Stanley instantly eyed the ‘Brawn’ or Bruce and Kenneth seated to his left. Both were trained experts in multiple forms of martial arts and experts in more weapons then Stanley even knew existed. They were killers and good at it, but Bruce ran the show when it came to them. Kenneth was definitely stronger but he wasn’t smarter. Bruce was the brains of those two. Bruce also had looks on his side He was very James Bondish, with dark hair and blue eyes. He could seduce you then kill you or at least that was how Stanley could imagine it would happen with Bruce. He never wanted to actual see him kill anyone. The foundation of Bruce’s training was a mystery to everyone, he kept it to himself. Where he learned his skills were of “nobody’s business” as Bruce would always say. Bruce demanded to be addressed as “sir” to all the guards he trained; however, the ‘management’ was exempt from this standard. Kenneth wasn’t going to win a beauty contest. No hair on his head and scars on his face but he was lethal so it didn’t really matter what he looked like when he was slitting a person’s throat, Stanley thought to himself. Kenneth’s background was much clearer as he bragged about it regularly. Kenneth was a former Master Sergeant with the Army Rangers and demanded to be called Sergeant by everyone, even the management. The only one who could get away with not was Bruce.
As usual Henry and Ivan Vasilevich were behind their desks with Frederick to Ivan’s right in one of those very comfortable black chairs. They were the ‘bank’, the money behind the group and the ones who ran the show because after all, “money talks.” The three of them founded the company six years prior and in those six years they had grown from a small startup weapons company to the premiere weapons manufacturer in the country, Soldat Industries. The three of them made for an odd group. To see three men from three different countries team up to corner the weapons market in another country was indeed unique. However, they would sell to the highest bidder. They had no loyalties and the U.S. government needed them so they didn’t interfere. Their weapons were too good, too advanced. So the US government had to put on a smile and keep paying Soldat for their weapons and just hope they were the highest bidder. Ivan was the one who held command. Henry and Frederick were his voices, since Ivan barely ever spoke a word when they were all in the room, but when he did his accent was thick. In fact, Stanley had rarely ever even heard Ivan speak. Henry, on the other hand didn’t know how to shut up. He was always barking orders, normally with a long string of profanity along with it. Stanley always found it funny to listen to such a proper English accent spewing such vile American profanity. Henry must have picked it up when he moved to America eight years earlier and just enjoyed it too much. Frederick was more calculated in what he said but he showed a level of viciousness more fitting to being part of the ‘Brawn’ instead of the ‘Bank’. Frederick was to be watched. He seemed as though he was always a step ahead, always planning and plotting, his loyalty was not to be counted on.
Then there was he and Jones, he with his greying hair and Jones with his limp. They were no winners in the looks department but they were the ‘Brains’. They were the ones with the idea and the ones with the science to back it up and yet they were bullied regularly. Well, at least poor Jones was. Stanley knew how to hold his own.
“Gentlemen now that someone has bothered to grace us with his presence,” Henry said, glaring at Stanley as Stanley closed the door behind him.
“Sorry, I was held up.” Stanley addressed the group as he took his seat next to Kenneth.
Henry addressed the group, “Then let’s begin. Today marks an important day in the history of this organization. Today the program begins. We have nine babies.” Stanley raised his hand. Henry looked at him “Are we in fucking school? What do you need to add?”
“Ten, we have ten, babies,” Stanley stated.
“Ten! Since when do we have ten babies?” Frederick chimed in.
“Since tonight,” Stanley replied.
Henry took a deep breath “Fine, we have TEN baby boys.” Stanley raised his hand again. “Oh, am I fucking wrong again? Maybe it would be better if you just ran this meeting.”
“Nine boys and one girl. I was just correcting the gender of one, that is all,” Stanley replied.
“Hold the fucking phone! Since when are we working with girls?” Kenneth questioned, annoyed.
“I’m in agreement this program was designed to deal with boys not girls. You designed the program for boys, if you don’t remember,” Bruce pointed out.
“That I did; however, I feel that the addition of a girl would give us valuable data that could alter the results and prove very valuable, long term that is. We would be ignoring the potential of testing the female genetic structure which may show different results,” Stanley calmly defended himself.
Ivan raised his hand and all attention was on him. He gestured his hand towards Henry for him to continue.
Henry took a deep breath. “Fine, we have nine boys and one fucking girl. Today we begin their training and by the time we are done we will have the strongest most effective combat team able to bring this world to its knees. That is, for whomever is willing to pay for them. These subjects are going to be the next leap in the combination of science and technology. They will be the perfect weapons.” Henry laughed.
“Highest bidder my ass. If any of these babies turns out to be next to superhuman we are keeping it for ourselves. The rest can be sold,” Frederick said clearly with a smile.
“I’m aware. Thanks for stating the obvious. Now it’s time to go to work, boys. A lot is riding on your research and the chemical enhancement of these children, Dr. Stanley. It better work. Bruce and Kenneth, you know your jobs.” Henry smiled, “Train us some killers, make them marketable. We need them to not just look like a good show but to put on a good show.” a light laughter broke out in the room. Everyone but Stanley and Ivan thought the idea of teaching children to kill was funny.
