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Author's Chapter Notes:

It's me again, with another update! Told ya I would be updating more frequently now that the summer break has arrived. Not that its ever not summer in Singapore but my college follows the international timetable so I  got 3 months to finish my current stories. 

 

I hope people still care about this and Downtrodden, plus Dance! Downtrodden will be next on the list of updates, can't let my biggest story go unfinished. 

 

Lauren always felt small around Colonel Soros. She couldn’t understand why,  whether it was his six foot four inch frame, well muscled despite celebrating his fifty second birthday recently;It could have been his voice, rough and sounding like an old school Hollywood action star. It could also have been his gaze, intense and full of energy. Most likely, it was all three things together

 

“ Evening Lauren.” Zoltan seemed to be in a cheery mood, the thinnest of smiles on his lips.

 

“Evening Colonel.”  She sat in her seat, slightly buzzed from her seat but well aware of what’s coming. She imagined this is how a prisoner  on death row felt, waiting for the short and sudden drop.

 

 Zoltan sat down and poured himself a drink , he didn’t ask and he didn’t care whether Lauren gave a damn about it.

 

 “ How is the guest?” He sipped the whiskey, enjoying the warmth it brought to his throat as it slid down.

 

 “ He’s fine. We’ll have him out of here after tonight. He’s not a problem,” Lauren dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

 

  Zoltan chuckled, she had misread the question completely. “ No, not that little piece of trash. I meant someone far larger and more valuable.” He noticed her eyes were a little glazed , how much had she been drinking? He needed her sober for the next part.

 

 “ She’s fine, got another recording of Wallace talking to her. She won’t try to escape, she isn’t dumb enough to think she could pull it off. Besides, where could someone like her go?” Lauren chuckled heartily, more than Zoltan did. He didn’t find any of it humorous but then again, his ex-wives all agreed that he lacked a funny bone.

 

  “ You think its funny? Our secret is out and you still have the cheek to laugh about it?” His voice began to rise in volume, the colour from Lauren’s face fading with each increment. She knew what was coming.

 

 “ We  could have had another huge scandal on our hands!” He stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, its creaking the only sound audible to Lauren. She was shaking but fought to maintain her steely facade.

 

“ I nearly torpedoed my career convincing Washington she was an asset! Sellers wanted her put down because he said we created a monster. You were there…” He jabbed his finger into Lauren’s sternum. She was hurting from it but stood up to look him in the eye.

 

  “Of course I did...we both came this close to committing career suicide!” Lauren held her hand up in Zoltan’s overcast face, finger and thumb barely an inch apart. While both were locked in a staring contest, Lauren’s own mind raced back to her first and last trip to the White House.



*****

 

“ So,” President Sellers jabbed an accusing finger at Lauren and Zoltan, backed up by his various aides and yes men.

 

 He was in his sixties, about to embark on a second term when the incident occured. His eyes narrowed in pure fury and while Zoltan wasn’t an easy man to intimidate , the leader of the free could do the trick. That tended to compensate for his pudgy and stocky frame.

 

He opened a brown plastic file and flipped through the pages before settling on a profile. Lauren gandered a look, heart in mouth.

 

 It was Wallace, a younger version smiling back at Sellers.

 

“ Miss Anderson, does your company see laws as guidelines than actual rules?”

“N-no Sir.” Within her own mind, she was bemoaning her bad luck. Wallace had doomed them with his callousness.

 

“ At the very least, you could have kept her on your premises rather than let her wander around freely with the rest of population. Now I have to deal with your project putting a middle school girl in the hospital!”

 

 He turned a page and slid the file to Lauren, who caught it before it hit her in the gut.

 

She looked down at it and the sight was unsettling. It was a face, or what ought to have been a face. Her jaw was unhinged and bone could be seen sticking out of her flesh, destroying the lower left half of her face.

 

The brunette girl had a swollen eye and several cuts on her cheek, her looks destroyed by this.

 

“ By the way, that was one punch. From an eight foot tall girl in an apparent fit of rage,” Sellers said grimly, head awash with scenarios of a twelve year old Amazon going on a killing spree. No, he wouldn’t allow it.

 

“ We’ve spoken to everyone involved, paid them off ,swore them to secrecy on pain of death,” Zoltan explained nonchalantly. Unlike Lauren, he kept a calmer disposition, his poker face masking his emotions.

 “ And the girl?” Sellers pressed on, a vein in his temple throbbing as he grew impatient.

 

 “ She’s with us until we work out something,” Zoltan replied.

 

“You better,” Seller’s eyes narrowed.

 

“Because I swear if I go down because of this, you two will be right beside me.”

 

*****

 

“ Yeah I remember the fear of watching the most powerful man in the world kill you with his eyes,” Lauren answered sharply.

 

 “ Good because a far worse punishment is going to happen if Mr. Erikson starts telling people about the giant woman who saved him,” Zoltan swallowed the rest of his drink. Overall, it wasn’t the best whiskey he had drunk but he never wasted food or drink.

 

 “ Who would believe him? He has no proof that Jessica even exists.” She waved his concerns away.

 

 “ You’re getting paranoid but I could always make him disappear,” A thin smirk on her lips.

 

 Zoltan shrugged his shoulders , “ You could always grind his bones and feed him to her.”

 

Lauren wasn’t’ sure if he was joking, the idea cruel and cartoonish.

