Chapter 12
“I assure you, Miss Turner, you need not worry.”
This was the moustachioed man talking. The four of them- him, Kathy and the two security guards- were walking back down the dull, grey corridor Kathy had already walked down once. He was striding ahead of her and the security guards behind her. They kept jostling her and sniggering like overgrown school kids, and their muscular form meant that their pushes were not gentle.
The moustachioed man, however, was different. He exuded an air of grace and charm. His thin body, pencil neck moustache and well kept suit, complete with kerchief, gave the impression of a Victorian dandy. All he needed was a top hat, and he would not have looked out of place in Dickensian London.
“We are not going to hurt you and we are not going to harm you. Rather, we need you. You are going to be vitally important for us.”
He turned as he said this, and Kathy got a first detailed look at his face. Despite the fact that he was her captor, his face was friendly and drew her in so that she could not help but believe his words and trust his intentions.
“You were meant to see the files you saw,” he continued. “You did not sneak in- we allowed you in. I must say, you would make a terrible spy. If we had wanted to catch you, we could have done so before you even walked in.”
“Nevertheless, it may now seem quite ironic that the mission we have for you is a spying mission. Perhaps we’ll have to train you,” he mused.
He turned his head back towards Kathy just as the two guards pushed her again and gave a childish giggle. “Oh, do pipe down,” he said, which silenced Kathy’s tormentors immediately: they stepped back and started to walk two paces further away from Kathy, sulking.
“They act like children, but really they’re exemplary security guards,” explained the man. “Jeffrey and Charles they’re called. They’re from the nicest families. I don’t know what went wrong with them.”
He glanced back at them with an affectionate air, and they smiled at him sheepishly.
Presently the four of them reached the junction where Kathy had faced the blind choice between the three departments. Her guide stopped and turned to face her.
“My name is Douglas Carswell,” he introduced himself at last. “It is a rather famous name, carrying much dignity, but I think I wear it well. I work here at TGN and I am in charge of Thomas’ case.”
Kathy was gobsmacked by the whole experience of being captured here. She had expected rough guards, manhandling, a little bit of torture and psychological damage- yet instead she found herself being given a tour by her gentlemanly captor as if she were a dignified guest.
Douglas was standing in the junction and gazing at the wall with interest. “Do you know,” he opined, “that we always knew you would choose paranormal investigations? We put subtle psychological hints around this junction to move your unconscious mind in that direction.”
Kathy’s eyes darted around nervously. She could see nothing: nothing out of the ordinary, nothing different, nothing which she could fathom would direct her mind to making that choice. Suddenly she understood why her captor was so gentlemanly and friendly. He did not need to be rough or tough with her for he was so subtly clever that he knew he would get his way with her. He did not fight his battles with brawn, but with brain.
“Come along,” he beckoned, and the caravan of four moved on. He led them down the corridor labelled “quantum developments”. It was equally as long as the previous one and looked identical in décor and design but it had a tangibly different atmosphere about it. Kathy glanced about desperately trying to find out why it felt different; what possible mind-tricks could have been installed here, which would be completely missed by her conscious mind only to subtly and unconsciously influence all her actions. She did not know what to do in this situation for she could not guess what TGN wanted her to do.
Their caravan of four became a caravan of five when Martha joined them. She appeared as if from nowhere, as always, and swiftly moved to the front to walk side by side with Douglas.
“Ah, have you met Martha?” he asked when he noticed her. “But of course you have. She was your contact here. A bit of a double agent, aren’t you dear?”
Kathy saw the back of Martha’s head nod but could not tell whether she did so willingly or grudgingly. It did not matter. Whether she was still on Kathy’s side or never had been, it would not change the fact that Kathy had been caught.
Finally the corridor ended and led into another open plan office. This one, however, was much more modern. It was light and airy and felt like it belonged in the 21st century. Busy men in suits and white coats rushed about through sliding doors, skilfully navigating their way through the maze of complicated looking laboratory equipment and secret testing rooms which took up most of the floor space.
Douglas led his party through one of the many doors leading out of this main area and into a conference room.
It was well lit and spacious. In the centre was a large, rectangular table with two people already sitting there: Thomas and Gregory. Kathy glared at them as she entered the room. She had never fully trusted Gregory. But Thomas? “We will begin a mission with him shortly” How could he be working with these people? How could he have betrayed her so, handed her over to TGN like Judas to her Jesus?
Douglas spied the way that Kathy was looking at her friend, and explained the situation:
“I know what you’re thinking, Miss Turner, but stop it. It’s wrong. Thomas is indeed working with us now, but I assure you that it is not willingly.” He paused and smiled a charming, yet vindictive smile. “You are all captives here.”
He sat at the head of the table and looked at each of his guests, or captives, individually. Charles and Jeffrey remained at the door to prevent any of them from escaping, but they were merely for show. Everyone there had a hidden fear of Douglas and knew instinctively that his psychological manipulation could keep them all right where he wanted them.
“Hello again Thomas,” he said. “Gregory.” He nodded politely at both of them. Thomas returned with a polite nod of his own, but Gregory sat there stationary like a stone, panic etched on his face.
