Marie (Teumessian Trilogy Book 1) (2 page)

Chapter 2

It was a cold raining night and the streets were crowded for such a night. Everyone rushing around trying to get around the quickest. Dr. Carl Stanley was no exception. Dr. Stanley spent his evenings in the town but the rest of his time at work. He basically lived there. He pulled his coat further over his greying brown hair as he ducked into an ally to avoid the crowd. He always hated crowds. As he passed a row of dumpsters he heard a slight crying. He looked further and the sound got louder. Behind the third dumpster he found what he was hearing. It made his heart sink. There she was, a little baby girl left barely covered in a grey blanket. She was shivering and crying. She could only have been a week old. Dr Stanley was devastated. How could someone do this to her, just leave her to die? All he could think about was his own little girl, taken from him at the sweet age of ten, by leukemia. All he had left of her was the pain of losing her. Dr. Stanley approached the tiny little baby, scooped her up in his arms, cradling and warming her against his body. She slowly stopped crying and looked up into his grey eyes. She had the most beautiful blue eyes and he instantly knew it was fate for him to find her that night and he couldn’t just leave her there. He covered her in his coat and quickly moved from the ally, taking her from her certain death to a new life.

Dr. Stanley made his way through the town and down the old country road that led to the “facility” or at least that was what the locals called it. It was the largest weapons manufacturing plant in the country, nestled in Inyo County, California. If you didn’t work there, you probably didn’t work if you lived in the town. It was a secretive place and the people were equally so. They had never bothered to pave the road to the “facility” since it wasn’t necessary because all the vehicles that would travel there were military quality and could travel off road. Stanley preferred to walk. It helped him when he needed to clear his head and it was better air then the stale sterile air in the “facility.” Dr. Stanley made his way the two miles down the country road, still cradling the little baby girl in his coat; she had fallen asleep in his arms and was breathing gently. He approached the main gate and was stopped by one of the two guards at the post.

“Stop right there, declare yourself,” The guard ordered.

“Dr. Carl Stanley, research division, here is my ID badge,” Stanley stated as he fumbled to get the badge from around his neck to show the guard.

“What do you have in there?” The guard questioned raising his gun.

“Hold up, hold up, put the gun down, I’ll show you” Stanley stumbled through his words, the guards always made him uncomfortable. They were a bit too trigger happy for him. “See just another baby for the program, that’s all,” Stanley replied, opening his jacket to reveal the baby in his coat.

“Ok, but I thought they were all in here already?” the guard replied with a confused look on his face.

“I’m in charge of the program; let me worry where the babies are,” Stanley said standing taller and asserting himself.

“Ok, you’re good to go” the guard replied handing the badge back to Stanley and waving his hand to the guard in the observation tower that sat at the gate of the ‘facility’ to open the gate. Stanley walked through the metal gates that were surrounded by large concrete walls topped with spirals of barbed wire. Stanley shuddered. He always though it was such a desolate place that he never bothered with a plant at his desk despite his love of them. He figured it would just die from depression being there. Stanley made his way across the courtyard and into building eight, the research and development complex. He walked straight in and entered his lab in the front room of the building with the little girl his arms. He was greeted by his assistant Dr. Parker Jones. Jones was a young man who was no Stanley but he was up and coming and a quick learner. Stanley quickly handed the little girl to Jones.

“Take her to the nursery,” Stanley ordered.

“Where did she come from?” Jones asked.

“It’s not important. Just get her in there and make sure she is taken care of with the others,” Stanley snapped at Jones.

“Yes, sir,” Jones replied.  Jones looked at the little girl in his arms and looked back at Stanley, “Does she have a name?”

“Yes, it’s Marie,” Stanley said with a smile as he walked out of the room.

“Well, hello Marie, welcome to our little nut house.” Jones chucked and walked out of the lab and down the flight of stairs to a large room marked “Nursery.” 

