Chapter 4
The briefing room was quiet as the few assembled Fratello agents awaited their Chief. There was a tangible tension in the air – the news about the Thomas/Jennifer Fratello's kidnapping had spread quickly and all were eager to hear the complete story. A side door to the briefing room opened up and Richard Sutherland walked in, carrying a video tape in his hand.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Early this morning we received notification that the Thomas/Jennifer Fratello has fallen into the hands of their targets. It seems that it was an elaborate trap designed to deliver a Cyborg into their hands. We received into our hands via mail a package containing two items." Sutherland placed both his hands flat on the table as two men wheeled a television screen in behind him. He waited for them to leave before sliding a small red object across the table, so that the agents could see. Tony saw. He saw that the object was a small, transparent plastic bag, barely three inches in width and height. It was full of blood. Inside the blood, Tony saw clearly what looked like a ...finger. A little girl's finger.
"We also received this videotape." Sutherland sighed, the lines of his careworn face betraying his revulsion and sadness, and he flattened down his grey hair as he continued,
"The footage is...distressing to say the least. But I would advise that you force yourselves to view it as the tape contains some detailed clues as to the enemy's location and strength."
He inserted the tape and pressed 'PLAY'. After a few seconds of static, the screen came to life. A man wearing a balaclava and military fatigues looked at them. Behind him were a brown stone wall of unpainted bricks and the movement of men and weapons that spoke of an efficient, well trained force. Tony forced himself to take note of what he could – the dust on the few windows made them difficult to see out of – but there was an outline strangely reminiscent of the castle at Edinburgh.
"Agents of the British Welfare Corporation." The voice was heavily laden with the Scottish accent.
"We have learned, through our research and study of our mission failures, of your Cyborg projects. We have decided to inform you of your situation at this time for many reasons. The first being that there is not a thing you can do about it. Our hideout is well defended. Even Cyborgs must die if hit with enough bullets."
He picked up an M16 from a case by his feet. The video paused. Sutherland spoke,
"That voice belongs to one Ewan McDonald. He has been actively resisting the English influence in Scotland for many years and appears to have risen through the ranks of the Scottish Nationalists due to his, ah, determination and ruthlessness."
He let the video play on. The voice spoke again from the speakers.
"We are well on our way to resisting your tyrannical use of children to attack our people and our nation. But sometimes, you have to sink to your enemy's level before you can best him."
The man moved to one side to reveal a broken and bloodied man chained to a table. Clearly the agent Thomas. Even through the blood his blond hair was recognizable. Tony had seen this terrorist group operate like this before – the end result was always the same... A man moved towards Thomas and placed an iron nail on his forearm – between the radius and ulna. There was a hammer blow and Thomas's arm was cracked apart. The same happened to his other arm. The blood. The shattered bones. The screams. A third nail was raised to his head. Another blow drove the six-inch iron spike through his skull in a jet of blood. The man, Ewan, turned back to the camera.
"We take no prisoners, as you can see. Except, of course, when they serve our needs."
He walked out of view and the camera turned to follow him. There was a young girl manacled to the wall, her clothes torn and shredded – her blood drenching them. The camera caught her face and every agent in the room inhaled sharply. Her eyes were missing. In their place were two pools of blood and gore. She was gagged. Ewan walked over to her and started stroking her blood-soaked blonde hair.
"We've been doing a bit of research, as you can see." He indicated the cuts and wounds on her body. "Well, what we've discovered is promising. However it might be interesting to note exactly how much suffering these little girls can tolerate before they...become useless."
He removed a serrated knife from its scabbard and placed it next to her hand, which he flattened out onto the wall. He counted along each digit until he came to the middle finger. He tore off the gag and cut deeply. With a sawing sound he cut through the artificial, toughened muscle and metallic skeleton. He then ripped the rest of the finger off and drove the knife through her hand, pinning it to the wall – blood started to flow swiftly from the wound. The girl screamed as though her lungs were about to explode. She was sobbing – her tears bloody as they poured out of the empty eye sockets.
"Here dearie, dry your eyes."
