by S. D. BROWN
"Hey, why don't I give you guys a little private time" J.T. said. "I wanted to check out the rock formations. Wish I had a camera. No one's going to believe this place exists when I tell them about it."
"Thanks," I said.
Taking his light, he slipped into the water and paddled off.
"So Da," I said. "What did Uncle Monte do to me?"
"First off, Santana is not your uncle," Da said.
"I figured that. I need to stop calling him that, but it's so ingrained in my mind."
Mum pulled me closer. "I can't say for sure what he did to your mind, but I believe he must have downloaded false memories into your cerebral cortex."
"I agree," Da said.
"To do that, he had to have implanted you with a bio-computer. Do you remember anything like that happening to you?"
I lifted my hair and pointed to my mole. "Here's my access port."
Mum and Da exchanged worried looks.
"After the accident," I said. "He implanted the computer so I could walk again. Since then he's downloaded some really useful information like Spanish."
"And false information," Mum said.
"There was no accident," Da said. "Ten days ago the three of us had fish and chips at The Briny Sailor in Dorchester."
"But I vividly remember the accident." I felt panic rising in my chest. "And the smell of spilt petrol. Just a few days ago I saw the article on the web about the accident." I pointed to my temple. "See, here's a scar from the crash."
Mum squeezed me tighter. "That's from a riding mishap when you were five. Don't you remember? You tried to jump your pony over the hedge."
I felt sick. "Then everything I remember is a lie?"
"Not everything," Da said. "I believe the adventures you've had with J.T. are real."
"That's some comfort. My only true memories are from the last six days." The price of my earlier joy was to plunge me lower than before. "There's one more thing," I said. "My internal battery is failing. I'm having to plug into electricity at shorter and shorter intervals."
Mum frowned, shaking her head. "I think it's another one of Santana's lies. If he's used our technology, and he has, your computer's power source is a bio-battery and is recharged with sugar much like a diabetic balancing their insulin levels."
"Wait. You invented this thing? Why did you give it to Santana? And why would you want to control a person's thoughts?"
"We wanted to help paraplegics walk again. We needed to implant muscle memory. When we realized other memories could be implanted, we stopped the program, but not before Santana got his hands on it."
I let it all sink in. "Well there's one plus. I love sweets."
Mum laughed. "We'll get through this. Together as a family."
It was good to see Da's color coming back. He was looking like the dad I loved. "How much does J.T. know about your implant?"
"Nothing."
"Good. I think it's best until we get things sorted," Da said.
J.T. was swimming our way. We'd been through a lot together. I liked him and didn't want him to think I was a freak.
"Agreed," I said.
J.T. poked his head up, water dripped from his hair.
"This place is awesome!" he said. "Hey. It's been a half hour. Have the energizer bars kicked in? You ready to be rescued?"
Mum, Da and I laughed. We all geared up and slipped into the water.
"Hey, Rena. You take the lead."
We swam across the pool to the narrow exit tunnel, surfaced and took one last look at the hidden fairyland that had kept my parents safe.
"Everyone ready?" I asked.
"Seven days ready," Da said.
I dove down to the curtain of tree roots, parted them and entered the long tunnel. This time my torch lit the narrow path and I felt in control. When I sensed we were near the entrance from the lagoon, I flipped off the torch. A halo of light beckoned from the open water beyond.
In that last minute before embracing a sky overhead, I vowed to be satisfied and happily traded all my losses for new and wonderful gains.
A restored family. A spanking new friend. And a fantastic and exciting new life with endless possiblilities.
30: J.T.
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale
AZTEC PALACE RESORT
CANCUN RIVIERA
"Dad, what's with all the duct tape in my room?" I asked, staring at what must have been two or three used rolls of the stuff. Someone had cut it into strips. There were sticky silver wads all over the floor and strips stuck to a chair.
Dad came in. His left hand was in a cast. "Dharma got a little carried away with the tape. She must have really disliked Trace. We found him in the closet trussed up like an alien version of the mummy."
"I'd like to have seen that." I grinned. "He's an arrogant dude."
"I need to sit back down," Dad said and returned to the living room. "I still can't believe I misjudged Dharma. I had no idea she was a double agent."
"What's going to happen to her?"
He shrugged and then winced. His final broken-rib count came to five. They'd taped him up at the hospital, which was why he was inside with the air-conditioning. Total bummer. He couldn't swim or even enjoy sitting under an umbrella by the pool. It was too hot and sticky.
