Madness (3 page)

“You and I, my friend, will make history and put an end to religious feuding.”

“I pray for the day,” Pendleton said and hung up. Latovsky blundered. That blunder would cost him his life. He just didn’t know that yet.

Pendleton kicked back away from his desk. The genesis of a new world lay within his reach. The European Commonwealth only waited for the raising of his hand. The Russians licked their lips, ready to dine on the Muslim and Israeli worlds.
Pendleton gripped the world’s monetary system firmly in his hand. All Pendleton had to do was give Professor Cline, his man inside the missile complex, the word, and the United States Space-based missile system would complete the plan. Pity, the Russians wouldn’t be the stars in the History books. Latovsky knew only one eighth of the plan.

However,
his Lovey was coming to see him, and without her, conquering the world seemed pointless. The Americans had invented the brain-computer interface, the BCI, for army battlefield situations during the Second Iraq War. Only in the top-secret labs of this superpower, did the research go into the realm of merging computer and human intelligence, as with the implant in Lovey’s head.

Pendleton picked up the office phone and turned to the window. Israel boasted the finest brain researchers in the world, and Milton Rogers had procured a team for him.

“Haifa Medical Research.”

“Doctor Rueben Levi, please.”

“May I say who is calling?”

“Tell him, Milton’s friend.”

“One moment.”

Pendleton despised recorded music, particularly when interrupted by commercials. Luckily, the pain
of the Copacabana-style rhythms lasted less than a minute.

“Levi.”

“Arthur Pendleton, thank you, Doctor, for taking my call.”

“Yes, keep the world green.”

Those words signaled Levi was a friend of The Sons of Tiw, Pendleton’s Secret Service.

“I’ll be seeing our friend first thing
Wednesday. Is everything in place? What should I do?”

“You’ll have a team with you?”

“Yes, I’ll be escorted by my security people.”

“Immediately upon your arrival at the hotel, flowers will be handed to you.
”

“By whom.”

“Mossad, they’re friendly. See that the flowers are put in your wife’s hand.”

“
And?”

“And nothing, keep them
in her room.”

“But . . .”

“Do you really want me to bore you with technology?”

“Anything else?”

“You’ll be debriefed by me when the data is processed. Watch her eyes for recognition and reaction. Remember you can see behavior we can’t hear. People under someone else’s influence say things that don’t match their body-language.”

“Roger that.”

“Most important, find out where the implant is attached and what the area around it looks like.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Pendleton’s hands trembled as he set down the phone. From the moment he set his eyes on her, Laverna Smythe owned his soul. He feared that Hercules had killed the blithe spirit within her. Every waking moment brought little gems of her into his consciousness, like pouring his heart out to her about his dreams. Even when his anger flared, she could whisper harp-like music to his soul.

Damn the bloody Americans for changing her.

They’d better bring her to him whole when all was written out and accomplished, or he’d kill every last Herculean who’d harmed her.

Peacock showered and made herself alluring
. She under applied her makeup and layered lace panties and a sheer nightgown over her body to arouse Pendleton when he saw her. Of course, her natural prowess and her emotions enhanced by technology made her irresistible to men.

The moment her team told her Pendleton
had cleared Hercules’ security, her body sensitized. My God, she grew close to orgasm, and he hadn’t opened the door.

At first, Peacock
fought her emotions. She hoped to talk to her husband and reconnect. Then she realized that the control team was playing naughty inside her head. Logically, she ought to be nervous about having sex with her husband, not having seen him in months. She didn’t clearly remember him. However, her tormentors manipulated her emotional impulses, and regardless of what he looked like, she wanted to tear his clothes off the moment he walked through the door.

“He’s here,” Polaris said. “Work your magic.”

Pendleton entered with flowers in his hand—a gorgeous looking man. She dropped her gown, tossed the flowers he’d handed to her onto the nightstand, and melted into him. Her mind controlled her body and her body flooded her mind with lustful thoughts. He returned her advances with enthusiasm. For the next hour, his body spoke to hers and she remembered its language.

