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John Carpenter's
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HOSTILE TAKEOVER - CHAPTER 3
MacReady walked into the office doorway.
It's the only way, it's the only way, he kept saying to
himself. His months of working and planning were about to pay off. His
goal was finally in sight. Wayne was going to die and the threat to
every living thing on Earth would die with him. MacReady was going to
save the world one last time with little concern to his own safety and
freedom.
MacReady casually moved the briefcase in front of him. His right hand
slowly slid to the gun attached on the back. As silently as he could,
he started to remove the gun. This was it. Time to die Wayne. MacReady
held the gun behind the case. All he had to do was....
DEET-DEET-DEET-DEET-DEET-DEET!!! An alarm sounded, piercing and
deafening. The doors to the office slammed shut with a resounding
thud.
What the fu...? How did...? MacReady's mind reeled as he tried
to comprehend all that happened in the last .02 seconds. Wayne has
a metal detector that picks up PORCELAIN?!? It was too late to
worry about that. His cover was blown and he only had a split second
to react. He exposed the gun and brandished it at Wayne and Fox.
"Get your hands on your heads, NOW!" MacReady barked. Wayne and Fox
obeyed without question.
"Mr. Norris, what is this all about?" Wayne asked placidly.
"Shut up!" MacReady shot back. "Do something about that damned alarm!"
Wayne stared at MacReady, as if he was directly speaking to the alarm
itself. Then Wayne peered towards the walls. "Alarm silence." The
alarm ceased it's blaring. MacReady looked at Wayne with surprise.
Wayne had some interesting gadgets here. What could be next? MacReady
turned his attention towards Fox. "Okay, you, I don't have a beef with
you."
"Then let him out of here!" Wayne interjected quickly. "If it is me
you want, then you've got me. As you said, Lucius has done nothing.
Let him go."
"Yeah, let's do that. Let's open the doors to let him go while
security and the police wait outside to rush in and save the friggin'
day. What do you take me for?" MacReady shot back.
"Please, Mr. Norris, what do you want? What has Mr. Wayne done to
you?" Fox queried.
"I said this doesn't concern you. Just Wayne. Me and Wayne." MacReady
moved closer to Wayne. Wayne could see the hatred in MacReady's eyes.
"Mr. Norris, if you jus....".
"Three words. U.S. Outpost Thirty-one." MacReady moved closer to Bruce
Wayne. His eyes grew wider. His finger tightening on the trigger.
"U.S. Outpost Thirty-one. And my name isn't Norris. It's MacReady.
R.J. MacReady."
Fox thought to himself and whispered. "MacReady… Macready. MacReady!
Wait!" Fox realized who this lunatic was. "R.J. MacReady, you, you
were the helicopter pilot from Outpost Thirty-one, weren't you? You
killed... you killed everyone..."
"No! No, I did not kill everyone there! I told them what happened.
That thing killed everyone at the Norwegian site and then the men with
me at Thirty-one. It wasn't me! It was that thing!" MacReady
interrupted.
"'Thing?' What 'thing?' What are you talking about? Who are you?"
asked Wayne.
"That thing from the ice the Norwegians dug up..." answered MacReady.
"...from the spaceship."
"Spaceship? Just what in the world are you talking about?" inquired
Fox. "I read the files of Outpost Thirty-one and there was no mention
of..."
"It was there, damn it! It wiped out two posts, us and the Norwegians.
Two of us were left, Childs and myself... and then it got him later,"
MacReady recalled. "I was finally rescued. I told them everything that
happened and they let me take the fall. They covered up the whole
story. They even reburied the spaceship just so that it wouldn't be
found again. They knew all that happened and I got put away for it! I
did fifteen years in prison and they knew I was innocent. They knew."
"Who knew it?" asked Wayne, trying to get the story straight.
"The Army, the U.S. government, the Norwegian government, everybody.
They knew and instead of helping me, they covered it all up and let me
take the fall," MacReady replied. "It nearly won last time and if it
is let loose again..."
"If what you say is true… didn't you say you killed this thing? So,
wouldn't it be long dead and no longer a threat?" Wayne queried. "How
would our building station TOMAR resurrect this creature?"
"This thing isn't like anything you've ever seen. Just a little part
of it is enough to take you over and start this up all over again."