Stanley was late and he knew it and being late is never an option when you are part of the ‘management’. At least that’s what they called themselves. It always sounded dumb to him but at least he was part of the ‘brains’ of the ‘management’. It could be worse he thought. He entered the office and as he anticipated he was the last one there. Stanley always hated the offices at the facility, they were so sterile, no life to them, all metal, glass, and black leather. There were no pictures of loved ones or even a little token on a desk. Ivan’s office was no exception. He shared it with Henry probably because they were inseparable. Both had glass desks with large black leather chairs. Their computers were built into their desks, keyboards in the table top and a clear screen sticking out of the glass. They always had plenty of black leather chairs for guests but even those looked depressing to sit in, however they had great back support though, Stanley thought as he took his seat.

Stanley instantly eyed the ‘Brawn’ or Bruce and Kenneth seated to his left. Both were trained experts in multiple forms of martial arts and experts in more weapons then Stanley even knew existed. They were killers and good at it, but Bruce ran the show when it came to them. Kenneth was definitely stronger but he wasn’t smarter. Bruce was the brains of those two. Bruce also had looks on his side He was very James Bondish, with dark hair and blue eyes. He could seduce you then kill you or at least that was how Stanley could imagine it would happen with Bruce. He never wanted to actual see him kill anyone. The foundation of Bruce’s training was a mystery to everyone, he kept it to himself. Where he learned his skills were of “nobody’s business” as Bruce would always say. Bruce demanded to be addressed as “sir” to all the guards he trained; however, the ‘management’ was exempt from this standard. Kenneth wasn’t going to win a beauty contest. No hair on his head and scars on his face but he was lethal so it didn’t really matter what he looked like when he was slitting a person’s throat, Stanley thought to himself. Kenneth’s background was much clearer as he bragged about it regularly. Kenneth was a former Master Sergeant with the Army Rangers and demanded to be called Sergeant by everyone, even the management. The only one who could get away with not was Bruce.              

As usual Henry and Ivan Vasilevich were behind their desks with Frederick to Ivan’s right in one of those very comfortable black chairs. They were the ‘bank’, the money behind the group and the ones who ran the show because after all, “money talks.” The three of them founded the company six years prior and in those six years they had grown from a small startup weapons company to the premiere weapons manufacturer in the country, Soldat Industries. The three of them made for an odd group. To see three men from three different countries team up to corner the weapons market in another country was indeed unique. However, they would sell to the highest bidder. They had no loyalties and the U.S. government needed them so they didn’t interfere. Their weapons were too good, too advanced. So the US government had to put on a smile and keep paying Soldat for their weapons and just hope they were the highest bidder. Ivan was the one who held command. Henry and Frederick were his voices, since Ivan barely ever spoke a word when they were all in the room, but when he did his accent was thick. In fact, Stanley had rarely ever even heard Ivan speak. Henry, on the other hand didn’t know how to shut up. He was always barking orders, normally with a long string of profanity along with it. Stanley always found it funny to listen to such a proper English accent spewing such vile American profanity. Henry must have picked it up when he moved to America eight years earlier and just enjoyed it too much. Frederick was more calculated in what he said but he showed a level of viciousness more fitting to being part of the ‘Brawn’ instead of the ‘Bank’. Frederick was to be watched. He seemed as though he was always a step ahead, always planning and plotting, his loyalty was not to be counted on.

Then there was he and Jones, he with his greying hair and Jones with his limp. They were no winners in the looks department but they were the ‘Brains’. They were the ones with the idea and the ones with the science to back it up and yet they were bullied regularly. Well, at least poor Jones was. Stanley knew how to hold his own.

“Gentlemen now that someone has bothered to grace us with his presence,” Henry said, glaring at Stanley as Stanley closed the door behind him.

“Sorry, I was held up.” Stanley addressed the group as he took his seat next to Kenneth. 

Henry addressed the group, “Then let’s begin.  Today marks an important day in the history of this organization. Today the program begins. We have nine babies.” Stanley raised his hand. Henry looked at him “Are we in fucking school? What do you need to add?”

“Ten, we have ten, babies,” Stanley stated.

“Ten! Since when do we have ten babies?” Frederick chimed in.

“Since tonight,” Stanley replied.

Henry took a deep breath “Fine, we have TEN baby boys.” Stanley raised his hand again. “Oh, am I fucking wrong again? Maybe it would be better if you just ran this meeting.”