Ewan forced a piece of cloth into each of her eyes, and then set each piece on fire. He turned back to the camera.
"Your girls really are resilient. I'm most impressed. But, we have all we need for now. How about...one last...humiliation?"
He breathed it out as though the very thought of his next act was giving him pleasure.
"But...I am not a monster. I am not like you. I do not abuse little girls."
Yeah, good job proving that, wanker.
Ewan
continued.
"My men, on the other hand, have no such qualms. The
video has a timer on it you see and you've got...oh a good few
minutes yet."
He turned to his men.
"Rape her."
Tony rose from his seat.
"We don't need to see this."
"Yes..." Sutherland turned to the screen. "I agree. We have everything we need."
He switched of the screen as two men began to tear at the girls clothes. The lights in the room flickered on and off for a few seconds before settling and emitting an unnatural pale light.
"Eve. Can ADAM handle this?"
"Hmm, he was very close to Jennifer. It might be overwhelming for him on his first mission. But he could probably handle the enemy. I'd more feel comfortable if there was another Fratello involved, though."
"Alright. I'm going to assign Tony and Rose to this operation as well. You orders are to kill Ewan McDonald and his men. Try and salvage what you can of Jennifer and Thomas. It would be better if the police did not find their remains."
Sutherland spoke sadly – he'd lost a good Fratello.
"You're to leave at nineteen-hundred hours when our team has analysed the tape and found an estimated location. The idiots left too many clues on there, but to make sure you don't fall into a trap – Tony and Eve, I'm giving you access to our armoury for this one. Get whatever you'll need."
As one they responded.
"Yes sir!"
"Alright, the rest of you, work on your current tasks unless instructed otherwise. We'll keep you informed as information comes in. Oh. I want to speak to Tony in my office. Dismissed."
The agents filed out of the room. Paul caught up to Tony.
"Oh what've you done now, eh? You better...my god."
He had seen Tony's face. More skull-like and pale than ever.
"Did you get any sleep? Were they that bad?"
"It was worse than usual. I ended up crouching in the hallway. Armed."
Paul was the only one who knew properly of his...condition. And only because he had once seen Tony's tormented, sleepless nights for himself whilst in the field.
"Bloody hell... mate, listen to me. You need to see one of the doctors about this. Soon."
You'll be fired from the Corporation. Cast out. Rejected. You got lucky when they chose you to go on this operation, Tony Kite. But if you see a doctor you'll never see Rose again. She'll be decommissioned and buried in an unmarked grave. And it will be your fault for listening to these people. They don't want to help you – they're out to take your place. They hate Rose's perfection.
He dispelled the voice with a shake of his head.
"Refusing? Hell, it's your funeral. You'd better hurry to the Chief."
Paul walked off towards the training ground to meet with his 'partner' – he seemed so normal sometimes. But then you saw him with Amy. And you knew he was a bastard.
Tony headed towards the Chiefs Office. Thoughts raced through his mind. Some his own, some...not. Why am I here? What did I do? Did they find out about last night?
They know you tried to kill Rose, I told you that cow would rat you out.
He knocked twice.
"Come in."
The hospital room stank of disinfectant. There was a single window allowing light in, but most of the light came from the eerie, unnatural glow of florescent bulbs. Sutherland indicated a chair inside, next to a bed with the sleeping shape of a young girl in it.
"Do you want to sit down?" Tony sat. "I'm still surprised you came back so early – you took Samantha's loss pretty badly. You've been through a lot; I...wasn't expecting you to call."
"Yeah, well I feel much...better now." A lie. "I'm back on my feet. And anyway, this might be what I need: a fresh start."
But there was more. He never told anyone about how he had started hearing voices after Samantha's death, how he started having night-terrors that didn't end when he awoke, how he often dreamt of his own death. He never told anyone about the drugs, about the needles that still haunted him when he shut his eyes. He never told anyone how he viewed this new girl as his cure. Or how he viewed her as a way to keep a promise. Others may have thought that he had problems. They never knew the half of it.
"You still look ill, you know."
