Demigods

by Robert C Ray

  By the time that you read this, I will have had your computer upload every piece of information within it to every free web-hosting site around the globe, and within one minute, I am able to make it all public to the entire planet, in many different languages.

  I have also set up a fail-safe device. If you should shut your computer down, or attempt to disconnect from the net, it will stop sending a signal, which will immediately post all of your precious information.

  In short, if you do not try to harm me any more than you already have, then I will not destroy all that you have worked for.

  Placing his glasses on the table, he looked back up at Charlie.

  "Do you think she's bluffing?" the colonel asked, hoping to hear that she might be, but the response that he received caused his heart to sink slightly.

  "You created her to be that good, and I was able to detect the signal that she was talking about," Charlie replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't bet that she was."

  Reluctantly, the colonel picked up the phone, and hit simply one number.

  "Put the triplets on Viper," he stated before hanging it right back down.

  "Go sit down somewhere," he told Charlie without ever looking up at him this time. "I'll call for you if I need you."

  Before Charlie could exit the office, the colonel had one more thing to say, but this time he did look up.

  "Figure it out, Dr. Hall," he stated in a way that revealed his desperation, and Charlie paused without looking back, in a way that allowed it known that he understood.

  * * *

  With her sunglasses still hiding her eyes as not to reveal that they were closed, Viper entered the office of a different motel. She needed a secondary location, and the kind gentleman that she had met at the restaurant had provided her with the means to do so. She would not actually pay for room, however, just as it had been with everything else that she needed.

  "Would you like a room?" the man asked with a Hindi accent, and she smiled back at him.

  "One near the front, if you've got it," she returned, hearing how his heartbeat began to race, yet noticed that he had more control than American men. "I would like to feel safe."

  "We have the room open right next to the office," he replied as she began to feel his resolve breaking down. "Would that be good?"

  Opening her eyes, Viper removed her shades, and allowed him to see her beautiful, light green eyes, as she tilted her head slightly, and answered his question.

  "That would be perfect," she said before looking down at the card that he had set before her, and filling it out in a most anonymous way.

  "It is room one," he told her as his voice began to quiver, and it broke his heart as she gently grabbed the key, and put her glasses back on, hiding such captivation. He found satisfaction, however, at the sight of her as she walked away, for her beauty was astounding from any angle.

  Naturally, Viper was flattered, but had far more important things to think about.

  Leaving the office she turned to her left, and the room was right there. Certainly, she did not want it for reasons regarding safety, but rather that it had a clear view of the motel sign that sat out front.

  Quickly she glanced around, and knew her surroundings as though she had just taken a panoramic photograph. It was not as though it were the perfect place, but she would adapt her tactics to perfectly suit it, for this is what they had taught her to do in the horrible memories that they implanted in her. With such a way of thinking, every place was a perfect one.

  Entering the room, she removed her sunglasses, and tossed them on the bed. With her eyes wide open, she looked around the room to see everything that was there, and even the tiny spider, as it peeked at her from beneath the sink at the opposite end of the room, did not go unnoticed. It felt safe, for Viper never looked directly at it, yet she never had to, for her vision was as advanced as all of her senses. For that matter, she could have spotted it on the other side of a crowded stadium.

  Next, she lifted the edge of the curtain, and stared at the motel sign for a good two minutes, before she was satisfied. This, she felt, was more than enough, so she closed her eyes once more, and began her calculations.

  * * *

  The colonel sat quietly at his desk, pondering what he might do next. Rapidly his mind went in circles, always bringing him back to the understanding that there was nothing else that he could do without further information, though none was forthcoming quickly enough.

  Just when he thought that he was about to go mad, Lieutenant Ramsey burst into the room.

  "I have good news and bad," the lieutenant stated as he stood at attention. "Which would you like first?"

  "At ease," he told him calmly as he though about it for a very short moment. "Tell me the bad news first, so it doesn't spoil the good."

  "Well," Ramsey began as he relaxed his posture, and looked the colonel in the eyes, "We got news that doctor Mire committed suicide."

  "That is bad news," the colonel replied with an expression of anxiousness, "though hardly worthy of a bulletin."

  The lieutenant paused as he swallowed, preparing himself for the next statement.

  "It happened only moments after Viper was seen leaving his office."

  Okay... Now he could see why it was bad news. She was not running away at all, and she seemed to want them all dead. Who would be next, he wondered?

  "Okay," he said slightly disheartened, "what is the good news?"

  Before the colonel could even breathe after asking the question, the lieutenant answered it excitedly.

  "The triplets have located her."

  This was the best possible news that he could have heard at the moment, and perhaps this tragedy would not last as long as the Mirage incident had. His sanity depended on it.

  "Get a Delta unit on it immediately," the colonel barked, yet before the lieutenant could respond, he added, "and send Doctor Hall back in here."

  "Yes sir," the young man replied before hastily leaving the large office.

