Ice (Alien Breed 3 - English Edition)

by Melody Adams

  My eyes fell on Miriam's cell phone again. The number of this Teddy guy had to be stored in there. The boy could send someone to open the damn door. The longer I thought about it, the surer I became that something bad had happened to Miriam. Anger and grief tightened my chest. It fucking hurt.

  "Miriam! Damn it! Where are you?"

  I took the phone and opened the phone book. I found Teddy's number and pressed Dial. I waited. Then a voice answered.

  "Hi Sugar. Everything alright with you?"

  I felt a raging jealousy at the boy calling my woman Sugar, but I fought my anger. He had to help me! It wasn’t helpful to screw with him now.

  "It's not Miriam!" I said. "It’s me. Ice. Of the ..."

  "Where’s Miri? What did you do to her?"

  "I haven’t done anything to her, but we need your help. Urgent!"

  I explained to him what had happened. "I have to get out of here to look for her!" I finished.

  "I'll be there in twenty minutes!" Teddy replied and ended the call.

  The agonizing wait was pure torture. I ran up and down like a tiger in a cage. Finally I heard something at the door. I ran to the entrance. A slip of paper slid under the door and I wondered what that was supposed to mean?

  "What the heck? Open the door, you little bastard!" I called.

  "Sorry mister!" Came the frightened voice of a child. "I’m supposed to just push the note under the door. I’m out of here!"

  "Wait! What ...?" I called, but I heard fast footsteps hurrying away. I shook my head helplessly and stooped down to fetch the paper. With my heart in my throat, I unfolded the note.

  Ice,

  I have your girl. You know how much I enjoy playing with women. However, I give you a chance to save her if you come back. X is very angry, as you can imagine. I will leave you more instructions in your apartment. I advise you to stick to what I tell you. Your girl has a lot of body parts that I can send you as a reminder. Ten fingers, two ears, a little curious nose. Oh yes, two beautiful eyes. You see, I won’t run out of ideas that quickly. Better hurry to your apartment where my next message is waiting for you.

  Player

  I roared with rage. Why had I sent her away unprotected? I should have controlled my anger better and protect her, instead of sending her away! It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have told X about her in the first place. Now Miriam was in the hands of the biggest monster I knew, and I’d put her in that situation!

  When the boy finally arrived, I was already so upset that I was about to break the little bastard’s neck.

  "Damn it! Where have you been for so long?" I shouted furiously. "Miriam is in the grave danger! I have no time to spare! Hurry up!"

  "I’m on it!" Came the boy's voice. I heard the chain being pulled through the metal rings of the door and didn’t wait any longer. I pushed the door open, ignoring whether I hurt Teddy or not. I didn’t care. I had no time for this son of a bitch. He lay on his back like a turtle and I just jumped over him and ran down the stairs.

  The way home took much too long. I didn’t have any money on me, so I couldn’t afford a taxi. I ran through the streets as fast as I could. I didn’t waste any time to dodge around people. Those who didn’t make room in time, were pushed aside! This was about Miriam! I had to rescue her, no matter what! I didn’t give a damn about anybody else.

  When my house finally came into view, I wrestled the key from my pocket while running. It was an old business building, in which I lived alone. I opened the door and ran up the stairs to my apartment. The door stood ajar and I stormed into the apartment. Panicked, I looked around. Where was the message? Then I saw the video pad on the table. It wasn’t mine. Player must have left it there. So his message had to be on it. I ran to the table and grabbed the pad. I pressed the button that activated the device. There were several folders on the display, but I immediately noticed the file called Miriam! My stomach cramped as I tapped the icon and the video file opened. Miriam came into view. She was sitting; bound on a chair, with her eyes wide open. Then Player's voice was heard.

  "Talk, you little bitch!"

  Tears streamed down her cheeks and I clenched my fists. If I got my hands on Player then I would break every single bone in his fucking body. My pulse raced and a growl rose from my throat.

  "So, you don’t want to talk!" Player's voice rang again, and then he stepped into the camera's viewing range. He stood behind Miriam and grabbed her by the hair on the back of her neck to brutally pull her head back. She whimpered and I roared with anger as I saw the pain on her face. That bastard hurt her and his grin betrayed how much he enjoyed it. With horror I watched him pull a knife out of his pocket and I was ready to run amok.

  "Fuck! You fucking bastard!" I shouted, trying to control the raging anger in me.

  I had to keep calm if I wanted to save Miriam. When I watched the son of a bitch slide the blade down Miriam's cheek and a thin trickle of blood appeared, I was about to throw the damned video pad against the wall. Miriam didn’t scream, but I saw her bite her lip to suppress the scream. A mistake. Player would not stop until she screamed for him. The longer she fought against it, the more he would hurt her.

  "Scream! Damn, baby, scream!" I shouted desperately.

  I couldn’t risk destroying the damn device, because I needed to know what player conditions were and the bastard would not tell me until the end of the tape. I also couldn’t fast forward because it was a Ghost file. It would be deleted automatically after viewing once. So if I went too far, I could not rewind. I wasn’t willing to take the risk of missing information. As I suspected, Player continued to work. This time he cut Miriam in the other cheek. I saw that the cut went deeper than the first one. This one would scar. I roared in pain and for the first time since I could think, tears ran down my cheeks.

