"Be there in fifteen minutes. I will bring it over tonight, Johnny has too much homework." The pencil was tossed into the plastic white house shaped cup she kept by her register, "I want you to try my new cake, Blondie, since you my favorite customer."
My smiled faded at Nina's simple, almost nonsensical words. Nonsensical words that were another one of her other code phrases. "Sounds good, I have craved something sweet all day."
Nina sighed, "You the last order of the night, Blondie. I am closing up shop after I cook it up."
I walked into the library, understanding that Nina had a lot to tell me or give me if she was going to close her restaurant, when I knew she would get at least ten more carry out orders as most of the bars around her knew she closed at two a.m. I tugged on the cuff of my sleeve, "Side entrance, Nina. I will have cash this time."
I hung up, setting my cell phone on the massive mahogany desk, then fell into my leather chair. I scanned over the desk top covered in unopened mail from my Senate office. I picked up the piles and sorted through them, trying to think about other things until Nina brought the food for my stomach and the information for my curious mind.
Most of the mail was fan mail, supporter letters of interest and a couple petition requests. My fingers flicked through it all, swiping across a thick card envelope from a middle school in Connecticut. A school I had visited in the fall to give a speech on women in politics and present the science club with a donation check for the school to purchase new science equipment.
The large greeting card was littered and dotted with kid signatures, thanking me for visiting them in the middle of my busy schedule. There was a group picture of me with the science club that I included into the thank you card. I was standing in the middle of the group handing a check over to the science teacher on my left, to my right was a young girl leaning against me with a bright shining grin.
It was the girl who made me smile the widest as I scanned over the signatures and little notes written. I set the thank you card off to the side and laid the photograph against my computer monitor.
I opened my bottom desk drawer, digging around, looking for the thin file I had tucked in there when I arrived home from that trip. It was the medical file of the young girl next to me in the picture.
Beth Littell was thirteen years old, looking like any normal girl entering her adolescent years. She was the one who took the initiative to write me the letter last fall, telling me all about her dreams to follow in my footsteps as a Senator or maybe take on the massive goal of becoming a Doctor. Gushing about how I was her role model for girls, that I showed her a woman could be smart, pretty, nerdy and powerful all at once.
She wrote on to tell me about her science club and how they were conducting cross pollination experiments where she had created a daisy azalea hybrid that only lived a few days before a frost hit. Beth continue to tell me how excited she was about the medical research facilities I backed in the Senate, since one of them was helping her and her family figure out her ailments.
Beth was born with a rare genetic disease doctors had yet to figure out. At birth, Beth’s organs were having a difficult time adapting to her body. She developed renal failure at seven years old, requiring her to have weekly dialysis. Her lungs had also not bothered to develop fully, she was a chronic asthmatic, keeping her indoors most of the year. The most recent development was Beth's heart was failing in the last few months, coinciding with her vision blurring as the onset of cataracts took hold. To top it all off, her lymphatic system was taking a turn for the worse.
The young girl poured it all out in the letter to me, never once asking for anything for her. Just wrote on about her treatments and the transplant waiting lists she was on from the handful of facilities I supported with charitable donations, and how they worked or did not work. Beth was intensely positive in her letter, telling me that if anything, all she wanted was for her doctors to find anything through her case that could help the next kid who had one or all of her illnesses.
I made the trip to her school the same week I received the letter to meet Beth, when I did, I found a young girl who wanted to take on the world regardless of how little time she was told she had left in this life. Beth focused more energy on her science department that desperately needed a full renovation, how her science club was going to the state competition the next month and if she won the thousand dollar prize, Beth would give it to her parents to help pay down some of her medical bills.
I spent the entire day after the speech and ceremony with Beth and her parents. As I drove away from the school, looking down at the picture of her and I standing in the science lab, I called Erich to set things in motion.
