“You watched from here? With remote equipment?”
“Naturally. I have not lived so long by taking unnecessary risks.”
“What if I told you that you’re in danger now?”
“How so?”
“You’re sitting rather close. Do you have any idea how fast I am?”
“If you attack me, you die. I don’t think you want to die.”
“My life might be worth spending to kill a monster like you.”
“Again, I’m surprised at your attitude. I would have thought you’d feel more kinship toward our group. We’re roughly the same age. We’ve lived similar lives. Staying in the shadows, observing the evolution of mankind, only interfering when necessary.”
“That’s not what Yaksha said.”
“You have me at a disadvantage. I’ve only had the book two days. I haven’t had a chance to finish reading it.”
This time I’m surprised. He appears to be telling the truth.
“You mean, with all the advanced technology you possess, you weren’t able to break into a simple vault?”
“It only appeared simple on the surface. Yaksha designed it with my sister’s aid. He blended the finest elements of his knowledge with ours. Of course, we could have broken the lock using force, but we feared damaging what was inside.”
“The book means that much to you?”
“Let me finish the book and I’ll let you know. I assume you enjoyed reading about your master’s life. It’s my hope, in the days to come, that we can discuss it at length. There’s much we can learn from each other.”
I have to laugh. “Gimme a break.”
His voice hardens. “Excuse me?”
“Do I need to point out that I’m your prisoner? All this talk about what a pleasure it is to meet me and how much we can learn from each other is sort of silly, don’t you think? I suggest you drop the bullshit and cut to the chase. What do you want from me?”
Haru stares at me a long time. His gaze is far more powerful than Brutran’s, and I feel him attempting to probe my thoughts. Still, I’m able to block him by emptying my mind. The blankness, which comforts me, seems to annoy him, and I feel his psychic tentacles retract.
“Very well, Sita. You want blunt, I’ll be blunt. I’m going to ask you a series of questions. I suggest you answer them. If you don’t, I’ll be forced to make you answer them.”
“You’ll torture me?”
“Only if you push me. We’re not animals.”
“Surely you must know I’m capable of resisting any form of pain.”
“Not the type of pain I’m talking about. You mention our superior technology. It’s true—we possess instruments mankind can only dream of. For example, we have a machine that taps directly into the pain and pleasure centers of the brain. We call it the Pulse.” He pauses. “You have not known agony until you’ve experienced the Pulse.”
“Bring it on. I love new toys.”
“For your sake, I hope that won’t be necessary. Whenever we’ve interrogated someone with the Pulse, they’ve always ended up . . . well, shall I say, not themselves.”
“It causes brain damage?”
“Severe damage.”
I quickly reconsider his offer.
“If I answer your questions, will you let me go?” I ask.
“If you answer all of them honestly, yes.”
He’s one smooth customer. His mind is much more disciplined than Numbria’s. He has impenetrable psychic walls. I can’t tell if he’s lying or not.
“Ask your questions,” I say.
Haru glances at his guards. They back off a few steps.
“The IIC employs a tool called the Array. It allows them to compete in the stock market in such a way that the majority of their investments make money. The Array can also be used as a psychic weapon. It can force people to do things they don’t want to do.”
“I’ve heard about it.”
“Have they used it on you?”
“They’ve tried.”
“How many times?”
“Once.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was in Ms. Brutran’s living room. I assume you know who she is?”
“Yes. She invited you to her home?”
“I went in the back way, so to speak.”
“Did she have security?”
“No. At first I found that odd.”
“She uses the Array as security.”
“Yes.” I pause. “You have sent your own people after her.”
“Of course.”
“I assume none of them came back?”
His face darkens. “Tell me what happened to you.”
“Brutran asked me to have a seat. She offered me a job. She didn’t go into detail, but she assured me we could help each other.”
“She must have given you incentives?”
“She gave me the impression I could help her rule the world. She also said she could protect me from you guys.”
“Did she mention us by name?”
“Not exactly. But she seems to know all about you.”
“Then what happened?”
“I told her I wasn’t interested. Then I felt a strong pressure at the back of my head. My vision blurred, and I felt sick to my stomach. Then I felt this strange compulsion to take my gun and blow my brains out.”
“Why do you call it strange?”
“It was like nothing I had ever felt before in my life.”
“Continue.”
“I was able to resist the compulsion. That seemed to surprise Brutran. I don’t think she’d ever seen that before.”
“Did you try to kill her at that point?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I figured it would be a waste of time. Another person in IIC’s inner circle would just take her place.”
“You showed remarkable restraint, especially considering how abusive she was. From our research, that’s not a quality we would have expected of you.”
“I guess you’ve been talking to the wrong folks about me.”
“What happened the next time they used the Array on you?”
“Who said there was a next time?”
Haru studies me. “You’re a superb liar. One of the most skilled I’ve ever met. But even Yaksha couldn’t lie to me without my knowing.” He pauses. “You were with Numbria the second time you were attacked. What happened?”
