by David Beers
They were on day two of his host’s absence, and Luke was making good use of the time. Veronica’s hypnosis had held, and another wheelchair had been provided for Tommy, though Tommy was less than happy about the whole ordeal.
Luke’s coming plan wasn’t elaborate. He possessed no tricks up his sleeves, none that he hadn’t already used. Christian would come and then he would be forced to choose how the rest of his life would go. Simple … but powerful. He had tried doing something similar by working with Twaller, but the fat man had ruined it.
The main problem, though, was what would happen after Christian made his choice. Would his host kill Christian? That couldn’t be allowed, as it would defeat the endeavor’s entire purpose. Luke’s ribs were healing, but he still was in no shape to battle Christian, let alone their kidnapper.
Luke entered Tommy’s room below the main house. All three had been given free reign of the house, though Tommy preferred his concrete cell.
“Do you need anything?” Luke asked as he entered.
“Yeah. I pissed myself,” Tommy said. “So, if you could clean me up, that would be great.”
Luke smiled. “You enjoy your pranks, don’t you?”
Tommy couldn’t smile, but Luke thought he saw some light in his eyes.
“I actually wanted to talk for a few minutes, if you were so inclined,” Luke said.
Tommy was quiet.
Luke walked further into the room and leaned against the white wall. “The next few days will see people dying, but I’m sure you’ve figured that out. The point of all this death is to change Christian. This will be the final bit of change he goes through; I’ll have nothing else to give him afterward … What frightens me, though, Tommy, is what our gracious host might do once I’m finished. I can’t imagine he will let Christian go. Yet, I haven’t quite figured out how to ensure that Christian lives while the host dies.”
Tommy glanced up at the cameras.
“Yes, they’re still recording. It’s a necessary risk. I don’t think he’ll have time to watch over us while he’s capturing Christian. There’s a chance he could watch all the hours recorded in every room, but I doubt it. I think our host is going to be more interested in the current festivities.”
“Do you really believe you’ll get out of here alive?” Tommy asked.
“Given the circumstances, yes. I shouldn’t be alive right now, but I am; I have no reason to think that will change.”
“He’s going to kill you when you’re done.”
Luke smiled. “I don’t know if he’s intrigued or feels an actual kinship. Whichever it is, he’s letting me live, sort of like a cat playing with a mouse. I think he’s hunted a lot of people over the years, but I don’t think he’s encountered anyone like me. He wants to see what I’ll do, to watch me work. It’s a compliment actually. So, yes, he may try to kill me in the end, but his curiosity will give me an advantage. I think Christian will give me an advantage, too.”
Luke knelt and pulled up Tommy’s pants leg. The man hadn’t urinated on himself, though if he could, he’d do it without hesitation to annoy Luke.
Luke looked at the back of Tommy’s leg, where the implant had been.
“Good, that’s healing well. Was it Christian’s idea, or Waverly’s, to tag you?”
“Christian’s,” Tommy said.
“And it was Christian’s idea, no doubt to have me come get you both?”
Tommy was quiet but Luke didn’t need an answer.
“He’s always so close to figuring everything out, but he never gives himself fully to it. He holds back and that’s what allows me to maneuver as I do. For a bit, I was wondering if he figured this plot out, but this mercenary changed everything. Even so, I imagine Christian is still holding back. How was he when you saw him last?”
“Going on a bit of a tangent, huh, Luke?” Tommy said.
“Indulge me. Our time together won’t last forever. How is Christian doing?”
“Not well.”
“Can you tell me a bit more?” Luke asked.
“Go fuck yourself, Luke. I’m not telling you shit. Use all that brainpower of yours to figure out how he’s doing, or fucking kill yourself. It doesn’t matter to me which you choose.”
Luke sighed and stood up from the wall. “He’s not well. I know that. It’s imperative that he lives, Tommy. I think that I’ll get out of here, but I’m not sure about him. I’m worried that he might not want to, once we’re finished.” Luke held Tommy’s eyes. “If that’s the case, I may need your help. You might need give him the push he needs to get out of this place.”
Tommy chuckled. “I’ll push him whichever way is the opposite you want to go him, Luke. That I can guarantee you.”
Luke stared for a few seconds, silent, his face still. “I know you’ll do the right thing when the time comes, Tommy. You always have.”
Luke left Tommy’s room and walked back upstairs. He found Veronica sitting in the kitchen. Windows wrapped around the entire room, giving stunning views while one ate. She was alone and staring at a mountain peak in the distance.
“Hi, Veronica,” he said.
“Hi, Luke.” She didn’t turn away from the view.
“Christian is coming to visit us soon.”
“Is he?” She could have been asking about dinner later in the week.
“Yes. It will be the four of us again, Tommy, you, me, and Christian.”
“That’s good. I’ve missed him,” she said.
“We all have, I’m sure. You remember your purpose, though, don’t you? What we’ve talked about at length?”
