The Marradith Ryder Series–The Art of Shadows: Part 10
“Law Offices of Ramshead, Pollard, and Stuckey. How may I help you?”
Natasha Taylor spoke into her headset, thumbing through a stack of paperwork that had been left on her desk the night before.
“I’m sorry sir, you’re not on my list. Who made the arrangements?”
“Victor Ramshead was called directly.”
“What name was given as the contact?”
“Fiona Shepherd.”
“I see,” Natasha said. “Please make your way to the security desk. I’ll need to see your letter of briefing before you are allowed onto my floor. The security team will fax me the paperwork.”
Peridan sighed. He was not happy, but he’d dealt with the firm before.
Moments later the fax machine chirped, and Natasha pulled the pages off, skimming through them quickly:
If there are any difficulties arising from the procedure, or there are questions, please contact my associate, Justin Granthem, at the number below.
Natasha called the desk downstairs. “It looks good. Send them up.”
***
The client, Jenny Winslow, was a pretty, thirty year old blond. She crossed her arms, her eyes darting about the room.
The two guards that brought her in were burly men in dark suits. One of them approached Natasha, and she looked up at him with a raised brow.
“We were told that Mr. Ramshead was going to take care of this wipe personally,” Peridan whispered. “My partner and I have a schedule. We need to get this done.”
“Mr. Ramshead contracted a specialist for you,” she replied. “He won’t be doing the procedure himself. We have to wait for her . Is there anything I can do for Ms. Winslow, in the meantime?”
“She’s traumatized. I don’t think there is anything to do,” the guard replied.
Natasha walked up to the woman. Jenny gave her an uneasy smile.
“Are you cold? I have a room where you could lay down for a bit. If not, I’ll be happy to get you some coffee.”
“I have been up all night,” Jenny said. “I’d like to lay down.”
Natasha showed her to the lounge. There was a throw blanket in Attorney Stuckey’s office, and she gave the woman that as well.
Jenny settled down onto the couch and was asleep in a few minutes.
Natasha went into the conference room to call Stuckey. His cell rang three times before he answered.
“Yeah baby.” Stuckey answered. Natasha could tell he was smiling.
“Good Morning, Chris.”
“I hope I’m not on speaker phone,” he said.
“No, you’re not.”
“Well good. You ran out of here this morning.”
“Well,” she blinked. “Someone had to open the office.”
“Okay. You want to stay over my place tonight? I can drop by your apartment and pick up some things.”
“If you do that, Henry might see you.” Natasha sighed. She sometimes regretted taking an apartment in the same building as Henry Pollard, one of the firm’s partners.
“Henry hell,” Chris drawled. “ I’m convinced that these bastards at the firm know every spare thought we have anyway, so why have we got to be a secret?”
“We’ll talk about that later. Right now I have a work thing.”
“Oh?”
“You know that woman I don‘t like? Ruby? She’s supposed to be here, and she’s late . We have a client here who needs to have her memory wiped. She’s an assault victim. Could you come down? I know you were supposed to have the morning off, but Victor is unreachable. Maybe you can find someone better than Ruby?”
“Alright . I’ll be there, in about ten minutes. Natasha?”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you, too. Now hurry your ass up.”
****
One of the guards excused himself to go to the men’s room.
The other sat in the waiting room, looking bored as he flipped through a magazine.
Natasha was about to turn and go back to the reception area, when she dropped her headset.
She bent to pick it up.
The sound she heard next made her forget all about the piece of equipment.
She stood up and looked out into the reception area.
For whatever reason, Victor Ramshead had specified that the conference room walls be made of black, double paned glass. Standing on the inside of the conference room, one could see the lobby and reception area. From outside, no one could see in.
It was so fast that Natasha didn’t see the thing, only the whir of air around it when it moved. Coming from the left - the open door of lounge- it stopped dead in front of the security guard, who’d been reading the magazine. The thing lifted him off his feet, banging his head against the wall. The plaster cracked beneath the impact.
Natasha watched as he was hurled to the floor, neck snapped, limp as a rag doll.
Natasha kept a gun with silver bullets under her desk. But she knew that if she tried to reach it, she’d never make it.
Peridan appeared in the doorway, and he managed to squeeze off a round from his gun.
It didn’t slow the female Wolf. She gutted him.
In a flash of fur and wind it was gone.
As Natasha called for help, she heard gunshots and screams from the security desk downstairs.
_____________
©2010 Lori Titus
Lori’s short story collection, Green Water Lullaby is available through Sonar4 Publications. Her novella, Lazarus, will be released later this year from The Library of the Living Dead. Meanwhile, she’s also busy working as an editor for Lady Luck Publishing. To find out more about this highly caffeinated woman, visit her blog: http://loribeth215.wordpress.com/
Tags: Christopher Stuckey, Jenny Winslow, Natasha Taylor, The Marradith Ryder Series
