“How so? How did the drugs change him?”
“You watch him at Q and A. We’ll talk more later. He’s a matter of concern for GEM because we certainly don’t want to put you in any danger of losing your mind, darling.”
Helen’s eyes widened. “You care, you really care!”
“I don’t let any of my agents take unnecessary risks,” said T. “Even you, although I’ve always encouraged you to take chances more than the others.”
That had been a revelation. She hadn’t known T. had such confidence in her. “I know I’ve sometimes gone against your orders. I don’t know why you put up with me.”
“You work with what you have. And who said you hadn’t done exactly what I wanted you to do?”
Helen had made a face. That was so T.
“How am I doing so far with this contract?”
“Everything showed that you’re the perfect candidate, Hell. They were looking for someone who had what they called ‘visions’ with proven results. GEM can vouch for your record. Of course, they could pull any number of government-tested psychics for that but they also wanted a highly-trained operative who could do covert work. Your training with them gave them an idea what kind of skills you have and calmed the fears of those against hiring a contract agent for something so special.”
“There was only one snag, right?”
They both had laughed because it had been very apparent the last year and a half that some of the more traditional departments were very miffed that the best candidate for supersoldier-spy was a woman. The sole exception had been the group of individuals from the remote viewing program. Their training had opened a brand-new world inside of Hell, one that had taught her how special she really was. She knew she had surprised many of them with her rapid progress; they had remarked that very few had gone through each level of training that quickly.
Helen unzipped her jacket, popped a fresh piece of gum in her mouth, and entered the conference room. It was thoughtful of them to let her ask some questions before injecting her with their experimental drug, but part of her didn’t really trust that this was only to “clear the air.” Perhaps this was a test, too, to see how she handled anxiety and fear.
Her long months of training was basically a walk through fire. Each government department had a piece of her, had molded her for its purpose. Each of the programs in which she had undergone training had tested her in its insidious little ways. The worst was the CIA bunch; they had tried their damnedest to make her paranoid. But that was good. It trained her to always keep an eye on everyone and everything around her.
She walked past all the eyes watching. She was used to all that staring by now. It was amusing, really. She actually had had her fill of macho men; living in close quarters with two different special operations forces had made her very comfortable with having them as companions. Or enemies. Not everyone believed in using female contract agents.
She wasn’t quite the object of lust for many of these men, so there went her ego down the drain. Yet she represented something more, even might have struck a note of fear in a couple of them, and so there her ego soared again. Boy, it was tough to be a woman.
Normally, she would turn and give everyone a chirpy greeting but she didn’t feel like it today. After all, this was serious stuff. Later tonight, she was going to prove how all these months’ work and COS Center’s new training had molded her into their objective. It was time to put her game face on.
So, Helen my dear, how does it feel to be a weapon?She sat down, crossed her legs daintily, crossed her arms, and blew a bubble. It felt pretty damn cool to have everyone wondering. At the moment, she felt like the strongest woman on earth, which was very strange. She should be feeling vulnerable and tense…shouldn’t she? Yet, she couldn’t deny the excitement surging inside.
She was just tired of waiting. A body could only train so much. A mind could only absorb so much. Her well of patience was almost dry. She missed the real stuff, where the real danger was. She missed speed. This afternoon with Flyboy punctuated how out of touch she was with what she really, really loved, and that was living on the edge. No amount of training under simulated conditions would take the place of real fear. No amount of testing could take away the real unknown.
The serum was the unknown here. She was ready for the next phase.
“Miss Roston.” Dr. Kirkland joined her at the table.
“Helen.”
He smiled. “Helen. Do you need any introductions with anyone in the room? I think almost everyone is here.”
Helen looked around. She recognized most of them. “Who are those two talking to T.?”
“Dr. Marilyn Vaughn and Dr. Vasilia Kasparov. They will answer any questions you might have about the serum.”
Marilyn Vaughn didn’t look like a scientist, or Helen’s image of one, anyway. She was dressed in a black frumpy housewife-looking dress, with bright red flower-print. Her hair was combed into a Victorian-style chignon. From where Helen sat, she looked more motherly than scientist. On the other hand, Dr. Kasparov looked exactly right, with a shock of white hair and sharp, intelligent features. Helen remembered reading that he had defected from the former Soviet Union.
“Were they part of the team with the original serum?”
“Marilyn was, but Dr. Kasparov joined a bit later.”
“Who else isn’t here, then?”
Dr. Kirkland looked around and checked his watch. “Armando should be here any moment now. He’s always the last to arrive. There he is…good God.”
Helen turned to the door. She bit her lip in amusement. They weren’t kidding when they said the meeting was informal. The man they were talking about had everyone’s attention now.
