Flutter (34 page)

Frankie stood his ground and said, “My Abby. Where are you?” She did not answer. She had never met Frankie in this state. It was like her possessions needed to examine him and give him the okay before they allowed her to speak. 

She said, “Abby is here,” In a strong raspy voice. She touched him on the chest. 

Frankie smiled. He could feel her strength from that simple touch. He reached for the suit and gently took it from Abigail. He was not afraid. She let him take it. He examined the suit and said, “Who made this?”

Roger answered, “My mother... and me. That’s what they wanted. They killed her for it.”

Frankie handed the suit back to Abigail. She grabbed it back. He looked down at the bag on the floor and realized it was full of weaponry. He reached into it and pulled out a handgun. He checked it for ammunition. It was loaded. He handed it to Roger. Abigail, the beast, stood there breathing heavily. Frankie asked, “What’s the plan?”

Finch was picked up by EMTs and placed in an ambulance. They sped along the 30 minute ride to get her to the hospital. She was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital and placed in a room on the 7th floor. Finch was in stable condition but in terrible pain. She had a fracture in her left shin and a variety of other sprained and bruised parts. Her left arm was in a sling. The blast caused significant damage to her ears which would take weeks to heal. 

She lay in the hospital bed, unaware of what was going on. Finch eventually woke to see Duffy and Brown standing over her. Her eyes were in full focus within a few seconds. They noticed her eyes were blinking. Brown said, “Meghan… Meghan…” as he softly held her hand.

She said, “My head.” She let out a grunt and touched her head with her hand. “My head is killing me!”

Brown asked, “Are you okay?”

“Pssh!” Meghan rolled her eyes.

“What the hell happened over there?” Brown asked. But she didn’t have the strength to go into the details. He would never have believed it anyway.

Duffy added, “Dispatch said it was supposed to be a routine domestic disturbance? Why did you even take that call?”

“I don’t know. I was right there. I thought it would be simple...” a tear rolled down her face. Finch looked confused; but actually, she was not confused at all. She was overwhelmed. She had seen things that no one would understand. Duffy and Brown stepped outside of the room to converse. Suddenly she heard a cell phone vibrating. It was Ben’s cell phone. Abigail had given her the phone on her way out of Roger’s house. Finch saw the cell phone hanging half way out of her pocket. She opened it. Her eyes widened in shock. She saw a text from Dewey that said, “ELIMINATE HER EXPEDITIOUSLY!” She also saw phone calls and text messages from Ben to Chris Duffy. 

Duffy had sent a text, “ELIMINATED?” but Ben had never responded because he was dead.

After seeing the text, she remembered Abigail’s words,
You will find that your enemy is always someone you think you can trust.
Finch snapped out of her fuzziness, took a swift look to make sure they hadn’t seen her, reached over to her jacket and grabbed her gun. She slid the gun under her thigh and lay back down. She reached for her cell phone and tucked it under her pillow.

Duffy and Brown returned after their brief conversation. Duffy somehow convinced Brown to leave. Brown reentered the room. Meghan lay in the bed, pretending to be resting. 

Brown said, “In a few, I’m gonna go back over to that house to follow up with Tammy. Duffy’s gonna stay here until I get back. I made him promise to keep you safe.” Brown winked. Meghan gave him a fake smile. Duffy looked in and smirked at her. Brown kissed Finch on the forehead. They talked for a moment but she never mentioned anything about the explosion or about Duffy’s treason. She didn’t know who to trust except for Abigail. 

When Brown left the room, Meghan sent Abigail a text, “MASS GENERAL. 7th FLOOR. THEY ARE COMING!”

Abigail had eventually returned to her normal self with brown eyes and normal breathing. Then she received the text from Meghan. She showed it to Roger and Frankie. She quickly told Frankie about Meghan. He had already known her from the pub, but she had somehow gotten involved in the matter at Roger’s house. And now she was a target. Abigail moved quickly. She tore her clothes off as quickly as she could. She slipped her legs into the suit. Her heart pounded. She pulled it up over her thighs. Her eyes were glowing. Her muscles bulged. She put her arms in and zipped herself in the front. She walked out of the room. Frankie and Roger stood amazed. Roger had never seen anyone wear the suit. He knew Abigail took a risk putting it on, but she trusted his work. She was more powerful than ever.

