Book 3b: Kat O’Nine Tales               by: Darkside

 

29. The Trial -Cathline’s Tale.

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Kat and I sat down in front of the TV to watch the trial of her husband. We had been out for a walk but had to retreat back to our hotel when when she got in a desperate state about the trial. I needed to be strong for her, she really needs me now. Kat was in far worse a state than she had been in the harem. She had always seemed so strong and so self-assured but now she was like a frightened rabbit staring at the headlights of an oncoming car.

The trial had been going for a day or so now. The prosecution had presented all it’s evidence when something horrible occurred. I missed the actual moment but Kat’s scream sent me rushing back.

"What?" I called.

"It’s Robert Abbey" Kat Sobbed.

"What’s he done?"

"He’s thrown the trial, he’s basically admitted the he can find no defense against what my husband did . He has thrown out all his evidence as distortion of the truth and pleaded with the jury to convict of murder one. He’s said that he would not be able to live with himself unless the truth be told. By using some technicality he has thrown it all away" Kat Sobbed.

"What!"

"The judge has gone away to discuss things with Robert Abbey and the

prosecution"

"Kat I’m so sorry"

"I don’t understand it. I thought Robert Abbey was on our side"

The TV commentary continued. "The judge is due back in a short moment, after this almost unprecedented twist in the Bexley trial. We are just as stunned as you are, ladies and gentlemen... "

"Oh Cathline Now what am I going to do" Kat Sobbed.

Kat continued to cry until the commentator said

"And Judge James Francis has called the Jury into recess to deliver a verdict. Surely this is the end of the Bexley Case"

The jury were out for only a few minutes before the judge said

"All Rise"

"How does the jury find the defendant?’

"Guilty on all counts."

Kat screamed out loud when the Jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict.

The Judge continued.

"Dr Elizabeth Bexley, you have been found guilty of the first degree murder of Jane Stephens. You will be taken from this place and brought to another where you will be executed by lethal injection. May God have mercy on your soul."

Kat was distraught and wouldn’t even talk to me, she was hysterical with grief. I called for the doctor who gave her some sedatives to help calm her down. She drifted off to enforced rest. Now what could we do. Appeal I guess and hope Stephanie Lane comes up with the goods.

I sat alone watching Kat breath softly on the bed. After all we had gone thru together it comes to this. I just hope Stephanie Lane can find that Roger creature soon, we need that proof bad. I feel so sorry for her. All her hope is gone and there she lays drugged so that she can find some rest.

Kat awoke the next day.

"Cathline, I had a horrible dream. I dreamt that Robert Abbey had thrown the trial and my husband was doomed" She said.

"Sorry, That was no dream. It really did happen. He goes off to death row tomorrow. Listen we can appeal, we still have a chance." I said.

"What good is it? No jury will believe any appeal now. If even your defense lawyer thinks you are guilty what hope is there?"

"There must be a legal loophole somewhere. I mean maybe Robert was deranged or something." I said.

"Even so, the fact that the defense admitted that it had no case to the jury and got them to retire early will stick in the whole countries mind. No the ‘hell bitch’ has finally won. I may as well go back to Hassan and live my life in servitude. My hope has gone and I no longer care anymore. I may as well die as I cannot live knowing that he is gone."

"LISTEN to me Kat, it may be a cliché but where there’s life there’s hope. There’s still Stephanie Lane" I said earnestly.

"An idle promise. I saw no cat creature or any sign of her at the trial. She sold us down the river and now my husband is going to die for it" Kat said with a mixture of sadness and anger.

"When I was in the dungeon being raped twice a day, I had to fight to stay alive, fight to stay human. You can’t imagine what it was like, knowing that those footsteps coming down the stairs was someone come to violate you. You have no idea of the pain my eye gave me during those first few weeks. How I would try and open it up and then cry for hours remembering how it was burnt out from me. The dread I felt at what would happen if I didn’t show the signs of enjoying being raped. I used to enjoy men as well as women but inside I want to run away screaming everytime I think about being with a man." I said, angrily.

"Cathline, I." Kat started.

"No, Listen to me. You’ve had all the breaks. You lived it up in paradise whilst I was hell. Never give up hope you said, well it’s easy to have hope when you have some chances left. It’s much harder to have hope when there seems to be none. It is in the dark places where you need to dig deep and come back stronger. I’ve had to and now you do too. Listen I lost my husband, who I loved above all things, Yours on the other hand is at least still alive. While he still breathes we have a chance to save him. " I said.

"Cathline, please"

"I’m not finished yet. I’m not saying that you’ve had an easy time of it, far from it but get some perspective. If you give in now the ‘Hell Bitch’ has won. We owe her. What happened to your promise, that grandiose bullshit you spouted before you were taken. ‘I serve notice to you, Hell Bitch’ and all that shit? Did you really mean that or did it seem like a good thing to say at the time? I hate to tell you this, but the price we will pay for this is likely to be very high indeed. Now put your money where your mouth is and let’s get on with the job in hand" Boy was I cross with her.

"Sorry Cath" Kat tried to say.

"Still not done. I looked up to you. You were my strength when we were in that Harem. You kept me going. You may fear Liz but you are the only one I know who can think like her. Like it or not I need you."

"Cathl"

I interrupted yet again."As hard as it may seem to you at the moment I feel myself falling in love with you. There I’ve said it. Listen I may have loved Liz and maybe I fall for people too easily but I care too much to let you destroy yourself. Now I’m going for a walk, you can either stay or go because I fully intend to see this thru to the end, no matter what you do."

I stormed out, feeling much better. Had I been too hard on her?, why did I tell her I was falling in love with her. The truth was, I was in love with her. The price of our victory was my separation from her forever. She still loved him and that left me nowhere. I had started off hating her for what she had done but now I can’t see myself with anyone else. I miss John terribly and always will but I cannot live in the past.

I just walked around, I’ve no idea where I went or anything that went on around me. If Kat went then who was left? I needed her insight, just needed her. Sometime later I returned back to my room and found Kat crying into her pillow. I sat down beside her and just stroked her hair in a comforting way.

"Kat, it’s Anne Bonny. I’m sorry I said those things" I whispered softly.

"Don’t be, you were right they needed to be said. But it’s so hard" She cried some more.

"I know"

She just lay there until she had cried herself to sleep. I waited up, watching the TV coverage. This trial just kept springing surprises. I thought back to our conversations. Liz had been remarkably quiet during the trial. Maybe she was just content to let justice take it’s course. No that wasn’t right. If Kat had taught me one thing about Liz it was she didn’t leave anything to chance. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. My God we’re really fucked now.

"Kat wake up" I shook her awake.

"Waa" Kat said groggily.

I shook her again "Kat, Wake up "

"Now what" Kat said annoyed at being woken up.

"The Lawyer, Robert Abbey. He wasn’t really Robert Abbey" I said.

"Then, Holy shit!"

"Exactly, Liz switched with him to throw the trial"

"Of course, he was the obvious target" She said.

"What in hell do we do?" I asked.

"We go to Robert Abbey’s house, first thing tomorrow. Cathline, we think we’re catching up with the ‘Hell Bitch’ but really we’re at least five steps behind. We pat ourselves on the back and gloat over our imagined victory but the ‘Hell Bitch’ has already been there. Stephanie Lane was right it wasn’t over yet. We jump one way and she already knows what we are going to do. Cathline I’m scared" Kat said.

"Me too" I said.

We both went to bed soon afterwards. I got little sleep as I knew Liz’s attentions must soon turn to us. How the hell were we going to escape?

Kat had got up before me and woke me. "Listen to this " she hissed.

Stephanie Lane was on the TV.

"The unpredictable roller coster ride of the Bexley trial took an unexpected and tragic twist today as the body of Robert Abbey was found in an alley way. Robert had been shot in the head with a small calibre firearm. The Police think it was a mugging that went wrong, with tragic circumstances. The police are wanting to question anyone who may have seen something. Monica Abbey is unavailable for comment and is believed to be under heavy sedation.

Robert Abbey was one of the countries foremost defense lawyers and will be best known for the events of a couple of days ago. "

Kat switched the TV off before Stephanie could continue.

"I think we’ve just lost the ‘Hell Bitch" Kat said.

"You don’t think.."

"No stupid. She’s obviously had the real Robert Abbey killed and moved onto another body. Just as I said she’s five steps ahead all the fucking time. Now we stand no chance of finding her" Kat said.

"So now what do we do?" I asked.

"Home I guess" Kat said.

T+2 days.

 

30. T+4 days Finally a woman James/Janes Tale.

==============================================

I’m finally well enough to go back to work. I’ve decided that Jane is who I really am. The required document changes are in place. I pack slowly, relieved to be out of here. It’s been nearly two years and a long hard struggle to come to terms with my womanhood, but now I’m ready. James was who I was, Jane is who I am now.

I’ll freely admit that I make an ugly woman but I can’t live a lie. I AM Female. Vickie and the lab will have the drug perfected soon and then I can look like Rachel Martin if I want to. Speaking about work I must give Vickie a call to see if she wants any help. It may sound a bit morbid but with Cathline gone I may be able to get her job. Anyway that’s for later. My flight is due soon.

I sit on the plane back home, thinking about Liz’s trial. I was very puzzled. I thought I had it all worked out with the DNA drug and all that. But now I’m not so sure. I need to talk to someone. I know I’ll give Vickie a call when I land.

I phoned Vickie and she was delighted to hear from me. She had heard that I was now better and would be overjoyed to have me work at the lab again. She’s invited me around for dinner tonight and I accepted. I have no where else to go.

Vickie had obviously gone to town to welcome me back, as she had laid on all my favorite foods. Crispy cajun prawns for starters, Pepper steak for main and a wonderful chocolate cheesecake for deserts. Vickie is one hell of a cook.

She told me about Cathline getting back and her tale of transformation and kidnap. I couldn’t believe it. Yes it was possible to do what Liz was alleged to have done but why? Still Vickie is convinced of Cathline’s story and the more I think about it the more I see it’s the only one that fits. If Liz has perverted our drug for evil purposes then she must be stopped. Vickie and I are united on this. We designed this drug to be the cure of millions not the curse. Imagine if this secret fell into the wrong hands. No Liz must be stopped and although Vickie disagrees with me on this point, I feel our equipment must be destroyed. After turning me into a better looking woman that is.

Vickie suggested that I should talk to Stephanie Lane and tell her my story. She thinks it will help our case. I’ll give her a call in tomorrow as it’s getting late. Vickie has kindly offered her spare room for me to stay in until I can sort out my things.

Vickie is tired out, she’s been running Disaster scenarios for the past few weeks, everything from a fire to terrorist attack. She’s glad to have the diversion of me here to take her mind off of all this work. I never saw Liz work this hard.

Since Cathline has returned and Vickie has promised her, her old job back she has found something else for me to do. It may not sound like much but I’m learning how to operate the power systems and other functions of the lab. It’s not exactly my chosen field of expertise but at least it’s a job and Vickie has promised me a job back in research as soon as one becomes available. I don’t mind my current job though, it’s interesting work and the pay is reasonable. As a boss I prefer Vickie to Liz. Liz was far to wrapped up the potential of our product to take any notice of the admin side of the job. Vickie is far better balanced.

I had been back at work a few days when Stephanie Lane came around. Apparently Vickie had asked her to visit in order to get my story written down. I didn’t mind I’d wanted to meet Stephanie Lane for a while.

Vickie introduced me to Stephanie.

"Stephanie this is Jane. "

"Pleased to meet you" I said.

"Pleasure’s all mine"

I showed Stephanie my journal and outlined the thoughts I had on what had been going on. About an hour later I had finished.

"This all sounds frighteningly familiar. I’m hearing the same thing over and over again. I’m very nearly ready to go public on this but I want to find out some more about this lab and tie up a few niggling questions as well. What I do here may help to free an innocent man. I must make it watertight or else everything goes to hell. How about a tour of the lab?" Stephanie said.

"I’ll give you a tour of the lab anytime" Vickie said.

"I need a few days to clear up some unfinished work. I want to invite Kat and Cathline as well. So we can have a council of war. We need to start acting rather than reacting. How about in eight days?"

"Fine, make it after hours though. About 10pm?" Vickie Said.

"Fine, I should make it on time unless my flight here is delayed" Stephanie said.

"Ok,We’ll be there. I want to meet Cathline again and also this mysterious Kat I’ve heard so much about" I said.

"I’ve met her, very resourceful and determined" Stephanie said.

"See you later" Vickie said.

"Bye" and Stephanie Lane went out..

I went to bed early. I’ve got work in the morning.

 

31. T-2 days "Guild!" - HIS Tale.

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A Guard walked in "Bexley, I got a message for you"

"What is it?" Who the hell could that be?

The guard gave me a slip of paper and I read it.

"Have Hope!, The Kat is Back"

"WHAT!, HOW?" I exclaimed. Kat’s escaped and knows about me.

She’s obviously got something up her sleeve. Oh my love you’re safe.

"The lady who gave you this. Was she about five seven, black hair and green eyes?" I asked.

"Nah, if I had to say what she looked like it would be Jasmine from Aladdin. Boy was she cute. She had another woman with her, who only had one eye. They made quite a weird couple. " The guard said and then left.

Jasmine! Of course Elizabeth had turned Kat into a Harem girl. But how had she escaped? Who was the mysterious one eyed lady? At least I have some chance of getting out. Oh Kat, my love you have returned to me. You have not abandoned me. I can face tomorrow with renewed hope.

Kat soon I will be able to lay in your arms and consummate our union.

What the Fuck was I thinking about. I was a woman now and destined to be one forever. I could never give Kat the children she desired. Not a day has gone past when I looked with hatred at my body. To the rest of the world it may seem a beautiful one but to me it is a living hell. Yes I’ve got used to looking at myself naked, seeing my breasts heave as I breathe,the smooth curves of my body and the triangular patch of hair that points to where my pussy is. Just because I’m used to it doesn’t mean I like it. Sure I get aroused just looking at me sometimes but that’s because I want to fuck that body not BE it.

Still Kat must be well on top of things by now. She was always the clever one. I’ll match her against Elizabeth anyday.

I can now sleep in peace. I’ve got a big day tomorrow.

I sit in the police truck, bound hand and foot with thick chains. My three other prisoners are silent. We are all wrapped up in our own thoughts I can’t believe what has happened. Robert Abbey has thrown the trial. He basically stood up and said I was guilty and that I should be convicted.

It was just like my dream I had so long ago. Robert had thrown the trial and was on my way to my execution. The only difference was that Elizabeth hadn’t been there. She still has the capacity to destroy lives even though she’s dead and buried. What has happened to Kat? I really expected her to leap in and save me at the last moment. Now I’m doomed.

My guard just sits there looking impassively out of the barred window. She looks bored stiff by it all. I’m about half way there I guess. In open countryside. I wish the bus would crash, like in the fugitive so I could escape. No chance there, my lucks not like that.

Even the cops in the escort car behind are looking bored. Just another day for them I guess. I stare out of the window at them, tempted to pull faces at them. Once of the cops sees me looking at him and blows me a kiss.

I hear a whoosh and the cop car explodes with a massive bang. What the Fuck!. I’m thrown forward as the bus brakes hard. I hear the staccato sound of automatic weapons and the return volley of pistol shots. Another explosion shakes the bus and I hit the deck as the windows are blown in. I can hear screams and gunfire everywhere. Bullets whistle above my head as the front of the bus is raked with machine gun fire.

I can see the blood of the driver and his passenger splashed around the shattered windshield. Holy shit what is going on. Me and my fellow prisoners are on the floor just waiting to die.Kat wouldn’t do this so who the hell would?

My guard has her firearm out and is returning fire.

"You, Inside come out, You have no option. Throw your weapon outside" A voice called.

"Shit" I heard the guard say she gingerly threw her pistol out of the window. She unlocked the door.

A hooded man in a black catsuit lept in the van and forced her out at gunpoint. Another man leapt in, this time with heavy bolt cutters. He quickly cuts the chains of my other companions and forces them outside. Now what he’s coming for me. Oh God this is it I’m going to die.

He grunts something and cuts my chains with the cutters. I’m pushed outside into the open. I go to run but the cold hard metal of a gun barrel in my back tells me otherwise. The other prisoners are lined up along side my guard, they are all looking scared to death. A hooded man walks up to my guard who is just standing still, looking very scared. The man draws out an evil looking, slender bladed knife and faster than I could see strikes the guard’s throat.

The guard crumples to the floor, her throat slit. The other prisoners are now quaking. The hooded figure moves in a blur of color. Slowly, one by one , like trees being felled they fall to the floor. Their throats have been slit just like the guard’s. Holy mother of God who were these people?

I look around me, destruction is everywhere. The two cop cars are completely destroyed and bodies lay all over the place. Another hooded figure is inspecting the bodies. One of the cops moves a little, instantly the hooded man puts his gun to the cop’s head and pulls the trigger, the body jerks as though being pulled by a string.I’m violently sick.

Another terrorist walks from the back of the bus. He is carrying what looks like an anti-tank missile launcher. Who the hell are they, what do they want?

The front of the bus is riddled with bullet holes. It’s armor was not enough to save the lives of the driver and passenger.

The terrorist who had slit the throats came over to me. I went to run away but I felt the cold steel of a gun in my back. I’m going to die for certain now.

The man walks over to me and grabs my shirt. He rips the front of it open, exposing my breasts. Fuck I’m going to be raped. He takes one look at my tattoo and then shouts something in a language I don’t understand.

The one with the bazooka walks up to him and gives him a bag. My terrorist then hands me the bag, points to the bus and says "Change"

Confused and shocked I walk to the bus and get inside. I open the bag and am surprised to see a skirt,blouse and shoes. Inside there is also a purse which contains about 5,000 dollars, a driving license and passport. I look at these documents and are surprised to see that they belong to Elizabeth.

I take off my prison overalls and put on the skirt. It’s only the second time I’ve worn one and certainly not one this short. It really shows off my legs, too much for my liking. I take off my torn shirt and put on the blouse. I wonder what they want with me. Hmm now for the shoes. Oh shit heels. I put on the heels and nearly tilt forwards. How the hell do women put up with them.I just about manage to bend down and pick up my purse without falling over. I slowly get out of the bus, very much aware that my skirt is very short and very tight and leaves very little to the imagination. I’ve just about got the hang of walking in these things now.

Once I’m clear of the bus two of the terrorists carry the bodies of the prisoners and the guard into the van. The one with the bazooka gestures for me to get out of the way and he drops to one knee. He waits until everyone is clear then fires. A gout of flame erupts from the bus, which then explodes and burns. The terrorist who shot the cop lights up a foul smelling cigarette and hands one out to his companions.

I’m shown to a waiting jeep and given the keys. The one with the knife says something into his radio. Within a matter of minutes a brand new hughes chopper, piloted by another hooded figure lands near to the still burning bus. The terrorists leap in and fly away, except for the one with the knife. He pulls off his hood to reveal a handsome Arabic face. He then takes off his catsuit to reveal normal jeans and T shirt. This man then takes his discarded clothes and throws them in the still burning bus. He walks over to me and gestures for me to get into the jeep with him, which I do. I have no choice.

"Hello, my name is Hassan. It may or may not be my real name and if you tell the authorities anything about me you will surely die."

I nodded my agreement. Who the hell were these guys?

"I will take you to where you need to go. Please look natural and nothing will happen. Our customer has paid a great deal of money and would hate to see it go to waste by your stupidity."

Hassan started to drive back to New York, leaving the devastated convoy behind.

"You mean someone paid for all this?" I said,shocked.

"Of course"

"Who are you?"

"Since you will die if you talk, I can safely tell you. We are members of an ancient organization called the guild. We serve anyone who will pay, no matter the cause. In nearly a thousand years we have never failed a customer. As I said before you can call me Hassan. It’s been a long time since I have done any field work and I wanted to keep my hand in."

"What do you usually do, then" I asked.

"I am, if you like the head of the guild, as my father was before me. You are very privileged to see me as only those in my Harem usually do"

"SO I’m going into your Harem then" Oh my God not that!

"Not at all, my heart belongs to another, one who I had to let go and one who I would give up my life for if she asked. I miss her every minute of every day. I wanted to get out to relieve myself of the pain of loneliness."

Killing four people in cold blood was this guys idea of pain relief! I asked an obvious question "Why are you telling me all this?" I asked. How could this man be so different. To me he was kind and courteous but he also was responsible for all that carnage behind me.

"You are wondering how I can be so different. The answer is easy. We of the guild are kind to our friends and deadly to our enemies. "

"So I’m you’re friend" Please God say yes. I thought.

"Not quite, our customer values you greatly. You have a powerful ally but it would not do to probe too deeply in that direction. Take it as a threat if you like"

We drove in silence until Hassan, if that was indeed his name dropped me off at a nearby mall. He said to me "This is as far as I dare take you. You are on your own now. Good luck". It was getting dark and I needed somewhere to sleep. I was about to book into a motel but then the thought struck me.

Holy Shit. The cops would think I was responsible for that massacre. They would go ape shit and come after me. I would soon be hunted down, I was destined to live my life as a fugitive from justice. There were no witnesses as to what went on, only my word and several dead bodies.

I sat on the bench for about an hour. A woman sitting alone looking thoughtful attracted little attention. I was just thinking what do to next when I felt someone sit down next to me.

"You did good. They deserved to die" A husky voice said

"What". I looked up to see a man, dressed in scruffy jeans and a T-shirt. Although there was nothing sinister about the way he looked he did have a dangerous air about him.

"The cop’s you did over. Good work. Little excessive blowing up the bus

afterwards but very professional. Who did it for you?" He said

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"A friend. Listen you need help I can give it to you"

"Yeah, why?"

"Listen, you need my help, I don’t see anyone else queuing up. I’ll take you to my place. Keep your head down and shut up."

With nothing to lose I followed him.

He drove me to a rough looking apartment in Queens and he let me in.

"Sorry bout the mess" he said.

Mess was the right word. Empty Pizza boxes and beer cans lay scattered all over the floor. A pistol lay on the small coffee table along with some suspicious looking white powder, in dose sized small bags.

"Wanna drink?" my so called friend was asking.

"Got a beer?"

"Sure" and he went away to the icebox. He emerged a couple of minutes later with a bottle of Miller.

"Thanks" I said.

"Anytime. Listen You can hole up here for a couple’a days until all the shit dies down."

"I didn’t catch your name? " I asked.

"Greg"

"And you’d better be Dr Elizabeth Bexley or I’m in deep shit"

"Relax" I said.

"Hey I had you down for a Martini kinda girl. " Greg said, pointing at my beer.

"Nah. Beer everytime"

"You can take the bed, I’ll take the sofa. " Greg said.

"Thanks you’re very kind"

"Just a couple of ground rules. You don’t go outside for any reason. You don’t answer the phone, door or even look outta the window. You do and you’re outta here. This is only as a favor to you because you did over those pigs. I’ll send for someone who can help you in the morning"

"Understood. Now I’d like to get some rest"

"Ok, night" Greg Said.

My first night of freedom was spent in Greg’s bed. He was the biggest slob I had ever met and I hated sleeping in his dirty, smelly bed. But it beat a cell anyday. I reflected on my future. Unless Kat came up with the goods then I faced a life on the run. Even then I could be shot dead at any moment in time. No doubt every cop and bounty hunter from here to LA was looking out for me. I had a refuge at the moment but that was not guaranteed.

What about all that money sitting in a bank. Well I expect that would be frozen as soon as I escaped. In anycase as soon as I used an ATM card or tried to get at any of it, that would be it. No the only money I could use was the 5000 dollars in my purse. How could I escape?. Well the first thing to do was to try and change my appearance. Pretty difficult as I was a rather strikingly beautiful woman. Still I could always change my hair for a start. These two days I had here I could use to plan my life on the run.

I drifted off to sleep at about 1am.

I was awoken by the smell of bacon and eggs. There was a knock at the door. I quickly checked that I was decent and covered up my exposed chest. How I hate being a woman.

"Come in" I called.

"I made breakfast for you" Greg said and handed me a plate full of bacon, eggs and hash browns.

"You don’t know I long I’ve waited to eat a breakfast like this" I said.

"I do. I did a five year stint a while ago. Bacon and eggs was one of the things I missed the most" Greg Said.

I tucked into my breakfast, umm heavenly. All too soon I had eaten the lot.

"I don’t know how you keep your shape, eating that much" Greg said.

"I’ve had outside help" I said.

"Listen I gotta go out. I get cable and you can help yourself to anything in the house. I’ll see you later.

I got up about an hour later an walked into Greg’s lounge, turned on the TV and watched the news.

