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Chapter 2

Author: Saggi1898
last update Last Updated: 2021-11-11 12:28:09

Her mother began to shake. Her hands fluttered at her chest, her lips moved, but she couldn’t make the words connect. The kitchen clock ticked, loud and rhythmic, as if it, too, was out of time. In the silence, Emily’s father tried again.

“If you do this,” he said, “if you join those people, if you marry that man then you are not our daughter anymore.” His voice cracked, but he kept talking, as if the line itself was the only thing keeping him upright. “You are dead to us. Do you understand?”

Emily smiled and nodded. But the smile wasn’t about getting his consent, it was relief that her father had agreed.

Her father turned away. He walked to the window and stared into the empty sky, eyes wide and unfocused, watching as if he might catch a glimpse of whatever future they’d just lost to the night. Her mother knelt beside the girl, hands trembling so hard she could barely touch Emily’s face, but she tried anyway, and Emily let her. They sat like that, two generations trying to communicate but couldn’t.

The Clarke parents had always known their daughter was exceptional, but they also believed that exceptional girls were meant to inherit the family’s legacy, to become custodian of its wealth and reputation, to marry the right kind of man and use her intelligence for the good of the Clarke line. They had never anticipated that she would use her intelligence to escape them, to cut herself away clean from her responsibility and hand over her responsibility back to her father.

Six years later

The auditorium of the secret base was crowded with men and women in clean black, their bodies stiff, their voices a low, steady hum.. Ahead, on the raised platform, four flags stood still a thicket of symbolic power, shining and steady as the air charged with tension and pride. And sharp at nine in the morning, the Chief of Operations ascended the stairs, the weight of his office on his shoulders in the furrows of his suit and the line of his face. He didn't flinch, didn't waver, but outlined the day's work in detail to the eager group of the men who knew that nothing, not joy itself, could implicate their boss who was a perfectionist by nature to move a muscle of his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the Chief started, "we have gathered here today to honor courage, creativity, and the immense hard work, day-to-day strength that defines this Agency. Today we recognize two of our own who have given up a great deal that other individuals cannot even imagine." He paused, looking out at the rows of familiar faces. "Please welcome to the stage our national heroes Richard Clarke and Emily Clarke. Who, for the last five years, have been on a task so secret and so vague that only now, with its conclusion, can their act of bravery be revealed."

The words struck the crowd, which made him lift his shoulders, as one, eyes centering on the couple now making its way out of the front row. The Clarkes came forward Richard towering with a grim expression. Emily poised her actions economically, the only note of distraction the plain gold band on her finger. They mounted the steps side by side, and for one moment the world seemed to reel, the entire assembly was clapping for them.

The Chief's voice rang out, borne on pride. "For five years, this mission was carried out in the tightest secrecy. The majority of you worked at their sidelines , unaware of the full extent of the mission. The mission is to take down the most violent network criminalizing our nation , with a specialization in the trafficking and slaughter of children, the most vulnerable."

"Richard Clarke and Emily Clarke got inside their web, targeted it and ultimately killed this enemy from the inside, at a cost to them of everything, and in doing so left their mark in the pages of history books of this Agency."

A flicker of emotion passed between Richard and Emily relief, fatigue, even disbelief as everything was over. For five years, they had used code names and changed identities, their hushed arguments in safe houses in various secret camps, to evenings spent apart in enemy cities, not knowing if the other would live to see dawn. For five years they struggled and finally completed the mission.

The Chief smiled and everyone looked at him in awe as if it was once in a blue moon that they would get to watch the chief smile at anyone. "In the old days, agents who finished courses like this would go off into anonymity. But we are not living in the old days. The terrain has shifted. The government, working in conjunction with this Agency, has made it clear that your expertise, your leadership, and your insight need to be applied at the highest level. In furtherance of that, effective immediately, Richard Clarke is being tasked to serve as the leader of the new Special Threats Task Force at Headquarters. Emily Clarke will lead the Communications and Training Division, molding the future generations of officers. No longer will your efforts be clouded; you will be working at the leading edge, where we most need you.

The applause echoed inside the room. Everyone in the room, the analysts, field operations people and newbies rose on their feet, a sea of faces recognizing the greatness of what the Clarkes had achieved.

Richard clasped the Chief's hand with a flash of genuine gratitude, the man's iron grasp an implicit assurance that their sacrifices had not fallen in vain. Emily took her commendation with a lapel pin, her hands shaking only momentarily before she pinned it herself, close to the heart. They had made it through the mission, yes, but also grown maturer in terms of knowledge, emotions and friendship and their partnership.

Richard and Emily stood in front of the crowd, in the silence that came after applause. The mission was done, the war with the criminals was over but now they needed to make a new beginning in the outside world.

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