“Dr. Williams,” I began without hesitation. “I’ve come for my mother.” I stared into his dull eyes. Though my body looked calm and confident, inside I was terrified. Here stood the man who had given the order to torture me and my brothers. This is the man who sent thugs to hunt us. This man is the reason my mother was feeling anguish this very minute.
“My dear girl, it’s clear Margo didn’t teach you proper manners. What a pity. Well, let’s begin again, shall we? Please, have a seat. Let’s chat for a while. Catch up. It’s been too many years, and I am so very pleased you’ve come back to me.” He motioned toward a black leather sofa and positioned himself across from me on a matching chair. Not sure what to do, I obliged.
“Where are your brothers? I assumed they would be with you.” As he spoke, I tried to push my nearly palpable fears aside so I could focus on his emotions. I needed to read him so I would know how to proceed with this conversation. But the harder I tried to concentrate on him, the more upset I felt and the less I could sense anything besides the most obvious: This was an egotistical man who was truly happy to see me. I wanted to vomit.
“My brothers are at the police station right now. We have made arrangements. I am to be allowed to walk out of this building with our mother. A taxi will be waiting for us at the front of this main building. It will take us directly to the police station to meet my brothers. We will then disappear and you will never have any contact with any of us again.” My voice sounded to me as if it were coming from somewhere far away. It wasn’t the voice of a fifteen-year-old girl who grew up on a ranch. My voice sounded like my mother’s. Confidence reverberated from every phrase.
“What an interesting way to start a conversation, my dear,” he said condescendingly. “Why on earth would I want to see you or your mother go? You’ve only just got here. And I have so many wonderful plans for us!” Williams smiled as if all that talk about police was some of the cutest stuff he’d ever heard.
I chose to ignore his patronizing tone and continued, “If my mother and I have not arrived safely before the deadline, the local, state and federal authorities will be given highly incriminating evidence pertaining to the unethical and illegal operations you have conducted at The Institute.
“Inside an hour, they’ll be pounding on that lovely set of mahogany doors over there with warrants to search the entire campus. Oh, and they’ll have another warrant specifically for your arrest. You’ll be charged on multiple counts including the kidnapping of Dr. Margo Winter.”
I finished my speech and felt a wave of fury flash through the madman in front of me. His face turned an angry red and for the first time, I noticed a flesh colored bandage wrapped around his neck that had been somewhat concealed by the high collared shirt he wore under his suit. Inside I cringed because I knew who would have inflicted that injury. And if he was injured and not killed, then mom’s attempt failed. This must be the reason for the tremendous pain I felt emanating from her. She had been punished.
“You impudent little girl! How dare you come into my world and threaten me! Ungrateful brat! You differ from regular children; don’t you realize it was I who gave you those gifts?
“I was always there for you and your brothers. It was my gifted mind that created the original formula. My efforts brought you and the boys to live in luxury while we cared for and nurtured your new talents. Your biological parents never wanted you! I saved you from being aborted, and this is the thanks I get?”
I could feel his anger wean just enough for him to fake a syrupy sweet tone again. “Contact your brothers and invite them to come here with you. I already have my chefs preparing a delicious banquet of food in your honor. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. I’ll take care of you, my Meg. You and your brothers will live in peace here where we can celebrate your unique gifts and provide a proper education.” His voice was completely calm again. It amazed me that he was so delusional, but I let him keep talking. The more time he wasted the better.
“You know, Meg, You three are not alone.” He said this with a conspirator’s air. At first, I thought he meant that he wanted to be with us. More of that same goo he spewed a couple of minutes before. But then, I felt something different. He was beaming with a sick kind of pride.
“What do you mean?” I broke my cool silence to ask.
“Well, there were others before you and still more after.” With a dismissive wave of his hand he added, “Not all the subjects survived, but a lot of them did, like you and your brothers. You see, Meg. You have family here, with me. Just as much love and loyalty as you feel for…oh, what are the boys’ names?” he asked as if their names weren’t terribly important to him.
“My brothers are Alik and Evan,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, yes, of course. You have lots of family right here with me. Dozens and dozens of them who would love to see their long-lost sister.”
“You mean we weren’t the only ones to survive?” For some reason, I had assumed we were the only living subjects.
“The only ones!” The doctor sat up straight in his chair, grinned and leaned closer to me. “My dear, you have a very large family of siblings just like you!”
“Like me? You mean ‘Metahumans.’ You made more metahumans out of babies?” I couldn’t help it. My plan to deliver my calm speech and then remain cool until it was time just flew out the window.
“Well, not exactly like you and not just babies. You and the boys were the only surviving subjects from the original formula. When Margo stole you away from me, she also destroyed all data documenting the treatments you three had been given. She wiped out everything,” he said shaking his head sadly.
“We spent months trying to recreate the formula, and eventually we did, but it was never exactly the same. There was an element to yours that was still evading my scientists. But here you are now, back where you belong. And now my scientists can pick up where they left off all those years ago.”
I was feeling dizzy, nauseous and furious. “Why! Why did you create us?”