Roger asked, “Are you sure you want to try the suit? It has never been tested. I can’t make any promises that...”

Abigail cut him off and said, “Roger. Believe me. It will work. Let’s go.” Her eyes flicked from blue to brown. She was struggling to keep herself from going into beast mode. The suit pulled at her possessions making them want to come forward. Within a few minutes she was in control, and the brown eyed Abby was consistently there.

Abigail slipped on black cargo Dickie pants over the suit. Roger strapped up with a vest and a variety of weapons. He attached a few guns around Abigail’s waist. She put on her leather jacket. They loaded up on ammunition.

Frankie asked, “WAIT WAIT! Are you sure you want to do this?”

Abigail said, “They are looking for me, but I’m not gonna wait until they find me. I’m going to them. And they are going to kill Meghan if I do not get over there now.”

Frankie asked, “Who are ‘they?’” a question asked of Abigail many times.”

Abigail answered, “The man who made me and my brothers. We have to go, Frankie.”

Frankie said, “Take this.” Frankie reached into his pocket and handed her a knife. He continued saying, “It was my father’s. Bring it back to me.”

Abigail said, “I will. I promise.” She touched Frankie’s chest and turned away. She said, “Roger… Let’s go. If they’re going to go after Finch, we’ve got to get to her first.”

Abigail received another text from Finch. She read it and tossed Roger her phone. He opened it. The text read, “I DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME HURRY!” Roger and Abigail reached the truck, got in and drove off.

Jason Dewey was sitting in a recliner, chewing on the end of a cigar and reading the paper when Saul was far enough away from the commotion to contact him. The news was not exactly what Dewey had wanted to hear. Saul was completely out of breath when he explained what had happened at the Atkins residence. He explained that they went to get Atkins and pressure her about her communication with Paltee; but she wouldn’t speak, so they tortured her to get answers. Then they had questioned her about the experiments going on in the garage and in her son’s room. “They were building things,” Saul insisted. He explained they weren’t constructing anything overly complex, but they were complicated enough to raise suspicion about their ability to create something more useful. So on a hunch, they questioned her about the plans for the suit and she looked guiltier.

He gave explicit details of what they did to her and no matter what they did or how they threatened the life of her son, she refused to speak. Then, to their surprise, Abigail had shown up. Saul wasn’t sure of the connection. He assumed that Paltee and Abigail may have kept in touch after all these years and had slipped under everyone’s radar because in Saul’s mind, it would never be pure coincidence that Abigail would find the Atkins on her own. Dewey agreed. “He must have sent Abigail to Atkins for the suit. Atkins has no other use in this matter,” Dewey said.

He explained the fight and the nosey cop showing up. Then Saul explained that Abigail and the Atkins boy had killed Ben, and Saul had fled, at which point Dewey’s temper went straight through the roof. 

He stood up and threw down the cigar and said, “Get your ass here, NOW!” Saul was already in a cab heading to the hotel.

It was late in the day, and the nurses were transitioning between shifts. The night guards were coming in. Most of the doctors were leaving for the night. The hospital was quiet, and the hall lights had been dimmed a bit. Duffy had been sitting outside of Finch’s room for about 40 minutes when the nurse entered the room for the last time for the night. As she checked Finch’s vital signs, Duffy walked in. Meghan was pretending to sleep.

He asked, “How’s my champ doing?”

The nurse smiled at Duffy and said, “She’s fine. She just needs a little rest. You can leave if you want. She’s fine here.”

Duffy said, “Oh no, no. I’m gonna stay here. She’d be happy knowing someone she was close to was right here making sure she was okay. Plus I have a lot of questions to ask, so when she wakes up. I want to ask them while the answers are fresh in her mind.”

The nurse shrugged and said, “Ok well… I see a few of her wounds are bleeding through so I want to clean her up a little. I’m going to have you step out for a minute.”

Duffy said, “Oh sure. Sure. No problem. I’ll be right outside. Take your time.” As Duffy walked out of the room, his phone buzzed. It was a text from Mr. Jason Dewey. “WE NEED TO FINISH THIS TONIGHT AND CLEAN UP THIS MESS BY MORNING! I’M ON MY WAY TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T SCREW UP!”

Duffy replied, “COMPLICATIONS. NEED 30 MINUTES.” He sent the message. He then sent a text to Detective Brown, “ARE YOU ON YOUR WAY?” 

