A Thieves Tale

Interrogation

Vincent Randall prepared himself for his next patient. He smiled to himself, of all the things he had been in his life, he particularly loved the role of playing the doctor, the trust that his victims placed in him constantly amazed him. Don a lab coat, a pair of glasses and act appropriately, easy.

This particular role, the MD, was always so easy for him. With the correct application of the right drugs any thing was his, any information he wished for was always extracted and then afterwards, the removal of his victims was almost trouble-free.

Randall scanned the room, making sure there were no signs of the brief struggle between him and the 'real' doctor. He'd picked up the papers that had been strewn over the floor and pulled the chairs next to desk. He glanced at the fitted cupboard making sure there was no sign of the crumpled body that was now hidden there.

Today all he had was a name to go upon, Jack Dilbert. Jack Dilbert, he mused, what kind of a lame ass name was name that, obviously a cover.

Randall glanced at his watch Dilbert was due any minute.

And sure enough there was a tap at the door.

"come in." he answered.

A young woman walked in, a brown leather coat casually draped over her right arm. Instantly, he was on guard, there was something in the air about this woman. He had no doubt that this was the one he'd come to obtain his information from. She greeted him courtly

"hello doctor."

he smiled back and picked up a clip bored.

"Urm... Jack Dilbert?" he asked,

She nodded.

"Jack?" he raised an eye brow,

"Jackie"

"oh" he smiled

"Sorry about this," he said waving the Clip bored, "the computers down."

"oh," she nodded.

"Please, take a seat." He said motioning to a chair by the desk. She sat down and laid her coat across her lap. He busied himself with the inoculations she was due to be taking, He deduced by the injections that she was soon to be leaving the country, he had to act quickly

As he drew the dosage for the first inoculation, He took in her appearance.

A long brown Suede skirt, tight fitting to her knees and then gently flaring as it reached her ankles, high healed red leather boots, and a brown, tight fitting woollen polar neck which Accentuated her apple curves. Her long red hair hung in loose ringlets around her shoulders and down her back, The clothes she wore showed of her shapely body to the max. She looked good in them and she knew it. Randall turned to the woman,

"would you mind taking your jumper off please, " He asked.

"Off course," She replied. She removed her top to reveal a tight fitting black halter neck. She wore a silver watch on her left wrist and a string of beads on her left.

Jack smiled at the Doctor as he cleaned a small area of skin on her left arm. he quickly injected the fluid and turned to pick up another needle. She watched him and took him in. he was quite a good looking fellow. The doctor had shoulder length black hair which looked immaculate, smoothed flat and tied back. A light tan and rugged facial features. He wore a lab coat over what looked Brown combats and a white shirt The coat was buttoned up, the lapel folded down showing a white collar with a brown tie.

He stabbed her arm with another needle and started up some idol banter,

"Going away soon?"

"Yes,"she nodded,

"Holiday?" he asked.

"Sadly no, it's business."

"What do you do?" he asked. As he prepared another needle

"I work as a translator." She answered flatly.

"Must be interesting? Bet you get to see some exotic places." he asked as he cleaned her right arm and injected her.

"Well to be totally honest with you ... I never have the time, I'm always to busy."

"Oh, that's a shame," Randall answered softly, "Just one more to go," he smiled, "I need to get it from the fridge. Be right back."

"Sure." She answered. While his back was tuned she glanced at her watch, she had 5 hours before her flight was due.

Dilbert Glanced at the Doctor, whose back was still turned. she had to leave the country before she was caught. But these injections were a necessity. Still, the doctor was kind of cute. She forced a smile, Vincent returned with a small syringe in his hand.

"Sorry I took so long" he smiled.

"no problem," she smiled back.

"This one will sting a little." He offered. He jabbed her with the needle and slowly pushed the plunger down, slowly forcing the liquid into her body. She visibly flinched.

"And this does what exactly?" she asked.

He pulled the needle out and carefully placed it in the left pocket of his lab coat before turning to her with a sly smile on his face.

