The Golgotha Initiative

Chapter 7: Maria

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The towel's rough fibers press into my palm. White hair, still wet, curls against my neck.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Maria."

The light from my bathroom silhouettes Trevon's face eerily.

"The door was locked."

"I have a key. Would you like to see it?"

I shiver and tighten the towel around my chest. "Get out."

He takes a step forward. "You used to be nicer to me."

"Out." But I don't move.

"When you were a little girl and wore tutus with your overalls. Would you like me to tell you about that, Maria?"

It's the towel- it's trapping me. I stay where I am in the middle of the room that feels less like mine as Trevon steps closer, then closer.

"You were an adorable child, mon colibri."

There's Trevon and wind in a garden. There are ducks and a cold metal locket.

But the wind is Trevon's breath and the locket is the weight of my icy fingers.
The towel is a tutu so I drop it and my leg is a sword slashing across Trevon's face. He shouts as I slam the door behind him.

I don't wear tutus. I never have. I never had a locket and there is nobody playing with the ducks.

I slump against the door, hands in my white hair, until I fall asleep. Then I wish I hadn't because of the nightmares, but they don't really matter because I forget them when the intercom buzzes and Jamari's voice bludgeons me with
"Come here, Maria," and I have another mission.

I sit down in the chair and Jamari talks for a while. My mind wanders- I've always loved the yellowy softness of baby ducks- then Jamari is counting backwards and I say,
"Okay."

First I change my clothes- blue jeans, brown sweater- and I stuff my hair into a baseball cap so that none of the white is showing. I tie on trainers and walk- not run, I must walk- down the hall, up two flights of stairs, across another hall, down a flight of stairs, through a tunnel, up three flights, kill the armed guard, kill the second, third and fourth guards, kill the fifth guard and take his key, insert the key into the scanner, type in 7501936448 and go out the door.

A helicopter is waiting. I climb in and sit down and fall asleep.

The compound is a penthouse apartment, glittering over an ocean skyline. Light cuts through the domed roof and smacks the polished desk. The only other furniture is a large black chair, the kind that rolls without squeaking.

"Maria."

"Jamari."

"From now on, you will answer only to me. There is no code word. There is nothing but you, me, and the mission I am going to give you."

I nod. I must accept this instruction.

"What is the mission?"

"Sit down, Maria," Jamari says.

Trevòn is here with me. Waiting outside the compound somewhere in the Australian outback. By compound, I mean a tiny shack.

There aren't any guards. There can't be, Jamari explained, because they'd draw suspicion. Inside will be a different story but for now I need to get through the shack.