Song: Secrets and Lies by Ruelle
***
Siblings.
Mitchell and I, two different kids living thousands of miles apart, are siblings?
Mitchell blinks rapidly beside me. "I'm sorry, what?" he asks.
"Mr. Paget, you and Miss Brennan are half siblings," Lucas repeats himself.
The tension in the air is so thick you'd need a huge knife to cut it. I turn to look at Mitchell for a brief moment. "Something smells like BS," I mutter.
"Allow me to explain. But first. . ." he trails, making a simple hand motion to one of the unseen guards. The glass door slides open and Mitchell and I turn over our shoulders. A girl, perhaps in her twenties, walks in. She has coal black hair and a terrified expression on her face, but looks quite healthy.
"Eleanor?" Mitchell chokes, his mouth agape. He makes to jump out of his chair but the clicking of several guns keeps him in his seat. He leans towards me and whispers, "That's my sister." His voice is practically shaking with excitement.
The girl, Eleanor, sits beside Mitchell. He immediately pulls her into a hug over the side of his chair and to my surprise, Lucas says nothing.
"Oh my God are you all right?" Mitchell says between shaky breaths.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. They didn't hurt me," Eleanor says, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "It's okay, we're okay." She pulls back, running her hand through his hair.
Lucas leans forward. "All right, enough of that. I only brought her here because it's fair if she hears this too." Mitchell and Eleanor snap out of it, turning back to Lucas.
"You already told me that I'm her half sibling," Eleanor says, jabbing a thumb in my direction. I sense a hint of disgust, but try to ignore it.
Lucas nods once. "Yes, and I'm here to tell you why. And also, why the CIA never killed these two," he says, gesturing to Mitchell and I.
"Well hop to it," Mitchell says irritably. Although I'd never admit it, I find myself waiting with bated breath.
"Very well then," he sighs, settling back into his chair. "As previously stated, Miss Baldwin and I were the first two to propose the idea of the Hunter Mission. Many took it to be a wild idea at first but after several months of deep thought, a few leaders felt that it was the most sensible plan yet. 'Cleanse' the planet by saving only the strong and eliminating the weak. It was an ingenious plan and thus, it was decided to be put into effect.
"Miss Baldwin and I won several awards for our plan, in private of course to keep from exposing the mission. What nobody knew, however was that Miss Baldwin and I had other reasons behind our idea that we could never tell anyone. More sinister, targeted reasons.
"Before I married Charlotte, I was married to another woman. We moved in next door to our best friends shortly after being married. We were all very close, rather like family than friends. Several months later, however, my wife and I were forced to move thousands of miles away due to my wife's work. We never saw our friends again."
Lucas pauses, staring at each of us carefuly, calculating. I hold my breath, digging my nails into the palms of my hand.
He clears his throat and continues. "Shortly after moving, we had our first child. We were as happy as could be. And for seven years, we remained so. One day, I came home early from work. It was my wife's day off. I heard her on the phone talking to someone, and it sounded serious. I caught a few words that made me very suspicious of several things. As soon as she saw me, she was horrified. After much coaxing, I finally got her to admit what was wrong."
