Marie (Teumessian Trilogy Book 1)

by Ana Elise Meyer

  Chapter 16

  Marie awoke on a damp, cold concrete floor, as she pushed herself up she noticed her wrists were shackled with long chains to the floor. She pulled at her right wrist but the chain wouldn’t give.

  “You won’t get very far that way,” a voice came over a speaker located on the far right corner of the room.

  Marie knew that voice but not where she was. The room wasn’t familiar. It seemed like she was in a basement, a concrete basement, almost a bomb shelter. The smell was wrong for the shelters at the facility; this was not where she was. She looked around and saw just one single door directly in front of her across the room. She looked up to her right and saw a security camera on the wall.

  “What do you want from me!?” she yelled at the camera.

  “Shh now be a good girl.” The voice came over speaker again.

  Marie gnarred her teeth “Fuck you Frederick!” she yelled at the camera “I know that’s you, I know you’re up there you sick shit!” tears of rage were running down her face.

  “Oh did you miss me?” Frederick said with a laugh over the speaker.

  “I hate you!” she yelled.

  “Now you’re hurting my feelings” Frederick replied with sarcasm in his voice. “Don’t you worry I will be down to catch up soon.” Frederick said with a laugh. Suddenly water came from the ceiling and dumped on her head, “Until then you just cool off” Frederick laughed. The water was ice cold. Marie was shaking, she felt her heart racing, she could feel the blood flowing through her veins and it was giving her focus. The tears had left. For her, all that was left was rage.

  She took deep breaths pushing herself to control her emotions and channel her rage. “Breath in breath out” she quietly repeated to herself. She just sat there in that puddle of water staring at the floor for what felt like forever just breathing deeply, focusing her mind, regaining her strength. She heard the door slowly open, she looked up to see Frederick standing before her. He looked different. His usual military outfit, the standard of the company, was gone. He was just standing before her in a black suit and bright red tie.

  “Do you like my look?” Frederick said with a smile. Marie just stared at him, her eyes locked on his. “I’m sure you have figured out you are not back ‘home’,” Frederick said.

  “If that’s what you call a home” Marie replied, not even blinking; her eyes still locked on him.

  “Well welcome to your NEW home” Frederick said waving his arms around, showing off the concrete walls.

  “You can’t keep me here” she snarled at him.

  “Oh I can and I will. You see, I’m done taking orders from everyone else. You are my prize and I will unlock your secret and exploit it for myself. See, I already have a buyer. I like to dress up for her.” Frederick said with a smile

  “What are you talking about, my secret? I have nothing you want!”

  “Oh yes you do.” Frederick said pulling a gun from his chest pocket. He aimed and fired striking her in the arm. The blow knocked her back to the end of the chains. She was against the wall now holding her arm to stop the bleeding. “Now, why are you doing that? You know that it will stop.” Frederick put the gun back in his chest pocket. Marie slowly removed her hand from her arm and looked at her wound. It was barely a scratch, hardly any blood had flowed from her arm. She glanced over the scars on her body and she looked back up at Frederick. “See, my dear, somehow you can heal a bit faster than most people and I intend to find out why.”

  “So you’re going to keep me here and what experiment on me?” Marie stood up.

  “I will drain every drop of your blood if I have to,” Frederick replied with a smile.

  Marie charged at him but quickly came to the end of the chains, she pulled at the chains again but they didn’t budge.

  Frederick laughed and slowly walked up to Marie. “You can struggle and wiggle and cry all you want, but you’re mine now.” Frederick slowly started to turn and walk away.

  “Frederick!” Marie yelled. “So I can struggle and wiggle and cry and I will still be yours?” she said with a smile on her face. Marie was twisting her wrists around and knotting the chains but Frederick was too distracted by her attention.

  “Oh, yes, my dear and what a pretty prize you are.” He smirked walking over and touching her face.

