Pandora's Box (29 page)

“Who?”

“Not who… what.
 
You have to understand the microchips.
 
In order for them to work we need to use tricks and alter reality.
 
Since
Madison
was four when she received her first chip, her father suggested we use a monster to make sure she complied with the suggestion she make her bed every day.
 
Although she didn’t consciously think of the monster, didn’t remember it in a physical sense, the veiled threat of it gave her the necessary push to obey the implanted command.”

Tyler
glanced at the nurses’ station.
 
Busy women in white moved around like bees buzzing around their hive.
 
Should he trust Grainger to save
Madison
’s life, or should he leave her in the hands of the hospital staff?
 
He knew what he wanted to do, but he wasn’t sure what he should do.
 
There was one thing bothering him about Grainger’s offer.

“Why are you doing this?”
Tyler
asked.
 
“The CIA supposedly tried to have you killed.
 
You’re supposed to be in hiding.
 
Why risk coming out now to save a woman you obviously never gave a damn about?”
 
A thought occurred to him and his eyes narrowed on the doctor’s sweaty face.
 
“Is this another part of the experiment?
 
Are you trying to study the affects of the chips through
Madison
?”

Once again the doctor shook his head vehemently.
 
“No, I swear to you I only want to help her.
 
My wife and I loved
Madison
.
 
She was the child we never had.”

“So you keep saying.”

“It’s true.”
 
Grainger produced a white handkerchief and used it to mop his brow.
 
“Duncan Grey didn’t deserve to have such a wonderful child.
 
He used her without remorse, molded her to be what he wanted her to be, but I’m not sure he actually ever loved her.
 
She would have been better off with me and my wife.”

“Was my father on board with all this microchip business?”
 
Tyler
asked the question even though he was certain he didn’t want the answer.

“Oh, yes.
 
Duncan Grey came up with the idea of using his daughter as the first test subject, but Malcom Law jumped on board with both feet.
 
He wouldn’t let it go even when Rico and I suggested other alternatives.”

Tyler
’s jaw tightened as he thought about the four men ganging up on a helpless child, brainwashing her for their own evil purposes.
 
He hated them, all of them including his own father.
 
They were sick, twisted individuals.
  
They should be in prison.

Madison
’s doctor stepped into the room, clipboard in hand.
 
There was a dire expression on his face of impending doom and
Tyler
knew the man carried bad news.
 
If there was the slightest chance of saving Madison,
Tyler
had to take it.
 
He had to risk it.

******

Tyler
ignored the man in white and asked Dr. Grainger more questions.
 
“Why didn’t you kill the thing before now?
 
If everything you’ve told me is true, why wait?
 
You could have stopped this from happening.”

Grainger’s shoulders slumped.
 
“Yes.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you?”

“Rico would have killed me and my wife, and
Madison
didn’t appear to be in danger.
 
Rico may have been against the idea at first, but now he wants it left alone.
 
He didn’t even want me to speak to her.”
 
The doctor on the other side of the room cleared his throat as his patience faded.
 
Grainger looked
Tyler
straight in the eye and said, “I swear to you on my wife’s soul, my wife whom I love more than life itself.
 
I only want to help.”

Decision made,
Tyler
turned to
Madison
’s doctor.

Before
Tyler
had a chance to speak, the doctor said, “We’ve run several tests and so far haven’t found anything wrong with Ms. Grey.
 
She’s regained consciousness and her vitals are good.
 
She seems to be suffering from memory loss.”
 
He shrugged.
 
“There are a few more tests we could run.”

“No need.”
 
Tyler
forced a smile as if he wasn’t worried as hell.
 
“I’ll bring her back if she faints again.”

“I really think she should stay the night for observation.”

******

“I didn’t think we’d ever get you away from that over-zealous doctor,”
Tyler
told
Madison
as he positioned another pillow behind her back.
 
They were in her little motel room.
 
She’d been surprised to see Dr. Grainger with
Tyler
.
 
How had the man escaped from Boracci’s estate?
 
She wanted to ask, but she was too weak to speak.
 
Something was wrong with her.

Madison
felt drained.
 
She could only remember small bits and pieces of what had happened to her.
 
She’d answered the motel room door to find an irate
Tyler
wanting to speak to her.
 
After that everything became fuzzy.
 
Had she raced down the street with
Tyler
in hot pursuit?
 
Why did she keep having visions of a monster?

Grainger fiddled around with what looked like an extra-large remote control.
 
He pushed this button and that button, a hard grimace on his face.
 
He swore beneath his breath and pushed yet another button.
 
He slowly turned a tiny dial like a safecracker listening for a telling click.
 
