Madness (9 page)

The pain and irritation in Peacock’s head increased.

Kolb will not win.

She recognized the difference between natural pain and one generated by from Kolb’s device by the point of origin and sharpness. The Klingerman Institute’s spires rose in the air only a few blocks away. Peacock’s craving for vengeance thirsted to be satisfied. She flipped on the Lincoln’s windshield wipers and switched on the GPS.

The clock on the First Security Bank said 10:51. Loomis must be
preparing to strike.

“Approaching Institute, shall I activate your codes?”

Peacock giggled and her pain lessened. The voice used by the GPS system was Kolb’s voice. Holding Major’s Hercules issued handset, she pushed
green
. As she turned into the parking garage, the entrance gate automatically pulled open. 

Isn’t this cool, he has a designated parking space right next to the Authorized Personnel Only elevator.

She pulled in and shut everything in the car off.

Peacock took several deep breaths and pushed all thoughts out of her mind but revenge.
She visualized the building as she did her training runs, except the targets would be real people. There would be three types of targets—those to be tortured and killed, unimportant collateral damage, and friends to be converted or disabled. Her friends were safe unless they tried to stop her.

She removed her gun from her arsenal and
shoved it into the glove compartment. She selected three chemical agents from the collection at Majors, her cuffs, 3 small knives with special purposes, rope, and his thumb in the baggie. Then she exited the car.

There was no need to cover her face. She didn’t care if her victims saw her. Majors’ handset opened the elevator
door and she entered the building. So this was how Major came and went. He could appear on any floor using this elevator. From the immaculate condition of the inside, no one else used it.

She stopped at the 3
rd
floor. The door opened and she ducked and rolled out into the hallway, coming up with one of the knives in her hand. Where was she? She’d been in this building several times, but not here. All right, think like Major. Why would he exit his elevator door here?

Peacock noted the hallway to the left dead-ended. That
direction would be toward the front of the building. She moved to her right where the hallway turned left. Three steps to her left she came to another door. She had no place to go but through the door or back to the elevator. Whatever happened, she’d have the element of surprise.

She pushed the door open and looked
out directly at the men’s room door. She was inside the secure facility.

Major breached h
is own security.

Now she had her bearings. The dullness of her headache said Kolb’s people didn’t know where she was or what she was doing. If she’s been in rage mode, the pain would be stronger. Surprisingly calm, Peacock edged to the main corrid
or and peered around. There to her left sat her friend Felicia behind the security door—the door she would have had to put Major’s finger against to identify him and gain entrance.

Peacock
’s training taught her to pick out the easy targets first, eliminating them one-by-one created less bloodshed. Felicia was a friend—
convert
or
disable
. Disable and apologize later. Kolb and Ursa placed Felicia here to delay Peacock’s entrance. She didn’t have time to reason with her.

Peacock stepped back out of sight. She put the
next generation
knockout inhalant on a small cloth, a chloroform derivative safe for use in small doses. The latest craze was women wiping the chemical on their breasts before sex so both partners could inhale the stuff. If Major possessed chloroform-c in his collection, maybe Kolb used it. Peacock gagged. If she wanted sex, she demanded as clear a head as possible.

She took off her shoes and readied herself.

Around the corner, she crept and headed straight for Felicia. Before Felicia could react, Peacock was upon her, wrapping the cloth over Felicia’s nose and mouth. While there was still recognition in Felicia’s eyes, Peacock whispered. “I’m your friend. Forgive me.”

The chemical would work
for only a few minutes, but that was enough time to neutralize Felicia as a threat. Peacock cuffed her, gagged her, and taped her mouth. Then she pulled some rope out of her bag and tied Felicia’s ankles. She folded one of the ropes, passed an end through the loop, wrapping it around the ankles, and then through the lark’s head. She finished the job with a square knot. Then she dragged Felicia into the ladies’ room and set her inside a stall.

Peacock put her shoes back on
, then manually barred the entrance door. That way, even if someone entered the right code, he still wouldn’t be able to get in. Peacock checked her watch. Eleven o’clock straight up, Loomis must have his hands full about now. As she approached the lab, she pulled out her mirror, positioned herself against the wall, and held the mirror so it reflected the room through the glass in the door.

Well, well, the sight was a double-edged dilemma. All the little mice were in one place. But only two were enemies, Kolb and Nyugen. Polaris and Magnus were friends. They might even help her if she had enough time to explain her situation.
By eleven-thirty, she needed to reconnect with Loomis.