Veronica nodded, her mouth closed.
“Good. I didn’t think you would forget, but I wanted to make sure. That purpose is going to be extremely important when he arrives. You may want to … change it, and that can’t be allowed to happen. Okay?”
She nodded again.
“There’s something else, Veronica. Will you look at me for a second?”
She turned toward him.
“Thank you.” Luke stepped to the kitchen table and sat down. “I spoke to Tommy about this and I think he’s on board too. The man that’s holding us here, you remember him, don’t you?”
Veronica nodded.
“Once Christian gets here, that man may try to kill us all. You, me, Tommy, even Christian. It’s imperative, Veronica, that no matter what happens, Christian lives. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
“What do you understand?”
“That Christian has to live.”
“What will you do to make sure that happens?” Luke asked.
“Anything. Everything.”
“Will you kill for him?”
Veronica nodded.
“Will you die for him?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Luke leaned back in the chair and looked at his captive. Luke was a captive now as well, but Veronica was his, and would be his until he decided it was time for her to die.
At least, that’s what he thought, but her last response gave him pause.
Of course.
“What did you mean by that, Veronica? By of course?”
“That I will die for Christian if necessary. That fits my purpose, doesn’t it?”
She sounded as she should now, but Luke was silent as he thought over those two words. They were something from before the hypnosis, a left-over from her personality; Luke held no doubt about it. She might be able to fit it into her current purpose, but that didn’t mean it originated there.
What does it mean? he wondered.
The answer was obvious, though. It meant that the short time she’d been under his control couldn’t erase everything completely. It also meant that when he needed her most, she might revert to her previous programming—to actually being Veronica instead of the version he created.
Tommy would perform fine. He could be counted on.
Her, though …
Luke didn’t move a single muscle even as frustration grew in
him. He couldn’t do anything about this problem now. Veronica was as necessary to this endeavor as anything else.
“Veronica? Do you remember your purpose? Can you tell it to me now?”
She told him, and Luke decided he would have to be satisfied.
Chapter 26
The animal stood in the lobby of the corporate apartments. The building was 10 stories high, though he only needed to go to the fourth floor.
He wondered, briefly, how his target might have acquired this FBI agent. It was another odd thought—he would be glad when this was over, as he didn’t like having so many.
Still, why not try a different way?
He turned to the security guard, made eye contact, and then walked over. The animal was not used to this, and understood immediately that he must look strange. He didn’t care. He would kill the man if it didn’t work, then simply go upstairs and get the agent.
“I’m here to see Christian Windsor.”
“Yes, sir. Your name?”
The animal had not thought about that, so he said, “Just tell him that he’s expecting me.”
“Let me give him a call.”
The security guard gave no notice of the animal’s oddness—none that most people could see, anyway. He was well trained to make sure guests felt accommodated, though the animal could sense his slight nervousness.
“Hi, Mr. Windsor. I have a guest in the lobby for you. He said that you were expecting him?” A brief pause as the security guard stared at his desk. “Yes, sir. I’ll send him up.” He ended the call and looked at the animal. “He’s on floor four, room 4346.”
The animal turned and walked across the lobby. He reached the elevator, pressed the button, and then stepped on. As it rose to the fourth floor, he wondered if that’s how his target would have handled the situation. He wondered if Titan would have felt the same satisfaction he now did.
Christian unlocked the door and then went to the living room.
The mouth and other were sitting there, both staring at him as if he would have answers, though no questions had been asked. He knew who was coming for him and he knew that he should call Waverly. He had maybe three minutes to do so, but there was no point.
“I don’t think so, either,” the other said. “It’s best to end this quickly and quietly, if you want my honest opinion.”
The mouth nodded, its grin disguising whether it actually believed the affirmation.
Christian had spent the night alone, or as alone as one could be given his current company. No doctors in white coats had come to take him away. He’d kept his phone off, and Waverly had stayed away. He simply laid on the couch, not sleeping, but considering what was to happen.
The mouth continued urging him to focus on the impending choice, but Christian couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. He didn’t know which.
His mind thought the mouth was right—that a choice was coming—but it gave him no other information. And Christian wouldn’t go back into his mansion, not for all the info in the world. To go back there would be to break completely. He’d stay out here with these two non-existent creatures, listening to their taunts, but he wasn’t going back in.
The animal had wasted no time coming. The third morning after Luke’s abduction, and here he was.
Why call Waverly? There was nothing to win. Waverly couldn’t hide what he’d done, not like he really wanted to. No, let Christian go to his end and let Waverly go to whatever awaited him. They had been in different places for much of this journey, and there was no reason to change that now.
Christian heard the handle turn and then the door open. His body tensed and the mouth laughed from across the room. Christian looked to the living room’s entrance, waiting for the animal to arrive.
His footsteps fell across the hardwood floor, and then he was in front of Christian and Christian’s new friends.