  “I will never be yours,” she replied breaking the ends of the chains connected to the shackles on her wrists. She swung the shackle on her right arm, striking Frederick in the face. Frederick fell backwards grabbing his bleeding left cheek. He reached for his gun but Marie was quicker. She grabbed it from him and struck him again in the face. Frederick stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. His back against the wall.

  Marie walked towards him, gun pointed directly at his face. “You can’t hold me, you can’t contain me.” Marie said with a smile on her face, she was calm clear and directed. Frederick started to move to get up.

  “I don’t think so” Marie said, firing the gun into his right upper thigh. Frederick slumped back down to the floor, grabbing at his leg and crying out in pain. “Oh I’m soo sorry, did that hurt?” Marie replied with a smile and fired the gun into his left knee. Frederick cried out in pain. Marie stepped forward and stood over Frederick’s bleeding legs and pointed the barrel of the pistol directly at the center of Frederick’s forehead. “Sucks to not be able to heal faster don’t it?” Marie was still smiling. For the first time in her life she felt like she was in real control and it felt good. Frederick was shaking from pain and was trying to raise his hand to strike her but Marie caught it with her right foot and smashed it into the ground. Frederick cried out again in pain. Marie squatted over Frederick’s legs with his right hand still under her boot and readjusted the gun to her left hand and placed it back against his forehead. “This would be too kind of any end for you.” She said taking her right hand and reaching touching his chest, she moved her hand towards his waist and around to the side of right side of his belt. She grasped the knife out of its holster and pulled it up to examine it. It was an elegant six inch blade. “I like your knife. I think I’ll keep it” she smiled and held it to his throat “But I think I will use it first to test it.” She said as she slit his throat.

  She felt pride in what she had done as she watched the blood run from his throat as he gasp for air, she was in control, true control, no tears, no pain, no questioning herself. She leaned in and looked directly into his eyes as life slowly left him. She felt no remorse or sympathy for him. She placed her lips to his and sucked the blood up from his throat and into her mouth, then spit it back into his face. She wiped the knife on his shirt and ripped the black holster from his belt and attached it her pants. She reached her hand to her mouth and started to wipe the blood from her lips. Then she remembered the camera and smiled. She stood up grabbed the chair from the corner of the room and repositioned it under the camera, climbed up onto the chair and looked directly into the camera and planted a wet bloody kiss on the lens.

  She hopped off the chair and walked out of the room through the open door.

  Chapter 17

  Tyler just stared at the screen before him, Gold paused the picture of the bloody lens and through it Marie walking out of the room.

  “This was the last time she was caught on camera and it was taken four years ago.”

  “She hasn’t been seen in four years!” Tyler replied “Is she even still alive?”

  “Oh she is alive and well and her handy work has been visible across the world. She has been on a one woman killing spree ever since. Anyone she deems worthy of her knife ends up dead. However, these gentlemen have gone untouched.” Gold pulled out a file and handed it to Tyler.

  He opened the file to see pictures and fact sheets on Bruce, Ivan, Henry, Ethan, Justin, and Dr. Jones. “Hold on, I thought she was after these guys. Why hasn’t she touched them in four years?” Tyler asked confused.

  “That’s a very good question. We do not know, but our intelligence says that she has mad
e no attempts on them and they are not hiding. Well, at least they can’t hide from us. We know where they are; each and every one of them. We are not sure if she does or she is just not focusing on them right now.”

  “But why not?”

  “My boy, I can’t answer things I don’t know the answer to.” Gold replied with a smile.

  ”So we have no idea where she is but we know she is alive?” Tyler said fumbling over and over through the pictures and papers in the file.

  “Oh we know where she is,” Gold said with a smile.

  “What what?!” Tyler exclaimed almost jumping from his chair.

  “She reappeared on our radar last week in downtown Los Angeles,” Stevens added.

  “So we go get her right?” Tyler was still on the edge of his seat “She’s the key to everything. She has the gene and its been unlocked just like I was proposing. We have to get her!”