Ursa was the unknown factor. Major told her Ursa
opposed installing the new implant, still he allowed the operation. He even submitted her to torture caused by the God-awful pain she experienced. A quick survey of her surroundings said blowing Fentanyl into the lab through the air ducts wasn’t an option. She had no protection from that amount of the chemical.

She swiveled the mirror to view each person. Polaris and Nyugen were discussing what she presumed were her brain scans. Kolb looked catatonic, wringing her hands and looking down at the floor. Ursa was asleep. Magnus was doing what Magnus did best. He stood in the back of the room and watched for any potential threat.

She chuckled. In the movies and in badly written books, the hero would crawl through the air ducts and drop down on the unsuspecting prey. Of course, those film air ducts weren’t real. They weren’t made of thin metal alloy. They didn’t have screws and sharp edges that could tear your flesh, and of course, the bevels allowing for airflow modification were non-existent. Nope, Peacock clenched her fists. Enter per the manual. Only the element of surprise worked to her advantage.

Here comes your worst nightmare.

#

“So it’s done then,” Pendleton said.

“Done, yes, unhappily so. I had to dispose of Sherman and Mrs. Monroe as well.”

“And Lovey?”

“I’m waiting for her call,” Loomis said. “What about Cline? With Monroe dead couldn’t we fire the missiles outright?”

“No. The code changes are in Sir Jarvis’s hands. And, I’m sure the loyalty of the Huntsville staff is still with Monroe.”

“I’ll call you when I hear from your wife.”

As Pendleton hung up, the vice president’s limousine
pulled in to his drive, and Hans Van Meer stepped out and brushed off his pants.

“Welcome,” Pendleton said, as he came outside and hugged his friend.

“Good to see you, ole boy.” Van Meer lowered his eyebrows. “What do I call you now, Your High-Ass, the Grand Poobah—what?”

“Nothing
of the sort,” Pendleton said, happy Van Meer was at his side. “I’m considering First Citizen. What do you think?”

“I think it’s dull.”

Pendleton pointed at Edmunds while still smirking at the
Your High-Ass
comment. “You prepare the speech for your short-lived presidency.”

He and Van Meer stepped inside. “Call Cline to let him know Monroe’s dead. Tell him you’re flying to Huntsville right now. I need to
connect with my mum.”

#

Anne Pendleton rocked little George in her arms singing Welsh lullabies to him. The world was about to explode. All her friends believed nuclear war was eminent. Her son was the mastermind of the events, and she feared for him. She prayed as her father had prayed. “Lord, make us invisible to our enemies. Let them pass our doors and leave us in peace.”

Her phone rang, and she shuttered
. “Yes.”

“Mum? It’s Arthur. I need your help.”

“You need God’s help, Son, and a mother’s prayers.”

“Mum, I need you to take George and drive to Trowbridge. I’ll have my people waiting at the airport to fly you to Boston. Remember to bring your passport.”

Anne Pendleton’s hands were trembling as she put George into his bassinet. “How many infernal people do you have? You seem to control millions.”

“Yes, indeed.
You have nothing to fear. I’m going to help Lovey. I’m freeing her from her living hell. The first people she’ll want to see are George and you. Please, Mum, do this for me.”

Anne Pendleton’s heart had always hurt for Laverna.
The awful way the bastards separated her from her son was unforgivable. “All right, I’ll come. It will take me some time to pull things together. But I’ll be at the airport in five hours.”

“Perfect.”

Anne Pendleton hung up. England hadn’t seen war on their soil in almost a century. Maybe part of Arthur’s goal was to see that war never came there again, but he hadn’t shared his plans with her. He’d only shared his dreams of a world at peace, and he never varied from following those dreams.

Her grandson
’s life would be difficult, regardless of what occurred—a life that needed both a mother and a father to guide him. As she packed his things, she wondered if George’s future held teddy bears and pets or strife and constant turmoil.

“I’ll not leave you, my Georgie Porgie,” she said. “I’ll make Arthur build a grandmother suite wherever you are.”

Anne Pendleton packed her car and locked up her house. Not knowing when she might return, she left for the airport in Trowbridge.

#

“I’ll need to talk to Pope John the 24
th
when this is all over.” Pendleton strutted about Vice President Edmonds office cellphone to his ear, talking to Milton Rogers.

“I’ll try to arrange a meeting,” Rogers
said. “He hasn’t responded to any attempt we’ve made to see him thus far.”

