Exchanged
by Melanie Brown
Copyright  © 2018 Melanie Brown

The day started off bad enough...

 

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I slapped the steering wheel for the third time as if the first two times did any good. The radio just announced an accident on the freeway I was on and suggested avoiding it as traffic is already stacking up. No shit, Sherlock.

There was no way I could move to the exit lane to get off the freeway. Cars were stacked in pretty thick. Great. I’ll probably be stuck here for at least an hour or more.

I picked up my cell phone and punched in some numbers. “Hey, Jennifer? It’s me. Hey, I’m stuck in traffic…yeah, that’s where I am. I won’t make it to our meeting. Can you let the others know? Thanks.” I disconnected. Now I need to call my boss. I really hate calling him.

A sudden, unexpected headache hit me hard. I dropped my phone and my vision blurred. My head struck a hard surface. The headache left as quickly as it had come. I opened my eyes as I lifted my head up. Long strands of blonde hair fell across my face.

What the fucking hell?

I was in an office instead of inside my car and I was sitting at a desk. Just what the fuck is going on? There were large windows along one wall of the office with a beautiful ocean view and a large city. I felt a little dizzy as I started to stand up. I put my hands on the desktop to steady myself. I was wearing red nail polish.

Why am I wearing nail polish? I stood up quickly and almost fell over. I looked down at myself. Through the long strands of blonde hair, I saw I was dressed in a dark blue skirt, a white blouse and on my feet were black high heels. There was a bracelet on my wrist. I reached up to touch my face. I felt earrings on my ears and my moustache was gone.

I looked wildly around the office. There was a mirror on the wall over a filing cabinet and printer. Oh my God! What the hell is going on? What’s happened to me?

I took a few uneasy steps over to the mirror. My heart leapt to my throat as I looked at the reflection staring back at me. It wasn’t me. I saw a pretty, young twenty-something well endowed woman with long blonde hair. This can’t be real, I thought. I touched my lip and looked at my finger and saw the lipstick on it. This can’t be real.

A cell phone on the desk rang. I stared at it for a moment and then hesitantly picked it up and answered the call. Someone speaking in my voice said, “Say something, you idiot!”

“Hello?” I said timidly. “Who is this? What’s happened to me?”

I heard my voice laugh. “That should be enough for Connors to tag this phone. Stay there. Someone will be there in a minute to bring you to the lab. I’m going to need you.” The call disconnected. I dropped the phone back on the desk. This is crazy!

I actually screamed. Like a girl. The door to the office I was in abruptly slammed open. An out of breath young man ran through the door. He looked at me with wild eyes.

“Katherine!” He shouted. “Don’t do this! I beg you!”

I backed up towards the wall. “Who the fuck are you? Who’s Katherine?” I then screamed in a high pitch woman’s voice, “Just what the goddamn fuck is going on here?!”

He stared at me with his mouth hanging open. “Ah fuck! She’s done it.” He looked at the cell phone on the desk. “Has she already contacted you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know who you mean by ‘she’. I just got a call from myself on that phone! This is insane.”

He held out his hand towards me. “Come with me! We have to run before they get here! We need to hide so we can stop this!”

I backed further away. “I don’t know you! I want to know what’s going on! I’m going to call the police!”

Still holding out his hand, the man shouted, “Come with me if you want to live!”

“What are you talking about? Is a terminator coming?” I shouted back at him. “I want to know what the hell...”

He grabbed my arm. “No time to argue. We have to hide!”

He pulled me quickly out the door, with me stumbling along in the high heels. “This way!” He pulled me down an empty hallway.

I tried to pull my arm free but I didn’t have the strength. I shouted again, “Tell me what the hell is going on!”

The man hissed, “I don’t know who the hell you are in Katherine’s body, but shut the fuck up or they’ll find us!”

“Who?”

“Shhh!” He jerked on my arm again and he opened a stairwell door. He led me down two flights of stairs before entering another hallway. He opened the door to an empty office, practically shoved me inside the office. He locked the door.

Breathless, I sat in one of the office chairs. “Can you tell me what is going on? How and why am I now a woman?”

The man stood by the door, listening. He finally turned towards me. “There’s not enough time to explain it all. You were selected by random and I’m terribly sorry. This wasn’t something personal. You’re involved in a very hostile corporate takeover. You’re in the body of Katherine Steinway or technically Katherine Straub. Her father is the CEO and president of Steinway Inc. Or he was.” He paused to listen again.

“This is crazy!” I shouted. “Why am I in her body? I don’t understand.”