This was not what Stanley had in mind when he developed his drug but he had to go where the money was and this is the only place and the only people who would fund and let him do his research. The ends justify the means he reminded himself. If he could break this, if he could figure out how to make it work, well, he could save millions and it would all be worth dealing with these monsters, thought Stanley.
Ivan opened his mouth for the first time, “Then you’re all dismissed, with the exception of you Stanley, you stay.” Everyone got up and walked out, even Henry left and it was his office too. Stanley just sat in silence. It was like being in the principal’s office again. Ivan took a deep breath. His voice was calm and clear as his dark eyes stared directly at Stanley across his large glass desk. “The girl, I know what this is about and I don’t like it. I don’t care where you got her but I will tell you this, if it in any way compromises this program I will dispose of her myself.” Ivan’s voice was clear and firm, Stanley knew he meant it, since Ivan always meant what he said and he would go to the furthest extent to protect his company.
“I understand.” Stanley nodded his head.
“You’re dismissed,” Ivan said as he leaned back into his chair placing his hands on the large armrest. Stanley stood up and walked out closing the door behind him.
Stanley walked into the research building and walked the flight of stairs down and slowly entered the room marked “nursery.” Stanley had pushed to make the nursery more pleasant for the children but he was shot down with every request. There was no color in the room, no little animals on the walls nothing to indicate children were going to live there except the clear plastic basinets with each of their names written on cards at the end: Michael, Thomas, Chris, Scott, Samuel, Ethan, Austin, David, Justin, and Marie. He had covered his bases as had been requested, Michael, Thomas, Chris, Marie, and Justin were all Caucasian, Scott and Samuel were African American, Ethan was Chinese, and David was Native American. It took some major work to find infants to meet all the requests but he even found what he wanted, a little girl. He even found twins. With Scott and Samuel he had mastered
his checklist. He had named each of them but only Marie’s name was dear to his heart. The blankets were even plain, just white sheets. It was so sterile, so bleak. As he entered he saw them all there, they were sleeping, all ten of them so peacefully. Each wearing a plain white sleeper. Stanley sighed, he couldn’t even get them to agree to colorful clothing. They had no idea what was in store for them or if they would even survive. The bad outweighs the good is all Stanley could keep telling himself. He slowly made his way to Marie’s basinet. He could only just stare at her. “You’re my chance to make it right,” Stanley said to himself. He reached down and gently touched her head. “Sleep well, little angel, tomorrow we start.” Stanley walked slowly away closing the door behind him.
Chapter 3
The injections began the next day, two a day every day. Dr. Stanley and Dr. Jones administered the injections themselves. They trusted nobody else with the formula that Stanley had developed. The babies fought the injections but they seemed to respond. They all grew at a healthy rate and none showed signs of illness ever. It was remarkable, Stanley had thought to himself that his drug mixture was appearing to in fact work in its abilities to prevent illness; however, unfortunately, the testing of their ability to regenerate or self-heal, however, was not as successful, since none showed any physical ability to heal any faster than a normal child. The ability to prevent childhood illness was not the outcome the ‘Management’ was after; however, they felt it was progress and progress was enough to keep the program going. Weekly updates were necessary along with weekly blood draws. These poor children was all Stanley could hear in his head, but he knew that they knew no better. They only knew a life of needles, physical tests, and training. They couldn’t think it was bad or wrong or that they didn’t have a normal life. Stanley tried to bring a small sense of normal to them. He would read stories to them at bedtime and would sneak in toys for them to play with under the disguise as ‘learning tools’ to improve their education. He bonded with Marie the most. She had nightmares regularly and he would always be there to cradle her and rock her back to sleep. She was his daughter in every sense of the word and he cared more about her than any of them. As they grew, they grew only stronger both physically and mentally, but by the age of ten, problems started to show.
“They are growing up quite nicely don’t you agree?” Jones said with a smile to Stanley.
“Yes, but I am worried about the three smallest,” Stanley replied as Bruce entered the walkway.
“Gentlemen are you enjoying watching the children? I say it’s a bit creepy to just stand here watching them ‘play’,” Bruce said with a smile.
Stanley gazed back down to the nine of them on the floor of the training facility. Stanley couldn’t take his eyes off his sweet Marie with her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was hard to look away from; she was playing with Tommy, the smallest of the boys, as always.
“They are inseparable those two. It’s kind of cute,” Jones said with a smile.
“Not really, they aren’t supposed to make friends, they are supposed to form a team, not pair up. The only time ‘play’ is appropriate is when the training demands it. They are my project too,” Bruce replied crossing his arms. Stanley just kept looking at them.
“Marie, come play with us,” Michael called to Marie as she sat on the floor with Tommy playing cards.
“Ok, come on, Tommy let’s go,” Marie said to him as she started to get up placing the cards on the floor.
