Black's Magic Part 21

"Sure." Addison turned to face the Doctor.

"Earlier, when Brodie was here, you mentioned something about it being like a family experience and you were waiting for somebody to throw the first punch." Skyler's head fell to the side as she studied Addison closely. "What did you mean by that? I pretty much understand that you were afraid of your dad when you were younger but..." The blonde paused as she wondered how to phrase her words. "Did he raise a hand to you on a regular basis?"

The room fell silent. Addison looked down to the mattress they were seated upon. She traced her fingers around the ugly floral design.

"I suppose you could say that."

"And what about your mom, what did she do or say about it?"

"Join in if she felt so inclined." Addison chuckled but she wasn't joking.

"Are you saying...?"

"Look..." The agent interrupted. "It is no big deal. It was a long time ago; those things don't upset me anymore." Addison looked back at Skyler. "Really. As they say, 'it's water under the bridge'. Besides, I wasn't an epitome of the model daughter myself."

Silence stretched out between the women again. Skyler twisted in her position to face Addison. "Was it your mom or dad?"

"What?"

Skyler pointed to Addison's injured eye. "Which one of them did it?"

Addison couldn't help but smile. "Did anybody ever tell you, you're quite an astute woman?"

"Sometimes." The blonde seemed nervous as she asked, "So what happened? If you don't mind talking about it."

The truth was that Addison had always avoided talking about it. For a long time, the memory of how it had happened had been more painful than anything she had experienced since. As a child, spiteful acts of cruelty are often a lot harder to understand. Though it was a sore point in Addison's life, she didn't harbour any doubts about telling Skyler.

"I don't mind," the soldier said softly. "There really isn't much to say. I was six years old. It was Christmas Eve. Being a typical kid I was excited. I couldn't wait until morning and so a little after midnight I went out to see whether Santa Clause had been."

Skyler frowned, completely unsure at that point of where Addison was heading. "Uh huh?"

"Anyway... My bedroom was opposite the living room, so I snuck out of my door and crossed the hallway. There was a street lamp directly outside our front room window so it was always brightly lit in there whether it was day or night. The living room was small and symmetrically square. My dad had painted the walls a ghastly mauve colour. It was faded with age and stained with years of cigarette smoke. There was never really much in the room furniture wise, two sofas, a gla.s.s coffee table, television and fake Umbrella plant in the corner. At Christmas my dad would put our imitation tree in the other corner of the room. So basically it was opposite the door and I could see it from my bedroom. Gla.s.s ornaments and stringy tinsel upon the tree glittered in the lamplight. I remember walking into the living room and looking under the artificial branches. There was a small pile of gifts there and two of them were for me." Addison rolled her eyes. "I was so excited. I couldn't resist peeking... you know... give it a little shake and feel around the edges."

"I did the same," Skyler admitted. "Most children do I expect."

Smiling ironically, Addison sighed. "Yeah... but unluckily for me, I got caught. Both my mum and dad came into the room. My mum went crazy. She started yelling at me, going on about being a sneak and untrustworthy. She said she was going to show me exactly what happens to people who are caught peeking.

Skyler's expression paled. "What did she do?"

"Well..." Addison pictured the event in her mind as clear as it was yesterday. "Mum told my dad to lift me up. She came over to me with a darning needle and told me that people who were caught peeking had their eyes gouged out with hot needles."

"She didn't!"

"She didn't mean to," Addison said. "I know she didn't mean to really but the combination of her yelling, my struggling to get away from my father's grasp... Well let's just say I was stabbed in the eye. My mum's face was the picture of shock. I think she had just wanted to scare me but it went too far. I was taken to the hospital and they made up some bulls.h.i.+t story about me falling into a Christmas decoration. Anyway..." Addison pointed to her darkened eye. "The damage was a paralysed pupil."

"My G.o.d," Skyler muttered. "That's just... how did... why... I can't..."

"It's no big deal."

Skyler was incredulous. "No bid deal?"

"My parents were kids when they had me. I was the only reason they got accommodation, through a government housing project. I grew up in a dodgy estate. Don't get me wrong; I'm not making excuses for them... not at all. They were two very selfish individuals who spent all their money on cigarettes and alcohol. Neither of them worked; they lived on handouts from the government. They weren't bothered about what I did, so by the time I was thirteen I was well into my life of crime." Addison looked away from Skyler for a brief moment. When she looked back she smiled sheepishly. "At one time I was quite the 'bad egg'."