As expected the ambush was national headlines. Shit! ten cops and three prisoners dead and me on the run. The country is stunned at the brutality of the attack and demands have gone out to congress to apprehend anyone involved. My portrait has gone out to every precinct in the state. Shit how can I escape this. Think!

About lunch time I decide to get showered and dressed. As usual I feel all horny after a shower. Just touching my self and looking at my body is enough to get me going. Although I’ve been a woman for nearly five months most of that time has been spent in gaol. The other two days were spent on the street. In fact this is the first time I’ve been really alone since then. I’ve not really had a chance to explore my body properly. Sure I know what my tits feel like and what it feels like to stroke my pussy but most of the time I don’t want to. Today however curiosity gets the better of me and I run my finger over my breast. Ohh that feels good. Instinctively my other hand reaches down to my slit. Yep it’s still there but oh so moist and ready. Now where about’s used to drive Elizabeth wild. Eeekk found it, oh boy that feels great. I run my hand gently over my clitoris and nearly jump with the sensations. My finger traces the lips of my vagina until I push it inside. Oh man that’s good. I gently stroke my breasts with my other hand and with my other stimulate my clit again. I cry out with pleasure. I don’t want it to stop so I keep going. By now small waves of pleasure are rushing from my cunt upwards, with each stroke they grow more fierce but also more pleasurable. Such is the pleasure I now feel I could not stop even If I wanted to . I stroke my clit faster and faster until I’m panting out loud. A tidal wave of pleasure rushes over me as I gasp and moan. Once the tidal wave was gone, other smaller ones followed until I collapsed back exhausted but very satisfied.

I lay back and thought about my first female orgasm, it was wonderful but something inside me wanted to penetrate, do something more. Mind you even as a man there was always something unsatisfactory about masturbation, I guess it’s the same for a woman. When I find Kat again I wonder how she will react to making love to me as a woman. I’ve no idea how do it, as a woman. I just hope we can work it out. I got up, got dressed, still flushed from my pleasure and watched dumb TV all day until Greg arrived back.

"Hi honey I’m home" he said.

"Hi"

"Listen there’s been a change of plan. I’ve got someone coming over tonight. She can help you much more than I can. Oh and by the way blonde or black?"

"What?"

"Hair Dye, I got some from the mall. Now you wanna be black or blonde?"

"Umm Blonde, I think" I said.

"Yeah, I think that’s the right choice for your color. Instructions are on the back. You want Pizza?"

"Fine. I’m not fussy" I said, taking the bottle of dye from Greg. Now how in hell do I use this stuff.

Fortunately the instructions were quite clear and half an hour later I looked in the mirror at a very blonde version of Elizabeth. At a first and second glance I would pass as someone else. I dried my hair off and it then went into frizzy mode. I hated it when it did that. It took me another half an hour to fix it right. I never had this much grief when I was man. Anyway I look more human now.

I wonder who Greg is bringing to help me out.

I was looking at the clock turn 17:45 when the Pizza arrived. I was about to tuck in when the door bell rang, Greg gestured for me to be quiet and he went to the door, peered thru the spyhole and then let his guest in.

"Dr Elizabeth Bexley I’d like you to meet " Greg started.

"Stephanie Lane" I finished off.

"Greg, do ya mind leaving us for a while" Stephanie said

"Sure, I’ll take my share of Pizza though" Greg said, walked over to the Pizza box and took several pieces for himself. With a "see ya round" he left.

Stephanie Lane sat down in front of me and said.

"Kat’s husband right?"

"How Th" I started.

"Quickly we’ve got to get you out of here"

"How did you know?" I asked, astonished.

"That You are really Kat’s husband or that you would be here"

"Both"

"I’ve met Kat or should I say ‘Jasmine’ and she’s told me everything. Greg is one of my ‘contacts’. He knew I’d been heavily involved in your murder case and that I didn’t think all was as it seemed. He gave me a ring this morning and explained everything . I knew I had to get to you before the cops did. What in hell did you do? Your cronies killed ten cops and three prisoners and left the place looking like a war zone.

You’ve shot up the FBI’s most wanted list. If you’re caught you’ve no chance now"

"I had nothing to do with it. Some organization called the guild did it.

Please, If you know where Kat is I need to see her. Please don’t turn me in"

"I won’t, even though it’s highly illegal. I’m a journalist and my instinct is for a story. I also recognise that Liz needs to be stopped at all costs. You fit into both parts so welcome aboard."

"What do mean Liz must be stopped? I stopped her at the airport."

"No you didn’t that was someone else. Look I’ll explain later."

The shocks were coming too fast. How could Elizabeth still be alive.

Stephanie’s wrong but at least she’s going to help me.

"Explain now" I demanded.

"No time, we need to leave right away"

"But road blocks"

"Leave them to me. Listen your’e now my trainee reporter, Alison. We

have to leave now"

What was going on? I was rescued by the guild only to be branded one of America’s most wanted. Now Stephanie Lane was here offering to help. Still she knows what she’s doing more than me. We walked casually out of Greg’s place and to Stephanie’s car and I sat inside. Stephanie got in after me and we drove off.

"Listen If you know where Kat is, I want, no need to see her"

"I promise, when we get you to a safe house out of state, past the initial police sweeps then you can call her. Not until then. Now listen to me."

"I’m Listening"

"Your name is Alison Jacob. You’ve been working with me for around a month. I’m teaching you the ropes. The reason why we are out is that we have to get to an interview in Boston tomorrow. We are driving because we need to trace the last known movements of Rachel Martin, as she drove there so do we. You’ve been mistaken a couple of times for Dr Bexley and have been the butt of many office jokes about it. Here is your press card, no don’t ask where I got it. Let’s say I’ve borrowed it. It will have to do as ID until I can arrange something better."

"Ok got it" I said.

We drove all night, taking turns until we had made it over the state line. We booked into a small motel and I was allowed to make the call I had dreamt of for so long.

"Which number is she on?" I asked.

"She’s at home" Stephanie said.

I dialled the number, as nervous as I had been when I had first called to ask her for dinner.

"Hello" A strange voice said.

"Is Kat there?"

"Speaking, who wants to know"

"Kat, it’s me"

"Who’s me?"

"Silly, remember the fountain in the town square?" I said.

"What?, how?. I saw you’d escaped on the TV. Why did you kill all those people?" she squealed.

"I didn’t get anyone killed. I can’t talk about it right now. I want you to know I’ve missed you so much. Not a day went passed when I thought about being with you" I said.

"The same here. Listen be Careful. I love you." Kat said, her voice shaking with emotion.

"I’m here with Stephanie Lane and she’s looking after me. "

"That’s good Stephanie’s very capable. When can you come?" Kat voice was low now, like she sounded when she was crying.

Stephanie shook her head violently and mouthed "NOT YET" to me.

"Not yet, it’s not safe. " I said.

Kat sounded upset "I understand. Can I talk to Stephanie?"

"Sure" I handed the phone to Stephanie.

My phone call had obviously thrown Kat, She was normally so chatty. Stephanie was on the phone for a few more minutes and then she handed it back to me.

"Kat, I just want to say I still love you, I need you more then ever before.

I may be a woman now but I still love you." I said, why was I crying?

"Me too. Stephanie has a plan, listen to that and follow it to the letter. I’ll see you in about ten days. Remember I love you" and Kat hung up.

"What’s going on?" I demanded.

"The Station’s got a safe house about a days drive from here, I want you to go there and wait for until a week Friday. You are then to make your way to the TGEN Research lab in time for a 10pm meeting with Kat and the rest of our forces."

"Forces?" I asked.

"I’ve made copies of all my notes and journals for you to read. It’ll give you something to do while you wait. You need to be up to speed for the trials ahead of us. I’ve arranged for a hire car to be dropped off here first thing in the morning. It’s registered in the name of Alison Jacob. Now Alison you are on your way to a safehouse to help out in setting up a studio there for a documentary that will be broadcast later this month. If anyone wants to check they can call me OK?"

"Fine" Stephanie’s got this all worked out.

"Oh and another thing. I need to go back to New York and I will fly out to meet you all on Friday night. I’ve got some final things to put together before then, So you are on your own. Kat’s told me you can be resourceful and I hope you can make it. If you remember what I’ve told you then we should be OK."

"Ok see you then" I said as Stephanie Lane Left the room.

Now all I’ve got to do is avoid capture and turn up at this lab in ten days.

T+ 4 Days.

 

32. T-1 Day "Improbable Cause" - The Lawyers Tale.

==================================================

Boy, that was a hard meeting. I’ve got almost nothing solid to go on, only rumors and ghosts. The trial is two days away and we are still on shaky ground. Mind you I do have the trump card of the medical report of Dr Bexley’s condition that proves she was in trauma at the time of the shooting. As long as that stands we have a chance.

I walk out of my office and onto the bustling New York street. It’s cold but I’m too preoccupied with work to notice much. What’s the best we can hope for at the end of this.

OUCH. What the fuck was that. I look down at my right leg. What the A small fin is sticking out from my leg, which is beginning to bleed. I pulled out the dart and inspected it. It’s about an inch long with what seemed a receptacle for some chemical, a needle for a point at small fins which are presumably to maintain accuracy. Who the hell. I looked around and saw noone at all. I must get to the police in order to report this. I’ve fucking well been shot. I put the dart in my pocket and limp off. Ow my leg hurts.

I call a cab and much to my amazement one pulls up almost right away. I ask to be taken to the police station. My leg feels very strange.

A few minutes into my journey and I realise that I’m being taken the wrong way.

"Hey what’s going on?" I demanded.

"The traffic’s bad. It’s a detour" The driver replied.

I lay back on the seat and try and relax. I feel so sleepy, so tired. Just a few minutes rest won’t hurt.

I awake in a room with no windows, only a bed, a wardrobe, sink and a mirror. I get up and try the door. It’s locked.

"Hey let me out. I’m a lawyer and you’re looking at a ten year stretch, buster"

No answer. Hmm.

I explored the room some more. I was obviously expected to be here some time. There was a sink and toilet to one side. A full length mirror was standing in the far corner. I walked over to the wardrobe and was surprised to find A mini skirt,blouse and heels inside. How odd.

I walked over to the bed and needed to lay down. Fuck my head hurt.

I called out again but no answer, so I just waited. The peace and quiet gave me time to think. What was I doing here. It clearly had something to do with being shot with that dart thing but what!

My watch said 6pm. Shit I’d been in here five hours. My head was throbbing, what the hell was that stuff they had shot in me. Who were my abductors and what do they want from me. I can only presume it’s to do with the Bexley case but what?

I stand up, about to look for another way out when suddenly my right leg collapses from under me and I fall to the floor. Underneath my pants I can see flesh rippling, shaping. I feel no pain only strange sensations. My shoe falls off as my foot shrinks to a much smaller size.

I rip off my pants to see that my right leg is now much shorter than my left. All the hair has fallen out leaving a very slender almost womanly shape. I reach out my left hand to touch it and quickly pull it back. This leg, this female leg is now mine.

My left hand feels odd now. "Oh no" I shout as the hair retracts from my arm and the normal muscular shape changes. The fingers on my hand shrink, causing my wedding ring to fall off. I dare not look for some moments but turn back, knowing, but dreading what I will see. A woman’s arm moves as I move my arm and her fingers move as I move mine. My attention is diverted by my left leg beginning to reshape. I watch in horror as the flesh and bone reforms into a mirror image of my other leg. I can now stand but have now shrunk to about five seven. I look down at two womanly legs. What is going on here?

I try to walk to the bed but a pain to my stomach knocks me down again. I stare down at my waist which is now shrinking, as my hips reshape to form a classic curve. "Stop This" I shout but the sensation from my butt tells me this isn’t going to stop here.

I stand again and look at my now feminine looking lower half. I realise I need to pee and so I walk, rather strangely to the toilet. I get hold of my dick and try to pee but nothing is forthcoming. A feeling in my dick alerts me to the fact that all is not well down there. I grasp tighter onto my dick, as it relentlessly retracts inside of me. I pull on it and try to force it further out but it is to no avail. My hand touches something warm and fleshy. Vagina, My Vagina.

My fingers reach down to touch my new organ and I nearly jump. Before I can do anything else I feel so faint and fall to the floor. I awaken sometime later and look down, hoping to see my male body restored.

Nothing could be further from the truth, from the neck down I’m a woman. Yes I have no breasts(at the moment) but everything else is there. The curves,the smooth skin, the ass Why?. I stand up and walk to the mirror. Everything seems so much higher than before and I realise that I’m now about five four. Who’s doing this to me. I stare at my new reflection in the mirror in horror and wonderment, oh no my other arm is womanly as well!. Before I can study myself more my head starts to throb again. What now?

My hands reach up to my face as I feel bones reshape there.I feel my hair grow longer until it brushes down my back, I grab at it and see that it has turned blonde. I go blind for what seems like an age and then to my relief I can see again. I stare at my new face in the mirror and see that of a young woman, perhaps about 25. She or rather I now have longish blonde hair, a large pouting mouth and blue eyes. I put my hands up to my face in shock, I feel the smooth skin and the lack of stubble. "Fuck" I say out loud and hear my new voice for the first time. It’s high and squeaky.

A disturbing feeling on my chest brings me out of my trance. I look down to see my nipples getting larger and redder in color, oh shit my chest is swelling. My hands clutch at my slowly growing bosom. I push hard to try and stop them growing but to no avail. When I release them they flop forwards, although I guess they are small for a woman, they are huge to me. What in hell was happening?

I sit down on the bed feeling very strange in my new body. Out of curiosity I reach down there and feel pleasure when me hand touches female flesh. I’m so tempted to go further but I must escape, must find out who has done this to me. I’m very much aware of my nudity and now realise why those clothes were in the closet.

I’ve been in here for three days now. I still can’t get used to being female, the sight of my body sends confusing signals to me. The curve of my hips in the skirt, the shape of my legs and the fleshy firmness of my tits. I detest all these things but somehow they are part of me. I now realise that the fantastic tales that Dr Bexley said were true. Except that if the real Dr Bexley is dead then who did this to me? I wake up on the fourth day since my confinement to find the door open. I walk out, looking around me for any signs of my captors. I can see none, however a purse and about 50 dollars are laying on a nearby table. I pick it up and manage to force a door open to the outside world.

As I walk to try and find a call box I’m very conscious of my new body. Every sway of hip and bounce of breast rubs my transformation in. What will Monica do?

I manage to find a working call box and call my house.

"Hello" Monica says.

"Monica it’s me, Robert. I know I sound different but I need your help"

"You journo’s make me sick. Robert’s dead and you try and fuck with me" Monica said angrily

"Mon" Fuck she’s put the phone down.

What does she mean dead. What has been going on these past few days? I walk past a paper seller and buy a paper. The headline shocks me. "No clues for Robert Abbey murder".

I read thru the story. Apparently my double threw the trial and then ended up dead in an alley way. But why did he throw the trial. Obviously it was to ensure that Dr Bexley or whoever she was, was convicted but why. Too many questions and not enough answers. If I’m to turn back I need to find who’s responsible. But first I need to get home.

I take the bus and then a cab to my house, the curtains are drawn all is quiet. Using my entrycode I let myself inside the grounds. I walk up to my door and am about to use my keys when I realise that I have none. I ring the bell loudly and wait. Some moments later Monica answers the door.

"Well!" she demands.

"Mon it’s me. Robert" I plead.

"You’re that stupid bitch who phoned me earlier. Get out before I set the dogs on you." She shouted.

"No listen, please. Remember when I proposed to you. We had gone to

Paris and was enjoying a weeks holiday. I got down on one knee in Notre Dame cathedral. The color of that rose window caught your eye. You accepted right away"

Monica took a step back, as though she had been struck. "My God, all this time. Robert had was having an affair. No wonder he was away so much. What you’ve come gold digging now that he’s gone?" She said tearfully.

"You’re not listening to me. I said I’m Robert. I was abducted and turned into this, this blonde bombshell you see before you."

"Not only are you a hussy, you’re also quite mad. It’s not enough that my husband’s been killed, you have to come here with some sick scheme to get our money."

What can I do to convince her? I know.

"OK, remember Xmas. You felt unwell and only ate turkey sandwiches. I had to eat two Xmas dinners as you insisted that you didn’t want to waste the food."

"Robert, Is that really you?" Monica asked.

"Hun, I’m afraid it is. Please let me inside" I pleaded.

I was let in at last and sat down on my sofa.

"OH honey. I thought you were dead. Mind you this is worse than dead, now what the fuck are we going to do?"

"I’ve no idea. I want to get whoever did this to me. I want to get them bad."

"How’d it happen?, why’d you throw the trial and who was that who I buried yesterday?" Monica asked.

I told Monica the whole story, from being shot in the leg to my release by persons unknown.

"Oh Hun that’s terrible. How do you feel about, y’know being a woman" She asked.

"I hate it. I hate being ogled at, as if I have no brains at all. I hate these" and I pointed to my tits. "I hate wearing heels and most of all I hate the thought of not being able to make love to you anymore" I was beginning to cry.

"I know, but we can get thru this. Have you any idea of who did this to you.?"

"None at all. I hate to do it but I’ll give that Stephanie Lane a call. She’s been involved in the case from day one. She must have some idea."

"I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. I don’t trust her. Listen we need to spend some time together, get to know each other again. You need time to adjust, so do I for that matter." Monica said.

"My only chance of getting back to normal is to find out who did it. I’m going to call her". I said, sternly.

"No please don’t call her. Stay with me. Whoever did this is too strong for us. Please Hunny don’t" Monica Pleaded.

"Sorry. Listen We’ll see what she has to say and then we can decide what to do about it. Does that sound fair?" I compromised.

"Fine, whatever you say"

I called Stephanie Lane at her Station and was put thru to her voice mail. Apparently she’s off on assignment with her new assistant Alison Jacob and won’t be back for a while. Fuck.

Monica was pleased at this news and she claimed it was a good sign that everything would be all right We went to bed and I wanted my traditional cuddle but Monica didn’t think it would be right. "I need some time to adjust" she said. She has a point. I need to adjust too.

The next day I still tried to call Stephanie Lane but her voice mail was still on. I left another message and hung up. Monica walked down to the lounge and said.

"Is that tart’s outfit the only one they gave you?" She said.

"I guess so"

"Listen, you’ve gotta get better dress sense if you want to be my husband.

Time to go shopping"

This was more like the old Monica. "Do I have to?" I hated shopping, especially in ladies clothes store. I would just hang around not being able to do ANYTHING, except for wait until Monica came out. A quick Yeah looks nice and then it would onto the next store.

"Yes you do. I know how you feel about women’s clothes stores. But now you’ll be able to try things on as well." She said.

Defeated I gave in. She dragged me around every clothes store she knew of(which was just about all of them). We must have spent a good $3000 dollars. I now possessed every kind of outfit from sports outfit("Oh hunny,you must work out, if you want to keep that shape"), Suits("You must look smart, if you want to get back to work") to evening gowns("You look simply stunning dear"). Of all the trinkets I had to buy I hated getting underwear (or lingerie as Monica called it) the most. Apparently I’m a 34B bust, 24 inch waist and a 36 inch hip. I just know I’m too much bust, too little waist.too curvy hips and not enough in the dick department.

Exhausted we drove back home, laden down with shopping. Mon really wanted me to change but I just didn’t feel like it. I realise that I’m a woman without Mon trying to force it upon me. Mon has insisted that she wants me to sleep in separate rooms until she’ got her feelings all sorted out. So I lay here alone wondering what is to come.

I awaken the next day and just like everyday I reach for my breasts in the vain hope that they’ve gone away. Fuck, as usual their firm warmth greets me. The morning drifts by and I’m still in my night clothes. There’s a knock at the door and I rush downstairs to answer it.

"Hi, I’m looking for Robert Abbey is he in?" A smart looking woman with blonde hair asked. She seems familiar.

"Stephanie Lane, right"

"Got it in one. Listen Is Robert in. I got what I presume was his wife’s message and I drove here as fast as I could."

Monica had ran downstairs to answer the door "Who is it hun" she called.

Stephanie looked surprised.

"You better come in" I said.

"Wow nice place" Stephanie said.

"Thanks, Drink?"

"Coffee, black without" Stephanie said.

"Mon, do you mind getting the Coffee for us. Stephanie and I have a lot to talk about"

"Sure"

"Look, where’s Robert Abbey. I get this call saying that he’s still alive. I’ve driven like a demon to get here, I’m tired, hungry and don’t need a goose chase at the moment" Stephanie said.

"I’m right here" I gestured at my new body.

"Pardon"

"Robert Abbey is right here, in front of you."

"Tell me did you know Dr Elizabeth Bexley?" Stephanie said.

"That’s a strange question. I’d expected ‘How come a young woman is sitting before me and not a man in his mid thirties’" I replied.

"I think I already know the answer to that one. So I’ll ask you again did you know Dr Elizabeth Bexley?"

"Of course I was her lawyer dimbo" I said. This woman was supposed to be intelligent.

Monica walked back in, with a tray of coffee. After she had handed us the cups she said "Dear, I think Ms Lane should leave after her coffee.

We can take care of things ourselves"

"No Ms Lane knows more about this than we do. Please continue"

"Are we sitting comfortably then I’ll begin" Stephanie said.

Somewhile later Stephanie had finished her story.

"I’m sorry I don’t believe a word of it. I mean all this just for being jilted.

If you want my opinion you’ve made it all up on some fanciful whim."

Monica said in a derisory tone.

"No Mon. I’ve listened to evidence for nearly ten years and this fits. Something always niggled me about the Bexley case. Of course Dr Bexley or whoever it was made claims about being turned into Dr Bexley but I paid no attention to them. Now I’m paying the price for my disbelief." I said sadly.

"Don’t take it too hard. The real Dr Bexley is a master at strategy and planning. Her DNA drug,her ability to just slip into almost any role, her enormous intellect added to the might and muscle of the guild makes her almost invincible. In all my investigations I’ve always been able to tell the good from the bad guys, but this time the bad guy can look like one of the good guys. I’ll be honest and tell you I’ve no idea as to where she is now." Stephanie said.

"This guild, are they the ones who kidnapped this Cathline and Jane Stephens?" I asked.

"Yep, I also suspect they were the ones who took you as well. Remember that ambush that led to Dr Bexley’s escape. I have it on good authority that the guild did that as well."

"Fucking Hell" was all I could say.

"How do you know it was this guild, what if it was someone Dr Bexley hired?" Monica asked.

"Let’s say I have an eyewitness to that event and they say it was the guild" Stephanie said.

"Hmmm" I said thoughtfully.

"As I was saying. We’ve been forming an alliance against Dr Bexley, with our combined resources we have a fighting chance. Imagine what would happen if the guild got hold of Dr Bexley’s drug machine, or the military. It’s not just about revenge it’s more than that. I’ve read Sci/fi books on genetic warfare, with this drug those genetic nightmares could happen."

"So you want to save the world as well as us?" Monica said sarcastically.

"I just want to do what’s right. Listen we need you to join us. We need your knowledge of the law, and anything you can help us with. "

"So what chance do we have?" I asked.

"None at all!. Listen Dear don’t get involved. It sounds far too dangerous" Monica added.

"Shut Up Monica, I want in. I don’t want to be a woman for the rest of my life."

"Oh before I go. I want you both to think up a passcode and whisper it to me, one at a time. I’ll do the same to you." Stephanie said.

"Why?" Monica demanded.

"So If Dr Bexley decides to drop in, as one of us we can tell" I said.

"Correct" Stephanie said.

"Ok I’ll do it " Monica admitted.

Stephanie leaned forwards and whispered "Pandora" in my ear.

I replied with "Papillion"

Stephanie leaned over to Monica and I presume whispered the same passcode into her ear, Monica said something to her.

"You you tell each other your passcodes" Stephanie said.

I leaned over to Monica and said mine. She whispered "Trojan" in my ear.

"Now that’s all over with I’m getting together with all the others from this fantastic tale on Friday. I want you to join us. We’re having a kind of council of war, trying to work out what we can do to put this all back to rights and how we can stop the real Dr Bexley. Here’s the details" Stephanie said.

Stephanie Lane wrote down the address and gave it to Monica.

"I still don’t know. Why don’t we stay here." Monica said.

"Listen, I want to be turned back. This is our only chance. We must go" I said. God did I really sound that Squeaky.

"If you say so dear" Monica said,

"We’ll see you there" I said.

Stephanie Lane left. At last we get to the bottom of this and get me back to manhood.

T+8 Days.

 

33. T+14 days Kat O’Nine Tales - The Gathering.

===============================================

Vickie and Jane’s Journey.

==========================

"Come on, you ready yet? " Jane shouted up to Vickie.

"What do you think, the red or the black?" Vickie answered.

