| ROPEVILLE REVENGE [ part 2 ] The town council had decided to spare no expense for Victor's Jones's visit; the computer company he now owned was one of the largest in Ropeville County and, apart from the specialists, was the largest employer of the town's population, in ancillary functions, it was located in the technical area of the town near the interstate slip road and by the airfield, although not many people travelled into the town, normally driving straight past for the main pleasure sites of Las Vegas. The plane carrying Victor was on time and taxied to the awaiting crowd, the stairway was driven up to the door, which opened to reveal Victor Jones, who stepped from the plane like Moses parting the Red Sea. The sight of Stephanie behind him was a relief to several people watching, she had missed the last scheduled contacts, the collar around her neck was a surprise, and when the sharp-shooter reported that her arms were attached to the belt she was wearing, the surprise was being replaced by anger. Stephanie was trying to signal that there were problems, but with the way her manacled wrists were restrained all she could do was to move her fingers, she was trying to signal in Morse code, hoping that the watchers would see and realise what was happening. All the time in the plane Victor had kept her tied to a bar whilst he tried to practice throwing thunder bolts from his fingers, and wondering why it didn't work. - She managed to convince him that it was his good side not wanting to blow a hole in the side of the plane and killing the pilots; he believed her and commented that they should have thanked him for his restraint. Luckily for Stephanie her gesticulations were observed, but the observer couldn't make out what was being sent, this was something that they hadn't really trained for, all she could report was that Stephanie was agitated, and her hands seemed to be suffering from St. Vitas dance. The word was passed that she had to be separated from Victor at the earliest opportunity. The mayor stepped forward and the band went quiet. "Mr. Jones, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Ropeville. We are happy that you have decided to grace us with your presence." He said, "And I would like to present you with the keys to the town." He offered a large metal object which looked like a key to a giant’s house, which Victor took from him. "Thank you," Said Victor, who was looking around the crowd of people attending his arrival, as his eyes scanned the them he thought he saw Melody, a quick glance, he tried to focus on her, but she wasn't there, must have been a trick of the light, he returned his attention to the Mayor. "I must say I didn't expect so many people to be here, you must have heard about me I suppose." The Mayor was slightly confused by this but recovered enough to laugh, "Well of course," he said, and thereby compounding Victor's delusion by adding, "It's a great honour that you do us by visiting." Victor smiled and said, "Yes, it is isn't it." He thought about wiping the man and his stupid grin out with a wave of his hand, but decided against it, he wanted people to consider him a kind god, not a vengeful one. He allowed them to take him to his limousine, he looked around for his handmaiden Stephanie, but she wasn't to be seen, he asked about her but was told that he was too important to travel with company, which was something to which he agreed, they were so nice here, they knew how to treat such a personage as himself, he sat in the car and allowed himself to be driven off. Stephanie was quickly moved away from the throng of people and found herself in another car, being driven quickly away, also in the car was a young girl, who Stephanie recognised from pictures at Victor's home. "Why you're Melody!" She exclaimed, "But your Uncle told me that you were dead." The girl gave a low laugh, "No, he only thinks I am, but Elizabeth tells me that I'm going to get my own back." Her young eyes flashed in anger, "I think he wanted to treat me as he's obviously treated you," She was looking at the belt holding the woman's arms, then realising what she was seeing she apologised and started to undo the strap releasing her. Stephanie started rubbing her wrists, although they hadn't been tight they still had cut off the blood slightly, and her attempts to signal the others had chaffed her skin slightly, she thanked the young girl and listened to her story of her kidnap by the vicious gang, and how she finally found out it was just one man and a computer of voices, how she'd found out that her uncle had arranged the kidnap and how the two people she had come to depend on were also dead. She also explained how her name had to be changed whilst she was in Ropeville, her name was Veronica, she started putting on a blonde wig, which covered her normal hair, and she asked Stephanie's help to put contact lenses into her eyes - these corrected her vision and also changed her eye colour to blue, so that although she looked like Melody, up close she was a different person. "Elizabeth wants me to confront my uncle," She said in a cold voice, "I can get close to him like this, I let him see me in the crowd, but then Elizabeth made me hide." This reminded Stephanie of her urgent message; she asked the driver if she had a phone, which was duly handed over, she quickly dialled a well known number which was answered. "Number 3 here, pass on your message." The female voice was calm and authoritative, used to giving commands, Stephanie identified herself. "I'm concerned, the messages played for