Five hundred years ago, the Assassins Guild was forged, legalizing the killing profession, and every Life Closer registered their alias, so no two were alike. Their alias would be retired for twenty years after their death. Closers only accepted work approved through the Assassins Guild, and after the appearance of the Dry Clouds, the Guild split into two factions. The Dark Half formed the Assassins Union, and the Light Side formed the Assassins League. Thanatos organized the Assassins Union and the one known as Voice organized the Assassins League. Thanatos and Voice were known as Regulators.
Thanatos at times of boredom hacked into Voice's network and took peeks at certain Closers he developed an interest in over the years, and this day was another one of those occasions.
"Wired!" he exclaimed. "An old report from the Phoenix." He looked over the document with interest. "Whoa! It is a first, so your Moscow Closing did not go so well." He ran his hand through his long spiked hair. "It is a shame, and a dark mark on an other wise spotless record." He opened another file, finding an e-mail between the Phoenix and Voice, and he chuckled. "Voice, you think I would only waste the Phoenix's talents, and here I thought you were the one wasting them." He leaned forward, rested on his elbows, and examined the Phoenix's latest report. "The Topa Closing went well, but it looks like you had your first encounter with the Un-Men. I wonder..." He stroked the blond tuft of hair. "Will these bio-mecha assassins eventually make human Closers obsolete or is there something in man's spirit, in human ingenuity that cannot be replicated?" He looked to his huge monitor as if the answer would materialize there. "I would like to know, but only time will tell."
Thanatos left Voice's network and returned to his own, and with uncanny speed, he approved or denied Life Closings from corporations or individuals and filed Closing successes, failures, and cancelations. He did each one in less than a minute. Thanatos paused from the influx of data, cracked his knuckles, rubbed his face, and then returned to the requests and filings as he read an interesting one out loud, "The Valhalla Corporation has requested a Life Closing, and it is based on a Life Closer Clause for one of their contracts. Let me see." He tilted his head side to side as he went over the document. "The target violated their contract. Hmm... There is enough evidence here to convict if they went to court, so I will approve this Life Closing for one Vic the Vulture." Thanatos bowed his head, mocking reverence. "May he rest in peace."
Time had no meaning in his world only the information, and he continued working when a data stream caught his eye. "What do we have here?" He opened a new document. "Two Closers from the League request permission to work the Dark Half. Hmm... They are the Raven and the Wolf, and they are strictly Light Side hit men. What Closing could have brought them here? What is so important Voice, you would send two of your own instead of contracting out to one of my Closers?" He opened the attached forms and scanned through them. "I see. Valhalla requested the Raven and the Wolf to conduct the Closing for Vic the Vulture. Hmm... There is another request." In disbelief, Thanatos read it over three times. "These two will be conducting a second hit. This is unexpected; it's a Life Closing Clause for a member of the Assassins League. Oh my. They will be Closing a Closer, so who are they after? Oh... Very interesting, and I did not see this coming." He shook his head, and his wild hair bounced with his movement. "It will not be an easy Closing, but one of mythic proportion." Thanatos leaned back, closing his eyes. "I will have to keep an eye on this one and root for the underdog."
Chapter Twenty-one
The Chairman
October 16...
Saturday...
10:01 A.M...
Hellenistic Sector, Business Vicinage...
Determined to find answers, Kim drove to the Sphinx Corporation Third Branch Office, went up to her father's floor, and impatiently sat in the waiting room. She wore a black pant suit with a white shirt. Kim rapped her finger on the couch's arm, going over what she would say to her father when her thoughts were interrupted.
"The Chairman is finishing up his meeting now," the secretary said. "He'll be ready to meet with you shortly."
"Thank you, Cathy." Kim glanced at a man sitting across from her in the waiting room. He wore glasses and a navy blue business suit and paid no attention to her as he read the Noir Daily News. She glanced at the coffee table at an issue of the Conglomerate World Magazine with the headline Topa Murdered! Corporate Life Closing or Drug Hit?