"I don’t care , we’ve got to be there first or they’ll think they’ve got lost" Jane shouted.

"OK the black it is" And Vickie ran downstairs a minute or so later.

"Do you think we’ll achieve much at this first meeting?" Jane asked

"Oh, I think so. Even if we don’t get the plans formalised it will be good to exchange stories and we can build from there" Vickie said.

Vickie was about to lock the door when she said.

"Better check the answerphone" Vickie said, running back inside.

"Vickie We’ll be late" Jane called.

"Wait a sec, there’s a message on it Vickie said and pressed the play button on the machine.

"Hi Vickie, It’s Stephanie" Stephanie’s voice called out from the machine.

"Dean’s called me into some kinda meeting. I won’t be able to make my planned flight. Listen you guys start, I should only be a couple of hours late" Stephanie said.

"Who was that?" Jane Called.

"Stephanie, She’s got some kind of meeting on and she’s going to be late"

"We’ll be late if we don’t get a move on" Jane said.

"Ok, get in the car and I’m driving" Vickie called and locked the door behind her.

About ten minutes later Vickie was driving, at her usual warp speed towards the lab.

"Slow down, I want to get there" Jane said.

"Look, nearly there" Vickie exclaimed.

They arrived just in time to open up. The time by Vickie’s watch was

9:46 pm

"Here already. I’ve had enough of this place" Jane said, looking at the lab.

"Yeah me too. Come on help me open up"

Kat And Cathline’s Journey.

===========================

"I’m so glad we’ve got Stephanie on our side." Kat said.

"Yeah me too. " Cathline said.

"I can’t wait for him to be there. I’ve been thru so much to get here.

What if he doesn’t love me anymore?" Kat said.

"Don’t be stupid. You’ve said that you’re soul mates. He’ll be there."

Cathline said.

"How much further" Kat asked.

"Not far, about another hour"

An hour later and Kat and Cathline drew up in the deserted car park.

"This brings back memories" Cathline said.

"Wow what a site. It must have cost millions" Kat exclaimed.

"Yep it sure did, everything is state of the art. It even has an independent power supply. It may look open and inviting but each one of those shiny glass windows and doors has a titanium alloy shutter that can seal the building in seconds. Essential security really. The real clever part is all the genetic sequencers and analysis equipment though" Cathline said.

"Who’s that waving?" Kat said, pointing to two figures in the doorway

"That’s Vickie Turner, and I don’t recognise that woman. Oh yes I do it’s James or should I say Jane" Cathline said and waved back.

"Race you to the door" Kat said and sprinted off, with Cathline in hot pursuit.

The Lawyer’s Journey.

=====================

"I’m fed up of you always saying that we shouldn’t be going" Robert said.

"I don’t want to be out in the middle of nowhere, dragged off to fight off some woman we don’t know. I want to be home" Monica said.

"How much further to go?" Robert said.

"Not far, only about another ten miles" Monica said.

"OK, Can we have some quiet I need to think" Robert said.

Robin and Monica’s car pulled up besides Cathline and Kat’s and they got out.

"How do we get in?" Monica asked.

"Follow the lights I guess" Robert said.

"This is some place" Monica said, looking around at the hi-tech structure.

"Sure is, anyway the card says conference room 1. So I guess we go that way".

His Journey.

============

My journey to the safehouse was uneventful. I’d past police cars performing speed checks but unusually for me I was keeping to the limits. I found the safehouse with little difficulty and let myself in.

The house was sparsely decorated and furnished. A small TV stood in one corner of the lounge and a sofa was opposite it. Investigations of the kitchen showed only a supply of dried food and a meagre supply of canned stuff. Still at least I’m safe here.

I settle down on the sofa and start to read Stephanie’s notes.

Several hours later and I’m only part the way thru. I must admit I find it hard to believe what has been written here. Kat and I never had a chance. Poor Cathline fancy loosing an eye to that bastard Osman and my darling Kat, forced to look like Jasmine and sold into slavery. I put down the first notebook at the point where Kat and Cathline meet. I’m so tired, lack of sleep and nervous exhaustion are taking their toll. I can’t be bothered to go to bed properly and just crash out on the sofa.

I awake, and judging by the sun it’s nearly midday. I fix myself some meagre breakfast(cereals and powdered milk) and sit down to read Stephanie’s notes. Actually I quite like the look of a book called John’s journal. I’ll read that next.

That’s odd. John seems to be a direct copy of Kat. A terrible, terrible thought enters my mind, I quickly flick to the last entry.

"As she got up to go to the bathroom I noticed the way she moved, very similar to me, almost catlike. Come on John you’re tired and exhausted get some sleep. I couldn’t help but ogle at her when she came back. Very cute indeed, her lips are a little thin though. I slept most of the way over, my heart still in splinters over Cathline leaving me."

I checked the date of the entry. It was the same day that I shot Elizabeth, the same fli...

Oh my God, what have I done. I’d shot Cathline’s husband instead of Elizabeth. Holy shit, Holy Shit, HOLY SHIT. Elizabeth had changed into someone else and led John by the nose right to his death by my hand.

The satisfaction I felt about killing Elizabeth drained away and a feeling of dread entered me. I had killed an innocent man, on his way to be with his wife. Oh God what have I done and I start to weep.

Elizabeth is still alive. Stephanie was telling the truth. I’ve utterly failed. Not only am I still a woman, now a fugitive but I’ve actually killed an innocent person, in cold blood. I see now why Stephanie Lane and Kat are trying to form an alliance and also why Stephanie has put herself on the line for me. Elizabeth’s evil must be stopped.

"What have I done?" I weep. Cathline if I ever meet you, how can I say sorry.

I want to cheer myself up. I’ll face up to having to talk to Cathline later. I can’t do anything about that now.

Throughout the next few days I study Stephanie’s notes and testimonies from Kat,Cathline, Vickie, James/Jane and my surrogate parents.

I’d just finished reading about Kat and Cathlines release(I’ve been skimming again) when I remembered the man who’d taken me to the mall and killed those four people. The way Kat describes him it sounds as though he was the same man. What would he have done if he’d found out that I was Kat’s husband. It now seems clear that Elizabeth staged the ambush to free me but her motive for doing so is unclear. The only thing I can think of is that she wants to capture me and keep me captive somewhere. If she has this guild behind her then she is almost unstoppable.

I still can’t get my head around why Hassan would just let them go like that. I also find it hard to believe he didn’t try it on with Kat at least once. But Kat denies that and I trust her. I put myself in Hassan’s position. Here is a woman who I deeply love, but she’s married and if I keep her with me not only am I breaking my religious law, I’ll end up slowly killing her.

Hassan’s love for Kat allowed her to go free. It’s also the same reason why he didn’t try anything on her. I wonder what Hassan will do if he finds out that Kat has allied herself against him?

I think back to my trial and Robert’s strange behaviour. Fuck, Elizabeth changed places with him and threw the trial. She obviously had Robert killed and switched bodies with someone else. I remembered how she would always seem to know what I liked best, how she would know exactly what to say and do to get what she wanted from me. It’s as though she knew me better than myself. Now I am her, at least in body.

I sit here alone and contemplate my future. Was I wrong to try and deceive Elizabeth when she offered me another chance? Would a life with her be so much worse than what I face now? All those cops would still be alive now, so would John, as would Robert Abbey and Elizabeth’s parents would also be alive. That’s sixteen people dead because of that one decision. Exactly how much is one persons freedom worth. I’d now be a man and Elizabeth would be happy. Kat would still be free and able to live a new life without me.

Yes I’d now be a virtual slave, on some kind of chemical leash, my manhood hanging on a thread to Elizabeth’s every whim. Kat would be distraught at losing me but she would get over it eventually. No I’d made the wrong choice back there. Yes I’d had no idea things would turn out like this, I was too upset about being a woman and Kat being abducted. I see now that Elizabeth was offering the least painful way out. In my selfishness I had chosen the hard way and now sixteen people were dead. I was doomed to womanhood and how many more lives have been wrecked because of my self-centred attitude?.

Don’t be stupid. Elizabeth had set all this up before she even flew over to Egypt. The gun was already at peoples heads all you did was pull the wrong trigger. That doesn’t make me feel any better. I’m still at fault. If I could turn the clock back I would. If I ever get in the same situation again, the lives of my friends or mine I’ll give in. I know that I will face her again, I know that the pain we’ve brought each other will resurface and we will have to confront it again, maybe for the last time.

This is all in the past. Nothing I do now will bring those people back or restore me to how I should be. Let’s face it I’m a fugitive from the law. It’s only a matter of time before I’m caught, unless I can somehow expose this whole thing. Even then I’ve no proof that I didn’t arrange the guild’s ambush on the bus. To the world Dr Elizabeth Bexley had the means and the motive, therefore no matter what happens she still got her bully boys to shoot up ten cops and leave ten families without a parent. I have to leave the country, It’s not safe for me to be here anymore.

What was I thinking I love Kat, I would rather be a woman with her than a man without. I see now that we are the only thing that matters. I may be naive but I’ve held onto the belief that true love will prevail, I held onto that when I decided to leave Elizabeth and now I must hold onto that now.

I pack up my things and get in the car. I’ve a long journey ahead of me and I need to get started out. I drive for four hours and then park off the road for a rest.

I’m awoken by a shadow in a uniform, leaning thru my open windows.

"Miss?" The voice says.

Fuck it a cop. Play it cool.

"Yes" I answer.

"Are you OK?"

"Sure I’m just having a rest. I’ve still got a long drive ahead and I needed to rest" I say.

"Say you look familiar" The cop says.

"Yeah I know, everywhere I go someone shouts out ‘Hey that’s Dr Bexley’ It’s pissing me off I can tell you" I say, in an annoyed tone.

"You do look a lot like her, your hairs blonde though" The cop said, suspiciously.

"I think my nose it better though don’t you?" I say.

"I guess. While I’m at it can I see some ID?"

Now I’m Fucked. Wait a sec. "Officer my driving license is all packed in the trunk. I’ve got my press pass though" I fumble thru the glovebox and pull out my Alison Jacob’s press pass and give it to the cop.

The cop looked at it, puzzled for a while. "Alison Jacob huh, You work with Stephanie Lane right?" He said.

"Yep I’ve been working with her for about a month. You can call her if

you want"

"Nah. Safe journey Miss" and the cop walks off.

Phew that was close. I’d better get a move on before I attract some more attention.

The drive there was uneventful after that, I followed the map and arrived outside a very impressive looking lab at a little before 10pm. Oh Kat I’m coming, At last we can be together.

The Journalists Journey.

========================

Dean’s just called me into some meeting or other. I quickly phone Vickie and leave a message on her machine to say that I’m going to be late. Oh Fuck I’ve so much new stuff to share. I know who the guild are, I know how to stop them, I’ve worked it all out. Now I have to wait for a while longer. I just hope I’m not too late."

"Lois Lane. Get in here NOW" Dean shouts from his office.

Better go.

 

34. Sisters In Arms - The Female War.

=====================================

" Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

The Art Of War - Sun Tzu Sec 1.19

 

"Hi you must be Jane Stephens" Vickie said.

"The one and only. Please call me Kat" Kat replied.

"Kat, this is Vickie Turner and Jane" Cathline said.

"Who else is here? " Kat asked.

"Just us four at the moment. Stephanie Lane is going to be late.

Stephanie’s told me to expect Robert and Monica Abbey as well"

"Is HE coming?" Kat said, excitedly.

"As far as we know he is, If by HE you mean your husband" Jane Said.

Kat Punched the air "YES!"

"Shall we exchange passcodes?" Cathline asked.

"Not yet, we’d better wait for the others" Kat said. "Safety in numbers and all that"

"Fine, I’ve head some of your story from Stephanie but I would really like to hear all of it" Jane said.

Before Kat could start, a small blonde haired woman and an older, well dressed woman walked into the room.

"Hi, My names Robert Abbey and this is my wife Monica. Am I in the right place?" The young blonde haired woman said.

"Jennifer?" Vickie and Cathline said almost in unison.

"Who?" Said the blonde.

"Never mind. Since you claim to be Robert Abbey and you’re a woman,I assume you’re looking for us" Kat said.

"Can someone please tell me what’s going on and how do I become a man again?" Robert pleaded.

"Ok we’ve got another two people to come, but I think Stephanie’s going to be late so we may as well start" Cathline stated.

Kat let out a shriek of joy and ran across the room to embrace a tall woman, with blonde hair and blue gray eyes, walking into the room.

"I thought I’d never see you again" She sobbed.

"Me too" was the tearful reply.

"Oh Matthew I thought I’d lost you. But now you’re here, with me" Kat was crying with joy. Six months of doubt and worry came flooding out in that moment. Kat’s tears of joy flowed like a mountain stream in flood.

"Kat, I love you, I love you" was the tearful reply.

The rest of the group looked on as ‘husband’ and wife were reunited once more.

Kat and Matthew Stephens held each other close, neither wanting the moment to end. He could feel her tears on creating wet patches on his shoulder. He pulls her away "Let me look at you" he says. Kat’s only reply was to reach up and kiss him on the lips.

"Wow, Where’d you learn kiss like that?" Matthew exclaimed.

Kat turned around to face the group

"Ladies, allow me to present my husband, Matthew Stephens"

"But she’s Dr Bexley?" Monica said.

"Mon, you can really be thick sometimes. The real Dr Bexley turned HIM into a copy of her" Robert said.

"Cathline, what’s up?" Kat asked.

"I’m sorry. Here I am face to face with John’s killer and I don’t know what to feel. I feel anger,hatred at what he did. I want someone to smite him down but then again we need him to defeat Liz." Cathline said.

Matthew sat down on an empty chair and Kat sat on his lap. His arms around her slim waist, her hands gently stroking his smooth legs..

"I’ve dreaded meeting you, Cathline, because of what I did. I took the only chance I had to get Liz and I blew it. Because of my selfish choice there are sixteen people dead who would now be alive.I hope you can eventually find it in your heart to forgive me."

"I understand your mistake, that is why I am here and not turning you in.Maybe I can forgive you But not today" Cathline said, sadly.

"What do you mean selfish choice?" Kat asked.

"I’d just become a proper woman and Elizabeth(as Kat) had gone out to get something. I deduced that Elizabeth had switched places with you. She had imprinted some subconscious passphrases in me and used them against me. After telling me she had thrown you into a Harem ,She then gave me a choice. Either stay as I am or get turned back and be with her. If I went with her I would have to take a drug, daily that would stop me turning back into her. Elizabeth would of course be the only one able to manufacture such a drug." Matthew said.

"That’s horrible" Kat Said.

"I know. I tried to deceive her and I agreed to go along with it, with the intention of getting another lab to look at curing me. She saw right thru it and thus I’m now female for good. I call it selfish, as if I had really agreed then John would not be dead, those cop’s families would not have lost a parent and Elizabeth’s mom and dad would still be alive. This is the price of my freedom."

"Listen, you had no choice at all. I’m sorry but sometimes the price of one person’s freedom is ten,twenty a thousand lives. Those people who have willingly fought and died down the ages for the rights of the individual would do so again. It’s up to us to make sure that their sacrifice is not a vain and empty one" Kat preached.

"Right on" Vickie said.

"Too right" Robert agreed.

"Kat, you’re right, I’m sorry" Cathline added.

"Sorry to spoil the reunion but What the hell is going on?. I feel as though I’ve jumped in half way thru the film " Robert added.

"Since, none of you have heard my story right the way thru I’ll start at the beginning.

1. Prelude

===========

The day was perfect, the sun shone in a brilliance that had seldom been seen in that part of the country. But then again it was the day I was supposed to get married. I say supposed because I wasn’t really in love with Elizabeth. It’s a shame I only really realised that fact as I got out of the wedding limousine. How would her family react, what about my family even, could I ever live down the shame of jilting her?

I am getting too far ahead of myself though so let’s begin at the beginning. Once upon a time.." Matthew started to tell his tale of a woman scorned.

In turn each of the members of the group told the gaps that others had not heard.

"Hassan, In charge of the Guild!" Kat exclaimed in surprise.

"He looked exactly how you described him. I guess his friendly, stereotype Arab thing was just an act" Matthew said.

"But he let me go, He said he loved me" Kat exclaimed.

"That bit I think is true. Maybe he is really like he seemed, but I saw him slit four guys throats as though it was just another day at the office. " Matthew said grimly.

There was a silence as the group imagined the terror of the ambush and the seemingly kind and gentle Hassan killing in cold blood.

"Now what do we do? Stephanie has all the info we need to start " Jane asked.

"Wait I guess" Cathline said.

"Hey, you guys want a tour?" Vickie Said.

"Sure" was the general reply, only Monica was a little hesitant.

 

35. Only a Pawn In The Game

===========================

"When a general, unable to estimate the enemy’s strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful one, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be rout."

The Art Of War - Sun Tzu Chap 10.19

"And this is the prototype DNA System" Vickie said, pointing to an elaborate looking machine.

"Can you turn me back please?" Robert asked.

"I’m not sure. It would depend on if Liz has ‘fixed’ you or not. This machine’s drug has not been tested on a human and I suspect Liz’s version is far more refined. But Given a week or so we could try" Vickie explained.

"We can test for the presence of fixer fairly easily" Cathline stated.

"Would you please. I hate being like this and besides it’s shot my sex life to hell" Robert said.

"It’ll take some preparation but we should be able to test tomorrow" Vickie said.

"Thanks"

"Where’s the control room?" Matthew asked.

"OK that’s next on my list, Follow me" and Vickie left the room.

"Amazing technology" Kat exclaimed, looking at the control room. A large screen covered the far wall, giving information on the state of every system in the lab.

"Yes, but in the wrong hands, lethal" Jane said, seriously.

"This is the main control room. It control’s all our robotics drug manufacturing facilities,power regulation, security, the lot." Cathline said.

"Oh Shit" Kat said.

"What?" Robert said.

"Passcodes, we’ve forgotten all about them" Kat said, in a worried tone.

"You’re right. Listen I say we do it now, whilst we are all still in the room" Cathline said.

"Why don’t we just get on with the tour, I’m tired and we can play spies later on" Monica said.

"No, I think we should do it now. Here we are, in one of the ‘hell bitches

lairs’ and she could be right here with us. " Kat said, forcefully

"Fine I’ll go first " Cathline said and she whispered her passphrase to all the others and they shared theirs. However when she came to Monica. Monica refused."I told you I’m fed up of this spy stuff. I’m tired, need a shower and have no intention of giving any stupid password. Come on hunny let’s go back to our hotel" Monica Said stubbornly .

"Mon, please give the code" Robert said.

"No. This’ll all end in tears if you ask me"

"It’s the ‘hell bitch’. Get her " Kat shrieked.

Cathline and Matthew leapt at the now panicked Monica, but they were too slow. They flew down the stairs after the fleeing Monica but somehow she gave them the slip. They went back to the control room to tell the others.

"I’m telling you, she was with me the whole time "Robert was saying.

"Then why did she refuse to give the passcodes and run away like that?"

Kat demanded.

"She can get stubborn sometimes. That’s no reason to accuse her like that" Robert said.

Before the discussion could continue Jane asked "Vickie, what do you make of this" and she pointed out a screen, to her right.

"Looks like the security system has been activated" Vickie said.

A noise like thunder made the room shake, the titanium alloy shutters rolled down the each of the windows. The barrier was meant to keep people out, this time it kept people in . A clank followed by a boom followed as each shutter was locked into place.

"Fuck get the hell out of here, it’s a trap" Kat shouted.

"I can’t get the security system back under control, we’re locked out. "

Vickie said and banged the console in frustration.

"What about the doors?" Matthew asked.

"No Chance we’re locked in. Those shutters are an inch thick, the ones around the exits are at least four times thicker" Vickie said, pointing to the now armor plated windows.

"I’ve got more bad news. The power systems are fluctuating almost to overload. Our compensation systems are failing." Jane said

"Is that bad?" Robert asked.

"Very, if they go it could take most of the building with it" Cathline said, in a worried tone.

"We must be able to do something?" Kat said.

"Liz has locked down the controls here, she may have left the

ECC(emergency control centre) controls alone. It’s on a separate system" Vickie said.

"How long before the power blows?" Matthew asked.

"God knows, eight maybe nine minutes. Listen I’m going down to the ECC. You wait by the main exit until I can get the doors open " Jane said.

"You can’t do it alone, I’ll go" Cathline said.

"Cathline, You’ve missed out on a hell of a lot of upgrades. No I’ll go" Vickie said.

"Later" Vickie said as she sprinted towards the stairs with Jane in hot pursuit.

Placed above hermetically sealed lab 4, massive tanks marked ‘Halon 1301’ began to release propane gas. A complex system of air ducts slowly filled each air-tight lab with a highly pressurised, highly explosive air- gas mixture. Within a few seconds the atmospheric pressure inside each lab had tripled. The efficiency of this fuel-air mixture was such that it would need five times the amount of traditional chemical explosive to do the same job. The bomb was ready, all that was needed was the detonator.

Robert, Kat,Cathline and Matthew ran to the now impenetrable main entrance and waited, hoping that they could escape. Fear was in their eyes and death stared them in the face. By now Vickie and Jane had reached the ECC.

"She’s locked this out as well" Vickie said, frantically trying the controls.

"Yep power systems are locked down too" Jane said.

"How Long?"

"About Seven minutes. What about the emergency lockout passwords?"

"Tried them. Whatever she’s done we’re locked out and dead" Vickie said.

"What about deverting the power from the security system to the power grid? That would cause the shutters to go up." Jane said.

"No. That would overload the power systems right away. How about resetting the system? Y’know doing a cold restart." Vickie said.

"I can’t even get in to shut the thing down. In anycase even shutting the

power off here wouldn’t work. All the systems are quadrupled up for

fault tolerance. We take one out another just falls right back in"

"Got it! About six weeks ago we simulated the lab being taken by terrorists who were after the DNA system. This involved dropping the shutters on the ECC and raising the main ones to let in the security services. If we operate that program, then I’ll bet we can release the shutters and allow the others to escape" Vickie said, sadly.

"But we would be trapped in here, by the time we’ve done this, we could not escape" Jane said.

"Yeah " Vickie nodded sadly, She had just signed her death warrant.

"Let’s do it" Jane said.

A minute later and program ‘stronghold’ was activated.

"Done it" Vickie exclaimed in triumph and punched the air. As the shutters around the ECC sealed themselves in and the outer ones lifted sealing Vickie and Jane inside.

"Now let’s get these doors open" Jane exclaimed.

A Minute later the shutters on the main entrance rolled back and the doors opened. With a whoop of joy the remnants of the ‘gathering’ rushed outside.

"Quick get in the cars" Kat shouted.

"No Use, look" Cathline shouted.

All the cars they had brought along were slowly burning away, Only Robert’s car was missing.

"Shit, Run" Matthew called and flung off his heels.

The group ran away, down the hill as fast as they could.

Power compensator three was the first to go. Turbine three, that produced the power required to run the labs above, shot above it’s rated safety margin. The pressure inside began to rise. In the roof above the power generation room another tank of propane gas began to release it’s deadly load. The fake Halon tank above Lab 4 sat empty, it’s work done as the gas had all been released.

"It’s no good. Nothing works" Jane said grimly.

"Bye Jane" Vickie said and hugged her close.

"Bye Vickie" was the reply.

The two sisters in arms held each other in silence and waited.

By now the generator room was saturated with highly pressurised fuel-air mixture. When turbine three eventually exploded some two minutes later the result was catastrophic. The walls suddenly unable to cope with the expanding explosive force blew outwards. Above the room the gas in the sealed labs caught light and exploded with greater force. Millions of dollars worth of equipment was incinerated in a fraction of a second. That which had taken man months to build, simple physics destroyed within moments.

A blast of flame and remains of the internal structure of the lab swept down towards the ECC. Some of the heat was reflected away by the shutters but the force of the explosion ripped into the room, turning Vickie and Jane instantly to vapor.

The thickened walls of the lab, now unable to cope with the forces contained within blew apart, sending smoke and debris two hundred feet into the air. A pall of black, acrid smoke rose several hundred feet and could be seen from several miles away.

By now the ‘remnant’ was about a mile away, after having the run of their lives. They lay down, crouched behind a low bank. The heat of the blast swept over them and the noise deafened them. The night sky had been turned into day by the heat and fire of the lab.

By now secondary explosions and fires had started as gas pipes burst and whatever remained of the lab caught fire.

A eerie silence hung over the entire area and the remnant waited too shocked to move. Cathline was the first to get up.

"Vickie, Jane" She called in desperation and shock, and she started to run towards the smoking ruins.

"Leave it, Cath they’re gone" Kat said and she had to restrain Cathline from running towards the lab.

