“No.”
“Then let’s begin.” Cunningham pushed a button on the bottom of a clock that was residing on his podium. Seems almost like a timed chess match, Fred thought.
Fred had some experience in taking psychological tests; he had taken them at the police academy. There they tested him in areas of self control, how he would react to a stress situation, and whether his response would vary if a minority member was involved in the confrontation. He also recognized several traps which were cleverly buried into the tests. Each question had a series of four possible answers. Fred was asked to check the appropriate answer which first came to mind. Fred often saw the same type of question reappear with a different combination of potential answers. Consistency was the keyword for this test; if he tried to distort his true feelings, the scorer would recognize uneven patterns in his responses. Although he had seen this type of test previously, he had never seen it given with so many questions and so many gradations. He completed the first test with about five minutes to spare.
The second test had a different set of questions, but he recognized even more traps. If he had been intentionally distorting his responses on the first test, the second test was cleverly constructed to pick it up.
He noted that he was given just enough time to complete each test. If he tried to analyze his responses, he would soon run out of time. That in itself would be the metaphorical kiss of death for Fred.
When he completed the morning’s tests the instructor said, “You will now have off for one hour. Come back at 2 p.m. and you will then take two more series of tests. By the way, don’t even think about talking to your wife about this; we know she has a doctorate in psychology. We don’t want her helping you.”
And our unit is most likely bugged as well, Fred thought.
When he returned to the unit, Maureen said, “I’ve been bored all morning watching civil TV cases. I think I could switch my profession to law after my heavy dose of Judge Judy and People’s Court. I just wouldn’t yell at the defendants as much nor as loud.
And by the way,” Maureen added, “I was thinking about what you were saying about the missing fingerprints at the AU murder scene.”
“Yes?”
“You told me that you thought Donna had her powers back. Then why couldn’t she have programmed someone else to commit the murders?”
“I thought about that. She seems to be traveling with the boy friend of Jane Doe. He doesn’t have a murder rap on the books, so he would most likely not intentionally kill anybody even if Donna wanted him to.”
“That makes sense unless she programmed him to do it; and we know she can and did do it in the past.”
“Okay, for the moment, let’s embrace that premise.”
“Fred, right now I’d rather that you embrace me; but go ahead with your hypothesis.”
Fred ignored her sexual overtone. “How would the murderer get into the AU building? The offices were all closed for the night, so there was no coming and going to distract Don. He was always told to be especially vigilant about anyone trying to get in at night. The entrance has bullet-proof glass doors. Schultz, who is a security fanatic, made sure they were bullet-proof, and that there was no other possible entry into the building. For a short time span, no patrolman was on duty at AU, so Don would have been doubly sure to be careful of visitors—especially those he didn’t know. He was the most professional security guard I ever met, so he would never have let a stranger in; and he would have carried a weapon with him when he went to the door. Sergeant Stewart said the door was open when he got there. So it had to be big Don who opened the door, unless Doctor Anderson did, and that would make even less sense.”
“So what are you saying, Fred?”
“I’m saying I don’t have the answer yet, but rest assured, soon I will.”
Chapter 47
It was early Wednesday evening. Fred had finished the last of his psychological profile tests. He was told that Black would call him that evening and advise him what time Shade would see him on Thursday.
Fred returned to his unit totally mentally exhausted.
Maureen said, “You look like you spent the day lifting 300 pound weights.”
“I think that would have been easier,” Fred groaned. “I really think I have a mental hernia.”
“I know I can’t ask you any details about the tests, but how do you think you did?”
“Who knows? With these damn tests they may categorize me as an ax murder and throw me in a CIA prison for the rest of my life.”
“What’s the story for tomorrow?”
“I’ll meet with Shade, and I guess he will give me the results of the test. After that, who knows?”
“How long do you think we’ll be able to stay here?”
Fred knew Maureen had found a comfort zone in the unit. She was well protected in the compound; it was as close to a fortress on American soil as she had ever seen. She had almost forgotten about Donna over the last two days; and even her deep fear of the night had abated somewhat.
“I’m not sure, maybe we’ll find out tomorrow.”
* * *
Shade met with Fred and Black the next afternoon.
“Well, Fred, everything looks good on your profile; so now I’m free to tell you what I want to do for America.”
Fred enjoyed the way Shade expanded on the meaning of his assignment to somehow relate it to abstract patriotic objectives.
“What I’m going to tell you is top secret. Much of it, however, I’m sure you already know. AU produces products for the entire black world; we’re simply one of its customers. The development of the psychic device was paid for by our agency. But other government agencies, including the Department of Defense, were interested in its development as well. Our initial intent was to use Donna as an agent assigned to various hot spots of the world. But then we were hopeful that she could use her remote viewing capability so she could do much of her spying out of danger on American soil.