"How bad?"

Addison pondered her answer. "Well... I started off with petty theft... shops, things like that. Moved on to stealing from cars and then I was stealing cars and using them to ram raid shops. I sold what I stole and made more money than I ever would have being on the dole or in some minimal wage job." Addison would have had the decency to appear regretful for her actions but the comical expression of surprise upon Skyler's face amused her.

"But you're... how... you were never caught?"

Shaking her head the soldier brought one leg up and placed her chin upon her knee. She began to open the antibiotics Dr. Richardson had given her. "I was never caught. I loved the thrill of the chase but I always escaped capture. It was a talent." Addison popped the tablet into her mouth and swallowed it whole.

"Well if you don't mind me asking..." Skyler readjusted her own position and sat back against the wall. "What changed? How did you turn from rebelling against the law to actually being part of it?"

"Well that is a long story but I'll tell you if you're interested?"

The blonde doctor nodded. "I'm interested."

"Okay." Addison's mind drifted as she remembered the night in question.

It was Halloween night, a celebration that brought children out onto the streets and teenagers to party in outrageous costumes. For Addison and her friends it was a prime opportunity to case vacant households, find an abundance of cars and basically make money. Armed with nothing more than a list of items she had been asked to obtain, Addison took to the streets. Night had already fallen, turning out to be a beautifully clear yet cold evening. Stars twinkled in the sky above and a chilling wind bl.u.s.tered through the streets. Lightened by rows of orange street lamps, small groups of children dashed about from house to house dressed in home made costumes.

Dressed in her trademark black jeans, jacket, gloves and baseball cap Addison and two friends began stalking the streets. Being of the fairly average stature of five foot six Addison had often been mistaken for a teenager herself. Her slight build gave her the agility of movement and that in turn gave her great body strength. To many acquaintances, Addison was known as 'The Magician' due to her ability to get in and out of awkward s.p.a.ces, enter places unseen and continually escape capture from the police. Still on this typical night Addison was unsuspecting of the events that would change her forever.

With two friends, James and Robbie, by her side, Addison walked the outskirts of Saffron City. They were heading into the city centre and to do this they had to pa.s.s by a small estate of bungalows, single story dwellings for the elderly. Neither James nor Robbie was taking much notice of their surroundings but Addison was. Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. A dark figure moving around the side of one of the bungalows sparked her interest. Curious as to what it was Addison informed her two friends that she would catch up with them later and they shrugged an offhanded acknowledgement. Rolling her eyes Addison turned in the direction of the bungalows.

Walking through the centre of the road to avoid the direct beam of street lamps she approached the small dwelling. Addison turned her black baseball cap backwards and then pushed gloved hands into her pockets. The air began to turn even colder and her breath billowed past her lips in thick vapours. Her footsteps were the only sound that echoed down the lonely road. It was a cul-de-sac meaning there was no traffic using the road at that time of the evening. Approaching the bungalow, Addison stepped up on the curb and onto a gra.s.sy verge. The uncut blades of gra.s.s whispered silently over her boots as she quietly walked around to the back of the small home. Walking down a narrow side entry, darkness surrounded her; Addison brushed her gloved hand along the wall as she neared the back door. She found the gla.s.s panel smashed and the door open. A dull light reached out through the blackness of the house and a harsh voice alerted Addison to an unwanted presence.

Never having entered such a building before, Addison relied on basic sense alone to guide her into the dull living s.p.a.ce. She walked into the kitchen, the scent of cooked food and hum of a fridge freezer being an easy give away to her destination. Concentrating on the shaft of light Addison crept silently into a small living room and over to a white door standing ajar. It was the bedroom and through a gap between the door and its frame Addison was able to see into the lamp lit room and the frightening scene ahead of her. A youth of no more than twenty years and dressed in colours similar to her own stood over a cowering elderly woman who sat helplessly in her bed. He held her short white hair in one hand while holding a wooden handled kitchen knife to her throat with the other. The knife's silver blade shone in the lamplight causing a flicker of reflection to glint over Addison's face, yet she remained unseen.

Completely unexpected, Addison was overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. Anger, regret, an overwhelming feeling of disgust although not towards the young man holding the knife to the woman's throat but towards herself. Looking into the woman's eyes and seeing the fear and helplessness within gave her an insight into what those who she had stolen from must have felt. It didn't matter that she had never harmed a living being; the fact remained that the feeling of violation would still have been there. The expression on the elderly lady's face immediately forged an unforgettable imprint into her mind and she felt sickened to her stomach.

