Happy Valentine’s Day
The temperature in the office dropped suddenly when Rebecca turned and felt the silver gun pressed against her forehead.
“So, you’re the traitor!” she exclaimed in utter disbelief. “I can’t believe it! I thought you were loyal to the cause! I thought you loved me!”
“I did,” admitted Stacy, her once lovely blue eyes now transformed into icy rocks that nothing in the world could melt. “Of course, that was before you tried to tamper with my mind after I questioned one of your decisions around here. Then, I had a change of heart about this whole enterprise and, most importantly, the role you had in my life!”
“So you know about that….” mumbled the raven-haired, mid-thirties woman. “I thought everything had been thoroughly executed so you wouldn’t notice it at all!”
“Then you clearly underestimated me, like you’ve done so over the last couple of years on a continual basis!” spat Stacy, holding the gun steady in her left hand. “I helped you develop the technology, remember? I know you asked for a very unobtrusive job, just a simple rearrangement of a neural pathway or two so I started being more compliant, but I know everything there’s to know about how mind probes work and I was prepared for them.”
“That was more than two months ago! Have you been faking this whole time?”
“What do you think? I’m quite an actress, aren’t I? I let you believe that you had control of everything; I let you play with my body when you wanted to and while you were so sure of yourself and your schemes, I started tearing this place apart from inside out. After all, this is no longer the company we created. Every single principle that guided us has been warped by money and greed and it was fairly obvious that our relationship couldn’t last for much longer as well.”
“You were always far too idealist…,” smirked Rebecca. “I liked that first about you, but then it became a nuisance. What was I supposed to do? Deny the DoD the access to our achievements and risk going to jail for the rest of my life on account of some fabricated treason charge? You know they would do it without hesitation! I saved our asses with the agreement established!”
“Right!” Stacy’s trigger finger twitched a little. “And in return, you allowed them to transform what was supposed to be a groundbreaking technique to treat certain kinds of mental diseases into a massive brainwashing program and then even had the nerve to use me as a guinea pig! It’s funny you think of me as a traitor when, in fact, it was you who betrayed me first….”
Rebecca looked deep into the face of her former friend, colleague, and lover, and didn’t recognize her anymore. All she saw was hate and contempt and now she was starting to get genuinely scared.
“So what are you going to do, now?” she asked, unsure if she actually wanted to hear the answer.
“Finish what I set out to accomplish and burn this place to the ground. The DoD will have to start from scratch and it’s going to take them quite some time before they get everything running again. In the meantime, I’ll use everything I know to come up with a way to counter their programs and make sure that they don’t use the technology on unsuspecting people to turn them into mindless soldier slaves whenever they see fit.” answered Stacy with unwavering conviction.
“And what about me? Where do I fit in all of this?”
“Unfortunately, nowhere…. You had the chance to do what was right and decided not to and then had the opportunity to talk to me civilly, but you chose to turn me into a more docile and obedient woman, instead. As much as it hurts me, you’re the only one to blame for your demise!”
“Stacy, don’t…!”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Rebecca!”
No one heard the shot.