“Why ask? You seem to know what happened.”
“Answer me or we’ll attach your brain to the Pulse.”
“After your people attacked me at the president’s hotel, Numbria escaped, and I chased after her across the English Channel.”
“Numbria was in contact with us at that point. She said you missed the ferry.”
“I swam after it.”
“You can outswim a boat?”
“Yes. I reached the ferry, boarded it, and attacked Numbria. When she finally came to, I had her tied up in a motel in London. I questioned her about the Telar.”
“You mean you tortured her for information on the Telar.”
“Numbria was hurting from wounds she received when we fought. But I didn’t use pain to elicit information from her. On the contrary, I bandaged her injuries and gave her pain medication.”
“Along with Sodium Pentothal.”
“The drug is a humane way to extract information.”
“What did Numbria tell you about us?”
“A few interesting facts. She explained how old you were, how many you are, how you control most of the major governments on earth. She told me how you started in ancient Egypt but went to great lengths to stay hidden, behind the scenes. She gave me the impression you watched mankind closely, but when I tried to question her why, she got upset, and I had to sedate her.”
Haru’s eyes are black as coal. Cold as space.
“Continue,” he repeats.
I shrug, trying to act casual but feeling far from it. Just the memory of w
hat happened in that motel room makes me shake. “The Array came. It . . . It was stronger than before. It forced me to kill her.”
Haru nods. “It upset you.”
“Wouldn’t it upset you? It made me lose control.”
“How did you kill her?”
“Why do you need to know the details? Do you get off on them?”
“Answer the question.”
“Like a vampire kills. Like an animal. I ravaged her until there was so little of her left you couldn’t tell she’d once been human. Or Telar. Are you happy now?”
“No. I sense you’re leaving something out.”
“What?”
“How were you able to resist the Array the first time but not the second time?”
“I told you, it was stronger the second time.”
“It frightened you more?”
“Yes.”
“You do not frighten easily, Sita. How was it different?”
“It felt . . . evil.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
I lower my head and sigh. “That makes two of us.”
Haru stands and walks around the room. He straightens a painting, fixes his hair in a mirror, pulls a book from the shelf. Having spent days in the suite, I know all the books Yaksha has on hand. Haru picks up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.
“Sita. You have been surprisingly open with me,” Haru says in a flat voice. “I want to thank you for that.”
“You can thank me by letting me go.”
“Soon. There are still a few things to discuss.”
“I don’t know anything about the Array. How Brutran and her cronies at IIC got it to work is beyond me. Why don’t you capture some of her people and question them?”
“We have. Only her inner circle knows about the Array. And those people are not easy to get to. For now you’re our best lead. You must have a theory on how it works.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re sure?”
“You’ve studied them for years. I just became aware of them. I should be the one asking you these questions.”
“What did Krishna mean when he told Yaksha about the Hydra?”
“He was talking about your people. You should know.”
Haru walks toward me with the Gita in his hands. “Five thousand years ago the Telar were based in Egypt. You’re the only living person who was in India when Krishna was alive. You were given a chance to see how he taught. To understand how his mind worked.”
“I doubt Arjuna or Radha or all the gopis combined had a clue how Krishna’s mind worked.”
Haru stands over me. His voice remains cold but grows hard.
“The Hydra is a monster with many heads. Chop off one and it grows another. That’s the key to its power. That’s what Krishna told Yaksha. What does it mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“I want you to guess.”
“I don’t have a clue what he was talking about.”
Haru shoves the Gita in my face. “Were you there at Kurukshetra?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear the recitation of the Gita?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. Krishna blocked my hearing somehow.”
“But Yaksha heard. He said the Gita I hold is accurate.”
“Yes.”
“So one day Krishna explains to Arjuna how humanity can realize God. And the next day he tells Yaksha how my people can be destroyed.”
“I wouldn’t take it personally.”
“How can you joke about such a thing?”
“Krishna wanted Yaksha to kill all the vampires. And Yaksha did as he was told. You must have read the part in the book where he followed Jamune and his people to the New World and discovered the advanced Aztec culture. They were advanced because of Jamune. That would be the first Aztecs, not the tribe that moved into their pyramids after the others vanished overnight.” I pause. “At least now we know what happened to the original Aztecs.”
“I’m not interested in solving archaeological riddles.”
“I’m merely pointing out that Krishna saw the Telar and vampires as enemies of mankind. He wanted us eliminated. What’s so surprising? If I was in his shoes, I’d probably want the same thing.”
“Except for you, Yaksha rid the world of vampires. But he was never able to destroy us.”
“There were thousands of you, and only one of him. Why weren’t you able to kill him?”
My question was designed to anger him. Yet Haru’s voice remains flat.
