only thing to do with the mystery envelope was open it. It was probably something from someone I met on my trip.
I grabbed a butter knife and slit the envelope open. I dumped the contents out on to the kitchen counter. 5 things spilled out. An American passport issued to Alyson Mackenzie, a Maryland drivers licence with the same name, 3000 American cash dollars, 4 or 5 credit cards tied up with an elastic band and, most curiously, a small, blank business size card with a number typed on the back. It looked like a phone number.
I looked at the passport and drivers licence. They both had my picture on it. All the credit cards had the name Alyson Mackenzie stamped onto them. The cash was in small bills. 20’s, 10’s and 5’s with a 50 or two thrown in. I looked at the phone number. It had a 907 area code. Alaska. I picked up my cell and called the number. It rang 3 times before a deep voice on the other end started talking. No introduction of any kind.
“I’m so glad you called.” It said .”We have been waiting a long time. Almost 3 weeks. You are calling this number because you received an envelope in the mail. You were curious about everything so you called. Yes, this is exactly what we expected.”
“Who is this?”
“Who I am is not important. Who you are though is extremely important. You are Nicole Brown. You are the only child of Diana and Matthew Brown. Your parents are extremely rich but your father severed ties when you went to volunteer on the “S.S. Africa Mercy” instead of completing your practicum at Johns Hopkins. You live alone. You are casually seeing a Devon James. You seek adventure and that is precisely why we choose you.” The voice reminded me of V from ‘V of Vendetta’
“H-how do you know all this?”
“That also is unimportant. What is important is that Nicole Brown is dead. She died in a tragic scuba diving accident. A cave fell in and crushed her.” What? Was I dead and this was all just a dream of some sort? “Obviously you are not dead. But your identity is. You are now Alyson Mackenzie. You go by Ally. Do you understand? Yes or no.”
“No”
“Too bad. You will. Now listen to me, Ally. You are going to go to the airport and buy a ticket for the first flight to London Heathrow airport. When you have arrived I want you to find locker two hundred and thirteen. Use the following code: 49, 18, 32. Take the contents of that locker with you and call this number from the nearest pay phone. You may take only the clothes you are wearing and a bag filled with the contents of this bag. I await your reply.” The person on the other end hung up and I was left with a dial tone. I laughed to myself. It was probably just Devon playing a joke on me. He was, after all, a known prankster. I decided that I would disregard the whole phone call and the package. It was probably just Devon.
But on the other hand the package did come with very real looking documents. And they did know all those things about me. After moving out of the city I didn’t tell anyone about my past. Not even Devon. And the person on the other end did sound serious. Very serious.
I tossed and turned around all night trying to figure out what I was going to do. In the end I was too scared of the mysterious voice to not do anything. And if it turned out to be a hoax I would end up with a free trip to London.
I disregarded the voice’s instructions and packed a small suitcase. Then I caught a cab to LAX . 11 hours and 800 dollars later I was in England. I walked along the halls, stopping only for a cup of coffee and a crumpet, until I found the locker room. I carefully looked at the lockers until I found locker 213. I used the code and opened the locker. Inside was a black paper bag with the Alyssa Mackenzie scrawled on the side. I grabbed the bag and looked inside it. There was a stack of euros, a thick hardcover book and a travel and tourism guide. A few pages were dog-eared. Then I looked for a pay phone. There was one directly across the way, but someone was on it. I went to the next free one. Then I pulled the card out of my pocket and dialled the number. Three rings again.
“Hello Ally. You didn’t follow my instructions very well did you? You didn’t leave right away, you packed a bag and you didn’t go to the nearest pay phone. Those mistakes could have been costly. Deadly, even. But thankfully they were not. Now listen carefully. You have a book. Between pages three hundred and twelve and three hundred and thirteen you will find a piece of paper. I want you to read it in a secure location, and then I want you to destroy it. Burn it, eat it, whatever, but it must be destroyed. You also received a tour guide. It will tell you where to go. Everything is under your name. What is it?”
“Nic-Alyson Mackenzie.”
“Good. WE will be in touch. IF you ever need help, call this line.” Dial tone. I grabbed the bag and went to a stall in the bathroom. Then I opened the book (which was a hard copy of Emma.) and flipped the pages. On a folded piece of paper, between 312 and 313 was an inscription
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
GUR UNJX VF NYVIR NAQ VA OHAGYRL.
GUR UNJX VF NYVIR NAQ VA OHAGYRL.
It was complete gibberish. I decided that the code had to have something do to with it. I crumpled up the note, walked out of the bathroom and then proceeded to catch a taxi. I opened the tourism book and looked at a dog-eared page. It was full of hotels, one was circled. I told the driver to go there. He did and I paid him with the euros. Then I checked in.
