Waiting by Erin Dennington ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 97 Matthew shifted from one foot to the other. Christina knew that he was beginning to feel a little frazzled and she took that to heart. "If I am so mentally incompetent, then how come I am not the one that changed my name?" She knew that she had hit a soft spot when Matthew briefly closed his eyes and then said through gritted teeth, "It is pointless to try to argue with you. Your mind is so totally corrupted that you cannot seem to understand me. I am not who I used to be. That person is dead. In gaining the knowledge that I did from my experiments, I was reborn." Christina fought the urge to chuckle, as she knew that would likely only push Matthew over the edge, so instead, she asked, "And who might you be now?" "Mateo Rivera," he readily answered. "Not Matthew Richardson?" she asked. "How many times do I have to tell you that he is dead?" he angrily asked. "I am tired of this. Say goodbye to each other; you are going to be dead before the night is over." "Mateo, wait!" Christina called as he was starting to shut the office door behind him. He paused and looked back at her over his shoulder. "How did you get into that locked office?" she asked. "Oh, that. Pssh, that was easy," he said. "All I did was follow you to the building and enter into the office through a side door. Then my trusty sidekick locked us all in there and plunged us into darkness. I waited until the insects were in the room before I made my way out of my hiding place." "How come they didn't attack you?" she asked, more than a little curious to hear his answer. "Did you not pay attention to that video you watched?" he asked, noticing the shocked expression on her face at the same time he asked that question. "Oh, did you think that you could lie to me and I would not know? I don't think so, my dear. There are many things about you that you do not know I know. I know that you plotted to get rid of the insects and get rid of me." Pausing to make sure that everyone's attention was upon him, he said, "Those insects were not programmed to go against me. Besides that, I have a built in immunity against their venom. There is a tiny percentage of the world's population that was born with this immunity and I am one of them. If any should bite me, then it could do nothing to me worse than a mild stinging sensation. I would certainly not die from one of those insect bites." "Why do you want to do this?" Christina asked softly. "Why do you want to help people kill other people? How can you be so sure that these insects of yours will be used for the correct reason and by the correct person? Who's to say that someone won't decide to do it to those that you care about?" Staring directly into her eyes, his gaze bore down on hers with the force of a sledgehammer. "My dear, there is no one left in this world that I care about. Once you are gone, the children will be given up for adoption. They are not mine, anyway; they take after their mother, a sick woman. As for the killing part, it does not bother me. All I have ever wanted was to be rich, to be as famous as you once were." Pausing for the full effect, he then said vehemently, "And guess who's the famous one now? Your name is tarnished and your reputation is dulled. You are nothing now to the world of science, while I am everything!" "If that's so," Christina said, "then how come I only learned of your plan when I watched that video?" Matthew appeared to be at a loss for words. Reaching a hand up to his face, he softly stroked the skin there next to his mouth. Christina knew that when Matthew made that gesture, he was doubting himself and unsure if he was doing the right thing. She had hoped to use that to her advantage, but no longer saw a way in which she could do that. He had seen through her story and had known right away that she was lying. There was nothing else she could do. She only hoped that the others had a back up plan all their own. "Now that all of that is settled, get down on the floor, hands over your heads. There has been enough talking from all of you. Do as I say and your deaths might not even be painful." The words sent a cold stab through her heart when she heard them. Christina slowly dropped to her knees and then onto the floor, knowing that they had lost. There was to be no more hope for any of them. As she was lying on the floor, in much the same position she had been in only a short time ago, she felt a tear slide down her cheek. She had never given much thought to how she would die, but she had never expected it to be at the hand of her husband. She felt a cool hand reach up to brush away her tear. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stella through the tears. Stella looked almost peaceful as she got ready for whatever Matthew was about to do. "It's ok," she mouthed to Christina. "Don't worry. Let your worries go. Whatever you do, don't worry." Christina smiled and reached a shaky hand out to Stella, grasping the other girl's hand in her own. "I'll try," she said. She could hear everyone's breathing rasping next to hers and knew that they had to be just as terrified as she was. Marty, however, was not cracking any jokes, so she knew that even he, with the casual demeanor, had to be scared. Whispering softly to herself, she thought of her children as she prayed to the Virgin Mary for their safety. That was all that she had ever wanted out of life -- her children. The silence in the laboratory seemed immense, to grow ever quieter as the seconds ticked by. Christina found herself counting how many seconds it had been since Matthew had left them. She had reached 523 when the sound of a chair falling over caught her attention and messed up her count. "What the fuck?" Marty started to say but was cut off when Christina threw her hand over his mouth. "Don't say a word," she warned in a low voice, afraid that he had been heard. Her body was too tense and shaky for