Hostile Takeover Ch. 02

"Accidents in the workplace are no laughing matter," I said to Tim's remains.

A gunshot rang out through the plant. I heard something smack into one of the boxes of parts to my left. I dove behind the box just as the other man came over, holding his gun in front of him. He looked into the VL20 and saw his friend. His face cycled through a host of different emotions as I watched from my hiding place. "Fuck, what that bitch wants. You are dead," he screamed. He looked into the machine and saw his brother's bloody twisted body. He looked around the floor for me. "That was my brother, you asshole."

I had picked up one of the wireless controllers for the robotic part loader. I hit the power switch and the robot began its start up sequence. The second man, Bart, whirled around trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. I watched and waited.

The two thugs may have been professionals, but this was my jungle. The robotic parts loader has a large, long, articulated arm that is basically a small crane. The arm alone weighed over 300 lbs and could lift over a ton. The robot's arm could however only perform a pre-programmed sequence in a specific area. I was working very quickly to reprogram the robot on the fly. I didn't change the arm's action, I was doing something different. The robotic arm was programmed with several safety sensors, and would immediately stop if anything came inside of its operating zone. This made sure that no one was accidentally hurt by the robot. There were four different sensors. I had already shut off three of them. Just as Bart stepped within the robot's zone, he saw me. My fingers were flying over the keyboard. Bart raised the gun and aimed. My finger descended on a final key.

Bart heard a whirring sound behind him but wasn't going to fall for the same thing that had killed his brother. The robotic arm slammed into his head with enough force to lift a car, crushing his skull and throwing his body nearly halfway across the shop floor area. Bart's lifeless body came down within two feet of where his brother lay.

"Birds of a feather...Die together," I said coldly.

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Amanda ran lightly up the stairs then she turned and looked behind her. Where the hell were her security men? No matter, she had to find Preston and get out of here. Let the police do their job, and take care of Charlotte. She'd taken a helicopter here, and Preston's car was no where in sight but that Black car was, so she was sure that Charlotte's people were here too. She was sure that Charlotte herself was too smart to be here. She wouldn't have come either, if Preston wasn't headed here.

Amanda was surprised to hear footsteps coming up behind her. She turned and her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Hello Mother, what a surprise," said Charlotte.

Amanda looked at the person standing in front of her. It was grotesque. Amanda had trouble putting her finger on exactly what was wrong with it. It was Annalise, but she didn't stand or hold herself like Anna did. Anna was a very reserved young woman she walked, talked and stood a certain way. Her gestures and mannerisms all fit her personality. It looked as if she was pretending to be someone else. Anna was trying to strut around, sticking her boobs and butt out. It just didn't seem right. It also looked like the body was having trouble doing it because it wasn't its natural gait or stance.

In addition to this Anna, didn't wear revealing clothing. So seeing her in a skirt that was too short and a very low cut top was just odd. The strangest thing of all though was her face and hair.

Anna wore very minimal, natural looking makeup. Seeing Charlotte's almost theatrical, smoky eye makeup and loud colors was almost garish. Amanda was sure that Preston would think, that hacking off Anna's beautiful long chestnut brown hair to the barely below collar length of Charlotte's hair, was a crime. Dying it Red, to match Charlotte's natural color was more so. Charlotte had naturally pale skin, which fit the bright red hair. Anna's naturally darker skin seemed to belie the red hue.

The figure standing in front of Amanda would have actually seemed funny, if she hadn't done so many horrific things recently. This funny/horrific person also wanted to take Preston away from Amanda so it became deadly serious to both of them.

"I was not expecting to see you here today," said Anna. "But it's a good thing. I've missed you mommy. Every fucking time I shot at you, I've missed. But at least since you're here now, I can kill two rats with one rock. I pick up my husband, and knock off my mother all in one stroke. Fortune favors the bold. Do you have any last words before I pound the shit out of you?"

"Anna, what is wrong with you?" asked Amanda. "You're not Charlotte. Snap out of it. You've got to be in there Anna. Fight her. Take your body back."

The figure standing before Amanda straightened up, and its eyes seemed to blink several times. She looked at Amanda as if seeing her for the first time. She tried to pull her skirt down and her neckline up.

"Amanda, what am I doing here? Why am I dressed like...like a whore? Have I been drugged?" Amanda went towards the figure to comfort her, Anna was obviously distressed. As Amanda got closer Anna reached back and viciously slapped her. The blow was so hard that Amanda had a big red mark on her cheek and her eyes filled with tears.

"You're so stupid Mother," sneered Charlotte. Your sweet little Anna died during the surgery. All of that shit about the meek inheriting the earth, is for the birds. Now where were we? Oh yeah, I was about to kill you, and go find my husband."

Amanda saw no other course she screamed and ran. She was in very good physical condition. She had very low body fat and she ran daily. But she was a forty nine year old woman against a twenty four year old psychopath. Amanda ran across the office and out the door. She screamed as she ran. "Help!" she screamed hoping that one of, or both of her security people would hear her.

When she got to the end of the hall, she realized her mistake. The direction she'd run in, took her away from the stairs leading back down to the lower floor and escape. The door she was running towards would only take her to the roof.