I had Beth's complete medical file sent to me through Rebecca's back channels and began running through the medical files that were bigger than two of my Senate budget reports stacked together. Erich and I worked on it for hours at a time after my day in the Senate was done. Although I could not isolate what her genetic faults were, since there was so many, I was able to run a handful of growth simulators on the girl. It would be a huge feat to replace more than one set of organs at a time, in total fifteen of her organs and a revamp of her lymphatic system, but it could be done. I could do it. I would do it.
Beth deserved to take on the world and make it a better place, I would make it happen for her.
I flipped open the thin file and reviewed the bills of her medical expenses sent to me instead of the parents, having them paid them off secretly over the last few weeks. Under the guise the Littell family’s insurance company had taken on more responsibility with the bills.
Ivan had sent me an all clear on their background check yesterday morning. The Littell family was a normal middle class family of an autoworker father and a waitress mother. No connections to anything or any of my current enemies, they didn't bother to identify themselves with a religion or a political party. Just a normal American family trying to do what was right for their only daughter, who was handed extraordinary circumstances and used it as her strength, not her weakness.
I checked over the bills, then picked up the travel itinerary at the bottom of the file. Next week Beth and her parents would be flown down to Geneva on my private jet to start her preliminary treatments at the Criterion Centre. They would meet Erich first and he would explain the situation and processes in loose layman's terms. Skimming over the true nature of what we were going to do until Erich and I were both certain her body could handle the extreme renovation.
I was set to travel to Geneva in a month’s time to fill in the rest and reveal to them the true work I was doing and who I was. Then I would perform her surgeries with Erich after we had her fully stabilized and prepared for the multiple organ regrowth. I had kept this to myself until Rebecca's heart had finally taken hold and worked out how to replace the genetic strands of the bad DNA, perfecting the process.
I was not one to instill false hope, only concrete hope.
I sighed as I tucked the file back together and closed it, if Beth was a success, it would change everything. I could go ahead with other patients to continue moving towards a complete organ replacement of the human body. I would be able to repair entire systems, multiple systems in one shot. I knew that when I achieved this, Beekeeper would stop tiptoeing around me like they had and charge hard for the information. Use it to repair soldiers to send back to the front line, or build the perfect soldier. I was doing this work to give the Beth's of the world a chance to change the world as the future generations should, not set out on the creation of the infallible war machine.
I was definitely treading the thin line of playing god and being a scientist advancing humanity with the natural gifts I was born with, that in a strange way, god gave me.
The side door buzzed quietly, breaking my thoughts. The monitor broadcasting Nina standing in her long coat with a small brown box holding the white containers of food. I sighed, realizing my craving for her food was obviously bigger than my stomach. Standing up, I locked
Beth's file back into the bottom drawer, leaving the office.
Opening the side door, I held it open wide enough for Nina to step inside from the cold wind and light blowing snow. She set the small box of food onto the granite counter top next to the stove. "You are still thin as a rail. I don't know how you do it Blondie. My food is not diet food. It's fatty food." She unbuttoned her coat, tugging a bright red scarf free from her neck.
Nina was in her early fifties but didn’t look a day over forty. She could be a gentle woman if she called you friend, but I often saw in her eyes an intensity that would frighten anyone. Nina had a hard distant and intense stare, one that I caught in Rebecca a few times when she started working for me. A similar stare I found in Kit when she was sitting quietly, lost in her thoughts or memories. It was the particular stare that only came from experiencing things normal people shouldn't. Death, war, and deception.
Nina pulled heavy white Styrofoam containers out of the box, "I gave you extra egg rolls. You need to stop eating this stuff." She neatly stacked the containers, looking around the kitchen, "Where your girl Kit? She know you order from me again?" A questioning eyebrow was thrown my way.
I leaned against the counter, "She's asleep, and no, she doesn't know I ordered one more time." I smiled lightly, "I will be in a lot of trouble when she finds out."