"J.T., I want you to know how proud I am of you. The whole mission would have failed if you hadn't stepped up to the plate. The Vandermers would have died. And Santana would have made us disappear."
"I guess what they say is true. Like father like son."
We both laughed.
"One more thing," he said. "You can't brag about this to your friends. Or tell your mother."
"Do I look stupid? If she found out I'd illegally driven a car or a speedboat, I'd be grounded for life."
My new cell phone buzzed. "She must have heard us talking about her." I answered. "Hey."
"J.T." Her voice sounded frantic. "I've been trying to call you for two days. Is everything okay?"
"Everything's great, Mom," I said, giving Dad a thumbs up. "I accidently dropped my phone in the ocean so I had to get a new one. Besides I thought you weren't going to call every day."
"Have you learned your Bible verses? Remember what your teacher said. You need the points if you want to pass with a decent grade."
"Don't worry," I said. "I haven't forgotten about them."
"Good. Now I need to talk to your father."
"Sure. Love you, Mom."
"I love you too, son, now put him on the phone."
"Here, Dad. It's for you. I'm going to go look for Gramps." I got out of there fast.
I found Gramps in a lounge chair sitting under a huge umbrella. His leg was propped up on a pillow and he was drinking a tall glass of iced tea. Sitting next to him was the last man I wanted to see.
"What are you doing here?" I said to Raul's uncle. His arm was in a sling.
Gramps frowned. "Manners."
"Sorry."
"Let me introduce Hector Ramirez Gonzales," Gramps said. "My contact inside SEIDO."
"SEIDO?"
"Mexico's Special Investigations on Organized Crime Unit," Gramps said. "Kind of like our CIA. He's the head of their drug task force."
"Your grandfather has been briefing me on your escape from the island. I underestimated you. You're a resourceful young man."
"Thanks."
"The whole place turned into a war zone. There's a good chance you would have been caught in the crossfire if you hadn't got out of there when you did. I wasn't so lucky."
"He took a bullet in the shoulder," Gramps explained. "But you should see the other guy."
"Speaking of the other guy, what happened to Santana?" I asked.
Hector cleared his throat. "We arrested thirty-eight men and one woman. Recovered a thousand pounds of illegal prescription drugs. Shut down Santana's pipeline to the drug mafia. Unfortunately Santana escaped along with two of his top agents. The couple t
hat posed as the girl's parents."
It seemed Hector had no idea of the part Rena had played, which meant Gramps hadn't told him. And wouldn't. I was glad.
I still didn't understand how Santana had convinced her he was her uncle. Did he hypnotize her? Or had the accident given her some sort of temporary amnesia? It was a mystery and even though we were on the same side now, she didn't seem to want to talk about it.
"J.T." Gramps said.
I looked up. "Yeah?"
"Serena came looking for you. Did she find you?"
"When?"
"Half hour or so ago."
I shook my head.
"I think she wants to say good-bye."
"They're leaving?"
Why hadn't she told me this morning? We'd planned on having dinner together. Just the two of us. It's not like it was a real date. We were just friends. But still, it felt like she was giving me the brush off.
Gramps nodded. "Said she'd be at the beach until three. It's 2:30."
"Thanks," I said. "See you later."
31: Serena
Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Proverbs 3:31
AZTEC PALACE RESORT
CANCUN RIVIERA
I lounged in a deck chair and watched the tranquil turquoise waves lap at the bright white sand. Had Max relayed my message to J.T.? I desperately hoped so. I couldn't leave without saying goodbye.
I was more than a little conflicted. J.T. had saved my parents and after all we'd been through, I hated keeping secrets from him. But Max had convinced me it was necessary. Loose lips sink ships. No one could know about my internal computer system. Or the fact that it couldn't be detached from my spine, without causing permanent damage to my motor skills.
Hopefully, Max had said, Santana would assume its removal was the first thing my parents did once we were reunited.
Raul, dressed in a resort uniform, appeared and set a canned soda and a tall iced-glass on the little table next to my chair. "Coca Cola for the lady."
"Thank you, Raul," I said.
He popped the tab and poured the dark amber liquid like a professional waiter. Had me sign a little paper receipt with my room number. "Anything else?"
"Yes, Raul. I need to apologize to you. I'm sorry I accused you of lying."
"That's okay," Raul said. "It's like a river running under the bridge of life. The thought is out there now." He pointed to the calm sea. "All forgotten."
I smiled. "Your use of idioms has improved."
