Espionage Problems

Carlie finished making the connection in back of the alarm box.  With her skills as a hacker and her talent with alarms, it was no wonder she often got to go on gigs like this.  That, and her small frame meant she could pretty much squeeze in anywhere. “Firefly to nest, I’m in.”

As the door opened, Carlie heard Mitchell, the guy in the control room, reply. “Sure thing Firefly. This is Caterpillar.  Proceed as planned.”

Carlie squeezed through the door, remembering to shut it behind her.  Typical alarm system for protecting something so valuable.  Her entire black ops team, codenamed “The Insects,” often went on gigs like this, breaking into high-security places and homes of government officials that were not American by any means.  She knew the CIA, the DIA, NSA even sometimes MI-6 pretty well. According to Mitchell, the team leader, they often spent time doing “extralegal” activities in order to keep their bosses happy.

Carlie moved stealthily, barely making a sound on the hardwood floor.  This particular Prime Minister seemed to have a penchant for violence, one she was hoping she’d never see, but he also had a flash drive in his possession that the CIA needed badly.

Carlie knew the layout, knew where each room left and remembered where she needed to go.  Being so small it was no problem to be able to stay in the shadows, out of sight of the guards that occasionally popped up. If she needed to, she could incapacitate them easily, but that would only mean earlier discovery.

No, Carlie had to be quiet. She had to get the drive and get out just as quickly, and she knew she could do it.  She’d done it so many times before.

As she entered the room she needed to, she glanced around.  Yes, the computer was on the far side, but that wasn’t what caught her eye.

Along the wall closest to her was 6 sets of skeletons, obviously female, all of which had the pelvis detached as well as the skulls.  Stranger still were the skeletonized feet all around the display. “Whoa, weird art collection.”

At the same time she heard Mitchell remind her that she needed to keep radio silence, she heard a louder voice reply to her comment. “They’re not art.”

Two burly men came out of the shadows on the other side of the room and grabbed her. “Wait, what are you doing?  Let go!”

She managed to kick one of them squarely in the spot every man knows will make them double over before the owner of the voice emerged, the Prime Minister.  He threatened to smack her, but Carlie stood her ground, looking at him and daring him.  He lowered his fist. “You have spirit, I can see that.  You will make a fine addition to my collection, but first…”

He yanked out her earpiece just as Mitchell shouted that they were all coming, and he stomped on it. Carlie kept her wits about her. “So, if they’re not art pieces, what are they?”

The Prime Minister had her picked up forcibly. “I will show you.”

He led her and her captor to a room a little way down the hall.  As soon as Carlie got near, she could smell something acidic in there. The Prime Minister opened the door and Carlie could only stare. “They were intruders, just like you.  All of them nosy women who didn’t know they should be silent, and they all got the same treatment I’m going to give you.”

He turned to his guard. “BIND HER TO THE TABLE!”

Carlie tried to squirm, tried to get free, as they looped strong leather straps around her neck and waist and ankles.  She could feel the cyanide capsule in her tooth but wasn’t able to work it out. She knew she’d have to face this torture. “What are you going to do to me?”

The Prime Minister gave her an evil glare. “What all who disobey me deserve.”

He pushed one of the devices around the room forward and Carlie gasped. “You see my toy here, my dear? What it will do is, first, drop the blade at your ankles, letting you feel the pain of losing both your feet at once. Next, if you haven’t fainted, it will drop the blade at your waist, severing you in halves and, if you’re still awake…or alive…this last blade will slice your neck, completely decapitating you.”

Carlie shuddered at the possibility.  She couldn’t move anymore, and her training and her bravado dropped as she shook her head. “Please.  Please don’t do this.”

The Prime Minister smiled in glee. “Your fate was sealed when you broke into my compound my dear. Now face the punishment you earned.”

As the device with the three looming blades was placed over her body, Carlie started to do something she hadn’t done in a very long time and never thought she’d do again.  Carlie began to pray to whatever higher intelligence was in charge that something might happen.

The Prime Minister started the device, and Carlie could feel the hum from it.  She steadied her breath, trying not to think about the fact that she would soon lose her feet before the blade dropped.

Carlie did feel the blade slice cleanly through her ankles, but not much else.  It puzzled her because she could still feel her feet as if they were still attached, but they weren’t.  She knew that.  The Prime Minister leaned over her, surprised when she looked back.  There was no pain, and she could tell that she wasn’t bleeding out. “You have some spunk in you my dear, but let’s see what happens with the next blade.”

As that blade dropped, Carlie felt on a brief flash of pain, but amazingly, also felt a great deal of pleasure.  The blade clearly bisected her, there was no doubt about that.  She felt the blade in her body, but she wasn’t bleeding.  And she knew she was moving her legs as well. It felt so surreal, so unexpected but also so very good.

“My dear, why are you still smiling?  You know what happens next.”

The Prime Minister released the last blade, beheading Carlie completely.  Carlie couldn’t help but laugh as she felt the blade in her neck.

And then the strangeness of this hit her.  Here she was, three blades in her body, all cut to pieces but still alive.  The Prime Minister seemed totally awestruck at this weirdness, but he recovered quickly. “I don’t know how you’re still alive my dear, but it means you will be alive when I dip each of your parts into the acid to dissolve your flesh, tissues and organs before I put your skeleton on….”

Gunshots rang out, and the Prime Minister had to leave her in that state as he headed out of the room. She heard shouts from the outside as more shots were fired and could hear Mitchell call her name. “I’m in here Caterpillar!”

She kept yelling at him, hoping he’d be able to find her before the Prime Minister came back and decided to just kill her quickly.  Still, she had to wonder if that were even possible.  I mean she was already in pieces.

Finally, Mitchell opened the door, staring around. “I’m right over here!”

Mitchell’s face showed both shock and concern as he saw Carlie’s plight.  She had to order him. “Get me out of this!”

As Mitchell lifted the blades out of her, he looked like he was going to be sick. “Carlie, are you okay?”

Carlie sighed, even though she knew her neck wasn’t attached anymore. “Do I look okay?”

Mitchell unbound her as she tried to adjust.  First things first.  She reached up and found her head.  Picking it up, she tried to adjust it before she felt something wonderful as her neck reattached.  Breathing a sigh of relief, she maneuvered her torso up onto the cut end, seeing the bizarre new skin growth on the other side of her waist.  She sighed as she tried to align both sides of her waist, finally letting her torso rest on her hips.

She smiled at the pleasant feeling there, liking it a lot.  It didn’t take her long to find her feet and reattach them the same way. “Are you sure about this Firefly?”

Carlie shrugged as she hopped off the table, everything still attached and her body in one piece. “So what happened Mitchell?”

He sighed. “The Prime Minister is dead.  We were able to get our hands on the intel and we took the skeletons for hopeful identification.”

Carlie looked up at him. “Sorry I blew it back there.”

Mitchell put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You pulled through it with something completely unexperienced, but you survived this one.”

Carlie just shrugged, not knowing how she could ever explain the way she did survive being cut to pieces.

And not even sure if she wanted to know.