Part 8
Gunn and Wesley arrived at the Hyperion at the same time. It was mid-afternoon, and both were ready to get down to business. But walking into the lobby, they found everyone watching television.
“What’s going on?” Wesley asked. “Where are Lilith and Reynolds?”
“Good question,” Angel answered.
“They’re gone,” Lorne answered. “Angelcakes went to check on them and both were missing.”
“What?” Gunn asked incredulously. “After all that work, they just disappear like a fart in the wind?”
“It gets better,” Cordelia said and pointed to the TV. The room fell silent as they watched the CNN news report.
“The investigation into Senator John Martin’s death seems to be coming to a conclusion. New details suggest that the Senator committed suicide with a large caliber weapon. Members of both political parties are stunned by the revelation that a man respected by Democrats and Republicans alike could do such an act. Spokespeople for the Democratic Party are expected to make an announcement shortly regarding these new finding.
“In related news, the sister of Senator John Martin, Rebecca, was found dead in her home earlier this morning. Rebecca Martin apparently killed herself by hanging during the night. Police report that a suicide note was found, and in it, Rebecca commented on her depression following the death of her beloved brother.
“This is Angela Kelly reporting for CNN. Stay tuned for further developments on this story.”
“So that’s it?” Fred asked. “It just ends like this?”
“Apparently,” Angel said as he flipped off the television. “I doubt Lilith escaped on her own. The PTB’s probably found her and took her. Reynolds is probably the one we can thank for that.”
“And since Lilith is gone, there’s no threat of future murders,” Cordelia reasoned.
“But that’s bullshit!” Gunn yelled. “After all that work, after all that we discovered, that’s bullshit! For @#%$’s sake, we found out the people we work for are running their own Final Solution type experiments! It can’t end here!”
But not even Gunn believed that. The group sat in silence. Nothing for them would ever be the same again.
***********
Reynolds was glad to be home. It had been many months since he had left his Seattle home to travel to LA. But now that whole sordid mess was behind him. Tossing the copy of ‘Jane Eyre’ onto his kitchen counter, he went into the hall intent on heading up to bed.
But from his study, he heard the sounds of movement. Bypassing the stairs, he continued down the hall towards the room from which he heard noise. Throwing open the door, he found a man looking through his desk drawers.
“Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?” Reynolds yelled.
“Mr. Reynolds,” the man greeted. “Never figured you to be the type to betray the Powers.” The man showed no fear as Reynolds approached, despite the fact that he was much smaller. “You should know, the Powers do not tolerate traitors.”
“I didn’t betray the Powers,” Reynolds defended.
The man clearly didn’t believe him. “You knew the location of subject JFB5183 and you didn’t alert the authorities until much later. For your insubordination, the Powers have decided you must be punished.”
Reynolds never saw the second man from behind him. He barely recognized the soft thump of a silenced Beretta before his brains were splattered all over his desk.
The second man tossed the unmarked weapon aside. The first man grabbed a few files from the desk and led the way out. Several hours later the police received a call about a disturbance at the house of Peter Reynolds.
************
The LA County Morgue was surprisingly quiet. A young blonde woman walked briskly through the deserted halls to the Records Room. Pulling a small flashlight from her pocket, she searched the cabinets for recent files. Finding the two she was looking for, she pulled them out and tucked them into the back of her pants.
From another coat pocket she pulled a small bottle of accelerant. Dousing the remaining records with the fluid, she lit a match and ignited the cabinets.
It didn’t take long for the files to begin burning furiously. However, thanks to a set of pliers, nobody realized that there was a fire downstairs. Days later it was discovered that wire connecting to the fire alarms had been severed. Foul play was initially suspected, but blame quickly fell to the company that installed the system.
No one ever missed the fact that John and Rebecca Martin’s files were never recovered from the ashes.
************
The anesthetic wasn’t nearly as affective as Lilith would have liked. She could still see the bright lights overhead. She could still feel the cool metal table pressing against her back. She could still feel what They were doing to her.
Even in her drug-induced haze, she could hear the wails of a child. Her child. She struggled to get up. She may be a monster, but that was HER baby. A strong pair of hands forced her shoulders back to the mattress. She was too weak. Too weak to save her child.
The doctor finished cleaning off the bloody child and handed it to a nurse. “Take him to Nursery Three,” he commanded. The nurse took the child and obeyed the order. Turning to an orderly, the doctor ordered him closer.
“Give subject JFB5183 a potassium shot and take her down to Incineration. We have no further use for her.”
The orderly nodded and waved a friend over to help him. Together they wheeled the gurney to the elevator down to SubLevel-27. When they came back ten minutes later, they were hauling an empty gurney.
*************
Nursery Three was silent. Turning the baby over to an attendant, the nurse signed some papers before turning to leave. But then, the silence was broken. One baby’s moanful wail awoke the other four-dozen babies housed in the nursery.
“@#%$ kids,” the nurse muttered before leaving. It was the job of the four attendants working this section to silence the little brats.
Walking down the hallway, her heels clicking on the tile, the nurse passes doors marked Nursery One and Two. The sounds of 50 toddlers laughing and crying could be heard come from Two. The sounds of martial arts training could be heard in One, where the 50 teenagers were practicing fighting skills.
F-2 was proving to be a success.
End.