“He will after tomorrow.
And, he will come to me. I won’t go to him.” Having another State besides the Global Realm was not going to happen. The Pope must agree to use the Vatican as a religious site and home. His headquarters, of course, a business operation would be suitable. “One man can’t overrule the State.”

“Catholics proclaim him infallible when it comes to spiritual guidance.”

“They can think anything they want. He lives in a comfortable suite suitable for his position, nothing more—nothing less. Now tell me everything I need to know about him.”

“One moment,” Rogers said, “I’m bringing the information up. All right, born Peter Testa in Rome in 1976, he didn’t make much of an impact on the world until early 2014. As a young bishop, he opposed the old guard of the Church by openly advocating support
for Israel, by affectively arguing for the right of priests to marry, and by apologizing and excommunicating priests who misused their positions by abusing children.”

“Maybe he is a Saint.”

“Well, he doesn’t like you very much.”

“He doesn’t know me. He’s against the erosion of human society as I am. He opposes the use and abuse of morality by the broadcasting industry, as I do. We have more in common than not.”

“All the same, he thinks your Satan.”

“Well I’m not, and I’ll prove it to him.”

“Good luck with that,” Rogers said. “He’s young. He’s been a relatively conservative pope, except for the issues I’ve mentioned.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Pendleton said. “Treat my mother well. She’s the only one I have.”

“Right you are.”

Peacock kept the cloth she’d disabled Felicia with and poured a little more chemical on it. She took Felicia’s cellphone and texted Magnus.

Need five.

She slid to the other side of the lab door, pushed up on her toes, back against the wall. Magnus bounded through the door and into the hallway. Peacock slammed her knee into his back and wrapped the cloth over his nose and mouth.

However,
Magnus wasn’t Felicia.

He reached for her hair and yanked. She held her position pressing harder on his back. Magnus swung around
. Both threw punches with Peacock’s landing on his jaw and Magnus’s hitting her flush in the nose. She heard her nose crack, as her trainer crumbled and didn’t move.

The pain ignited all her emotional sensors
. She rushed through the lab door and stabbed Nyugen who must have heard the commotion and came running to shut the door. His eyes went blank immediately, and he died. Ursa leaped to his feet, backing away. She raced at him and he threw his hands in the air.

“Behind your back, Asshole, I’ll deal with you last.”

Ursa said nothing. She cuffed and gagged him as she had Felicia. Then to be sure he wouldn’t fight, she left the cloth over his nose for a count of ten.

“Bravo, you’re my hero.” Polaris swiveled his chair around and tossed her his pistol. “You may not need this, but keep it as my gift to you.”

“I knew you’d be a friend.”

“What happened to your face?”

“Magnus happened.” She grabbed Kolb as she made a run for the door and slammed her to the floor. “Don’t move, Bitch.”

“You didn’t harm our friends?” Polaris asked.

“Not permanently. They’re victims like you and me.” She paused, fingers trembling from the growing rage inside her. “Do you remember my asking you, ‘Did you ever rebel? Did you ever question what we’re doing?’”

“I remember
,” Polaris replied. “I said, ‘It does no good. If you’re looking for a black or white world, there’s no such thing, only win or lose.’”

“I decided I’m going to be on the winning side.”

She walked over to Polaris. “Night, night sweet prince, you don’t want to see this.”

She put a sleeper hold on him and held on until he slumped in his chair, then she blindfolded him and tied his hands. With time now on her side, she secured Kolb’s legs and hurried out in the hall. Magnus had pulled up to his knees. She put the barrel of her gun to his head and said, “You’re a friend. Don’t make me kill you. Hercules is finished. Join the winning
team.”

She cuffed him, gagged him, and tied his feet. Then she returned to deal with Doctor Beatrice Kolb.

Peacock dropped to the floor next to her nemesis. “I’m holding back the rage I feel right now, but only long enough to tell you a mother’s longing for her child trumps your little device.”

A hissing sound revealed, Kolb had peed and soon the smell agreed with Peacock’s assessment. Peacock’s hands trembled in anticipation. She grinned, a broad, teeth-revealing grin. “I can’t put an implant in your head and play God.
However, I can have some fun. Would you like to play?”

“Please, I meant no harm.” Kolb wriggled like a trapped animal. “I wanted you to be my friend and make history with me.”