Facing me again, the man said, “Mr. Steinway decided, rightfully it seems, that he couldn’t trust his daughter any longer. Especially her husband. He was going to go to the board to announce he was handing the reigns of the corporation to a different successor. And he was writing his daughter out of his will. This corporation all by itself is worth billions and Steinway’s personal wealth is over twenty billion dollars. Katherine was set to not get a dime. He was killed in a car accident a week ago. Some of us don’t believe it was an accident.”

I stood up, still a bit wobbly. “What does this have to do with me? How could I be in her body?”

“Katherine’s husband, Clarke Straub, will be taking over the company and all its billions.” The man paused again to listen. “At first she went along with it. Then she decided since it was her father’s company, she deserved it.”

I stepped up to the man and got in his face. “That’s a great little story, mister. I can’t wait to watch it on Lifetime. Explain to me why I’m a woman!”

Scowling, he roughly clasped his hand over my mouth. “Shut up, bitch! You’ll give us away. The reason you’re here is a top secret weapon our lab is developing for the military. I can’t go into details, but basically it exchanges people. The primary and the target swap bodies. Distance isn’t a factor. It just uses more energy for greater distances.”

I pushed his hand away from my mouth and stepped back. Wanting to run, somewhere; anywhere, I sat back down and shook my head. “That’s ridiculous! Nobody can do that!”

The man smirked. “Well, you’re here and Katherine is in your body on the other side of the country.”

The door suddenly slammed open, pushing the man to the ground. A large man wielding a large semi-auto pistol barged into the room. He pointed the gun at me. “Come on, bitch. You’re coming with me.” I’ve been a woman for ten minutes and I’ve been called a bitch twice already.

Stuttering, I said, “I...I…I’m not going anywhere!”

The man lying on the ground rubbed his head a moment and then looked up. “Connors, you weasel. Are you going to go along with that asshole?”

Connors tossed the man on the floor a couple plastic ties. “Make yourself useful and tie her wrists. I know you have a school boy crush on Katherine, but if you’re smart, you’ll back up Clarke. You probably didn’t know that once this was over, Katherine was going to kill you. Or transfer your mind into a lab rat or something.”

The as yet unnamed man got to his feet. “Nothin’ doin’. I’m out of here. I can’t stop anything, but I’m not going to help Clarke dispose of Katherine.”

Connors laughed. “You’re in this too deep. Neither Clarke or Katherine will let you just walk away. Clarke is going to set me up for life. If you’re smart, you’ll join us. Now tie her wrists Stan? We don’t have all day.”

As Stan gruffly bound my hands with the plastic ties, he asked, “So, where is Katherine now? You were supposed to grab her from this schmuck’s body.”

Connors grinned. “She’s here. Let’s go. Oh, wait.” He reached around behind me and plucked something from my blouse collar. He held up a small object. “I put this tag on her this morning in case she tried some funny business.”

Stan shook his head. “I wondered how you found us so easily.”

Stan grabbed my bound hands and led me down a hall to an elevator. Connors and Stan had been pretty chatty, but now they fell silent. Connors selected the floor second from the top.

The elevator door opened onto an empty hallway. At the end of the hall was a receptionist’s desk. No one was there at the moment.

Stan gave Connors a questioning look. Connors shrugged and said, “I gave everyone the day off. We certainly don’t want any witnesses.”

We walked briskly down the hall. The sound of my heels echoing in the empty halls. We stopped at a large glass door labeled “Steinway Research Laboratory – Authorized personnel only.”

Connors held up his arm to a reader on the door so it could pick up the biometric tag in his arm. The door silently slid open. Connors waved me through. “Ladies first.” He laughed heartily.

The lab looked what you’d expect a research facility to look. There were caged animals for experimentation, rows of electronics. In the center of the room was a very strange looking machine bristling with wires and cables.

There was another man in the lab looking over the machine. He looked up when we entered. “So Stan decided to join us after all?” The man stepped towards us.

Connors chuckled. “I told him how generous you were, Mr. Straub.” A bell finally went off in my head. This was Clarke Straub. The husband of Katherine Steinway.

Mr. Straub grinned as he walked up to me and looked over at Stan. “Good. I can use another good man.” He grinned as he gruffly grabbed my face by the chin and squeezed. “So you’re the poor dumb schlub that got caught in all this. How would you like to be the wife of a billionaire? I need someone to inhabit that cunt’s body. It might as well be you if you can keep your mouth shut.”

Stan looked around the room. To Connors he said, “I thought you said Katherine was here.”

Connors and Clarke both laughed. Stan looked confused.

