Conspiracy
Chapter 19
Raven slunk silently between the shadowy corridors meandering endlessly from the entrance found at the side of the Statue of Liberty. There wasn't any sign of human life let alone a colony of secret service agents to be seen anywhere. She pressed on, using only her internal instinct and womanly tactics, for whatever good they did, in locating Brady Black. And, she would do just that.
* * *
Stephano raised his eyebrow and turned his chair around to face the small man wearing a lab coat. He placed his hands on his desk and looked menacingly upon the little man, a glint of something beyond anger and beyond happiness and beyond sadness in his narrowing eyes.
"Why, pray tell, did you not insert the chip into her?"
"She didn't need it, master. I swear it. She was already engulfed in memories of Raven DiMera when I was finished brainwashing her with the new technologies. The brain chip would prove no better a substitute than giving her a book on her supposed life and asking her to remember it." The little man said, making appropriate hand gestures as he spoke with minimal enthusiasm. Stephano drummed her fingers and sighed audibly. Apparently the chip had helped some…his eyes moved over to a small corner of his desk where a flat screen lay built into his desk. A little red point moved slowly across it.
"Well, it appears as though she has found the base, and I must give that much credit to your technological device…yet I am not partial to this as there is no back up system. If something should trigger her memories again, I do not know what lengths I will have to go to, to cover up her behavior and all. Also, I believe we have raised her to her full potential. She was only killed two of her group members, or, supposedly two of them. And notice that they are both men? Such a feminist."
"It's not a man's world anymore, Sir."
"No, it is not…" Stephano replied, rubbing his chin. "And in such times I will need to have an effective back up plan. In which case, I have chosen someone to keep a close watch on Raven. I will dispatch him as soon as possible."
* * *
Raven's shoes made a echoing stamping sound as she walked slowly through the corridor, her eyes moving around the small catacomb-like hallways and looking for any sign of imperfection. It was dark inside, and if it weren't for the extremely shiny pleather belt Raven wore that was able to reflect any meager rays of light, she would be in total darkness. Every so often a scurrying sound would be heard, and some eerie scratching noises.
Ahead of her was nothing but more darkness, meaning only that there was more hallway to explore. She ran her hands along the walls and slowed her pace. A low rumbling sound was heard and she stopped completely, standing stock-still and searching the room with her eyes for the source of the sound. So engulfed was she in the sound that she was completely unprepared for the sudden shift of the wall behind her. She fell backwards onto cold, hard ground. As soon as she hit the floor she stood right back up again and cursed. If anyone had heard her, she would be found out immediately.
She tiptoed into a shadowy area and put her back against the wall. This room was much lighter, and it led off in a tiled corridor, lighted with small pot lights. She waited in the shadows for any sign of movement…but there was none. She stepped slowly out of the darkness and pocked her head around the side of the corridor. She could spot the camera easily from where she stood. The tile was completely white. So white in fact, and so matching with the walls that you could not tell where one began and the other ended. All that was obvious was the steel door at the other end of the hall and the black surveillance camera. Raven looked down at her own outfit. It was black. If she wanted to get through that corridor, she needed to be invisible. And the only way to be invisible was to be white. Completely white. She stepped back from the wall she was leaned up against. She had noticed the small combination lock on it when she had stepped into the room. Now she bent down beside it and pressed her ear up against it. She slowly turned the lock, hoping perhaps that whatever this lock kept from her would help her across that little bit of hallway. She had thought perhaps she could shoot at the lens of the camera, making it completely useless, then again the sound of a gun shot would surely attract some negative attention.
Right turn, 37. [i]Click[/i]. Left turn, 49. [i]Click[/i]. Right turn, 5. [i]Click[/i].
A small portion of the wall popped open. Chloe pried that piece open and looked inside the small crevice it revealed. She smiled and tore one of the white suits from the silver rack on which they hung.
* * *
Crossing the hallway was a breeze. The camera detected nothing at all. The heavy steel door slid open when Chloe reached it, closing silently behind her as she slipped the white suit off her own black attire. She pulled her curls back from her face and wove them quickly into a braid. She was treading dangerously now, in enemy territory. Of course, she knew that Brady would not jump her as quickly as she would him. He was vulnerable to the fact that she looked like someone from his past. What good did that do her? Much good. Then again, it may not have reached her mind in that time, but you didn't change much in the five years between the age of fifteen and twenty…and how many Raven look-a-likes could there be? If she wasn't so out of it, she may have pondered that pleasant fact.
Raven's ears perked up when she heard a voice speak. In fact, it wasn't one voice, but a whole lot of voices. There was a wall behind her, and a wall on each side of her. There was a small space between the far wall and the two walls at her sides, not doubt a corridor. She walked quietly and stepped out into it, looking towards the left. She heard an ominous gasp and turned around quickly to the right. Then she gasped, too.
