A Long and Dark Night, Part 7
The Persian border
Slowly, Alexandra stirred awake, still clutching the Walkman. She gathered her senses just in time to hear a shot ring out and see her mother fall to the ground, blood splattering on the rubble behind her.
“No!” she said.
But there was nothing she could do but watch Josh’s squad walk away, completely unharmed by the collapse. Kurt walked over to Theodor and saluted.
“Sir!” he said. “We’ve killed Angela Hansen.”
“Good,” Theodor said, “Well, I'd say that was a nearly flawless operation. Check the car for any survivors and kill everyone except Thea. I will dock your pay if Thea is dead.”
“Understood!” Kurt said.
They slowly approached the car. Alexandra took note of her surroundings. The Impala was completely totaled, with its interior a crumpled mess, the windows completely shattered, and the engine on fire, but she had escaped with only some light bruises and a ringing in her ears which slightly disoriented her. In the back, Thea stirred awake. Her left arm was bent at an unnatural angle; it was broken. Her face was also bleeding in many places from where the shattered glass cut her, but she was otherwise fine. Alex was barely conscious and bleeding profusely from his stomach, while Magnus was completely unconscious.
“Help me,” Alexandra said.
Thea understood their predicament immediately. With some difficulty, they opened their doors and climbed out of the car. Alexandra pulled Magnus out. Thea found it difficult to help Alex out with only one usable arm. Fully waking up, Alex groaned and clutched his stomach.
“Ow…” he said. “I think I broke a rib.”
“Please cooperate, Alex,” Thea said, “This is hard enough as it is.”
“I know, I know,” Alex said.
Just as they pulled Alex out of the car, Alexandra heard the clicking of rifles behind her.
“Not so fast,” Theodor said.
Alexandra turned around and saw Josh, Kurt, and Gustav flanking Theodor, surrounding them. She glared angrily at Theodor.
“You killed my mother!” she said.
“Yeah, so what?” Theodor said, causally shrugging. “These days I kill plenty of people. It’s no big deal. And for the record, that was Josh, not me.”
Josh casually waved. “Hey. I killed your parents, Alex. The noise your dad made when I hung him outside his own office…music to my ears. And your mom? Let’s just say, her sweet motorcycle is mine now…”
“YOU SON OF A B—” Alex lunged at Josh, but Thea and Alexandra held him back.
“You should’ve died in that drone strike,” Theodor said, “That would have been most poetic. To be killed by something you worked on.”
“Hiring me, supporting my work, I see now it was all a lie,” Alex said, “All of it! You were just using me!”
“Yes, yes it was,” Theodor said, “You were useful to me, and when you weren’t, I let you go. The most difficult part was watching my dear sister traipse around with a Jewish equalist streetrat like you! That is all over now! Argus! Execute these traitors!”
“Theo, stop!” Thea shouted.
The soldiers hesitated, and Theodor lowered his gun to look at Thea, whose eyes were full of fury and anger.
“Why, Theo?!” she demanded. “Why the hell are you doing all this? All this suffering? This senseless slaughter? When will this madness stop?”
Theodor sighed. “Look, Thea. I wanted to keep you out of this for as long as I could. I never meant to harm you. Only bring you home safe. But you know the truth of the world now. The truth we in the committee have uncovered these last few years.”
He jabbed a finger at Alex and Alexandra. “These people, these equalists…they took away our parents all those years ago. They’ve ruined the world! But with Elias Anhorn, we can fix it. We can build a perfect world together. We can help people like us everywhere! We can restore the Tesla name to what it once was! Put the equalists in their place!”
He held out his gun to Thea. “Join me, sister. As it was always meant to be. The Tesla family, united again to make its mark on the world.”
Thea just stared ahead, her eyes glistening with tears. She slowly moved towards Theodor, looking at the gun with an expression that looked equally as much fear as anger. Her bloodied hand still trembling, she slowly took the gun with her good arm and loaded it.
“Good, good,” Theodor said, “You’ve finally understood your destiny. Your purpose. Now do what must be done.”
“Yes…” Thea said, closing her eyes and looking away. “Do what must be done.”