The man was so lost in what he was doing that
Tyler
had to repeat himself three times before Grainger took notice of him.

“What is that thing?”
 
Tyler
spoke louder the third time and cut the distance between himself and the doctor in a hot-tempered flash.
 
“Just what the hell do you plan on doing to
Madison
?”

She strained to hear the answer.

“I am going to render the microchips useless,” Grainger replied.

“You can do that?”
Madison
asked, using the last bit of strength she had.
 
Hope blossomed in her chest.
 
She tried to sit up, but her arms trembled with a lack of energy and she collapsed back onto the mattress.

Tyler
shot her a concerned look.
 

She smiled weakly at him, trying to convince him that she was fine without words.
 
By the unchanged expression on his face, she knew he didn’t believe it any more than she did.

“It won’t be easy,” Grainger said.
 
“I need to find the exact frequency to shut them down.”

“Is this safe?”
Tyler
asked.
 
His eyes narrowed on the doctor.
 
“You aren’t going to use her as a guinea pig.
 
You have done this before, haven’t you?”

“Of course I have.”
 
Tyler
seemed to relax, but then Grainger added, “Although the chips weren’t implanted in someone’s brain at the time.”

“Forget about it then.”
 
Tyler
grabbed the remote from the doctor.
 
“You aren’t messing with
Madison
’s brain when you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t know what I was doing.”
 
The doctor’s chest puffed out.
 
“Finding the frequency might be a problem, but I doubt a wrong one will do her any harm.
 
I think we can do this with no more than a little discomfort.”

“You doubt?
 
You think?”
 
Tyler
shook his head vehemently and held the remote high out of the doctor’s reach when the shorter man tried to grab it.
 
Grainger jumped in the air, desperately trying to reach the remote.
 
It would have been comical if there wasn’t so much riding on the outcome.
 
“No way!
 
Forget about it.
 
You are not playing with
Madison
’s brain.”

“Don’t you think
Madison
should decide that?”
Madison
asked.
 
Dead tired of being talked over, about, anything but to, had renewed her strength.
 
It took everything she had to stand on her own two feet again, but she did it.
 
She crossed the room, took the remote from
Tyler
with a forced smile, and handed it back to the doctor.
 
“If you screw this up, I can’t protect you from him,” she told Grainger.
 
“
Tyler
might kill you.”

“She’s wrong,”
Tyler
said.
 
“There’s no
migh
t about it.”
 

The doctor visibly swallowed, his eyes bouncing from
Madison
to
Tyler
and back again.
 
He slowly rotated away from them.
 
His shaking fingers began playing with the instrument in his hand, trying to get it set right the first time.
 

Madison
’s strength ebbed suddenly.
 
She swayed unsteadily on her feet and
Tyler
caught her.
 
He didn’t lecture her like she expected.
 
Instead, he placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose.
 
He also didn’t carry her to the bed like a helpless invalid.
 
Arms tight around her, he walked her to the bed.
 
Their eyes connected and held, speaking volumes.

“I think I’m ready,” Grainger said.

He might as well have thrown cold water on them both.
 
Madison
blinked and turned away.
 
She returned to her position on the mattress.
 
She couldn’t look at
Tyler
again.
 
Not now—or she might break down emotionally.
 
Every moment shared with him came back to haunt her.
 
What if something went wrong and she wasn’t able to speak to him again?
 
There were things she needed to say.

“Here we go,” Grainger announced.
 
He pointed the remote at the back of her head as if it was a gun.
 
He pressed the rectangular button near the top.
 

For a moment nothing happened.
 

An electric shock hit her hard, traveling through her brain.
 
The mythical box that Grainer had told her about opened.
 
Her Pandora’s Box opened.
 
Memories zapped past her mind’s eye.
 
Horrible memories.
 
She saw her mother’s death.
 

No.
 
She relived her mother’s death.

And she smelled roses.

******

Twenty-six years ago.

Sharon Grey’s bedroom window was open and the smell of roses wafted in, filling the room with sweet fragrance.
 
The woman packed a suitcase on the bed, neatly placing her folded clothes into it.
 
Another one, an empty one, waited near her feet.
 
Six-year-old
Madison
watched from her favorite hiding place between the dresser and wall.
 
She pouted with folded arms across her chest.
 
She didn’t want to leave daddy.

Her mother repeated, “We have to go, Maddie.
 
I’m sorry, but your father brought this on himself.
 
I know you don’t understand it right now.
 
Someday you will.
 
Someday you’ll understand why we have no choice but to leave.”

“No!”
 
Little
Madison
kicked her feet.
 
“I don’t want to go!”