She ran through the doorway and up the stairs. Charlotte couldn't run very quickly yet in Anna's body. Her coordination was still a little off, though her mind was as sharp as ever. So she slowly followed her mother. She wasn't worried. She had all of the time she needed. She wasn't as fast as her mother, but she was a lot stronger now. She'd gotten stronger every day since she left the hospital. She picked up a pipe and followed Amanda through the doorway.

Amanda got away from the doorway and looked for something to hide behind. The only thing she could see was the large potted plant near the railing. She looked down over the railing and found, that it was at least three stories to the ground. There were no ledges or anything to try and climb down on. It was just a straight drop. No chance of survival there.

She ducked behind the plant, and hoped that Charlotte/Anna wouldn't see her. Her only hope was to wait for Charlotte/Anna to come away from the door, and then run back through it.

Charlotte came through the doorway and pretended she couldn't see her mother. She dragged the pipe behind her and then picked it up and slammed it against the wall. The pipe made a very loud sound that echoed into the distance.

"Come out Mother," she hissed. "Let's get this over with." She slammed the pipe against the wall again for emphasis.

"You do understand that I've figured out how sick you are, bitch. How dare you," screamed Charlotte/Anna. "I couldn't believe, that you've come all the way here, and just delivered yourself to me. Why would she do that, I wondered? She's not stupid. Even I have to admit Mother, you're one of the smartest women I know," said Charlotte/Anna.

"What would make you rush into danger? I couldn't figure it out. You obviously didn't want to see me. So I thought that maybe you cared about your girlfriend. I mean you and Annalise were kind of close. You did after all try to give her my fucking kidney, before my body had even cooled down. There was also the fact that you and my father never slept together. So for a while I thought that maybe you were a lesbo." Anna cackled, laughing at her own joke.

"But that just didn't fit, because when I took over this body, I had to chase all of sweet little Anna's memories out of my head. Sweet little Anna, absolutely, loved fucking my husband. But there were no memories of her with you. She also wasn't gay, Mother. So if you didn't love Annalise, and had no interest in seeing what had become of this body, why would you come here?"

"That only left me one conclusion, mother and it's a nasty one. At first, I thought that I couldn't possibly be right. There's no way that you could love my fucking husband, is there? He's 27, Mother, and you're a 200 year old, dried up, wrinkled up, bitch. You wouldn't even fuck your own husband, but you want to fuck mine? Then I remembered back to when Press and I first got together, and it made sense. Mother, you never went in that fucking pool with me or any of my friends the whole time I was growing up," sneered Charlotte.

"But as soon as I brought Preston home, you squeezed your geriatric ass into a swimsuit, and started walking around and bending over in front of him. What did you think? That he wanted to see your big old sagging titties before they got down to waist level?"

"You are not going to leave this roof today mother, so come out from behind that fucking tree, and let's get this over with," screamed Charlotte. "Preston is mine!"

Suddenly Amanda was angry. She stood up behind the plant and looked at Charlotte/Anna. Rage coursed through her system. She wanted to rip her daughter's head off. Charlotte had wandered through life never working hard at or for anything. Everything Charlotte had gotten throughout her life came from someone else's effort. Amanda had always been the one supporting everyone around her. She'd always had to simply get and accept what she could.

Amanda had married a man who was much older than herself. She'd hoped for love, but ended up no more than a trophy wife. When she tried to make a go of it anyway, she soon found out that her inexperience and innocence, had actually chased her husband into the arms of other women. She'd put up with it over the years to keep her family together. She'd suffered and endured humiliation, again and again, for the sake of her family and their reputation. But this time, just this once she wanted something for herself.

There was simply no fucking way that Amanda was going to let this monster in Anna's body, take Preston. She leaped out from behind the plant and ran straight at Charlotte/Anna.

Charlotte/Anna didn't have time to bring the pipe up and the two women fought over it. Their gyrations caused them both, to lean over the railing that was the only thing preventing them from falling off the roof.

"You're gonna die, Bitch," screamed Charlotte/Anna.

"If I do, I'm taking you with me," said Amanda. "Preston will be free of you one way or another."

Then in a moment of clarity Amanda realized, that was what needed to happen. Even though they'd only had one night together, Preston had shown her more love, than she'd gotten in her entire 32 year marriage to Sam. She had to protect Preston at any cost. She redoubled her efforts. She was no longer fighting to get free or to save herself. That might not be possible. She was fighting to hurt Charlotte, even if she had to go with her. She pulled herself and Charlotte away from the railing. She figured that Charlotte would try to do the opposite, and she did. Charlotte was using all of her weight to pull the two of them towards the railing. Amanda suddenly stopped fighting her and threw them both over the railing. Suddenly they were flailing in midair.

Chapter 10: Preston

I heard the screaming and ran towards the stairs. I heard a piece of metal banging repeatedly against the walls and ran towards the sound. When I got to the second floor, I could see the doorway to the roof was open. I ran up the stairs and saw Amanda and Charlotte wrestling by the railing. Suddenly Amanda jerked away from the railing and Charlotte tried to jerk them back towards it. Then I realized what was about to happen. I ran as fast as I could and jumped over the railing. I grabbed the railing with my left hand and grabbed Amanda's left arm with my right hand.

