Rudi's Retirement Plan
September 23rd, 1974
The WISE building,
Eickfort
Germany
Rudi ran a gloved finger across the blood-spattered control which operated the CCTV monitors above. Not finding what he was looking for, he pushed the wheelie-chair from his path. As it gently glided across the surveillance room floor, its passenger, the now-vacant body of a security guard began to slowly slip forward. The chair hit the far wall, and with a jolt, the corpse fell to its face, exposing the small, round puncture wound at the base of the skull.
Concentrating solely on his objective, Rudi traced his hand along the panel until he located what he had been searching for; a large plastic button labelled:
Subterranean level 3: Mortuary/Cryogenics 2
He raised his head to view the corresponding monitor, only to see the bare mortuary. Keeping his eyes set to the screen, he pushed the button. Flickering for a moment, the display updated to reveal a less barren, but not dissimilar room; the cryonic suspension facility. Rudi leaned in to take a closer look at the small black-and-white display. Assessing the situation, he saw that the ceiling was high, and inadequate light source emanated from the floor. A number of large stainless steel cylinders stood back-to-back in unified groups of fours, creating an intricate criss-cross of aisles which spanned the room; that could be a problem, he thought. Rudi took his eyes from the screen for a moment and massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
Returning his gaze to the monitor he was not surprised to be confronted with the appearance of a figure, now standing in the centre of the room; a tall, slender woman in a lab coat. The woman. Rudi tapped the screen twice with his finger and allowed himself a brief smile.
Three floors below, Nadine quickly tapped a code into the keypad attached to the door of a cryo-vat, and pressed the enter key. The large square green light surged into life, and glowed gently in the gloom of the chamber. Nadine slowly placed the flat of her hand on the palm print reader and held it there while the yellow bean scanned across it. A short beep signalled the release of the locking mechanism. The gentle green glow of the com-panel faded, replaced by a more ominous red glare. She pressed her face up against the glass door of the cryonic container, the icy touch exaggerated by her tear-stained cheek. She let out a long sigh, turned, and softly kissed the glass.
It was at that moment that the powerful electromagnet which held the door to the facility shut disengaged and the large, four-inch thick door began to glide slowly inwards, Nadine did not expect anyone to be in the building at such a late hour, except the night-time security staff, and they didn’t have access to this area. Wiping the tears from her face, she lifted her arm up before her eyes, and had to squint hard to see her watch in the half-light; it read: 4:03am.
Nadine looked on to see a man, clad completely in black, emerge through the doorway as soon as a sufficient opening had been created. The man placed the key card he had used to open the door into the inner breast pocket of his leather jacket, and advanced towards her, one hand behind his back. She noticed the man’s closely cropped blonde hair, and small, round face, but failed to make out his shadowed features, as the door was now fully open, and the main light source came from the outer hallway behind him.
“Are you Doctor Feykes?” He enquired, examining her ID badge.
Nadine’s key ear noticed and accurately placed the man’s heavily clipped accent as Bavarian:
“Ja?” she answered cautiously, “Kann ich Ihnen helfen?”
Rudi extended the arm which had been behind his back to its full length to reveal a silenced Walther pistol, and aimed it directly at Nadine’s face. Momentarily catching her off guard, Nadine flinched. She soon regained her composure, however, standing proud, she raised her chin in high defiance.
She had been expecting this for some time now, she knew that company policy was to ‘retire’ all its ex-employees, and she spared no time in preparing herself for the inevitability of this encounter. Her cold, grey eyes stared straight into Rudi’s pale blues.
“Can you help me?” Rudi hesitated, repeating her question, “I…I believe you can.”
Nadine had unsettled him. Over the years, Rudi had grown used to the unblushing pleas, bargaining and begs for mercy he had received from the countless political figures and prominent scientists he had murdered. At first he had found it hard to ignore them, but he knew the price he would pay for disobeying the company would far outweigh any offer made to him, or any moral victory he might win. What unnerved him so, was that he had never experienced the steely determination he found in the eyes of Dr Feykes; almost every day he would witness only selfish and unfettered terror in the eyes of his victims, and was disgusted at the shameless acts of cowardice his targets would employ to save their worthless lives. This only made his task easier. But this, this was no easy task, because now he respected her, this silent, steadfast woman, this defector who freely accepts death. Then, he did something he had never done before;
“I’m sorry.” He whispered.
Rudi closed his eyes and slowly squeezed the trigger.
