Trinity

“What the hell is going on here?” Phoenix asked Trinity as he stepped out of the water. “None of this makes sense. Why would Joshua eliminate Paige from the picture when she was on his side? What did he have to gain by doing that?”

“I’m not sure, Phoenix.” She used his codename hoping to get him to focus. As she looked at him a thought crossed her mind. “Maybe it’s not a question of what he would gain, but maybe who he thought he could gain.”

“You think he killed her to get to me?” Phoenix asked as his mind processed her statement. “I guess it’s a possibility we have to look at. It might be something else though. Maybe she double crossed him or something.”

Any further conversation was cut off as the team heard movement in the jungle. They drew their weapons and quickly stepped back into the cover of the jungle. Trinity and Phoenix were crouched down back to back to help cover each other. Their eyes scanned the dark jungle interior. Trinity’s eyes caught more movement off to their left.

“Movement at nine o’clock.” Trinity quietly whispered.

Phoenix turned and looked in that direction. He could see someone stepping into the clearing. He hoped that it wasn’t Joshua finally showing up. Even with everything that was going on, Phoenix still held onto hope that Joshua could explain everything that happened. The figure came into focus as the person walked into the center of the clearing. It was Backdraft. Trinity whistled a birdcall to let the woman know they would be entering the clearing. Backdraft turned to look at them as they entered the clearing.

“What’s going on?” Backdraft asked. “Where is Dreamcatcher?”

“No show.” Trinity said.

“Damn it. Things are going our way for shit tonight.” Backdraft exclaimed. “I wasn’t able to find Paige tonight. I searched the entire hotel complex at least twice and still had no luck. I asked around and no one has seen her since this afternoon.”

“They wouldn’t have seen her.” Phoenix quietly replied. Backdraft looked at him questioningly. “She’s dead. I found her body tied to some rocks behind the falls.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” She asked.

“I wish we were. The body is still in the water if you want to have a look.” Trinity replied.

“This isn’t good. Not good at all.” Backdraft said with a sigh. “Something must have happened to make Dreamcatcher eliminate his own partner.”

“What if he knows that we are on to him?” Phoenix asked. “If that’s the case then he would start tying up whatever he considered a loose end.”

“Awesome point, Phoenix.” Trinity gave her partner a huge smile. “He might have realized that the attempt on the President wouldn’t work. It would make sense to clean things up and close up shop.”

“If that’s the case then we don’t have any time to spare.” Phoenix added. “He might try to leave the island. We need to mobilize ASAP.”

“First, we need to take care of Paige’s body.” Trinity’s words brought them back to the severity of the situation.

“I’ll take care of the body.” Backdraft finally said. “We were always seen together so it would make more sense for me to report it. I’ll tell them that Paige demanded that I meet her here. I’ll go in and untie the body and bring it over to the water’s edge. If either of you were here, then it would make things look even more suspicious than it already is.”

“Are you sure?” Trinity asked her. As Backdraft nodded her head, Trinity continued. “Phoenix and I will search for Dreamcatcher then. Time is running out and the sooner we find him the better. We can’t let him escape.”

“Agreed.” Phoenix and Backdraft replied in unison.

Backdraft headed cautiously into the water and Trinity and Phoenix headed back into the jungle. They kept their eyes open as they made their way through the darkness. Trinity reached over and squeezed Phoenix’s shoulders trying to reassure him.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” She asked.

“I’m just so confused.” Phoenix replied. “I know that he’s evil and a killer, but I still can’t help feeling that there’s more than what we are seeing. Just wishful thinking I guess. After seeing that body I have to push that type of thinking aside. We need to get things taken care of and I can’t be distracted.”

“It’s only natural to think that way, so don’t beat yourself up about it. I know that you have my back and you’ll do whatever is necessary.” Trinity softly said to him. “You’re only human. It’s ok to have those feelings, just try to make sure they don’t affect your judgment.”

“Thanks.” Phoenix replied softly.

The pair walked the rest of the way through the jungle in silence. The short walk seemed to take longer on the way back after everything that had happened at the falls. The pair was still in a bit of shock to find Paige’s body there. They had expected the possibility that there might be a killing that night, but neither of them had expected the bad guys to start taking out each other. Trinity and Phoenix finally emerged onto one of the park’s lighted pathways.

