Madness

by Bill Wetterman

  “Congratulation,” he said. “There was nothing wrong with your cognitive abilities at the time you took the test.”

  “If I understand the job track for my modules correctly, I’m qualified to do Van Meer’s job.”

  “Absolutely correct, Lovey,” Pendleton said with a lilt in his voice. “But as a back-up, not number one. You need him as a steady mentor for a few years yet, before you could replace a man like Hans Van Meer.”

  “Let’s stay on task,” Levi said. “I’ve read all your reports, your consultations with Doctor Pederson and myself, your stress control tests, and your mental and physical evaluations.”

  “I have to experience situations outside this hospital to bring my condition under control.” Peacock studied Levi watching her and continued. “There’s nothing more you can do for me in a hospital. Physically, I can compete in extreme martial arts one-on-one with the best and win. How am I doing so far?”

  Doctor Pederson nudged her shoulder. “You’re on a roll, but who are you trying to impress, Doctor Levi or your husband?”

  “I’m speaking to all three of you. My future is to be determined here. I’m telling you what I want the outcome to be. You rarely have a patient willing to do that.”

  He nodded.

  “All right, Mrs. Pendleton,” Levi said. “What do you want your life to be?”

  She cleared her throat. “First, I crave important work—action, being in the middle of conflict. I need a meaningful job. Second,” she turned to Pendleton, reached out and touched his hand. “Having placed my memories and the information in my files in a comfortable order in my mind, I reached a decision about us. Have you changed your mind about me?”

  “Not one wit,” Pendleton said, “I love you more than life. I want you at my side.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “You understand I do have erratic emotions and intense opinions. What I lack is relational connections. I was forming them with you when Kolb destroyed whatever progress I’d made.” She clasped his hand in hers. “I want to start again, but on the right footing. Arthur, until those connections are reestablished, I’ll be role-playing, like the actress in a movie. I will tell you when my emotions change from self-centered to loving.”

  “You’ve always been a challenge, but our talk after the accident near Malibu sealed you forever as my soul mate. I’m the bloody ruler of the world, yet only you have my heart.”

  A flush of pride rose in Peacock. “Thank you. You have my loyalty. I’ll defend you, give you children, and play an important role in your plans to save the world. Unfortunately, I can’t be continually at your side. I trained for adventure, for combat, and for espionage. Give me a role that allows me to do what I do best.”

  “And what about our children, they need a Mum.”

  “You know I killed Thomas Reed.”

  “Yes.”

  “I was gone for fourteen hours on that mission. We can work out the details.”

  “Let Arthur think on that,” Doctor Levi said. “I have more questions.”

  “Yes, all right.”

  “What should we call you? You were born Donna O’Connor. Your code name was Peacock in Hercules. Your assignment name is Laverna Smythe-Pendleton, the name many people know. Let’s select one name to move forward with.”

  “I’ll always be Peacock! But my public name should be Laverna Smythe-Pendleton.” She smiled at Arthur. “My husband calls me Lovey. No other name will fit. Donna O’Connor is insane. Peacock doesn’t work for Hercules anymore, although she’s closest to whom I’ve become.”

  “Fine,” Levi said. “Your Global Realm papers won’t have to be changed.”

  “You and I both know I have to come to grips with Donna O’Connor.”

  Levi smiled. “That emotional trauma caused your post-traumatic stress disorder and disassociation. Yes, you have to come to grips with her. I’d like to try hypnosis.”

  “You can’t hypnotize me. I’m not a good subject.”

  Levi reddened.

  “I’m sorry. Psychologists tried back in college. I submitted to three attempts. I’m more than glad to discuss everything I remember as far back as I can.”

  “We’ll try that starting a month from now. I need to see you function in society for a month first.”

  “So I’m going to be discharged.”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “I have an idea,” Pendleton said. “Van Meer and I discussed my situation today. He thinks I need a team of bodyguards far superior than I have now. This team will respond to threats on my person worldwide.”

