The light from the floor lamp washed out all detail in the room, the sudden brightness overwhelming him when his captor removed the blindfold.
Blinking several times to clear his vision, he looked around at the drab décor and recognized the signs of a “No-Tell-Motel” room. Translation: rent-by-the-hour dump. Decorated in early dumpster, the peeling taupe paint on the walls and cracked plaster of the ceiling offset the thread-bare carpet and thrift store furniture.
He pulled against the duct tape holding him to the arms of a wooden chair as a flash of fear threatened to take over his mind. A few feet away, he noticed a woman sitting on a couch a few feet away. Her legs demurely crossed, a pistol rested in her lap. She studied him silently. He studied her right back for several long seconds before speaking.
“Who are you?” his voice wavered, trying to inject some mettle into the weak tone of his words.
No answer…not even a change of expression. He thought nervously.
“What do you want?” He repeated his question, the voice once again steady.
He asked three additional times, withering under his captor’s harsh stare before she broke the silence.
“You know very well what I want. Don’t you?”
“How would I know that?” he said.
“I’ll make it simple. I want what you stole from Diversified Research.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re not a very convincing liar Mr. Murphy. Try again.”
She knows my name. His eyes flashed at the revelation. “I told you. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She stood and moved closer, the gleaming pistol between them a weighty, menacing presence. “I didn’t come looking for you out of the blue. I know who you are and that you took a very valuable piece of research from your employer. I want it.”
“I didn’t steal anything.” He protested weakly as the color drained from his face.
“I think you did. The FBI is crawling all over your offices and that means something big is missing…besides the scientist.”
“What scientist?” he asked innocently, averting his eyes, shifting his concentration to a large stain on the carpet.
The woman holding the gun frowned, the lines creasing her forehead. “All right, I’ll make this simple. I’m talking about Jennifer Ryan,” the armed woman said. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
“How would I know that?” The voice squeaked again, the constricted voice cracking in fear.
The answer came, cold and matter-of-fact. “Because you killed her.”
Silence permeated the room for several long minutes before Kelly reopened the conversation/interrogation. “Okay. We’ll come back to Ryan later. Where are the materials you took from Diversified?”
“I don’t have any materials…I didn’t steal anything.”
“All right, who did you give them to?”
“I really don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. “Taking anything from my company would be a felony. I’d go to prison!”
“I’m not interested in your crimes. You tell me what you did with the materials you took and I let you walk out that door alive,” she said. “And I warn you, this is a limited-time offer.”
“You’re insane!”
“Am I?” she said, raising an eyebrow in condescension.
He didn’t see the Taser gun emerge from the pocket of her finely tailored suit jacket. The steel barbs crossed the small room like dragonflies, pulling a pair of gossamer-thin wire leads behind them. The sharp points embedded themselves into Murphy’s chest, the painful bite caused him to flinch in annoyance.
“Last chance.” She said, her voice ringing with grim finality.
His chin set in insolence. “Fuck off!”
“Have it your way.” She said, shaking her head at his defiance.
He quivered and twitched as the voltage ran along his nervous system like thousands of ants, ripping and chewing. His muscles contracted uncontrollably, drawing tight as deep spasms wracked his body. After the decades of agony, the sizzling energy stopped. Three seconds had elapsed.
“Where are the documents you took from Diversified?”
His chin jutted forward in insubordination as his body still twitched, excess electricity causing his nerves to fire in small spasms.
“Where are the documents you took from Diversified?” She repeated, louder this time. He again held his tongue.
Murphy’s strangled screamed split the air as the Taser pulsed again.
"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I Page 49