“I am your friend, Bea. So let’s see.” She wiped the blood off her face as the stream from her nose slowed to a trickle. She pulled out a thin blade with a battery in the handle from her kit. Kolb reached out in defense and Peacock broke Kolb’s hand with one blow.

Kolb’s screeching drove Peacock wild with excitement.

She waited as the sounds Kolb made turned to whimpering. Peacock flipped the battery switch and the blade buzzed into action. She cut Kolb’s yellow flowered blouse off and heard her own heartbeat increasing.

“I’ll bet Major enjoyed unhooking this,” Peacock said, as she sliced off Kolb’s bra. “I’ll bet he thought about those tits as I killed him.”

Kolb’s legs wiggled in a running motion with no place to go.

“I’m going to mutilate this body of yours. Any area you don’t want touched?”

Peacock guided the knife into Kolb’s flesh just above her right nipple. The blade slashed gouges of skin off, cutting a jagged path around and up to her right armpit. Her mind blazed with rage. She cut across Kolb’s upper body repeatedly, not going deep enough to kill, only deep enough to maim and scar. Peacock removed the rest of Kolb’s clothes and continued slashing away.

A
s she slashed a three-inch gash in Kolb’s cheek, Kolb screamed, “Not my face!”

I have to stop
before I kill her.

Kolb really wasn’t a challenge, not a warrior, but she was a torturer and deserved to be tortured. Peacock shut off the knife.

“Remember Hammurabi’s code, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ How many mindless idiots did you create until I came along?”

“Oh God, kill me, I beg you.”

“No, Bea, if you die, so be it. But my intention now is to let you live. I wasn’t sure until this moment. I want you to suffer a long life.”

Peacock went to a cabinet and took out some alcohol. “I’ll spare the rest of your face. Let’s clean you up a bit.”

She ignored Kolb’s howls as she rubbed the alcohol into her wounds.

“I remember this
,” Peacock said, and brought over a black box with electrodes on it. “You tested my implant with this device.”

She hooked the electrodes on
to folds of skin she’d pinched on each side of Kolb’s neck, set the meter on level two, and shocked her. The jolt obviously wasn’t as painful as the alcohol, so she turned the machine up to level eight and turned it on.

Kolb’s body lurched around like a puppet dangling by strings. Her voice yowled for a minute or so,
and then morphed to a hacking sound, rather like a choking chicken. Peacock turned the machine down to a level five and left it on.

Ursa
groaned. He was awake. Peacock took the gag out of his mouth, as Kolb’s body rattled along the floor.

“The shock machine actually has instructions,” Peacock giggled
. Her adrenalin ran way over its limit. “Kolb shouldn’t be shocked more than a minute or brain damage
might
occur. I’ve been shocked on and off for four months.” She leaned to eye level with Ursa and said. “I don’t think I have any brain damage. Do you?”

“
You need medical help.”

She slugged him square in the nose
with the same force Magnus struck her. “Your brother is dead. Long live your brother. Why didn’t you stop them?”

“I tried
,” Ursa said, setting his jaw for an onslaught.

“Not hard enough.”

Ursa sighed. “I pushed as hard as I could. I was overruled. I don’t control the military. Major and Kolb wanted Pendleton out of your life. The only reason you spent the day with him was that I insisted. Pendleton would have destroyed our economy if you hadn’t.”

“He did anyway. Did I love him? I can’t connect to my past except in bits and pieces.”

Ursa nodded. “Unfortunately, yes you did, and he adores you.”

With those words, her rage subsided. “Don’t do anything foolish. My husband will win. You can’t stop him. Monroe should be dead by now. Pendleton will lead the world. Consider your broken nose tit-for-tat. I’ll put in a good word for you, Polaris, Magnus, and Felicia.”

She stomped over to the machine that communicated with her implant and reached to turn off the switch.

“Don’t!” Ursa screamed.
“Kolb and Nyugen didn’t know what would happen if it’s shut off.”

Peacock pulled her hand away. She picked up Felicia’s cell and dialed Loomis. “Is it done?”

“Yes, Arthur’s waiting. The missiles will fire in four hours. He needs you with him for your safety.”

Missiles?
The words of Thomas Reed returned, “Yours, my dear, is the face that will launch a thousand missiles.”

Peacock answered, “I’m at the Klingerman Center.”

“I’m three blocks away. I’ll pick you up.”

“Give me five minutes.”

Whatever happened when the controller unit disconnected didn’t matter. Peacock, Laverna, Donna O’Conner, whoever she was, had to be free. She flipped off the switch.