BLACK CARDINAL in REVENGE OF THE ANAESTHETIST (Part 4), a short story by Sun Tzu. Date added: 2012-06-29. Times viewed: 2274.
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- Intro: BLACK CARDINAL FACES HER MOST FORMIDABLE ADVERSARY
BLACK CARDINAL
IN
REVENGE OF THE ANAESTHETIST
Part Four
“So there I found myself consigned to that insane asylum for 3 years! - 3 long years to think about my down fall at your hands. 3 long years to consider what to do next. Then - one night as I lay in the pit of despair at my incarceration it hit me! Hit me like a MACH truck at high speed. Of course! It was so clear to me, so crystal clear. That pampered bitch Celeste Devereaux had been completely unsuitable all along. What I needed was a woman of substance - one who was tough, intelligent and resourceful. One that surpassed all my criteria - the crème de la crème of breading stock and that woman - IS YOU - BLACK CARDINAL!
Becca gasped! "Me? You're insane!"
“Insane? Oh by no means Miss Cardinal, by no means. You are absolutely perfect to receive my genetic gift. Not only are you an exceptional speciman of woman hood. Not only are you one of Section Two's elite agents. But also – also having you as the mother of my child is without doubt the most delicious revenge I could want.”
Becca sat quietly, still trying to take in what had just transpired. Of all the possible revenge scenarios she had envisioned; at no time had she imagined anything like this! And yet, it now seemed so logical, as warped as it was – as he was. I would be the ultimate revenge. He had left her to go and prepare for the medical procedure that would make her the mother of his child! The thought sent a shiver through her, this could not allow this to happen! Last time he had severely underestimated her. This time, he had not. This time he had gone to great lengths to abduct her, to keep her under control. The gas, the special mask for transporting her, the isolated prison. All done in order for him to carry out his twisted revenge. Somehow she had to get free of the restraints! If she failed – she couldn't fail! She had to escape. Taking a deep breath Becca began to work on the wrist straps, she had to get free, she had to. Taking another deep breath she recalled her training: 'Remain calm no matter what the situation,' the section Instructors had said. 'Calm brings clarity and focus – Calm destroys panic. Panic destroys calm, clarity and focus. Never, never give in to panic.' Taking a few more deep breaths Becca could feel herself taking control of her emotions, reasserting herself, her mind began to calm, her body relaxed, the restarints felt a little less constricting, that was all she needed.
...
It had all started three years ago... The crisis meeting with Control, Frank Larson Director of the F.B.I and Chad Vickers Director of the Secret Service had not been a pleasant experience for Becca. Both Larson and Vickers were loathe to turn the case over to Section Two. Becca's assignment: was to investigate the kidnapping of 'Celeste Devereaux' wife of US Senator and Presidential candidate Andrew Devereaux. Vickers was outraged that the Secret Service had been taken off the case, making his feelings very clear. After all, this was the jurisdiction of the Secret Service. Larson was equally outraged arguing that the FBI had jurisdiction. Control was not about to hold a jurisdiction pissing contest the orders that came straight from the Whitehouse, the President himself had ordered that Section take over the investigation.
Celeste Devereaux had vanished without trace. No ransom demands had been made. No one had claimed responsibility, the trail was stone cold. The Secret Service and F.B.I had no clues and had very reluctantly stepped aside for Section Two to take up the investigation. This was the sort of case that Section Two had been formed to deal with. When conventional law enforcement techniques failed then the expertise and unconventional approaches of Section Two came into their own.Duly assigned to the case, it had taken a fair bit of effort to assimilate and cross reference the huge amount of data concerning the missing woman. Out of this mountain of facts Becca's team had developed one lead, Celeste Devereaux was the patient of a Doctor Charles Booth, a highly respected surgeon. A thorough background check of Booth came back surprisingly clean, a little too clean for Becca; something about Booth wasn't right, so he was placed under class 1 surveillance.