“Oh, my dear. Don’t you understand? I created my metahumans to help mankind. You and the others like you are the ultimate race. You’re stronger, more resistant to illness, far more intelligent and quick to heal. Why, I’ve created a race of superhumans far better than God’s original. He made people fragile, breakable, weak and needy. He wanted to keep all the glory and power for himself. Through science, I’ve created a superior race of people whose bodies and minds are beyond…above…meta! God either couldn’t or wouldn’t give us that gift. You see, Meg, you’re no longer a ‘child of God.’ You’re a child of mine!” His voice resonated triumphantly around the marble room.
I must have looked completely stricken because the doctor turned to me, frowned ever so slightly and said, “Oh my dear, I’ve upset you. Here, let me get you a glass of water.” He snapped his fingers and in marched a beautiful woman, this one blond.
“Yes, sir?” she asked
“Mary, please bring our Meg a glass of cool water. She seems a bit flush.”
“Right away, sir.”
“Meg, would you like to lie back on the sofa?”
My world was turning upside down. What was I hearing? There were others like us? This doctor created us because he loves us? He gave us gifts we were to be using for the betterment of mankind? I have a family here?
Blondie returned with a tray carrying a tall crystal glass of water. It looked delicious, so without thinking, I accepted it and took four big gulps. Only then did it occur to me it may have been drugged.
“Yes, I think I will lie back,” I said truly worried I was about to tilt off the edge of sanity.
And just as I felt the cool leather envelop me, I thought of something very scary. Not once had Dr. Williams seemed the least bit concerned about authorities.
Chapter 46 House Keeping
Having been raised on a secluded ranch in Texas, the children never had reason to learn the proper etiquettes involved with motel s
tays. Not that they were terribly worried about etiquette these days, no they had bigger things to deal with. But the one little detail they forgot to do before they left the motel was about to cause a pretty chaotic moment for a sweet, unassuming lady named Barb.
Four sharp knocks at the door to the room in which Maze was waiting for Meg caused his ears to perk up. Four more sharp knocks made Maze run to the door. So by the time Barb, the cleaning lady had called, “Housekeeping!” she was already opening the door with her master key.
Maze crouched, as if stalking a prairie dog back on the ranch. Carrying an arm full of towels, and humming the theme to her favorite soap opera, Barb shuffled two steps into the room. That’s when Maze sprang at her, more to get her to move out of the doorway than anything else.
In a flash he had her flat on her back, white towels still floating to the ground. This all happened so quickly that Barb didn’t even have a chance to scream before Maze climbed on top of her rather ample body, leaned down toward her face with his mouth open, teeth bared and gave her a big ol’ sloppy ‘thanks for opening the door’ lick across her face.
Maze was half way across the parking lot by the time Barb found her voice and started screaming. He really wasn’t concerned about that, though. He was thrilled to be free! His nose quickly picked up the scent he was looking for and ran at full speed to find his Meg.
What was that little piece of forgotten motel etiquette?
The kids forgot to put the “no housekeeping” card on the door before they left.
Chapter 47 The Plans
Evan checked his watch and glanced at his map once more. He was wearing tan coveralls, the kind he saw the maintenance crew wearing yesterday. He walked confidently around the perimeter of the complex with a large pair of sheers and a canvas sling pack. At each predetermined spot Evan casually leaned into a bush, took out one of the explosives, adjusted the remote access detonator and placed it gently against the building.
Dressed as a laborer, no one even took a second glance at him as he continued his work. After planting the sixth and final explosive, Evan sauntered over to the smaller building at the southeast corner of the compound.
Alik was just hanging up the cell phone when Evan walked up to him. They had picked up the phone that very morning from a mobile phone dealer conveniently located across the street from their motel room.
“Everything’s happening as planned,” Alik whispered, while looking through his binoculars at the tall white building.
“Yep, so far, so good,” Evan whispered back. He was examining the remote detonator. Once he was satisfied with the way it looked to be functioning, he put it carefully down beside him in the grass and picked up his binoculars.
“What time do you have?” Alik asked.
“Seven minutes. She has seven minutes left.” Evan was sounding a lot more confident than Alik felt. Alik was starting to worry. They hadn’t seen any sign of their sister since she first walked into the building nearly forty-five minutes before. What if they lost both their mom and sister? How would he be able to take care of Evan and himself? How could he live with all the detailed memories of how awesome life used to be before a real-life monster killed half his family?
There was nothing he or Evan could do, but wait these last few minutes. That was the plan. But the dark scenarios continued to burn through his mind. This whole plan they’d devised was feeling less and less airtight. Too many variables were beyond their control. Things could go very badly. Very.
Chapter 48 All That Glitters…
“Would you excuse me for a moment, dear? I must get a message to an old friend. They’ll be anxious to hear of your arrival. I’ll only be a moment. Please relax.” Dr. Williams shuffled out of this main part of his office to what looked like an adjoining private suite and closed the door gently behind him.
I was grateful for the time to think. I needed to clear my head. I needed to check the time. Seven minutes. I only had seven minutes left before part two of the plan went into effect.
