Chapter 10: Preston

The big goofball heard a sound coming from one of my VL20's. The door was open and there was something moving inside the door. I was sure that he thought he had me. He looked around warily, but he was sure I was inside of the machine.

"What a wimp," he said loudly. "What kind of man hides inside of a God Damned machine? Your wife said you love these things. Well dumb ass, they can't protect you. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to make sure you sit your little ass down, while she talks to the woman that went up there." I listened to him ranting from my hiding place near him. He didn't know what I'd cooked up for him. Once again I'm not a violent man, but I needed to get this over with.

He got in front of the machine and looked inside. He leaned inside the large machine expecting to find me hiding in it. "What the fuck," he said. The movement he'd seen, had come from a couple of mechanical clamps opening and closing. I wasn't inside the machine. "Ha ha ha, very funny!" sneered the big man whose name turned out to be Tim. I knew that with a little bit of luck I'd be the one laughing.

I'm not as large as Tim, but I had both surprise and momentum on my side. I also had the fact that Tim's injured leg had left him nearly immobile and off balance.

I ran up behind Tim and pushed him into the machine and slammed the door. Before Tim could react a hydraulic vise, and the moving clamps, closed on his torso, and three five inch diameter solid carbide drills fed down into his chest. The drills were designed to cut through hardened metal in seconds, so Tim's bones and muscle didn't even slow them down. His short sharp shriek of pain ended nearly as abruptly as it began.

"Accidents in the workplace are no laughing matter," I said to Tim's remains.

A gunshot rang out through the plant. I heard something smack into one of the boxes of parts to my left. I dove behind the box just as the other man came over, holding his gun in front of him. He looked into the VL20 and saw his friend. His face cycled through a host of different emotions as I watched from my hiding place. "Fuck, what that bitch wants. You are dead," he screamed. He looked into the machine and saw his brother's bloody twisted body. He looked around the floor for me. "That was my brother, you asshole."

I had picked up one of the wireless controllers for the robotic part loader. I hit the power switch and the robot began its start up sequence. The second man, Bart, whirled around trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. I watched and waited.

The two thugs may have been professionals, but this was my jungle. The robotic parts loader has a large, long, articulated arm that is basically a small crane. The arm alone weighed over 300 lbs and could lift over a ton. The robot's arm could however only perform a pre-programmed sequence in a specific area. I was working very quickly to reprogram the robot on the fly. I didn't change the arm's action, I was doing something different. The robotic arm was programmed with several safety sensors, and would immediately stop if anything came inside of its operating zone. This made sure that no one was accidentally hurt by the robot. There were four different sensors. I had already shut off three of them. Just as Bart stepped within the robot's zone, he saw me. My fingers were flying over the keyboard. Bart raised the gun and aimed. My finger descended on a final key.

Bart heard a whirring sound behind him but wasn't going to fall for the same thing that had killed his brother. The robotic arm slammed into his head with enough force to lift a car, crushing his skull and throwing his body nearly halfway across the shop floor area. Bart's lifeless body came down within two feet of where his brother lay.

"Birds of a feather ... Die together," I said coldly. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

Amanda ran lightly up the stairs then she turned and looked behind her. Where the hell were her security men? No matter, she had to find Preston and get out of here. Let the police do their job, and take care of Charlotte. She'd taken a helicopter here, and Preston's car was no where in sight but that Black car was, so she was sure that Charlotte's people were here too. She was sure that Charlotte herself was too smart to be here. She wouldn't have come either, if Preston wasn't headed here.

Amanda was surprised to hear footsteps coming up behind her. She turned and her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Hello Mother, what a surprise," said Charlotte.

Amanda looked at the person standing in front of her. It was grotesque. Amanda had trouble putting her finger on exactly what was wrong with it. It was Annalise, but she didn't stand or hold herself like Anna did. Anna was a very reserved young woman she walked, talked and stood a certain way. Her gestures and mannerisms all fit her personality. It looked as if she was pretending to be someone else. Anna was trying to strut around, sticking her boobs and butt out. It just didn't seem right. It also looked like the body was having trouble doing it because it wasn't its natural gait or stance.

In addition to this Anna, didn't wear revealing clothing. So seeing her in a skirt that was too short and a very low cut top was just odd. The strangest thing of all though was her face and hair.

Anna wore very minimal, natural looking makeup. Seeing Charlotte's almost theatrical, smoky eye makeup and loud colors was almost garish. Amanda was sure that Preston would think, that hacking off Anna's beautiful long chestnut brown hair to the barely below collar length of Charlotte's hair, was a crime. Dying it Red, to match Charlotte's natural color was more so. Charlotte had naturally pale skin, which fit the bright red hair. Anna's naturally darker skin seemed to belie the red hue.

The figure standing in front of Amanda would have actually seemed funny, if she hadn't done so many horrific things recently. This funny/horrific person also wanted to take Preston away from Amanda so it became deadly serious to both of them.

"I was not expecting to see you here today," said Anna. "But it's a good thing. I've missed you mommy. Every fucking time I shot at you, I've missed. But at least since you're here now, I can kill two rats with one rock. I pick up my husband, and knock off my mother all in one stroke. Fortune favors the bold. Do you have any last words before I pound the shit out of you?"

"Anna, what is wrong with you?" asked Amanda. "You're not Charlotte. Snap out of it. You've got to be in there Anna. Fight her. Take your body back."

The figure standing before Amanda straightened up, and its eyes seemed to blink several times. She looked at Amanda as if seeing her for the first time. She tried to pull her skirt down and her neckline up.

"Amanda, what am I doing here? Why am I dressed like ... like a whore? Have I been drugged?" Amanda went towards the figure to comfort her, Anna was obviously distressed. As Amanda got closer Anna reached back and viciously slapped her. The blow was so hard that Amanda had a big red mark on her cheek and her eyes filled with tears.