  “I can lead that team,” Peacock said.

  Levi interrupted again. “For the first month, I’ll approve you working as an understudy. The difficulty will be controlling your rage issues.”

  “I’m working on them. I’m doing yoga and deep breathing exercises.”

  “She brought her rage issues under control in lab testing,” Pederson said, echoing his agreement. “Under fire in the field, we’ll have to see. After a month without issues, I’d release her on the condition she receives gold level medical treatment indefinitely.”

  “Gold level medical treatment?”

  “You’ve tested in the top one percent in all your modules,” Pendleton said. “That’s gold level, and there is an increased step-up of services in place to see that you continue to perform at that level.”

  Levi nodded. “I’ll approve that timetable.”

  He glanced at Pendleton. “Forgive me First Citizen, but you and your wife aren’t much different. She is a sociopath with post-traumatic stress disorder and disassociation. The only difference between you two is the ability to charm and relate to people socially.”

  “Van Meer and I were arguing about that. I’m not a megalomaniac. Am I?”

  Levi laughed. “Both of you have personalities only one out of four hundred thousand people have. Of those so blessed, thirty-five percent end up in mental institutions, prisons, or homeless—unable to cope. A small fraction, maybe one percent, achieves success beyond imagination.”

  “Simply put,” Pederson chimed in. “The two of you could be the salvation of the world or its ultimate destruction. If you focus your talents on grand ideals and achieve them for humanity, you’ll achieve fame beyond words. If not, you’ll end up either dead or despised in the History books.”

  “There is a chipper thought,” Pendleton said rising up to leave. “Remember this. Without action now, no one will be alive to write History books.”

  Peacock rushed to hug him and whisper for only him to hear. “I may not be altogether whole. But I’ve longed to make love to you, and I won’t disappoint.”

  He kissed her and she felt warm. She moved to nuzzle him, but security forces whisked Pendleton and the doctors away and escorted them out of the room.

  A shiver of hope ran through her. She would live to please him and one day realize she wasn’t acting.

  Chapter 32

  Two weeks after the riders rode off with the message from al-Sistani, one returned with wishes of goodwill and hope. Others now carried the message outward. al-Sistani disliked the feeling of confinement, but indeed, he was confined. The Global Realm drew large numbers to its side daily, even in Iran.

  This Devil, Pendleton, isolated people. Gas stations closed, except those used by Global Realm employees for work vehicles. Authorized Global personnel turned over their vehicles for electric cars as they became available for use. In most cases, Global transportation moved workers to and from their jobs.

  The cell towers came down and only government cellphones worked. The new Global Net had become an educational tool, no Facebook, no Twitter, no emails, except those screened for business purposes. The government issued one personal cellphone limited to seven family contact only, but al-Sistani had none since he refused to expose himself to Pendleton’s thugs. Regular telephone systems were non-existent.

  As the riders returned, his information grew. He ha
d Shiite allies in isolated areas of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Certainly, the true believers in Iran would not bow to Pendleton. Pakistan, although not Shiite, suffered greatly during the black night when the missiles fell. Many would join in Jihad with him. All was in Allah’s hands.

  The Sunni Taliban radicals once persecuted the Afghan Shiites, who were waiting for the coming of The Twelfth Imam. Now they’d joined with the Pashto warlords. They would support al-Sistani. He wasn’t delusional. He understood he couldn’t win a military conflict. Still he could organize a resistance to thwart Pendleton’s plans across the Muslim world.

  The West loved comfort. They couldn’t survive without the Global Realm. Not so with the Persian, Pashtun, and Arab peoples. Millions could live as they did centuries earlier and wait for their time of revenge.

  One had to think decades into the future, not days. The Chinese made up the majority of Global Realm forces entering Iran to collect weapons, fingerprint citizens, and distribute food in exchange for joining the Global Realm. Their presence forced al-Sistani to leave his home and head to the mountains. So he went and his followers with him.

  Allah be praised.

