Epp 23
"Eddie!" Mary yelled as she burst out the back door of the house and ran looking for him.
Eddie looked up from the flowerbed he was working at. He'd put in the circular bed to break up the expanse of the lawn a bit and add some color. Mrs. Weaver didn't pay attention to things like that. Seeing Mary running towards him, he did pay close attention. He loved the way her breasts bounced as she ran. Her perfect form in sexy motion. Damn, what a sight she was.
"Eddie, Father found Sky Net! We have to arm up and go!"
Eddie got up, leaving his gardening tools. "Where?"
"I don't know. Mother just told me, we'll find out on the way. We have to get there before Sky Net moves again."
"Let's go," Eddie replied. As he ran toward her, Mary turned and ran back to the house. Oh yeah, this view was excellent too.
Getting back inside, they went to the foyer where John was bent over a map on the table. People were collecting with their weapons. Jake had his plasma rifle strapped across his back. He tossed Mary her plasma rifle and handed Eddie his .50 cal sniper rifle. Elanore had on boots, pants and a long sleeve hoodie sweatshirt with the hood up.
"What do we got?" Eddie asked as he came up to the round table they were gathered around.
John glanced around to see everyone was here. "OK, this is in Nevada. A single story with a tall chain link fence around it. It's a brothel and has plenty of cameras watching the outside. Parking lot is outside the fence. To get in, the fence has a double gate, both gates require a buzz-in. I've made an appointment for Eddie, under the name Ed Cornish..."
"Me?" Eddie asked.
"Why Eddie?" Mary asked wearing a hurt look.
"Jake or Gregory will trip any metal detector device," John explained, "And I'm sure they have them. Eddie, you're an engineer for a gas company. You just stopped in for some drink and companionship. You have a radio because you need to be able to be contacted day or night. Get inside, play around with the girls and look for anything out of the ordinary, especially the security system. Disable their security if you can. I'm not worried about the fence, but lines to the police and alarm systems. Sky Net is probably in a basement somewhere. Find a way to it."
Logically, Mary knew why Eddie had to go, it was a sound plan. In her HUD a scene came up of Eddie surrounded by naked women, all stroking and kissing him. "But..." she said weakly.
"We go in after we have an idea of what's there," John continued. "While Eddie is getting inside, Jake and Gregory, you will be here and here, a mile away in each direction blocking the road. Use boulders, this fencing here, anything you can find, Just make it impassible for any vehicles to get over or around. We don't want anyone interrupting us."
"You know, John," Eddie said, "They'll get suspicious if I start snooping around. I'm sure they have a few bodyguards also."
John eyed him for a moment, then said, "You have a fetish. You get off on doing a girl in a rough, say bare concrete room with electronics around."
"That's strange all right," Eddie replied.
"But..." Mary said again.
Cameron put a hand on Mary's shoulder. "Mary, Eddie is only pretending. We need him to do his job."
Mary looked at Cameron. "But..."
"So you aren't reaching for your radio, lock the talk button on once you have something," John told Eddie.
Seeing Mary looking stressed, Eddie hugged her. "Hey Mar, it's only pretend, OK? I'll be fine and I'm not gong to do anything with those girls. OK?"
Mary returned his hug. "But..."
Eddie winced at how tight she squeezed him.
John laid out his plans for the rest of them. The timing was tight, especially with Eddie being inside and unarmed.
.
Eddie swung his Jeep into the parking lot. On the passenger side, Mary was curled up and tucked into the foot well. Under the cover behind him, Elanore lay with all their weapons. He parked facing the building. Even with the top on, the sides and back did not hide much.
Taking a deep breath, Eddie said, "Here we go. Mary, remember I love you and no one else. You hold onto yourself, OK.?"
Mary let out a soft, "But..."
Eddie got out and walked over to the gate. He hit the button under the speaker/ camera. "Hello? Ed Cornish here. I have an appointment?"