“We had unsuccessfully tried remote viewing years ago; we tested it again in the last few years to evaluate its value to our community. Marv Atwell was the AU employee with the greatest ability in that field; but even he could only penetrate minds within a fairly short distance from his location. Our broader problem was that we could never use Atwell as an agent; he was too unpredictable. Hell, according to our research, he might even have murdered someone during his adolescence period. We decided to use his skills in a limited role as a type of conduit to place them in another subject - one that was more predicable, more malleable if you will.”
“When you say conduit, I assume you mean he was responsible for the software ingrained in the ESP unit. I also presume that the other subject was Donna Lang.”
“You presume correctly, Lieutenant.”
Shade gazed into the distance, his face revealing deep regret, failure in fact. His voice almost broke as he spoke. “She seemed to be the perfect subject. She was given a shortened version of the test that we administered to you. We conducted the same background investigation that we did for you. Damn it, everything seemed to be all right—everything. After her operation, we wanted to analyze Donna for an extended period to make sure our efforts were successful and to fine tune the device. Well, you know what happened.”
“Wait a minute! Are you suggesting that you want to put the device in me? That makes no sense, I don’t have it; it was stolen from me.”
“Oh, we know that too well and we also know that it’s in the hands of someone who could do us all great harm. We know she murdered Atwell and we learned recently that she murdered Doctor Anderson as well. Fred, we’re talking about another device.”
“But how would you duplicate the original?”
“The truth of the matter is we still have the specifications as well as all the program data that we used in our prior experiment. Duplication doesn’t take that long; but actually, it won’t even be duplication. Due to technical advancements, we now have much smaller chips and are a
ble to incorporate more sophisticated programs into a smaller version of the original. Because of the smaller size, it will be a safer operation.”
“How do you know that I wouldn’t turn out the same way as Donna did?”
“To be completely honest, we don’t. Actually, Donna’s psychological tests revealed a latent ego issue, but we didn’t think it was material at the time. We were wrong. That’s one reason that we changed the battery of psychological tests. You were given the more comprehensive version. The good news is that you, Lieutenant, show no psychological problems except that your profile indicates you’re quite risk adverse, you tend to analyze thoroughly before you respond to a situation. But, actually, that’s a trait that we prefer in the Company. We don’t want our agents acting like Rambo and destroying our cover.”
Fred was caught off guard, so he asked the obvious question again.
“So you want to install the device in me?”
“Yes, because much earlier we had learned through Mr. Atwell that in the past you had already showed indications of some well developed psychic abilities. And, Fred, once you have such ability, you’ll never lose it. Oh, you might have to mentally exercise to return it to full function, but it will always be with you. Donna had none before we implanted the device in her. We believe you will be much more powerful than Donna, and with that super-charged power you should be able to capture her without incident.
“But there is something you have to know before we proceed. We will be introducing a foreign object in your brain, an object intended to amplify the abilities you already have and to create new capabilities in you. Your neurons and synaptic connections will be impacted. They have to adapt somewhat to permit the integration of a piece of marvelous electronic equipment with your organic brain. I must tell you that you will never again be the same person; your skills will be beyond any that you ever had in the past. We worry slightly, very slightly, that this could affect parts of your brain which control your adherence to conventional social norms. We don’t have much empirical data, so we don’t fully appreciate what it might do to your emotional character but we do have safeguards—many safeguards.”
“Like you had with Donna?” Fred’s response was rhetorical. He didn’t wait for a response, but moved on to that which he needed to know.
“What’s the worst case scenario?”
“You could, in fact, degrade into a type of psychopath where you start to set your own social standards and become indifferent to those of others.” Shade laughed, “But of course that won’t happen to you, and that’s the worst case in the extreme. You know the game—you can take a simple aspirin and it might have a book of possible side effects listed, none of which would ever actually happen. All that will ever happen is that your headache will go away.”
Fred didn’t understand Shade’s strange sense of humor. “Wait a minute; I didn’t think you guys were all priests. I’m sure that the company has had to disobey the law at times in order to reach its objectives, and that you sometimes violate an individual’s social mandates in the process. No, you’ll have to give me time to think this over.”
“That’s perfectly acceptable. In fact, you can and should talk it over with Maureen. We are now starting to take the specifications, and are at this moment translating them into a finished product. We estimate that development will take about a week. And, Fred, that is all the time we will give you to make your decision.”