“They were and are still on your side, Kathy, I assure you,” he repeated himself. “I found them both outside our offices in a van. They thought they could hide from us, bless.”
At this, Gregory shot Douglas a dirty look before returning to his steely look of frozen fear. Douglas didn’t flinch.
“Now, people, I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here,” he began. “Let me show you.”
Presently a canvas descended from the ceiling and Douglas pressed a button on a remote control to begin a slideshow which would baffle its audience from the start.
An image of a drab, grey building reminiscent of sixties architecture appeared on the screen and Douglas began:
“This is the headquarters of the organisation we are investigating known as Cybertech Industries. Their main business is designing car parts and microchips, but our intelligence tells us that this business only takes up the first three floors of the building. The rest of the block remains a mystery to us, and we suspect that they are responsible for the mysterious events you have all been experiencing.”
“Don’t be fooled by its drab exterior,” he continued. “They’re secretive, and so it’s natural that they want to keep an anonymous air. While their headquarters may look like any old tower block, there’s a reason for that. They do not seek fame because they do not need it. Instead, fame would be a problem to them: if word got out about what we believe they are doing, there would be public outrage.”
He clicked his remote control once more and a new image appeared on the screen. It was a puzzling one: it showed an artist’s impression of a room with a machine in it. In the centre was a bed on which a man was restrained and unconscious. His head was attached to a headset from which wires extended to the wall.
“This is their breakthrough,” explained Douglas. “It is called a
Cortical Manipulation Matrix- we think. Someone on the inside leaked it to us, although we haven’t heard from her in a while. We’re guessing she’s had to lay low for a bit. We don’t fully understand how it works, but we know it has something to do with what happened to you, Thomas.”
Thomas’ attention was pricked and he looked straight at Douglas when his name was mentioned. His face wore a gormless expression: it was clear to Kathy that her two colleagues would be useless to her. So, she decided to take the stage herself.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Kathy blurted out. “Either you’re lying to us or hiding something from us, because I know you know more than you’re letting on. You’re acting like you know nothing about this place, this technology, but you must know much more than you’re letting on to have done to Thomas what you did.”
Douglas smiled. “Very perceptive, Miss Turner,” he admitted. “It is indeed true that we know more than we’re letting on, but I must confess we don’t know much more. To go deeper into it, you would all three of you require lessons in elementary quantum physics, and I’m afraid we don’t have enough time for that.”
“Anyway, that is why we need you. Our contact within Cybertech has provided us with enough information for a brief sketch of what’s going on in there, but we desperately need more detail if we are to bring them down. And I’m afraid this is a strictly need-to-know mission, so we cannot tell you too much.”
“Mission? What mission?” demanded Kathy brashly.
“All in good time, Miss Turner,” patronised her gentlemanly abductor. “And may I take a moment remind you of the situation you find yourself in? I do not much like your attitude, and I occupy the position of power here. You are our captives. It does not do well to annoy one’s captors.”
“Ah!” he suddenly said, as if a burst of inspiration had come to him. “It also does not do one well to annoy one’s captives, either. We should all be friends here. Tea, anyone?”
He said it like a question, but meant it like an order. In reality none of them had any choice about whether they would get tea- rather, a cup of hot Earl Grey was simply placed on the table in front of each of them and they were expected to drink. Not that any of them would have refused, however, for Douglas had a sort of hypnotic quality to his voice which was imperceptible yet undeniable.
They began to sip, and Douglas continued with his presentation. “Your mission is to be our spies. We need you to infiltrate Cybertech Industries and report back to us on what you find. We will give you state of the art equipment, such as this:”
He held up a small, almost imperceptible disk in his hand and showed it off for all to see. “I suppose you’re wondering what this is,” he mused. “It is a contact lens- but no ordinary one. It also works as a camera. Each of you will be equipped with a pair of these, so that everything you see in Cybertech Industries will also be seen by me, on my laptop monitor.”
“It also means you can’t escape, because we can see everything you’re doing” was the obvious, sinister subtext, but nobody dared challenge him.
“You will be dropped off…” he trailed off, before turning his gaze to Thomas once more. Kathy followed his eyes and witnessed something odd happening. It was like the other night, when she had found him pacing in front of TGN’s offices: it was undeniably Thomas’ body, but it looked like it was inhabited by someone else. His mannerisms became that of another man and he wore his face differently, stressing different muscles and using different expressions.
In fact- and both Douglas and Kathy perceived it simultaneously- his mannerisms had become exactly that of Gregory. Despite looking entirely different physically (for Thomas was thin, Gregory was broad; Thomas’ face was long, Gregory’s round), it was like looking at twins. They were exactly mimicking each other’s actions.
“What have you done?” demanded Kathy. She did not yet understand what was happening, but held a firm conviction that Douglas did, and that he was probably responsible for it too.
Douglas, however, was shocked. It was the first time since Kathy had met him that he had lost his grace and succumbed to the deep storm of emotions ever swirling just beneath the surface of his mind.
“Jeffrey! Charles! Get him out of here at once! Take Thomas to the restoration room immediately!”
“You’re sending us to Cybertech…” mumbled Thomas almost inaudibly. He did not seem very pleased about it; rather, the thought gave him an expression identical to Gregory’s permanent look of frozen panic.
