by CG Blade
“Its appropriate Ter but you need to change up the wording.”
“Petra…?”
“Shouldn’t it be ‘Secret Agent Woman’?”
“You’re going to be a handful Petra.”
“Yes I am Ter, yes I am.”
The colorful banter continued while Petra surveyed the mansion area and kept an eye out for more intruders. While unwrapping another Twinkie and devouring it she brought up her HUD again scanning the horizon. It was Eight O’clock in the Morning sunny and eighty-two degrees. Perfect day for a party, she thought.
Chapter 16
COMPLICATION
“What a beautiful day right girls?” The sun was shining brightly on Ray Nelson’s tanned and darkened face as he handed an empty glass of scotch to one of his bartenders standing behind a bamboo covered bar top filled with colored bottles and liquor. He had landed on the Grand Cayman Island during the night and the festivities had started early.
“Fill that up would you Eric?” he asked. The salty sea breeze was flowing all around him, kicking up his brown shorts and favorite aloha shirt covered with hula girls and palm trees.
There were beautiful naked and half-naked women in various forms of swimwear all sunning around him in lounge chairs as he soaked up the ocean and all its beauty. He was standing against the stone railing that was the top of his mansion four floors up from the ground. The sandstone deck was half as big as an aircraft carrier’s runway and needed a lot of people to fill it up. Everyone who was an inside witness to his escapades could expect the royal treatment when it came to his famous parties.
“Here you go sir,” Eric said, handing him a full glass of scotch. “No ice.”
“Thanks Eric. Hey, who’s that new girl…over on the chair?” Ray was now pointing to a girl who was by herself looking out over the ocean away from most of the crowd.
“I’m not sure sir. I’ve never seen her before”
Nelson was on the prowl now. He had a little liquor in him and he was a little buzzed. He didn’t like Arcing and thought that he shouldn’t waste the brain cells he had left to some haphazard drug that could do him more damage but he loved his liquor almost as much as he loved his ladies.
“Hi, I’m Ray. And you are…?” He extended his hand out to this beauty sitting alone with exposed legs crossed over each other. A blue bikini accentuated her curvy features. Black sunglasses adorned her head, covering her eyes.
“I’m Judith—Judith Merril.”
“Great,” Ter said. “You picked a Canadian science fiction author who died One-Hundred years ago? Who’s next? Margaret Cavendish?”
“Your guy at the door said it was ok if I came in for a while.”
“Anyone who looks like you should be able to go anywhere they want to darling.” Ray was now putting it on strong and fast, staring at her assets.
“Why, thank you. That’s very kind of you. Is he like a wrestler or something? The guy at the door, I mean?”
“Oh he’s just a friend who looks out for me. Let’s not talk about him. Let’s talk about US.”
Petra was again filing through some of those witty responses and humorous anecdotes she had stored away in her downloading process. She picked one and let it rip.
“Let’s not—any part of you that touches me you’re not getting back.”
“Ouch.” Ter said softly and swiftly.
“Why kitty’s got claws! I like that in a kitty!” Ray said loudly and proudly.
“If you’ll excuse me Ray I need to use the ladies room. Where is it?”
“Downstairs sweet thing and I’ll be up here waiting for you. You got the candy I like!”
Petra got up from her chair and she looked back spotting Ray watching her walk away swaying to-and-fro towards a set of stairs like every movement he saw was going to be his last.
“We’ve got to get down to business Ter. Do we have blueprints of this man jungle?”
“Yes Petra. And may I say you are an inspiration for women the world over?”
“Thanks.”
Ter pulled up the prints to the mansion while Petra walked downstairs and found the hallway to the bathroom. On the way, she passed two floors of naked women writhing around some of them arcing. The charcoal colored smoke was everywhere filling up the top half of each floor like a fire had just been put out. Most of the women didn’t see her at all. They were too far gone looking into each other’s minds from the devices Nelson had set up all over the room to mimic Arc 17. Most of them were in various states of orgasmic pleasure linked to each other’s sexual thoughts and memories unaware of their surroundings.