  “Calm down my boy,” Gold said pulling a large accordion file from his desk drawer. “Do you see this?” Gold pushed the file across the table towards Tyler. “This is the file of deaths we can tie directly to her. Her methods, her style, and sightings of her in the area. Her body count is astronomical. I send in men and she sends out body bags. This is not something I am keen on doing over and over again with the chance of getting her alive.”

  Tyler nodded his head, “But the implications of her abilities could change the world.”

  “I am aware of the implications, but sending in soldiers will not work if she perceives a threat. She destroys it plain and simple. So, we need to work smarter.” Gold replied

  “Ok what’s the plan?”

  “We don’t threaten. We tempt her.” Gold smiled again.

  “Temp her? With what?”

  “Information. Get her to cooperate with us in exchange for our help taking out the rest of her targets. Get her on our side, on our team.”

  “We are going to help her kill these men?” Tyler replied confused

  “Yes, they are ‘bad men’. Who cares if they die? If in the end we can get her to trust us and to help us,” Gold replied firmly. “But I am not sending some hardened Ranger to work with her. Because she wouldn’t trust a physical threat. No, she needs a more comforting soul, like that sweet doctor she loved so dearly. I think I have such a person, don’t I, Captain Stevens?”

  “That you do sir,” Stevens replied, smiling.

  “Ok who?” Tyler replied looking at the both of them.

  “You”

  “What, what?! No no no no sir, bad idea. I am no soldier I barely passed basic training! I am good in my lab and in my office and that is it. I have no way to defend myself against her. She will kill me in like two seconds.” Tyler was visibly flustered, he was shaking

  “Calm down. The fact that you are not a threat is the reason she won’t hurt you. She only takes out threats. She is not just killing everyone she crosses paths with. You are a gentle man and she will see that.”

  “She may even take pity on you,” Stevens said with a laugh.

  “That’s enough” Gold ordered “Now, just relax. You will have all the intelligence she wants and you will just give it to her piece by piece and she will keep you alive to get it. Work with her, make her trust you and that you only want for the world to be a better place.”

  “But that is what I want. That is why I do the work I do because I want the world to be a better place.” Tyler protested

  “I know and that is why she will believe you because you are sincere.” Gold replied “If you can get her to cooperate to join our side, you will have the data you need and we will have neutralized a potential threat. That is what you want isn’t it?”

  Tyler nodded his head but his body was still shaking a little. He was scared as he looked at the file of her bodies and could just see his name being added to it.

  “I believe in you on this one. You are our best hope.” Gold said clearly, looking Tyler directly in the eyes.

  Tyler again nodded, “Yes sir,” he replied taking a deep breath.

  “I think he is going to pee himself,” Stevens replied with a laugh.

  “Enough! He will be fine.” Gold replied firmly. “Now my boy do you like Christmas?”

  “Huh, do I like Christmas? Sir I don’t see how that has anything to do with this.”

  “Do you like Christmas?” Gold asked slowly again.

  “Well, yes sir, I think everyone does.”

  “So do I. I love Christmas. Giving presents getting presents having a good meal. It is the best. Now, a few years back, I got the best Christmas present ever.”

  “Well that’s nice, sir, but again I think we need to get back to this whole Marie situation. I think there needs to be a few details of this more clearly explained.” Tyler replied, trying to get himself together to discuss.

  “Oh come now, my boy, let me show you my Christmas present.”

  “Ok, sir, I would be happy to see it.”

  “Stevens, go get my present so Ty here can see it.” Gold ordered

  “Yes sir” Stevens got up and walked out of the study.

  “I have always been a bigger fan of giving not receiving but when my buddies in the Rangers brought this to me I just couldn’t say no.” Gold replied with a smile. Tyler just stared at the general. He couldn’t understand why Gold was so off base. They were just talking about sending him to his potential death and all he wants to talk about his Christmas present from a few years ago. Was he out of his head?