"It's a shame," the man said from behind the newspaper.
Kim peered up startled. "What?"
"I'm talking about Topa; it's a shame Closers exist." The man flipped a page, keeping his gaze on the print. "I mean what kid grows up saying I want to be an assassin?"
"Ms. Griffin, the Chairman will see you now," Cathy said.
Kim stood, eyed the man, and thought it was odd that the man would say something like that to her. She walked down the hall to her father's office, glancing once more at the waiting room.
Another man walked into the waiting room also wearing a navy blue business suit. "All right part timer, break time's over. Zax, I want you to make sure levels twenty-four through twenty-nine are secure."
"Right. I'm on it." Zax stood, removed his glasses, and placed them in his breast pocket. The pocket had a Sphinx Corporation Security badge clipped to it. He handed the second man the newspaper and walked down the hall toward the elevators, and once he was out of earshot, Zax removed a cell and dialed a number. "Please connect me with R.G." He waited a few seconds. "Delivery Man here, Ms. Griffin has come to see her father as you predicted." He paused, listening. "Understood, I'll continue to monitor the situation."
Down the hall, Kim opened the door to the Chairman's office and stepped in as her father stood, welcoming her.
"Good to see you again, Kimberly. Have a seat please." He motioned to a chair, and once she sat, he returned to his seat. "I have the pleasure of seeing you twice in one month."
"Do you see pleasure on my face?" Kim snapped as she gripped her black purse tightly.
"No, you do seem upset," he said and questioned, "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" She stood, smacked her palms on his desk, and her purse fell to the floor. "Why did you lie to me?"
He started to ask what he lied about, but she interrupted.
"Why did you tell me mom left us?" She saw dismay sweep over his face.
He noted anger mixed with hurt filled her expression as he asked, "What do you know?"
Tears rolled down her face. "She died. Mom died!"
He stood as anger rose in his voice, and he demanded, "Who told you?"
"Told me? No one told me! I remembered." Kim tapped her chest. "Hades! I was there!" She slumped to the chair as horrific memories weighed heavy on her, and she stared at her knees. "I can still hear the fire roaring and smell... smell cooking flesh."
"You did see. I don't know what to tell you. I..."
"Tell me?" Kim looked up. "Answer my question! Why did you lie?"
He glanced at a phone sitting on his desk and turned back to her. "It was so long ago." His gaze became distant as he recalled that day. "My secretary found you lying outside my office unconscious and when you finally came to, you were traumatized and couldn't speak. I had no idea if you had seen what happened in your mother's office, but I guessed as much and never pressed the issue, and later you didn't remember, so I thought it best the incident remained buried."
"You thought it was better I believed mom ran away and abandoned us instead of the truth? Instead of telling me she died?"
He regretted that decision. "Yes."
She leaned over and picked up her purse from the floor. "What happened?" She set it beside herself. "Where's mom buried?"
"I only know the latter of the two; the body is buried in Hades Cemetery. I always feared one day you would find the tombstone and discover that she was lay to rest there."
She wiped her ey
es. "Who murdered her?"
"Murdered?" He handed her his handkerchief.
Kim took it. "Yes, I remember gun shots and screams." She wiped her eyes again and blew her nose.
"The matter is still being investigated."
"Still after all these years?" She thought a moment and then asked, "By whom? Noir Civil Police Force or Sphinx Corporation Security?"
"The N.C.P.F. and Sphinx Corporation Security."
Kim fisted her hands, controlling the rage that wanted to scream at her father. "What leads do they have? Who do they suspect? I want answers!"
He gazed at the picture on his desk and picked up the frame. "Your mother was so lovely." He faced his daughter. "How you look like her. See." He turned the frame, so she could see the picture. "You have her blue-green eyes."
The photo was of Theresa holding a music box, and it was the same picture as the one in the album from her mother's hope chest. Kim looked at it more closely and saw there was no shorthand scribbled on the photo.
