Mrs Magdalene sat behind a mahogany desk uncluttered by photographs or mementos. Her office was just as impersonal. No plants. No lamps. No mirrors. No rugs on the wooden floor. Plain shelves lined the walls, laden with neatly ordered books. A set of digital clocks showed the time regions of the world. A coat rack in one corner was bare as a winter tree.
Mrs Magdalene wasn’t interested in fancy possessions or any other displays of authority. As vice president of Manticorps, she didn’t need to show off how powerful she was.
At the other end of the room, Victor waited patiently, his huge frame making the chair he sat in look like a toy. His face was red and swollen and ugly purple bruises mottled his forehead.
“You’ve worked for me for quite some time.” Mrs Magdalene’s face was turned away, so he could only see her profile. “I’ve never had reason to reprimand you before.”
“You still don’t.” Victor shifted in his seat, which creaked alarmingly. “There was no way for me to predict the situation we encountered.”
“The situation being your four-man squad getting soundly beaten by a housewife and a couple of children.”
“One child,” Victor corrected. “The girl spent most of the fight under a table.”
“That almost sounded sarcastic,” Mrs Magdalene mused. “Surely you’re not stupid enough to antagonise me. Not after yesterday’s debacle.”
“Simply stating the facts, ma’am,” Victor replied. “My team are all ex-servicemen and the best at what they do. Taking those people in should have been a piece of cake. It turned out to be quite the opposite.”
“Enlighten me.”
“The girl rumbled us and the woman started swinging a kettle about. Yeah, she got lucky and took out a couple of my men. Even so, I would have easily prevailed.” Victor touched his tender head, still bewildered by what had happened. “When Charlie joined in, that was something else entirely.” He indicated the wounds on his temple. “What he did to me wasn’t luck. The boy moved like he’d had years of training in unarmed combat.”
“And you had no inkling that Charlie Ray was capable of such feats? Even after watching his house for a month?”
“He never did anything out of the ordinary before. Seemed a bit of a loser, to be honest.”
“All your reports indicate that, yes.” Mrs Magdalene slowly turned her head to look at him and Victor, tough as he was, repressed a shudder.
One half of the vice president’s face resembled some fearsome school matron. The other side was much worse, puckered and twisted, the flesh hard and bubbled as melted plastic. Her lip curled up over exposed teeth in a permanent sneer, as if her cheek had been unzipped, and one eye drooped alarmingly. The disfigurement made Victor’s own injuries seem like gnat bites.
“What do you know about Gerry Ray?” the woman asked.
“He’s on your shortlist of people who might have destroyed the Marginal Science Division,” Victor replied. “That’s why you had us watching the house. In case he tried to contact his family.”
“And the Atlas Serum?” Mrs Magdalene opened a file on her desk.
“It was supposed to enhance human capabilities in order to make super soldiers.” Victor looked surprised. “I thought that had gone nowhere.”
“We suffered a few setbacks, but an unexpected breakthrough put the project back on track.” The vice president studied the papers in front of her. “After yesterday, I’d say Gerry Ray’s son bears all the hallmarks of having been given just such a drug.”
“He couldn’t have beaten me otherwise,” Victor concurred.
“I’m now utterly convinced that Gerry Ray stole our research.” Mrs Magdalene stared out of the window. “Then he burned down our lab, killed our scientists and did this to me.” She stroked her scars with the gloved hand. “Naturally, I’m very keen to find his whereabouts.”
Victor stayed quiet, well aware that Mrs Magdalene wanted vengeance rather than sympathy.
“Did you identify the girl you found with the Rays?” the vice president asked.
“We dusted the house for prints before the police arrived, but came up blank.” Victor shook his head. We also took a couple of pictures of her in Charlie’s window the night before, but it was too dark to make out her features properly.” He spread meaty hands. “We have no idea who she is.”
“Could she just be Charlie’s girlfriend?” Mrs Magdalene mulled over what she had been told. “In the wrong place at the wrong time?”
“No. In my opinion, she’s more dangerous than the boy.”
“If she didn’t join in the fight, what leads you to that conclusion?”
“As soon as she showed up, all our bugs went dark. Naturally, we removed them after the family fled.” Victor reached into his pocket and took out a small blackened object. “They’re fried. Not turned off or disabled. Fried.” He tossed the device onto the vice president’s desk. “These things are state of the art. I don’t know of anything that could reduce them to charred metal.”
“Frankie could. He’s also capable of scrubbing the girl’s identity from any database.” Mrs Magdalene gave a thin smile, though it turned into a sinister leer on the shattered side of her face. “I assumed he was destroyed too, but it looks like I was wrong. He must have been downloaded onto a chip or external drive. Judging by what you’ve said, I’m now inclined to believe this unidentified girl has it.” She picked up the bug and studied it. “I don’t like being wrong.”
“And I have no idea who Frankie is.” Victor sounded disapproving. “I could have done my job better if I’d had all the facts.”
Mrs Magdalene stared at him.
“Don’t you ever criticise me.”
She got up and clumped round the desk. Her legs were as burned and twisted as her visage, encased in an exoskeleton of shining rods and pistons. They made a hissing noise when she walked.
Victor watched her warily.
“I want those children hunted down,” the vice president growled. “All of Manticorps’ resources will be at your disposal, and I’m putting you in charge of a new team. A very special team.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, my old squad are up to that task.”
“Forget about them. They’ve been… retired.”
Victor knew ‘retired’ meant dead, but he showed no emotion. In his line of work, sentiments got you killed.
“Whatever secrets those brats are carrying, they belong to Manticorps,” the vice president seethed. “They’re our property.” She removed her glove, revealing a skeletal hand made of burnished steel. It looked like some horrible metal spider attached to her wrist. “Yet… you let them escape.” She grabbed Victor by the throat and squeezed until his eyes bulged.
The man fought for breath but didn’t struggle or look away. Instead, he slid his own hand inside his jacket.
“See, that’s why you’re still in charge, Vic.” Mrs Magdalene looked down at the revolver pressed against her stomach. “You don’t panic easily.” She let go of his neck and grasped the gun. Spindly fingers tightened on the weapon and crumpled it like paper. “But, if you ever let me down again, I’ll do the same thing to your head.”