Chapter 4: What is Real?

“Just promise me that you will remember what I have said here. Goodbye, Lin Jie.”

Lin Jie kept rereading the letter over and over trying to grasp everything about the situation. She looked up at the board and saw the new company. There was no logo. The only thing there was three red bands and a word. “Death.”

Looking at what Jin had shown for the other groups, it was a small collection report on their missions and how they died. Lin Jie recognized some of the names and realized that Jin was telling the truth.

Lin Jie placed a hand on her left arm over her own three gold bands that were tattooed on her arm and sighed. “Time to tear this place apart. Please be alive, Jin. You can’t leave me and not explain what this means.” Lin Jie put the letter down and stared at the cork board. “I’m not losing another person close to me.” Lin Jie tureen away from the board, and her vision blurred as a flash of bright red flashed through like a memory. She shook her head quickly trying to steady herself. Walking over to the hole in the ceiling, she sighed. Lin Jie couldn’t deny it. Jin grew on her in these past three months, so she’s not letting another die like this.

After hours of searching, she found something. It was under a bookshelf and some stuff, but it was another small pin similar to the other two. “What’s this?” Lin Jie turned over the pin to see a symbol she couldn’t recognize. It looked like a red E with an eye in the center. Something about it made a shiver run down Lin Jie’s spine.

There was a note attached to the back of the pin, and after Lin Jie read it things started to click into place.

“Well, I guess I made it, but it’s not going to be for long. They know where I am. They always will, but Lin Jie, the lynchpin is not the killing of Bin Laden. That’s just a little thing yours truly did to fool whoever would come here. This would be too big for it to be a lynchpin.The real lynchpin is part of a riddle.

He who should not have messed with balance, creates destruction.

This is what we tried to figure out. I now need to leave it to you to figure out. If I’m not there, it means I need to run. I’m sorry.”

Lin Jie felt her blood boil knowing that Udea had lied. They had no idea what caused the problem in 2010. They just sent her here on a small lead.

“She’s straying.”

“Leave her. We need to leave.” The world started to turn and blur, but Lin Jie kept a hand on the pin and note holding on for dear life. The world finally stabilized and she looked around and it was the same place.

“Were they trying to pull me out before I found the solution?!” This deepened her distrust with this whole situation. They promised that they would let her do her things until she was done.

A flash of red wavy hair and short black hair passed by her sight and Lin Jie took a deep breath. “We’ll make it.” Lin Jie moved on in the room clutching the pin trying to find any sign that could signal where Jin went, but there was nothing. ‘Someone has probably already taken everything that could be seen as a signal for evidence. It’s a good thing they didn’t find this room.’ Lin Jie went back to the secret door and opened the patch of grass and climbed out looking for any evidence that would say which way he went.

The darkness covered the backyard making it hard to see anything, so Lin Jie pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight looking at the yard inch by inch. Finally, something glinted behind the bush near the gate.

Lin Jie quickly left to get her stuff back into the capsules and placed a piece of tatami fixing the patterns and went to find the thing that shined.

Soon, Lin Jie pulled out a blue pin this time. Turning it over, Udea’s symbol was on the other side, but it looked different. It looked a lot more dull and almost tattooed with dust.

“How long have you been here?” Lin Jie mumbled. Looking over at the fence, something seemed to make a shiver run down her spine.

“Are you sure you saw someone here, Katsumoto-san?” Lin Jie spotted a loose board and pushed it away before placing it back in place just in time to see a flashlight pass through the boards.

“I thought I saw a figure running into this house. Maybe I was just seeing things in my old age.” The old man said chuckling.

“You are not too old, Katsumoto-san. Will you be so kind as to let us look around on our own?”

“Why yes. Make sure to leave the crime scene, police chief Sato.”

“Thank you.” Lin Jie backed away from the boards and saw a figure walking into the house. ‘No time to stay here.’ Lin Jie followed the indented footprints as far as they would go. She lost track of him after she got right back into the city.

“Well that wasn’t much help.”

“Honestly I thought it was.” Lin Jie turned around and looked confused at the man before her. Jin smirked holding his left side that looked soaked. It was blood. He coughed a bit and blood spattered onto the ground right in front of Lin Jie.

"Dammit, Jin. Why and how are you still alive?!"

"Well, that symbol is a fake. They’ll figure it out when the autopsy goes through, and by then, I will be in a different country and far away from them.” Lin Jie looked at Jin. It almost seemed like he wanted to collapse. “It’s a temporary tattoo of sorts.” Jin kept a smug look on his face, but the look in his eyes showed he was terrified. “They’re getting closer to me. I don’t think we’ll see each other again.” Jin’s eyes were wavering from her towards the bright lights illuminating them near the border of the forested area.

Lin Jie wrapped her arm around Jin’s waist to try and keep him standing, but he waved her off. “What will you do now? I can’t leave you in this state.”

“Pray I make it to 2015. You’ll have to leave me.” He said with a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“What are you really going to do? You’re lying and have been since I found you.”

“It’s to protect you.” Jin said, placing a warm hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry we had to meet again in such dire circumstances. Look, go back to Shibuya and give a report, but say there was nothing here. My death happened, and you found it to be some random man. You couldn’t find any news on who he is. Thank you for at least coming to find me again. It means a lot.” Jin put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

Lin Jie grabbed Jin’s arm before he could turn away and glared at the tall man. “Wait, tell me everything. You have been avoiding me for almost 4 months. What is Edin and where will you go? And what happened to all of the rest of the groups? That can’t be true.” Lin Jie couldn’t explain it, but something didn’t feel right with this meeting. It felt like even if this meeting happened, she would never get the answers.

Jin lightly pushed her hand off of him and gave a slight smile in her direction. “Everything will be found out just not with me.” Jin finally collapsed and hugged Lin Jie tightly. Lin Jie stiffened immediately at his touch, but she wrapped her arms around him in an awkward comfort. She finally relaxed, but Jin was full on crying.

“Do you know something that I don’t?” She asked with a dry chuckle trying to ease the tension.

“More than you know.” Jin said through hiccups and pushed off of Lin Jie. He turned around and waved back at her walking into the crowds. Lin Jie stood there confused beyond belief. Once again, Jin had left her with more questions than answers.

“Someday I will make it out of here. We all will. Just need to keep trying.” Jin sighed under his breath before disappearing.