“That Bastard,” Petra rang out as she found the door to the bathroom went inside and locked it.
“Yes Petra. Arcing is an art form now and a substance abuse problem nationwide. Should I add Bastard to your list…?”
“No Ter I’ll let you know. What’s under us right now?” Petra was looking herself over in the mirror fixing her long blond locks and checking out her beautiful alabaster skin.
“There seems to be a tunnel system that leads to a dock near the Cobalt Coast just north of here. It was never added to the final plans but I managed to pull up the working contractor’s copy. There is a lot of space under us that is not accounted for. We should start there.”
Petra donned her sunglasses and opened the door to find Kirk standing there inches from the door looking down on her with no expression whatsoever on his face. “Hi there big boy what are you up to these days? About maybe seven feet tall I’m guessing?” was her first response to this thing looking down on her?
“Ray needs…you…now.”
“I don’t suggest any of your witty banter here Petra. He looks like a piece of construction equipment.”
There were two ways to go here: act kindly and go with the tall man or do the opposite and make him mad. “Ok there beefcake I’m trying to think of a nice complement but somehow nothing comes to mind.”
“Oh this is great.” Ter actually gasped.
“I need guns now Ter!”
Kirk whipped his arm back and began what could only be described as the sound of a giant wind tunnel from his big bulky arm movements.
Petra ducked and landed on her knees head bent back. Her armor began to surface and wrap around her. She rotated her shoulder with her fist out to meet his crotch with enormous force.
“What the…!” Her hand hit him as his giant fist took out the doorjamb and went through the wall.
“He’s—his—crotch is some kind of metal Ter!”
Petra backed up in a crab-like fashion as quickly as she could until she hit the tiled wall behind her. Kirk wasn’t fazed by her hit. He never showed a response. He just kept coming at her.
Petra fired both her Colts from the floor until they emptied.
“Not sure he likes that Petra.”
“I’m going to need something stronger Ter!”
“It is coming up now Petra. Which model would you like to choose from?” Her HUD was now showing a catalog of every weapon in history in front of her eyes.
Kirk who was now standing over her, picked her up by her feet with both hands and began tightly spinning her around a couple of times over his head in a massive circular windy motion hitting every wall and knocking pieces of various lights, cabinets and molding to the dusty ground. His final act was to throw her into the back wall of the room opposite of the door sending her sailing through the tiled wall into the next room.
“Look Ter. There’s the basement door...” She slowly pointed to it now covered in dirt and debris. Drywall dust and stone fragments found their way into every crevice of her blue swirled armor.
“We could have used the map Petra.”
Kirk was pushing his way through the wooden beams and conduit that ran through the walls.
“That looks good Ter.” Petra picked out the only thing she thought would stop him. She rose up quickly and pointed the Hydroar Rocket Launcher in his direction. “What are you doing here big boy? Di
d someone leave your cage door open?!” She pulled the trigger and a four-foot golden flame shot out the back of the launcher. The projectile left the launcher and hit him squarely in his giant chest. The force of the blast picked him up and sent him through two rooms and into a hot tub. The water smoked and sparked as naked women along with pieces of the mansion and liquid went flying everywhere. Petra knew she had to get out of there quick before Ray or some other Kirk caught up to her. She headed down the basement steps through the big wooden door she found earlier and closed it behind her.
Petra kept pushing through the damp tunnel system past various dimly lit rooms hoping to gain a little distance between her and whatever as Ter informed her Cooper was contacting her.
“Hey Jim, I’m a little busy right now…”
“Petra we’ve got a situation here.”
“Tell me about it.”
“One of our staff Dreama Vernucy was a robot—a replacement. We don’t know which and we can’t find the real girl. We’re looking for her now.”
“Okay, wow. Have you ever seen the big guy Nelson has?”
“No. What are they robots?”
“Not sure. I had a fistful of crotch at the time.”