Connors said, “I took the liberty of transferring her back to the lab after I was able to zero in on the cell phone she called from. She was expecting me to transfer her to Mr. Straub’s body. I bet it was hilarious when that big ape wound up in his body.” He pointed at me. I saw something on the news that the police had to shoot some guy who suddenly just went berserk in a traffic jam and started acting like a wild gorilla.”

Looking frustrated, Stan said, “Okay, where is she?”

Clarke laughed. “Still carrying a torch for her, eh? Oh yeah. I knew about her little affair with you, though God knows why. Anyway. See that female gorilla in that cage over there getting humped by that large male? That’s where she is. Rather fitting I should think.”

Clarke grinned at me. “Sorry about that. But we do have to make an exchange…she into the gorilla and the gorilla into your old body. No big deal right? You weren’t going back there anyway and this ties up some loose ends.”

I stood there thunderstruck. “You mean I’m dead? My body’s dead?” Everyone ignored me.

Stan ran over near the cages. “You…you’re not leaving her like that are you? Aren’t you going to restore her to her own body?”

Clarke laughed. “Are you out of your fucking mind? I can’t trust her.” He nodded his head towards Stan. Connor aimed his gun towards Stan. “Connor told me all about her plot to have you, my dear Stan, transfer her into my body. That’s not going to happen.” He nodded towards Connors.

Grinning, Connors quickly turned and pointed his pistol at Stan. A deafening report from the pistol echoed through the empty halls and Stan collapsed to the ground.

Clarke nodded towards me. “Tie her to that chair.”

I know what I looked like, but it annoyed me to be called “she.” But I supposed that was the least of my worries. Connors shoved me into a chair and tied me to the chair arms.

I looked back and forth between the two. “What are you going to do with me?”

Clarke laughed. “I was just joking with you about you becoming my wife. I don’t know you from Adam and I’m sure you’d cross me at the first opportunity. Connors we’re going to Plan B. I’m going to transfer to temporarily into Katherine’s body and then this nobody will be inside you. I’ll just cap you, or rather him in the head and be done with him.”

I froze with fear. He’s planning to just kill me after exchanging me with Connor. I struggled uselessly against the plastic ties.

Suddenly angry, Connor shouted, “You want me to be the bitch? You said nothing about that. Fuck that. I’m not going into that cunt.”

Clarke shrugged. “I told you it’s temporary. It’ll buy us time. Don’t worry. I’m not going to fuck you.”

Connors seemed to relax. “I’ll give you my gun so you can shoot this clown when he arrives in my body.”

Clarke nodded. “Sit in that other chair so I can tie you up. Don’t look at me like that. If I don’t restrain you, he can attack me once he’s in your body.” Clarke proceeded to bind Connors to the chair. He set the gun down on a table near the chairs.

With a smirk, he turned to walk back to the machine. He stopped and looked around confused. He spun around to face us. “Where did Stan go?”

From his chair, Connors looked to floor around him. “He was on the floor where I shot him.”

Fuming, Clarke shouted, “He’s not there now! You imbecile! You didn’t kill him!”

There was a cough from behind the machine’s control console. Holding his side through his blood soaked shirt stood Stan. “No. He didn’t.”

Clarke spun around and started to run towards Stan. Stan pounded a button on the console and the room was rapidly filled with the odor of ozone and arcs of electricity. Clarke took a few more steps towards Stan and then stumbled.

Clarke stood to his full height and straightened his jacket. He flexed his arms and smiled at Stan. “Excellent. You finally did something right, Stan.”

Stan stepped from behind the console, his breathing labored. “Katherine? Is that you?”

Clarke laughed. “Of course it’s me!” Clarke looked around. “What did you do with my dear husband?”

Stan pointed at the gorilla cage. “He’s that female gorilla getting humped by that big male. You just exchanged places.”

Clarke laughed with great amusement. “Perfect! That’s exactly what the bastard deserves. Now finish the plan and shoot Connors in the head to leave him brain dead so we can put him in my old body.”

Stan coughed a few times. “But my love! I thought you were going to transfer back to your own beautiful body and we’d put the brain dead mind into Clarke’s body?”

Clarke scowled. “What? Go back to being Daddy’s little girl? The power I feel now is intoxicating. No. I hate being a woman. Besides, Clarke is already head of the company. It’ll be easier this way. My father. What a pathetic loser. He thought he wanted a boy. Well, here I am, Dad.” Clarke laughed a little too hard.

Stan coughed and spit some blood from his mouth. “I need to go to the hospital.” He was starting to look pale.

Clarke pointed at Connors and screamed, “Shoot him!”