Like the voice said everything was registered to the name Alyson Mackenzie. I managed to get a room and the keys to a rental car waiting in the lot without a problem. I got up to the modest room and grabbed a pen and paper. The message wasn’t hard to decode. It read
The Hawk is alive and in Buntley.
The hawk is alive and in Buntley.
The message held no significance to me. But I followed the instructions given to me and destroyed the message. I ripped it up into pulp and then washed it down the sink. Then I settled down into the bed in my room and ordered a movie. Harry Potter, being in England.
The next morning I received a call on the hotel phone. IT was the voice. “Good morning, Ally. I hope you had a good sleep. I wanted to let you know that you are free to do whatever you want while in London. Shop, go see the sights. Do whatever you want. Meet people. Money is no object for you. I know you decoded the message. That is alright. I need you to remember that. If you happen to talk to someone, anyone, do not let the message slip out. It must remain a secret. WE will be in touch.” Dial tone.
I followed the voice’s advice. Bu first I bought a good camera, after all money was no object, and a laptop. Then I walked around the city. I stopped at the London Eye and went for a ride. I walked along the beach and went souvenir shopping. I didn’t know who the trinkets were for, they would probably all end up on my shelf at home. Maybe one for Devon.
I went for dinner at the fanciest and highest rated restraunt in my tour book. It cost me 40 dollars for a bowl of cold soup and another 20 for fancy bread with cheese melted on top. I was only 4 blocks from the hotel. I would walk back.
3 blocks away from the hotel I noticed that I was being followed by a strange man who had popped up every so often that day. On the train, in the Eye, at the restraunt. 2 blocks away he caught up to me and started making small talk. One block away a grey BMW pulled up to the curb. The man thrust a black cloth bag over my head. Then I was roughly tossed into the back of the BMW. The last thing I felt was a painful little prick in the side of my neck.
When I woke up I was tied to a chair. My arms and legs were tightly bound with zip ties in such a way that whenever I moved, even the slightest bit, they got tighter. There was a bright light shining directly into my eyes and I could not see anything. There were footsteps circling me. Two or three different pairs all walking at a similar speed, but slightly off beat of each other. Then there was a pair of hands on my shoulder. Warm breaths in my ear and the stench of someone who wears too much cologne.
“So, Alyssa, isn’t it? Yes it is. But that is not your real name. Your real name is Nicole.” The voice said. The hands squeezed tighter.
“We know everything. About the envelope, the flight, the bag in locker 213.” I recognized the smooth voice of the man who had taken me captive. “Yes, we knew that it would be you. We knew that they would choose you. Nicole Brown, who likes adventure, who can’t stay in one place for too long. We also knew that you would accept the offer. We know that you got a message. And we know that you decoded the message. What we don’t know is what that message said. If you tell us, Nicole, we will let you go. We can pretend that nothing ever happened. You go back to your apartment in LA and your life and we go back to our headquarters. You don’t give us the information, we kill you. And we kill you slowly and painfully. Now, Nicole, it is your choice. What is the message?” He gave me 30 seconds to answer. I counted in my head. “No, well I think this will change your mind. Do you know what this is?” He held a gun to for me to see. I closed my eyes. “You know what this is. And you know what it will do when I point it here.” He shoved it at the base of my neck. At the angle it was at a bullet wouldn’t kill me instantly, only cause me to bleed out slowly. “Now, let’s try that again.” He said. I thought of the first thing that came to mind.
“The Third Eye exists.” The gun presses harder into my skull.
“JD?” The voice behind me said. There was clicking, like the keys on a keyboard being struck at a fast pace, before another voice, a different voice, answered.
“No. It’s wrong. WE can’t get in.” The gun moved to my chest. If he shot me now it would puncture my lung and cause painful laboured breathing for a lengthy amount of time before I finally died.
“Want to try that again? This is the last chance. You have 5 seconds to decide. 5…4…3..2”
“The Hawk is alive and in Buntley” I cried. It was almost involuntary, my will to live was too strong to not tell him. The first voice, JD confirmed that this was what they wanted. My interrogator cut the zip ties and helped me up from behind. Then he pulled the chair away from me. A light came on up ahead, like a saving grace. I started to walk, took one painful step when fire ripped through me and I crumbled to the ground. The little amount of light around me started to fade and become blurry. And then everything went black. The pain no longer existed. There were no sounds around me. Everything was still. And then, after moments of blackness that felt like years, a brilliant white light pierced the blackness and consumed me.