“What—?”
“They’re big and ugly. Real ugly. Not sure what they are. It’s Nelson’s bodyguard or something.”
Petra could see light at the end of the sea soaked tunnel now.
“It doesn’t surprise me one bit Jim, about a robot from Nelson, I mean.”
“Ok. I’ll talk to you later. I’m headed for NIB headquarters. I just wanted to let you know Petra.”
“Ok Jim thanks.”
Petra switched off her comset and came up to the tunnel exit. It was a large steel door with a wire mesh window that jutted upwards covering the rocky terrain of the tunnel’s opening. A locked Padlock with a small bolt was attached to the door that she picked easily and opened. She pushed the creaky rusty heavy iron door open. Sitting in front of her on the dock was Nelsons’ yacht. It’s massive like all of his toys she thought. Petra made her way up the rocky walkway to the sandy edge of the water soaked dock and by now her armor had retreated and she had dusted off and was back in her swimwear. There were two men in black clothing sitting on the top of the gangplank with guns. They were taking it easy talking to each other. Obviously, they haven’t been notified that there was an altercation at the mansion yet she thought. She didn’t see a ship’s captain or any crew walking around on the boat. She put her sunglasses on and proceeded up the sandy beach towards the boat dock.
“We didn’t learn anything from Nelson. Maybe we can get some answers from his yacht crew.”
“Yes if we don’t kill them first.”
“I haven’t killed anyone yet Ter.”
She entered the dock and walked towards the gangplank. Petra stood at the bottom of the wooden white incline and waved cheerfully to the two men holding the guns. They became less relaxed and up righted themselves.
“Miss you gotta go. No visitors I’m sorry.” One of them now was holding his gun in front of him pointing it straight at her.
“Ter these guys are not metal and there’s a lot of heat coming off them.”
“Those look like piercer guns Petra.” Piercer guns housed bullets with barbs that stuck in flesh and bone and drilled into their victims.
“Hi fellas I just want to see your ship it’s so pretty! Is that okay?” Petra asked pulling her glasses down off her nose so she could get a better view. Her targeting HUD was now up and the calculations were reeling in front of her eyes. “You think it would be okay—okay?” She asked both of them now standing at attention. “Look fellas, no guns!” Petra spun around like a ballet dancer performing her signature move. They both turned to look at each other. There were two pops and it was all over.
“What the—” One of the men looked down and the shirt pocket covering his chest was covered in an ever-growing dark wet stain. The man fell instantly. Petra held both barrels up to her mouth and blew the Cobalt smoke off the ends of the Colt barrels. The second man fell over seconds later.
“That was a kill.”
“Yes it was Ter, yes it was. Actually it was two but who’s counting? They were bad—very bad.”
Petra made her way up the gangplank grabbed both of the men’s guns and threw them into the ocean. She pushed the limp bodies out of the way and stepped onto the swaying yacht. She checked all the crew’s heat signatures then easily tied them up.
Ray Nelson was now watching the video feed of the free-for-all at the mansion in his study with growing curiosity, admiration, and displeasure. He radioed the yacht crew to be on the lookout and stay sharp for Judith Merril. He was too late. She had the captain of the boat chart a course for Miami and silenced all outgoing communications. She could hear Nelson on the radio getting a little more upset each time he tried to reach them as they got further away and didn’t answer back.
Chapter 17
ALLEGATION
“Raymond I’m telling you I had no part of this—thing you’re describing. I don’t even know where to start with this,” President Long told Ray Nelson as she sat with her flat brown scuffed shoes up on the Presidents Resolute desk in the Oval Office. She was dressed in a red pantsuit putting red lipstick on with her private Vidset sitting in front of her. A giant gold-rimmed mirror sat on the desk in front of her as she applied her gaudy face paint.
“She had armor—some kind of blue armor and guns—lots of them, big ones. It is way beyond anything I’ve seen out in the open. Someone has been busy. She—it—was in my house! She destroyed half my house and Kirk!” Long could tell Nelson was mobile moving in his Aeolus cruiser maybe?