Addison's self-berating was brought to a halt when she was jostled back to reality by a harsh voice.

"Tell me where your cash is or I swear I will stick this in your neck."

Feeling anger, towards herself as much as the youth, Addison charged into the bedroom, surprising the unsuspecting teen as she shoved his body against the wall. Rapidly she drove her knee into his stomach, forcing him to double over in pain. He howled as the wind was driven from his body. Addison then held onto the back of his head by his hair and thrust her knee again only this time into the youths face. A loud crunch rose from the impact as his nose crushed against his face and he fell unconsciously to the floor. Blood poured freely onto the frightened woman's carpet. Addison found herself apologising repeatedly; not for the mess she had created but for every act she had ever committed. The image of horror and violation brought home how she must have made her own victims feel. Guilt landed squarely upon her shoulders. Realising she needed to take action, Addison called the appropriate emergency services and waited, with the woman whom she learned was called Betty, for them to arrive. When the first sound of sirens filtered to her ears Addison quietly slipped away never to be seen again.

Addison ran the entire way home, her vision blurred by tears. The disgust she felt towards herself caused her heart to ache for all those whom she had hurt. Years of stealing, of becoming everything that she hated about the neighbourhood in which she lived flooded her mind. By the time she returned home Addison fell against the wall of her block of flats and cried. She felt as worthless as both her mother and father stated she was. It took a long time for her tears to cease and it was only when her father appeared outside and kicked her thigh roughly that she managed to be torn from her self-loathing.

Scratching a stubble covered chin, the scrawny man looked down upon his daughter. Overgrown brown hair fell into his glazed eyes and the scent of cigarette smoke clung to his clothes. "We have been waiting for you to get back to go shop for us." Martin Black said. "Get me forty f.a.gs and a bottle of gin or vodka, whatever is the cheapest."

Addison nodded silently as she rose to her feet and headed back into the darkness towards the all-night store.

"And bring me back all my change." He shouted before disappearing into the housing block.

The day after, news stories covered the local papers and television stations about an unknown hero who had rescued a woman from being burgled and possibly more, in her own home. Pledges for this unknown woman to come forward ensued as high grat.i.tude was promised. Addison barely acknowledged it, knowing she deserved no such accolade. She shut herself away from the rest of the world around her as she contemplated her life and her worth in this world. After much consideration Addison came to one decision, that as repayment she would serve her country and its people by joining a branch of its armed forces.

On her twenty first birthday, as Addison's father handed her a half drunk bottle of Jack Daniels she made her announcement that she intended to join the Royal Marines. It was initially met with little interest but for the first time in her life, Addison felt she was about to do something worthwhile. Little did she know it was a decision that would change her life in the most unexpected of ways.

"And that was that," Addison said. "My family and friends saw my joining the Marines as selling out. I was disowned after that."

"Have you seen or spoken to any of them since?"

Addison shook her head. "Nope. I could find out whether they are still alive. Sometimes I feel the urge to do it... but I don't. I can't really see the point."

"Maybe for your own peace of mind?"

"Maybe."

Skyler thought over the soldier's words. "I'm sorry, Addison."

"Sorry? I'm not. Look, this is the way I see it. I don't regret one moment of my life or what happened. Doing that would only leave me wallowing in self-pity and self-disgust. Everything that happened led me to where I am today. We choose what we want out of life, Sky. I'm doing my damdest to make my life worth living and if everything led to this moment, right here, stuck in this room with you... well then it isn't so bad."

Skyler smiled and looked away coyly.

"Besides, I find the way you talk in your sleep quite amusing."

"What?" Skyler's head snapped back up. "I don't talk in my sleep!"

"Oh yes you do and I must say, I never knew you were into that type of thing!"

"What type of thing?" Now Skyler was confused.

"You know," Addison leaned closer and lowered her voice. "The old whips and chains," she tried not to laugh but she could already see Skyler knew she was jesting.

"I'm not into that, you..." The blonde leaned forwards and tickled Addison's uninjured side.

"Hey, injured soldier here!"

"Take that back," Skyler said. "Take back what you said or I'll... I'll... I'll tell everybody what a big softie you really are!"

Addison laughed. "n.o.body would believe you."

"Yeah? Well I'll tell them how you slept with your arm around me. You hugged me and comforted me when I was upset and how wonderfully sensitive you are! That ought to blow the 'big bad' reputation!"