"Noo"

"Listen We’ve got to get out of here. The cops will be here soon" Matthew said.

"She’s right, we can mourn later. We must go" Robert said.

"Quick Get down. I see lights" Kat shouted and shoved the still shell shocked Cathline to the ground.

They watched as a car pulled up as close to the lab as it could. A lone figure got out and looked around. The figure was about to get back into the car when Cathline called

"Stephanie, Over here"

Stephanie looked surprised and called back

"I thought, thought you were in there" pointing to the still burning building.

Stephanie then ran over to the bank.

"We were, Vickie and Jane saved us" Kat said.

"Where are they?" Stephanie said,looking around.

"Gone" Cathline said tearfully.

"What the hell has happened here?" Stephanie asked.

A distant wail of a siren told the remnant they should leave this place.

 

36. Retreat

===========

"When you have the enemy’s strongholds on your rear, and narrow passes in front, it is hemmed-in ground.

When there is no place of refuge at all, it is desperate ground."

The Art Of War - Sun Tzu Chap 11,45

The remnant sat in Cathline’s house, still in shock.

"I can’t believe they’re gone" Cathline sobbed.

"Every single time, we get somewhere the ‘Hell Bitch’ gets us" Kat said, sadly.

"I don’t think so" Stephanie said.

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.

"I mean I’ve struck gold. I’ve found out who the guild really are, how we can stop them and where Dr Bexley’s bolt hole is"

"You mean"

"Yep. If we can separate Dr Bexley from the guild we deprive her of her muscle’. If we can separate her from her DNA machine we lock her into whatever body she has now"

"Monica Abbey" Kat Said.

"Hey, we didn’t prove that!" Robert Said.

"OK, pop quiz, she flees when it comes to passcodes and then two minutes later the building goes boom, taking two very good friends of mine with it" Cathline said her voice tainted with anger and bitterness.

"She ran because those two over here leapt at her like a pair of panthers" Robert Said.

"If you want to fight between yourselves I’ll come back. If you want to hear what I have to say then shut up" Stephanie said in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry" Cathline said.

"OK Here’s what I’ve found out about the guild. My first clues were to be found In John’s diary. The cop, Salah made reference to ‘avenging the works of the Mamluk Sultan’. Next our Dr Bexley lookalike here talked about the terrorist smoking foul smelling cigarettes and John also talks about Salah smoking Hashish after killing those robbers in the street. Now I’ve done some digging around and It’s my belief that the guild are the infamous ‘Assassins’ that terrorised Persia and Syria for nearly 200 years.

The Assasins were founded circa 1090 by Hasan Sabbah, who brought terror to the region from his captured stronghold at Almut. From this base Hasan commanded a network of strongholds all over Persia and Mesopotamia. He was known as ‘the old man of the mountain’ and encouraged his warriors to study from the great library he had built there. This Mamluk Sultan, John mentions kicked the assassins out of Syria around 1270AD, whilst the Mongols did the same to them in Persia around 1256AD.

I believe that the surviving Assassins went to ground and reformed as the Assassins guild. They’ve been elite mercenaries for hire ever since." Stephanie explained.

"So how does all this help us?. We’ve all seen what they’re capable of.

We stand no chance" Kat said.

"I agree. Listen I’ve had first hand experience of them. They still give me nightmares" Cathline said.

"Steady on, I didn’t say we can destroy them. I said we can stop them or separate Dr Bexley from them." Stephanie said.

"How?" Matthew demanded.

"Simple, Money. My sources tell me that the guild are EXTREMELY expensive. They reckon that, that ambush they pulled to get Matthew out would cost a couple of million"

"But Liz’s loaded" Cathline said.

"Yes, but she’s been using the guild quite a lot recently. Ever ask yourself why she decided to do things herself when she could have just sat back and let the guild do it all?" Stephanie said.

"Part of it’s a satisfaction thing" Matthew said.

"Agreed, but one of the reasons is money. If she’d been able to get her hands on that 300 mill that her parents left her, I doubt if we would still be here. Having to change identities, pay for forged documents and arrange abuctions would eat up her resources like anything" Stephanie explained.

"So if Liz has run out of money, then the we are safe from the guild?"

Kat asked.

"I would imagine so." Stephanie agreed.

"Couldn’t she just sell them the plans for her DNA system?" Matthew asked.

"That’d be worth hundreds of millions. TGEN were looking at a billion dollar turnover when this thing went to market" Cathline exclaimed.

"The other thing about the Assassins was that they were members of the Isma’ili sect, a fanatical branch of Islam. They would regard such a device as pure evil. No the guild wouldn’t touch the DNA system. The infidel could use it but not them .To them it would be like making an alliance with satan."

"They’ve already done that" Kat said bitterly.

"So the system cannot generate any extra money for her" Cathline said.

"Correct. Now onto my next part"

"Hold on a second, We’ve some leverage with the guild now" Kat Said.

"What’s that!" Cathline exclaimed.

"Me. Hassan would do anything I asked of him. I could go to him and persuade him to refuse any more contracts with the ‘Hell Bitch’, hike the prices or even turn them to our side" Kat Said .

"Brilliant" Robert said.

"Not quite." Stephanie said.

"Why?" Matthew asked.

"Because the guild do not operate like that, their motivation is purely monetary. If Hassan refused a contract or turned against a customer ,whether physically or financially then his forces would turn against him. It would be seen as a sign of weakness. It would get us nowhere. Besides he might not let you go a second time" Stephanie said.

"Sorry. I’m tired out. We’ve all been thru hell today and I need to rest.

Can I suggest we pick this up in the morning" Robert said.

"OK, I suspect our two newly-weds would like a room alone so I suggest they take my room, the rest of us can crash out on sofa’s and floors". Cathline said .

"Thanks" Kat said and took her ‘husband’ by the hand and led her upstairs.

"Right you guys. I’ll take the sofa. Stephanie you can take the spare room, Robert you can take the floor." Cathline said.

"So this is it, our first proper night together" Matthew said closing the door behind him.

"Yeah. It hasn’t turned out like we thought on our wedding day has it?"

Kat said.

"You can say that again"

"Now we come to this moment, I feel so awkward. I’d planned this in my mind for months and once again it’s not worked out as I expected" Kat said.

"Kat, Listen I love you. My commitment to you stands as strong today as the day we married, stronger maybe"

"Me too. You know, whatever happens the ‘hell bitch’ can never win. The more shit she throws at us the stronger we grow. She can turn me into frog and I’ll still love you. She can destroy my body, reducing it to ashes and the scatter them to the four winds but every place where they land they will shout I love you." Kat said.

"You’ve got very melodramatic recently" Matthew said with a grin.

"Yep, but you know I’m right." Kat said.

"That’s exactly how I feel right now. I hate being a woman, it feels so foreign, so strange as if I’m not really me anymore. But every fibre of me is crying out for you. I now know that only being with you makes me, me, makes me whole. This body is only a husk. The Matthew Stephens you married is still inside, it’s taken me a while to realise that but now I do. I’ve no idea how our relationship will work out but what I do know is that it is foundations are solid." Matthew said.

"I can’t believe that Vickie and Jane are dead. They died saving us, nobody has ever done that for me. " Kat cried.

"I know. That makes eighteen. I hope you don’t mind but I can’t y’know tonight. I’m too tired and shocked at what happened today, besides it’s my time of the month" Matthew said sadly.

"I feel the same way,It’s not appropriate anyway, we must mourn our fallen friends tonight. Tomorrow is payback time" Kat said.

Kat began to get undressed, watched closely by her husband. His eyes taking in every curve, every shape as if committing them to memory. Kat climbed into bed and said "Come on don’t be shy"

"OK" Matthew grinned.

Matthew took his blouse off revealing his bosom. He fumbled with the bra strap until it was finally undone. His eyes grew wide with arousal, as they always did as he looked down to undo his skirt.The skirt slipped down his long, legs leaving him in only his panties

"Fucking hell, that’s some tattoo." Kat exclaimed as she saw the hydra wind it’s way up Matthew’s shapely body.

"Just another example of Elizabeth’s sadistic nature. Anywhere I go I can instantly be recognised as Dr Bexley. I’ve kinda got used to it but people will stare everytime I put on a swimsuit."

"Come on, lover lets get to sleep." Kat said.

"Gunnight" Matthew said as he reached over and cuddled Kat’s firm breasts. He did feel arousal at the her warm body pressing against his own but he was too tired to do anything about it. Kat feel asleep smiling, at long last she had her husband back.

About 5am Robert Abbey got up and used Cathline’s phone to call the hotel where he and Monica was booked in.

"Hello" Said a groggy, sleepy voice.

"Hi Hun, it’s me Robert"

"Thank God’ your safe. I saw the news, is everyone else alright?" Monica said.

"Vickie and Jane didn’t make it. They bought us time to escape with their lives" Robert Said.

"That’s, That’s horrible" Monica said, after a moments silence.

"Why did you refuse to give the passcodes and run like hell?" Robert demanded.

"I didn’t see the point. I don’t like that Kat woman, or her strange husband. I don’t trust them. If people suddenly leapt at you, after accusing you of being evil, you’d run as well"

"I understand. Listen Hun you can tell me your passcode now. Just humor me ok"

"If you say so, Ok it’s Trojan" Monica said.

"Thanks Hun. Listen I owe it to Vickie and Jane to see this thru to the end. I don’t expect you to understand or to help. Just be there when I get back" Robert said.

"I’n not cut out for this. I still think it’s not our fight, but I understand your reasons. I’ll wait for you back home. By the way where are you calling from?" Monica asked.

"We’re all staying at Cathlines. I don’t know how long this will take but I will return to you. I love you"

"Love you too" Monica said sadly.

"Bye" Robert said.

"Bye"

Kat and Matthew awoke, still in each others arms and were greeted by the smell of breakfast.They hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs.

"At last the lovers arrive" Cathline said.

"Not quite lovers yet" Kat said to Cathline with a knowing wink.

"I’m just about to start my findings again, grab some OJ and breakfast and join us" Stephanie said.

"Thanks" Matthew said and homed in on the eggs and hash browns.

"I hate to tell you dear, that you’ll soon lose that sylph like figure of yours if you eat like that" Kat teased.

"I don’t care" And Matthew stuck his tongue out at Kat.

"You will when you get cellulite on those lovely legs of yours" Cathline said.

Her remark was met with another tongue poke.

"As I said last night, if as we suspect the guild are neutralised until Dr Bexley finds more funds the only thing left to do is to isolate her from her DNA device. Now this is much more tricky and is one of the reasons why it’s taken so long for me to bring this to you. I’ve had film footage from the shooting at the airport analysed and have the following things to show you" Stephanie reached into her bag and took out a distorted blown up photo of a long blonde haired woman.

"Who’s that?" Cathline asked.

"According to her entry records that is Alison Davies,supposedly returning from a business trip. I’ve checked with the company involved and they say that Alison Davies took an earlier flight due to unforeseen complications in the contract she was working on" Stephanie said.

"So that’s not the real Alison Davies"? Kat said.

"Correct, now look at this recording from the cameras in the arrivals lounge, I know we’ve all seen them a thousand times before but I want you to watch where Alison is, in all this." Stephanie reached forwards and inserted the video tape in Cathline player.

They watched intently as Alison kept a discrete distance from the events and then walked casually away once the deed was done. Cathline winced and Matthew looked away in shame as the bullet struck the back of John’s head.

"Sorry I had to do that, but did you notice that Alison stayed in visual range of the shooting at all times but not so as to attract attention to herself. She then went about her normal business." Stephanie explained.

"The ‘Hell Bitch’ obviously flew back on the same flight as John, as this Alison Davies woman. I was right about that then. " Kat said.

"Yep, in fact your deductions from Johns dairy led me to this chain of thought in the first place. Fancy a job?" Stephanie said.

"Later. Do we know where the ‘hell bitch’ went after that?" Kat asked.

"I checked with Hertz and they say they rented a car to Alison Davies that same day. I’ve checked with their records and guess what?"

"It ends up at Liz’s old house" Cathline said.

"Nope. Now I’ve had my research team investigate all Dr Bexley’s expenditure for the past three years, Cathline did you know about an out of town warehouse, used for storing supplies for the lab?" Stephanie asked.

"Nope. Never heard of it"

"I’m not surprised Dr Bexley hid it very well. Alison Davies dropped the car off only a few blocks away from that warehouse."

"Her lair" Kat exclaimed.

"That’s what I think" Stephanie said.

"So we go there and destroy the machine, thus depriving her of only form of escape" Matthew said.

"Precisely"

"When do we leave?" Cathline asked.

"Not yet" Kat said.

"Why not?" Stephanie asked.

"We don’t. Or rather not all at once. Stephanie and Cathline will go to visit this warehouse, the rest of us will wait outside. I’m not being trapped the same way twice" Kat said.

"Fine. Where do I go?" Matthew asked.

"You’d better stay here, You’re still a fugitive " Kat said.

"We’ll start off now and be back about 9pm" Stephanie said.

A few minutes later and the remnants had all piled into Stephanie’s car, leaving Matthew behind. Being bored and having lot’s of time to spare Matthew sat down to think and to plan. After three hours he had a flash of inspiration and spent the rest of the day making phone calls all over the world. His breakthrough came after a long winded call to New Zealand.

The rest of them arrived back a little after nine, looking dejected and defeated. Kat’s long face said it all.

"What Happened?" Matthew asked.

"Nothing, there was nothing there. The whole place has been cleaned out. Sure we saw some signs that something had been there but we have no idea what. It could have been anything from the device to a pile of empty boxes." Stephanie said

"Once again the ‘hell bitch’ has beaten us to it." Kat moaned.

"The only evidence we have that Dr Bexley had anything to do with it, is her name on some lease papers" Stephanie added.

"The only other thing that we did see, was far more cats than we expected. They were everywhere" Robert chirped in.

"Well I’ve had a much more productive day" Matthew said.

"Tell us more?" Robert asked.

"First I’m starved, I’ve been waiting for you lot to return to eat. Now I think it’s Robert’s turn to order take in" Matthew said.

"You are a tease" Kat said to Matthew.

"Why?"

"We draw a blank and you sit there like the proverbial cat" Kat teased.

The meal was eaten with a jovial atmosphere, the group bonding again after the trauma of the day before. Hope had been restored.

"Now the food’s finished I’ll start. Whilst you lot were busy chasing wild geese, I got thinking. I’ve known Elizabeth on and off for longer than most of you and so I think I know how she thinks in normal day to day life. As you are now doubt aware Elizabeth was obsessed with keeping her body in tip top shape.She was’nt vain, she just saw her body as a system that should be in perfect shape."

"She’d work out for hours" Cathline said.

"Yep. She also needed a way of generating lot’s of money very quickly, a new person to hide behind and someone who could divert media attention away from me if required"

"So" Robert asked.

"I think Elizabeth invented Rachel Martin. In fact I think Elizabeth IS

Rachel Martin"

"WHAT! No way" Stephanie said, in shock.

"As Cathline would say, pop quiz. Rachel’s body is TOO perfect, everyone has a spot here or a scar there that they hate, Rachel has none. Her face is too perfect as well, since when did a woman have everything right. Most supermodels need at least some makeup or computer work to get that perfect look. Rachel doesn’t need any of it. We all thought she was reliving her parents deaths when she came to visit me at the funeral. She wasn’t, she wanted to say goodbye to her REAL parents." Matthew explained.

"Sorry I don’t believe it. I interviewed her for God sake. I even liked her." Stephanie said.

"Fine, but think about this. If Rachel Martin is so perfect why did she suddenly decide to walk into Estee Lauder and ask for a job. She’s supposedly worked in Europe for four years, someone was bound to notice her before that. Also where did she go?, did you notice that we haven’t seen head nor tail of Rachel Martin since the funeral. Why’s that? Easy, Elizabeth ditched her, in order to resume her campaign against us"

"Resume?" Robert asked.

"Yes, I think she was quite content to leave things as is, unless something threatened her. The death of her parents drove her to even greater levels of hatred and insanity. Notice before her parents death she avoided directly killing anyone. She ordered the guild to attack that convoy and kill thirteen people just to get me out. I think Elizabeth is now much more ruthless than ever before" Matthew explained.

"I’m so stupid, I should have seen it earlier but I was so taken in by her charm and beauty I did just didn’t see the monster inside" Stephanie said.

"Now you see, what it took me to my wedding day to see." Matthew said.

"But Rachel Martin’s loaded. That must mean the guild are still active and can still get us" Cathline was beginning to get scared.

"Yes but remember, she’s brought an island for 11 million. I doubt if she’s got much left" Stephanie said.

"That must be where her lair is" Kat said.

"Only one thing, no-ones been able to find out where it is" Cathline said.

"I have" Matthew Said.

"What, How?" Kat exclaimed.

"My voice, is not that dissimilar from Rachel Martin’s. If I try really hard I can just about sound like her" Matthew said, in a remarkably accurate Rachel Martin accent.

"That’s amazing. How did you do it?" Robert asked.

"I phoned the real estate agent in New Zealand and pretended to be Rachel Martin. I convinced them to give me the location of the island on the pretence that they had failed to mail me the deeds. " Matthew said.

"Honey, your a genius" and Kat hugged Matthew hard.

"We obviously go there and destroy her machine, lay in wait and then do her as well" Robert said.

"Agreed. There are five of us and only one of her. She won’t be expecting us there and if she is still Monica Abbey we know who to look out for." Cathline said.

"Four of us, How do I get out of the country?" Matthew asked.

"Take these" Stephanie said and handed a brown envelope to Matthew.

"A passport and visa in the name of Alison Jacob! How did you get these, this is very illegal" Matthew exclaimed.

"A few contacts owed me a few favours. I said I’d come up with some better ID and I have"

"Is it worth getting Roger Ferry here first. We could sure use his muscle." Cathline asked.

"I’m afraid Roger has vanished. I tried to get him to get to the trial but nobody has seen him in weeks. I think the guild may have got to him" Stephanie said .

"When do we leave?" Kat asked.

"As soon as we can" Stephanie said in reply.

Four days later the remnant checked in at Dulles International airport. Stephanie’s forged passport for Matthew worked perfectly and he was let thru. They sat just talking in the departure lounge until it was time to go. Fortunately they all had seats together. Kat and Matthew sat next to each other, holding hands discreetly. Robert Abbey wanted a window seat and so sat next to Matthew. Cathline and Stephanie sat in the seats behind them.

"I just remembered part of poem that sums us up"

Matthew said to Kat thoughtfully.

"Yeah. What is it?" Kat replied.

Matthew said in determined fashion "It’s by Tennyson I think, now how does it go.Umm Got it.

Though we are not now that strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are, we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will; to strive, to seek, to find. And not to yield" .

Kat clutched Matthew’s hand tighter and put her head on his shoulder as the plane flew further into the night.

 

37. The Island of Dr Bexley.

============================

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out where the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood. At best, he knows the triumph of high achievement; if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt.

The plane touched down at Malé at 3am. The full heat of the day was several hours away and the airport was deserted. The travellers, exhausted by the journey checked into a small hotel near the airport. After a brief discussion they agreed to meet up at lunch that day and collapsed into bed.

Kat had left a sleepy Matthew and decided to walk into the restaurant. She saw Cathline sitting outside on the veranda sipping a small glass of wine. Seeing nobody else to talk to she walked over to her and said "Hi, Mind if I sit?"

"What’s up ?" Cathline asked, noticing for the first time Kat’s pained expression.

"It’s us, Matthew and I, I mean" Kat said sadly.

"Why I though you guys were doing great. Y’know soul mates and all

that"

"Oh we’re fine, it’s just all that we’re going thru and what has gone past has got us all strung out. Matthew still hates being HER in spite of what he says about accepting it. I can see it in the way he gets dressed, the way he looks at himself in the mirror. On the outside he may seem willing to fight to the end but inside I think his spirit has been broken by this."

"That’s understandable. Look at what he’s gone thru"

"You went thru more"

"Yes, but the price was that it’s turned me into a being of hate,something I never was before. I may not have been turned into a man or Jasmine but I’ve been changed, against my will in other ways. In someways I’m just like Liz now, unable to see past my fury for someone who’s wronged me." Cathline said, sadly.

"I know what you mean. Matthew and I are so different now, the magic’s gone."

"No it’s still there. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, the way you look back at him. He still loves you and I know you do to"

"He still hasn’t slept with me yet. He says being a woman doesn’t bother him in that way but something is definitely up. I just want us back the way we were." Kat Said tearfully.

"To be honest I’m not surprised. Just think of what we are going thru right now. Two of my friends are dead, he feels as guilty as hell over everything that’s gone on, add this to be turned into HER and you get about the biggest turn-off you can imagine. No matter what happens Matthew will still resemble Liz. That is her legacy to you both and you must learn to overcome it" Cathline said.

"I suppose"

"There’s no suppose about it. Listen, remember back in the hotel I gave you a real dressing down about your attitude. I said that I was falling in love with you"

"I remember"

"I was lying. I AM in love with you. Inside I’m really hurting because you two are back together. I also know that you two are meant to be together. No matter what I feel, I know I’ll meet my ‘soul mate’ sometime. It’s just I want it to be you" Cathline said, the pain evident in her voice.

"Oh Cathline, I’m so sorry" Kat said and hugged her tightly.

"Listen, all of us are strung out. I’m not surprised Matthew’s feeling it, we all are. Just give it time" Cathline said.

"Thanks" Kat said .

Later that day Stephanie appeared and said that she has found a captain who will take us to Dr Bexley’s Island. However the boat had to leave within the hour and they must rush to catch it.

Sitting on the boat,looking at the almost turquoise sea and marvelling at the beauty around him Matthew said "What if she’s hired the guild to guard her island?"

"I don’t think so" Stephanie said.

"Why?.She would need protection" Asked Robert .

"Because she values her solitude more than anything. Secrecy is the best protection. In anycase if she had armed guards everywhere it would look very suspicious. Rachel Martin had none in New York, Why here?" Stephanie added.

"But she must know we are here?" Robert said.

"I’m not so sure. In anycase she is stuck as Monica for a while and anyway we’ve got a head start on her" Kat added.

"So we wait and ambush her when she comes" Matthew Said.

"That’s the plan" Stephanie added.

"Then can we try and get me back to normal" Robert Moaned.

"Don’t you like the way you are?" Stephanie asked.

"No. If you want to know what I feel, just ask Matthew. He’s been going thru it for the last six months. Monica will not sleep with me, our marriage is over."

The rest of them glanced at each other. If Liz had done her job properly then Monica would not be anywhere by now.

"What!" Robert said, catching the glances of the rest.

"I’m sorry. But I doubt Monica is still Monica, or at least still around. Dr Bexley is very thorough. So far her tactics have been consistent. Identify the threat,neutralize and plan for the backlash. Dr Bexley foresaw our alliance and attempted to infiltrate it. Fortunately our passcode system identified her before she could do any real damage." Stephanie explained.

"So where is Monica now?" Matthew asked.

"Who knows" Stephanie said

"Look you are wrong about her. That was Monica, yes she gets a little tetchy now and then but I know her. That was her. Whoever Dr Bexley is, it isn’t Monica." Robert complained.

"Look, She pretended to be Kat for almost a month. Yes I was ill but she fooled me. Don’t feel bad about being duped. I was too. When we find her, we find Monica and a way to get us all back to normal." Matthew explained.

Doubt crept into Roberts voice "I suppose so"

Some hours later the boat landed at the jetty. A large yacht was moored on the other side. Judging by the size of it must have cost a cool million.

"Shit She’s already here" Cathline said.

"I don’t think so. She wouldn’t have had time to sail here. She would have flown." Stephanie said.

The boat docked and gingerly the remnant walked ashore. The captain promised to return when they called.

"Nice Place" Robert said, as he looked at the huge mansion sitting atop a cliff.

"I think we should stay together. That way we know where everyone is. I know the search will be slower but we don’t want to lose anyone." Stephanie said.

"Good idea" Kat added.

They walked up the long stairway from the beach to the house, turning around every so often to admire the view. White sand stretched for miles and glimmering sea lapped gently against the beach. It was breathtaking in beauty.

"I thought these Islands were supposed to be only a few metres above sea level" Kat asked.

"Don’t ask me. I guess the volcanic eruptions that spawned these island must have been more severe here and that’s why it’s much higher." Matthew said.

Eventually they crept up to a large bay windows and Matthew peered inside. The house was immaculate, not a thing out of place. Kat crept around to another window and looked inside. Once again nobody was home.

"I think we’re in the clear" Kat Said

"Me too, How do we get in?" Matthew said.