He beamed like I’d given him a hundred pound tip.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and momentarily tensed until I realized it was J.T.
"My two favorite R's. Rena and Raul," he said. "What are you two looking at?"
"The river of life," I said and winked at Raul.
Raul's pager buzzed. "Duty calls."
"Want to play a little tennis when you get off work?" J.T. asked him.
"Is the pope a pope?" Raul said. He headed back toward the pool area.
"So you forgot our dinner date?" I tried to sound and look like I'd been offended by his callous treatment of me.
"Sounds more like you'll be standing me up. Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? I assumed you'd be here another few days."
"Me, too. Mum and Da popped the news on me just an hour ago. It seems Da had an epiphany and they want to get started in their new lab at Hunter Madison. A.S.A.P."
"I'm going to miss you, Rena."
"Why do you keep calling me Rena? You know my real name's Serena."
"Not to me," J.T. said. "It's code for cool. Did Gramps tell you Santana escaped?"
I nodded. "I think that's the real reason Mum and Da want to be on U.S. soil. They'll feel safer there than here in Mexico."
"I got something for you," he said. "So you don't forget our great escape." He pulled out a little silver locket with an enameled donkey on it. "Open it."
Inside he'd had it engraved with his cell number in the center of what looked like an explosion.
"My back is still bruised," he said and laughed. "But I'm tough. I'm a third generation Chapman spy guy. And proud of it."
"Thanks. Can you help me put it on?" I felt bad. I hadn't gotten anything for him. All I had was my charm bracelet, minus all the charms except for the little silver moon electromagnet I hadn't used.
I slid the charm bracelet from my wrist and handed it to him. "Keep this to remember me by. The moon is the last spy toy that we didn't use. I want you to have it."
"Cool," he said. "What's it do?"
I gave him a mysterious Sphinx smile. "That is for me to know and you to find out. Your first clue is to think about the moon and what it does to the sea."
"Duh, it makes it light at night."
"I wouldn't remove it from the bracelet just yet," I said. "You don't want to activate it until you're sure of what it'll do."
"When's that going to be?"
"You can have one guess per day. When you get it right I'll confirm."
"So if I want to learn its mystery, I'll have to call you like every day. It might take me weeks."
"Or months, if I'm lucky." My face flushed at my bold flirtation.
J.T. put his arm around my shoulder and gave me a side-hug. Who knows what more would have been declared if Da hadn't walked up. The almost-not-quite-romantic moment dissipated.
"Sorry," my dad said. "We've got to head for the airport. Don't want to miss our flight."
J.T. walked back with us and waited until we'd loaded into the taxi and drove out of sight. The driver was playing loud mariachi music, which allowed us to converse in private.
"Serena," Mum said, her voice low and intimate. "Your father and I have talked. You know we can't remove the port. But we could reboot it. Try to patch in memories from your childhood. We have thousands of home videos."
Da put his hand on my arm. "We could remove the nightmares and misinformation Santana programmed into your subconscious. Try to return you to the daughter we had before he took you."
A little knot formed in my abdomen. "You don't like this me?"
"Regardless of his programming, you are still you. You are our daughter."
"And we love you," Mum said.
"But you want to change me back to the way I was."
"Not necessarily," Da said. "We're impressed with the young lady you've become. But we feel you should have the option. It's your choice."
"Is there a downside?" I asked.
"It will erase your recent memories," Mum said. "You will forget J.T.
Forget Santana. Forget everything that's happened to you here in Mexico."
I closed my eyes and let my mind run a private review of the last few days. Uncle Monte's total trust of me and his betrayal. Being a spy. My time with Max. Pretend Mum and Harry. The escape from Contoy Island. Meeting J.T. Our trip to the pyramids. The underwater rescue.
Was it worth trading the most exciting week of my life to reclaim forgotten memories that wouldn't truly be my own? Mum and Da could only program what they thought I'd remember. None of which would be real.
I bit my lip and opened my eyes. "You said you have home videos of me?"
"Yes," they said in unison.
"Fabulous," I said, grinning. "I think I'll decline the retro-upgrade. I kind of like the new me."
"As do we," Mum said and cocked her head. "I recognize that look. You're not having second thoughts?"
"Never," I said, thinking it'd be insane to give up my new covert set of spy skills. Especially when there were so many evil schemers in the world. "But." Pause. "I wouldn't mind if you could possibly download a few school subjects, like algebra, geometry and calculus."
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