  Colonel McClure wanted to believe that the event was nearly over, though the thought of Mirage still haunted him. Sure, her mind was much more advanced than Viper's, and Viper was simply a soldier, but she was the best soldier that the most brilliant minds could create, and no one actually knew, to what level she had evolved within the memories that they had given her. They could, after all, only implant the basics, but her own mind would fill in the blanks, and what she was able to do to their computer was a testament to that.

  For that matter, he now remembered what she had said in the little letter that she left behind, but he knew now more than ever, that she had to die, despite whatever else might come of it. She had already killed two of the people involved with her creation, and he doubted that she was going to stop there. He did not believe for one instant that she would let bygones be bygones.

  Just as Charlie entered the office, the phone rang once again, and once again, Charlie was motioned to hold on.

  "Make it quick," he spoke into the receiver.

  "I've just landed," the colonel heard the familiar voice of Captain Ryan Pierce state in a somber tone. "I'm coming in for debriefing on the Mirage incident."

  "Delay that," he sternly told the captain as his mind quickly raced for a solution, knowing that Ryan would be a liability in his current state of mind. "I want you to get in your car, and take an immediate leave of absence. Go to Seattle for a couple of weeks, and that's an order."

  "Understood," Ryan replied before they both hung up the phone.

  Captain Pierce had just come out of a coma, and he was also one of the people involved with Viper's programming. He contributed to her firearms training, yet like most of them, had no idea of the things that she was being put through. Nonetheless, he was one of them, and in his condition was in no shape to take on the likes of Viper.

  "You wanted to see me?" Charlie interrupted, for the colonel had dazed off as though not even remembering that he had entered the office.

&n
bsp; "Yes, Charlie," he said as he looked up at him, and removed the military expression from his face. "It would seem that we are all in danger, and Viper would own you the moment you looked in her eyes, so I don't want you leaving the building until I say so."

  "With such light green eyes," Charlie replied as he pictured how beautiful she was, while staring off into the distance, "I could imagine that she would."

  Colonel McClure was not an idiot, and instantly realized that only a few people knew the color of her eyes, and he was not supposed to be one of them. Still, he understood how people can talk, so he asked one simple question.

  "How did you know that her eyes were green?"

  Charlie was not a spy, or even a soldier for that matter. He was only a very smart hacker, contracted by the government, so his fear, and stuttering, combined with a lack of a good response, made it obvious to the colonel.

  "I can explain," he said, despite the fact that he could not do so in a way that would make it any better.

  * * *

  Happy, as they called him, was the first one near Viper’s room. It was the rooftop of the adjacent building, but that is where a sniper would go, considering the situation.

  Quickly he set up his gear, which did not begin with his rifle, but rather the radio pulse device that could easily see her lying quite still in the bed.

  "Check point one secured," he spoke into his com after setting up his rifle, and targeting the front door.

  At this, a homeless looking man stepped around the corner. They called him Papa Smurf, for he was the one to get the closest first, and coordinate the mission. He had long, knotted hair, and a beard to match, which is why they all understood how he never had a woman to call his own. Nonetheless, it was what made him great at what he did.

  Passing by the first and second room, Papa Smurf stumbled, and seemed to find a place to rest before the third door. It was from here that he would coordinate the assault, and he surely acted the part of a decrepit man.

  "Check point two secure," they all heard in an electronic voice, for he used three buttons under his sleeve to send the message.

  Slowly, a white van drove up, with a logo on the side, showing it to be a low class, electrician's company, and it parked in front of room number two.

  "Just awaiting the green light," the two men inside of the van declared, unaware that Viper was able to hear them, even at a great distance.

  "Is she still silent, Happy?" Papa Smurf asked, and he received an affirmative reply.

  The technology that they had could see right through the wall for the most part, and they not only knew exactly where she was, but they could read her heart rate as well. She was very much asleep, according to the readings, and the timing was perfect.

  "You've got the green light, tweedles," The two killers heard in the van, and they quickly, but silently emerged, and raced to room number one, yet Happy felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, before the lights went out.

  Immediately they kicked in the door, and pointed their weapons at the woman in the bed, while Papa Smurf caught a glimpse of something coming through the air, before her foot met his face, and he too found the darkness.

  Suddenly, an old, homeless woman rose up from the motel bed, holding the blanket tightly around her.

  "She told me I could stay here tonight," she shouted, and quivered at the same time, as she spoke, unaware of what was actually happening.

  "Who did?" Tweedle Dumb inquired with his weapon still secured upon her.

  "She did," the old woman stated, as she pointed behind them both.

  * * *

  Charlie sat silently in an office, with two guards posted outside of the door. It was not his own office, for his had a window, and apparently, the colonel did not trust him.

  How could he have been so stupid, he wondered, yet figured that the emotions that Viper brought upon him were easily to blame. They were wonderful emotions, and Charlie did not blame her, for he would not have changed a thing, except for the slip of his tongue.