"Look, I honestly want to believe you are telling the truth, Mr.
Nor... MacReady," Wayne said to MacReady. "I do, because you have gone
to many great lengths to get this far, so I'm prepared to talk to you
and try to resolve this so that nobody will get hurt. Are you willing
to do that, yourself?"
"Bull! You're stalling for time!" MacReady pointed the gun at Wayne.
MacReady took aim.
"I'm giving you your only chance at resolving this without any
bloodshed! You kill me and WAYNETECH's station will proceed as
scheduled. Only my direct order can stop it. My death won't." Wayne
was getting angry with all of this. He started to get
uncharacteristically brave.
Wayne continued. "You kill me and you will be shot down before you get
five feet away. You and I will be dead and the station will go on.
Now, I'm going to ask you one last time. Are you willing to discuss
this in a reasonable manner?"
MacReady studied Wayne for a moment. Was Wayne bluffing to buy time?
Was he sincere? MacReady wasn't sure.
"Mr. MacReady, I give you my word I will listen to your story. I'll do
whatever it takes to rectify the situation, if possible. I promise you
that you will not be harmed or charged with any criminal wrongdoing if
what you tell me is the truth," Wayne reassured him. Fox looked to
Wayne as if he had lost his mind. "The only thing I ask is for you to
let Mr. Fox here leave the room. It will be just you and I. No police,
no security, nothing to interfere."
MacReady looked at Wayne for a minute. He tried to read his face for
any signs of deceit. "Okay, he can go. If I see one man with a gun out
there, both of you get it and as many of them as I can get will
follow you before I go down."
Wayne slowly raised his right hand and extended his index finger.
Methodically, he lowered the finger pressing a button on his desk
console. "This is Bruce Wayne. The situation in here is under control.
I am asking all police and security personnel to stand down at this
moment. There is no cause for alarm. Mr. Fox will be exiting in two
minutes. Do not, repeat, do not attempt to come in or
interfere. Any one who does will personally answer to me. I am alright
and will be out shortly. I will be in conference for a while and I do
not wish to be disturbed."
Wayne released the button and stared at MacReady. The ball was now in
Mac's corner. MacReady stared incredulous at Wayne. Wayne was serious
about this. "Okay, Fox can go."
Wayne pushed a button and the office doors swung open. Lucius Fox
looked at MacReady as if to get his approval to leave. MacReady waved
Fox out with the gun. Lucius gave his boss a worried look. "It's okay,
Lucius, I'll be all right," Wayne offered. With that, Fox turned and
hurried from the room into the lobby where the secretary was waiting
for signs of trouble. "Lucius," Wayne called out after. Fox stopped
mid stride. "Wait in there. I might need you soon," Fox gave Bruce a
nervous nod then left.
Voices sounded out in the lobby. "We got Fox. Wayne is still in
there. Stand down. Hold your positions." Nobody made any attempt
to enter as per Wayne's instructions. After Fox was clear, MacReady
turned his attention back to Wayne. Wayne pressed the button again to
shut the doors. Now it was just the two.
MacReady noticed a change come over Wayne. No longer was Wayne
cowering and fearful looking. Wayne stood up right and confident. His
expression was now of determination and anger. MacReady started to
feel uneasy himself, almost afraid of the man in front of him.
Apparently, the gossip about Wayne was all wrong.
"Now, Mr. MacReady, before we get down to business, I would like for
you to put your gun away," Wayne commanded in a raspy voice.
MacReady tried to take control of the situation again. "What's the
matter, Wayne? Afraid I might revert back to my original plan?" He
thought that cool Wayne's jets.
"No, it's not that at all. I... DON'T… LIKE... GUNS." The fire in
Wayne's eyes burnt MacReady to his soul. This guy was no
idiot-pushover. He wasn't sure exactly what Wayne was but he was
nothing like he had heard.
MacReady put the gun in his waistband. Wayne casually walked to his
desk and sat down. His eyes were constantly locked with MacReady's. As
he sat down, his expression once again changed from anger to
compassion and concern. He motioned to MacReady to take a seat and be
comfortable. "Now, let's start from the beginning. Tell me everything;
don't leave out a single detail."