A buzzed sounded. A sweet voice said, "Welcome Mr. Cornish, come in."
Eddie entered the gate. Another buzzer sounded, he walked into the yard and up to the door.
An older blond with a heavily made up face and negligee under a thin housecoat opened the door for him. With a bright smile, she said, "Welcome sir."
Eddie offered her a blushing smile. He was blushing because he just knew Mary was watching, and he was embarrassed. "Thank you," he said and went into a room of fluffy couches and pillows. On these couches were several women lounging in their nighties. Every woman cast him demure smiles. At one end of the room there was a bar with a wide shouldered man wiping out glasses as he pretended not to be watching Eddie.
"A drink, Ed?" the woman asked.
"Ah, yeah, please," Eddie agreed.
"Your first time?" the woman asked as she went to the bar with him.
Eddie nodded. He scanned the women. Although they were in alluring attire showing lots of chest and leg, none of them were particularly pretty, and certainly none held a candle to Mary. "Ah, Ma'am, sorry if I'm a bit nervous. But, like you said, first time."
"There's no rush. Take your time," she assured him. What is it you do?"
"Engineer for a gas company, no big deal, " He said with a shrug. "Gotta carry this stupid radio with me so I can be called ... even if I'm in the friggin bathroom."
"Why not a cell phone?" she asked.
Eddie shrugged and said, "The boss insists on these $900 programmable radios. They got a keypad so they can be used for phones, messaging too. Why he just doesn't go with cheap, simple cell phones is beyond me."
This brought a titter of laughter from the woman. "Some jobs can be a pain, can't they," she said.
"You got that right. But, hey, it's a lvin, ya know?"
"What'll you have sir?" the barkeep asked.
"A shot whiskey. On second thought,make it a double," Eddie told him.
"Any particular kind?"
"Anything but rye."
"You really are nervous, aren't you?" the woman asked in her silky voice.
Eddie shrugged nervously and said, "Yeah. See, I got a regular girl, she's really great too, but it's been … a long time since I've been home and well..."
"You just need some companionship."
"Right, I mean it's not like I don't love her, I just..."
"Dear Ed," the woman said smoothly. "This is a place where you can live a fantasy for a short while. Look, how about I take your credit card, and you relax for a bit. Once you're ready, you can pick out any girl you see, and tell her what you want. Do you have a price range you're looking at?"
Eddie moved nervously and in his motion, accidentally locked his talk button on. "Well, it's not the cost that matters. If it's possible, and I know this may sound strange, but I've always had this … thing about … you know, having a girl in one of the shops. You know, rough walls, electronic stuff hanging off shelves. I know I'm weird but..."
The woman laughed lightly. "Oh Ed, that isn't strange at all. Trust me, I've seen strange. Tell you what, I'll go see what we have, and you relax here. Talk to the girls and let me go set it up for you."
"Really? You'll do that?" he asked.
"I'll have to charge you for setting it up, but for such a simple request it won' be much," she assured him.
"Thank you!" Eddie said heartily.
"This is just normal sex?" she asked. Eddie nodded. She paused briefly then said, "Then it's 300 an hour with the girl of your choice. I'll go put something together for you." she patted him on the arm and left.
.
In the Jeep, Mary stayed curled up and listening to the radio broadcast of Eddie making his deal. Her jaw was locked tight as she stared at the floor. This was Eddie in there with all those other women! They could have a disease, they could be secretly waiting to do something bad like rob him. She computed eight different ways Eddie could be hurt by rubbing up against such dirty sluts!
"Hey Ed, you like this?"
"Ohhh Ed, such a big strong man you are!"
"Hey, Ed, I seemed to have dripped a bit of whiskey on my chest. Could you lick it off, please"
Mary began trembling so hard, the Jeep vibrated.
.
Eddie wasn't particularly fond of any of them. He was only glad Mary didn't have to see the display of females around him. Not really caring which one he chose, he picked a skinny blond with hardly any chest. "You're kinda cute, mind if you..."
