Dirk Gently and The Ghosts of Time

Redhead From Hell

"GODDAMNIT ADAMS!" It's interesting... life that is. Things can change so quickly as Ken discovered this morning.

The day before yesterday was arguably the best day of his life, although he couldn't be sure since he felt numb for over half a year. And to be completely honest, he might have forgotten how it felt to feel anything other than boredom and frustration.

And today? Well, today was something else entirely. Life's like that. One day you're having the best day of your life and the next you're having the worst day of your life. Of course excluding the day he met her .

Yeah, that's it. Blame her for all your problems. She's the reason you're here in this terrifying situation in the first place!

What was that situation?

Staring down the redhead from hell on opposite sides of a table that was comically too long.

Her eyes flamed and her nostrils flared, he was pretty sure if he closed his eyes for any amount of time and opened them her light ginger locks would turn to snakes. "MARZANA JUST KILLED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR MEN! AND PRIEST! PRIEST, ADAMS! And the ones who lived all quit! Excluding Lieutenant Assistent... and you . If I didn't know any better I would say that you let her escape."

His legs felt like jelly. "I can assure you, Wilson, I did not assist her in her escape-"

She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, "Then how do you explain the thousands of lives lost yesterday? Priest, Adams, she killed Priest. The greatest man who ever worked this unit is DEAD Adams. Dead on your watch, Adams."

"She can't be captured."

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED HER!"

"Believe me, Wilson, we tried. She doesn't work like that. She can't be killed."

"She can't." A man sitting on the side of the conference table said. He almost forgot that they weren't the only ones there.

"Why do you think it failed in the first place. They can't be contained." A woman added.

"This project is a complete joke. They were out for 16 years, everything was fine. Why don't we just terminate the whole thing? It's no use." Another man said.

"BECAUSE THEY ARE DANGEROUS!" Said Wilson.

"Project Marzana can't be contained, can't be hurt. The universe won't let anything get in her way. That's the whole reason she was here. If it weren't for that she'd just be a serial killer, nothing anomalous about her." Ken said.

"Then why the hell did she stay put for eight months?!" She pounded her hands on the table.

"She felt guilty, like she deserved it. She wanted to be there."

She tilted her head slightly and raised her brows, fuck . "What changed?" All malice in her voice left, a ruse.

"I'm not sure." He stared back blankly. Eyes fixed to hers, a staredown.

"Something must have." Cold, unblinking.

"I've been closely monitoring her. Nothing has changed." He wasn't backing down that easily.

"If nothing has changed with her, perhaps, could something have changed with you ?" Neither was she.

The energy in the room was intense. Cold and fiery at the same time. They were sure this is what hell felt like. All eyes were on the two of them. Darting back and forth with each statement in fear. The air felt thin, gasping to breathe, the two at the ends of the table stealing every single molecule floating around for use in their own selfish purposes of proving themselves right.

"I'm sorry, Adams," Assistent said from behind him. "He told her about Oneiroi. Well, not about Oneiroi, just told her he thought its recent activity could lead us to the other projects."

"I see." She began walking around the table very slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. "Your previous relationship with Marzana affected your judgment."

"I can assure you that has nothing to do with-"

"Some friendly chit-chat, huh?" Still coming around the table. Her face still stone cold. Her green-grey eyes like knives. "Thought her your friend, something happened and you just had to tell her."

"Wilson. I-" He fought the urge to shiver as a chill came up his spine.

"You remind me of someone." She was close to him now, backing him in a corner.

"Who might that be?" He gulped.

"Someone else who worked here, someone who was terminated. Riggins. He got too close to the projects. He could no longer do his job effectively."

"You need me, Wilson." He tried to back up further.

"And why is that?"

"She won't kill me. She never will. She's grown attached to me. I was able to push her gun down while it was pointed at me yesterday Wilson."

"She didn't kill a lot of other people yesterday."

"Think over who was killed." He briskly walked to the board on her side of the table and pulled up the list. "The guards, they all tried to stop her. Mr. Priest, very important to this operation. General Connolly, he's worked here for over twenty years. Sargent McCormick, ten years. Halpern, dead, Corzett, dead, Giovanni, dead." He just began pointing to random names and faces from the list. "Dead, dead, dead, dead! Every last important person who was there that day is dead."

"And your point is?" She crossed her arms.

"Morton, intern, alive. Bohen, assistant, alive. Troutman, management, alive. Finley, intern, alive. Moseley, records, alive. Wilson, she told me that only the innocent would make it out that day. Only the people who were important would die. And she didn't kill me, and I am the head of this operation only under you. She is attached to me. She won't kill me."

"She didn't kill Assistent."

"Honestly, I'm not sure why he is alive either." He looked at Ken offended. "Hey, It means you're important. Shut up."

"What are you getting at Adams?"

"She won't kill me." He began walking back to her. "Do you know what she tells me every day? She tells me how much she wishes she had killed me. Yesterday morning during our daily meeting she asked what's stopping her from killing me and when I told her nothing was, she didn't kill me." The tables had turned, he was in her face now. "She isn't going to kill me. You need me, Wilson. Don't make the mistake of releasing me. I'm the only one who can bring her back, and I'll be damned if I can't."

"Alright." She sighed. "You've convinced me. Just this once. Don't let your ego get in the way again Adams."

"Thank you, Wilson. You won't regret it."

"Ok people!" She picked back up at the head of the table. "I need to see you working to build a whole task force from scratch. And ASAP. We have an anomalous serial killer on the loose! I want people in Louisiana TODAY!"

AN
Sorry for the super short chapter, I didn't have a lot to say here and I figured you'd want to get back to our beans after that cliffhanger.

And why did I kill Mr. Priest? I had too many characters to write and he honestly deserves it and I know for a fact that Bart wouldn't hesitate to kill him and I feel like he wouldn't miss a day of work.