MacReady recounted the events of what happened. How the dog had been
chased to Thirty-one by the Norwegians. How it changed into something
that wasn't so easily described. How he discovered the burnt Norwegian
camp and the... body outside of it. How he went to the spaceship the
Norwegians found. He told Wayne of how the thing imitated nearly
everyone at Outpost Thirty-one; of the blood test they discovered to
detect the thing and of how he and the handful of men left destroyed
Thirty-one in a suicidal attempt to kill the thing. MacReady went into
even greater detail of what the thing was capable of. He related to
Wayne how it would consume you and shape itself to be a perfect copy
of you, from minute scars you might have to remembering who your best
friend was in kindergarten. He described how it could grow anything
from its body it needed when it needed it and how each cell of its
make-up was an individual organism. He recounted how the Norris-thing
grew a mouth on its stomach, of how its head grew spider-like legs and
crawled away. Every single moment of what happened poured out of
MacReady with great recall.
Wayne sat there taking it all in. It was a hard story to swallow.
Wayne had seen horror in his life but this… this story was extreme.
Years ago, Wayne learned many things most people never thought of. One
of the things he learned was how to discern truth from lie by reading
one's body language. Wayne looked for telltale signs of dishonesty in
MacReady's story… dilated pupils, jerky movements, wandering eyes,
stammering. Nothing. Wayne knew that this was the truth.
When MacReady was finished, Wayne just sat there staring with his
hands clasped together on his chin and a far off look of great
concentration. Many moments passed before Wayne moved in the
slightest. He slowly lowered his hands and turned towards MacReady.
MacReady thought that Wayne was going to call the boys in white that
would have a lovely jacket for him. The white kind with the extra,
extra long sleeves and locks and buckles.
"And you think that this could possibly happen again?" Wayne asked.
MacReady was prepared to hear anything but that. Wayne believed him.
At least, he hoped that he did and was not saying this just until the
cavalry arrived.
"You're serious? You believe me?" MacReady was still leery with his
trust. He had been sold out too many times over this not to be. This
could be the same thing once again.
"Yes, Mr. MacReady, I do believe you. Why, you ask? Well, I haven't
gotten this far in life and in my... interests without being able to
discern the truth from a lie when I hear it. Plus the fact that you
did a great deal to get here in the first place," Wayne replied.
"Well, let me ask you a question now. Why are you doing this? Why are
you building a station now after so long? Why now?" inquired MacReady
"Well, WAYNETECH does work for the government from time to time. Right
now, we've recently developed transports that will be able to operate
in extreme subzero temperatures. Better than any made, so far. What
better place is there to operate them than the Antarctic?"
"How about the North Pole?" asked MacReady.
"There is another reason why we picked Antarctica. Your teammate,
Doctor Emmett Copper, went to medical school with my father. They were
friends. He helped my father get through some tough tests and some
tough times. He did all that he could to help my father when he was
shot, but my father died. I felt I owed a debt of gratitude to him,
since he died from violence... like my parents did."
"I'm... sorry to hear that. He was a good man, the doc. But he didn't
die by some wacko's hand, but from... that thing."
Wayne thought silently for a minute. He then pushed the button that
communicated to his secretary. "Sharon? Sharon are you and Mr. Fox all
right?" Wayne's tone and attitude melted back into carefree and laid
back, as he was known for.
"Yes, Mr. Wayne. Are you okay in there?" an excited female voice
replied.
"Yes, yes, everything is just fine. Mr. MacReady and I were just
discussing Antarctic Outpost TOMAR. He made me aware of a serious
problem that might occur there. Tell the police and security that they
can leave. No charges are going to be pressed. I need you to have Mr.
Fox get Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Preuss. Have them bring in everything
they have on project TOMAR immediately. We need to discuss this now.
Do you understand?" Wayne commanded with confidence in his deep voice.
"Yes, I do. Are sure you are okay in there?" Sharon asked in a
trembling voice.
"We are quite all right. We're coming out now, in fact. Have the
authorities holster their weapons before we come out. They are not to
take action against Mr. MacReady. Oh, Sharon, I need you to cancel all
of Mr. Fox's, Mr. Reynolds', Mr. Preuss' and my appointments for the
rest of the day. We are all going to be quite busy."
Chapter 4
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