"Allow me". Stephanie said and produced a small metal rod from her pocket. She fiddled around with the door lock for a while and eventually the door sprung open.

"Never leave home without it" Stephanie said as she put the rod back into her pocket.

"Are you sure you’re not some arch-villaness?,picking locks, forging passports and hiding fugitives. " Cathline asked.

"Positive. Everything I do is for a just cause" Stephanie replied with a grin.

Matthew was the first inside, looking around at the ornate surroundings. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and a large staircase went up the centre of the room.

The floor was white marble and lined along each side of the room were large statues of figures of Greek mythology. Cathline walked up to one, a woman opening a box "This must be Pandora" she said Kat had seen another figure, this time a woman was about to slay a man who was begging for mercy. "I know this one. This must be Nemesis" Kat said. Cathline by now had moved onto another figure, this time a woman dipping a shirt in a liquid, with a heavily built man looking on. "Who’s this?" Stephanie asked.

"No idea" Cathline said.

"I know who this is " Matthew said, looking at the face of a stunningly beautiful woman.

"Who?" Robert asked.

"Helen of Troy"

"Of course" Stephanie said.

"Who is this?" Kat asked, pointing to a muscular woman. The statue was carrying a bow and had her left breast missing.

"An Amazon I guess" Matthew said.

The group progressed into a large dining room. This time the decoration was very ornate, tapestries of all descriptions hung from the wall. Another statue sat by a particularly ornate tapestry. The figure was spinning a tapestry whilst trying to fend off a spider.

"She’s got a thing for statues hasn’t she?" Robert said.

"They all seem to be figures from Greek mythology. I guess this one is Arachne or maybe Athene" Matthew said.

They moved into another room. This time a massive library with wall to wall books.

"Wow look at this. There must be thousands of titles" Cathline said in wonder.

"Let’s get a move on, we need to check every room before we can rest" Stephanie said.

Further exploration revealed twenty bedrooms, a pool area with gym, a large kitchen. Matthew’s favorite part was an entertainment room. It was filled with state of the art Hi-fi and video equipment. A TV projection system occupied a single wall. The house was filled with the best money can buy.

Cathline managed to find some food in the walk in pantry and fixed some dinner.

"So where’s the machine?" Robert asked between mouthful’s.

"She would have concealed it. It must be near the house as she would need easy access to power and communications systems" Kat said.

"Yes but where?. We’ve been everywhere" Matthew said .

"I guess we search again" Stephanie said.

"Tell you what, we know she’s not here right, why don’t we split up and meet back here in an hour" Robert suggested.

"Good idea" Kat said.

"OK, Stephanie, Cathline and Robert do upstairs. Kat and myself will start down here" Matthew said.

"Let’s do it." Robert said .

Matthew was studying the statues in the entrance hall when Kat came back to find him "Any luck?" Kat asked.

"Not really, you?"

"Zip. Watcha doin?" Kat said flippantly.

"Something about this statue bothers me" Matthew said pointing to the Amazon.

"What?" Kat asked, puzzled.

"I’ve got a feeling that this one is wrong. But I can’t work out what. Y’know that feeling you get when you should know something be can’t remember" Matthew said.

"Well she’s holding that bow all wrong" Kat suggested.

"Nope. I need to think" Matthew said and sat down on the floor. Kat sat down beside him and put her arm around him. She lay her head on his breasts and he held her close. Matthew looked down at Kat’s head and then at his heaving chest.

"Fucking Hell. I’m so thick" Matthew exclaimed.

Kat got up and said "What"

"This" Matthew said and poked his right breast."Ow" He said and then tried to rub it better.

"Sensitive ar’nt they" Kat said.

"I have noticed. It’s the Amazon, she’s got the wrong breast missing. According to legend Amazon’s amputated their right breast in order so they could draw a bow better. This one has her left breast missing. Either the sculptor got it wrong or that’s our key" Matthew said.

"OK, let’s give it a go" Kat said and pushed the right breast on the statue. Nothing happened.

"Too obvious. Wait a sec what’s this" Matthew said. Matthew pressed the nipple of the breast and nothing seemed to give.

"I think the guy got it wrong" Kat said.

"There must be something else. Wait a mo." Matthew pressed the space where the left breast should have been. Silently a wall panel slid back revealing a staircase that led downwards.

"Bingo" Kat said and went to go down the stairs.

Matthew grabbed her and said "No let’s get the others first"

They rounded up the others and went down the stairs. Inside a large chamber was a DNA device similar to the one at the lab. Several additions to the basic structure could be seen.

"This is nothing like the one at the lab" Cathline said.

"How" Kat asked.

"All this extra stuff. I’ve no idea what it does or how to use it" Cathline said.

"What is this?" Matthew asked, pointing to body shaped mould.

"Don’t ask me. Best guess some kind of scanner" Cathline said

"Is there power to it?" Robert asked.

"Looks that way, the system in inactive though" Cathline said.

Stephanie was busy taking photos but had time to ask "How do we turn it on?"

"If I was protecting this I would make it only accept me, whatever form I was in. Perhaps the scanner scans the user to see if he or she matches the last form Liz was. That’s how I’d do it." Cathline said.

"Why don’t you try. You’ve got exactly the same DNA as Dr Bexley" Stephanie suggested.

"OK" Matthew said and got inside the mould.

A calm female voice suddenly said "Please remove all clothing before scanning"

"Well at least we know it still works. Mat, take your clothes off" Kat said.

"What now?, in front of all of you?" He said.

"Look, why don’t the rest of you go look around the rest of the bunker.

I’ll wait here and guard Matthew" Kat said.

"Fine" was the reply and they all went off

"Why is it always me" Matthew complained as he started to take of his bra.

"Don’t complain. If we get this thing working then we can try and get you back to normal" Kat said.

Matthew had by now slipped off his skirt and stood there naked. "I wish I had your body" Kat said, looking at the stunning form before her.

"You’re welcome to it" Matthew said.

"Why don’t you get in" Kat said.

Matthew slipped into the mould, suddenly a green light scanned from his toes,past his legs and pussy. Another light went down from his face over his breasts and rested at his torso.

"Good Morning Matthew Stephens. Please standby for DNA System Activation" the female voice said.

Kat Screamed "Get out Now!"

Matthew jumped out of the mould in time to see a hypodermic needle shoot out and jab where his right thigh would have been.

"What the" Matthew said.

"Figures. The ‘hell bitch’ knew that the system could be taken over and has designed security measures to protect it. I guess that’s the logical reason behind that tattoo of yours. With that on your body scanner knows the difference between you and her. We have to bypass the security in order to use the machine" Kat said, sadly.

"Bitch" was Matthews only reply.

"Come on, get dressed before I seduce you or something" Kat said.

"Tonight maybe" Matthew said.

"It’s a date" Kat said. At last we can be together Kat thought.

Matthew quickly got dressed and followed Kat into the other chambers.

"Any luck?" Stephanie asked, as Kat and Matthew walked in.

"Nope. Elizabeth has put in a security system to prevent anyone using it but her. I tried and nearly got jabbed with some more drug. We need to bypass it in order for it to work again. How bout you?" Matthew asked.

"Cathline’s found a computer and imaging system, which she is trying to use and we’ve just stumbled on Dr Bexley’s private medicine cabinet and armory" Stephanie said.

"Armory?" Kat asked.

"Yep, look" Stephanie moved aside to show Kat six dart guns plus a large, complex looking rifle. Various Darts, filled with a green liquid were lined up along side them"

"This is like the one that got me" Robert said, pointing to a dart about an inch long.

"Look at this" Kat said and picked up a pill bottle marked RM.

"Hmm RM, Rachel Martin maybe" Matthew said.

"And this one says JAS, Must be the Jasmine dose" Kat said, and looked down at her new body.

"JP must mean Jennifer Porter" Matthew said.

"There’s a lot here I don’t recognise. AD,JW,RA,SL,EB,MA,JN" Kat Said reading from the labels of the bottles.

"Wait a sec, RA. That must be Robert Abbey, MA must be Monica Abbey and JN must be Jane Norton" Matthew exclaimed.

"Quick Give it to me" Robert said and reached out his hand.

"Hmm not yet, I want to run it by Cathline first. Just to be safe"

"Ok. But be quick. I don’t want to stay like this a moment longer than required" Robert said.

"This is odd. These bottles have a red warning label on and are marked ‘kitty’. I wonder what they do" Matthew said peering at the green liquid inside.

"At a guess, this is the stuff that partially turned Roger Ferry into that cat creature. I suspect this will turn a human into a cat. Don’t mess with it" Stephanie said.

Matthew gingerly put the bottle back on the shelf.

"I think we’re done here. Why don’t we go and see how Cathline is doing" Stephanie asked.

They walked into a room full of computer systems. Cathline sat at a terminal and was rapidly tapping away.

"Hi" Kat said.

"Uh Hi" Cathline grunted, too engrossed in the system.

"What have you found?" Stephanie asked.

"Well it’s taken me a while to get everything set up and now I’m trying to get in"

"Any joy?" Kat asked.

"Well I can browse certain areas but most of it is still out of bounds"

"What sort of areas?" Matthew asked.

"Ongoing work mostly, I can get the imaging system working though. It’ll take me an hour or so to get all of it and to get at the restricted stuff, maybe never. It really needs Liz to give us the passcodes." Cathline said.

"Fine. When you’ve got a sec can you scan these for us to see what they’ll do to anyone. " Kat said and gave Cathline the bottle marked RA.

"Sure. Why don’t the rest of you leave me to it for a while. I’ll report back when I’ve got something. Besides I need someone to keep watch" Cathline said.

The remnant went upstairs into the mansion, leaving the door open behind them.

Sitting on a chair beside the pool Matthew and Kat were talking. Stephanie was off exploring some part of the island and Robert was walking along the beach.

"Why haven’t we made love yet?" Kat asked Matthew.

"I dunno, with all that’s going on it’s the last thing on my mind. If all goes well, tonight. I want to know what we’ll do with Elizabeth when we get her?" Matthew said, quickly changing the subject.

"Force her to help and then turn her over to the authorities I guess" Kat said.

"I’ve been thinking I don’t think that’s enough. She’s killed or had killed eighteen people and ruined countless lives. I used not to love her, just want her as a friend but that’s all. Now I hate her for what she’s done. I’ve a better idea." Matthew said.

"Which is" Kat said.

"Use the kitty formula on her" Matthew said grimly.

"That’s horrible. She doesn’t deserve that. No let the authorities decide."

Kat said.

"Listen I’ll put it to the others and we’ll vote on it" Matthew said.

"Fair enough"

Three hours later Cathline called them into the large dining room area.

"What’ve you found?" Kat asked.

"Lot’s. Although I can’t get to the body design areas I have been able to use the imaging system to verify that this ‘RA’ dose will turn a person into Robert Abbey."

"Yes" Robert said with glee.

"However it does not contain any fixer and would leave the person vulnerable. Before we test it I need to determine if Robert here has been ‘fixed’. I’ll do the rest of you before I proceed."

"Superb work Cathline" Kat said.

"What else have you found?" Stephanie asked.

"It looks as though Liz was working on many projects, all experimental and highly unstable. For a start she has produced designs and drugs for all kinds of mutated humans."

"Such as" Matthew asked

"You name it, all kinds of mythological creatures, humans with self repairing bodies. You amputate an arm and it grows right back. Her most frightening one was a changeling body for herself." Cathline said.

"Changeling?" Matthew asked.

"Apparently she was designing an organ that could manufacture the drug based on thought images in her brain. It would allow her to think ‘I want to be Hillary Clinton’ and a few moments later she would be. Just imagine the havoc she could cause, she would be undetectable unless you X-rayed her and saw the organ. Even then it would appear like a large appendix" Cathline shuddered at the thought.

"How far off was she?" Stephanie asked .

"Hard to say, maybe a year, maybe more"

"If she’s got that and the world didn’t know about it, then she could be anyone, do anything and no one would be able to catch her." Stephanie said.

"She must be stopped" Robert said.

"I’ve been talking to Kat on that subject. She thinks that when we’ve captured Elizabeth we should turn her in to the authorities. I disagree I think we should use the kitty dose on her" Matthew said.

"That’s a little extreme." Stephanie said.

"While she’s still human, she’s a threat. The guild could rescue her, she could get off on some technicality. No my way is the only way to be sure" Matthew said.

"I agree about the technicality. I could get her off no problem" Robert said.

"I think it’s deliciously brilliant. I wanted to kill her but this is so much better. We could keep her as a pet and forget to feed her or something. I know get an oversexed Tom Cat" Cathline said with an evil grin.

"I disagree, if this comes out into the open then Matthew is off the hook and we can all get on with our lives. Besides I’m not even sure Monica Is the ‘Hell Bitch’" Kat said.

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked seriously.

"Oh I dunno, just me being paranoid. I mean the facts say that Monica is the ‘hell bitch’ so we must be right. It’s just that if we’re not right then there’s no going back." Kat answered.

"Ok let’s vote on it. Those against" Matthew said.

Only Kat put her hand up.

"Motion carried, when we get her we inject her with the kitty formula."

Matthew said.

"I still don’t like it. But until we get any evidence to the contrary I’ll go along with it" Kat said.

"How will we know it’s her?" Robert asked.

"Easy, either Monica or Rachel Martin will turn up. We’ll post sentries around the island and they will report back as soon as they see something" Stephanie said.

"Monica Is still Monica" Robert insisted.

"Fine, but if Monica turns up we’ll know it’s really Liz. The real Monica doesn’t know we’re here" Cathline said.

"Seems logical" Robert said.

"Listen I’m bushed let’s say we get back to this tomorrow" Cathline said.

"OK, Night. Mat are you coming to bed" Kat said.

"Sure, Night everyone" Matthew said and followed Kat upstairs

"Matthew" Cathline called.

"What!" Matthew turned around.

"Just remember you’re not in a hurry. Oh and Kat told me to tell you to wait a few moments" Cathline said.

"Pardon?" Matthew said.

"Never mind, you’ll find out" Cathline called .

"Whatever. " Matthew said and walked,slowly upstairs. Why was he nervous. He’d dreamed of this moment for so long and now it had got here he didn’t know what to think. Matthew paused outside of the door for a few moments and then went in.

Kat was already undressed and in bed, the sheets covering all of her up to her neck.

"Hello my love" Kat said.

"I never dreamed our first time would be like this" Matthew said.

"Me neither, still at last we have chance to be alone. Matthew I don’t care if you’re a woman or not I want you." Kat said seductively.

"Oh Kat I love you" And Matthew walked over to the bed.

Kat reached her arms up and drew Matthew slowly to her lips. Their lips met and they kissed,slowly and passionately. That single kiss was the most incredible Matthew had ever had. He found himself reaching up to Kat’s face and stroking her hair back before kissing her again.

"Why don’t I undress you" Kat said and sat up.

Matthew caught a glimpse of Kat’s naked body beneath the sheets and he had the funny warm feeling in his cunt. Kat stood up and wrapped herself around him. Her warm, firm breasts pushing against his. Her hand reached up to his chest and slowly undid the buttons on his shirt. Matthew put his arms further down Kat’s back until they gently stroked her ass.

"Let’s let the hydra loose" Kat said and with one swift movement undid Matthew’s bra. Another quick flick and the bra was on the floor. By now Matthew was feeling very aroused and moved down to kiss Kat’s nipples. Kat whispered "Not Yet" and pushed Matthew against the wall. Her hands stroked gently and softly around Matthew’s tits . Matthew let out an involuntary moan as he felt almost on fire.

"Kat, How did you.." Matthew started.

Kat’s only reply was to kneel down and undo Matthew’s pants. Matthew reached down and started to kiss the back of Kat’s neck and back. "Hmm nice. Time for the Kat to meet the pussy" Kat crooned and she quickly pulled Matthew’s pants down. Leaving him in just his panties.

Kat ran her hand up on the inside of Matthew’s leg, tracing the path of the hydra as it went up. Matthew pulled Kat upright and again and gestured to the bed. Kat took him by the hand and after Matthew had disposed of his pants lay down beside Kat.

Kat reached over and slid Matthew’s already wet panties from around his curved hips and stroked his firm shapely butt. "Carry on Kat please" Matthew gasped. Kat reached over and began to stroke his nipples, sending waves of pleasure thru Matthew’s body. Matthew did the same to Kat and now getting into the swing of things started to nibble his way around her tits.

Kat decided that enough was enough and secretly moved her hand to just above Matthew’s pussy. When Matthew seemed too engrossed in exploring Kat’s breasts she gently reached down and stroked Matthew’s clitoris. He almost jumped as the extreme pleasure hit him in a hammer blow.

"Ohh that nice" Matthew crooned.

Kat started to stroke Matthew’s clit in the same way as Cathline had taught her. Matthew went almost rigid as the pleasure waves increased and increased inside him. Matthew was moaning louder now, still unable to move. Kat showed him how she was doing it and Matthew was a quick learner.

Now Kat was in heaven. Matthew was so very good at this. His years of experience of man mingled came into play. Kat just lay there as they pleasured each other, one hand stroking their cunts and the other gently feeling the shape of each others breasts.

Matthew was the first to come. His body quivering as waves of orgasms swept over him. Kat followed shortly afterwards her body on fire.

After a short rest, Kat started the whole thing up again by reaching down and gently stroking Matthew HERE and THERE.

Kat awoke about 3am and saw Matthew’s naked body just sleeping peacefully. Inside her Kat felt on fire, never in her life had she stayed aroused for so long. Maybe it was an effect of the change into Jasmine, she did’nt know. In anycase Matthew had slept far too long and they had spent too much time apart. They may never get another chance. Kat then had a mischievous idea.

Kat got up and in the dim light of the room explored the closets. If she was right there should be some items of clothing in here that she could find useful. She’d seen pictures of Rachel Martin wearing them so they must be around here somewhere. Silently she rummaged around in the drawers until she found the four silk scarves she was looking for.

As quietly as she could she fastened each one a corner of the bed. At one point she froze as Matthew stirred but he soon went back to sleep.

Now Matthew had always been a heavy sleeper and it was this fact that Kat was relying on. She gently rolled Matthew over onto his back and slowly, slowly moved his arms and legs apart so he lay spread-eagled on the bed. Kat then gently tied the scarves to an arm,then a leg,then an arm and finally another leg. Matthew very nearly awoke but Kat bided her time.

When Matthew was fast asleep again, Kat waited for a few more seconds, got onto the bed and gently but firmly stroked Matthew’s pussy.

Matthew almost leapt out of bed but was unable to because of the silk scarves. "Hey" He called.

Kat sat astride him and gently said. "Time for MY fun". She reached over and gently started to stroke Matthew’s inner thigh. Matthew was still half asleep, unaware if he was dreaming or this was real. Kat ran her hand up Matthew’s curved form and then reached down and kissed him on the lips.

Matthew responded in the only way he could, he tried to get up but he was restrained from doing so. Matthew’s pleasure mounted as he realised that he was helpless against anything Kat might do to him. He pulled on the scarves but they were tired too tight. He decided that since he could do nothing about he may as well relax and enjoy himself.

Kat certainly was. She was gently kissing Matthew’s face and she started to nibble his ear. Matthew in the meantime was trying to kiss Kat’s breasts that were just tantalisingly out of reach.

"Not yet" Kat whispered to Him and she suddenly reached down to his slit and began to gently carress it. Matthew nearly leapt out of bed again with pleasure and then sat back unable to move as pleasure swept his body.

Kat moved onto his breasts, teasing and touching them as she went. Matthew was , by now in ecstasy the pleasure waves slowly building up towards orgasm. His pleasure was increased by the fact that he could no longer move and he was desperate to fuck Kat back. Kat had eased off a little, giving Matthew time to cool down a little, then when she thought the time was right she started to gently lick Matthew’s slit.

This brought a moan from Matthew and the pleasure waves were back, this time of greater intensity. Matthew was begging her to untie him and let him respond but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Kat was having FAR too much fun.

Kat let Matthew subside again and then she started to stroke Matthew’s pussy again. Each time the pleasure grew and grew until Matthew felt that he was going to explode. Kat gently, gently let the waves of pleasure build up inside Matthew until his body shook with the orgasm that was going on inside him.

Matthew let out a moan that Kat thought would wake everyone up and then he lay still, quivering from the magnitude of the orgasm he had just experienced. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Some hours later Kat awoke still in Matthew’s arms.

When they came down for breakfast they found Cathline had been up for sometime, Stephanie had gone off exploring and Robert was still in bed.

"Cathline, Thanks for the lessons" Kat winked.

"Pleasure, anytime you want a refresher I’m your woman" Cathline said.

"I’ll let you know" Kat said.

"What Lessons?" Matthew asked Kat.

"Tell you later" Kat replied.

"How’s the research going?" Matthew asked Cathline.

"I’ve got a fixer test for all of you ready to go. I just need you to come and give me a blood sample" Cathline said.

"How about now?" Kat said.

"If you’re ready, I suspect it’ll be bad news. " Cathline said, grimly.

"We’re ready, whatever the outcome" Matthew said, grasping hold of Kat’s hand.

They went down to the bunker and Cathline drew a sample of blood from both Matthew and Kat. She put the samples into a test tube containing a clear liquid and gave them a shake.

"If fixer is present this will turn red, if not then it will remain clear" Cathline said.

They watched intently as Kat’s sample slowly turned pink, then light red and finally blood red.

"Shit. I’m Jasmine for good" Kat said tearfully.

Matthew’s sample was still clear "Yes!" he said with glee.

"Wait a sec I’ll give it another shake to make sure"

Stephanie Lane was tired of walking. She had been all around this island, looking for any more hidden chambers. She was on her way back to the mansion and only had about a hundred yards to go when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. Stephanie dropped to the ground and peered out from the undergrowth. A tall, stunningly beautiful woman was creeping towards the house, as if she were stalking prey. "Fuck not her again" Stephanie exclaimed. Stephanie estimated that it would take Rachel Martin about five minutes to get to the house. Stephanie quickly ran to the house where she found the others in the chamber. Kat was holding a test tube with a red colored liquid and crying.

"I’m sorry Kat. Matthew’s been fixed too. There’s nothing I can do.

Maybe given time but I’m no Dr Bexley" Cathline said sadly.

"She, She’s here" Stephanie panted.

"Elizabeth?" Matthew asked.

"Yes, she’s right behind me. She’s Rachel Martin this time. Quick get the dose" Stephanie stammered.

Cathline reached into the drug cabinet and produced the kitty dose bottle and a syringe.

"Right let’s get the bitch" She said.

They waited for her in the entrance hall. Rachel Martin walked in and called "Hello Anyone there?".

"Come on ‘hell bitch’ just a little further" Kat whispered.

Rachel Martin took another couple of steps forward and closed the door behind her.

Suddenly Robert and Matthew leapt at her from behind the Nemesis statue. Rachel tried to struggle but the combined strength of Robert and Matthew was too much. Cathline rushed up and jabbed Rachel’s exposed thigh with the syringe "That’s for John and all the rest you bastard" Cathline screamed in hatred.

Rachel Screamed "Ste" and then the effects of the drugs struck.

Rachel Martin’s body shuddered as though being kicked. Her screams were almost deafening and Robert could not bear to watch. Sweat poured off of Rachel’s body as her legs began to shrink. Black hairs shot out from all over her body and face and grew rapidly as they formed fur all over Rachel’s perfect form. Rachel stared at her hands as fingers shrunk until they formed small paws, her arms also began to shrink. Another piercing scream was let forth as her body began to reform and Rachel lost consciousness as the changes overtook her. Her face began to alter shape, as her hair fell out and her whole head began to shrink and reform until it was that of a cat. In the meantime her legs had shrunk and now matched her now pawed arms in shape.

"Uh that’s gross" Matthew said as he watched Rachel’s body begin to reshape. Bones crunched and flesh rippled as the change into a cat continued.

The changes continued for over an hour until a small black cat lay, motionless but still breathing inside the clothes that Rachel Martin once wore.

"That’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen" Kat said grimly.

"Here kitty,kitty,kitty" Cathline said, trying to coax the cat awake.

"What shall we call her?" Stephanie asked.

"You are SICK" Kat complained at Cathline and stormed off.

"What’s up with her, We won didn’t we!" Cathline said.

"Yes but look at the cost. I’m not sure even Elizabeth deserved THAT!"

Matthew said, still horrified at what he had just seen.

The cat that had been Rachel Martin began to stir, it stood on unsteady legs and then began to rub up against Stephanie.

"Ahh isn’t she cute" Stephanie said and picked the cat up"

"I know we’ll call her Kitty Liz" Cathline said with a grin. Cathline went to stroke ‘Kitty Liz’. Kitty Liz was having none of it and hissed viciously at Cathline.

