the final mission

30

It was the next day.

Kai had gotten up early to check if Roddy had come back, but to no avail. Her spot was cold, lifeless, similar to the way Kai felt when he remembered what Roddy had said the similar night. He wanted to show her the world plus more, but he felt as though it was too late. He thought Roddy could not love others until she loved herself.

Kai could have not been further from the truth.

He took the picture from his jacket from the previous night and dialled the number that was scrawled on the back. If Roddy was incapable of giving him answers, at least he would get them from somewhere.

Heading downstairs, he was met with the gang, minus Roddy, of course.

"Are you all up for an adventure later?"

This was the beginning of the end.

★★★

Jennings gazed at Roddy.

She was there, yet she was not.

Roddy was in a world all on her own. He took the chance to stare at the gauze, bandages, and cast that she had on her body. He had gotten beat up more times than he could remember, but Roddy's entire body seemed to be covered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Roddy studied Jennings.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

"No. Silence is a beauty."

"So are you," Jennings wanted to add. He kept quiet knowing that it was not appropriate, especially for the time being. He wondered if he would ever find it in himself to confess the feelings that he accidentally acquired for Roddy. From working together to always being there for him, Roddy was one of the few people Jennings could always count on.

"Roddy, stop this. You are family -"

"No. I'm not. Alright? You have people you go home to. One day, you're going to have a beautiful spouse and children running around your white picket fence. You will have family reunions, vacations, and road trips. I won't." Roddy's face became sullen. "I never will."

A tea kettle blared in the background as Jennings excused himself to go take care of it. Roddy revealed a small black envelope under her shirt and placed it under a large pile of mail. She took one last glance around the living room.

That was the last time Jennings ever saw her.

★★★

The gang arrived.

Confusion rang loud and proud, but Kai discarded their facial expressions as he knocked on the door. Gio welcomed them all in and gestured for them to enter an elegant living room on the second floor. Once everyone was settled, the conversation began.

"Kai, thanks for putting your suspicions aside and coming. This chat has been in the works for awhile now." The gang was quick to narrow their eyes, but Gio ignored this.

"Let's start with the picture, alright?" Kai retrieved the photo that Gio had given him the previous night. It was a picture of the two of them as boys, in a yard that seemed all too familiar. It was the backyard of Kai's family's house that had ended up turning into mere ashes on the ground.

"Ah, a cute photo, isn't it? You were just born and came out of the hospital and I was so excited to see you. Our parents -" Kai's eyebrows raised.

"Our parents?" Gio's eyebrows raised as well. Gio had assumed that Roddy had told Kai the previous night when she had gotten to the house. Apparently not.

"Yes, Kai. We are half brothers. We share the same mother. My father had taken Furseo, my older brother, and I to Italy so we could grow up with his gang." Every single person in the room had a dropped jaw, save Gio.

"We are related?" Kai wanted to cry, knowing he had family right in front of him. Kai was quick to stand up and embrace Gio, not allowing space to intervene. Gio was shocked, his arms hanging limp, but he soon recovered and hugged Kai back with just as much fervor.

"My father hated your family. He spent every living moment plotting against your father and your family. This hatred spread to my older brother, Furseo. When my father died, our stepmother wanted nothing to do with us. She kicked us to the curb and made us fend for ourselves." Kai looked in his lap, guiltily. He had lived a lavish life for as long as he remembered.

"I'm sorry." Gio waved Kai off and continued.

"Furseo came to the states, continuing the mission to end your family's lives. I followed, but only because I had no money and nowhere to stay. That is when he met Roddy. My brother grew fond of her quick. She sat through sessions of him planning attacks against your families. I'm guessing you knew what happened next."

Ziva, Raina, and Winslet were starting to believe Gio. Everything he said checked out.

"The fire that day was not Furseo. Yes, he planned an attack, but fire was never his style. We all know someone whose is." Nobody could deny Roddy's strange fascination with burning things. "Don't you think it was suspicious she was only there for half of the party?"

"And guess where Furseo is now? A mental asylum! My brother is many things, but crazy is not one of them. I'm not allowed to visit." Kai connected the dots. That is where Roddy was going all the time!

That did it for Kai. 

Kai's eyes burned with humiliation, despair, and worst of all?

Hatred.

He was blinded by "love" to have seen it before, but it was loud and clear now.

"Is that why she left? She knew you'd tell me the truth?" Gio was surprised. He had not known that Roddy left. He kept guards posted in the woods behind Roddy's house as well as in front of Roddy's house, hidden in plain sight. Yet none of them reported her absence.

Gio was worried. He was coming down the home stretch, so close yet so far from his final goal. However, he was already too late.

It was the beginning of the end.