"Certainly! I love big strong men like you," the girl said with a big smile. "You like blonds?"
"Ah yeah, you look pretty," he said to say something nice to her.
.
Blonds … Mary knew her mother had trouble with a blond that almost took John away from her. She ached to charge in there and destroy that bitch where she stood!
.
"I have your love nest ready," the Madam cooed as she came up to Eddie and the blond hanging off him. "Please, follow me."
Eddie followed, the skinny blond tight to his side and rubbing his back. "My you're stiff, Ed. Don't worry, I'll get you nice and relaxed, then get you stiff in a very nice way," she said in a sultry tone.
"I'm sure you can," he agreed. He really hoped he didn't have to go too far with this. In his mind he saw Mary with her concerned look. He was really glad she didn't have to suffer actually seeing this. Then again, it would make him feel better if she was here.
The room the woman led him to was in the back. She opened the door to a utility room. Sure enough, there was an electrical service box hanging on the wall, and plain wooden shelf with plugged in electronic equipment on it, and wires running between them.
Eddie smiled, and tried to lock the talk button of his radio on. It was already on. "Wow, I mean this is perfect!" he said happily. "The electrical box, these computer things, and it's all plugged in and working like you're really using it!"
The woman tittered out a laugh. "We aim to please. Have fun," she sang and shut the door behind them.
Eddie absently held an arm around the skinny blond as he said, "This really is great, exactly like I was looking for. That computer box, all those wires, this is perfect!"
The blond rubbed his chest as she cooed, "Oh sweetie, I got just the thing. Lay down here, I'll get those pants off you and give you one hell of a ride."
.
Mary couldn't take it anymore, that dirty bitch was about to plant herself down on HER Eddie. With a red eyed growl of anger, Mary erupted up out of the foot well, threw the cover back to expose Elnore and the guns, grabbed the closest weapon, a .50 cal sniper rifle, burst out the Jeep and charged.
.
John was about to call for an advance when he saw Mary run across the parking lot, jump the 15 foot fence and kick the door to the house in. "Go, now!" he barked into the mike.
.
The steel security front door blasted into the front room from Mary's kick. It sailed through the room and slammed into the couch where a bottle red head was sitting. Her head went flying as the door decapitated her on it's way into the wall as a red-eyed Mary strode in with her big gun.
"Where is he!" Mary snapped at the stunned faces.
The barkeep grabbed his shotgun and aimed. "Drop it!" he yelled.
Mary shot him. Not a 'wounding' shot, but put a .50 cal round right through his forehead that made the top of his head blow apart and splatter all over the bottles and mirrored backing behind him.
Screams wailed out as the women fled. Mary chased a brunette into the hall. She grabbed the terrified woman by her hair and slammed her into a wall. "Where did you WHORES take him?" she demanded.
The Madam appeared with a revolver and shot Mary in the back. Mary spun and blew her head apart. Quickly turning back to the brunette, Mary lifted her off the floor by her chin. "Tell me where he is or you're next!"
The woman fainted.
"EDDIE!" Mary yelled.
.
Eddie heard the commotion and Mary's yell. The blond had his radio and belt off, he'd been stoking and fondling her to slow her down. He moved to open the door.
"No!" the blond cried and got against the door to push him back with all her strength. Outside the door, more shots sounded, a man wailed out in pain.
"Mary, in here!" he yelled.
The terrified blond tackled him to the floor and climbed on top pf him. She clapped a hand over his mouth. "Shut up!" she hissed, "Or that lunatic will find us, I don't want to die!"
One more shot, then all went quiet. The door burst open from a powerful kick. The blond rolled off Eddie to stare at Mary, holding that big rifle. There was a line of silver from a rip in her flesh on her temple from a bullet. She cast the blond a malevolent glare with her glowing red eyes.
The saucer eyed blond wailed out a piercing scream as she frantically crab crawled away from her.