"Hmm I don’t blame her. I’d be just as pissed if someone had just turned me into a cat" Stephanie said.

"OK. YOU can look after her. I’m going to try and get the system working again." Cathline said and left.

"Listen, I’ll stay a couple more days and then I’ll be off. This should be the story of the decade. Pulitzer guaranteed" Stephanie said to Robert.

"OK, I’ll pass that along. I’d better go down to the bunker Cathline wants to run a fixer test on me" Robert said and followed Cathline.

"Sure, I’ve got a new pet to play with" Stephanie said and walked outside into the sunlight.

A very angry Kat stormed into the entertainment room and slammed the door behind her. She slumped down onto a large, leather bound chair and began to think. How could they be so heartless, yes at some level Liz had deserved her fate but this was too much. To deprive someone of their humanity and then make fun of them was evil. The rest of them couldn’t see it but Liz had turned them into creatures of hatred, miniature versions of her. It would have been far better to let the proper authorities deal with her. Still it was too late now. Liz was now a pussy cat and She and Matthew were free at last. They’d won.

Kat felt empty inside. Now what could they do?, Matthew was still a fugitive for the moment. Although the drugs they now possessed would prove their story beyond doubt it would be a long drawn out affair. Liz was defeated and they could begin to rebuild.

Kat got up and switched on the hi-fi. She went to change the CD in the player but decided against it. "I wonder what sort of Music Liz liked?" She thought.

A heavy rock beat thundered out over the multiple speakers.

 

38. Endgame - The Uninvited Guest*

===================================

‘You may not recall the moment that you asked me

But your invitation was clear.

You’ll pretend you’ve never met me, but It’s far too late now I’m here.

 

Cause I’m the one who knows what scares you

I’m the one who loves you best

I’m the thirteenth at the table

I’m the Uninvited Guest

 

I’m the Banquo at your banquet,

I’m the cuckoo in your nest

I’m your fifteen stone first-footer

I’m the uninvited guest

 

I was there when you said insincere I love you’s to a woman who wasn’t your wife.

And I fronted you the money that you ran away and blew on the biggest regret of your life.

Cause I’m the one who knows what scares you

I’m the one who loves you best

I,m the thirteenth at the table

I’m the Uninvited Guest

 

I’m the Banquo at your banquet,

I’m the cuckoo in your nest

I’m your new years resolution

I’m the uninvited guest

 

I’m the face you hoped you’d never see but always knew you would.

I’m the one thing you knew you shouldn’t do but did because you could.

I’m the evil in your bloodstream.

I’m the rash upon your skin.

And you made a big mistake alright the day you let me in.

 

And you can fly to the other side of the world.

You know you’ll only find.

I’ve reserved the seat behind you.

We can talk about old times...’

 

 

39. Exposure.

=============

As the song ended Kat sat bolt upright and set the CD to repeat, after several more plays Kat saw it. What had just been an awful hunch was now reality. "My God what have we done!." Kat said out loud, her voice trembling with fear.

Kat reached into her purse and took out a phone number and dialled it. After the call Kat was more sure than ever but before she could explore it further there was a knock at the door.

"Hey turn that down, You’re getting obsessed by that song" Matthew said, walking into the room.

"Listen!" And Kat played the song once more.

"So?" Matthew queried.

"Don’t you see it? It’s so obvious now. Sure it’s brilliant, her masterstroke" Kat exclaimed.

"I’m a little stupid today, explain it" Matthew asked.

"Get Robert and Cathline in here" Kat asked.

"What about Steph?" Matthew said.

"For fuck’s sake, don’t get Stephanie. Whatever you do don’t talk to her" Kat said sternly.

"Why?"

"Just get the rest and make sure Stephanie is out of the way" Kat said.

"If you say so" Matthew said and walked out.

"Stephanie, Would you mind going to check to see how Liz got ashore. Maybe she’s brought friends along. We’re going to finish up here and ensure it’s OK" Matthew said.

"OK, mind if I take Kitty Liz?" Stephanie said.

"Not at all, you’re the only one she seems to like anyway" Matthew said.

"Be back in an hour or so" Stephanie said and walked off.

Matthew went down into the bunker to see a tearful Robert and grim looking Cathline, who was consoling Robert.

"Fixed as well?" Matthew asked.

"Yes" Said a tearful Robert.

"The results of the test are very strange. The test confirms that the fixer has indeed been given to Robert. However the fixer I’m familiar with just inhibits any future dose of the drug. This version seems to actively fight it. It makes it much, much more effective. What’d you want anyway?." Cathline said.

"Kat’s gone all weird on me. She wants all of us to meet her in the entertainment room right away" Matthew said.

"I’ll get Stephanie"Cathline said.

"No she was most insistent that Stephanie was NOT invited. I’ve just sent her off to look see if Liz has brought any friends with her" Matthew said.

"Let’s go and see what she wants" Robert said and they walked out of the bunker.

"Excellent. I take it Stephanie is out of the way" Kat said.

"She’ll be gone a couple of hours, now what the hell is this all about" Matthew demanded.

"Shut the door and Listen to this" Kat said and played the song again.

"I don’t get it" Cathline said.

"Let me explain" And Kat skipped the appropriate point in the song.

"I was there when you said insincere I love you’s to a woman who wasn’t your wife And I fronted you the money that you ran away and blew on the biggest regret of your life"

"So?" Matthew demanded.

"Listen.’ I was there when you said insincere I love you’s to a woman who wasn’t your wife’. That’s clearly John. Liz was involved in his seduction by employing Jennifer Porter"

"I’ll give you that, Mind you it could have been me" Cathline said.

"And now. ‘And I fronted you the money that you ran away and blew on the biggest regret of your life’. That’s Liz again. She fronted Cathline the money to go to Egypt which must rank as Cathline’s biggest regret" Kat explained.

"Too right." Cathline agreed.

"Are you saying that Elizabeth is this ‘uninvited guest’ in the song?"

Matthew said, puzzled.

"Yes, but it goes on. Listen to this bit." Kat forwarded the CD to the next part.

‘I’m your new years resolution

I’m the uninvited guest.

I’m the face you hoped you’d never see but always knew you would.

I’m the one thing you knew you shouldn’t do but did because you could.

I’m the evil in your bloodstream

I’m the rash upon your skin

And you made a big mistake alright the day you let me in" Kat paused the song with a deft, triumphant flick of the remote.

"That fits, we always knew we would meet Liz again" Robert said.

"Since Liz’s blood is in my veins and she got me tattooed then I guess that last bit must be me" Matthew said sadly.

"Where’s this leading?" Cathline asked.

"I didn’t put this CD on. It was in the player already, this must mean that Liz put it there. I think she used this song to gloat over us and as to give her some ideas for her plans"

"That sound’s just like Liz. Retreat here and have a good laugh over our efforts. Still we won in the end" Cathline said.

"No we haven’t. Liz is still out there. I think that Liz is Stephanie Lane" Kat said , as though she were Miss Marple.

"WHAT!" Cathline exclaimed.

Matthew almost shouted in complete surprise "No way. If it wasn’t for her we would have been nowhere".

"Before you call in the shrinks, listen to me. Only one other person was missing from the lab when it exploded, Stephanie Lane.Further more She was the one who SUGGESTED we meet at the lab. Monica Abbey had left and was too obvious. Liz is subtle, not overt in planning. I now believe Robert when he says that Monica was just being Monica and refused to give a passcode" Kat said.

"Thank you. I haven’t told anyone this for fear of reprisals. But I called Monica the night the lab blew up. She gave me the correct passcode" Robert interrupted.

"You did what, of all the " Cathline started.

"If you will allow me to continue . Robert’s confession here proves my point. Further clues are in the song "I’m your new years resolution I’m the uninvited guest’ Who else was there when we made our new Years resolution and who’s the uninvited guest?" Kat said.

"Stephanie Lane was there. But wait a sec she always gave the correct passcode" Cathline said.

"Which means she must have replaced Stephanie before we even met up again. I had another look at all those statues in the hall. Do you know what they have in common?" Kat said smugly.

"Greek Mythology?" Cathline answered.

"Yes, I think they are all codenames Liz has used. We know about one name she used ‘Deianeira’ I remembered who she was. She dipped Hercules’s shirt into some poison and killed him. Liz could easily see herself as Nemesis and Rachel Martin has been compared to Helen of Troy. The only one that didn’t fit was Pandora and that ladies and transformed ladies was Stephanie Lane’s Passcode" Kat said Triumphantly.

"Well I’ll be" Robert Started.

"And that’s not all. In order to try and prove my theory further I tried to find something simple that the ‘Hell Bitch’ could easily miss. Cathline how did Liz take her coffee?"

"Umm Black without, I think." Cathline answered.

"And Stephanie Lane takes her coffee?" Kat asked.

"Umm, The same?" Robert asked.

"So they share the same taste in coffee" Cathline said.

"I’ve phoned Stephanie’s work. They were curious as to why I wanted to know how she took her coffee, I told them I was doing some market research for various companies. They then told me Stephanie Lane liked her Coffee white with a single sugar. However recently she’s been having it black without. I also asked them if Stephanie Lane had missed any internal flights recently and was she unhappy with the service. They answered that the only internal flight Stephanie had caught was on time and she flew out after a morning meeting. If you remember Stephanie stated that she had missed a flight because of a meeting and had to catch a later one. In other words she lied about when she flew out to meet us. She would have had ample time to set off the explosives at the lab and wreck our cars" Kat said.

"Kat, this all sounds very convincing, you’re telling us that you worked all this out just now, from this one song" Cathline said sceptically.

"No, I’d been suspicious for some time. It seemed so right that Liz was Monica but somehow it didn’t FEEL right. As I’ve said before it was TOO obvious, Liz is too good to make it that clear. I’ve been working things out bit by bit, afraid to say anything in case it alerted Stephanie. It didn’t all click into place until I heard this part of the song

‘And you can fly to the other side of the world

You know you’ll only find

I’ve reserved the seat behind you

We can talk about old times...’

 

Who sat behind Matthew on the flight over?. Easy Cathline and Stephanie" Kat announced.

"Still sounds suss to me" Cathline said.

"I think it makes perfect sense. As Stephanie she could keep and eye on us and steer us in whatever direction she wanted. As our greatest resource she could bring about our downfall" Kat said.

"This is all circumstantial evidence. It fits, but only because you’ve made it fit" Robert said.

"I’ve thought of that. What do you say we lure Stephanie to the bunker, tie her up and then confront her as though she were Liz? Make out that we know all about it and try and get her to admit it. If she’s not Liz then fair enough I’m wrong, otherwise we have her" Kat said.

"Sounds good to me" Matthew said.

"It’s the only way to be sure!" Robert said.

"Right, Mat, you go get Stephanie and tell her Cathline’s managed to activate the DNA system and we need her in the bunker. The rest of us will lay in wait" Kat directed.

It took Matthew an hour to find Stephanie, she was sitting on a rock looking out to sea.

"Hi Steph" Matthew said.

"Hi, what’s happening"

"I’ve been asked to tell you that Cathline has managed to activate the DNA system. She wants you to come and help"

Stephanie gave a surprised look "Really? I thought the security systems were too good"

"Apparently not, Race you back" Matthew said and sprinted off.

They arrived, breathless at the bunker. Matthew had ensured that Stephanie won and went down the bunker first.

With a shriek the rest of the group fell upon Stephanie. Overpowered by so many She had no chance. They bound her hand and foot to a chair near the console. Stephanie was screaming "What the Fuck are you doing?" but soon stopped when Kat said.

"Hello ‘Hell Bitch’, Nice to meet you at last.."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Dr Bexley’s gone" Stephanie screamed.

"I must say it was a very,very clever move switching with Stephanie Lane" Kat said.

"I’m Stephanie Lane. Kat what are you playing at. Let me go" Stephanie said.

"Listen ‘hell bitch", we know all about it. The Statues in the hall, how you used a song to base some of your plans on and how you wanted us to believe that we had turned you into a cat. Don’t fuck with me I’m not in the mood " Kat snarled.

An evil smile spread across Stephanie’s face. "What a clever little kitty Kat you are. I was right not to underestimate you."

 

40. Faustian Pact.

===================

"Elizabeth?" Matthew asked.

"Hello twin, My body suits you!" Elizabeth said smugly.

"This is for John you bastard" Cathline spat and slapped Elizabeth hard around the face.

"I expected more from you, Lover" Elizabeth taunted.

"You.." Cathline started to take a swing again but Kat stopped her.

"Not yet. I’ve got some questions to ask her" Kat said.

"Fire away. It’s academic anyway. What has been set in motion cannot be avoided" Elizabeth said in a matter of fact way.

"Who did we just turn into a cat?" Kat asked in dread.

"That’s easy, I’m surprised you haven’t worked it out. Kitty Liz is the real Stephanie Lane. You see I wanted her out of the way and so, as Rachel Martin I invited her to my island for a vacation. Oh and I threw in an exclusive interview as to why Rachel Martin vanished. She could not refuse and I had the guild take her. I used one of my Rachel Martin pills on her and got the guild to look after her until I could release her. I then flew back and took over as Stephanie Lane just before Xmas. I released the real Stephanie lane when I got here and you did the rest." Elizabeth said in a cold calculating way.

"Bastard!" Kat spat.

"That’s what Rachel meant when her last words were ‘ste’ I thought they were supposed to be ‘Stop’ but now I see that she was trying to say ‘Stephanie’. We gave her no chance at all" Matthew said sadly. Elizabeth just grinned back, completely un-repentant.

"How’d you get Stephanie Lane’s DNA?" Cathline asked.

"Easy, just before my interview as Rachel Martin started I went to bathroom in Stephanie Lane’s apartment. It was easy to pick hairs from her brushes, store them away and there we are. She never knew a thing." Elizabeth said.

"You fucking bastard!" Cathline swore again.

"You mean we turned Stephanie Lane into a cat" Robert said, shocked.

"Yep. Neat huh, You’re just as guilty as I am" Elizabeth said.

"No, you set her up, just as you set John up." Cathline screamed at Liz.

"Maybe but you still did it" Elizabeth laughed back.

Elizabeth’s laughter was met by another hard slap from Cathline. Elizabeth’s nose started to bleed. Kat watched on impassive and unwilling to intervene this time.

"Why Stephanie Lane and not me?" Said Kat

"Easy. As a journalist I controlled all the information that you saw and read. I could kill the story if required and you would just be a load of cranks. As your ‘leader’ I could keep an eye on you and manipulate what you did. By being the mediator between you, I could censor the stories you told. Another bonus was that it stopped Stephanie Lane from poking around. I had great fun laughing at you lot, you and your stupid passcodes." Elizabeth said, the bleeding from her nose had slowed to a trickle.

"As I thought. So why encourage us to team up? We would have been easier to deal with one by one. Further more why not get the guild to do it?" Kat said.

"Elementary my dear Kat. If I’d have picked you off one by one you would have suspected that I was onto you and been much more careful. The disappearance of all those to do with the Bexley trial would have got the cops and world media interested in something else other than why my twin over there killed John. Eventually they would have got me. Much, much easier to deal with you in one go than try and take you on one at a time. As for the guild I could have asked them to dispose of you but then I would not have gained any satisfaction from it, besides the money part was true. I’m nearly broke. Oh and Matthew, nice shot by the way. It looked great from where I stood. Right at the base of the skull." Elizabeth said with a wry grin.

"Was it you, who got the guild to get me out?" Matthew demanded, ignoring Elizabeth’s last jibe.

"Yes indeed it was. I needed to kill you myself for what you did to me and my family, not have some faceless executioner do it. That’s why I rigged the trial, so I could be the hand that finally put you out of my misery. No matter what happens you are on the run. In other words, not only are you me forever you face a life of desperation and fear. Eventually the cops will get you and that will be that. Your release also served as a lure for you to join up with the rest of them. I knew that you could not resist being reunited with your beloved Kat again. The added bonus of you looking like me is that it will allow me access to my things at Mom and Dad’s house and their resources" Elizabeth stated.

"But they’ve been frozen" Robert said.

"They would’nt be when Robert here got Matthew off, which of course ‘Stephanie Lane’ would have helped with. It would then be a simple matter to turn myself back into the old me,dispose of Matthew and volia, instant millions. Cathline, did you realise that it was me as Jennifer Porter that tipped you off about my deal with her?"

"WHAT!" Cathline exclaimed.

"After I’d heard about the bust up you and Kat had I needed to get you back together again. That seemed the easiest way, rekindle your hatred of me" Elizabeth stated.

"Liz, I didn’t hate you. Not until I learned what you’ve done did I hate you. I’d always hoped that we could be together. I loved you Liz, but your twisted mind took that as though I hated you" Cathline said sadly.

For the first time since her capture Elizabeth lost her haughty aloofness. Her shoulders bowed and she began to cry. "I, I thought you were betraying me" she sobbed.

"Never mind that, we can all say our piece later. I want to know about the lab. What the Fuck blew it up and why did you do it?" Kat demanded.

"As to what, that’s very easy. Several tonnes of compressed Propane gas mixed in with air, commonly known as fuel-air explosives. I had the devices fitted as a fail-safe. As to why, I’m surprised none of you worked it out. My plan was to lure you all to a conference at the lab, lock down the systems and then boom. Vickie and Jane spoiled that for me. It was the only setback I’d had. I then had to switch to my alternate ending" Elizabeth explained.

"Get us to go to your Island" Matthew said.

"Exactly. I’d release Stephanie Lane and then you would do the rest. I could then fly back and vanish, leaving the story dead in the water. Yes my DNA system would be lost but I would able to build another. "

"It almost Fucking worked. If it wasn’t for my paranoid nature and that CD" Kat said.

"My one and only mistake and such a small one. Mind you, even with me out of the way Kitty Kat, your dream marriage is over, Cathline is still alone and Robert, dear Robert I fear that Monica will not be able to cope with you as you are. No matter the outcome I win." Elizabeth grinned with satisfaction.

"Why this?" Robert said is he pointed to his female body.

"Why not? Call it a sadistic streak. No-one will believe such a cute lady is the great Robert Abbey, it puts strain on all your relationships and damages your credibility. Besides I needed your body to rig the trial" Elizabeth said.

"So who was the fake Robert Abbey?" Kat Asked.

"Roger Ferry. He visited me soon after I had switched with Stephanie Lane. He was some Kitty hybrid and would have been very damaging, if his testimony had been told. I slipped some sedative into his milk and the guild took him for me. Later on I gave him a Robert Abbey pill. Unfortunately he had some kind of allergic reaction to it and died soon after the change. The guild then made it look like a mugging that had gone wrong. Just like I’d wanted them to all along. Roger Ferry just saved them the trouble of killing him."

"I just thought, what’d you do with Jennifer Porter?" Kat asked.

"She was a loose end that needed to be tied" Elizabeth said as though she were talking about fabric rather than a human life.

"Elizabeth. Why’d you do it? Your’e a doctor, why’d you cause so much harm to so many." Matthew asked with a tears in his eyes.

"Matthew, we are yin and yang, we are the never-ending circle. We cannot be apart because we are forever joined. When you jilted me it was more than humiliation it was as though my heart had been split asunder and my spirit poured out. You, even now fail to see it. We are supposed to be together. You spoke of you and Kat being soul mates, that is not true. Search how you feel, you know I’m right. I was content to leave the rest of you alone but Matthew, you killed my parents. I had to retaliate. Not only did you destroy me as a person you destroyed my entire family. With you dead, at least I could be content in the knowledge that mom and dad had been avenged. Everytime you look in the mirror you will see me. We are joined and no-one can separate us." Elizabeth said in the same manner a doctor gives bad news to a patient.

"What about the rest of us?, why us?" Robert asked.

"Sorry to blunt your ego’s but you were just loose ends. Pawns if you like.

I do so hate loose ends." Elizabeth said smugly.

"Bitch" Robert screamed and lunged at Elizabeth but Kat stopped him.

"I’d like to take a few moments with Liz, alone." Cathline said.

"Me too, After Cathline" Matthew said.

"Are you sure?" Kat asked cautiously.

"Look, you can wait just outside. I’ll be fine. She’s not going anywhere" Cathline said.

As the rest of them walked out the room. Cathline sat down on the chair opposite Liz and glared at her with her one good eye.

"I can fix that y’know. " Liz gestured towards the patch.

"Probably. It doesn’t matter anymore. We could have been so right for each other and you had to destroy it in your never-ending quest for vengeance. Why did I let myself love you?" Cathline said bitterly.

"You didn’t love me. You wanted to use me, just like all the rest. Sorry Cathline but I don’t believe you. You wanted to use me to turn John into a woman so you could have your husband and a wife all in one. As soon as my job was done I’d have been discarded like some useless trash. " Liz said. Again her composure cracked and she resumed crying.

"Liz. What you didn’t see was me calling out to you to rescue me when I was in that hell hole of a harem. How I held onto the feelings of when you touched me HERE and THERE when the guards came to rape me. It was my feelings for you and John that kept me sane for those four months. I then learn that it was you who put me in there and you who had arranged the whole thing. You say you feel betrayed, how in fuck do you think I feel. You’ve turned me into a creature of hatred, what love there was for you has gone. I’m more like you are everyday that goes by. If I didn’t have Kat and the other’s I’d be consumed just like you are" Cathline said, her tears flowing freely now.

"You, You LOVED me?" Elizabeth asked, still not believing what Cathline had told her.

"Of course I did. You were smart,funny and beautiful what was there not to love. I didn’t see the psychotic, sociopathic heart beneath until it was too late" Cathline said.

"There’s nothing wrong with my heart, only that it has been broken once too often" Liz said.

"Why’d you let John be killed?" Cathline asked the pain of the question showing in her face.

"He was just a loose end that needed trying up." Liz said in a matter of fact way.

"YOU could have stopped it" Cathline sobbed.

"It wasn’t me who pulled the trigger. You can blame Missy Matthew for killing John. I just gave John a way of escape which, tragically Matthew cut short. He’s more to blame than I am" Liz said.

"It was you who drove him to it. I’ve seen the effects of your transformations on people. It’s devastating. I know Kat keeps it quiet for everyone’s sake but she hates being Jasmine from Aladdin" Cathline said.

"Yes the choice of Jasmine was inspired don’t you think" Liz smiled.

"If we were plotting, like in the old days I would agree with you. But this is real people with real hopes and dreams. You can’t just play with them like some kind of puppeteer. Kat wanted to have kids and a proper marriage" Cathline said forcefully.

"Bit hard now isn’t it. I suppose the question is, is which one would be the mother and who’s sperm would you use." Liz laughed.

"I’ve had enough of you. Goodbye Liz. I hope you enjoy life as a cat because I won’t be feeding you." And Cathline stormed out.

"Is it my turn now?" Matthew asked Cathline as she emerged fuming from her encounter with Liz.

"Anytime you want. She’s evil, she’s utterly amoral I vote for giving her the kitty treatment" Cathline said.

"I hate to say this but I do to" Kat said.

"Look you two go off and do something. I won’t be long" Matthew said and went back inside the DNA chamber.

"I knew you’d be back my love" Elizabeth said.

"What’s all this love crap?. You said you wanted to kill me." Matthew said, sitting down on the chair that Cathline had just been sitting on.

"Love, hate, it’s all the same. You do see that we are forever linked. You said to us that you wished you had taken up my offer the first time. That the cost of your freedom was too high. I now make that offer again. Be with me. Be Rachel Martin’s boyfriend, be the envy of the world. "

"You’re in no position to bargain this time" Matthew interrupted.

"I’m in a stronger position that you think. Face it if you stay with Kat what have you to look forward to, A life on the run, A life in a strange body, never being able to father children. All your dreams would be lost. If you come with me now, then I can make them happen again. Only I can reverse the fixer that binds you. I can design you a male body as perfect as Rachel Martin’s was female. No chemical leash this time. Just you and me forever." Elizabeth said seductively.

"I love Kat, no matter what" Matthew said forcefully.

"That maybe but what quality of life will you have?" Elizabeth continued

"What about avenging the deaths of your parents?" Matthew demanded.

"There’s been enough death, now let’s get on with life. I see that now" Elizabeth said.

"I’m sorry I don’t believe you. I think that you’re trying to talk your way out of things. It won’t work." Matthew said sternly.

"We had some fun didn’t we?" Elizabeth said changing the subject.

"Yeah we did" Matthew smiled.

"Remember when we had the gurney race at the hospital?" Elizabeth smiled.

"YOU cheated" Matthew said, pointing a finger at Elizabeth.

"It wasn’t my fault a nurse got in the way"

"Was too. You called ‘Quick Nurse, I need help stat!’ and the poor nurse stepped right out in front of me. I was winning too." Matthew said, smile on his face for the first time.