For five days Becca and her team watched him, following his movements and activities, which were initially quite routine. Yet something deep within told her he was their man. On the evening of the sixth day her team had followed him out of the city. At first it had been easy to keep tabs on him but at some point contact had been lost! "How the devil had that happened?" She wondered. The team went immediately into lost contact procedure, fanning out in an attempt to reacquire their target. Becca had opted to initiate a search pattern that took her off the main road and down a series of long country roads, eventually reaching what appeared to be an old run down farmhouse. Old and run down it certainly was, clearly having been out of use for some considerable time.
Becca and her partner agent Bryce left their car then quietly began a search of the surrounds of the farm house, as they rounded the corner of the large barn. There was movement! Yes! There he was! She watched as he left his car which was hidden inside the barn and walk towards the large house. After waiting for a few minutes Becca and Bryce had followed him. In the dim moonlight she could see movement through one of the windows. He was carrying what looked like a large mail sack. The the sack appeared to move, at first Becca thought it to be a trick of the moon light. The sack moved again. 'There's someone in that sack!' Exclaimed Bryce.
They watched as Booth placed the sack down on the floor then walked off out of view, a moment later he was back, picked up the sack again before vanishing. Quickly Becca and Bryce moved around to the rear door then pulled out their automatics. The realisation that Booth was the kidnapper tempted Becca to go rushing in and make an arrest. Yet prudence and training dictated that she call back up and keep him under observation until they arrived. Becca chided herself as she had opted not to follow those dictates, instead she had called in their position requesting back up. She and Bryce should have wated for the cavalry to arrive but instead, they had carefully entered through the back door. Staying in the shadows they moved towards the room where the sack had been seen. Coming to a door way she spied around the sack was not there. There were footsteps going up the stairs, Becca caught sight of his back as he vanished at the top. As quietly as she could Becca began to ascend the stairs staying to the side to avoid making any sound, while Bryce covered her. On the stair landing were three doors, one of which one was hanging off its hinges. From within one room Becca could make out sounds, muffled whimpers and scratching. They emanated from behind the furthest of the three doors. The door had creaked as she opened it, slowly she entered, the room was bare except for an old mattress on the floor; upon which lay, a large mail sack. The sounds were coming from within, sounds of someone in distress. Becca moved quickly to the sack, placed her gun on the floor, pulled out a small Swiss army knife and begun to cut the sack. As it opened she caught a glimpse of some hair.
"Take it easy". Becca whispered I'm here to help.
As the sack came apart, Becca found her-self unprepared for what she found. There was no one inside the sack; the form was nothing more than a mannequin that was moving due to a small electric motor in its stomach. The sounds came from a small digital voice recorder. The significance of this hit her like a battering ram! He knew she had been watching him! This was a TRAP!
Her recollection of what followed was blurred and hazy, someone grabbed her from behind a sweet smelling rag had been forced over her face. Instinctively she had kicked back sending herself and the atacker flying rearwards landing in heap on her attacker, knocking the wind out of him. Becca then elbowed him in the stomach and rolled free of his grip, scooping up her pistol pointing it at him. He had moved like lightning and rushed her sending her crashing into the wall. There was a brief struggle as she brought her knee up into his crotch the attacker had let out a cry.Becca then moved to recover her pistol, as she did so she caught sight of Bryce unconscious on the landing outside the room. There had then been a stinging sensation in her shoulder. A small dart protruded, Becca pulled it out and threw it to the floor. The figure stood up and Becca brought her gun to bare.
"Don't move."
"Oh don't worry - I won't," he replied grinning.
"What have you done with Mrs Devereau?"
"She's safe, you'll be joining her soon enough."
"I don't think so," replied Becca beginning to feel a warm flush.
"I do, my tough little angel, the drug from the dart is very potent. By now you're probably feeling a warm rush, then you'll experience difficulty in focusing, your gun is steadily feeling quite heavy isn't it?"
