48. The surprising secret

"This is so cool," Shirleen said looking around Olympus her eyes excited. "I didn't know this could exist." She turned to look at Angela in awe.

"Well my father might have been a downright bastard but he was intelligent," Angela said smiling at the girl's excitement. "Pandora can access any information that has been stored on line or hack into any database. She can also see everything around the world. Only one person can have control of her at a time. The person in control can grant someone else with access codes to Pandora's information but not control over her. She also controls the whole building's security."

"She is an artificial intelligence how can she do all that?" Shirleen asked seating in Angela's chair in front of the glass like screen and started touching whatever appeared on it curious. Angela didn't stop her instead she watched the young girl closely marvelling at her intelligence. Angela had always known Shirleen had an IQ of 160 making her technically a genius in her own right.

"My father was as intelligent as he was devious. He launched his own satellite into space without anyone the wiser," Angela replied.

Shirleen looked at her in surprise her eyes wide, "Are you telling me we own a satellite in space? Do you know what we could do with that? We could expand our family's reputation. Did he leave any documentation of how he did it?" Shirleen asked excited.

"Yes, but he wrote it in code something only he could understand," Angela said with a sigh pulling her chair close to Shirleen's. "He was extremely paranoid and self-centred."

"How about I try?" Shirleen asked with a plea. Angela looked into her eyes for a minute or two before she said, "Knock yourself out. Pandora?"

"Yes Angela," Pandora's voice filled the room.

"Access my father's notes," Angela said to the room.

"Hey Pandora," Shirleen said excited.

"Hi Shirleen," Pandora said in return and Shirleen vibrated in her chair with glee.

"This is so cool," she said more to herself than anyone. She suddenly turned to look at Angela, "Is Pandora hackable?"

"No, she isn't but my dear father put in a loophole of sought. He created a device that could temporarily switch Pandora's control to someone else. It takes about five minutes for the switch to control her before Pandora shuts down and reboots for thirty minutes. After rebooting the device breaks down completely." Angela leaned on her chair in contemplation, "When I took over the company, I couldn't find it. But I sent people to look for it in case my father hid it outside the country because I couldn't find it within."

Shirleen was watching the woman who was swinging her chair from side to side trying to ignore her. "You never say my name," Shirleen said softly and Angela froze in her chair, "You always call me girl or you." Angela didn't answer instead she closed her eyes tightly as if she was pretending, she couldn't hear her. "Did he hurt you that much?" Shirleen asked.

Angela was quiet for a few minutes before she answered, "Yes," she said her voice full of pain. "He made me love him out of all the men I had met, many more handsome than he was, richer than he was but he was the first to break down my walls. For the first time I trusted a man to keep me safe and take me away from my nightmare. He gave me the courage to put down my gun and knife that I had used to take many lives, he gave me the courage to walk away from my father and he made me believe that I could live a normal life. A life with children of my own, teaching them how to cook and not kill and watch them go to school every day at the bus stop. He gave me hope and then in one fell swoop took it all away like it was nothing. I was nothing to him just a steppingstone that he would have discarded after he got to where he wanted to go and then reach back to the woman he loved. He used me to make his first and only love happy." Shirleen looked away from her tears in her eyes wondering what she would have done if Adrian had done the same to her. Alarms sounded around her and the screen before her blinked on and then finally went off. "What is happening?" Shirleen asked Angela looking around. Angela had sat up her eyes wide, "Well, well looks like the device has found us?" she said softly when she tried reaching Pandora and she couldn't. "Someone has broken into the building using the loophole device," Angela observed pushing a button and the curved screen slowly slid into the wall.

"Shouldn't we be going upstairs?" Shirleen asked concerned.

"No, the elevator to the ground floor is powered by Pandora. Whoever has the device must know this so they are making their way to us," Angela replied standing up.

"We don't have weapons remember. We need a plan." Shirleen said watching the glass door. Before Angela could reply the glass doors slid open and to their utter surprise Lawrence was pushed inside the sound proofed room by none other than Lucy, Angela's Cousin who had a gun pointed at his back. Both Angela and Shirleen froze at the sight not daring to move. The five minutes were up and the device went dead as predicted and Pandora started rebooting. Lucy threw the device on the ground with a sneer before looking at the two women before her.

"I should have known my father gave your father that fucking device," Angela said softly as if she couldn't believe she had overlooked that possibility.

"Your father wanted my father to be the heir until you killed him and took that position," Lucy said vehemently. Shirleen was looking at her father's face which was filled with surprise and shock at seeing her with Angela.

"Is this where she has been keeping you prisoned?" Lawrence asked Shirleen his face ravaged with pain.

Shirleen shook her head, "No I am no longer a prisoner. I haven't been in a long time," she replied softly not ready to face her father.

Lucy sneered and started laughing hysterically, "Did you not tell him?" she asked. "He doesn't know that you dear Shirleen are queen of the criminal underworld? That Angela made sure to enter you in a dead or alive tournament just so you could prove you could take her position?" Shirleen tensed still looking at her father, the father she had adored for as long as she could remember. The man who had loved her mother more than anything. "Let me introduce you Lawrence to Shirleen queen of the criminal world and heir to the Phoenix family who will die in the next five minutes," Lucy said with relish.

"No," Angela said vehemently, "She will not be the one dying today."

Shirleen was watching her father's face softly, "To enter the tournament was my choice I wanted to prove to Angela I was not weak. She did not approve at first, but I have an immensely powerful and persuasive boyfriend," Shirleen said turning to look at Angela winking as if they shared a secret and Angela smirked at her in return. Lawrence looked on in shock still trying to play catch up.

"Angela, I want you to feel the pain of losing someone important to you," Lucy said pushing Lawrence to the ground and pointed the gun at Shirleen and fired. Angela without hesitation stepped in front of Shirleen shielding her from the bullet.

"Mom," Shirleen shouted in shock reaching for Angela as she slid to the ground. Shirleen turned Angela around trying to see if she was breathing and where she was shot. The bullet had passed through the left side of her waist and exited. Shirleen tore off her shirt almost immediately and pressed down on the bleeding wound. "Mom stay with me please," she whispered over and over. Angela was looking at her, her eyes clear but tired. She stretched her hand to touch Shirleen's face softly and whispered, "Beautiful…... I will always protect you."

"I know," Shirleen whispered back. Lawrence joined them on the floor holding the gun and that was when Shirleen turned to look at Lucy who laid on the floor disoriented. Looks like her father has an exceptionally good right hook, she observed. Shirleen took her father's hands and placed them on Angela's wound then took the gun. She rose slowly her face full of fury, she was shaking with rage and walked over to her cousin once removed. Shirleen shot her on the leg without a second thought and said, "You are lucky you are family or I would have killed you today." A door slid open to the side and Stacey stepped in looking dishevelled. She rushed to Angela's side and knelt holding her hand tightly in hers.

"I didn't know what happened. I was monitoring the human trafficking situation in the next room when the screen went blank and I couldn't access this room. I had gun shots and finally the door slid open," she explained wildly.