“No, not Tommy, he can’t keep up,” Samuel called out standing next to Michael.
“Agreed. So Tommy.” Austin added.
“Come on, let him join in. He makes the rest of us look good.” Justin chimed in with a smile.
“You’re all mean. He can play too!” Marie yelled back at them.
“Guys, I don’t really want to play anyway; you go ahead,” Tommy replied straightening his glasses and picking up the cards Marie had put down.
“I’m not playing unless Tommy plays too,” Marie said flipping her blonde pony tail, crossing her arms, and sitting back down on the floor next to Tommy.
“Marie, please, we need one more. If Tommy plays we will be an odd number and we can only do relay races with an even number. Scott is in an assessments so Tommy would have nobody to race against anyway,” Michael replied.
“Then, by your logic, Sam doesn’t get to play since he’s Scott’s twin, no Scott no Sam. They should have to race each other,” Marie said, sticking out her tongue at the boys.
Tommy laughed.
“No, your logic doesn’t follow. Scott is on my team. That’s why Tommy doesn’t get to play,” Samuel replied crossing his arms.
“Marie, my team will be short if you don’t play. Please,” Michael pleaded again.
“Go play with them,” Tommy said quietly to Marie.
“No I will not play. They always do this. This is all you, Sam, you always pick on him. You’re a jerk and Scott’s not any good either but you let him play all the time,” Marie said shaking her finger.
“Don’t talk about Scott like that!” Samuel yelled back at Marie.
“If you can pick on Tommy, I can pick on Scott.” Marie said, standing up with a smile.
Samuel’s face turned red as he walked towards Marie, “I’m going to punch you,” he yelled at her.
Michael stepped between them, “Stop. You are not going to punch her, we are just not going to play that’s all.” Michael said calmly to Samuel.
“You’re lucky Mike’s here or you would get it.” Samuel replied, turning and walking out of the room.
Michael turned and looked at Marie and Tommy. “Thanks for ruining today, Tommy.” Michael said frustrated and walked out of the room.
“I’m sorry,” Tommy let out in a whisper hanging his head.
“Don’t you apologize for anything, they are mean and no fun. I don’t want to play with them anyway.” Marie said to him touching his hands that were folded on his lap.
“You should hang with them not me, they are more like you. You are strong and fast and I suck,” Tommy said still hanging his head.
“I will hang out with my friends and that is all and you are my best friend,” Marie said with a smile.
Tommy lifted his head and smiled back.
Jones watched the interactions unfold as he was walking down the stairs. He approached Tommy from behind. “Tommy, you’re up,” Jones said
“Good luck, you’ll do great,” Marie said leaning in and giving Tommy a kiss on the cheek.
Tommy smiled and got up and went with Jones.
“I don’t like it. She is too close with him,” Bruce said to Stanley as they were still standing on the walkway watching.
“She’s just a little girl. She has a natural desire to bond to other people,” Stanley replied.
“Well how well will your little girl handle it when Tommy doesn’t survive the first mission because he is not up to the level necessary?” Bruce questioned firmly.
A guard approached them on the walkway with papers. “Both Chris and Scott failed. They are too far behind the others. They are going to begin testing Thomas now,” the guard reported.
Bruce shook his head as he read the papers. “This is a major problem. If Chris and Scott failed there is no way possible Tommy will pass. This is going to have to be brought up with everyone else,” Bruce said to Stanley.
“I know,” Stanley said grasping the railing tightly and staring at Marie who was still on the training floor playing with her bo, twirling it between her fingers and pretending to fight an invisible foe. “I know” Stanley repeated.
“I’ll call everyone together for tomorrow. We will have Tommy’s results back by then.” Bruce replied walking away.
Chapter 4
The management met the following morning in Ivan’s office as usual.
“We have a problem,” Bruce addressed the group. “A very serious problem.” Bruce looked at Stanley. “Three of the boys are not living up the expectations; i
n fact they are far behind the progress of their peers,” Bruce said placing the failure physical assessments of Chris, Scott, and Tommy on Ivan’s desk.
“And why the fuck is this? This makes no sense considering two of them are identical,” Henry inquired.
“They have received the same injections as their peers. It must be their training.” Stanley replied.
Kenneth stood up, “Or maybe they are just losers!” he yelled at Stanley.
“Wow, is that a technical term, or
did you just come up with that yourself?” Stanley replied sarcastically.
“That’s enough. It is odd that
since two of them are identical twins, why one would be up to par and the other sub-par,” Ivan questioned.
“I can’t explain it, it may be a
variation in their physical environment or their aptitude to trainings. It is a very fascinating abnormality,” Stanley replied
“I would say we have a very simple problem with a very simple solution,” Frederick calmly added.
“And what would that be?” Bruce asked.
“We have a few bad apples. They will never be fresh.” Frederick smiled, “So it’s simple: we toss out the bad apples.” Frederick was still smiling.
Marie (Teumessian Trilogy Book 1) Page 2