  #

  Along a path leading to the City of Cizre, a lone rider stopped and studied the landscape. He turned his horse off the path and rode down a graded area through a clump of oak and pistachio trees. Lichen growing on the dead wood smelled like violets, assuring the rider he was in the right place.

  He admired the full moon shining low on the horizon near the city on the Turkish-Syrian border. History blessed this place with stories. In medieval Islamic tradition, Cizre is the location of Thamanin, the town founded by Noah at the foot of Mount Judi where the Ark is said to have come to rest, and a "tomb of Noah" can be visited.

  The man broke into a clearing and called out, “Grandayatollah al-Sistani sends his best wishes. May Allah bless you.”

  Slowly men appeared, walking to greet him from various directions. The horseman dismounted and embraced each with a traditional kiss. The people lit a small fire, and for almost an hour, they talked and ate dates and figs.

  The meeting ended in prayer and the rider led his horse back to the path from where he’d come. He rode off to the south and away from the city. The others disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, hurrying off back into the darkness.

  All was quiet for several minutes. Then a lone figure hidden among the bushes along the hillside rose and ambled down the slope. He headed out to the path from where the rider had come. He searched in a clump of thick overgrowth until he found his bicycle, pulled it out, and headed toward Cizre at a rapid pace.

  #

  Light coming through the blinds flickered patterns on Peacock’s wall, like fairies sprinkling blessings. She’d been up for over an hour, showered, and dressed in the latest spring Global Realm outfit, one of five styles issued in her size. Her main event for the day was a debriefing by Doctor Levi. Why she’d felt so impish at their last meeting, she didn’t know. Her psyche fed on controlling every situation.

  Today had to be different if she was to be released.

  She reviewed how she would handle all the details, meet the staff, work out arrangements with Anne about George, and then wear her husband out in the bedroom, a task she looked forward to with lustful intent.

  She was about to turn on the television for the weather report, when Doctor Pederson knocked on her door. “I have someone to see you, Laverna. An old friend with a lot of things to talk about, can we come in?”

  Humph. What could she say? Whoever was there knew she was in. Peacock had no choice but to agree. “Enter at your own risk. I can be quite violent you know.”

  “I can be violent as well.”

  The unmistakable voice of Beatrice Kolb, her nemesis, flooded a heated anger through Peacock’s body and her arms tensed. The bitch survived after all. If Pederson turned his back maybe . . . No. They’d lock her away if she murdered Kolb.

  Doctor Pederson pushed Kolb through the door strapped in a wheelchair. He guided her away from the equipment adorning Peacock’s room. Peacock fixed her eyes on the damage she’d done during her rage. Her suppressed memories poured out. Yes, she’d used a special knife to gouge off Kolb’s flesh. Scabbed scars adorned Kolb’s body. She looked like a buzz saw had ripped her apart.

  “Hello Bea,” Peacock said. “Remember me.”

  Pederson turned Kolb to meet Peacock’s gaze. “Yes, I remember you well. The last thing I remember was asking you to kill me. Alas, you didn’t.”

  “You destroyed my mind. I disfigured your body. Tit-for-tat I’d say. I couldn’t control my rage.”

  Peacock saw sorrow form on Kolb’s face. Her instincts said Kolb was faking remorse. But in order to assure her release today, Peacock had to pass this test.

  “I’m sorry,” Kolb said. “I put my ego and the science ahead of your humanity. Please forgive me.”

  “I’m not mad at you anymore,” Peacock answered, “There’s nothing to forgive. You hurt me. I hurt you. We’re even.”

  Pederson frowned. Apparently, he needed to hear her say more.

  Peacock swallowed the venom she held for Kolb. “I forgive you.”

  Pederson relaxed.

  Peacock mused at how well she’d guessed the situation. Inside she could care less if Kolb said she was sorry or not. Truly, Peacock wasn’t sorry. She was insane at the time and did what insane people do. She acted on her thoughts without considering the consequences.