  “Ah here it is.” Gold said with a smile pointing to the doorway of his office. Tyler turned and saw Captain Stevens standing there with a small boy. He couldn’t have been more than five years old. He had green eyes and was clutching a small teddy bear.

  “Bring him in.” Gold waved to Stevens to come forward with the boy. Steven walked the boy into the room and set him in front of the large desk right next to Tyler’s chair. Tyler could just stare at the boy. That couldn’t be him could it? Tyler thought to himself. Gold got up and walked around his desk and walked over and picked up the little boy. The little boy let out a little laugh.

  “Tyler I would like for you to meet James. James say hi to the nice Major.”

  “Hi!” James said with a smile on his face.

  Tyler could just wave back. There was no way, the boy was dead, there was no way this could possibly be him.

  “James, why don’t you and Captain Stevens go play with your trains. I have to chat some more with the Major.” Gold said as he placed the boy back on the floor. “Stevens, go play trains with the boy.”

  “Yeah, trains,” Stevens replied sarcastically as he walked James out of the room.

  “Confused a bit?” Gold said with a laugh.

  “The boy is dead there is no way that is him.” Tyler said stumbling through his words.

  “Oh it’s him alright. Just because they told her he was dead and just because his files say he is dead means nothing. We found him in a safe house within the company; they were trying to pretend he was in fact dead to hide him from competitors. They thought, as I did, that the boy held the same genes that caused her abilities. However, their research showed that he didn’t have the same abilities as Marie. They were going to give up and we knew it, so we took him and figured our own research could find something. As of yet, we have found nothing. It is just her, but I grew fond of the boy and I knew long term he could be our key to getting her.”

  “Ok, so this makes this simpler. We have what she wants, so I offer her what she wants in exchange for her cooperation. That I can do. That’s easier.” Tyler let out a sigh of relief

  “No that’s a good way to end up in a body bag.” Gold said firmly.

  Tyler gulped.

  “If you tell her we have her son that the child she thinks is dead is not only alive but in the care of the US Army, she will torture you for where he is and kill you for spite. She cannot know the boy is alive until she is ready to fully cooperate. It will be a bonus for her when she joins us.”

 
“So I can’t tell her anything about the boy?” Tyler questioned.

  “If you want to end up dead you can talk about the boy all you want, but you will be giving all of us a death sentence.”

  “I understand.” Tyler replied.

  “Stick to the plan of gaining trust through information on her targets.” Gold ordered. He walked back behind his desk and opened his large bottom drawer and pulled out a deep green satchel and placed in on the desk in front of Tyler. “In here you will find what you need. There is a complete file on each of her targets, four rolls of cash totaling $5,000, a 9mm pistol with holster along with three clips of ammunition, and a switch blade knife. She loves knives, so I suggest you learn how to use it before you leave. You need to return to your home and pack only a few essentials in this bag, then head to her last know “place of employment”.”

  “Wait place of employment? She has a job?” Tyler asked

  “You could say ‘job’,” Gold replied, smiling, and grabbed from his desk a piece of paper. He handed the paper to Tyler.

  Tyler looked down at the paper. It was a flyer for a club. “She’s a stripper?”

  “Looks like she is using her agility to her advantage to fund her exploits,” Gold said with a laugh. Tyler just stared at the flyer. “Never been in a strip club have you?” Gold asked

  “No, sir. It is not appropriate, not decent.” Tyler replied firmly.

  “Well, get used to things that are not decent. They seems to follow her. She seems to enjoy them.” Gold replied. “There is a car waiting to return you to your home to pack.” He pulled an envelope from his desk and handed it to Tyler, “Here is your plane ticket and a watch. The watch has a GPS in it so we can track you. Wear it at all times.”

  Tyler nodded his head.

  “Off you go my boy,” Gold replied.

  Tyler stood and saluted.

  Gold saluted back. Then Tyler walked from the room the satchel over his shoulder.

  Chapter 18