Seconds later I felt the pain of my shoulder muscles nearly torn as the weight of not only my body, but Amanda's dangled over the edge of the roof.

Below us, I heard the sound of the pipe clattering on the ground, a loud thump, as something larger and softer struck, and then just quiet. I pulled Amanda up. Once we were both stable, we looked down and saw the twisted form on the concrete below us.

We were horrified as Anna's twisted body looked up at us, and tried to talk. Somehow, as improbable as it seemed, the words, barely above a whisper, carried up to us. Neither of us, ever told anyone what she'd said, and we've never even spoke of it between us. Charlotte's last words were, "I'll be back." Then her head dropped back to the concrete and the body was still.

"Amanda, Grab my belt," I said quietly. "Don't look down. It's going to be okay."

"Shut up, Preston," snapped Amanda.

She grabbed my belt. I let go of her arm and grabbed her around the waist. I scooted her up so she could grab the railing and pull herself up. I stayed there hanging on the railing until she was over it and safe. Then I gingerly pulled myself over it as well, favoring my injured left shoulder. As soon as I was over the railing and safe, Amanda started hitting me and screaming at me.

"Amanda, you're safe," I said. "You weren't supposed to be here anyway."

"God Damn it Preston," she screamed. "This is supposed to be us, together. You don't get to run off and try and sacrifice your life, to save me from my psychopathic daughter. You're all I have left. I wouldn't have wanted to live without you."

I just wrapped my arms around her and kissed her. She relaxed and kissed me back, her body molding its self to mine. I cupped the cheeks of her ass and pulled her agasint me harder.

"Press, stop that, you'll make me have nasty thoughts again," smiled Amanda. "Besides, what if someone came in and saw us? How would we explain it?"

"We don't explain anything Amanda," I said. "I love you and you love me. Nuff said."

"Do you mean, we sneak around together?" she asked.

"Hell no, as soon as we take care of all of the details about the company and Anna, and Charlotte, we're fixing up the house and getting married. We're both single and adults and we want to be together. So we aren't the same age. Who cares? There's no law against it. Anyone who doesn't like it, doesn't have to work for us, or be around us. Fuck them." I said.

Epilog

Three months later, Amanda and I are happier than we've ever been. All of the damage at the plant has been repaired and forgotten. We're back to the business of making parts. There have been a few changes made though. I never made Alan sign his stock over to me. We sat down and had a long talk. We actually came to terms. There was no need for Alan, and I to argue, or to hate each other. He had never been interested in Charlotte romantically and had never had sex with her. Though Amanda hated him, he never bore her any ill will. The only thing Alan ever wanted, was his father's approval and to be a part of his father's life. Sam was dead, but I gave him the next best thing.

It was hard getting Alan and Amanda together the first time. But she agreed to try, for me. Amanda had a lot of bad things to say to him. Finally though, she realized that all of the anger she'd vented on him, was really her anger at what Sam and Alan's mother had done. Amanda was just seeing Alan as evidence that Sam had cheated on her. Not as a person. She'd never gotten to know Alan himself. I explained to her that by getting to know Alan, she was giving herself a little piece of Sam himself. And that if she truly ever loved Sam, holding on to his memory through Alan could be a good thing.

Then I put Alan in charge of the business and sales end of the company. He got to do all of the things that I hated. That left me free to do the technical and manufacturing stuff that I loved. It also meant that I could spend much less time at the plant, and far more time at home with my new wife.

Yep I said wife. Amanda and I got married. We even invited Tim and Nicole. It was kind of a working trip for them though because they catered our wedding. We might not have the fantasy yet, but we're working on it every day. Amanda is a little miffed at me right now though. She blames me for us not being able to go on a honeymoon just yet. We were going to go to FLORIDA. And maybe take a cruise on one of those big Ocean liners. I had thoughts of asking Tim and Nicole to come with us. Amanda blames me because just as my shoulder fully healed, she was sentenced to bed rest. Amanda is going to be 50 years old soon, though she didn't look a day over thirty five. But there are differences between a thirty five year old and a fifty year old. At least that's what they tell me. I don't care and haven't noticed any.

Amanda hasn't yet gone through menopause, which is the crux of our problem. She and Sam had sex so rarely, and they hadn't since Charlotte was born. Amanda wasn't on the pill, and that night in the motel, when we both had nasty thoughts, we had rung Amanda's bell.

I later confessed to her, that I had kind of, wanted to get her pregnant. That way in my mind, we'd be tied together forever, and she wouldn't be able to leave me. "Well you got your wish," she snapped.

She didn't tell me until later, that it was also what she'd meant, when she said she had nasty thoughts. And she promised me that she'd never leave me anyway. So we were both very happy, yet very afraid. We weren't afraid for Amanda's life, her doctor assured us that she was in great shape and as long as she got her rest, could carry the baby with no problems. But with Charlotte's final words to us, even though we know that it's not very likely to happen again, we're just hoping and praying that it's a boy!

The End