She raised the gun and fired once. A shot rang out, echoing across the forest. Theodor looked down and saw blood running out of his stomach.
“What…what?!” he said.
“Did you really take me for a fool?!” Thea said. “Why the hell would I ever go back to you? You’re so egotistical to think you’re at the center of my world. I would never betray Alex! Not after what you did! Especially not now!”
“I’m your family!” Theodor said. “He is nothing!”
“You’re not my family, not anymore,” Thea said, “I love him as much as I hate you, Theo. He’s my family now! So you and your destiny can go to hell!”
She tried firing again, but Josh quickly pistol-whipped her, knocking the gun out of her hand. He and the other soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at the three of them.
“That’s it!” Theodor said, limping away. “No more Herr Nice Guy. I gave you a chance at redemption, but you wasted it. You should’ve aimed for the head! Execute them all! Thea included! She is no sister of mine!”
Alexandra closed her eyes, preparing for the end. Then she heard the sound of metal whizzing through the air and thunking into something.
“What?!” Kurt said.
Alexandra opened her eyes. A metal cable with a blade at its end had embedded itself through Josh’s rifle. A second later, and the cable retracted, tearing the gun out of Josh’s hands and tossing it several feet through the air into the hands of an old white-haired woman in combat fatigues. The woman quickly tossed the rifle aside after noticing its biometric lock, and the cable retracted into a gauntlet on her right wrist.
“You,” Theodor said, “What are you doing here?”
Several dozen soldiers wearing the insignia of the Central Asian Confederation and the Persian lion emerged from the trees, guns aimed at Argus.
“Sorry I’m late,” the woman said, “But you are trespassing on sovereign Persian territory.”
“You’re mistaken,” Theodor said, “The border is a hundred feet behind you!”
“So the Reich claims,” the woman said, “As far as the UN is concerned, the border is at the exit of that tunnel.”
“The UN has no jurisdiction over us!” Theodor said. “The only law that matters is ours!”
“Face it,” the woman said, “You’re outnumbered. If you don’t withdraw to the Reich within the next hour, we will consider it an act of war.”
“As if Perfidious Persia has ever won a war against us!” Theodor said. “But fine. As a Roman, I concede with honor and dignity. Come on, boys, we move out for the pass!”
The Argus soldiers holstered their rifles and marched away. Josh stole one last glare at the woman who had disarmed him.
“This isn’t over,” he said, “I’ll get even!”
He walked away with the others. Alexandra continued standing there, staring at the spot where Angela’s body still lay. The old woman walked over to her, accompanied by some medics who began treating their wounds. Two soldiers approached Angela’s body and carefully lifted her onto a stretcher.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” the woman said, “I should’ve gotten here sooner. Then your mother would still be alive.”
Alexandra couldn’t do anything but slowly cry.
“My deepest condolences,” the woman said, “But don’t worry, you’re safe now.”
“At what cost, though?” Alexandra said. “Am I really?”
“It’ll be difficult at first,” the woman said, “Believe me, I know.”
“Yes, auntie, I know,” Alexandra said.
Magnus had regained consciousness at that moment, and he was immediately confused.
“Wait, auntie?” he said.
“Yeah?” Alexandra said.
“Wait a minute,” Magnus said, “You call her your auntie?!”
“Why wouldn’t she?” the woman said. “I was friends with her mother.”
“Your family keeps surprising me, Alexandra,” Magnus said.
“Get used to it,” Alexandra said.
“Thanks for helping us, auntie,” Alex said.
“It’s what I do,” the woman said.
“Why are you even here?” Thea said. “This is Persia, not Russia.”
“Angie called on my help to get you to safety, so I decided to do it myself,” the woman said, “Unfortunately, I was too late to save her...which I am very, very sorry. The next best thing I can do is to protect the rest of you as she asked of me. And I swear, I’m going to do that, like I always do.”
“Please tell me I'm not hallucinating,” Magnus said.
“Oh no, I'm really here,” the woman said, “I'm Olga Kirova, chancellor of Russia. Agent of the Tsardom, as I have always been.”
- 3