"You’re only jealous that you didn’t think of it. Say what about the holiday we had in Europe. That was great wasn’t it" Elizabeth said.

"Sure was. Mind you, your driving was lethal in England." Matthew said.

"I got confused. They drive on the wrong side of road. Anyway it wasn’t for very far. " Elizabeth said.

"Far enough for my life to flash in front of me" Matthew stated.

"See we could have the same fun again, more so. All you have to do is agree to my offer" Elizabeth said.

"You’re right we did have some fun. But I didn’t love you. I would be living a lie if I’d have married you. Your hurt would be much, much worse if I’d have stayed. When did you want revenge on me?, when did you start plotting all this?" Matthew said sadly.

"I was on my way to a conference on the west coast. I stopped off in the town where you were living. I saw you and Kat coming out of a cinema. Hatred of you took over then. You were my demon that I had to exorcise. Every bad thing that happened to me was your fault. This whole thing was because you destroyed me, I distrusted Cathline because of it and her situation is down to my mistrust of her. As you can see I’m over that now. No longer Nemesis but Hera. I’ll give up my powers over all animal and vegetable life to be with you again" Elizabeth said.

"If I agree to your offer will you try to put everything right?" Matthew said. His head spinning with confusion.

"Yep. I’ll return you to a male body, Kat to her normal Jane Norton self. Given time I can probably clone John from his tissue sample’s Cathline got for me. Cathline’s eye can be restored. Everything can be as it was. We can begin again" Elizabeth said persuasively.

"How can you restore John?, I shot him" Matthew said amazed at Elizabeth’s last statement.

"I have his DNA. I can re-create his memories from patterns in his brain, which will still be there. All I need is a living thing to use it on. A large dog will do. Thinking about it the same trick should work for Stephanie Lane." Elizabeth said.

"You can restore everything?" Matthew said, in awe of the power in which the lady in front of him could wield. The power of life and death.

"Robert I cannot restore yet. I’ve improved the fixer, A version 2 if you like. That cannot be undone. I can however perform the same trick on him as I could do on John"

"I need to discuss this with the others" Matthew said.

"I’m not going anywhere" Elizabeth said.

Matthew left the room, his mind in a whirl. Now what should he do? Elizabeth was promising to make amends and restore everything back the way it was. The cost was him marrying Elizabeth and obeying her. It was Oh so tempting. Look there’s Cathline.

"Cathline, I have some news. Quick bring Robert and Kat now. I’ll wait here and ensure Elizabeth doesn’t escape."

"OK" Cathline said and raced off to find the others. After a short while they came running into the statue room.

"What is it?" Kat said , panting.

"It’s Elizabeth. She can fix everything. Make me a man again, Fix Cathline’s eye and even bring John back " Matthew said excitedly.

"HOW?" Cathline said.

Matthew explained Elizabeth’s offer.

"Hmm it’s theoretically possible. If anyone could do it Liz could" Cathline said.

"So the price of all this is that you marry the ‘hell bitch’ Kat said angrily.

"That’s the size of it. Kat I don’t want to. What I want is to be with you but sometimes what we want and what we need to do are different things" Matthew said sadly.

"No, I won’t allow it. I love you, I thought you loved me too" Kat said in tears.

"I love you more than I can say. But this way I can make amends for what I did to Cathline and John. Correct my worst nightmare" Matthew said tearfully.

"To have John back again. To feel his touch again..." Cathline was crying now. Her hatred of Liz beginning to melt with the prospect of having John back again.

"I could go back to Monica, as me. Rebuild again" Robert said softly.

"What kind of life would you have?" Kat asked Matthew in unbelief.

"It doesn’t matter anymore . Things would be right again, that’s more important than how I would live." Matthew said.

"But what about the ‘hell bitch’ she gets off Scott free. What about what she deserves. What about me, what’ll happen to me?" Kat said emotion building in her voice.

"Don’t you think there’s been enough suffering and revenge. The circle of destruction must be broken. Kat I’ll love you forever. You are the most unselfish person I know. You’ll grow to understand" Matthew said, his head still swimming.

"If she can bring people back from the dead, by using this cloning technique why didn’t she use it on her parents" Kat demanded.

"Maybe their bodies were too badly burned" Cathline said.

"Let’s vote on it" Matthew said.

"All those for taking up Elizabeth’s offer" Cathline said.

All the hands went up except Kat who stormed off.

"Kat Wait." Matthew called after her.

"Leave her, she’ll understand" Robert said.

"You go on alone and tell her. We’ll start dinner" Cathline said and she and Robert walked off.

Matthew walked forelornly into the bunker. His head still feeling a little confused. Elizabeth still sat there.

"Well?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Deal. I’ll marry you in return for restoring all the damage you’ve done.

If you fail then I’m outta here" Matthew said.

"Come here and let your fiancee kiss you" Elizabeth said.

Matthew went forward and Elizabeth kissed him, her lips pressing against his. Her tongue mingled with his and in spite of himself Matthew felt himself get aroused. Elizabeth started to nibble his ear and whispered "Fail-safe Jezebel".

Matthew stood bolt upright, unable to move and powerless to resist.

"Now my precious. Untie me " Elizabeth said sweetly.

Powerless to resist Matthew felt himself untying Elizabeth’s bonds.

Elizabeth got up and stretched her stiff limbs and said "Oh that’s better. I

LOVE failsafe’s. By the way. The effects should only last an hour and the deal I made with you was quite,quite false. I could not and would not restore anything to anyone. Whilst I’m at it about your headache. Well the phrase ‘No longer Nemesis but Hera’ triggered that off and made you more open to suggestion. Don’t worry that will only last a short while"

Matthew was horrified at what he just done but was powerless to prevent it. The headache grew oppressive and he was unable to move.

"Now you will pass me one of those dart guns over there, a Rachel Martin Pill and when I leave you will not be able to speak or move for a hour."

Unwilling as he was Matthew could not help but retrieve a dart gun from the armory and a Rachel Martin dose from the medicine cabinet. With every ounce of will he tried to resist but he was powerless to prevent himself handing them over to a gloating Elizabeth. As soon as she took them Matthew’s body stiffened and he could no longer speak.

Elizabeth ran out of the room.

Kat had cooled down a little and was walking back into the house. She walked past the bunker and wondered what had happened. Was Matthew really committed to marrying the ‘Hell Bitch’. Her gut feeling said no, he wouldn’t do it unless forced somehow. She ran back into the bunker to see Matthew standing, unmoving in the corner of the room. The chair that had once held Dr Elizabeth Bexley was empty, the bonds lay scattered on the floor. "Matthew!" She screamed at tried to shake him awake. Nothing was forthcoming, it was as though he had been transfixed or turned to stone. A quick check showed that, mercifully he was still alive. Kat ran to the armory and took a dart gun and then unable to help further she ran out of the room to get Cathline and Robert.

She found them in the kitchen. Cathline lay on the ground blood oozing from a gash in her head. Robert had fared little better, he just lay next to Cathline his head swollen from the impact of a blunt instrument, mercifully they too were still alive. With no time to lose Kat ran out of the house and to the jetty.

"She must be headed to her yacht. It’s closer." Kat reasoned. So it came down to this. As she had always feared she would have to face the ‘hell bitch’ alone. Fear gripped Kat as she ran towards the jetty. "Focus Kat, it’s down to you now". A quirky thought struck Kat , the kind that sometimes leaps into focus in moments of terror. Kat remembered the fear mantra from Dune "fear is the mind killer,fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I Will face my fear". Fuck doesn’t work thought Kat but she still carried on running.

 

41. I’ll Teach You To Make Me A Disney Character You Bitch.

===========================================================

Liz was just starting to untie the last mooring rope on the jetty when a nearly exhausted Kat caught up with her.

"Hold it right there ‘Hell Bitch’!" Kat shouted and aimed her dart gun at Liz.

Liz whirled round and saw Kat pointing the dart gun right at her. Kat was standing about three metres away, her gun wobbling slightly in a mixture of fear and fury.

"Put the gun down,slowly" Kat demanded.

Liz noticed that Kat was nervous and formulated a plan, she slowly knelt down and began to put the dart gun down. However as she did so she slowly lifted the barrel upwards, gradually aiming it at Kat. It was nearly on the floor when the aim was just right.

"Too Slow Kitty Kat" Liz said and fired.

The dart shot out from the gun and hit Kat in the left shoulder. Kat screamed and instinctively reached up and pulled the dart from her shoulder. Unable to move for the shock she stood there for a few moments and then fell to the floor.

"Far too slow KITTY Kat" Liz said and went back to untying her yacht.

Kat lay on the floor in great pain. The wound was slight but the pain oh the pain. Kat’s body was shaking and sweating with fever. Her limbs ached and her head felt as though it was about to explode. A sudden wave of pain shot thru her body causing her to convulse.

Kat’s dart gun was painfully just out of reach. Thru the pain Kat focused all of her will into moving a hand towards the gun. Just a little further. Only another inch to go.

Liz had nearly finished untying the last mooring rope and she turned to Kat and just laughed. She then saw Kat reaching for the gun and ran to kick it away from her.

With last monumental effort Kat caught hold of the gun just in time to see Liz bearing down on her. Liz was a metre away when, with the very last moments of her strength and will Kat fired.

Liz screamed as the dart hit her left leg. She reached out and quickly pulled it out, finding out too late that the phial inside was empty. She stared in horror at the empty dart and ran towards the now barely conscious Kat.

"Bitch" Liz screamed and kicked Kat in the stomach. Kat winced in pain. "Bitch" Liz shouted and followed it up with another kick this time to the head. Kat’s face was bleeding now. Another kick followed and another and another until a sudden pain caused Elizabeth to collapse to the floor next to Kat.

 

42. Prices Paid.

================

Matthew slowly came round. The feeling of numbness died away and after a short period of time he was in control again. He turned around to see the chair where Elizabeth had been empty. The ropes lying on the floor and Elizabeth nowhere to be found. "FUCK FUCK FUCK" He said out loud and ran off to find the others.

He was horrified to see Cathline and Robert laying motionless on the floor. A small pool of drying blood lay beside Cathline but she at least was still alive. Robert was unconscious on the floor, a large bruise forming on the back of his head. Matthew quickly put them into the recovery position is case they choked on their own blood and went to look for Kat.

"She must’ve gone after Elizabeth" Matthew reasoned and headed towards the Jetty. After an exhausting sprint down he was horrified to see Kat laying as though dead on the ground. Elizabeth lay near her, her face slowly reshaping into that of Rachel Martin.

"KAT" He screamed and ran to help her. He knelt down and felt a pulse, pulling down one eyelid he could see that Kat was almost comatose. A small patch of blood was seeping onto Kat’s blouse. A dart lay nearby. It was obvious as to what had happened. Elizabeth had shot Kat who had managed to somehow shoot her back. But what was in the darts. Kat should be safe because of the fixer in her bloodstream so why was she comatose?

Matthew turned his attention to Elizabeth, now almost fully Rachel Martin again.

"So it’s just you and me now" Matthew said.

"Fail-safe" Elizabeth started to say but more convulsions shook her body again. In pain Elizabeth ripped her skirt off as more and more pain wracked her body. She was gasping for breath, unable to speak or hardly breath. "No Not That one!" She gasped and she tried to crawl away from Matthew.

Elizabeth let out a scream that seemed to echo around the island.

Matthew looked on in amazement as Elizabeth’s feet seemed to thin out.

Elizabeth was sweating now "Please stop it now" she sobbed.

Matthew was unwilling to do so and now the changes started in earnest. There was a crunch of bone and suddenly Elizabeth’s legs were pressed together "I can’t move them apart" She screamed. Her toes seemed to elongate until they stretched out about two feet in each direction. "For the love of God help me" Elizabeth sobbed.

Her plea fell on deaf ears as Matthew stood and watched Elizabeth’s legs start to thin out and lose that feminine muscular shape. A flap of skin formed between her feet, joining them together. Elizabeth saw this and scrabbled at it trying to get it to stop. "Get to the Lab. Help me. Oww the pain" She screamed.

The skin had now joined Elizabeth’s legs all the way to the knees. Elizabeth was in pain again, unable to speak, her legs quivering in reaction to the changes going on. Matthew noticed that all her toes had now fused into the one long one. Her legs were also now joined all of the way up forming a kind of tail.

More changes rippled beneath Elizabeth’s ‘tail’. Her knees vanished and her whole ‘tail’ smoothed out. Underneath the skin rippled and convulsions could be seen as the internal structure of her legs was altered. Her feet merged and lengthed into a point and her two long ‘toes’ splayed outwards. Skin formed between the toes and a large fishes fin took shape. Elizabeth’s face looked downwards in horror at the creature she was becoming.

"A mermaid. You’re becoming a Mermaid" Matthew said in amazement.

"I know. Fail-safe " Elizabeth started to say but her last words turned into a scream as she saw a small row of green scales formed on her fin.

"Failsafe’s won’t work anymore. I’m retreating to a safe distance. I think you’ve got everything you deserved. Goodbye Elizabeth" and Matthew retreated several metres away.

"No help me. I love you" Screamed Elizabeth as the scales began to form under her skin. Inch by painful inch they grew thru the skin until they had formed all the way up to where Elizabeth’s hips had been. Elizabeth reached down and stroked them, unable to believe that this fishes tail belonged to her. Another piecing scream told all those who could hear it that the changes were complete.

Elizabeth tried to stand up on her fishes tail but it was too weak. She could manage to drag herself along the ground but it was a real effort.

Heavy footsteps behind Matthew made him whirl round. A bloodied but alert Cathline followed by Robert ran to stand alongside him.

"What’s going on?" Robert said.

"We got her" Matthew said and pointed to Elizabeth.

"Kat" Cathline shouted and went to help her.

Matthew stopped her "She’s ok. We need to deal with Elizabeth now. I think Seaworld would love a real live mermaid to display. You two hold her. I’ll go get a net"

Elizabeth seeing the two of them walking towards her starting shuffling herself to the edge of the jetty. With one last heave she was into the water and gone with a powerful flick of her tail.

"She’s escaped again" Cathline shrieked.

"Doesn’t matter anymore. Come help me with Kat" Robert said.

It took an hour for them to carry the comatose Kat back to the house.

They laid her down in one of the bedrooms.

"What’s up with her?" Matthew asked Cathline.

"No Idea. I think the dose in the dart she took is reacting with the fixer in her body. I’ll go down to the bunker and take a blood sample" Cathline said concerned.

A few minutes later Cathline was back with a syringe, it took a few moments to draw a sample of blood from Kat’s arm. "Robert could you stay here and watch her. Matthew and I will go downstairs and analyse this" Cathline suggested.

"Sure. Boy have I a headache" Robert said.

"Yeah Me too. This won’t take long" Cathline said and she and Matthew walked out of the door.

"I wanted to stay" Matthew protested.

"If it’s what I think it is, you don’t" Cathline said cryptically.

Cathline worked hard for an hour and then gave her prognosis to Matthew. It’s what I suspected. This new dose, whatever it is has been treated with the version 2 fixer. It’s fighting off and removing all traces of the original fixer. When it’s done Kat too will begin to change" Cathline said sadly.

"Into what?, another mermaid like Elizabeth" Matthew said in fear of what Cathline might say next.

"No, I don’t think so. The imaging system is still working on it. It should be done in about five minutes" Cathline said.

"Can’t we give her a Rachel Martin dose or something. Replace what she will become with what we want her to be" Matthew asked.

"Won’t work. The original fixer is locking her old form, the new one is locking her new one. We can’t do anything but wait. I’m sorry" Cathline said and hugged Matthew.

Five minutes seemed like five days as the imaging system rendered it’s findings from the blood sample. Line by line an image of Rachel Martin appeared.

"Hey I could be married to Rachel Martin" Matthew exclaimed.

"Sorry that’s just the base form. Y’know how Liz changed into Rachel Martin first before becoming a mermaid. There’s more to come" Cathline said in tears.

An agonising minute later the figure of Rachel Martin on screen began to change, when it had finished Matthew and Cathline screamed in unison

"NOO"

Robert was just watching Kat’s face when he thought he saw some eye movement, he waited a while longer. There it was again. He rushed downstairs to find a tearful Matthew and Cathline.

"Kat’s waking up" Robert said.

"I know. Look what she’s turning into" Matthew sobbed and showed Robert the screen.

"Fucking hell, I’m sorry" Robert exclaimed.

"What do we do about it? How do we tell her?" Matthew said

"We don’t. We’ll keep her under sedation until all the changes has run their course. We can then explain to her and reduce the shock that way. It’s too late to do anything else. Matthew go upstairs and tell her that we’re looking after her and everything’s going to be OK. Give her a glass of water with this sedative in it" Cathline said.

Matthew went upstairs, knocked and went inside, expecting to see the creature he had just seen on screen. However Kat was still Kat.

"Hi. What’s up?" Kat said, noticing Matthew’s grim look.

"You got her, she’s gone for good" Matthew said sadly.

"Why the glum looks then?" Kat asked.

"She got you too" Matthew said.

"I know but I feel fine. Thank God for fixer" Kat said.

"Yeah. Here drink this. Cathline says you’re dehydrated and need your liquids." Matthew said.

"Thanks, Did I turn Liz into a cat?" Kat asked and then drank the water

"Nope. Those dart guns were filled with some kind of mythical creature doses. Maybe Elizabeth intended to use them on us. Y’know rob us of our humanity. Anyway Elizabeth is now a very unhappy mermaid" Matthew said.

Kat smiled. "As long as we don’t go near water then we’re home and dry"

"Kinda" Matthew said held Kat’s hand.

"I’m so tired" Kat said and drifted off to sleep. Matthew sat next to her on the bed, just holding her hand and waiting.

Matthew had fallen asleep when he felt Kat’s hand begin to change. He awoke with a start. The first stage change was underway. A nearly complete Rachel Martin lay in the bed where his beloved Kat once was. Matthew let go of Kat’s hand and awoke Cathline.

"Cathline. Kat’s now Rachel Martin" Matthew said sadly.

"Hmm faster than I thought. Look I’ll be up soon and we can continue to sedate her.

It was a long night. Robert,Cathline and Matthew took it in turns to watch over Kat and ensure that she remained asleep. Robert noticed the first change the next afternoon. His report was met with a sense of doom. Elizabeth may not be human anymore but neither would Kat.

There was a change every 12 hours or so for the next 4 days. Each day taking Kat further and further away from humanity. Matthew stood watch the most, unwilling to leave her bedside for more than a few hours.

They waited two agonising days after the last change had happened to ensure that it was done and then convened a meeting.

"So Cathline what’s your findings?" Robert asked.

"The changes have stopped. I’ve done a blood test and it shows positive for only fixer version 2. This is Kat’s final form. We need to gently wean Kat off the sedative and slowly bring her round. Matthew I think you should be the one to tell her."

"Agreed. I must admit Kat does look awesome in her new body. Much better in the flesh than on screen." Matthew said.

"I’m glad you can see a positive side because Kat will be like that for a very long time. She will need us all and she needs to understand that we all care for her and will stand with her" Cathline said.

They gradually weaned Kat off the sedatives over the next day. Then A week after the she had been hit by the dart Kat started to come round.

Kat’s head hurt. She knew she’d been asleep for ages and why was it so hot in here. She opened her eyes and saw Matthew’s concerned face peering down at her.

"Hey you OK?" He asked.

"Groggy. Why’s it so hot in here?"

"It’s not. Listen I have some very bad news for you. I want you know I still love you and the others care for you a great deal." Matthew said sadly.

"What’s up? Strange my voice is different, kinda fuzzy." Kat said, puzzled.

"The fixer didn’t stop you from changing. We’ve been keeping an eye on you for the past week. Don’t worry you’re still beautiful." Matthew said

"What, What am I?" Kat rasped and she went to sit up.

Matthew put a hand on the sheet covering Kat’s chest. "Not yet, A part at a time."

What are they being so cagey about, hold on a moment I feel as though I’m sitting on a part of me. Kat thought. "Pass me the mirror" Kat said.

"Remember I love you" Matthew said and handed Kat the mirror.

Kat started in the mirror and saw a tigers face but with elements of a human face still there. Her nose, no muzzle pointed outwards and her ears, now cat shaped, had moved up onto the top of her head. Surrounding this face was a frame of long black hair. Her skin had been replaced with orange and black fur. Small black stripes of fur ran over her nose and her face was surrounded by another band of white fur. Kat did the only thing she could screamed.

"Hey it’s OK" Matthew started.

"I. I want to see the rest of me" Kat demanded.

"Not yet"

"Listen don’t treat me with kid gloves. I want to see what I am and what the fuck am I sitting on?" Kat said crossly.

"Stay where you are. I’ll bring over that full length mirror over here. As to the thing you are sitting on, well that’s your tail".

"Get that mirror over here" Kat screamed.

Matthew walked over to the mirror and turned it to face Kat.

Kat started to sit up. "Ow" she said as she sat on what she assumed must be her tail. Kat looked down at her arms. On the upper side they were covered with orange fur with the occasional black stripe. Her hands were still covered in the same fur but mercifully she had still kept her fingers, although the ends were more pointed than usual. Kat looked under the sheet and saw that her whole body was covered in fine layer of fur. Her hand reached up and touched her face. It felt like stroking a well groomed cat. " I can’t cope with this" Kat cried.

"Yes you can. We both can" Matthew said and took her hand.

"Help me up I want to see the rest of me" Kat demanded.

"Only if you’re sure" Matthew said and reached up and pulled Kat upright.

Slowly Kat walked to the mirror and screamed once again. She took another look. Kat estimated she was about six feet high. She still had Rachel Martin’s muscle tone and curvy form but every part of her was covered in fur. The front of her body was white, as was the inside of her legs and arms. The rest was orange with black stripes. Suddenly appearing from her ass was a long, bushy, orange and black tail. It was about three feet long and seemed to have a life of it’s own. She looked down at her feet to see that the toes had fused together and formed a foot shaped paw.

Kat stepped back in horror "No. NOOO" She screamed and promptly fainted. Matthew managed to catch her and struggled to move her to the bed. Boy was she heavy. He laid her on her side so to stop her sitting on her tail.

Cathline knocked and then came in.

"How is she?" Cathline asked.

"As well as can be expected. It’ll take time for her to adjust" Matthew said.

"How bout you?" Cathline said.

"Which bit?. The bit about having Dr Elizabeth Bexley’s body or being married to a tigress" Matthew asked.

"Both." Cathline said.

"I still hate being a woman but I now realise I must get on with my life. Be the best ‘husband’ to Kat I can be. As to Kat’s new body, I simply don’t know yet. Sure it’s mighty sexy in some ways. In others it’s horrible. How would you like to kiss a tiger?" Matthew said glumly.

"No idea. What I do know is that you’ll work it out. I once said that I hated you and that you were only useful as long as we were up against Liz" Cathline said.

"I thought you’d forgotten about that".

"Not a chance. I’ve said all along that justice must be done. So as soon as I’m done here I’m going to turn you in" Cathline said.

"Wait a minute. I’ll be going to my death"

"Not with Robert Abbey and a wife who could star in born free" Cathline said.

"Cathline. I don’t know what to say" Matthew said.

"I realised after my last conversation with Liz that if I didn’t let go, break the circle of hatred. I’d become just like her. If I didn’t break it then she would have beaten me and John’s death would have been in vain. I couldn’t live with myself. I understand what you did and why you did it. I must let John go. There still the other matter in that I promised to turn you in if I had the chance. Since I keep my promises that’s why I’m going to" Cathline said.

"When?"

"When we’re done here and when Robert’s got enough evidence to get you free" Cathline said.

"Thanks" Matthew said.

"Anytime" Cathline said and walked out.

Kat awoke about half an hour later. She put a furred hand to her face, felt it’s silky fur ,gave the fur a tug and just said "Fuck" and flopped back down into bed again.

End Day.

 

43. End + 30 days: Epilogue.

============================

It took Cathline ten days to work around most of the DNA system’s security, She still couldn’t design any new drugs but she could produce more doses of the designs already stored there. Nowhere could she find the design for version 2 of the fixer. In spite of several tries Kat,Robert and Matthew remained in their transformed bodies.

A month after Kat’s final transformation the group sat down around the large dining table for their weekly discussion and update meeting.

"How are you today Kat?" Cathline asked.

"Fine. I’m kinda getting used to this now. Matthew tells me I walk like a cheetah or something like that. Anyway I’ll miss being able to be with normal people." Kat said.

"She’s a real animal in bed. You can’t imagine what she does with that tail!" Matthew added with a grin, stroking Kat’s tail as it rested on his lap.

