The anticipation has somewhat worn off. My office is the only thing containing my mind, body and actions right now. My past is soon to meet my present again and no one knows how this meeting will impact the future. Regardless, I'm the captain down here and the government wants to meet, we'll meet.
Mills is at his desk in full dress, awaiting the arrival of our "special" guest. Susan Wilhelm, Secretary of Defense, will be in this office in less than ten minutes. Holly is at her desk as well, I can't see her but I can picture how she looks. The Boss, oh The Boss, he is sitting at his desk, asleep. Seriously.
The intercom speakers' crackle to life, Holly announces, "Mills to the motor pool, our guest has arrived."
Mills hops up and enters the motor pool. The Secretary is almost up stairs and he is going to get her with our car and bring her down through the large elevator. At this point, I instantly feel the nerves, the thousands of butterflies fluttering so gently in my stomach. My trash can seems like the only reasonable option right now for a good, empty stomach vomit.
Now that that's over, I wipe my face with a baby wipe I keep in my top right drawer. A quick glance in the mirror confirms that what I'm feeling on the inside is showing on my face like a fresh pus filled pimple. No time to scramble or anything, the elevator has already been activated and is on its way down with the child molesting pedophile known as Ms. Wilhelm.
The best thing about this entire situation is that she may not even recognize me. I'm all worked up about something that may be a non-issue. Something that may boil down to me being able to control myself. It's all in my hands right now, this moment, seize this moment and all is well.
Holly buzzes into my desk phone, "Breath Gregg. In and out honey. In and out. You got this. I'll be right on this side of the wall if you need me." A light tapping occurs to my right.
I crack a slight smile, "Thanks baby girl." I lean over and tap back.
Mills reenters the building to my left; quickly behind him is the Ms. Wilhelm. She is walking very slowly, gingerly, with a cane. I didn't do that to her. She is hunched over slightly like a ninety year old would be. She turns her head back and forth scanning the area and I catch a glimpse of her black eye patch.
"That's my girl." I mumble under my breath.
Mills slowly escorts Ms. Wilhelm to my office door. Knocking once, he opens the door and in shuffles the Secretary of Defense for the President of the United States. Her legs are barely exposed below the knee but it is very apparent she is not getting ample blood flow to her right extremity; it's white, very white.
Her hair is styled and managed in a manner that it almost looks fake; I'm betting ten to one that it's a wig. Her shirt was light blue, fully buttoned up except for the middle button, it was missing. She wrapped her full length brown over coat around her forearm and managed to carry files in her non-cane hand.
The amount of wrinkles she had accumulated in the last decade or so was astounding. She went from being forty-five and looking thirty to being late fifties and looking late nineties. It actually made me gag a bit just thinking of her molesting some poor young kid now. That old wrinkly bitch.
Clearing his throat Mills announces, "Gregg Burnsfield this is…"
"Mr. Mills, I think we can handle our own introductions. You're dismissed." Wilhelm rudely interrupts our "first" introduction.
She continues to shuffle into the office, slowly but surely. The door closes with a solid thud; her cane was of some use to her. This frail child molesting motherfucker was now trapped with me on my turf.
I remained standing the entire time, "Good Morning Ms. Wilhelm." I stuck out my hand, my right hand of course. Her right hand was full so she nodded me off. Thank god.
She grimaces a bit as her descent into the desk chair was unpleasant, "Yeah, yeah. Call me Susan. Let's make this quick and dirty, I've got other shit to do today."
When she said that her name was Susan and I actually heard her say it in her own voice I was instantly over come with chills. I managed to play it off as a shiver as I took my seat. We were both sitting, facing one another much like we faced one another those many years ago in her basement.
I was waiting for her face to jump, as she realized who she was sitting across from, but it hadn't happened yet. I waited for Susan to start the conversation off so we could end this non-sense and get her out of here and away from me. The starring contest continued for at least fifteen seconds.
She tilted her head, about five degrees or so to the left, as if she were thinking or trying to get a better look, "You're face, there's something about you. I swear I know you. Have we met before?"
My insides had officially turned to mush as I'm slowly sinking into oblivion, awaiting her loud cry, "Susan, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance."