  The thing that troubled him the most was that he might never see her again, and he had greatly hoped to find a way that they could both be together, without being hunted. Now that seemed highly unlikely, and rather than hearing of her death, he wished that she would run away as far as she could, so that they would never find her.

  He remembered for a moment how it felt when she kissed him, and although it was not his first kiss, it was, by far, the best. He did not feel nervous at all, and it felt as though she had meant it more than anyone else ever had. He was certain that he would remember it forever, as the best kiss in his entire lifetime, which could soon be shortened.

  Standing, he began to pace the rather small room.

  "Why are you so stupid?" he asked of himself as he hit his forehead with the palm of his hand several times, though the question was rhetorical.

  For a moment, he began to wonder about the consequences, and he pondered what was to be done with him. It was not likely that they would simply fire him, considering the things that he knew, which left only two possibilities. They would either kill him, and find someone else to replace him, or they would consider him the best at what he did, which was why he was hired, and make his punishment less severe.

  The more that he thought about it, the more he realized that Viper’s fate, whether she lived or died, was likely the key to his own outcome. If they killed her, he might be forgiven, but the way that she made him feel, he would rather die in her place.

  Next, his swirling mind brought him to a place of fantasy, as he began to think about what might have been, if only his tongue had not betrayed him. It was a thought of tropical shores, with only the two of them there to enjoy it, and he would cater to her every desire, which in turn, would cater to his own. It would be a happiness that, until he had met her, seemed to have no chance in his reality.

  Just then, he heard a commotion outside the door, and he raced over to hear what he could. The guards were certainly stirred, but he could not make out what they were saying.

  "What's going on?" Charlie inquired from the other side of the door, once the chatter had subsided.

  "Seems that your girlfriend is a real bad ass," one of the guards replied.

  "But she's not as mean as they wanted her to be," the other laughed. "She left 'em all alive."

  Word did travel fast, because the two guards should not have really known what they were dealing with. Either that, or the colonel was very scared, and letting everyone know what they were up against.

  Whatever the reason, the news was uplifting, for he now knew that Viper had survived their first attempt upon her life. It gave him reason to hope, and although he still wished that she would run away as far as she could, he still had room for another hope, which was the hope that she would come and rescue him. It was an abstract one, built from fantasy, yet that is what love can do to a man.

  He began to pace once more, but he did it with a smile this time. She was not only still alive, but had taken their best, first shot, and threw it back in their faces. The fact that she didn’t kill them only meant that they had failed in trying to make a cold-blooded killer out of her.

  This also meant that she really did have feelings for him, and he understood that her premature awakening, and her realization of what she was, had countered the effects that they had desired. In fact, it likely had the opposite effect, since she certainly hated what they were trying to do with her, and this only strengthened his love for her.

  "Just be safe, Kitten," Charlie whispered to himself as he found a spot back in the chair, and the moment brought him euphoria.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Homecoming

  Casually, with a large duffle bag draped over her shoulder, Viper walked down West Tennessee Street, and was impressed by how many young men offered to carry it for her, while never asking how far. It may have been hormonal for the most part, but she could sense the gentlemen's tone within most of them. She was, after all, just less than
five feet tall, and the duffle bag was more than half her length, yet they could not have ever known how easy it was for her to carry.

  She also enjoyed the way that they would stop afterward, and watch her walk away, and she wished that she could see the looks upon their faces, but her eyes remained closed. She would not allow the triplets to see through them again, until she wanted them to.

  Suddenly, she sensed a man stop about thirty yards ahead, and she blinked her eyes open for an instant, like the shutter on a camera, and as easily, she took a mental picture of him, and everything else within her field of view.

  He had dull, brown hair, with a slight wave to it, that reached about two inches below his shoulders, with torn blue jeans, and a tattered T-shirt, and he was obviously not a threat. Instead, he just stood there with a smile as she approached, hardly blinking as his mouth sat wide open.

  "Whoa," he exclaimed as she tilted her head to make him believe that she was actually looking up at him while passing by. "You are such a hottie!"

  "Thank you," she replied, like tossing a dog a bone, and the fact that his heart rate did not match his emotions made it clear to her that he was under the influence of a narcotic. The scent she detected made her believe that it might be marijuana, and it intrigued her how it had affected his inner systems in such a way.

  Knowing that he was still watching, she turned around, and walked back up to him.

  "Could I have a joint?" Viper asked, and was completely astounded by his reply.

  "But it's my last one," he told her as his eyes fell to the ground, while his hands searched his pockets to validate to himself that it was still there.

  Surely, it provided her with information regarding its effects on someone, but she still desired it for a later purpose, so she opened her eyes, removed her shades, and pulled no punches as she smiled up at him.

  "I'll kiss you," she pouted, and he almost convulsed as he pulled it from his pocket in somewhat less than perfect condition, "if you'll just let me have it."