  “I have to ask you a question,” Kolb said. “I understand you stopped most of the missiles from firing. Why?”

  “I don’t remember actually doing that. But I know why I wanted to.” Peacock selected her words carefully. Kolb didn’t care about the missiles. Levi and Pederson planted that question. “If I’d kept my mouth shut, Pendleton would have killed Monroe with the Stinger attack. The codes and the U.S. military would have been his. Because of me, those missiles were launched, and I was responsible.”

  “Why did that matter to you?” Levi asked, standing at the open door.

  With a tilt of her head, she said, “I think I’ll keep that to myself.”

  Kolb actually chuckled. “No matter what name you call her. This woman is Peacock, unbeatable, unbreakable, and unsympathetic. Even insane, I understand that.”

  “You don’t seem insane,” Peacock said.

  “You’re being released tomorrow. I’ll never be released.” Kolb sighed. “You could become insane again or die of cancer. You have a forty-percent chance of that happening in the next ten years. I, on the other hand, have catatonic, delirious mania episodes. That’s why I’m restrained. To date, I’ve busted a nurse’s nose, thrown an intern across a room, and destroyed a bunch of equipment.” Kolb smiled. “You wouldn’t think I could by looking at me. The mind is a powerful thing.”

  “We’ve tried ECT and benzodiazepines,” Levi said. “She has a condition I’ve rarely seen, if ever, malignant, intermittent catatonia. Meaning, regardless of what we do, the condition will return without warning.”

  “Why are you sharing this with me?”

  “Both of your conditions involved the use of electrode shocks,” Levi said. “When you return for your evaluation in a month, I want to test the two of you together for similarities and differences in reactions. I wanted this meeting to occur first to see if having the two of you in the same room was even possible.”

  “I’m fine with running the tests together,” Peacock said, not at all sure she was.

  “Me too,” Kolb agreed. “I always wanted to work with Peacock as a friend.”

  I seriously doubt it.

  Chapter 33

  Once released, Peacock relaxed her head on her husband’s shoulder. Pendleton’s motorcade turned left out of the hospital grounds and headed toward the Widder Global Headquarters. She’d manipulated Levi and Pederson but had no desire to deceive her husband.

  “I’ll be honest with you,” she said. “I remember the logical details of our re
lationship, where we met, our wedding day, and the time on our island.”

  “Not ours anymore. It’s the property of the people.”

  “I know.” She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled close. “What I connect with emotionally are the intense physical stimuli—the sex, the attack on us by Lytle, and stealing your secrets without getting caught—all emotional highs.”

  Pendleton nodded. “We’ll recapture what you’ve lost. For me, I remember everything clearly. I fell deeply in love with you. Now I have you back, and I’ll make up for what Hercules did to you.”

  She squeezed his arm. “Please understand. After the car accident that killed my parents, I willingly shut off my emotions. I chose Hercules, even though they think they chose me.”

  Her throat tightened as she spit out the words. “In training, they tortured me. At first, I used my physical prowess to disable my opponents. Then Magnus’s team strapped me naked to a table for two weeks. I was water-boarded, strangled, and humiliated. I didn’t crack.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  Her mind flashed back to Agent Loomis. Her lust for Loomis raced out of control the last time they met. Could she control herself now?

  “So you know who you’re married to.” She turned full toward him. “By disconnecting personal emotions, I could be sent on any mission. I’ve had sex with over a hundred men. I enjoy the physical. But only you made me feel safe. I’ve killed more people than you can count. I don’t feel guilt. I can mimic any emotion. Before the car accident, I must have experienced them all. At least that’s what I thought.”

  “How so?”

  “Doctor Levi says I am the way I am because of survivor’s remorse. He says I’m sorry I didn’t die in the accident. What I’m trying to say is that I live in the moment.” She kissed his ear and whispered. “I can’t promise you if you put me in the positions I’m trained for I would be faithful to you. I can’t say I wouldn’t murder someone who stood in my way. I’m ruthless on a mission.”