  Miriam suppressed a cry of pain, but she clenched her teeth tightly. Player grinned into the camera. He leaned forward and licked the blood from Miriam's cheek. The rage I felt was indescribable. I had to catch that son of a bitch! He had to pay for what he had done. For the first time in my life, I really felt the desire to torture someone. I wanted that bastard to suffer. I wanted to play with him as he played with his victims. Player looked at the camera.

  "Looks like your girl is into knife play! Kinky. I'll have to give it a little more spice, I think."

  Without warning, he thrust the knife into Miriam's hand, which lay on the armrest of the chair. Miriam screamed, then her eyes rolled back and her head sagged forward. She had fainted. I stared in horror at the blade still embedded in her hand. I was so shocked that I could not even scream anymore. Tears ran down my cheeks and I was trembling all over.

  Player stepped out from behind the chair and stood next to Miriam. He looked down at the knife and shook his head, then looked back at the camera. His eyes sparkled and the corners of his mouth twitched. The bastard laughed. His laugh grew stronger, louder, until he suddenly stopped and with a swift movement drew the blade from Miriam's hand.

  "I hope I have your attention now," he said coldly, holding the bloody blade closer to the camera before dropping it on the floor.

  The shock had gradually subsided and I roared. I knew that if this tape came to an end, I would trash the apartment. My anger had reached a dimension where my sanity hung by a thread. I would dismember the son of a bitch piece by piece.

  "You will receive a call tomorrow morning with instructions. A man in a red leather jacket will come for you. He will blindfold you and tie you up, then he will drive you to a secret place. You will not give him any problems if the girl's life means anything to you. Until then you will not leave the house. I have it watched! Follow all instructions and your girl will stay alive. Fuck with me and she loses a part of her pretty body.

  I think I'll ..." He glanced at Miriam and walked over to look at her closely. He reached out and brushed a thick strand of her blond hair behind her ear. "... I'll start with the ear." He looked back at the camera. "Wait for the call!"

&nbs
p; Then the tape was over and I saw the icon disappear from the desktop. Cursing, I reached for the pad to throw it against the wall, but then thought better of it.

  Teddy!, it shot into my head. Maybe he can save the file. A hacker can find out the metadata, then I know where Miriam is being held.

  I rummaged for Miriam's phone and called her friend. It rang for a long time before I heard a voice that made me hold my breath.

  "Teddy Denver can not answer the phone! Nice try, Ice. But I very much hope that you will not make such a brazen attempt to betray me again. Unfortunately, this will have consequences for your girl. And now I advise you: Don’t! Do! Anything! Stupid! Again!"

  "No!" I shouted in panic. "Leave her alone! I swear to you, I will not do anything else. You want me? Fine! You get me and I will not fight back if you do what you want with me, just don’t touch Miriam!"

  Player laughed, obviously amused.

  "Tsk, tsk. What happened to the ice-cold killer, Ice? The Ripper! Killing without any emotion! And now look at you! You offer your life in exchange for a woman?" He laughed. "Really, Ice, I expected more from you."

  "Leave her alone and you will get me. Touch her and I'll come and cut you apart bit by bit!"

  "For the sake of old times, I'll cut you a break on this once. But if you do. One. More. Stupid thing, I'll send you her ears and her nose!"

  "I’ll follow your instructions," I said, growling.

  I would get that damn bastard. But I had to let him think I would follow his instructions to the letter. I had to be more carful. However, I also knew that he wouldn’t let her go if I did what he wanted. He would torture me by torturing her in front of my eyes. But he would spare her for now, to achieve a better effect later. So I had to find a way to free her tonight without the bastard suspecting anything.

  Player had ended the call and I ran amok in my apartment. I thought feverishly about what I could do. Teddy had been my best option. I was able to contact Strike, but what I needed was a hacker! Damn it! Miriam's friend was probably dead. Although I couldn’t give a damn about the boy, he had meant something to Miriam and she would suffer from his loss. I went into my gym and began to hit the sandbag like a savage. I yelled out my anger. After a few minutes, I decided to contact Strike. He was the only one I could contact without anyone finding out. I let go of the sandbag and went to my bedroom, where I had hidden a small notebook that X didn’t know about. Strike and I had set up secret email addresses a while ago, because Strike had also gotten a notebook. I only hoped that he would get my message fast enough. Hastily I opened the notebook and let it start up. After logging into my mail account, I saw that Strike was online. My heart beat faster. I opened the chat and wrote.

  BigAlbino

  Hi

  sent 21:23

  I waited impatiently for a reply.