“How do you want to do this search?” Phoenix asked as he pulled a park map from one of his pants pockets. Luckily his pants pockets zippered shut and were waterproof; otherwise the map would have been ruined.

“There is no guarantee that he’s on this island.” Trinity replied. “He knows about us, so it’s possible that he could be on the other island.”

“You take the park and I’ll head back over to the other island. You move faster than I do…sometimes,” Phoenix paused and grinned at his partner. “You’ll be able to cover more ground here.”

“You have your cell phone on you?” Trinity asked.

“Of course I do.” He replied.

“We’ll check in with each other every hour or as soon as we find something. Clear?” She asked.

Phoenix nodded his head and started to make his way back to the docks. He wanted to take the other island because it seemed more likely that Dreamcatcher would be there. He had a lot of questions that needed to be answered, and he wanted the opportunity to get to him first.

Phoenix untied the boat and quickly hopped on. He maneuvered the craft through the water, which had become a bit choppy. Phoenix looked towards the sky to find their star, but a thick wall of dark clouds began to roll in, blocking out all of the stars and the moon. The night darkened considerably and made the situation feel even more sinister.

Phoenix reached the other dock and secured the boat. He headed back towards their place to check that out first. If there were going to be any type of ambush, then it was likely to happen there. He reached their place and quickly searched it from top to bottom. Phoenix was frustrated when nothing was found. He had been sure that there would be something waiting for him.

He grabbed some extra ammo and a fully charged cell phone battery. Phoenix didn’t know how long this search would take and he didn’t want to have the cell phone die out. Trinity would have his ass for letting something that stupid happen.

It took nearly two hours to check out the rest of the island, and from their hourly phone calls, Trinity wasn’t having any luck either. A downpour of rain had started over an hour ago, and his clothes stuck to him like a second skin. He decided to head back and change clothes before making a sweep through the storage facilities. It had been difficult going through the employees’ lodging because so many of them were staying inside tonight due to the weather.

Phoenix entered their living room and shook some of the water off of his body. As he started towards the hallway he noticed that the kitchen light was on. He knew that light had been off when he was there earlier. He drew his weapon and slowly approached the room. Every muscle in his body tightened in anticipation as adrenaline rushed through him.

Phoenix stepped into the small kitchen and his eyes quickly scanned the area. There was nothing out of the ordinary in there. He took another step into the kitchen to ensure it was empty when he felt a blinding pain shoot through his head as something hit the back of his neck. Phoenix barely had time to turn around as another strike hit the side of his head. He felt the room pitch and sway as he fell towards the floor.

Unconsciousness was threatening to overtake him and Phoenix fought as hard as he could to stay awake. He looked up towards the doorway to face his attacker, but he was only able to make out a large shape standing over him. There was no light in the hallway and the figure stayed partially hidden in the shadows. Phoenix still had his gun and aimed as best as he could. His vision was beginning to blur from the hit he had taken to the head. Just as he tried to fire a round, he felt a stabbing pain in his leg and realized that something was just injected into his body.

Phoenix desperately reached for his cell phone as he felt the drug rush through his system. He had been able to flip the phone open, but as he tried to hit the speed dial the phone was ripped from his grasp. Sleep began to overtake his body and he was barely able to keep his eyes open. Just before his world went black his attacker stepped into the kitchen and Phoenix’s unfocused eyes were barely able to make Joshua out. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The drug had taken effect and Phoenix’s eyes closed as a dreamless sleep overtook him.

* * *

Trinity snapped her cell phone closed in irritation. She had tried to contact Phoenix three times in the last twenty minutes, but he wasn’t answering his phone. Her gut twisted as fear and stress wracked her body. It was not like him to not answer his phone or contact her if something was up. That left only one option; something had to have happened to him.

She raced down the park’s paths towards the docks. Trinity tried to keep her anger at a manageable level, but it was nearly impossible to do that. God help anyone that would try to hurt her brother. If anything had happened to Alec the people responsible would pay for it with their lives. If she let them even have such an easy way out. Ideas of torture and pain filtered through her head as she raced towards the boats.