"Your mother loved that music box; it played some old melody from around 500 B.D.C." He wondered out loud, "Who was the composer? His name was... was..."
"Ginn L. Irynkissgthie," she answered.
"Yes, it played his Unfinished Melody."
Kim stared at the music box, pulled on her left earlobe, and questioned, "Where did she get it?"
"Get it? She made it." He turned the frame around and gazed at the photo. "It's one of a kind." He glanced at the phone again then back to the photo. "Something your mother was working on in Research and Development. It was more than a music box; it was a data storage unit."
"One of a kind?" A bad feeling rose from the depths of her stomach. "What happened to it?"
"I don't know. I assumed it was destroyed in the fire. I looked through all her things, but never found it. I think she would have wanted you to have it."
"May I?" Kim held out her hand for the photo, and her father handed it to her. She examined the music box and was sure it was the same one the woman had. She handed back the frame and asked, "Who would I speak to about mom's murder?"
"Detective Moore at N.C.P.F. and Orthos. He's head of my security."
Kim nodded and stood. "I'll want to talk to you later about it."
"My door is always open." He walked his daughter out of his office and down the hall to his secretary's desk, then he watched as Kim entered the elevator, and he turned to the secretary. "Cathy, hold all my calls and cancel today's appointments."
"Yes, Mr. Griffin."
He returned to his office, sat, and stared at the phone again as he contemplated his next action and then picked up the receiver. "Get me Head of Security."
"Yes, Mr. Griffin," Cathy replied.
Within a few minutes, a man's voice came over the phone. "Orthos here."
"We have a problem. My Kimberly has remembered the night of the fire and will most likely investigate Theresa's death."
"What can she find out? The N.C.P.F. have nothing."
"Kimberly can be very resourceful."
Orthos paused and then asked, "Do you want me to take care of it?"
"No!" Mr. Griffin blurted. "She's my daughter." He composed himself. "For now watch her. I don't want Kimberly to complicate things."
* * *
11:29 A.M...
Hellenistic Sector, Residential Vicinage...
Nexus Apartments...
Kimberly's view...
I return to my apartment, sit at the small round table, and I drink a tall cup of Spiced Chai tea I'd bought from the local coffee shop. I still have the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as I flip through the photo album till I come to the picture of my mom holding the music box, and I read the short hand again, "Glimpse with scrutiny and gaze with light."
I've already glimpsed with scrutiny. I remove the eight by ten photo from the album and look on the back, and it's blank. There's nothing else on the photo, so what does she mean by gaze with light? I walk over to the couch, turn on a torch lamp, and place the picture in front of the light. Nothing... I flip the photo over and examine the back, and it's still blank, but then a K appears and more letters till it reads, "Kimmie, find the music box; it will lead you to the Key."
My bad feeling is confirmed. I sit on the couch and look to the kitchen's counter where I laid the hope chest key. My mom can't mean that one, so what key does she mean and what does it open? I hit my fist on the cushion. The music box had been right here, and I let that strange woman leave with it! I stand, realizing it means I'll have to find her, and I wanted to wash my hands of the Pandora Project. I return to the table, wonder where I should begin, and then stare at the empty chair across from me. That woman mentioned Etna Toys Plant and Warehouse. I head for my bedroom, deciding the warehouse is a place to start, so I slip into my working clothes.
Chapter Twenty-two
Etna Toys Plant And Warehouse
11:59 A.M...
Hellenistic Sector, Industrial Vicinage...
Ding... Ding... Ding...
The noon hour tolled in the bleak abandoned warehouse district.
Ding... Ding... Ding...
The wind dried the remaining Tainted Rain as a cold front moved in, chilling the already cold air.
Ding... Ding... Ding...
A black cat scurried down the deserted street in front of Etna Toys Plant and Warehouse.
Ding... Ding... Ding...