"How’s your efforts to turn us back to normal?" Robert asked, getting back to the point in question.

"Not going very well. That’s what I want to talk to you about. I cannot do anymore. I just don’t have the knowledge or the passcodes to get things going again. I really think we should destroy the machine. The guild may not want it but governments, the Mafia, anyone will. The guild could make a lot of money out of selling it’s location. Anyway the longer we leave it, the more likely the guild are to come." Cathline said.

"No we need it, I need to get back to being me" Robert complained.

"Yeah being like this is fun for a while but I want to be human again" Kat said.

"How do we know the guild know where the system is?" Matthew asked.

"Liz must’ve had help to install it and fly it out here. She used the guild and so they must know where it is" Cathline said.

"And if the guild pay us a visit?" Robert said.

Matthew made a throat slitting gesture.

"So the choice we have is to destroy the system and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, stay here and hope the guild never come or bug out, leaving the system for the guild or anyone to find" Cathline said seriously.

"If we choose the first then we’re stuck like this but then this curse could never be inflicted on the rest of the world. If we stay here there’s every chance we end up dead with our throat’s slit and if we leave, then we stay as we are and the system could then fall into the wrong hands again. Hobson’s choice huh?" said Matthew.

"Yep" Cathline said.

"Wait a sec, you mean to say that you want to stay like that!" Robert said.

"I made the selfish choice once. I’m not going to do that again. Yes I dislike this body but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing I’d helped unleash that infernal system on the world." Matthew said.

"I suppose" Robert mused.

"Listen We’ll discuss other things and then vote on it at the end" Kat said.

"Agreed. What’s next?" Cathline said.

"We’ve been bumming around on this island for a month now. What do we do now? Do we go back and try and live normal lives or what?" Robert asked.

"I’m staying here. I can’t really go back to normal life can I?" Kat said bitterly.

"Actually I’ve managed to decode Liz’s diaries on the system. They should be downloading now. I’d quite like to write all this up. I’ve got tons of stuff from Stephanie Lane’s notes so it should make quite a story. Y’know record people’s thoughts and stuff. It’d help Matthew’s defense for when I turn him in and besides the world ought to know what really went on." Cathline said.

"Excellent Idea. What about you Robert what are you going to do?"

Matthew said.

"Assuming we destroy the machine, go back home and try and patch things up with Mon. I take it you still want me to represent you?" Robert said.

"Yes Please. I’m staying with Kat. She still needs me as much as I need her. I’m staying put for a while" Matthew said.

"What about Dr Bexley’s money. If you prove you’re not the real Dr Bexley then you lose the 300 million." Cathline asked.

"Not necessarily. The money can be used to compensate all those who have been affected by Dr Bexley’s evil. I would suggest 10 million for all the families of the cops killed by the guild. About 30 million will do me nicely and Cathline how does 50 Million sound to you?" Robert said.

"The money isn’t going to make up for it" Cathline said.

"I know. But in principal.." Robert said.

"I’ll settle for 50 million" Cathline said.

"That leaves us with 120 million to play with. That should be more than enough" Kat said.

"There’s one other thing before we vote. I want to take the last Rachel Martin dose" Cathline said.

"Why? We should destroy everything to do with this" Kat said.

"I think, with some work I can use it to restore my eye. We may as well use the machine for good before we destroy it" Cathline said.

"Sure, you deserve it. How’d you feel about being the most beautiful woman in the world" Matthew said.

"It’s a burden I feel I can bear. Besides imagine having Rachel Martin defending you in court" Cathline said.

"So when are you going to take it?" Kat asked.

"Not for a while yet. I want to start work on your tales and check the dose out first." Cathline said.

"Let’s vote. Who wants to destroy the machine thus keeping themselves in their present body for good?" Kat said.

Cathline put her hand up right away.

Matthew did the same."Oh well" he said

Kat looked down at her furry body and swished her tail for a bit. Then at last she put her hand up."What the hell" She said.

"Robert?" Cathline asked.

"Promise me, this machine will never see the light of day again?" Robert said.

"We promise" Cathline said.

Slowly Robert put his hand up.

"Motion carried. When do we destroy it?" Kat said.

"Tomorrow" Cathline said.

The next day the remnant went into the bunker and retrieved a Rachel Martin dose for Cathline and another, different dose as evidence. They powered off the system and then set to work dismantling the computer systems that was the heart of the machine. The components they couldn’t de-install they smashed, the others they built up a large pile of hardware on the floor.

After several hours work the system was completely wrecked.

"What do we do with the processors and hard disks?" Matthew asked.

"Open them up, smash the disks and then take the yacht out to the deepest part of the ocean and dump them." Kat suggested.

"Let’s do it" Matthew said.

From just above the surface Dr Elizabeth Bexley watched the remnant pack the yacht with bits of her machine. She hated being a mermaid, not ever being able to walk amongst people again, having to eat cold fish every day, not ever having the pleasure of shaving her legs and all the little things that people take for granted. "One day I’ll be back" she vowed. Elizabeth was pleased that Kat had not escaped transformation as she saw the Kat creature walk down to the beach and collect another part of the DNA system. Kat looked up and nearly spotted Elizabeth. Discretion being the better part of valor Elizabeth flipped over the in water and with a flick of tail vanished beneath the waves..

 

44. End + 6 months: Epilogue - Cathlines Tale.

===============================================

I’ve just about finished writing things up now. It’s taken ages to piece all the bits together and ensure all the plots and nuances are there. Still it should be ready in time for the trial. I’ve just finished a long walk alongside the shore. It really is beautiful here, Liz may have been evil but she had good taste in Islands.

I don’t know whether to tell Kat and Matthew that I’m almost ready to leave. Maybe in another day or so. My biggest problem is loneliness. Kat and Matthew are very much together and although I’ve offered a threesome a couple of times they just don’t seem interested. It’s not that they’re deliberately shutting me out, they’re not. It’s just that I need some companionship now. When Kat and Matthew’s first anniversary came up a few weeks ago I did take the yacht and visit another island for the evening, how I wish I had someone here to share this wonderful island with.

I walk past a rock pool and look at my reflection in there. It’s hard to imagine that a little under five months ago I was just plain old Cathline Richards, the girl who’s eye had been burned out over a year ago now. The face looking back is that of the awesome beauty of Rachel Martin. I remember with glee feeling my body change and turning into the goddess I now am. When I opened up my left eye and could see again that was one of the most wondrous moments of my life. I cannot but think of the friends I’ll leave behind when I go. No doubt I will be back but I suspect my work will take up an enormous amount of time. Still the friends I have made here will last me a lifetime. Better get back it’s mine and Matthew’s turn to cook lunch and Kat gets SO hungry these days. "Lot’s of meat" so she says.

 

45. End + 32 Days Epilogue - His Tale.

======================================

I sit forlorn on the rocks near the jetty, just watching the ocean. I’ve been out here for an hour or so now, trying to get that elusive all over tan. I’ll get used to being a woman, I’ve no doubt of that now. Even now my memory of being a man is fading. That’s not to say I like being a copy of Elizabeth I don’t. I just accept that’s who I am now.

The destruction of the machine yesterday sealed both mine and Kat’s fate. Unlike when I refused Elizabeth’s offer a year ago I know I’ve done the right thing. I’ve still got my appeal to attend and I’m dreading it. Robert is very,very good and seeing as we have some real proof this time we are in with a shot. Quite what will happen if we lose I don’t know. Still the trial is several months away.

I’m starting to get used to Kat being as she is now. Kat hides her feelings well but I know she wants to be back to normal as much I want to be a man again. Still we have the cards fate deals us. On the whole we are very happy together, it’s just sometimes I wish things had worked out as they should have done.

 

46. End + 1 year: Epilogue Christine Adam’s Tale.

=================================================

Just like when the shuttle blew up or when the first OJ verdict was announced ,everyone remembers where they were during the second Bexley trial. I was at home with the kids and they had been playing me up rotten. I had been following the trial for a couple of months and was still sceptical of the defense. A pretty blonde(who was supposed be Robert Abbey) was mounting the defense and the prosecution seemed to be ripping her to shreds. What made it all the more puzzling was that Rachel Martin was there speaking for the defense. She claimed her name was really Cathline Richards and she had taken the form of Rachel Martin in order to restore her left eye.

The first shock came when the defense called in Jane Stephens. Now I’d followed the first Bexley case pretty closely(she worked in my home town) and remember seeing pictures of Jane Stephens. A stunned silence went across the courtroom and indeed most of the country as a tall athletic ‘woman’ walked in. I say ‘woman’ because she seemed to be part tiger, part woman. She had a woman’s shape but had feline features. She was covered all over in orange and black striped fur and had a long furry tail. She stood proud and aloof in the dock and gave her name as ‘Kat’. Several members of the jury fainted and the trial was adjourned almost immediately.

This ‘Kat’ gave testimony on how a ragtag group of the real Dr Bexley’s victims overcame Dr Bexley and prevented the spread of her horrific DNA altering technology. Until Jane Stephens aka ‘Kat’ walked in the tale was of pure fantasy now it was reality and it gripped the entire nation.

The trial continued over the next few weeks as doctors confirmed that ‘Kat’ was really like that at a genetic level. The final proof came with the screening of what the papers called the ‘world’s luckiest transsexual’ . The images of a man slowly turning into a body double of the old Jane Stephens wowed an already hooked country.

With such strong evidence the prosecution’s case collapsed and Matthew Stephen’s appeal on the grounds of self defense and acting in the best interests of the US was upheld. Reportedly a presidential pardon was on the card’s if the appeal failed but that can never be proved. Furthermore the money from the Bexley estate was to be shared out to all those who’s lives had been destroyed by Dr Bexley’s evil.

My viewing was interrupted by my youngest, James screaming that he’d just spilt his milk all over the bathroom carpet. Never mind I’ll catch it later on the news.

 

47. End + 2 Months: Epilogue - The Lawyers Tale.

================================================

I sit on the plane back to the US and take stock of where I am now. I’ve now resigned myself to being Jennifer Porter forever.I can’t say I like it but compared to what could have happened I think I’ve done ok. I do feel as though I wasn’t part of the ‘in’ crowd like Kat and Cathline were but I’m proud to have done my part in stopping Dr Bexley. In some ways it has been fun and I’ll never forget the experiences we’ve had here.

I spoke to Monica on the phone a few weeks back and she’s happy to see that I’m alive and the story of how we dealt with Dr Bexley had her enthralled. She was, however much less happy to hear that I’m still a woman. She’s finding it very difficult to get to grips with this but said we’ll talk more when I get back. Which should be in about three hours time. I wonder how she will react to my news. Oh well time for some sleep.

I land at JFK and walk down the same corridor that John did so long ago. In my mind I can see Matthew waiting in the lounge, spotting John, giving chase and then finally shooting him. So much has happened since then.

I look up and see Monica waving at me and I run up and hug her.

"I’ve missed you" I said.

"You to. I’ve booked us in at a holiday inn. You must be exhausted so let me drive." She said.

"Mon, I’m sorry for running off" I said.

"We’ll talk tomorrow, you rest"

I don’t really remember the journey to the hotel I just remember waking up the next day. I reached over to see if Monica was there but she was sleeping in a separate bed. I just went back to sleep again.

"Hello sleepy head" Monica said when I awoke.

"What time is it?"

"About 11am. I got you some breakfast" Monica said and handed me a tray.

"Thanks" I sat up and started to tuck into my toast.

"I’ve had a lot of time to think when you’ve been away" Monica said.

My heart froze. What was she going to say. "And?" I replied.

"I still love you but I don’t see myself sleeping with you. I’ve tried to look at a woman and think ‘she’s cute’ or ‘nice ass’ but it doesn’t do anything for me. I know sex isn’t the be all and end all of a marriage but it IS important. I want to stay with you but I won’t sleep with you. I’m sorry the thought of being with another woman, even if she is my husband turns me off" Monica said sadly.

"I know and strangely enough I agree with you. Part of me does still fancy women but somehow it doesn’t feel right, well at least for me. When I was on the island Cathline offered to teach me how to make love to a woman, as a woman but as soon as she started to stroke my breast I just went cold. We had to stop there and then. It was then I decided that if I was to be a woman I needed practice as a woman and that includes going out on dates with men. I guess it’s an individual thing. Matthew Stephens is quite happy to make love to ‘Kat’ , I mean Jane Stephens and that’s his thing, well mine is that I want to see what it’s like with a man" I said.

"So where does that leave us?" Monica said.

"Dunno. I still love you. Maybe we can share our house and the rest of our lives but not our bed. Double date some cute law students maybe?" I said.

"I guess" Monica said sadly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey don’t cry we’ll work this out" I said and put my arms around her.

 

48 End +1 Year: Epilogue Steve’s Tale.

======================================

I’ve missed working with Stephanie Lane. Dean’s asked me if I wanted to move into reporting rather than just camera work. I accepted about five months ago and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. In fact just after the second Bexley trial I met Robert Abbey. Well, we hit it off right away and it’s taken me three weeks to get up enough courage to ask him/her out. Tonight will be our first date.

I’m so nervous waiting for Robert to turn up. I’ve realised why I wasn’t attracted to women before. It’s not that I’m gay it’s that I just don’t like women. Sure I like their bodies but not the way they carry on. How does the song line go ‘Why can’t a woman be more like a man’.It may seem strange to other people but not me.I want a man for a companion, with a woman’s body for the other times. Robert fits the bill perfectly. Fuck he’s here already. I hope I look ok.

 

49 End + 18 Months: Epilogue Dean’s Tale.

=========================================

We still miss Stephanie Lane around here. I realise I was a pain to her and teased her all the time, but she was the best reporter I had. Matthew Stephens and Rachel Martin dropped ‘Kitty Liz’ off for me to look after. I take it as an honor to do so. I hope Stephanie will be happy in my house.I’ve made her a special box and everything.

Stephanie played no small part in the defeat of Dr Bexley’s plans.From a personal point of view I’m pleased that this station played it’s part in stopping a horrific proliferation of Genetic engineering. There was a knock at the door.

"Hi, Steve come in" I called.

"Quick look at this" He said and switched on the TV in my office. As ‘hail to the chief’ ended the president appeared on screen.

"Are we getting this?" I said.

"Yep. The whole country is watching" Steve said.

The president started to talk.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for taking the time out to listen to me. You will all remember the result of the Bexley trial some four months ago. The evil that a single, twisted woman had wrought upon so many shocked this entire country and many around the world. The lawyer in that case, Robert Abbey argued that unless stopped the Bexley affair was only a small taste of things to come. He spoke of entire armies of genetically enhanced ‘supermen’ programmed to fight against normal human beings, of criminals being able to change face to avoid detection thus giving the authorities no chance to apprehend them. This nightmare scenario represents the greatest threat to the human race since the development of atomic weapons. We must not make the same mistakes again." The president drew breath, as if about to say something monumental.

"Fucking Hell" I said.

The president continued.

"Since all records of this device have been destroyed we have been given a breathing space. We have to act now to prevent this nightmare from happening. So in response to this threat, the US put forward a proposal to the United Nations. This proposal said that all records and materials pertaining to the human genome project be destroyed immediately. Further more the use of modified humans against any nation will be classed as using a weapon of mass destruction and will be met with in kind. The possession of Human Genome materials or records by any individual in any nation will be met by a swift and immediate response by NATO and other alliances around the world. This resolution has been unanimously passed and a target date of the end of the year for destruction of said materials has been set. " The president paused and then went on.

"This ruling is now known as the ‘fury directive’. I will update you later when the ‘fury directive’ has been implemented by my government. Thank you for your time" The president ended and the screen went back to it’s normal program.

"That sounds extreme" Steve said.

"I don’t think so. It sounded extreme because it IS an extreme situation. He did what needed to be done. Listen I want you to get on this now " I said.

"One more thing" Steve asked.

"And that is?" Why doesn’t anyone do things right away, Stephanie was just the same.

"Robert’s divorce has come thru. How’d you fancy coming to my wedding next year?" Steve said.

"You and Robert Abbey huh?" I said, amazed.

"Yep. Actually it’s Robin now. Him and Monica thought that divorce was for the best and now that over it’s left us free to marry" Steve said, a grin all over his face.

"I’d love to come. Now get on NOW" I called.

 

50. End +20 Months Epilogue - Kats Tale.

========================================

They say a flap of a butterfly’s wing in China can divert hurricanes from their path on the other side of the world. The same is true of lives. The slightest co-incidence can be the turning point for thousands. I and my ‘husband’ are living testament to that.

Not a day goes past when we do not wish for how things should have been between us. Man and wife rather than wife and ‘Kat’. Still we are alive and have our friends around us what more can anyone ask for.

Matthew is now free and we have more money than we could ever wish to spend. I create attention wherever I go and have no intention of leaving this island paradise unless I have to.

As for Liz she was last seen swimming off into the ocean somewhere. Maybe she will return and as far as I know she is still out there. We have dealt with her, she cannot return to the land and with no resources other than herself she is heavily curtailed in her scope of operations, she cannot hurt us. But the price of victory, oh the terrible price. So many deaths, so many ruined lives..

 

51. Epilogue End + 10 days - Hassan’s Tale.

===========================================

Hassan looked intently at the screen of his PC. Detailed schematics span in glorious 3D on screen. The heading of the plans were "TGEN Corp DNA Alteration System - Bexley Modifications". Hassan lay back in his chair, yet another perfect operation for the guild. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in"

In walked a fat,ugly man, about fifty. He was wearing ornate clothes, obviously indicating high status.

"Master Hassan. It is a pleasure to meet you again" The man said.

"Osman. I hope you feel better after your ‘death’? Please take a seat" Hassan said. Indicating a large leather chair in front of his desk.

"What can I do for you?" Osman said.

"I just wanted to fill you in on the last part of my plan to obtain the schematics for Dr Bexley’s DNA system" Hassan said.

"Did it work?" Osman said.

"Perfectly. But let me fill you in on some of the details." Hassan said.

"Please do" Osman replied.

"As you know Dr Bexley contacted us to perform some work for her. My suspicions were confirmed when the girl we took at the hotel turned into a completely different woman." Hassan said.

"Confirmed?" Osman queried

"Yes some ‘friends’ of ours had been employed by Dr Bexley some time ago to watch A Jane Norton. They disappeared in somewhat mysterious circumstances. The only survivor was a creature called Roger Ferry. He contacted us and we employed him to oversee Dr Bexley’s activities. His appearance and the fact that the woman we took turned into another woman led me to believe Dr Bexley had perfected her DNA altering device that had been mooted in the American press some four years ago" Hassan explained.

"I thought we were going to leave that alone. That thing is satanic" Osman exclaimed.

"Indeed it is. But it is FAR too useful to let go or sell on. Our agents will be able to infiltrate anywhere and go undetected. The guild can rule as it did nearly a thousand years ago. Our near annihilation so long ago can be avenged" Hassan said.

"I understand, So why did you have me burn that girls eye out?" Osman asked.

"I needed Jane Norton to have sympathy on another of Dr Bexley’s victims and enlist her help, so that they would team up and dispose of Dr Bexley. If Cathline Richards was normal and unscathed then Jane Norton could have chosen someone else. Yes I could have forced her to take Cathline as her maid but then my illusion of a love sick prince would have been shattered.Your faked death gave credence to this Cathline’s release." Hassan said.

"You needed them to dispose of Dr Bexley so that the guild could not have been seen to move against a customer and so destroy our reputation. By letting them do the dirty work our hands were clean. You let the two sides fight it out and then swooped in to recover what you wanted all along. Brilliant" Osman said.

"Thank you. Yes My pretence of loving Jane Norton, giving them time to bond and then releasing them gave them the excuse they needed to fly back and start the campaign against Dr Bexley"

"Did Dr Bexley suspect anything?" Osman asked.

"Nothing. She really thought we would be stupid enough to follow her wishes blindly and not have our own agenda’s. The guild has not survived nearly a thousand years by being so stupid or slow." Hassan said.

"What of Dr Bexley’s machine?"

"Destroyed no doubt. Our unwitting allies will have wrecked the machine in order that it does not fall into the wrong hands. Too little, Too late I might say." Hassan said.

"So when did you obtain the plans?" Osman asked.

"Sometime ago. We have only now decrypted them however. Dr Bexley asked us to move her machine to an island and we took the opportunity to copy them then. I must say Dr Bexley’s brilliance was wasted on her futile quest for vengeance. She could have worked for us and been much better rewarded. Oh well" Hassan said with some regret

"And what of Dr Bexley?" Osman asked with interest.

"She has vanished without trace. I think that Jane and her allies have removed or maybe killed her. In any case I have instructed all chapters of the guild not to accept any requests from Dr Bexley should she resurface." Hassan said with obvious pleasure in his voice.

"How long before the device ready?" Osman asked.

"Depends on when our engineers can build it. Say nine months to a year. As you are aware the guild’s patience is limitless in such matters" Hassan said and looked again at the spinning model on his screen. Yes this would work out very well indeed.

 

52. End + 18 Months Epilogue - Dr Elizabeth Bexley’s Tail.

==========================================================

I’m sitting on a rock on some isolated island in the Indian Ocean. My tail is just resting in the water, the place where my knees should be is bent forming a graceful curve. To anyone who looked I guess I must look a little like that mermaid in Denmark. It’s one of my most comfortable positions on land. The sea spray just keeping my scales cool and moist.

I look out to the ocean, which is now my home. The gulls are just floating above the sky, no fish today huh. I look back on the last 18 months as a mermaid. I still want my legs back if I can but seeing as those darts had Fixer version 2 in them I now realise that may well be impossible. I did my job only too well.

Do I still carry around that burning hatred inside me, that drive to avenge my humiliation by Matthew and Kat? I guess it’s in there somewhere, waiting for a chance to emerge again but I have no means or inclination now to carry it out. I’ve got more important things to do now. In these 18 months of solitude and exile from humanity I’ve learned and seen a great deal. I’m a very different person from the old Dr Elizabeth Anne Bexley.

I remember watching the sun go down behind islands that nobody has visited for years. How the sun seemed to set the sea on fire as it slowly sank beneath the waves. I’m so glad I designed a set of gills for this body as one of my pleasures is diving around the reefs, in wonderment at the variety of nature. I’ve seen things that a marine biologist would die for. I spend at least six hours a day just exploring these treasure troves of nature. However I’ve also seen where humans have devastated this undersea paradise. Reefs that were my favorite a year ago are slowly dying. Reefs that were teeming with life and color now lie empty,dead and gray. The fish have gone and the coral that forms the reef dead or dying. If my fury against Kat and Matthew has abated it’s because my fury at the destructiveness of humans has increased. Mankind must be stopped from raping this paradise.

I always find it satisfying when I come across a shipwreck. Every single wreck is a monument to man’s folly and arrogance in the ways of the sea. Sometimes I just sit and watch the fish nibble away at the bones of the intruders who dared to plunder and rape my ocean. About a year ago I managed to salvage an underwater digital camera and loads of data cartridges from a ship that went down a while ago. I’ve been using it to document the ongoing damage to the reefs and also my findings during my frequent trips into the deep ocean. Those film’s are now integral to my forthcoming work here.

Sometimes I just want to swim up to one of the villages or resorts dotted around here and talk to anyone, just to have the company but I resist the temptation. The last thing I want is to be captured and displayed in some sea theme park or end up in some lab somewhere. When I do make contact I want it to be on my terms.

In some ways I got my revenge. Matthew is still a copy of me and if those components I recovered when they dumped the DNA device over the side are anything to go by he will forever be Dr Elizabeth Bexley. Kat too is no longer human, how that must get to her sometimes. I have accomplished my task with those two and have forever placed a barrier between them and the happiness they dreamed of so long ago.

I also wonder how the guild are getting on with the plans they obviously stole from my system. They must think I’m so stupid as not to foresee that they would take any opportunity to get hold of them. Since only TGEN had access to the full human genome nobody will be able to tell that I installed a corruption routine in the plans stored in the system. The imaging system will show the right body being designed but when it comes to producing the drug the results will be quite unpredictable. It would take hundreds of scientists at least a decade to reverse engineer enough to find out what’s wrong. Looks like the guild will have their first failure in almost a thousand years. I don’t rate the leader of the guild’s chances of survival after this set-back.

I lay back on the rock and enjoy the sun. I’ll give this way of life another few months or whatever then I’ll start striking back on behalf of my ocean. I’ve collected enough salvage from wrecks to form a sizeable amount of money. Then with the help of the guild I’ll start my campaign. Man must not be allowed to poison this place and I mean to stop him.

I am Scylla, daughter of Poseidon. Guardian of the underworld which are the oceans of this world. Mortal man listen to my siren song and tremble.

 

TO BE CONTINUED.......

 

 

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