As Trinity approached the docks she saw a figure walking towards the boats. She yanked her gun from its holster and was prepared to take action. As she ran down the dock the person turned to see who was coming. She put her gun back into place when she saw that it was Backdraft.

“What are you doing here?” Trinity demanded.

“After I got done with the security team and they took the body, I rushed back to the hotel to see if Joshua was there.” Backdraft explained. “The concierge had overheard Joshua saying that he was going over to the employee island to take care of some business. I rushed over here as quickly as I could because I knew Phoenix was over there. We have to warn him.”

“We’re too late.” Trinity quietly said as she hopped into the boat. She put a hand out and helped Backdraft down.

“What the fuck do you mean?” Backdraft exclaimed.

“We were in phone contact every hour. He should have checked in thirty minutes ago.” Trinity turned to start the motor. “Phoenix never checked in and I’ve tried calling him three times, but there was no answer. What the hell is wrong with this thing?”

No matter how hard she pulled, the motor just would not kick over. She kicked the motor a few times trying to release some of her frustrations. Trinity grabbed the lever and gave it a few more forceful tugs, but the motor still wouldn’t start. Backdraft stepped up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Let me take a look at it.” She said trying to ease Trinity’s nerves.

Backdraft examined the motor for a few minutes. While she was working on that, Trinity pulled out her cell phone and tried contacting Alec again. She wasn’t surprised when the ringing in her ear didn’t stop. As she disconnected the line she heard Backdraft let out a satisfied noise.

“I found out what the problem was.” Backdraft turned slightly to face Trinity. She was holding a small cord that was attached to the motor. “It looks like this somehow got disconnected.” Backdraft leaned back down over the motor and a moment later it roared to life.

Trinity gave a brief smile to the woman and turned around to face the other island. Her brother was somewhere on that island and he was in trouble. She couldn’t help that nagging feeling in the back of her brain that she was forgetting something. Trinity searched her brain for a few moments and finally something Backdraft said earlier that day clicked in her head. She spun around and looked at Backdraft.

“What’s wrong?” She questioned.

“Didn’t you say that Dreamcatcher was an explosives expert?” She couldn’t help the slight tremor in her voice as she asked.

Backdraft nodded her head in answer. The two women’s gazes locked for a moment before they both looked at the boat’s motor. Almost as if it was answering their question the motor exploded with a deafening roar that threw the two women into the air. The night sky had been briefly illuminated from the fireball the explosion caused. The pair hit hard against the water’s surface.

It took a few moments for Trinity to get her bearings before she launched her body to the surface. She gasped for air as she finally broke through the surface filling her lungs with some much needed oxygen. Trinity searched the water frantically looking for Backdraft.

“Trinity!” She heard a voice call out.

She quickly turned around in the water to see Sabrina floating nearby. Trinity quickly swam over to the other woman.

“Are you ok?” She asked.

“My arm is definitely broken and I think I may have a few cracked ribs.” Backdraft said with a wince. “What about you?”

“Just some minor cuts and bruises.” She replied after a quick assessment of herself. “It seems that my luck worked for once tonight. Can you swim?”

Backdraft nodded her head and the two began a slow stroke towards the island. Trinity kept an eye on Backdraft since she was swimming with only one good arm. At least the explosion had thrown them towards their destination instead of back towards the main island.

“Dreamcatcher is definitely going to be getting the ass whooping of the century.” Trinity’s anger had returned with a vengeance. “I’m going to enjoy ripping every one of his body parts off. I might even feed him a couple.”

They swam the last couple hundred feet in silence. The women were conserving as much energy as possible for the fight they knew was coming. Trinity reached the shore first and helped Backdraft out of the water. There was a jeep sitting a few feet from the docks and Trinity rushed towards it.

“I don’t have the keys for…” Backdraft’s voice trailed off as she watched Trinity smash the driver’s side window and unlock the doors. She quickly walked around to the passenger side and hopped in. Trinity was working on hotwiring the jeep. “I’m sorry. My brain is obviously not functioning at the moment.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Trinity replied as she gunned the engine. “We’ve found out in less than twenty-four hours that our ‘boss’ killed the woman posing as his wife; he is a mole assassin that is now holding my partner captive; and he tried to kill us by blowing up our boat. I can see why your brain would be fried by now.”