“Raymond you’re not one to get easily flustered. Do I detect a chink in the armor?”
“Absolutely not!” he replied sternly. “But remember this dear: I own the market. I corner it. I have the weapons and the power. I can make someone’s life uncomfortable if I need to.”
“Are you threatening me Raymond?” Long was now sitting up and was holding the Vidset inches from her face.
“No dear. I nipped the collider rumors in the butt and now you need to take charge and nip this. I will not have something running around this planet taking out my life’s work. You owe me and owe me big. You wouldn’t be sitting there with your heels on that desk if it wasn’t for me.” Nelson was now laying it all on the line.
“You’re—scared Raymond,” she said condescendingly. “Aren’t you? For the first time since I’ve known you. I smell fear coming off of you.”
There was silence for a second.
“You’re going to sit there behind that desk and tell me I’m scared?” he said. “You’ve got WASP soldiers around you everywhere all the time! I’m at least enjoying what I’ve got. What do you have? You have a big white house with two idiots running around telling the press ‘let’s tell everyone how great we are, how much we care about you little people while we rake in the dough’. You’re Deplorable. Don’t ever talk about me personally or I’ll shut it down and shut it down hard.”
Long was listening to a side of Nelson she had never heard before. She must have struck an icy nerve somewhere in that thing he called a heart.
“Okay Raymond. We are through here. I’m not going to apologize to you or anyone for that matter. We’ve come too far to throw it all away because someone’s feelings were hurt. I’ll do what I can on my end. I would think that if you want to catch this thing you would help me out.”
“Fine dear. Why don’t you start with Cooper?” Nelson’s voice was now backing down to its normal tone, as if he switched it on command forgetting about the earlier transgression.
“Cooper? What makes you think he has anything to do with this? He’s at a hospital with some scientists worrying about the collider incidents.”
“I just happen to have some files here that will pique your interest. Take a look at them and tell me if there isn’t a chance that he’s up to something.”
Long ended the call abruptly and waited a couple of seconds for the files to download. Dreama was everywhere within the complex with the exception of the Preservation Room level. Her daily life consisted of handling employee assignments and daily routines that a typical office manager or supervisor would do. There were conversations with every known associate of Cooper including himself in situations that ranged from discussing Project Cobalt to talking about “Long and what an ass she was”. There was the meeting in the lecture hall to discuss HAARP and the microchip removal. Everything that was held in private and in confidentiality in Cooper’s life was unfolding in front of Long’s eyes from a moving person’s point of view. Long watched the video carefully for the next two hours and didn’t know what pissed her off most: the fact that Cooper had these secrets or that Nelson had this video.
“Roger would you please set up a meeting with Jim Cooper ASAP?” she asked through her Vidset, her voice monotone and ridged.
“Yes Ms. Long. Right away,” he snapped back ever vigilant ending the call.
Long knew she had to as Nelson put it, “nip this in the butt” right away. There was no doubt that what she had in mind would be swift and complete.
***
What President Long didn’t know was that Petra had Ter hacked into all Three Presidents’ and Ray Nelson’s Vidset after the first meeting at the White House. Petra was starting to get a better picture of how the first female President of the United States and her friends were doing their business together and she had the old video feeds from the White House and every conversation they had together.
“Our President Long is shall we say politically and morally ambiguous Ter?”
“Yes you could say that Petra.”
“After all this spy work I guess one could call you Deep Throat Ter.”
“I’m not even touching that one Petra.”
Petra continued up the Florida coast towards Miami with Ray Nelson’s yacht dividing the ocean and his crew gagged and bound. She was giving them an unwanted lecture on the following title: Ray Nelson, The Man and the Myth, A Biography in Evil while they sat on the deck rolling their eyes and turning blue trying to make themselves pass out and commit suicide by shutting down their own circulatory and pulmonary system holding their breath for extended periods of time.