Franky Is Lucky

CHAPTER 7

THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH I WILL FEAR NO EVIL OR SOME CRAP LIKE THAT


I drove down the streets to the industrial part of town. There was an assortment of high rises in this area. I looked for the street listed in the address. When I finally found it I parked across the street from the building. AGH genetics was a very modern and tall building with tinted glass paneling up and down the expanse of the building. It looked daunting all that dark glass. You couldn't see in but I was sure all those people inside could see out. I felt a knot form in my stomach; it was like I had eaten a brick.

With unsteady hands I pulled some change out of my wallet to feed the meter and stepped out of the car. I probably looked like your average modern business woman with my blonde hair and mature attire. I glanced in the passenger side window of my car as I fed the meter. I really did look like someone else. Maybe this is what Amy wore to work. This made my nerves worse. What if she was never able to open her grief counseling center? What if I was walking into a trap?

Get a grip you are going to save her.

I glanced at my watch I had about two hours till the deadline the kidnappers had given me was up. Plenty of time to at least do some reconnaissance. At the very least I'd have a plan on how to get out. I looked before I crossed the street and walked up the stairs to the revolving door at the front of the building. As I walked through I saw that the lobby was unmanned except for a young woman in her early twenties. She had her hair stacked on her head in a very fifties beehive do. She was wearing way too much makeup and she was talking animatedly into her headset that wrapped her ear and crossed her face.

I looked around for a second while she was distracted and I saw the women's room. I headed there and once inside I went into one of the stalls. I raised my feet and hid. I waited and sure enough I heard the door open. The sound of heels on the tile let me know it was a woman.

As the girl passed the stall I was in I saw it was the receptionist. She looked under the stalls puzzled and as she headed to the back of the large bathroom I exited the stall I was hiding in. With the most agility and speed I could muster I snuck up behind her and shoved her into the wall. Her head bounced off the tile and she fell to the floor, she was out cold. I was stunned that I had done so much damage but I checked her pulse she was alive and with that I plucked the headset off her ear and dragged her body into the handicapped stall. I propped her up onto the toilet so that if anyone entered they would only see feet. I locked the stall door and wiggled out underneath.

As I stood up I straightened my outfit and wig and placed the headset over my ear. I walked out of the bathroom and into the lobby. I sat behind the receptionist's desk and looked at the screen. There was a list of icons, one labeled calendar, the internet explorer and then I saw one titled employee directory. I clicked and the application opened an excel spread sheet and I saw that there were over a hundred entries. I pulled the ransom note out of my bag and pushed control f and then typed in the number listed. The document scrolled down to the number I had entered the name next to it read Thomas Taylor office number three twenty-five internal affairs. Internal affairs... pshh... more like assassin affairs.

So I had a place to start all I had to do was figure out a reason to go up there. I looked around beehives desk and saw a package sitting underneath it. It was an unlabeled brown box and I knew this was my ticket. I grabbed the box and my bag, I realized this would look suspicious but I couldn't leave it here what if it was found? I headed for the elevator. I assumed three twenty-five meant the third floor so I punched the third floor button and as the elevator silently pulled up my heart almost stopped. When the door whooshed open I let out me breath and I walked strongly and with purpose out of the elevator. I was in front of three zero one and saw a sign that pointed me in the appropriate direction. I walked down the hall and stopped in front of three twenty-five the door had a placard on it that said "Thomas Taylor" so I knew I was in the right spot. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" The man on the other side bellowed. I pushed the door open and walked in shutting the door behind me.

"Yes what do you want?" He didn't even look up from his paperwork.

"Yes Mr. Taylor, I am Lexi, the temp from reception." I tried sounding innocent and dense.

"Yea what are you doing up here?' He seemed annoyed more than suspicious.

"Well you see the other girl went home sick and I got called in and they didn't show me how to work the phone, and this package came for you so I decided to bring it up here." Where did that come from? It really was getting scary how good I was becoming at lying. He motioned towards his desk and pointed still not looking up.

"Set it there and get back down stairs." I walked over to the desk and set it on the spot he had told me. I say on his desk a large brass reading lamp. I paused gathering the courage. He looked up.

"What are you still..." I had found the courage before he had finished. With the lamp I swung hitting him square in the jaw before he could finish. While he was stunned I pounced on top of him. Though I would never call myself built I am very muscular and strong. My mom used to say that I was "strong like ox" when I was younger. Despite this I was still surprised that I overtook Thomas Taylor, he definitely had the build necessary to kill people, but he was easily stunned and by time he regained his mobility I had him on his stomach hands behind his back.