Nina half smiled, "Good. You can't break her rules. She a good agent, she is right about keeping you closer to home." Nina dug in her coat pocket to pull out a thin envelope. "My old CIA handler stopped in the restaurant yesterday. He and I made egg rolls in the back and talked." She handed the envelope over to me, "He don't know I close to you Blondie. He started talking about this crazy church down in Tennessee that was causing some trouble with a Senator. He told me that he was being moved to the Tennessee field office to help sort through all the chit chat they picked up. He didn't tell me Senator was Senator Blondie, he doesn't know which Senator it is." She pointed at me, "You need to be more careful. The snoops are getting to close to you and I don't like it."
I opened the envelope, removing two sheets of paper covered in Nina's elegant and perfect Chinese script. I scanned over the pages as Nina continued, "The CIA and the FBI are both looking into this Church of the Rising Son. But for very different reasons. FBI want to corner them as domestic terrorists, CIA. Well CIA smells like they are trying to clean up a mess they left ignored for years and years and now big sister FBI is getting their own mops out." She tapped at the pages, "Tennessee is where FBI think they will find most of the church group. Their chit chat suspects you have another attack or two coming your way. Bigger and better than the tiny little ones you have experienced Blondie."
I swallowed hard as I read over specific details Nina had memorized and recounted for me, catching the name Alistair Montgomery more than twice. I was now becoming a front page investigation by the CIA to sway the rest of the agencies away from the fact the CIA's little Beekeeper section was after me. It was a typical distraction technique, pretending to be the honest law enforcer up front while stealing out the back door. I folded up the pages, tucking them back into the envelope, I looked at Nina, "You think I should send someone else to check into Tennessee or leave it?"
Nina shrugged, "You go digging it may cause big problems. People are getting nosy about you and you are being watched more and more. Your Kit also picking up the spotlight, squishing men and punching them in the mall all in your honor." Nina grinned, "Kit good for you. I see it on your face. She keeping you safe and she making you happy." Nina pinched my blushing cheeks, "You can't hide it from me, Blondie." She patted my shoulder, "I have to go. I need to make good friends with my bed. Making all that food tired me out." Nina pointed at the stacks of food, "There are also extra cookies in the small box, I know you actually like cookies with your cookies."
Nina wrapped her scarf around her neck, "No more carry out. You have to stay safe, if anything. Call me and I will come cook healthier things for you and your Kit." Nina headed to the side door, opened and stepped out, "Night Blondie. Sleep tight."
Nina closed the door quietly, leaving me to smile at the woman. I liked Nina for the fact she wasted no time and was direct to the point, I now liked her more for the offer to be a personal chef, it would definitely be something I would take her up on.
I walked to the first container of fresh almond chicken, picked it up and hopped up on the counter to dig in. Letting my legs swing freely as I devoured the greasy food, I knew Kit would yell at me, but honestly it would be worth it.
I took deep breaths between bites, trying to think of who I could send to Tennessee to dig further into the CIA's sudden interest in the so-called competition for my life.
The sun crowded through the only crack in Claire's long, thick room darkening curtains, like a stream of anxious concert goers wanting the coveted front row spot. The blade of light fell perfectly across my eyes, bleeding through my eyelids with bright white light. I squeezed my eyes tighter, throwing my forearm across my face to block the path of the nuisance light. I didn't want to move, I was in the serene place of being in bed and everything perfect. The blankets, the pillows and the sheets all coordinating to give me a cocoon feeling.
I gave in after a few minutes with an arm mashed against my face and rolled over with my eyes still shut to softly collide with a very warm back. The back of my hand and arm pressed against her and the grin could not be contained as my eyes fully opened.
The late night hours spent with this warm woman, replaying in my mind and body vividly. I bit the inside of my cheek, very happy that my senses were also sharing the fresh memories of Claire naked, calling out my name in breathless exhales. I sat up, leaning on my elbow to gain a better view of the woman. Asleep, her chest rising, and curled up into the mass of blankets and pillows.
I let my eyes roam over her, taking in the blonde, knowing that I would never want another if I could be this lucky and wake up to her every morning.
I would want for very little if I had this.