“I’ve missed you,” Pendleton said as he wrapped his arm under her breasts and curved his body against her backside. “I’ve missed your smile and your voice.”

Peacock couldn’t answer. Her body contracted in intense waves. Her orgasm kept increasing. She fought to bring body under control as the pleasure turned painful. Then as quickly as she’d become aroused, the sensations stopped. The sudden decrease in her heart rate caused her to blackout for an instant. She sucked in a deep breath as she regained consciousness.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” she answered.

As much as she could remember of her husband, told her he was trustworthy. She put her finger to her lips, swung herself out of bed, and grabbed a pen and paper off the table.

They control me.

She pointed to her head.

I’m trapped inside.

Pendleton’s eyes saddened and his jaw quivered. He nodded with understanding.

She didn’t want her feelings for him to die, but they were fading as the seconds passed.

Sorry,
she wrote, as tears fell from her husband’s eyes. The vision of him changed from that of her loving husband to an ordinary man. She read the notes she’d written and thought
—Hercules will not win.

“How is our child?” she said, as the last drop of emotion squeezed out of her.

#

Pendleton
studied the shell of the woman to whom he’d just made love. She was Laverna Smythe-Pendleton for a brief moment. He had hope. If his people could figure out the science and rid her of that retched device without turning her into an idiot, she would be his Lovey again.

He forced himself into task-mode, glanced at the flowers, and said, “Little George misses his mum. But Granny Anne is aces at her job.”

“Do you have a picture?”

Pendleton pulled out a stack of photos showing their healthy, smiling son with Peacock’s red hair and
Pendleton’s blue, deep-set eyes. “He’ll be a tall, strapping lad. A great mix of the two of us.”

“I remember giving birth to him.”

The confusion on her face cut deep into his soul. Was her mind destroyed? No.  She thought logically, but her emotions were either hyperactive or repressed at her controllers’ will.

“Do you remember me?”

She cocked her head toward him and smiled. “Bits and pieces.”

“Tell me what you remember.”

“I recognized you when I saw you, but until now, I couldn’t have picked your picture out of a group. I saved your life once in a battle by the ocean.” She stood and looked in the mirror as though she’d forgotten the question. “Do you like my new body? I’ve worked hard at tightening my stomach and using cream on my stretch marks.”

Pendleton bit his lip. He’d have to ask the questions and see what recollection she had. “Do you remember meeting me in Athens?”

She didn’t look at him, only herself in the mirror. “You gave me a blue garnet engagement ring.” She turned toward him and showed him her hand. “I wear it still, along with the band.”

He almost asked her if she’d been faithful, but thought better of it.

“Tell me about me. Who am I?” she asked.

The question seemed absurd coming from anyone else.

“Eighteen people were incinerated on a Virginia highway.”

Her eyes were
as blank as one possessed. “Yes. I’ve been told everyone died but me. My whole family disappeared in a flash. What else?”

“I’ve seen you kill. I’d say you could best five of my best
agents without breaking a sweat.”

“I already have, Darling. I remember my kills.” Her face showed a devilish grin
. “I can recall the faces of the dead.”

“You called me, Darling,” Pendleton
’s throat choked up. “The night you saved my life, you told me you loved me as much as you could ever really love anyone. You have a bogus estate worth seven billion dollars. You’re a damn genius with an I.Q. over 150. Should I go on?”

Peacock flashed a faint recognition, put her hand to her head, and then reached for the pad and paper.

As you talk to me, I recall things in pictures—where I was when I learned of my IQ. Things like that. My controllers modify my responses, so I react only intellectually.

Pendleton grabbed the papers she’d written earlier and held them up. She studied them and shook her head. He wrote,

You wrote these no more than ten minutes ago.

I don’t remember.

He placed her hand in his and mouthed. “Do you believe the notes?”

She nodded.

He let go her hand and wrote.
Until my dying breath, I’m going to find a way to free you.

“Please do.”

Chills coursed through him. She’d reached out for help.

“I’ve been faithful to you, Arthur,” she said. “But I can’t promise anything in the future.”

“Ursa has his own plans.”

“Kolb . . .”

“Who?”