I held his wrists together with my left hand and used my body weight to press him down. With the other hand I held the broken lamp and used my teeth to rip the chord from the back of it. Once I had it free of the lamp, I wound the cord around his wrists and folded his legs up to use the rest of the length to hog tie him. Wow what luck that this guys lamp had a long chord. Was it really though? I looked down at the hog tied man and before he could start screaming I kicked him in the face.

He looked up at me stunned. I looked down at him angry.

"It's Sunday I know hardly anyone is here so you can scream if you want too but I am just going to kick you again, next time though, it is going to be in a much less kick friendly area. Got it?" He looked up at me blankly. I could tell he was confused. I starred him down for a few moments. I knew this was a good tactic but I also knew I had to regain my strength a little bit. Once I felt like I was a little calmer I spoke again.

"You and a few of your friends kidnapped a girl this morning. Where is she?" He looked up at me with a blank expression then he looked away.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about." He mumbled.

"They teach you how to kill but they don't teach you how to lie? That's some superb training you got there. Now you are going to tell me what you know or I will torture you." I leered at him. I really was trying my best to scare this guy but I wasn't sure if it was working. He laid there silently. I decided that reason was the best tactic.

"Listen, I thwarted security to get up here, I was able to breach your office and I have you hog tied on the floor. It is sufficient to say that I am a crafty bitch. Now you are going to tell me what I need to know or you will find out how crafty I can really be. Now where is she?" That would have scared the crap out of me so I figured it would work on him too but he just laid there.

Now, I was getting mad. I really didn't like being violent. My curse was violent enough, I had never needed to enact destruction myself I was always an innocent bystander but I was getting angry with this guy and I had no idea what to do so I kicked him in the stomach.

No wonder people like too fight. I felt gratified that he was sputtering but then I felt like a monster. I had too control my face to hide the self-loathing. I found my resolve rather quickly when I thought back too why I was here… Amy. I had to go through with this. The tenacious Thomas Taylor had stopped squirming. I looked down at him trying to emblaze my face with as much chagrin as I could and I just starred. For a few minutes he lied there and then I saw a bead of sweat trickling down his face. I had him he just didn’t want to show it. He was trying to be brave but he was humiliated. I looked down at him and said.

“Listen, Your number was on a ransom note left in a girl’s car. I know you know something. I am only going to sit here and reason with you for so long, after that no matter what physical pain I put you through it will be nothing compared to what will happen just from being around me.” That got his attention because after I said that he jerked his head up to look at me. He was partially stunned and partially smug. He must have known who I was from that last part and when his lips parted to form a smile I knew that he was fully aware of my identity.

“So you aren’t as smart as they say. We have been trying to find a way to get to you for a while and then you just walk in here and neatly gift wrap yourself for us.” I was shocked by this a little. Stunned partially because he said I was an idiot and also because I had lost all the power I had gained. One little slip of my mouth and I had wasted precious moments of my time. I had to gain the upper hand back.

“You see Tom I don’t think you understand what a predicament you are in. You have spent over ten minutes with me. I am draining you as we speak. You dear dear tom.” I reached down and tapped his cheek with those words and then I grabbed his face and squeezed it with my right hand. “Are going to tell me what I want to know so that I will leave this office and you can at least have a decent life afterward. Not to mention the physical pain I will inflict in about thirty seconds if you don’t tell me where she is.” I had grabbed his shirt and I was pulling him up towards my face. He must have been in pain, being hog tied I speculate is not comfortable, but I released him from my grasp and he fell onto his own hands and feet crushing them beneath his own body. He looked at me with determination but contemplation, his resolve was waning now.

“Can you really do what they say you can do?” I decided to play coy. I leaned against the wall and looked at my nails like I had seen villains do in movies a million times.

“What do they say that I can do Tom?” I glared at him over my fingers.

“Well when we broke into your house our man was burned all over his face and hands. We had no idea that you were that strong; no one had seen you in years. Can you really destroy people at will?” I had never been able to do anything at will it just happened and I had used a condensed air can on that guy to burn him like that. I decided though, in that moment, that it was best if Thomas Taylor was terrified. I starred him directly in the eyes.

