Posted by The Black Knight on July 04, 2006 at 13:46:59:
It was late afternoon at a large research and development plant. The workers had been sent home early due to a stockholders meeting that had been scheduled for this day. In the board room in the office of the plant sat twelve beautiful young woman: Silvia, Annica, Orsi, Dorina, Susanne, Diana, Crista, Emese, Agi, Claudia, Anna, and Gabby. Agi, who sat at the head of the table stood. Agi looked over at Claudia, who held a pencil and notepad, and nodded. Claudia held her pencil ready to take down everything that was said.
"Ladies, I have called you all here because you are the principle stock holders in this plant. I have recently developed a new and devastating weapon that I intend to present for sale to the government, but until that time it appears to be too dangerous to be kept by only one person." Agi said.
Agi picked up a remote and pointed it at the TV in the corner. The TV came on showing Agi holding what appeared to be a rifle out of a science fiction movie. Claudia came on the screen and Agi pointed the gun at her. Agi fired and a beam of light hit Claudia in the chest and knocked her off her feet.
"That ladies was the lowest setting and as you can see the lovely Ms. Claudia is still here to tell us about it." Agi said.
"It didn't do any lasting damage, but that thing really hurts." Claudia complained.
The screen changed to show a large seven story concrete building. Agi walked out the door of the building still holding the weapon in her hand. She turned and fired. The beam of light hit the building and the entire building vanished down to the foundation.
"That was the highest setting, and as you can see this weapon is too powerful to be entrusted with just one person." Agi said.
The lithe raven haired woman walked over to the TV and picked up a cardboard box that was sitting beside it. She picked up the box and carried it back to the table. She opened the box and pulled out smaller boxes and passed them down the table.
"Inside these boxes are the weapon you just saw, disassembled. Each stockholder will be entrusted with one of the eleven pieces, while I will keep the final piece." Agi said.
Agi reached into the bottom of the box and pulled out a roll of papers. She handed the papers to Claudia.
"The designs for this weapon, however I'm trusting only to my personal secretary." Agi said.
"But why her, surely there are more qualified people here." Anna said.
"True, but of the twelve of us Claudia is the only one here who can't read blue prints." Agi said.
"Why are you doing this? The security here is more than capable of protecting your invention." Annica said.
"I don't think they are. This morning I received a letter. Claudia read it to them." Agi said.
Claudia pulled a piece of paper out from under her note pad and cleared her throat.
"I'll skip the salutation and get to the important part: 'I have learned of your new weapon and wish to add it to my arsenal. I will be there tonight, if you try to stop me you will die. signed Phantom.' That's it." Claudia said.
"Sounds like a crank to me." Emese said.
"Or a crackpot." Gaby said.
"It's no joke, I've learned since this morning that our mysterious Phantom is in fact an international assassin. She calls herself the Phantom because no one has ever seen her and lived to tell about it." Agi said.
"She?" Dorina asked with a faint smile.
"Yes she. Since only the stockholders knew that I was working on this invention I am convinced that the Phantom is one of the women in this room." Agi said.
A wave of shocked expressions and angry retorts rippled through the stockholders.
"As incredible as it sounds I believe it to be true. By dividing the weapon like this I have given her only part of what she wants and made it impossible for her to get the whole thing without revealing her identity." Agi said.
"This whole thing is preposterous. I move that we adjourn this meeting and at the next meeting discuss your termination with this firm." Sylvia said angrily.
"I second the motion. Agi, you may be a brilliant researcher, but stick to what you know and quit playing detective." Susanne said.
The stockholders all agreed and filed out of the room murmering to each other. Agi shook her head as she walked toward the door.
"Are you leaving too, Claudia?" Agi asked.
"I have to transcribe my notes. I'll leave them on your desk and lock up when I leave." Claudia said.
Agi walked out of the building and was getting into her car as Claudia sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. Claudia dropped the roll of schematic drawings onto her desk and propped her note pad up on her desk beside her computer. Her dark eyes darted back and forth along the page as she typed the notes from the meeting. She finished in a matter of minutes, but it took the printer nearly thirty minutes to obey the simple command of print. As the last page drudged its way through the printer the door to Claudia's office opened. The sexy secretary jumped to her feet as Cristina, Catarina, Andrea, Victoria, and Timea walked in the door. The five blondes were dressed all like in a white blouses and black slacks and Claudia almost laughed when she saw them. What stopped Claudia from laughing was another figure that followed them in: a slim feminine form draped all in black: from the black thigh high boots, tights, blouse, gloves, and even the full mask that showed absolutely no color. The only opening in the mask was for the eyes, but Claudia couldn't see inside well enough to see their color.
"What are you doing here?" Claudia asked.
"I believe I had an appointment here tonight." the masked woman answered.
"That was already taken care of, as you well know." Claudia answered.
"I suppose it was, but now I want the blue prints." the Phantom said.
Claudia glanced down at the blue prints on the desk and mentally kicked herself for not hiding them. Andrea reached for the roll of papers, but Claudia grabbed up a letter opener and jabbed it in Andrea's forearm. Andrea jerked her hand back with a yelp.
"Well we could have done this the easy way Claudia." the Phantom said.
"So Agi was right, you are one of the stockholders." Claudia gasped.
"You sound surprised, I thought you trusted your boss more than that." the Phantom said as she pulled a pistol from behind her back.
Claudia's eyes widened when the five blondes also pulled out guns.
"Ladies, ladies, use the silencers. You know how much I detest noise." the Phantom said.
Andrea leveled her pistol at Claudia's head, but the Phantom put her left hand on Andrea's wrist.
"She's been a little troublesome, put it in her gut." the Phantom said.
"No! Oh no please!" Claudia gasped as she backed away from the desk.
Claudia backed right into the wall and a look of despair crossed her face. Six muffled shots could barely be heard, but Claudia heard and felt every bullet as they smacked into her belly. Claudia folded her hands on her belly and fell to her knees. Timea picked up the roll of papers and handed them to the Phantom. The Phantom unrolled the papers and looked over them.
"Very good, now Andrea, you can finish her off. I've got what I want." the Phantom said.
The Phantom and the other four blondes left and Andrea smiled as she stepped over the wounded secretary. Andrea put her gun away and picked up the bloody letter opener. Andrea grabbed Claudia by the throat and pulled her to her feet. The blonde jabbed the letter opener under Claudia's sternum and twisted it up under her ribs. Claudia coughed and blood spurted over her lower lip onto Andrea's blouse. Claudia's eyes rolled upward as she hung limp against Andrea's hand. Andrea dropped Claudia and looked down at her blouse.
"Uhh! And I just had this blouse cleaned." Andrea said as she kicked Claudia in the belly.
Andrea walked out of the room and left Claudia where she lay.
Who is the Phantom? and can anyone stop her? find out more in the next chapter.