her to stand up, but she could see between the chair and desk legs to the back of the laboratory. Straining her eyes, she caught a glimpse of a running figure headed towards the front. She had no idea who it was, but guessed that it was someone else out to get them. At this point, she did not care; all she wanted was for someone to come up with a plan. Sounds of arguing broke out from the back of the laboratory and she heard the slamming of a door. Then pounding footsteps were nearby and gaining and before she knew it, the runner had arrived at their hiding space. Looking up from her prone position, she realized that it was the same man who had locked them into Davis' waiting room earlier in the afternoon. "Quick, get up now!" he said, reaching down and pulling Christina to her feet. "Hurry! We don't have much time!" The others struggled to stand up in the confusion, taking a little longer than the man liked, for he kept urging them to hurry. Motioning for them to follow, he began running to the front of the laboratory, to where they had entered the room earlier. Christina hesitated for only a minute before following him out of the room. She knew that the others were close behind her, for she could hear their footsteps directly on her heels. She figured that, once they were out of the laboratory, they could find out who he was; until then, she only wanted to get out of the place as quickly as she could. The distance to the door seemed to stretch on for miles as their feet pounded the floor. Christina was out of breath by the time they had made it to the exit and halfway across the lobby of Kramer Institutes. A muffled explosion echoed in the laboratory behind them, and Christina was shoved forward a few feet by the blast. After she'd recovered by bracing herself against a wall did they all stop their mad scramble out of the area and pause for breath. Chests heaving, they all looked toward the man who had led them out of the room. Marty was the first to recover and he directed his question at the man who stood before them: "Who are you?" The man bowed and said, "I am an old family friend of Stella's father. When he was taken prisoner by Matthew Richardson 15 years ago, so was I. Her grandparents assumed that they were sending her to live with me all those years ago, when they were really sending her to live with one of Matthew's flunkies." Christina watched Stella carefully. Here was the girl who had maintained their peace and calm the entire time; she was stiff as a board and harshly unyielding. The man carefully watched Stella's reaction as he continued speaking. "That other man in the laboratory who posed as Stella's American father all these years was really Matthew's partner in all of this madness. He was Matthew's second in command. I never knew Stella when she was a child and it was only recently that I had learned that Andrew's daughter had survived the family's massacre. He used to talk about her all the time to me when we'd be working as Matthew's bodyguards. It was really a dirty job, since it denied the fact that we were ever scientists. But Andrew would talk about his Stella, the one child who carried a true star from heaven. She was a miracle child, a child who seemed to be much more than she appeared." He sighed. "It's a shame that Andrew never learned the truth while he was alive; he died only a month ago when Matthew had him killed. Matthew killed Andrew when he learned that Andrew was setting out to kill Stella." Stella moaned, as if in deep pain, and then said, "That's not true. He would never have wanted to kill me. Not for anything." "He knew that you were the key to everything. If you were dead, then Matthew would not pursue you. He would not want you here to be the 'secret ingredient' to keep himself safe. All of that bullshit he fed to you in there was false. He has no 'built in immunity' from his insects. He always wore protective gear when working with them and desired to have the ability to not have to do so. You, my dear," he said, motioning to Stella, "were the way for him to have that ability. Your father wanted to save you from that horror and had hoped that if you were killed, then Matthew could be stopped." Stella appeared to be digesting all of this, as she had no reply to what the man had said. "How do we know you are not lying to us?" Marty asked, hands on his hips. "You don't, but I speak the truth," the man replied. "Once Matthew had Andrew killed, he assigned me to watch over Stella, to make sure that no harm befell her. I am sorry I locked you up earlier. I really had no other choice; I was trying to do my job and find a way to get you all out of this mess. Now with the laboratory and Matthew gone forever, you will have no more reason to fear this global attack that he spoke of. He kept all of his prized insects in there, along with all of his data." Stella cleared her throat. "I believe you and I am sure that the others do, too," she said. The others all nodded. "But I don't know who you are." "Thanks to Matthew, I no longer have a name," he replied, "but you may call me Aaron." Stella stepped forward, and extending a hand, shook Aaron's hand. "Thank you for what you just did," she said. The others followed her lead and shook his hand. "You are most welcome," he said. "And I have something for you that you may be most interested in." Reaching into a pocket of his jacket, he pulled out a videocassette and extended it towards Bill. "Here is everything that you need for that story of yours. Best of luck on it. May it break your big story." Tipping his head in a farewell gesture, he strode away. No one moved to follow him as they all collapsed where they were standing. A few moments passed before Marty said, "So, does this mean that I am in on this big story of yours, Bill?" Bill laughed. "You're still the same old Marty," he said. 21:27 - 11.30.02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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