What was I going to do? Was Williams a bad guy like I believed for the last week, or was he just misunderstood? Was it really my mom who had chosen badly for us when she took us away from all this science and privilege? We could be so much more useful to our society.
Metahumans like us were far superior, far more capable of accomplishing great things. Imagine if a brain like Evan’s worked on that cure for autism mom was always searching for? Or if we had a president like my brother Alik who could memorize and juggle all historical facts and apply that knowledge to future decisions for the betterment of our country? Or what if I worked as a diplomat? I could use my extrasensory emotions to say and do the right things so we could avoid wars. I could help keep peace between nations.
Those are great things—great uses of the gifts Dr. Williams gave us. Living in seclusion like mom would have us do is a waste! Maybe she is holding us back.
And then, out of the edge of my awareness came a cry of such absolute pain, it made me sit bolt upright. Mom! What was happening with mom? I opened myself up by concentrating on her.
Chapter 49 Visiting Hour
“Your daughter has come to see me, Margo. I thought you would like to know.” Dr. Williams had used his private elevator to leave his seventh story suite and made his way to the southeast corner to pay one last visit to his old friend.
Margo was in a fog of pain so thick she was sure she was hallucinating when she saw that demon of a man walk into her cell. His voice brought her back to consciousness, and his words cut like razors.
“Meg? Meg is here?” Her voice was raspy and she had a lot of difficulty moving her mouth because of the broken jaw she’d suffered.
“Oh yes, she’s here. She’s right upstairs lying down in my office. She’s had such a rough time, Margo. But she understands now that I was the good guy. I gave her gifts and nurtured those gifts. She’s come home to live with me now. I just didn’t want you to worry anymore about her. She’s safe.” He said all this with a triumphant excitement in his voice.
“No, no, NNnnooo!” Margo was screaming now. The anguish she felt for her daughter was a deep pool of black water that slipped up around her nose and mouth choking off any chance of breath.
“You can’t have her! You can’t have my baby!” she continued to scream and drowned in the horrific realization that the demon had his claws in her little girl.
She lay sobbing on the dirty floor feeling no hope, no peace—only darkness.
Dr. Williams smiled gleefully, nearly giggling with joy and closed her door behind him. As he walked away from the broken woman, he was thinking about all the wondrous times that lay ahead for him and his newly returned children.
Oh, but he had to talk Alik and Evan into joining their sister. Just a matter of time, really, and then we’ll be one big, happy, powerful family!
Chapter 50 Awake
Meg heard everything through her mother’s broken heart. That devil of a man went to gloat to my dying mother that he had won my allegiance!
Monster!
No word fit Dr. Williams more perfectly. He is a monster, and he has just awakened a fury in me the likes even I had never felt.
He was on his way back up to his suite. I had just enough time left to do what I knew needed to be done. He was a feeble old man. It would only take a few strategic blows and his evil would not hurt anyone anymore.
Even as I paced the room feeling the adrenaline burn through my veins, I was thinking how stupid I had been to allow him to plant those vile thoughts into my head.
He wasn’t trying to help mankind by creating Metahumans. He was stealing babies, caging them up, and torturing them with experimental concoctions just to see what it would do. He didn’t care if the children lived or died. He just wanted to create a perfect race. He didn’t love me or my brothers. He was just as happy to see us die in one of those cells! He called me his “child” and at that memory I had to double over and breathe slowly and deeply so as not to vomit from
sheer disgust.
I heard noises from the next room and readied myself. This man’s actions demanded judgment. He needed to pay for what he’s done to me and my family. Glancing at my watch, I had only two minutes to do it before the boys began their part of the plan.
His door opened and in walked a young man who looked to be about twenty-years-old dressed in military fatigues. His eyes were crystal blue and his hair was chopped short. Right behind him was Dr. Williams.
“Oh, good. I see you’re feeling better now. How wonderful. Meg, I’d like to introduce you to Gavil. Gavil is a metahuman like you.” Williams waved his hand with a flourish at the athletic specimen like he was showing a contestant what she just won on a game show.
Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen. Let’s look at what Meg has won. Well, she’s won the opportunity to get her butt kicked by a militant looking guy—and not just any guy—no sir, only the best for you, Meg. This guy is a finely tuned metahuman. Top of the line—fresh out of boot camp—testosterone charged—metahuman.
I forced myself to stop the ridiculous mental chitchat. I do that when I’m under a lot of stress, like now. ‘Course I couldn’t think of a time when I’d felt more stress … shut up Meg. Focus.
Williams was saying, “Gavil this is Meg. She was the first human subject to survive the treatments. Meg is our first Metahuman.”
Neither of us said anything for a few moments as we stared at each other from across the room.
Everything was feeling so surreal anyway, I found my mouth saying something pretty crazy, “So, Gavil. I know this guy, Williams, made us and all, but he’s pure evil. You’re gonna have to trust me on that one. I was about to give him a good butt kicking. You good with that, or are we going to have to fight first?”
Winter's Awakening: The Metahumans Emerge (Winter's Saga #1) Page 13