"Maybe I am, I don't know. But things like that can...change you. Look, I need to get back to what I do best. The emptiness; the loneliness, it was all too much. I couldn't cope with it."
"Alright." Sutherland sighed. "This is your new partner we've assigned you to."
He indicated the girl in the bed with a wave of his arm. She looked bad. Missing her left hand and both of her legs. Her face was wrapped in a bandage and her hair appeared to have been cut roughly off – only a few ragged tufts of dark red-brown hair remained.
"Sir, what happened to her?"
"Her parents owed money to the wrong sort of people. They came and torched her home. The burns on her face were caused by the fire."
So that's why she's bandaged... poor girl.
"Then the bastards took her into a field along with her parents. They shot her father first, then the mother. But they simply raped and mutilated her. They left her to die. She's got a strong constitution, though. She was still conscious when a man found her the next day. That's why we chose her."
Tony nodded. By God, this girl was strong.
"Her old name was 'Marie Rosa Andrews'. But that isn't the girl she will become. That name no longer matters," Sutherland looked into Tony's piecing grey eyes; "what are you going to name her?"
Tony looked around the room. He needed something that symbolised the love he had promised to give to this girl. He thought of her middle name, 'Rosa' and his eyes settled on the small glass vase on the windowsill. In it was a single red rose.
"I'll call her Rose."
"So be it. She should be waking up any time now – I'll let you introduce yourself to her alone."
Sutherland left the room. The door swung to and fro behind him before calming down and shutting properly. Tony moved the chair closer to the girl. He could just about see her eyelids, un-burnt and not bandaged. They flickered open to reveal two deep pools of chocolate brown. Eyes that you could lose yourself in for hours. And they looked straight at him. In that moment the void that had been inside Tony for months was filled up with something new. Love. He took a Colt Peacemaker out of his shoulder holster and span the chambers, making sure it was empty. He placed it softly into the grip of her right hand.
"Good afternoon, Rose. My name is Tony Kite and I'll be looking after you."
He entered the office and saw Sutherland sitting behind his dark oak desk. He looked concernedly at Tony. A frown sat upon his face.
"Take a seat, son."
Tony did as he was told
"Tony, you might be wondering why I assigned you to this case. To be honest with you, so am I. The details aren't pleasant – I'm hoping you'll be...okay with it. We don't want to almost lose you again. After Samantha..."
Tony remained silent. There was no need for him to say about the voice ('Sam' was it calling itself now?). There was no need to tell Sutherland about the dreams, or about how close he had come that last night to killing Rose. Or himself.
"What you need to realise is that ADAM is strong, but operating alone on his first mission would be, ah, detrimental to our mission success. Rose is, as you say, perfect. She's our finest operative with experience."
"With experience." See? He's mocking you already.
"This is the Alpha Male Program's first true test. We need the best to help ensure ADAM succeeds. If there is something unexpected I have no doubt he will be able to cope, but we need someone with Rose's talent to act as support in case there are complications."
Rose is only support now, you see. You're being cast aside even as he gives you a job.
"Tony. Lately you've been worrying us. Eve came to see me earlier. You haven't been sleeping. You've been walking around the grounds at night for hours on end. She's seen you order food and then sit and stare at it. You need to prepare yourself completely for this operation. Rest a while. Spend some time relaxing. Talk to Rose. You've got to be ready both physically and mentally. Can you do that?"
Of course you can't. You know you're going to fail. You'll screw everything up and you'll all be killed.
"Of course I can do that sir."
He tried to seal the voice away. To ignore it.
"When you get back, we're going to have another little talk, Tony. I'm going to help you get better."
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, Tony, by the way. I noticed Michael wasn't at the briefing earlier. Speak to Sarah – see if she knows where he is, will you?"
"Sir."
Tony stood up, knowing he had at least one more day. One more day of blissful mental anguish with Rose. One more day before his weaknesses were exposed to the world – he could feel it coming. Coming with the force of a bullet, of a bomb. Unstoppable. Inevitable. He walked out of the office, lost in someone else's thoughts.
"Help you get better"? That man isn't going to help you Tony Kite. He's going to kill you – he just doesn't know it yet.