Chapter 48
Donna was getting restless. Too much time had passed, with no action. It was about 6 p.m. when Polish returned to the condo unit that they had rented in Punta Gorda. Donna liked the city with the old tropical houses that reminded her of Key West. She also enjoyed the water ways found in so much of the town. What she definitely did not enjoy was being cooped up in this small apartment, unable to move about freely for fear of being recognized.
As Polish entered the room, Donna was deeply engrossed in a made for TV movie. The script was terrible, the actors were unknown, and the ending predictable, even by a child. But somehow she was caught up in it. She remembered the joke about the guy in a restaurant who complained about his food—it was overcooked, it tasted terrible, and worst of all, the portions were tiny.
“Honey, I’ve got some great news,” Polish announced.
“Shh, I want to see the end of this. But God knows why, I knew who the killer was, two minutes from the start.”
He went to the TV and hit the off button. One thing he had learned, don’t make Donna mad. But this time he was certain that she would forgive him.
“I found out where Maureen and Fred are hiding out; it wasn’t easy, but I did it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Damn right I am, but it won’t be a cakewalk for you to get to them because they’re in the middle of the CIA complex in Washington, DC.”
“No, you’re right, it won’t be easy. But I can at least go up there, probe their minds and maybe find out when they’re going to leave the area. They can’t hide out there forever. Well, perhaps I’ll keep you after all,” she said to her smiling partner.
“Of course you will, babe, you need my arms around you all the time.”
She thought, what an idiot, I only meant keeping him temporarily alive.
Chapter 49
Maureen and Fred were conflicted whether he should have the operation or not.
“What’s the mortality rate on this type of operation?” she asked.
“I asked that same question, but there are no statistics. They’ve had only one human operation experience, and that was Donna. Of course, medically speaking, that operation was successful. But psychologically speaking, she had just a slight defect after the operation—she became a goddamn mass murderer. But the CIA’S explanation for that is that she had some significant latent personality issues that didn’t surface before the operation. Her murderous tendencies were apparently there all the time, the operation didn’t produce them.”
“Of course, that’s what the CIA would tell you, they want you to have the operation.”
“Understood. But do you think I would turn into some delusional, aggressive creature if I had the operation? Come on.”
“Fred, the tests that you were administered extrapolated on the basis of what your personality is now. But when this damn thing is put into your brain, who knows if you will be the same person?”
“And why would we think that I won’t? We have one data point based on a person, who was dysfunctional from the start.”
“Fred, that same data point is our only indication that the operation is physically safe. The fact is that it’s an experimental operation and anything could go wrong.”
“Maureen, please look at the other side. I can’t protect you from Donna as it is; hell, I can’t even protect myself. She has become more violent and less selective as to picking out her victims.
“Hell, she would murder the paper boy if its daily arrival was late. She’s out to get both of us, and I don’t even know how we can protect ourselves except by running from her. And we can’t do that forever. With the device in my brain, I will be every bit as powerful as she is—even more so. Atwell said I already have superior psychic skills, whereas he said that without the device inserted in Donna’s brain, she would have none. Maureen, I can defeat her—but to do it, I need to have the operation!”
“But, Fred, it’s a choice between two negatives. I hate that type of choice, but I guess you’re right. The operation may be the only way to save ourselves. But what will they have you do after the operation? They won’t be giving you that device for nothing; they will hold high perpetual expectations for you.”
“Yes, I recall Dr. Anderson was a reluctant employee of AU, but he had no option other than to be a player with the super spooks leveraging him. I guess it’s a chance we will just have to take.”
“Fred I don’t like this, not at all.”
“Nor do I, hon, but I think it’s our destiny.”
Chapter 50
The day of the operation Fred was escorted to the onsite hospital building. Maureen insisted that she be allowed to be by his side before and after the operation; Mr. Shade reluctantly agreed.
Fred was placed in a regular hospital bed; a needle was inserted in his arm. The nurse attached a plastic tube which connected to a hanging plastic bottle with clear liquid dripping from above.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “it’s just a mild sedative.”
“How long will the operation take?” Fred asked.
“Barring complications, we anticipate that it will range between one and two hours. You’ll be completely out, though, so you won’t really care.”
“Which part of my brain will the damn thing be inserted in?”
The nurse placed a finger on his scalp. “Right about here.”
“How can you do that without removing part of my skull?” he asked.
“The surgeon will talk to you before the operation; you can ask him anything you want to.”
Fred felt that she knew the answer, but she wanted the doctor to deal with the more disturbing aspects of his operation.
In a few minutes the anesthesiologist entered and asked the standard series of allergy questions. Concluding, he said, “Dr. Factor will be with you in a few minutes.”
Through it all, Maureen had her chair pressed next to Fred’s bed. He could see that she was trying to hide her concern.
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