“Nothing.”

“I’m available to have as many children as I’m allowed with you, but only when instructed to stop the medication.”

The warmth faded again from her face
, but he’d received the affirmation he needed. Trapped inside lived the woman he loved and he must save her.

#

Several hours passed, but Peacock only remembered what was happening in the present. She talked. She answered and asked questions. Each time she struggled to recall pleasant things, uncomfortable pains flooded her head.

Finally
, she stopped struggling. Her programming told her to satisfy this man. The moment he showed interest, her body shot into action, no reason to fight allowed pleasure. She’d deal with the confusion afterward.

#

Arthur Pendleton hurried out to his limousine, slid into the back seat, and dialed Levi. “Did the technology work?”

“
The technology worked surprisingly well. The question is how are you? With the physical and emotional workout you endured, I wonder how you can still move about.”

“When can we get together to plot out a solution?” Pendleton asked
, ignoring the personal comment.

“Give my people a week. She revealed a great deal without knowing she was. Let’s analyze before we celebrate.”

#

Beatrice Kolb hooked on her tiger-stripe bra and headed into Ursa Major’s bathroom. Sleeping with the boss gained her privileges and access others in Hercules didn’t have. Creating Peacock, the ultimate warrior, with government funding topped her list of successes and wiped
out the list of failures from past attempts. What were a few unfortunate human guinea pigs? Peacock was her crowning success.

She applied the slightest touch of fuchsia lipstick to accent the apple-green dress she planned to wear. Major, as Herculeans called him, was Ursa Minor’s boss and already at work. Peacock started her new assignment three months earlier, protecting the President of the United States, and
Major would soon receive the first update on her performance.

Kolb already knew
her performance would be flawless, and yet, Kolb regretted that Peacock had lost her commitment to the dream of being an ultimate warrior. Pendleton, and Ursa’s poor judgment, caused the problem. If Peacock had willingly worked as a team member, she’d have saved herself a lot of pain.

Peacock despises me
, Kolb thought. She’d hoped Peacock would be a friend, a collaborator, even a partner in advancing the science of mind-control. However, both of them were too bullheaded to get along. Too bad for dear Peacock. Once Peacock’s implant adjustments were complete, Beatrice Kolb became Peacock’s mistress.

Dressed and ready for work, Kolb headed out to her red Corvette and drove to The Klingerman Institute, a front for the Hercules’ Mental Development Center. Her team of twelve gathered for her daily briefing, and she shouted instructions from the hallway before ever entering the conference room.

“I want a full report on all scans taken in the last twenty-four hours.” Kolb brushed by Doctor Chang Nyugen, her assistant and entered the room. “Highlight reactions deviating from probe instructions.”

For ten minutes, the researchers reported normal responses from Peacock per program and per plan, until Doctor Nyugen
rose up to speak. Nyugen studied brainwave communication in battlefield situations with the military and collaborated on the communications helmet used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kolb brought him onboard to help install Peacock’s new implant.

“Ursa tests her skillfully regarding her husband. She’s kicked
Pendleton off his pedestal, thank God.” Nyugen passed out the technical support data. “I have no doubt she’ll kill him at our command. When the threat to America’s financial security has passed, our most powerful enemy, Arthur Pendleton, will die at her hand, and then she can be renamed and reassigned.”

“Well that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Kolb grumped. “Until the time when his death won’t bankrupt the world’s economy, we must play defense.”

“Hercules’ leadership has to deal with that reality,” Nyugen said. “The science says she’ll kill him.”

“I heard
but
in your tone.”

“There is one glitch.
We can’t change her feelings for her son. I doubt she could destroy the child on command.”

Kolb drummed her fingers on the conference room table. She’d never had a child and never wanted one.
In the larger scheme of things, she doubted the child would pose a future threat. In today’s world, dictator’s sons had trouble succeeding their fathers. Some ugly mob would probably kill him if he ever tried. Her greater concern lay in the fact that there was a glitch at all. If one developed, could another crop up, and so on?

“Tell no one outside this room. Chang, you and I will study this dilemma ourselves.”