The vintage brass alarm clock close to Claire, held its arms at ten to seven in the morning, I smiled, Claire was sleeping in and sleeping past her usual six o'clock wake up. It made me smile because we both had done our damndest to wear away the built up tension down to nothing.
Claire moved slightly in the bed, sighing out a deep sleepy breath. The blankets around her slid down as her sleep shirt moved up further, giving me an unedited glimpse of the curve of her waist and the swell of her ribs. Both areas I had found to be soft and highly reactive to my touch.
I couldn't resist after a handful minutes, my hand moved slowly, fingertips grazing the edge of her side. Blazing the trail for my palm to rest on warm skin that sent tingles through mine. A sensation that astonished me every time it rushed over any moment I touched her in the smallest ways.
The lust streamed into my veins and I moved closer to her. Claire was asleep and I knew I should let her sleep, but the dull ache moving through me the more my hands ran over her bare skin, was telling me to do otherwise.
I ran my hand over her hip, the edge of my hand pushing down the waistband of the thin pants she wore. Flashes of what she felt like underneath forced my hand further and curl around her hip, leaving it to rest in the slight dip of her body. I settled there for a short time before I journeyed lower and over her flat stomach, pressing my body closer against her. I arched my hips involuntarily into Claire, my need to have her all over again, rising fast.
I closed my eyes, a hand now gliding over her flat, toned stomach to rest at the swell of her breasts, fingers running slowly over the soft skin they offered to me.
Claire stirred lightly, pushing back into me with a sleepy sigh, her legs moving to open, providing me more room and contact. I went to pull my hand back when it was covered by hers and dragged slowly down her stomach, past the waistband. Claire pressed my hand in the small space between her belly button and where I ultimately coveted to be, holding it there as her breaths moved away from the long and co
ncentrated ones of sleep, to short and needy.
I slowly pulled my hand out from under hers, moving it back to her side, pushing her down on her back and rolled on top of her to straddle her legs. My hands moving to her sides, lifting the sleep shirt up and out of my way so I could look at her. When Claire met my eyes with hazy and dark ones, I shivered, watching her remove the shirt completely for me and throw it off to the side.
She met me halfway when I bent to kiss her slowly. A kiss that was slow, but none the less intense. Claire's submission to me waking her up like this would not last long, she would soon find a way to take control as she had many times throughout the night.
Her hands found the edge of my shirt, gripping it, dragging it overhead and freeing me of the cloth. As she dropped the old t-shirt on the bed next to us, I took the moment to lay flat against her, my breasts pressing hard against hers. My hands moving down her side and over her stomach. When her teeth took hold of my bottom lip, I pushed one hand past the waist of the pants quickly, murmuring incoherent words against her mouth when I felt how wet she was, knowing it was all because of me.
I drew slow passes along the length of her with one finger. Smirking when she squirmed against me, hips moving up and down trying to persuade me to follow through. I went slower, teasing Claire until she bit harder on my lip. I slipped my fingers inside of Claire as her teeth pinched my lip as a low, hungry sound of approval rose from her throat.
I didn't meet the demand of her hips rising and falling right away, Claire's feeble attempt to get me to set a rhythm. I took my time, hovering over the blonde, watching her as I made love to her. I wanted to enjoy this, this slow beautiful anguish I seemed to be putting her through. The way her eyes met mine, half lidded and heavy, never leaving mine with every breath I took away with my fingers. I swallowed hard when her mouth dropped open ever so slightly to keep from panting as my fingers moved far too slow. The way Claire bit her bottom lip when I moved deeper in her, stilling her movements completely, it was incredible, beautiful and as Claire grabbed my arm, gently tugging me to continue with a whispered plea, I covered her mouth with mine, thrusting in to her quicker, feeling her release build as her legs opened wider for me. I gave in to her silent demands, no longer wanting to inflict the delicious torture I was instilling on her, pressing my palm against her as my fingers moved faster. I was rewarded instantly, hearing my name cried out from the Senators mouth, hips flexing against mine, legs clamping against my hand while her back arched up from the bed.
Redemptio Animae Page 47