As he spoke Becca began to feel a little unsteady, her legs felt like rubber.
The figure took a step forward, Becca squeezed the trigger, there was a loud retort and bullet exploded into the floor in front of him.
"The next one's for you!" Becca declared. Even as her vision began to blur she could see the look of surprise on his face.
"My you're one tough cookie." He laughed. "No one has ever remained standing for so long with this particular drug. I am going to have fun with you."
Becca felt dizzy, as much as she willed them to, her legs just wouldn't support her any more. Her gun slipped from her fingers and she sank slowly to the floor.
The figure bent down and picked up her pistol.
"Sleep tight my angel." He cooed
It was the last thing Becca heard.
When she awoke, Becca found herself lying on a cold stone floor, her arms were wrenched behind bound tightly as were her ankles. A thick wad of material was tied around her mouth, so tight that it bit into the corners of her mouth.Her head pounded, someone was banging a loud drum inside her skull. Lifting her head she saw the unconscious form of Bryce who was also tied and gagged. Becca rubbed the gag against the floor scratching her face as she did so but managed to work the gag free. Becca looked around she was in some sort of cellar around her lays various boxes and to her right some old slate roof tiles. The ropes bit deep into her wrists and ankles as she slithered over to the tiles then using her legs gently slid one towards her, Becca then brought her heels down hard on the tile smashing. Then she wriggled round picked up a large shardand started to cut at the ropes. It was a slow process a number of times she winced as the jaged slate edge caught her wrist or hand. Slow progress but she could feel the rope begin to loosen then – it gave way she pulled her writs apart rubbed them to get the circulation going then quickly worked on her ankles.
Once free Becca checked on Bryce he was out cold and could not be roused. The blood on the back of his head was clear evidence that he had been hit hard from behind, Becca was on her own. She looked around the cellar. To her left was a door, she tried it, unsurprisingly it was locked. To her right was another door, she tried it, it opened into a small room in the middle of the floor was a large bed mattress and laying on the mattress was the unconscious figure of a woman. Becca recognised her immediately: 'Celeste Devereau.' The Senator's wife.
After that everything happened so fast. Upon finding the Senator's wife Becca had managed to wake her and get her up on her feet she was very groggy. As they made to leave the room Booth had entered he immediately pointed his dart gun and fired hitting the Senator's wife in the shoulder. Without a moments hesitation Becca shoved Celeste Devereaux aside and rushed Booth sending him backwards with a flying kick to the chest. He landed hard on the stone floor and Becca followed up with a kick to the head knocking him out cold. Becca managed to drag the unconscious form of Celeste Devereaux back on the mattress. Then grabbed some rope that lay near by Becca tied Booth up after searching him for any weapons. Sometime later Becca stepped out of the front door of the farmhouse with a very groggy Celeste Devereaux she heard the welcome sirens of the cavalry arriving. Medics took Mrs Devereaux away and Becca watched as the unconscious form of agent Bryce was carried out on a stretcher. Then the crazed doctor was brought out in handcuff s escorted by two burly section agents.
He just stared at Becca then smiled. 'You truly are something special, I look forward to meeting you again.'
'Not in this life.' Becca replied, then watched as he was hauled away.
The trial came round very quickly Booth was declared insane and shipped off to a high security psychiatric hospital never to be released. But bad pennies always reappear and Booth had reappeared with vengeance on his mind for Becca.
...
Becca felt her wrist slip out of the leather cuff, then leaned across to release the other wrist. After unbuckling the other straps she slowly stood her legs feeling like rubber barely supporting her weight. Becca steadied herself against the couch focusing her breathing, the drugs had weakened her but now she was free and it was time to bring this to an end. As she was about to move towards the door there was an audible beep form her boot. Becca smiled, her emergency transponder had actived - Section could now locate her. She felt a surge of energy, help was on the way now Booth really was in trouble.
To be cont...
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