Demigods (16 page)

At that time, he already understood that she had eyes for Ryan, who was not only his friend, but her firearms instructor as well, but the fact that he made a difference was reward enough.

"You seem to be taking this well," Clifford interrupted, and Charlie simply looked up at him, and smiled.

"She had such an impact on us all," Charlie responded, "and I refuse to allow her death to tarnish her memory."

"You are wise beyond your years," Cliff returned as he began to stroke his white beard again, impressed by the young man's outlook on the situation.

Their moment of memories, however, was interrupted by the lab tech that burst through the door.

"Viper is gone!"

The older scientist stood to his feet, needing to understand the details.

"Do you know why she died yet?" he quickly inquired, though was hardly ready for what he would hear next.

"I didn't say she was dead," he said more clearly, and with less overreaction. "I said she was gone."

Doctor Seawald thought about this for a moment before he presented the next, obvious question, which was actually a digression.

"Say again?"

Naturally, this is where Charlie's heart began to beat more rapidly, but he understood that his confused state of mind would begin to seem normal.

"She isn't in the tube anymore... She's gone."

"Have you checked the security footage," he questioned as he moved from behind his large desk, "to see who took her?"

"According to the camera," he answered, staring dumbfounded into the eyes of the geneticist, "she is still in the tube."

This was when Charlie realized what she had meant when she said that they would not know that she was gone until the morning. She was very smart, just like Mirage, and he understood that this time the G.E.O. had chosen him.

"
My clever little Kitten,
" he thought to himself as he stood up, and followed the two men out the door.

As though checking for himself would make a difference, doctor Seawald went to the lab, and peeked into the room. Everything seemed perfectly normal, save for the fact that she was definitely not in her tube.

"Have you talked to the colonel yet?" Dr. Seawald asked of the technician, and a "negative" was the response he received.

"Perhaps he knows where she is," he continued as he walked past them both, and further down the hallway. "He really should have informed me when he intended to move her."

Charlie simply followed, knowing that this encounter was not going to go well, and he tried to act as curious and surprised as Clifford did. The beauty of it was that it was Clifford's department, and not his own, so he could stand back, and simply listen.

"Did you move Viper without consulting me first?" the geneticist barked at the colonel as he entered his office, "because I really need to know about such things."

Suddenly the colonel's eyes widened, and he stood from his relaxed position behind his large desk.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked sternly with both hands on the surface before him.

"Viper isn't in her room," Clifford stated in a clear tone, still convinced that he was left out of the loop, "and I would like to know why."

"Is this true?" the weathered colonel asked of the technician, who was also an enlisted man.

Quickly he stood to attention, and answered the question.

"Yes, sir," he stated clearly. "She is no longer there."

Slothfully, the colonel sat back in his chair. It was only last night when his biggest problem had found a solution, and just that quickly, an even greater one presented itself.

"Charlie," the colonel said as he slowly looked up at him with an expression that revealed how he had gone through too much already, "find a keyboard, and figure out what happened."

*            *            *

Casually she walked down the street with her narrow, yet rather dark sunglasses, which wrapped around the side. She acquired them in much the same way that she had the cup of coffee the night before, and they served a particular purpose, for her eyes could not be seen with them on.

She could not walk around in the normal daylight with a blindfold on, but with these, no one could see that her eyes were closed, so they offered her a bit of freedom, and all of her senses were far greater than normal. Her hearing and sense of smell told her where everything was around her.

"Hello," said the man that passed her by, and his heartbeat, and the way that he changed his breathing told her that he had not seen her from a distance.

"Hi," she said with a smile.

The surprised tone that hid within his voice, and the fact that he did not slow his pace, told her that he was married, though his heartbeat still raced. What he had seen tore at him for a moment, and she felt flattered.

Then came the overpowering smell of sizzling beef. She had never had such a pleasure, and she had been moving toward the scent for over a mile. Now she had reached the source, and she had to experience it.

Stepping into the fast-food joint set in the side of a tall building, she opened her eyes, and stopped short of the register. She blinked her eyes briefly open at the menu, and this was enough to memorize it. Anything on it she was sure would be a delightful experience, but she had to wait for just the right moment, and order just the right thing.

She allowed a few people past her as she pretended to stare at the board, until the perfect moment presented itself. It came in the form of a handsome man wearing a very expensive, Italian suit, who was also without a wedding ring on his finger.

Stepping in line, he stepped up behind her. Although she would not have been able to see him at this moment with her eyes opened, she could still hear the change in his heartbeat. He was happy to have her in front of him, which was the entire idea.

"Will this be for here, or to go?" the young woman asked as Viper approached the register.

"Ta go, please," she replied in a deep, yet eloquent, southern accent. "Such a nass day, Ah decided ta walk ta the park."

"And what would you like?" she asked with a smile, but Viper paused for a moment, and pretended to look back at the menu.

"Ah'll take a double cheeseburger with evrathin," she said before another brief pause, "and a strawberry shake."

Reaching to her side, she seemed confused for an instant, as the woman asked her if that would be all, and then she looked back up again.

"On uh day Ah walk ta the park, Ah leave ma pocket book in the foyer," she said with a tone of disgust, though it be at herself. "Just cancel all that."