“Nine boys and one girl. I was just correcting the gender of one, that is all,” Stanley replied.

“Hold the fucking phone! Since when are we working with girls?” Kenneth questioned, annoyed.

“I’m in agreement this program was designed to deal with boys not girls. You designed the program for boys, if you don’t remember,” Bruce pointed out.

“That I did; however, I feel that the addition of a girl would give us valuable data that could alter the results and prove very valuable, long term that is. We would be ignoring the potential of testing the female genetic structure which may show different results,” Stanley calmly defended himself.

Ivan raised his hand and all attention was on him. He gestured his hand towards Henry for him to continue. 

Henry took a deep breath. “Fine, we have nine boys and one fucking girl. Today we begin their training and by the time we are done we will have the strongest most effective combat team able to bring this world to its knees. That is, for whomever is willing to pay for them. These subjects are going to be the next leap in the combination of science and technology. They will be the perfect weapons.” Henry laughed.

“Highest bidder my ass. If any of these babies turns out to be next to superhuman we are keeping it for ourselves. The rest can be sold,” Frederick said clearly with a smile.

“I’m aware. Thanks for stating the obvious. Now it’s time to go to work, boys. A lot is riding on your research and the chemical enhancement of these children, Dr. Stanley. It better work. Bruce and Kenneth, you know your jobs.” Henry smiled, “Train us some killers, make them marketable. We need them to not just look like a good show but to put on a good show.” a light laughter broke out in the room. Everyone but Stanley and Ivan thought the idea of teaching children to kill was funny.

This was not what Stanley had in mind when he developed his drug but he had to go where the money was and this is the only place and the only people who would fund and let him do his research. The ends justify the means he reminded himself. If he could break this, if he could figure out how to make it work, well, he could save millions and it would all be worth dealing with these monsters, thought Stanley.

Ivan opened his mouth for the first time, “Then you’re all dismissed, with the exception of you Stanley, you stay.” Everyone got up and walked out, even Henry left and it was his office too. Stanley just sat in silence. It was like being in the principal’s office again. Ivan took a deep breath. His voice was calm and clear as his dark eyes stared directly at Stanley across his large glass desk. “The girl, I know what this is about and I don’t like it. I don’t care where you got her but I will tell you this, if it in any way compromises this program I will dispose of her myself.” Ivan’s voice was clear and firm, Stanley knew he meant it, since Ivan always meant what he said and he would go to the furthest extent to protect his company.

“I understand.” Stanley nodded his head.

“You’re dismissed,” Ivan said as he leaned back into his chair placing his hands on the large armrest. Stanley stood up and walked out closing the door behind him. 

Stanley walked into the research building and walked the flight of stairs down and slowly entered the room marked “nursery.” Stanley had pushed to make the nursery more pleasant for the children but he was shot down with every request. There was no color in the room, no little animals on the walls nothing to indicate children were going to live there except the clear plastic basinets with each of their names written on cards at the end: Michael, Thomas, Chris, Scott, Samuel, Ethan, Austin, David, Justin, and Marie. He had covered his bases as had been requested, Michael, Thomas, Chris, Marie, and Justin were all Caucasian, Scott and Samuel were African American, Ethan was Chinese, and David was Native American. It took some major work to find infants to meet all the requests but he even found what he wanted, a little girl. He even found twins. With Scott and Samuel he had mastered his checklist. He had named each of them but only Marie’s name was dear to his heart.  The blankets were even plain, just white sheets. It was so sterile, so bleak. As he entered he saw them all there, they were sleeping, all ten of them so peacefully. Each wearing a plain white sleeper. Stanley sighed, he couldn’t even get them to agree to colorful clothing. They had no idea what was in store for them or if they would even survive. The bad outweighs the good is all Stanley could keep telling himself. He slowly made his way to Marie’s basinet. He could only just stare at her. “You’re my chance to make it right,” Stanley said to himself. He reached down and gently touched her head. “Sleep well, little angel, tomorrow we start.” Stanley walked slowly away closing the door behind him.