Glasses. Thin. A face that had never known humor.
Christian stifled a laugh, turned his head to the mouth, and saw that it was facing the killer—its own cloudy flesh smiling. It also found this funny.
A nerd had come to kill Christian.
He stifled another laugh.
The animal moved forward and despite the lethalness with which he walked, the laugher intensified inside Christian. This was the exact opposite of Charles Twaller, the last person to inflict tremendous pain on Christian. He moved with precision and purpose, without a single thought of joy at his current task.
“I’m going to see the whole gamut!” Christian shouted just as the animal reached him.
The mouth was laughing, bellowing actually. The other was quiet, crying his silent, bloody tears.
Christian kept laughing even as a needle entered his neck. He kept laughing until he couldn’t anymore.
The next day, Waverly entered Christian’s apartment. The door had been left open. Nothing was disturbed except for two chairs in the living room. They sat facing each other in the middle of the room, a strange place no doubt.
Waverly looked over the apartment, but there had been no struggle.
No police had been alerted about this. Waverly simply started calling Christian around noon, and when he hadn’t heard anything by three, he decided to head over.
Christian’s phone lay on the couch. It was off.
Waverly moved from the living room to the kitchen and there he saw the first sign that something had happened. Before, it would have been possible to believe that Christian had simply left. That idea dissipated with the puddle of blood resting on the table. Some of it had rolled across and dripped down the floor, creating a separate, smaller pool.
The tracking device they had previously implanted lay in the blood.
It’d been taken out and discarded.
There was no forced entry. No struggle besides this little bit. Christian had known the man was coming and let him enter. He hadn’t called Waverly, hadn’t given any heads up.
And what did you do last night to make sure this wouldn’t happen? Did you call anyone? Did you place agents outside? Was anyone watching this?
No. Waverly had done nothing.
He’d simply let it be, and now both his agents were gone, reunited with Luke and another psychopath whom Waverly set loose.
He grabbed a kitchen chair and sat down. He stared at the blood for some time.
Good luck, Christian, he thought.
Chapter 27
Christian dreams, and he’s finally able to enter his mansion without the trappings of reality—whatever that means anymore.
He dreamt like this once before, when he discovered the truth about Luke, seeing the entire floor that had been dedicated to his partner.
He dreams now because it’s the only way his mind can talk to him. His inability to navigate his mansion, as well as his refusal to go there, has made it impossible. There is a corruption happening throughout his brain, which is to say his synapses are not firing as they should. There has been rewiring, or growth, inside his head and it’s created separate entities.
However, the piece which is still Christian does desire to continue as it had before. Indeed, that’s all it wants—to keep helping its owner with his true wishes. It understands something is wrong internally, but it doesn’t know how to fix the problem. Mutiny is occurring underneath what should be its reign, yet it cannot see nor find the mutineers.
It still does all it can, though, sending up another dream. Forcing Christian to see the man that has kidnapped him instead of all the other issues being thrown at him.
There will be choices in Christian’s near future—but that is not the most pressing component to keeping him alive. The most pressing issue is how to defeat the man holding him captive, because eventually, he will kill them all.
Christian dreams of his mansion, meaning he is no longer in control. His subconscious is. Christian watches as his body walks into the animal’s room. It is still bare and there is a hole in the middle, the cover shoved to the side. A pink light shines from beneath, somehow l
ighting up the dark tunnels he walked through earlier.
Veronica stands in the room. His mother, too. They stand above the hole, the light shining up and tinting their bodies that pale pink color.
“Christian, you’re going to die soon,” his mother says.
“If you don’t focus on what is important.”
Christian finds that he has control over his mouth, though not his body. “I don’t know what’s important anymore. It used to be catching Luke. Then it was saving you, Veronica. Now … it’s … I don’t know.”
“The man who has you now is going to kill you, and that’s certain,” his mother says.
“All that matters right now is survival. If you don’t survive, there is no saving anyone, or catching Luke. Do you see that?”
Christian’s head nodded, though he didn’t tell it to.
“Luke is going to want to keep you alive, as well as himself. He will not care if Tommy or I die,” Veronica says. “We are inconsequential for the most part. You’re not.”
“You must work with him when you see him. He will tell you when to act, and you must act more ruthlessly than you ever have before. If you don’t, you’ll die. Luke will go ahead with putting you through his gauntlet, and then this animal will decapitate you, or something just as gruesome.”
Veronica continued. “Listen. We’re almost out of time. The car you’re riding in is slowing down, and we think you’ll be arriving soon. Luke will want to kill this man before he has his fun with you. He will not want that hanging over his head the entire time. Pay attention to what happens, and be ready to work with Luke one last time.”
“It’s either that or you die, son.”
Tommy sat in the kitchen looking out at the road leading up to the house. It was long and winding, with trees lining it for miles. About a hundred yards from the house, the trees ended though, and one could see who was coming.