赤裸裸的滑稽故事

[One Week Earlier]

“What?!!”

Holden stood from his chair, knocking over the small table he had been using to make notes.

“What do you mean she’s gone!” he shouted into the phone.

The man on the other end of the line hesitated to answer.

“Well… she finished her treatment; her brain waves had evened out. So we moved her back into a proper room… but then she woke up.”

“This isn’t the first time you have treated Alice….” Holden growled. “Why wasn’t she properly sedated!”

“I… I think she has developed a tolerance!” the man shouted back. “I haven’t worked with her in a long time. I didn’t realize how often the treatments had been being given… doing it so much isn’t just a risk of her brain fracturing. There are also the normal effects of using the same drug repeatedly!”

Holden growled into the phone.

“I’m sorry, sir….”

Holden sighed, rubbing the side of his temple with his thumb.

“How are you still alive if she escaped?” Holden asked suspiciously. “Did you develop a bleeding heart? Decide that I have treated her too often and helped her get away.”

“Sir, if I had done that, she would have killed me anyway.”

“Then you aren’t as stupid as you look,” Holden growled.

“She didn’t escape.”_.

“What do you mean?” Holden asked, straightening his back. A sense of dread crept over him slowly.

The man on the phone sighed.

“She woke up, she did threaten me, and just before she moved to attack, her passphrase was spoken,” the man paused. “I really thought it was you, sir.”

“It was not.”

“No,” the man replied. “He came in, taunted her, laughing at her inability to fight back. Then he took her.”

“Who?” Holden growled angrily.

“I don’t know who he was, sir. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t hurt us. He just… left.”

“What did he look like?” Holden asked, already knowing the answer.

“He had long black hair and pale blue eyes,” the man replied. “He wasn’t a member of Spring. But I don’t know who he was.”

“I do,” Holden snarled.

“Oh,” the man said. “Then did you give him the passphrase?”

“No,” Holden growled. “Someone else did.”

“Who would–”

Holden hung up the phone, throwing it down angrily. He knew no one in the lab would have dared to use the passphrase. Alice scared the hell out of them, and with good reason.

She remembered each and every one of their faces from her treatments.

The first passphrase controlled her, but it also tied her to Holden. Without another phrase, she would turn on anyone using it once she realized Holden was not with them.

Only one other person outside the lab knew Alice’s phrases, and if he reached out to Granger… there was a purpose. One he didn’t see fit to share with Holden.

Holden gripped his fist painfully.

“You… promised…” he snarled quietly.

“Is there a problem?” a deep voice called from the doorway.

Holden growled. He took a deep breath and straightened his shirt.

“We will be returning earlier than planned,” Holden said with a smile as he turned back to face the man in the door.

Holden’s smile fell when he saw the state of him. The dark-haired man stood with his white shirt unbuttoned and his tan slacks splattered in a dark red stain.

“Really?” Holden said. “I have asked you very nicely to stop tracking blood into the house….”

Holden grabbed his phone.

“Hello? Yes, we will need another clean-up service. Level three.”

“Ask for Marisol.” The man in the doorway smiled, his burnt orange eyes glistening in delight. “She’s just my type.”

***

[Present]

After a week of trying to find Alice and Granger, Holden received a concerning report. An attack on the Eclipsed pack.

Holden paced his office.

His phone rang. Looking at the number, he took a deep breath.

“Yes?” he answered.

“I made no order for Eclipsed to be attacked!” his raspy voice shouted into Holden’s ear. “What are you thinking by doing this!”

Holden took a breath.

“It wasn’t me,” Holden replied. “I have only just returned from fetching your pet.”

“Watch your attitude,” the voice growled.

“My apologies,” Holden said through gritted teeth. “My mood has been a bit off since I learned that Alice has been abducted.”

“Didn’t I warn you that your attachment to your toy was too strong?”

Holden held back his growl.

“I have not asked for anything… with the exception of keeping her by my side,” Holden said, managing to keep his tone even.

“Yes… you have been a good servant, but servants must be reminded of their place at times.”

Holden took a deep breath.

“What did you ask him to do?” Holden asked.

“Granger?” the voice asked. “He was told to retrieve her and take her on a mission. Nothing too complicated for your toy.”

Holden hoped that meant that Granger was at least given the order to keep Alice alive.

“Someone is poking around in Cain’s work,” he continued. “The bug Alice planted before told me that files were being accessed. So I needed her to return and ensure that we get anything uncovered first.”

“And did she do it?” Holden asked

“Of course she did. She is such a well-trained doll.”

“Then why hasn’t she returned home?” Holden asked, holding back the growl in his voice.

“How should I know?” the voice smiled. “Though… I did give Granger all of her phrases. I suppose it is possible that he set her free.”

Holden swallowed down his fear and rage.

“Granger is not the type to take the time and be careful… if he set her free without care… her mind would shatter.”

“That,” the voice said, “matters not to me.”

Holden clenched his jaw but said nothing.

“Find out what happened to Eclipsed,” the voice said. “You may have your toys back. What you do with them is up to you.”

The line went dead, and Holden was left with his anger.

A low growl built from his stomach, rising into his throat. He roared out as he flung the table in front of him into the wall. He smashed a vase, and then pulling a knife from under his sleeve, he stabbed the couch multiple times.

“Sir,” a soft voice called from the entrance of the room. “Is there… something you need?”

A young boy, no more than twenty, stood at the door. He was hesitant to interrupt Holden’s outburst. Still, he was also fully aware that being caught observing him was far more dangerous.

Holden growled and approached the boy with speed. Shoving him into the wall behind him, he held his knife to the boy’s throat.

“Find Granger!” Holden snarled through gritted teeth.

“Yes, sir,” the boy said softly. He swallowed before adding. “When we find him, do you want us to kill him?”

Holden stared at the boy for a moment and then pulled back. He straightened his shirt and smoothed his curly hair.

“No,” Holden said simply. “As irritating and pathetic as that creature is, he is instrumental in one way.”

“What is that, sir?”

“He is a great distraction for Summer and Winter.” Holden smiled. “Giving them his death, that’s a victory that will hold their attention while serving my purposes.”

“How can you be sure they will kill him?” the boy asked.

Holden reached down to the floor and picked up one of the last reports he had glanced over before the phone call.

“Because,” he said, as he stared at the scout report on Ashleigh’s abduction. “He got greedy.”