"I'll get that, ma'am," the handsome gentleman interrupted as he handed a hundred dollar bill to the woman.

"Why thank you, kind su," she said as she looked up at him after removing her sunglasses to reveal her light green eyes, and a shiver went straight down his spine. Surely, she was careful enough to look in a direction that would not reveal her location to the triplets.

"You deserve such kindness," he replied as she entrapped him, but then the lady behind the counter interrupted them both.

"Your change, sir," she said as she held out a wad of bills.

"That belongs to her," he said without ever removing his eyes from her own, yet she gave him a slight nudge.

"Ah can't accept that," she told him as she began to turn away, only to look back up at him with the eyes of a pitiful kitten.

Grabbing her hand, he turned her so that she faced him directly.

"It will get you through the day," he said with a charming smile, "and if you wish to repay me, you might allow me to take you out to dinner, sometime."

For a brief moment, she pulled her hands back, and turned away before looking back at him with a playful smile.

"What evah makes you think that Ah am available?" she questioned as she placed the glasses back on her face, and closed her eyes once more. She found his answer to be slightly impressive.

"You wear no ring, and no jewelry," he charmingly replied. "It makes me think that you may have been hurt by someone recently."

She simply stared at him for a moment, allowing him to wonder what she might be thinking, before allowing him a response.

"You  are handsome, and smart," she replied, "but how will Ah meet you agin?"

Quickly he pulled his wallet back out, and produced a business card. Writing a number on the back of it, he handed it to her.

"It's my personal cell."

The front told her that his name was Robert Winston, and that he was the CEO of a company called Dynamic Technologies, and she was quite pleased with her catch.

"Mah name is Kitty Hall," she told him as she tucked the card into her dress in front of her left breast, and offered her hand as a lady would.

Before he could say another word, she stood on her tippy-toes, and softly kissed him on the cheek.

"Ah'll be callin'," she said with a smile as she turned, and left the restaurant with a bag in one hand, and her shake in the other.

As for him, he determined that he was not hungry any longer, as he watched her sway perfectly in her pretty, red dress, out the front door.

"Will this be for here, or to go?" the young lady asked with a smile, having watched it all, but he never looked back at her.

"To go," he replied sarcastically, as he followed Viper out the door so that he could admire her once more as she walked away, and he completely forgot about the hunger of his stomach. This hunger had more to do with a man's most basic instinct, and he had no idea that her effect on him was more than simply a natural one.

She, however, understood it well, and she waited until she has far enough away where he could no longer see her.

Opening the bag, she pulled out the sandwich, and unwrapped it. The heat of it tingled on her fingers, and she could feel the condiments smeared off to one side. This was the side she determined that she would first bit into.

With eyes still closed, she sank her teeth into it, and the vibrant array of flavors exploded upon her taste buds. Naturally, the mustard stood out first, followed by the sharp taste of the onion, and soon it was a symphony within her mouth.

Each and every taste had something different to offer, though her favorite was the sweet, succulent taste of the tomato, as its juices ran down the side of her tongue. The orgasmic expression it gave her only seemed natural.

"Is it that good?" a man asked her as he strolled on by, and saw her face, though she did not feel the need to open her eyes. As far as he knew, they were opened behind her unrevealing shades.

"Ah'm lovin' it," she replied, holding on to the southern accent for just one more moment. She had laid the groundwork for something quite important at a later date, and she had no idea whether the two gents would meet, or already knew each other, since he was walking in that direction.

Then she took a drink of the strawberry shake, and although the sensation was quite different, the effect was much the same. It may not have been a detonation of various flavors, but was a beautiful combination of a simple few, and its icy smoothness made her feel like a child.

It didn’t make her feel like the child that she remembered, but like the one that she had always dreamed that she could have been, yet this caused her to wonder. Did they force those memories upon her as well?

Tossing the remains of her treat into the nearest sidewalk trash can, which she found by sense of smell, and the fact that she could hear the people around her not stepping in that very spot, she brought her mind back to the task at hand. They were thoughts of the most influential person in the life that she knew, and it was time to pay him a visit. She had to know the answer to the one question that bothered her the most.

As she approached the building, she could “see” its height and width by the sound of the light breeze passing around it, and it was not impressive compared to the other skyscrapers beside it. It was rather small next to the rest, but it was still the building where she would find him, and she took a deep breath before entering.

She knew exactly where to go, because it was all in the file that she had read on the computer before ever leaving the lab, though she still felt nervous. It was not every day that you would meet your primary creator.

Walking a short distance, she stepped up to the elevator, and pressed the button. Her heart began to race as she still held her eyes closed, and her adrenaline was beginning to concern her. Certainly, she did not want to rush into this event.

It seemed like forever before the beep sounded, and she heard the doors opening. Then she breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the small space. This is when she began to understand that she was afraid of confined places, but she did not allow it to bother her. She understood why, and knowing was half the battle.

She felt the sensation of an elevator moving upward for the first time, and it caused her to tremble slightly. It was nothing like being on solid ground, and it was nearly blinding, so to speak. Her sense of hearing was useless, and her sense of smell was irrelevant, while her sense of touch would only reveal what she already knew.