A Girl Called Lucy

Chapter Two

Cody got out of the car as they came to a stop in front of a giant office building. He opened the back door and unbuckled little Lucy from her car seat. Her eyes were dim and she had no expression on her face as he picked her up, slamming the door closed. She winced slightly at the noise, but recovered when they neared the office building doors. Cody walked into the elevator behind Hunter, Lucy sitting on his hip as the elevator doors started to close. Cody was about to talk when Lucy started trembling violently and her whimpers were turning into low screams. Cody got out on the next floor, not even bothering to go all the way up. As soon as Cody stepped out, Lucy calmed back down again, but her trembling didn’t stop.

“I guess you just have to take the stairs,” Hunter said as he cocked his head to the side slightly as he looked Lucy up and down. “I don’t think she’ll make the whole ride up.”

“Do you know how many flights of stairs that is?” Cody growled as he glared at Hunter, who just smiled at him.

“It’ll get your exercise in,” Hunter joked as the elevator doors closed, leaving Cody standing there. Cody glanced over at Lucy, whose eyes were locked onto the elevator and he sighed. Cody walked up the fifty flights of stairs carrying Lucy, whose small body was tightening up at every little stray sound that was being made. Cody made his way down the hall into an apartment condo and opened the door, revealing a vast living room. Hunter was over by the table, shoveling through Lucy’s file. Cody put Lucy down and she just stood there, unsure of what to do next.

“What now, Hunter?” Cody asked as he walked over, leaving Lucy standing lost at the door.

“We need to call Mr. Vangrove,” Hunter said as he trailed his eyes over the sentences. “He has to come and approve of Lucy.”

“And what if he doesn’t?” Cody asked as he pulled a chair out and sat in it. “We can’t send her back.”

“Sure we can,” Hunter said as he put down a paper. “Listen, we need someone we can work with. I thought Lucy was the best option that we saw.”

“Hunter, have a heart,” Cody said as he gave Hunter a glare. “You can’t send her back there. She won’t live past five if you do.” Silence. “Hunter you were excited when you found her.”

“I know,” Hunter said as he sighed heavily. He stared at the table, his eyes scanning the papers he had scattered over it. “I want him to approve of her. I just don’t know if she has the right qualities. She has to be a killer. A stone, cold killer. There can’t be anything in between.”

“Hunter, does it look like she has any traits or anything in between?” Cody said as he gestured with his hand to Lucy, who was still standing near the door, her eyes on the ground. “The poor thing doesn’t know what’s going on half the time!”

“Do you think she was dropped on her head or something?” Hunter asked as he looked over at her, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her motionless body.

“Whatever happened to her, it left her…I can’t even find the right word for it,” Cody muttered as he looked back over. Hunter shook his head.

“I’ll call Mr. Vangrove; you go get Lucy cleaned up. Have one of the maids help you with the bathing and dressing. You can do everything else.”

“Gee how considerate of you,” Cody mocked as he stood up and walked over to Lucy. He looked over his shoulder to see Hunter go into the next room, dialing a number. He held out his hand to Lucy and once again, she stared at it.

“I’m going to get you cleaned up,” Cody said gently and Lucy shook her head and retreated from his hand. Cody squatted down and looked at Lucy, who turned her head away from him. “Don’t you want to get all the mud off of you?” Lucy seemed to think about it and her eyes slowly slid over to him and studied him. She slowly nodded her head after a moment so Cody took her hand and led her up the stairs and into the guest bathroom. He turned on the hot water, rang a maid and set Lucy in the bathroom as the maid came rushing down the hall.