"Oh okay," Addison conceded. "You are not into 'S and M' and you don't talk in your sleep."

"Thank you." Skyler smiled.

"You're welcome." Addison was silent for several seconds. "But you do snore!"

"Right, that's it." Skyler pounced on the snickering soldier. "Your a.s.s is mine!"

Chapter 20.

General Mark Blithe studied the files on the desk before him. His brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to put together the pieces of the puzzle that would lead him to the traitor. Unfortunately, he didn't have many pieces of which to work.

Across the room, on the plush leather couch, Marlene sat and read a large, leather-bound journal with her Project Gemini notes. It had been retrieved from her apartment by MI-5 agents to allow her to put her considerable intellect to work instead of worry.

It had been five days since Addison had allowed herself to be captured in Israel, only one day less than Skyler had been gone, and the silence from the missing women was wearing on them all. Mark glanced over to Marlene who chose that moment to look up from her reading. Their eyes met in mutual compa.s.sion then returned to their respective activities.

Mark Blithe was a traditional British gentleman. Although he felt a powerful attraction to the American woman in his office, he would never act on it while Marlene was in distress.

When Addison brings Skyler back, perhaps then I will speak to her about pursuing a more personal relations.h.i.+p, he thought. He let a fantasy of what that relations.h.i.+p might entail pa.s.s through his mind. Mark didn't realize a smile had formed on his face until Marlene spoke.

"Penny for your thoughts, Mark," she said. The general uncharacteristically blushed and was momentarily fl.u.s.tered at having been caught woolgathering. He stammered out a reply.

"I suppose I was just thinking that if this were a different time and different circ.u.mstances, maybe we..." He was unable to finish the sentence.

Marlene looked at him sympathetically. "I know what you mean. I think if it hadn't been for you, I might not have survived the last few days. You've been a tower of strength for me, never letting me despair or give up hope. I've felt so comfortable with you and so appreciative of all the kindness you've shown me." Mark raised his hand to deny any special treatment, but Marlene stopped him.

"No, don't. You'll never be able to convince me that the way you've treated me is just routine or some international protocol. Face it, you're a good man, Mark Blithe, and I was hoping that once this whole thing is behind us, maybe you'd like to see me in a setting where we wouldn't need armed guards nearby." She smiled at him in an encouraging way.

"I'd like that very much," he said simply.

"Good then. Well, I better get back to." Marlene indicated the journal in her lap.

"Of course, of course," Mark said quickly and attempted to mask his pleasure as the American returned to her notes. The pair worked in companionable silence for a while until Marlene released a sharp cry.

"d.a.m.n it! I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake!" She looked over to the general who rose from his desk in concern. "Oh Mark, I can only blame it on my exhaustion and worry about Skyler!"

General Blithe moved to sit beside her and placed an arm around the shoulders of the obviously distraught woman. "What is it, Marlene? What's the matter?"

She closed her eyes briefly as she composed her reply. Re-opening her eyes, she drew in a deep breath. "When I said it would take three weeks or so for someone to duplicate our work, I was calculating that at the same rate of speed we were going, but Mark, that was an error. As we progressed with the harmful side of the project, we worked on the remedy if you will, at the same time. If an enemy has no interest in working on stopping the bio-terror aspects of the bacilli and only wanted to produce the harmful agents, it wouldn't take nearly that much time." The anguish in her voice matched the look on her face.

Reality dawned on Mark Blithe. "How much time would they need for the synthesis of just the destructive bacilli?" he asked.

Marlene's face became grim. "A week, maybe less."

Mark nodded, but said nothing. Whatever you're going to do Addison, do it soon.

"You're looking very well, Antonia. It's been a long time," Quinton said as he perched on her desk in General Blithe's outer office.

"Too long, Agent Zimmerman. You really need to get down to London more often. We've missed you since your posting to Scotland."

"Well, I had a few days holiday coming and I thought I would come back down here to see all my old friends, including you," the blonde agent replied. "We had some good times in the old days before you were wounded, didn't we? You cut a wide swath in the service as I recall."

Miss Bakersfield blushed. "Well, that was a long time ago. Things change and now I'm happy right here. I don't see as much action now, of any kind, but it feels like I'm in the center of things here."

Quinton nodded and flashed a grin. "You can't get more in the center of things than working for General Blithe I suppose, and that's really why I'm here."

"What do you mean?" Antonia asked as she leaned back in her chair, revealing a shapely pair of legs.