“Yaksha was a very powerful creature, much stronger than you. He was also well informed. First Krishna gave him insights into our history, then my sister made the mistake of confiding in him. If those two had not meddled in the matter, we could have handled Yaksha. I suspect he might even have joined us.”
“I doubt that. Yaksha was not exactly a team player.”
Haru slaps me in the face. My nose breaks as blood drips onto my shirt. Even with his henchmen and their laser rifles, he risks a lot. I almost give him his hand back, minus a few fingers.
“Don’t mock me. Ever,” he says quietly.
I hold his icy gaze. “Don’t strike me again.”
My threat doesn’t bother him. He changes the topic. “You promised not to make a copy of Yaksha’s book. But you went ahead and made one anyway.”
“Like Herr Reinhart was completely forthright with me.”
“You sent your friend off with the copy. Where is she now?”
I’m grateful they don’t know where Shanti is, but I’m not surprised. They had to be careful to stay out of Arosa until after they’d trapped me. Otherwise, I would have spotted them with their unusual heartbeats. It’s not as if the whole gang could have walked around wearing pacemakers.
“I can’t answer that question,” I say.
“You will answer it.”
I can only take so much. Then I lose my patience.
“Why? So you can take more people hostage and torture them? You say you’re not animals, but that’s exactly what you are. Only a beast could live for so long and learn so little. I pray I’m able to decipher the secret of the Hydra that Krishna taught Yaksha. The day I do, I’ll turn it against you and grind you all to dust.”
Haru acts like I didn’t say a word. “What do you know about the Suzama prophecies?” he asks.
“Never heard of them.”
“You lived in Egypt the same time she did. You knew her.”
“Whatever.”
Haru crouches beside me. “You don’t understand how the Pulse works. First we drill holes in your skull. Then we stick fine wires and fiber optics deep inside your brain. These wires and optics transmit special codes that activate the neurons and synapses inside your neocortex and limbic system, and even down into what scientists call the R-complex, the reptilian part of the brain. Working on all these levels, we’re able to create tidal waves of pain. Those who have experienced it and survived to talk about it have described the agony as being in hell.” Haru stands. “Long ago you spoke to Krishna. Perhaps on that day you believe you spoke to God, I don’t know. But I can assure you that once the Pulse starts to work on your brain, you’re going to feel like Lucifer himself is torturing you.”
I think of my nightmare in the motel room with Numbria.
“It won’t be the first time,” I say.
Haru puts his hand on my shoulder. He squeezes gently.
“I don’t want to do this, Sita. Strange as it might sound, I admire you. I hate to think of you sitting in this chair, a few hours from now, a slobbering vegetable. But that’s all that will be left of you when the Pulse has finished frying your brain.”
“So why don’t we skip that part,” I suggest.
“I will, if you answer just one question. I promise you won’t have to answer any others. You know, I can hear the truth when you speak, the same way you can hear the truth when I speak. I’m not lying when I say I’ll let you go u
nharmed if you tell me this one thing.”
Haru is telling the truth. Yet, if anything, my deliverance feels even more distant. “What do you want to know?” I ask.
“Where is Paula, and her son, John?”
“Beats me.”
TWENTY-ONE
The moment Haru and his bodyguards leave the room, I black out. I don’t smell any gas in the ventilation system, but it must be strong to knock me out so fast. When I awake, I’m in the same chair as before, only I’m chained down and the chair has been bolted to the floor.
Worse, there are IVs in both my arms and an assortment of wires and what feel like glass tubes sticking in my skull. My shirt is splattered with blood and tiny fragments of bone. My cranial bones. Haru was not bluffing. He’s drilled a half dozen holes in my head.
The wires and what I assume are fiber-optic cables lead to a relatively simple box. It has an on and off switch, and a dial that goes from one to ten. I have a bad feeling about what number ten will feel like.
They have placed a bright light in my face and have mounted a digital camera nearby. Telar, male and female, come in and out of the room, but I pay them little heed. I still feel groggy from the gas and I have a headache.
My mind clears minutes later when Haru reappears. He’s dressed in green doctor scrubs, as if he knows he’s going to get splashed with bodily fluids. He even has on disposable slippers, like the floor is soon going to be slippery. None of these signs soothe my already taut nerves. I wish I had listened to Shanti and gotten on that damn helicopter. Right now, I could be enjoying a warm bath at the Plaza and ordering room service. Instead I’m bracing myself for waves of transcendental pain.
Haru sits off to my right, beside the control box.
“The less you move, the better. Several of the wires are in deep, and we have a fiber optic attached to your core brain. You can minimize the damage by remaining still. And you can avoid the pain by answering my questions honestly. A few I have already asked. Even if you feel you answered honestly the first time, I’m asking again because I’m looking for certain fine points in your answer. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“I want a more detailed explanation of what you asked Numbria.”
I tell him as much detail as I can remember. It feels repetitious to me. I get bored. I don’t know what he’s looking for.