“Yes it is true.” The look on his face was priceless. If this was a movie I would have cheered, but it wasn’t so I just looked at him as sternly as I could and then he cracked.

“STOP STARRING AT ME!” He wailed.

“Not until you tell me where the girl is.” I said with a snarl and I kept looking at him. He seemed to think this had something to do with eye contact apparently their research into my life had yielded less information than I had thought.

“They are holding her in the basement of the building. In the engineering lab. Lab room two point one four” Finally! I walked over to Tomas Taylor turned him on his stomach and took off his shoes. I ripped off both his socks balled them up and shoved them in his mouth and I grabbed the scotch tape off his desk and wrapped it around his head holding the socks in place. He would be quiet now.

I stood up and looked down at him. “Well Mr. Taylor it has been a pleasure and you have been very helpful enjoy the rest of your life.” As I was walking out I saw on his desk a key pass I grabbed it and then I turned on my heels and walked out of his office. I had what I needed, now I just had to figure out a way to get what I wanted.

Having the key pass was a definite advantage but the security cameras in the hallway weren’t. I also had to wonder if the receptionist I had knocked out earlier had come too. And if so where the hell was security? This was so strange; I hadn’t seen one security guard and I knew I couldn’t possibly that lucky. It was kind of unbelievable. I walked determined to the elevator but I saw a stairway instead. I decided to take that. It seemed like the best idea too me after all, if I was a security guard I would take the elevator. Turns out I was right because right as I was going through the stairwell I heard the elevator door ding. I shut the door behind me silently and listened from the other side. Everything was muffled because the door was heavy and probably metal but I heard two men talking loudly to each other.

“We go on break and look what happens! It’s Sunday for Christ’s sake. Who breaks in on a Sunday.” Me that’s who.

Well great they were looking for me now. It didn’t seem like there were that many though, unless they had sent someone to each floor but I remembered just then. I had never closed out of the computer at the reception desk. Stupid! So they were headed straight to Mr. Tattle Taylor’s office. Well surely they were going to know where I was headed in a few moments. I had to hurry. I started booking it down the stairs.

One flight, according to the sign on the wall, second floor.

Two flights, first floor.

Three flights, main floor.

Four flights Man I wish I could have worn sneakers, basement.

I held my breath. I had found myself face to face with the door leading to the basement area. I had no idea what laid before me but I had to carry on. I straightened myself and walked through the door into what seemed to be an alcove type area.

The walls were white painted brick and before me was a tinted glass door. Once again I couldn’t see through the glass but I figured people could see out. I saw no shadowed figures walking on the other side so I approached the door key card in my hand and I swiped Taylor’s card in the slot. The door opened pneumatically with a gasp. I walked through.

I was in a long sterile T-shaped hallway. Extending to my right and left were darkened hallways with no doors just openings which I assumed were more hallways. In front of me was a long narrow hallway. I followed straight and I looked around there were name placards on the doors to my right and down the hall to my left was a wall of glass windows.

Inside the window banks I saw various things. One seemed to be an observation room currently cluttered with toys, puzzles and games all the colors in the room were primary. They test children here?

This was so strange; I continued down the hallway and looked into the windows on the wall. One was set up like an infirmary. There was a man laying on one of the beds an IV hooked to his arm. He looked young but he looked like he was wasting away. I saw that one of the offices to my right was open so I looked inside no one was there. A lab coat with another pass key was hanging over a chair. I took the pass key; it had a woman’s name on it. That seemed more convincing than Taylor’s key.

I walked out of the office and started looking at all the placards on the doors looking for lab room two point fourteen. I was currently by room one point fifteen which meant that I needed to continue down the hall way or go over to the next one. I decided that my last instinct was the best. I went to the beginning of where I started and passed the dying man again, the children’s observation room. I was at the beginning of the hall way and I took a left. I followed down. I turned left when I reached the next hallway. This hallway was laid out differently; there were heavy doors with small glass windows inset into them, the windows looked to be made of safety glass. I tried to glance inside to see if anyone was there but these windows were also tinted. I walked down the hallway.

Two point twelve, two point thirteen, and….

Two point fourteen. . I took a deep breath again and I stood in front of the door. I tried to peer inside and see if I could pinpoint any people in the room. I couldn’t so I slide the pass key into the slot. It beeped to let me in and I grabbed the handle of the door and turned it slowly and silently. I cracked the door so I could see inside and what I saw was sheer horror.