Bang Bang Bang Bang
"Shut up," Mary growled at the now dead and very bloody blond.
"Mary! Right there, is that it?" Eddie asked as he pointed to the computer box.
Mary helped Eddie up. She then grabbed a handful of power cords and ripped them out of the sockets. Elanore charged in behind Mary. Seeing Eddie's radio on the floor, she said, "We have it," then took the talk lock off.
John's voice came on. "We have four women, two men running for the parking lot. Let them escape. Find the security tapes and every computer you can. We got six minutes."
They searched the place, breaking down doors. Jake and Gregory arrived to help in the search. They grabbed every PC and device they found. Elanore ripped a large hole in the fence and backed Eddie's jeep up to the door. They loaded all the electronics in, smashed the cameras and left the security room control panel nothing but empty holes and dangling wires. In the security room, John left a ticking block of C-4 with a pair of five gallon cans of gasoline.
John Henry reported in that Sky Net had gone off line.
.
Loaded up, the Jeep and the Suburban took off across country into the desert. After the initial race to get out of sight of the brothel, they slowed to raise as little dust as possible. Behind them, a large fireball erupted.
Eddie drove along slow through a dry wash, Mary leaning against him. "Hey, Mar, you all right?" he asked.
"I am functional, just some superficial skin damage," she said to the dash board.
"I'm not talking about that," Eddie said. "You looked kinda unhinged back there. Are you all right?"
Mary was quiet for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry, Eddie. I didn't stick to the plan. When that … woman was going to have sex with you, I..."
"You lost it. All reasoning, that is," he said.
"Yes."
The surface wasn't that bad here, it was fairly smooth dirt and small rocks, so he put an arm around her. "Don't feel bad. If that had been you with another guy, I think I'd have been a little insane as well. Mary, I did that only because I had to. I didn't take any joy in it at all."
"I know. I just hated it."
"Me too. We did what had to be done, and now it's over. Let's go home and I'll take care of those wounds you got, and I'll make it up to you."
"I love you, Eddie."
"And I love you, Mar. You are the only girl for me."
.
Cameron watched closely for any signs of pursuit as they drove through the desert, then made a road fifteen miles later to head back home. She'd seen a helicopter far in the distance, but only briefly. John's plan had worked out well. She was eager to get back home and examine what they had and find out if they had indeed finally gotten Sky Net.
.
The news reported an attack on a brothel by a jealous girlfriend of one of the patrons. According to reports, this woman carrying a rifle somehow got in past security, shot several people then blew the place up with explosives and a flammable liquid. The terrified survivors did not give a description of the attacker, other than a dark haired woman. Five people died in the attack from large caliber bullet wounds, one was decapitated. Rescue and response efforts had been hindered by the road being blocked with rock and debris, which was suspected to have been done by the woman before she attacked the brothel.
John watched the news item as Catherine, Cameron and John Henry went though the computers they had found at that brothel.
"This one is it," John Henry said, looking at the box in front of him. "From the program files, this was to be Sky Net."
"Yes!" John hissed and pumped a fist.
"There is a reason Sky Net was not properly defended," John Henry added. "It changed the primary mission of the T-888 guarding it from ensuring it's survival, to killing John Connor, secondary mission to destroy Zeita corp."
"So, a triple eight is coming for me," John said.
"Yes."
"Good, we know it's here, and there's only one," John said, which made Cameron cast him a wary gaze.
"It is advantageous we know it's mission," Catherine Weaver said. "We can set a trap for it."
"I have an idea on that, too," John said.
.
Eddie lovingly cleaned and stitched up Mary's temple and applied a bandage. He wasn't sure why she got naked for a head wound and one in her back, but he wasn't complaining. Mary naked in bed was one thing he'd never tire of seeing.
"OK, hon, turn over," he coaxed. Mary did. Once again, he removed the misshapen slug and tenderly cleaned out the wound.
"Eddie? Am I attractive to you? Is there anything you would like me to change?" Mary asked.