Connors shouted, “No! Please! Stan don’t do it!”

Stan took careful aim and held the pistol as steady as he could while suffering from his own gunshot wound.

“Stan! No!” pleaded Connors. Again my ears rang from the loud report of the pistol. Connors slumped in his chair, his shirt becoming stained by his own blood.

There was a loud rattling coming from the animal cages. I looked over at them and the female gorilla was trying to rip their cage apart and trying to punch the male gorilla.

Clarke walked over to where Connors sat slumped in his chair. With a look of satisfaction, he said, “Okay Stan my love. Now transfer this brain dead mind into my old body.”

“What?” I shouted. “That means my mind will go into that dead body!

Clarke walked over to me as Stan walked slowly back to the console. He looked down at me and laughed. “Sorry stranger. Nothing personal you understand. In a way, I’d like to keep you in that body. It’d be a hoot to fuck myself. But I can’t trust you. Okay, Stan. Do it.”

I started crying. I pleaded, “Look! I’ll be your wife. You can fuck me all you want. I won’t mind! I won’t tell your secret!” I struggled against the bindings.

Stan looked at Clarke with sad eyes. “I thought you loved me, Katherine. I thought you’d marry me and you’d be my wife… my lover.”

Changing his tone, Clarke said, “I do love you honey. We’ll work something out, I promise. Right after all my wealth is transferred officially to Clarke.” Clarke smirked again.

Coughing up blood, Stan looked over the console. In a quiet voice he said, “This isn’t right. I’ll be dead before that happens.” He coughed again and tried to draw in a large breath.

Clarke looked wild-eyed. “Do it you moron!”

Stan punched a few keys and then lifted his pistol and pointed it at Clarke. “I’m sorry Katherine. But this is evil. Clarke double-crossed you and your father. You’ve double-crossed everyone. Including me.” He shot Clarke in the chest as he pressed the exchange button. Again the room filled with the smell of ozone and an arc flashed across the room.

Clarke’s body fell to the floor and then just as suddenly tried to stand. Fear and confusion in his eyes as he looked wildly around. Stan rushed to me and quickly cut my restraints.

“Run. Run as fast as you can. I’ve unlocked the doors. Hit a fire alarm and just keep running.” Stan gasped and wheezed.

As I stood up, I asked, “Where did Clarke or Katherine or whoever the hell that was go?”

Stan grinned and then coughed. “I exchanged her with that big male gorilla in the cage. I didn’t fatally wound Clarke’s body, but the gorilla would probably kill us both if I hadn’t wounded him. Now go! Please. I’m sorry we stole your life from you. But now you’re Katherine Steinway with all her wealth. Go.” Stan collapsed to the floor and was still.

I started to run. I looked behind me and saw Clarke with the gorilla mind pick up some piece of equipment and started bashing the machine that caused all this trouble. I pulled the nearest fire alarm and all the overhead sprinklers burst water over the lab. The overcharged machine abruptly exploded and flames shot across the lab. The explosion took out a huge chunk of the ceiling, destroying the overhead sprinkler system. I ran quickly through the unlocked doors.

*          *          *

I managed to escape the explosion and resultant fire. As far as anyone was concerned, I was Katherine Steinway, the sole heir to the Steinway fortune. The fire department managed to get the lab’s fire under control. The evil machine was destroyed. I donated all the animals in the lab to the local zoo. None of them had been harmed in the explosion and fire. I felt bad for the gorilla who took over Clarke’s body. He died from his wounds and from the explosion. The fire charred the bodies so badly that it took dental records to sort who was who. It also covered up all the bullet holes in everyone.

It didn’t take me long to figure out I had no idea how to run a multi-billion dollar corporation. The board of directors was only too happy to have me appoint a new CEO and oversee the sale of the business. After taxes, I was still the second-richest woman in the country. I never tried to contact my old family and friends. Who’d believe me? I managed to meet another billionaire and I married him and got pregnant. Being a woman, a mom, and a wife was a struggle at first, but I’m happy now. I created an anonymous trust fund for the kid from my past life that I’ll never see again.

“Kat, do we have to come to the zoo so often?” asked my husband Zeb. “Especially by those awful gorillas. Those two banging on the cage go absolutely ape, if you pardon the expression, when we come near.”

I shrugged. “Who knows what animals think. Okay, let’s go. But I want t stop by the zoo’s office on the way out.”

I made a donation to the zoo along with enough funds to send two gorillas back to the forests of central Africa. I’m sure they will love that.

Sorry, but not sorry. Clarke and Katherine deserve everything they have coming to them. And more. I’m at peace.

*          *          *

The End