 

 “ I’m joking,” He chuckled, laugh full of mirth and proving his ex-wives right.

 

 “ But keeping him here for a bit longer wouldn’t hurt, scare him into thinking the men in black will show up and take him away if he talks.”

 

Lauren giggled, it was a good idea, good enough to try.

 

“ I could do it, would work. Jack Erikson may look like a man but when I talked to him, he was shaking like a boy who got sent to the principal’s office. I could tell him anything and he’d be too scared to question me.”

 

“Whatever it is,” Zoltan stood up, he needed to leave.

 

“ Tell me so I can at least explain it to my bosses, would hate to  have to find out through other channels,” He turned back and shot her a glare.

 

“ Got it boss,” Lauren gave him the thumbs up.

 

Lauren waited , she didn’t want him to suddenly walk in again. She needed him gone for the next part of her plan.

 

 

 

*****

 

Jack tossed and turned, kicking up a cloud of dust with each move of his. Which only served to irritate his airways even more. He had been irritated ever since they threw him in this dump of a room, he deserved better.

 

“ God, what did I do to you offend you?” He whispered, lip trembling with anger.

 

 He did have better and it was all there for him on the island.

 

Sure, he thought, Jessica may have been this freak with a sharp tongue , desire to insult everyone she met and inability to wear clothes that didn’t draw attention to her bountiful bust and perky butt but she at least had a less dusty room.

 

 Her pillows were more comfortable too and cleaner, his currents one were blackened from dust. Sweating in the poorly ventilated room only made it worse, the dust clinging to every sweat soaked part of him. He could have passed for a chimney sweep.

 

 He inhaled sharply , his exhaling turning into a hacking cough.

 

He’d give almost anything to get out of the room. Tossing and turning , he settled for sleeping on his left side, it was the easiest to fall asleep.

 

*****

 

She had done enough waiting, convinced that Zoltan was miles away before she locked the door.

 

She took a small key out from her breast pocket and unlocked her personal drawer, where she kept a red satellite phone, its back cover containing a few Korean words. There was only one number on it , the number of the person who gave her the phone.

 

A simple push of a button was all it took to call the man.

 

“ Mr. Park?”

 

There was considerable static but it wasn’t unsual, her friend’s government wasn’t one to keep up with technology, unless it was military.

 

“ Good evening Miss Anderson,” His English was proficient enough for her to understand over the static and strong Korean accent.

 

 “ How is my favourite communist doing?” She asked , her voice all saccherine.

 

“ No time for jokes Miss Anderson, we’ve been waiting for months. You promised us the formula months ago  and we’re no closer to getting it. Supreme Leader grows impatient,” He growled. He had good reason to be upset, failure was not tolerated in Pyongyang, just ask the team that went to the World Cup.

 

 Lauren sighed, amused as she shook her head.

 

“ My dear, I cannot just give it to you so easily. People would notice. However, the time is right and within ninety six fours, you can make your own soldiers to crush Seoul or whatever it is they want to do, the possibilities are endless.”

 

She could almost imagine a smile on the end, probably relief too since he had inherited the position only months before. Her previous middleman was a Miss Choi who had been switched one day without Lauren even being informed.

 

“ That is good news, what happened?” He enquired with an almost childlike curiosity, going against Lauren’s image of him as a Korean version of Zoltan.

 

“ Oh nothing much, just a little distraction to get all of America looking one way. Then I’ll give what you want.”

 

 “ Sounds...perfect. I’ll expect you in Yangon by the week’s end Miss Anderson. Bring the plans with you and all will be good,” He sounded elated, like a great weight being lifted.

 

“ Excellent Mr. Park, I will not disappoint. Goodbye and Heil Supreme Leader!”

 

Lauren hung up. Her next call could be done on the less secure company line.

 

“ Hello, Lieutenant Wilson?”

 

“W-what, who is it?” The voice on the other end answered back in between yawns. Lauren would normally berate them for the lack of military decorum but her mood was too good to let something as minor as that get in her way.

 

 

“ It’s me, Lauren.”

 

That was the cue for shouting the other end as Wilson woke his buddies up. Good, she thought, they knew what was coming.

 

 “ Sorry Ma’am, I didn’t know it was you. Wasn’t expecting such a late call.”

 

Lauren chuckled, “ No need to beat yourself up. You know what you have to do. Order 66.”

 

“ Y-you sure ma’am, you want us to shoot her down? But why?”

 

 “Simple my little pilot, we’ve received some very distressing reports from the men in white coats. She has a tumour in her brain, inoperable and it's causing increased aggression. We fear one day she’ll decide to leave her island and vent her anger on the helpless people of the Caribbean.”

 

More disbelief and questioning could be heard on the other end, Lauren waited for them to calm down.

 

 “ I-I see. Well, orders are orders. We’ll be on it,” He replied, disappointed but at least willing to carry out her orders.

 

“ Good, make sure she doesn’t get up after you’re done,” She said with force before hanging up.

 

Lauren reached for the whiskey bottle and began pouring herself another drink, this time to celebrate. For once, she’d get what she deserved. Over the years she had began to resent her job , from managing a multi-billion dollar company to being some highly paid babysitter , it could not have been more humiliating.

 

 Wallace, Zoltan and the big bitch herself would soon know how furious a scorned woman could.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

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