  HitMan

  Hi. U ok?

  sent 21:24

  BigAlbino

  Need your help

  sent 21:25

  HitMan

  Shoot!

  sent 21:25

  BigAlbino

  Player has my target. He will kill her if I don’t do as he says. I am supposed to be brought to him tomorrow. I have to save her. I need your help!

  sent 21:26

  HitMan

  She is your target. Why do you want to save her?

  sent 21:26

  BigAlbino

  I love her

  sent 21:26

  HitMan

  Fuck me

  WTF

  sent 21:27

  BigAlbino

  Long story. Somebody watches my apartment. Can you take him out? Then we can talk. My place.

  sent 21:27

  HitMan

  Who? Where?

  sent 21:27

  BigAlbino

  No clue

  sent 21:28

  HitMan

  Fuck! On my way

  sent 21:28

  BigAlbino

  Careful! If you fuck this up, Miriam is dead

  sent 21:28

  HitMan

  Miriam, huh? Ok, I’ll be careful

  sent 21:29

  BigAlbino

  Thx

  sent 21:29

  HitMan

  No prob, Bro C U

  sent 21:29

  BigAlbino

  C U thx

  sent 21:29

  My heart was racing as I closed the notebook. If Player found out, then Miriam was dead. On the other hand, if I did nothing she would die anyway. I buried my face in my hands and cried silently. I felt a headache and remembered that I had to take the pill. I couldn’t allow myself to be weakened again by withdrawal symptoms. Luckily I had thought to take the pills with me. I took the bottle out of my jacket and took out a pill. Only a few minutes after taking it, the headache disappeared. I got up and went to the window to look out into the night. I didn’t have a light on and nobody would see me from outside. Where was the bastard that was watching me? Was it just one, or had X sent two of his henchmen? Would Strike be able to take them out?

  Chapter 5

  Miriam

  When I came to, I was laying on a bed. It was dim in the room, but somewhere behind me there was a light source, probably from a small table lamp. My hand hurt like hell. I looked down at myself and saw the white bandage covering my hand. How did that happen? I tried to reconstruct the events. First, this nasty guy had slit my cheeks, then ... What happened then? I strained my brain to remember what had happened. I looked again at the bandage on my hand and the memory came back with a sudden. I wished I had not remembered, for now I felt sick as I thought of how the knife had drilled through the flesh of my hand. I groaned as my stomach turned.

  "Sooo," a female voice sounded. "You're awake! Good!"

  Startled, I sat up and turned my head until I saw a woman in her late sixties. She wore her red-dyed hair to a tight knot and had red glasses on her pointed nose. Her thin lips twisted into a smile that seemed more like a grimace. It didn’t reach her cold eyes. She sat in a chair, her slender legs crossed. A floor lamp next to her was the only source of light in the room. The woman radiated an inexorable authority. Her dark blue costume looked expensive, as did the gold diamond-studded watch and the diamond earrings. She may once have been beautiful, albeit in a cold, impersonal way.

  "You're wondering who I am and what you're doing here?"

  I nodded wordlessly.

  "I'm Sophia Xaver-Giles. Or just X for short."

  I knew my astonishment had to show on my face. X was a woman? Ice's boss was a woman? Then I realized, if she told me so candidly who she was, then that could only mean one thing: I was as good as dead! But I had already suspected that anyway.

  "To answer your unspoken question: no, Ice does not know that his employer is a woman."

  She's clever, I thought. Or she is just good at reading people, if she can assess me so well.

  "Why? What did these people die for, who did Ice kill on your behalf?" I wanted to know.

  If I had to die, then at least I wanted to find out what was going on with the ten victims of the press conference.

  Sophia laughed.

  "Quite the curious little reporter," she said, visibly amused. "I like you, little one. Pity! It's a pity what has to happen to you!"

  "So? If I have to die anyway, then you can tell me!"

  "Well, then! Let me tell you a little story. Forty years ago, a spaceship crashed into the Nevada desert. It was not really a crash, rather a bumpy emergency landing. However, the impact was strong enough that the nearby military camp noticed it. When they arrived at the scene, most of the aliens were already dead or near death. Two of the lesser wounded were captured. I worked for a secret research project back then. We tried to cross humans with monkey DNA. We had been unsuccessful for years. Then these aliens came to the research station and I started experimenting with their DNA. It worked and the first prototypes were bred. However, they proved to be too aggressive and uncontrollable in childhood
. They killed two nurses and a technician. We had to eliminate the four children. I realized that we had to use less alien DNA and started a new series of tests. This time we were more successful. The test objects of the second generation were better to control. A little later we tried a third generation, with more alien DNA than the second, but less than the first generation. It later turned out that this third generation was the best. They were aggressive, yet controllable."

  I wondered what all this had to do with the ten victims, but because I was interested in the story of the Alien Breeds, I continued to listen without interrupting Sophia.

  "Then I quarreled with the other researchers about different things. I had some revolutionary ideas that the others did not want to know. I didn’t get any financial resources for my plans and was pushed more and more to the side. One evening, I happened to overhear a conversation between some colleagues that decided to get rid of me. I had no choice but to disappear from the scene. But I was able to set aside a decent amount of the research budget to a foreign account and I took three test subjects with me. Since that time, I have trained the three Alien Breeds and used them for my purposes. They believe that they do the world a favor, with every target they eliminate. But all the killings were just an exercise for their real job."