Eddie frowned as he carefully stitched her up. "Nothing. You're perfect. Even if you can, don't you dare change a thing about yourself," he told her.
"What did you find attractive about those women at that place?" she asked.
"Not a thing," Eddie told her. "Yeah, they did their best to try and look sexy, but all I thought about was, 'Mary is much prettier than her, Mary has a much better figure than she does, Mary doesn't need all that makeup to try and look good,' things like that. None of them had a hope of standing up next to you in the looks department and I know not a one could possibly be as brave, honest or loyal as you are." He finished his stitching and put a bandage over the wound. "OK, sweetie, all done."
Mary turned over and reached up to pet Eddie's cheek. "Make love to me," she asked softly.
"My pleasure," Eddie replied and kissed her.
.
Carlos had called Elanore earlier in the day during a stake out to see how she was doing, but she hadn't picked up. Figuring she was probably going in for a rebuild of her flesh, which would make looking at her a whole lot easier, he decided to wait until tomorrow. He spent a boring day watching for the targets to come and go from the back of a business, which was somehow more tiring than actually doing something. After he finished his shift and went home, he got a call.
"Rodriguez."
"Hello Carlos, it's Elanore."
"Hey Elanore, I tried to call you today. Getting work done?"
"We had a mission. I left my phone at home."
"A mission? How'd it turn out?"
"We were successful and everyone got home safe. That's all I can say."
"Will I see it on the news?"
"I'm sorry, I can't say anything else."
"I see. Actually, if this may have been a … questionable mission, then I'm better off not knowing," Carlos admitted. "Any news on when you might be getting back to normal? You know, fully healed?"
"No. Mrs. Weaver is working on it, but so far, what I did to myself is irreparable."
Noting she didn't sound happy, he said, "Then what is, is. We'll work it out. If people can get a prosthetic for entire limbs, I'm sure we can figure out something, even if Mrs. Weaver doesn't. It may take covering you head to toe in clothes, but I will get my partner back."
"Gracias."
"Ah, mucho hermosa muchacha habla espanole?" Carlos asked.
Elanore paused, and replied, "Si,senior. Gracias pol el cumplido."
"Estoy sorprendido. Qué ha aprendido que aquí?"
"He aprendido de la madre ."
Carlos chuckled, then spend the next half hour trying to trip Elanore up. He didn't, but it was fun trying.
.
For once, Cameron and Sarah were shoulder to shoulder, united in their argument against John.
"John, I cannot allow you do endanger yourself like this!" Cameron stated.
Sarah was more colorful in her argument. "John, you are fucking crazy! You know if there are any Grays left, or if that terminator has any sense, it WILL be bringing hired guns! It's not going to just walk in by itself when it knows it's the only one left!"
"John, I can imitate your voice and convince it I am you," Cameron stated. "There is no reason to put yourself in danger."
"There is," John stated, shifting his gaze between them. "Look, We got Sky Net, that danger is over, thank God. We still need to get rid of any of it's minions left, and this is the best way. They have to know it is the real John Connor. We cannot risk them not coming, thinking it is a fake. Mom, if there are Grays left, they will realize this may well be trap, so we have to have the bait it rich enough so they cannot let the opportunity pass."
"John, you are going to be a father. I DO NOT want our baby to grow up with no father!" Cameron said angrily.
Sarah added, "John. We have to do something to guard you. Cameron is right, We stopped Judgment Day, we killed Sky Net. Don't you DARE do something stupid like this and get yourself killed after we've won!"
John rubbed his forehead and said, "Look, Mom, Cam, I know you're both concerned. I am also, but I'm telling you, I have to be put out there as vulnerable. We need to finish cleaning up any Sky Net elements to make sure no more selfish, homicidal AI's pop out of the woodwork. That triple eight may well have the next Sky Net in it's chip. We have to get rid of it as soon as we can. This is the only way we can do that. Even if I don't make it, Sky Net will be gone for good."