Chapter 19
Raven slunk silently between the shadowy corridors meandering endlessly from the entrance found at the side of the Statue of Liberty. There wasn't any sign of human life let alone a colony of secret service agents to be seen anywhere. She pressed on, using only her internal instinct and womanly tactics, for whatever good they did, in locating Brady Black. And, she would do just that.
* * *
Stephano raised his eyebrow and turned his chair around to face the small man wearing a lab coat. He placed his hands on his desk and looked menacingly upon the little man, a glint of something beyond anger and beyond happiness and beyond sadness in his narrowing eyes.
"Why, pray tell, did you not insert the chip into her?"
"She didn't need it, master. I swear it. She was already engulfed in memories of Raven DiMera when I was finished brainwashing her with the new technologies. The brain chip would prove no better a substitute than giving her a book on her supposed life and asking her to remember it." The little man said, making appropriate hand gestures as he spoke with minimal enthusiasm. Stephano drummed her fingers and sighed audibly. Apparently the chip had helped some…his eyes moved over to a small corner of his desk where a flat screen lay built into his desk. A little red point moved slowly across it.
"Well, it appears as though she has found the base, and I must give that much credit to your technological device…yet I am not partial to this as there is no back up system. If something should trigger her memories again, I do not know what lengths I will have to go to, to cover up her behavior and all. Also, I believe we have raised her to her full potential. She was only killed two of her group members, or, supposedly two of them. And notice that they are both men? Such a feminist."
"It's not a man's world anymore, Sir."
"No, it is not…" Stephano replied, rubbing his chin. "And in such times I will need to have an effective back up plan. In which case, I have chosen someone to keep a close watch on Raven. I will dispatch him as soon as possible."
* * *
Raven's shoes made a echoing stamping sound as she walked slowly through the corridor, her eyes moving around the small catacomb-like hallways and looking for any sign of imperfection. It was dark inside, and if it weren't for the extremely shiny pleather belt Raven wore that was able to reflect any meager rays of light, she would be in total darkness. Every so often a scurrying sound would be heard, and some eerie scratching noises.
Ahead of her was nothing but more darkness, meaning only that there was more hallway to explore. She ran her hands along the walls and slowed her pace. A low rumbling sound was heard and she stopped completely, standing stock-still and searching the room with her eyes for the source of the sound. So engulfed was she in the sound that she was completely unprepared for the sudden shift of the wall behind her. She fell backwards onto cold, hard ground. As soon as she hit the floor she stood right back up again and cursed. If anyone had heard her, she would be found out immediately.
She tiptoed into a shadowy area and put her back against the wall. This room was much lighter, and it led off in a tiled corridor, lighted with small pot lights. She waited in the shadows for any sign of movement…but there was none. She stepped slowly out of the darkness and pocked her head around the side of the corridor. She could spot the camera easily from where she stood. The tile was completely white. So white in fact, and so matching with the walls that you could not tell where one began and the other ended. All that was obvious was the steel door at the other end of the hall and the black surveillance camera. Raven looked down at her own outfit. It was black. If she wanted to get through that corridor, she needed to be invisible. And the only way to be invisible was to be white. Completely white. She stepped back from the wall she was leaned up against. She had noticed the small combination lock on it when she had stepped into the room. Now she bent down beside it and pressed her ear up against it. She slowly turned the lock, hoping perhaps that whatever this lock kept from her would help her across that little bit of hallway. She had thought perhaps she could shoot at the lens of the camera, making it completely useless, then again the sound of a gun shot would surely attract some negative attention.
Right turn, 37. [i]Click[/i]. Left turn, 49. [i]Click[/i]. Right turn, 5. [i]Click[/i].
A small portion of the wall popped open. Chloe pried that piece open and looked inside the small crevice it revealed. She smiled and tore one of the white suits from the silver rack on which they hung.
* * *
Crossing the hallway was a breeze. The camera detected nothing at all. The heavy steel door slid open when Chloe reached it, closing silently behind her as she slipped the white suit off her own black attire. She pulled her curls back from her face and wove them quickly into a braid. She was treading dangerously now, in enemy territory. Of course, she knew that Brady would not jump her as quickly as she would him. He was vulnerable to the fact that she looked like someone from his past. What good did that do her? Much good. Then again, it may not have reached her mind in that time, but you didn't change much in the five years between the age of fifteen and twenty…and how many Raven look-a-likes could there be? If she wasn't so out of it, she may have pondered that pleasant fact.
Raven's ears perked up when she heard a voice speak. In fact, it wasn't one voice, but a whole lot of voices. There was a wall behind her, and a wall on each side of her. There was a small space between the far wall and the two walls at her sides, not doubt a corridor. She walked quietly and stepped out into it, looking towards the left. She heard an ominous gasp and turned around quickly to the right. Then she gasped, too.