READ CHAPTER TWO
The WISE building,
Eickfort
Germany
Rudi ran a gloved finger across the blood-spattered control which operated the CCTV monitors above. Not finding what he was looking for, he pushed the wheelie-chair from his path. As it gently glided across the surveillance room floor, its passenger, the now-vacant body of a security guard began to slowly slip forward. The chair hit the far wall, and with a jolt, the corpse fell to its face, exposing the small, round puncture wound at the base of the skull.
Concentrating solely on his objective, Rudi traced his hand along the panel until he located what he had been searching for; a large plastic button labelled:
Subterranean level 3: Mortuary/Cryogenics 2
He raised his head to view the corresponding monitor, only to see the bare mortuary. Keeping his eyes set to the screen, he pushed the button. Flickering for a moment, the display updated to reveal a less barren, but not dissimilar room; the cryonic suspension facility. Rudi leaned in to take a closer look at the small black-and-white display. Assessing the situation, he saw that the ceiling was high, and inadequate light source emanated from the floor. A number of large stainless steel cylinders stood back-to-back in unified groups of fours, creating an intricate criss-cross of aisles which spanned the room; that could be a problem, he thought. Rudi took his eyes from the screen for a moment and massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
Returning his gaze to the monitor he was not surprised to be confronted with the appearance of a figure, now standing in the centre of the room; a tall, slender woman in a lab coat. The woman. Rudi tapped the screen twice with his finger and allowed himself a brief smile.
Three floors below, Nadine quickly tapped a code into the keypad attached to the door of a cryo-vat, and pressed the enter key. The large square green light surged into life, and glowed gently in the gloom of the chamber. Nadine slowly placed the flat of her hand on the palm print reader and held it there while the yellow bean scanned across it. A short beep signalled the release of the locking mechanism. The gentle green glow of the com-panel faded, replaced by a more ominous red glare. She pressed her face up against the glass door of the cryonic container, the icy touch exaggerated by her tear-stained cheek. She let out a long sigh, turned, and softly kissed the glass.
It was at that moment that the powerful electromagnet which held the door to the facility shut disengaged and the large, four-inch thick door began to glide slowly inwards, Nadine did not expect anyone to be in the building at such a late hour, except the night-time security staff, and they didn’t have access to this area. Wiping the tears from her face, she lifted her arm up before her eyes, and had to squint hard to see her watch in the half-light; it read: 4:03am.
Nadine looked on to see a man, clad completely in black, emerge through the doorway as soon as a sufficient opening had been created. The man placed the key card he had used to open the door into the inner breast pocket of his leather jacket, and advanced towards her, one hand behind his back. She noticed the man’s closely cropped blonde hair, and small, round face, but failed to make out his shadowed features, as the door was now fully open, and the main light source came from the outer hallway behind him.
“Are you Doctor Feykes?” He enquired, examining her ID badge.
Nadine’s key ear noticed and accurately placed the man’s heavily clipped accent as Bavarian:
“Ja?” she answered cautiously, “Kann ich Ihnen helfen?”
Rudi extended the arm which had been behind his back to its full length to reveal a silenced Walther pistol, and aimed it directly at Nadine’s face. Momentarily catching her off guard, Nadine flinched. She soon regained her composure, however, standing proud, she raised her chin in high defiance.
She had been expecting this for some time now, she knew that company policy was to ‘retire’ all its ex-employees, and she spared no time in preparing herself for the inevitability of this encounter. Her cold, grey eyes stared straight into Rudi’s pale blues.
“Can you help me?” Rudi hesitated, repeating her question, “I…I believe you can.”
Nadine had unsettled him. Over the years, Rudi had grown used to the unblushing pleas, bargaining and begs for mercy he had received from the countless political figures and prominent scientists he had murdered. At first he had found it hard to ignore them, but he knew the price he would pay for disobeying the company would far outweigh any offer made to him, or any moral victory he might win. What unnerved him so, was that he had never experienced the steely determination he found in the eyes of Dr Feykes; almost every day he would witness only selfish and unfettered terror in the eyes of his victims, and was disgusted at the shameless acts of cowardice his targets would employ to save their worthless lives. This only made his task easier. But this, this was no easy task, because now he respected her, this silent, steadfast woman, this defector who freely accepts death. Then, he did something he had never done before;
“I’m sorry.” He whispered.
Rudi closed his eyes and slowly squeezed the trigger.
READ CHAPTER TWO
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