The two security guards grabbed Thomas roughly by the arms and began to drag him out of the room. He would not go quietly, though- he began to yell and scream, to shout and scratch… anything to escape the fate he knew lay in store for him if he did TGN’s bidding and went to Cybertech.
“But you can’t!” he yelled. “They’ll kill me if I go there! I’ve seen it already! You know it too, Douglas! You double crosser! You betrayer! You liar!”
“Shut him up!” barked Douglas at his goons, and they attempted to silence Thomas with their fists. Thomas, however, would not be silenced.
“Gregory! Kathy! Don’t go! It’s a trap!”
Douglas’ eyebrows were twitching involuntarily, but he tried to hide his passions and speak calmly. “Hush, Thomas,” he said trying to use soothing tones. “We both know what you’re talking about but your friends don’t. You don’t want to scare them now, do you? After all, you can’t escape the inevitable… or do you want to cause a paradox?”
Kathy’s brow furrowed in confusion. She had no idea what Douglas was on about, but apparently Thomas did. His words ceased. Frustration that was only seconds ago coming out in angry words was now content to express itself in sobs and tears as he was dragged out of the room and to the mysterious restoration room.
Kathy wanted to ask Douglas what the hell had just happened. She wanted to rush out and rescue her friend. Yet she knew that Douglas would simply lie to her or be evasive, and that if she attempted an escape she would be caught.
Douglas had regained his composure and approached Kathy with a gentlemanly stroll. When he was standing over her, he explained in hushed tones: “I’m sorry that had to happen. And we were responsible for that, I admit. We did take him away on the day he disappeared and we did give him that… ‘identity crisis’ in which you found him. But I swear, we did not kill him. That was Cybertech- or, will be Cybertech.”
At this, he stepped away from her and gave his charming smile once more before returning to his chair at the head of the table. His confidence and charm had by now returned completely and he wore a satisfied smile as he gazed at the pair seated before him.
“You will be sent out tomorrow,” he declared. “Any questions?”
“Yes! Many,” said Kathy angrily.
“Fire away then, my girl. But we don’t have all day. You may only ask one question.”
Kathy was exasperated. She searched through all the things she was wondering, all the things swirling through her mind: just one question? But she had so many! Eventually, though, she decided what was most important for her.
“The papers I found Thomas with, which he gave to me,” she began. “You gave them to him. Why? What do they mean?”
Douglas smiled a cruel smile. “I’m afraid I cannot say,” he mocked her. “Except to tell you that we revealed something to Thomas which shook his world. He was meant to find you, for we knew he would. He was meant to get the word out, prick your interest and lead you here. I am sorry to say that everything that happens from now on is inevitable and necessary, and not at all pleasant for you or your friends.”
“If I told you their meaning now, you would not need to go to Cybertech. But you do. Trust me, you will find out when you get there. You will have the same revelation which Thomas did- or, rather, a slightly different one for you. What they are doing there is truly abhorrent and dangerous. You and Thomas and Gregory will help to bring them down, so good luck.”
That answer had not helped Kathy one iota. She was more con
fused than ever- yet it was clear that Douglas would not be more forthcoming with his answer. She therefore decided to venture another question despite being granted only one:
“And what will we do when we get to Cybertech?” she asked.
“Oh, Kathy, I said we only had time for one question!” he said mockingly. “Now drink up.”
“Why?” asked Kathy. She knew the answer, though, and cursed herself for her stupidity. As she gazed down into her cup, she found it empty. Strange, she thought, I do not remember drinking this tea… but she knew that it had been drugged.
Douglas smiled a charming smile as she glanced up. “Tired, are we?” he asked. “Bless. Never mind. We’ll find you a nice bed for tonight, and you’ll wake up tomorrow ready for a long, hard day’s work.”
Kathy blearily stood up. She had had enough of this. Her mind was disappearing into the bliss of sleep even as she attempted to get out of her chair, and instead of landing on her own two feet, she collapsed onto her front on the floor. Undaunted, she tried to crawl away out of the room- but when she had pulled herself some way along the floor with immense difficulty and had neared the exit, she looked up and saw that Jeffrey and Charles had returned. They had serious looks on their faces and merely shook their heads at her, as if saying wordlessly: you shall not pass. She was not deterred, however, and tried to crawl through their legs, but they merely picked her up like a ragdoll and began to carry her back into the conference room.
Gregory was already asleep. Kathy cursed him for being so useless, so placid.
Her eyes were now struggling to stay open, yet she tried to stay conscious of her surroundings, of where she was being taken. A bunk bed had appeared by the side of the wall as if from nowhere- had that always been there? Why had she not noticed?
The guards, with uncharacteristic gentleness, placed her in one of the beds and tucked her in. Her mind was protesting, rebelling, begging her body for some consciousness and energy, some possibility of running or thinking or speaking coherently. It was not to be. Sleep was too inviting and as the drug coursed through her veins and reached her brain, a pleasant dream world embraced her.
“Good night, sleep tight,” she heard Douglas saying just before she fell asleep completely. “We are now reaching the endgame.”