My mind was racing, my heart was pounding, and my ears were definitely deaf to everything now.
She leaned in a little closer, "You ok Mr. Burnsfield? Just try to relax, I'm going to figure out where I know you from, don't worry." She chuckled because she thought I was just nervous about the meeting but in reality, when she figured out who I was, she was going to go the fuck off.
"Susan, if you don't mind, let's get down to the brass tacks here. What can I and K.U.N.T. division do for you today?" This was my best attempt to keep this conversation as smooth and interactive as possible.
She leans back in her chair, her back cracking twice to accomplish such a daunting task, and barks out, "I've been hearing you're having a bit of trouble down here. A few incidents have occurred under your direct leadership, one big incident in particular. I need to know that you're the man for this job Gregg." She spoke with her hands a lot and moved her head around on her skinny little veiny neck but that didn't intimidate me one bit.
I clasped my hands together and leaned forward, using the desk as my support, "Well Susan, we did have a major problem where we lost Mills' entire team and everyone else was held capture by a recent…ummm…acquisition. That man was overly skilled and I think we all under estimated what he was capable of. The remaining parts of the team, including myself, were able to rescue the essential personnel but unfortunately we had to destroy the potential Agent."
Her facial expression never changed, even though having one eye and a big patch over it made it difficult for me to gauge her demeanor, "Gregg, I reviewed the surveillance footage from that day, well, from every day since you've been down here and it appears to me that control is the last thing you have. You…"
I tried to interject, "Susan listen to…"
She jumped forward with her wrinkly finger pointed out at my face as straight as she could get it, "Shut the fuck up, I wasn't finished. You got me you little baby sitting piece of shit."
I lurched back, having a minor flashback to the night I escaped from her capture. I felt as if I were in danger, mentally in danger. My stomach began to mix every pre-digested piece of food together in a special recipe, a throw up recipe. I fought it back down my esophagus but the lump that developed in a matter of seconds lingered on.
She continued, "You unleashed the most well-known serial killer on a recruit, in an attempt to rescue the remaining people in the room. You, sir, risked a current agent and the ranking officials of this office in a thoughtless juvenile action."
Her face changed, as if she were trying to pass a really stubborn turd, as she tried to stand to address me further, "I am not confident that you can gain and maintain control of this operation down her. I am not confident that you are capable of logic thought. I am not confident that you have the mental strength to control a group of psychos, a group of damaged employees and yourself all at the same time."
I stand too, showing my superior height advantage and physical stature when compared to the Secretary. She wasn't impressed but she did however, notice something. In my hand was the rose medallion, the same rose medallion she confiscated from me when she found took me into her home that faithful night.
"Don't' think I don't know who you are, Gregg." Susan said slyly. "I've seen that medallion only once in my entire life. It actually cost me this eye." She raises her eye patch to reveal an empty eye socket that has been crudely sewn shut.
I leaned forward, flashing the rose on the medallion to her face, "Don't think I didn't know who you were, we all know who you are, we all know what you have done to countless other children." I leaned back prepared to hear a solid explanation.
"Oh sweet little Gregory, poor little boy." Susan leaned forward placing both balled up fists on my desk. "I could feed you to Gacy back there if I really wanted to right now." Her face oozed confidence but all I could really focus on was my handy work on that eye of hers.
"Susan, I think you're placing too much value on your title and power, or lack thereof. I've spent time with these monsters, valuable time. I've also spent time with even worse monsters, such as you." I slowly stood from my seat, "My father molested me, I killed him; my mother committed suicide in front of me with a pistol; I was even chased by a bear and I killed him too. The fact that you're still alive and you altered the course of my life just as much as everyone else is a motherfucking miracle, Susan." My stride was slow but confident.
"Sweetie, you are in no position to send out any sort of cryptic messages. I own you; I own all of you down here. I owned Mills' crew that got murdered; I owned the Agent you were trying to recruit but ended up assassinating. I run this shit down here little Gregory and frankly, I think I need to shut you down. Today. Right now. Yet another smile from this old fucking winch.