Trinity raced the jeep down the narrow roads towards the employee lodging. She figured they would check out their place first and go from there. She also wanted to stop there to pick up some more gear and ammo. The jeep roared down the quiet roads and squealed to a stop as Trinity pulled up at their destination.

Trinity was out of the jeep almost before it came to a complete stop. She charged up to the front door and again pulled her gun from its holster. She paused as she saw that the front door wasn’t closed all the way. Her blood ran ice cold as she used the muzzle of her gun to slowly push the door open. Backdraft was standing slightly behind her and was holding her weapon in her good hand.

Trinity’s eyes searched everywhere at once as she stepped into the living room for any sign of Phoenix. There were no clues to be found in the living room. She headed towards the hall and flipped on the light. Trinity started to head towards the bedrooms when she noticed something lying on the floor in the kitchen doorway. She bent down and examined the object. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw what it was.

A long iron crowbar was lying on the floor and one end of it was covered in what was obviously blood. Backdraft reached past her and flipped on the kitchen light. As light flooded the room it was obvious there was a struggle. Trinity walked towards the table and saw that something was scratched into the tabletop. Based on the scratches and the red smudges, she knew that the crowbar was used to etch the message into the wood.

“The Phoenix has fallen. Alec will sleep with the fishes tonight.”

“NO!” Trinity yelled as she slammed her fist into the table.

“What do you think the message means?” Backdraft asked.

Trinity looked at the message and the words played over and over in her head. It only took a few moments for her to figure it out. She did pause though because it was too simple. That could only mean one thing; it was a trap.

“He took Alec to the underwater tunnel.” She quietly replied.

Sabrina looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Vanessa knew that she was surprised to hear her refer to Alec by his name and not by his codename. One of the first rules that were drilled into them was that secrecy was all-important and that codenames were to be used as much as possible.

“This isn’t about the mission anymore.” Vanessa’s voice was as hard as rock and as sharp as a knife. “It’s personal now.”

* * *

Vanessa raced down the stairs that led to the underwater attraction. Alec had to be safe. He was strong, and she knew that he would hang on as long as he had to. They had overcome so many things together, and there was no way she was going to lose him now. As they got to the bottom of the steps they saw that the security doors were closed. Vanessa raced over to the keypad and quickly punched in the security code to open the doors.

“How did you know the code?” Sabrina asked.

“I kept a close eye on Joshua when he keyed it in.” Vanessa quickly replied. “Everyone was intent on ignoring me so I made it a point to be close enough to see his code. Let’s go.”

The women raced through the tunnel as fast as they could. Construction was completed the other day, but there was still equipment lying about. The soft lights that were on in the tunnel gave just enough illumination for the pair to maneuver through the mess. They were a couple hundred feet into the tunnel and there was still no sign of Alec. Vanessa began to worry that maybe her instincts were off.

As they walked around a huge stack of boxes they found out that she was correct. Alec was lying on the floor against the tunnel wall. His hands were tied behind his back, and his ankles were bound together as well. She could tell that he had been drugged because he looked pretty out of it. Joshua was bent over Alec and had his hands on his shoulders. Vanessa reacted as quickly as she could.

“Get your hands off of him, asshole!” She yelled as she charged towards them.

Joshua spun around at the sound of her voice; his face was covered in shock, and he reflexively drew his gun. Joshua had paused long enough though to allow Vanessa to get closer to him. As Joshua raised the gun up in front of him, Vanessa leapt into the air and kicked out with her foot, connecting directly with his wrist and effectively knocking the gun out of his hand. The gun clattered to the ground with such a force that it slid down further into the darkened tunnel.

“Wait…” Joshua began to say, but Vanessa didn’t allow him the opportunity to continue.

She swung fast and hard with her right arm and her fist connected soundly with Joshua’s jaw. His head snapped from the impact and he stumbled a few steps back. Vanessa took a defensive stance to catch her breath. She watched as he felt his jaw and straightened himself. She heard Alec groan and her head quickly glanced in his direction. He was fully conscious and Sabrina was rushing over to him.