Brown responded, “COMING BACK NOW.”

Dewey was so angry he picked up the phone and called Duffy on the spot. Dewey stepped away for more privacy and answered the phone. He said, “I’m doing the best I can.”

“Your best is not good enough. When Moore referred you, she told me you were reliable,” Dewey explained. “So, my disappointment is inevitable.”

Duffy angrily responded, “Do you know what I have at stake here? What I have risked? You said you wanted Finch, and I faked the dispatch call to get her to your boys. They failed. Not me. If they can’t take out a female cop, then discuss that with them.” 

Earlier that evening, Duffy had Barkley “Duck” Duckworth, the officer who usually worked the front desk, and Detective Fisher follow Meghan when she left the office to meet with her mother–in–law. She didn’t know she was being followed, and Dewey didn’t know that Finch would end up in the same area as the Ezekiels; but when she did, Duffy immediately came up with the idea of luring her to the house, calling in a domestic disturbance. It had worked! Duck called in the disturbance.

“There was another distraction we didn’t account for,” Dewey added. “I’m sure she is on her way to the hospital, so you have to act fast. I’m on my way. My boys are coming, too. You get those halls clear; and if you get a clean shot on Finch, take it! I don’t give a fuck about what you have at stake.” Dewey hung up.

Duffy knew he would need to act fast if he was to kill Finch before Brown returned and figured out he was behind it.

Abigail and Roger pulled up behind a high rise building that sat near the hospital. Roger took out his computer. He hooked it to an electronic device. He attached the device to the electrical unit that controlled the electricity of a few blocks in the area. Abigail said to Roger, “You know what to do. I’m going in.”

Roger nodded. He looked away for a second, then he looked back at Abigail; but she had already disappeared up the side of the building. On all fours she climbed up the high rise. Roger packed up his things and quietly moved closer to the hospital. He saw four black trucks pull up. Indigo had sent in more men like Ben and Saul. Saul stepped out of the front seat of the truck. Roger watched from a dark shadow. Abigail had reached the top of the building. She took out a cigarette and quickly lit it. She took a strong drag and flicked it to the side. She walked up to the edge of the building and watched her prey from above.

Abigail was angry. She inhaled and turned into the
Beast.
Her blue eyes zoomed in on the little black figures circling the building, planning their attack against Meghan Finch. She wasn’t going to let that happen. 

There she was, standing at the edge, thinking of life’s mysteries that had created this kink in her path– her choices, decisions driven by her fears and uncontrollable desires. They all had changed the meaning of her existence and everything around her. This is where she committed to regain control of everything. She threw off her leather jacket.

Abigail turned around, jogging away from the edge. The only sounds were the sounds of her pounding heart and the chilling wind squeezing through her hair and riding past her ears. Her fast hard footsteps got louder as she got closer and closer to the edge. She ran full speed toward the edge and when she ran out of roof, she jumped.

Abigail stretched out her arms and wind gliders appeared between her arms and sides and between her legs slowing down her decent. Roger had installed them as a feature on the suit.
Eagle.
She soared down towards the ceiling of the hospital. She then released a short parachute and quickly, she tossed out a rope. The parachute slowed her from a deadly fall to a soft, safe glide. The rope wrapped itself around a cell tower at the top of the building. She swung around a few times and detached the parachute as soon as her feet hit the cement. The landing was perfect. She talked into a wire in her ear. 

Abigail said, “Roger, I’m here. Take out the lights.”

The wind took the parachute around to the front of the building where her enemies awaited. They looked up. Slowly the black silk chute floated to the ground. Saul picked it up.

Saul looked up and saw Abigail peering over the edge. He said, “She’s on the roof!” The men dashed into the building.

After Roger shut off the electricity, the emergency generators came on, turning on machines and emergency light strips in the halls and stairwells. The low lit lights flickered from the inconsistent power offered by the generator. Telephone and Internet communication was disabled courtesy of Roger Atkins. Roger then took three of his radio controlled cars and placed them on the road. Earlier, he had strapped explosives to their tops and clicked their fuses into the “live” position. He turned on the cars and directed them with a remote control, driving each one straight ahead. Each car crept forward to the trucks in the front of the hospital and rested underneath. Once Roger got them all in place, he hit a green button, and they exploded.