Victor has gone too far, he's now convinced that he is some sort of god, able to hear voices that no-one else can," She quickly said, "I don't know how much a hold on reality he has at the moment, he should be considered unstable and dangerous," She looked at Melody who was listening with a small smile on her face, which puzzled Stephanie slightly, "I think Melody would be at risk if he was able to get his hands on her," She listened to the voice at the other end and then handed the phone to Melody. "Melody, do you want to continue with this assignment?" the voice of Number 3 was concerned, Melody/Veronica thought for a moment. "Yes, I do. He probably killed my mum and dad, he wanted me dead, and I’m not going to let him do that to me!" Her voice was low and cold, her eyes showed Stephanie her determination, and she handed the phone back to Stephanie. "Stephanie, I want you to watch over Melody there, if you're asked about her describe her as the blonde, blue-eyed Veronica - don't worry about Victor's mental state, we've got a team already to rush him at a moments notice," The voice paused and then said, "Melody's safety is paramount, if her life is threatened you have permission to eliminate Victor, although we would prefer to have him alive. I give you a code 'Control Override Delta 459' is that understood?" the voice of Number 3 was steady. Stephanie's voice was now that of a cold killer, "Perfectly understood -guard Melody against Victor Jones, subdue if he attacks Melody, terminate only if necessary." Stephanie was now a different person from the one who entered the car, although her memories were still intact - this was part of the training she received when she accepted her life at Ropeville. She hung up the phone and looked at her charge. "Well kiddo, looks like this is a whole new ball-game" she said, Veronica smiled back and nodded. --------- Elizabeth was worried, she'd received a call and had been given the message about Victor's state of mind, it was a classic pattern, and if allowed to run its course would result in his being hospitalised shortly; they would have to intervene, except the powers that be had decreed otherwise. "Victor Jones has killed a resident of Ropeville, as well as her husband, he has attempted to kill their child, but thanks to the actions of her kidnapper she survived. Victor Jones actions have seriously jeopardised our way of life, he cannot be allowed to continue this. He started this war even if he didn't realise it, but we are going to finish it!" This was from the mysterious figure called Number 3, who ran the council of seven - nobody knew who they actually were, the positions were shrouded in mystery and the council decided who was elected to join when a member left, not that the normal population of Ropeville were aware of this, they believed the Mayor was the one in charge. Elizabeth sighed, this was making her life more difficult, she reviewed the proposed actions for the next few days, she knew that Melody would play her part, for a child she really was a good actress, but this was now dangerous, if Victor got his hands onto her, well the repercussions would be dire, at the very least she'd be injured and at the very most she'd be killed, Elizabeth hoped her bodyguard was capable. ---------- Victor was in his element, he'd inspected the offices where the software support staff worked, he hadn't yet told them that he was going to close it down, he wanted to meet the people behind the brilliant program, he told them that the military was very interested in it, he'd read the information they'd sent out - actually he'd skimmed over the documentation, it seemed to do what he wanted and so he'd told them to run it with his Brother's family as the targets to be wiped - and he was confident that they'd be making an offer for it soon, that was another lie, he had no intention of letting anybody have control of that worm, it was too valuable to him! He noticed that several of the workers there had wives from the nearby town of Ropeville; this may mean that they'd have problems when he closed it down, but that was going to be their problem, not his. He was congratulating himself on their gullibility as he walked into the reception area, then he saw Stephanie stepping out of a car, with her was a child, with blonde hair, but the profile of the girl nearly made his heart stop, she was almost the image of Melody. Stephanie smiled at him, "I'm sorry sir, but there was a mix-up at the airfield, and I was lucky enough to get a ride with Veronica here, it seems that she's related to you." Victor looked closely at the girl, blonde hair (Melody's hair was dark), happy blue eyes (Melody's were brown), but the face was that of Melody's herself, Victor forced himself to talk softly to the girl. "Hello my dear, and how are we related?" He asked her. "My mummy was the sister of your brother's wife." She said in a lispy, sing/song voice, quite different from the voice of Melody, he smiled at her. "So that makes me your uncle then," he told her, "It's very nice to meet you Veronica." He added, he realised that it must have been this girl that he saw earlier, and somehow his mind had given her dark hair, it's funny how the mind plays tricks on you he thought to himself. He looked at Stephanie, her arms had been untied he noted, and then realised that the normal people here wouldn't understand the need to keep a servant securely held. He hoped the bed in his room tonight would be strong enough to hold her; he had to punish her for taking off the belt, but that would be for later. |