Within the warehouse, florescent lights flickered, lighting the rundown building as Kat stood in front of the overturned cot she awoke on over a year ago. She rubbed her temples as her head pounded, still feeling the side effects of the Ultra-Epi. Kat refused to use the music box to come down from the genetically altered epinephrine hormone since leaving Zeus Park; she was too afraid she'd be caught by the Council or the Factory. Anxiety pressed against her chest, and she looked at her shaky hand.
She mumbled, "Why would the Council do this to me? Why create something that causes me so many problems?"
Kat decided she wouldn't find any answers just standing there and searched the warehouse.
Hours later...
She placed her backpack on the floor along with the AK-47, and then she set the metal bed and table upright. Kat still felt tired after getting very little sleep the day before, so she undid the Velcro of her Ravlek, positioned the vest beside the cot, put her empty gun on the table, and lay on the mattress. She found nothing after searching the warehouse and plant for more than three hours. Kat removed her precious items from her pocket, studied each one, and lay them on her chest. Her eyes grew heavy and her body was beyond exhausted, and the warm cot and soft pillow felt nice against her cold skin, so she closed her eyes. Minutes passed as the wind kicked up outside, howling across the old building and for a moment, Kat was at peace.
lub-DUB... lub-DUB...
Her eyes flew open as her body prepared for battle, and the change to her body caused her pain since she had never purged herself of the earlier exposure to the genetically altered epinephrine hormone. She wouldn't be able to go on much longer without coming down from the Ultra-Epi. Kat sat up, and the music box and the note fell to the cot. She picked up the AK-47, grabbed her backpack and gun, and rushed to a dust covered front window. In the distance, six Un-Men unloaded from two black vans and stood at attention on the sidewalk as two lab techs along with two Factory S.C.Ms. exited the vehicles.
Outside...
Peters retrieved a modified H.H.C. from his lab coat pocket and passed it over the six Un-Men. "Readings within parameters." He pushed his glasses up his nose. "We're good to go."
"Excellent." Maxwell typed a few notes. "Let's upload the new targeting program into this batch." He looked up as the two S.C.Ms. spread out and secured the area. Maxwell turned to an Un-Man and commanded, "Team Leader, this is Tech One-twelve, prepare for uplink."
It said in a South African accent, "Voice identity confirmed, Tech O
ne-twelve. I comply." The Team Leader turned its head and faced the tech.
"You know what?" Peters rubbed his stubbly face.
"What?" Maxwell uploaded the targeting program to the Un-Man, using the H.H.C.'s laser located at the end of the small computer.
Peters leaned against the van. "It's becoming boring."
Maxwell finished the upload and commanded the Team Leader, "Uplink with your unit and transmit the new program."
"I-Link established. Transferring data," the Team Leader relayed.
Maxwell turned to Peters and asked, "What do you mean boring?"
"For the past year, we've sent Un-Men after Pandora, they fight, she disables them, we take notes, improve on the models, and start again. Now don't get me wrong, Pandora has been beneficial to our upgrades, but when does it stop? When will the Un-Men be ready?"
"Transmission completed," the Team Leader stated. "Disconnecting I-Link."
"The Un-Men will be ready when they eliminate Pandora. It might seem tedious to you, but we've improved their programming, and soon they'll be able to overcome Pandora."
"What if Pandora is also learning and adapting? Is there any possible way to create an Un-Man that can surpass her?"
Maxwell thought for a moment and then answered, "It's a good question, and it means that we need to program the Un-Men to anticipate Pandora's upgrades." He opened the side door to one of the vans and stepped inside; the vehicle was full of monitoring equipment. Maxwell sat at a table bolted to the floor. "You sure are full of questions today."
"I've got one more... Why do you think the T-3 malfunctioned? None of the techs can find anything wrong with its programming or any of the other T-3s." Peters moved to the side of the van and peered in. "I've been working on them at the Factory, and they're starting to wig me out. I've never felt this way around Un-Men." He removed his glasses and cleaned them with his lab coat. "It's like the T-3s know they're different and don't want us to change what they've become."
All Worlds: Fantasy And Science Fiction Series Starters Page 29