I walked up behind her, pulled my cuffs out and slapped one on her wrist and the other on my free wrist. "Let's go see how strong you really are Susan. Let's see how far your words can get you with my buddies."
I dragged her by the wrist from her chair, to her feet. Her cane slapped the ground as I jerked her through the doorway. She was whimpering like a beaten puppy and murmuring some gibberish all the way into the main area. Everyone was out there and I think they were all equally surprised by the sight of me dragging an old woman across the floor by her a set of handcuffs attached to her wrist.
All of them watched; they didn't even flinch. Almost as if all of them (Holly, Mills, The Boss and Councilor Champ) had seen a ghost pass through. The louder she commanded me to let her go or order the others to assist her the more I smiled and happily yanked her across the floor through the main area towards the Agent's rooms.
I looked down at her wrist as her body screeched across the glossy laminate floor, the skin around her wrist had been peeled back like a banana peel. He blood flowed fast enough to leave a trail from my office to the Agent's rooms. The closer I got her to the Agent's area, the more her commands began to transform into pleas for help and cries for mercy.
Susan Wilhelm, Secretary of Defense for the President of the United States, cried out to me, "Gregory, listen. Please listen to me. Please!"
I slowed her dragging transportation enough for her to get to her knees, I grabbed her chin and jerked her face towards mine, "Susan, what's about to happen to you is fully justified and absolutely necessary. Sure, it's selfish of me to want you dead but at least the world would be free from one less pedophile out there. Correct me if I'm wrong, by all means."
The tears ran down her face, some even dropped directly from her eyes, splashing to the floor just like a jumper from the top of a tall building hitting the concrete below. Splat, Splat; Splat, Splat.
"Tears won't save you now Susan. Tears didn't save me or those other kids from your wrath, from your twisted fucked up reality and your tortured demented mind." I drew my service weapon from my waist holster, with my hand that was still handcuffed to her. "I've got a feeling this is going to be a bad day for you Ms. Wilhelm."
I fired off a shot right passed her ear, so my barrel would accumulate some decent heat. Then I pushed my barrel directly on her forehead with a slight sizzle of skin. I pushed it in there so hard that her neck cracked a bit because it bent back so far. "Close your eyes, don't fear death. Close your eyes, do not fear death." I paused for a slight second and offered an option, "You can take a bullet right now or spend ten minutes in John Wayne Gacy's room…OH! Better yet, Dennis Rader's room. You know, B.T.K., what'll it be?"
"Tell you what Susan, how about a count to three?" I plaster on my best sinister smile and lower my brow. "One." I press a touch harder with the barrel. "Two." I pull the hammer back on my pistol. "Thr…"
I was interrupted by a quick yelp, "Wait! Just wait!" Susan rose to her feet and straightened out her clothing. "You're not going to shoot me. You know what…"
I instantly fired one shot into her right calf; no bone or cartilage damage, just meat. She screams out in pure agony and falls to the ground, jerking my arm and hand with the gun in it down further as the handcuffs dig deeper into her flesh.
"You were saying Susan?" I grimaced sarcastically at her, mocking the pain she was feeling at that moment.
She clinched her teeth and wiped her tears away, "You're dead Gregg at that moment.
She clinched her teeth and wiped her tears away, "You're dead Gregg. You know you're dead for this right?"
"Actually Susan, you're the one that is the closest to being dead at this moment in time. If, however, you decide you want to survive, you will leave us to our work down here and never speak of this again. I can easily get to you with my team anytime I want before you'll have a chance to get to me down here. You know that, you have to know that. Would you like to leave today?" I shake my head up and down trying to coerce her answer. This was a very fulfilling experience for me.
Susan looked at me, shook her head and grumbled, "Yes, yes I want to leave here today."
I motioned Mills over as I released the bloodied handcuffs from our wrists, "Fix her leg and wrist please, then send this sick fuck back to where she came from." I smiled at Ms. Wilhelm as she was ushered away and said, "Good day Ma'am. Please come again."
"Oh Mills! Don't use any antiseptics on her, we're running low and I want to conserve for the future in case we need it." We both chuckled pretty heartily.