"It will relax every muscle and nerve in your body, relaxing even the muscles in your throat, leading very swiftly to total unconsciousness. Well in effect I guess its a sedative." He paused "but it dose have a few nasty side effects. "

Already she could feel the numbness spreading through her limbs,

"And exactly how long does it take to take effect?" Her eye lids were already becoming heavy.

"From the time of administration to complete nothingness takes anywhere from three to seven minutes. Depending on the individual" He turned to the examination chair behind him and picked up a bag, he pulled out a coil of rope.

She tried to stand and found she could no longer move, her breathing was ragged and she was gasping for air. As the drug took over her body and she began to fall into darkness, she was dimly aware of him pulling her from the chair and jabbing something into her leg.

Randall checked his watch, yes, he had administered it in the right time. This was one package he was not going to allow to escape. He had never suspected at one point that his prey would have been a woman. Women in this trade were few and far between, but those who were, were indeed a force to be reckoned with. He began to tie her wrists and ankles together, quickly followed by a blindfold and a gag. Vincent smiled to himself, wondering if this woman could possibly be her. One of the most secretive people in the trade, she always kept her identity secret and never dealt directly with her clients, no one even knew what she looked like.

As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she was dimly aware of him, Dimly aware of something snapping over her wrists, dimly aware of a strange room.

something in her brain screamed at her that this was not right, but all she wanted was to go back to the darkness that seamed so welcoming, so soothing.

Randall smiled as he watched her battle the drugs in her system, she would most likely be in and out of consciousness for the next few hours, which would allow him plenty of time to organize himself.

Several hours passed and Randall returned to the woman that was now his prisoner. She was still slipping between awake and asleep. Vincent sighed, she was out a little longer than he had expected. 'Time to help things along a bit' he thought. He pulled a small dark bottle from his pocket and opened it, he wafted the fumes under the woman's nose. groggily she tried to move her head away from the stench, but he followed her nose with it. After a few moments she opened her eyes with a start. She tried to move her hand to her face to swat at the smell, and feeling her hand restrained, tried to move the other finding that to, she was unable to move. She struggled. Still, that smell beneath her nose. 'Get this thing away from me' she thought, 'what the hell is this?'

"Ahh, Finally awake now I see." The voice, somewhat familiar caught her attention, and through blurred eyes she could make out a figure standing next to her, holding this smelly thing near her face.

"Get this thing away from me..." she tried to say, but all that came out was a dry rasp.

Although it only took a few seconds for Randall to pull the smelling salts away, it seamed like an eternity to her.

"Are you going to behave?" he asked softly, she tried to speak, but yet again, nothing came out.

"Because if you do, I will make it easy on you,"

Once more, she tried to speak but nothing but air came out. She could make out the figure put something in his pocket and then lean over her, she tried to sit up and found her head restrained, she felt restraints all over her body and struggled against them.

"Tut, tut, tut. Young lady." He said quietly, "This behaviour just simply will not do."

He disappeared from her line of vision for a moment, "If you do not behave I will be forced to make you."

Still she could not speak. His blurred form returned to her again and she felt something stab in her arm, Her limbs began to feel heavy and she was forced to gave up struggling.

The figure moved out of her vision again, she was dimly aware of his presence near her head.

"OK I will try again young lady." Still his voice was soft., " I'm going to ask you some questions. As your still suffering some side effects from the sedative I gave you, You won't be able to speak for a few moments. I have just given you a muscle relaxant as i hate to see people struggle when I ask them questions, its ... rude." He paused, watching her. Her pupils were still dilated, no doubt her vision was extremely blurred. But to hell with it, she didn't need to see, to answer him.

"To begin with, I will ask some simple yes or no questions, one blink for yes, and two for no, do u understand me?" he continued.

She blinked once.

"Good. Now you're not a translator are you?"

She stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"Mm, I can see your going to be troublesome." He sighed. "Very well." He pulled a silver case from his pocket and pulled out a long thin cigarette. Randall placed the cigarette between his lips and lit it, he inhaled.

"OK that's answered that question." He pursed his lips.

"You were leaving the country in a hurry weren't you?" he took another puff on the cigarette and blew the smoke into her face.

She still stared at the ceiling. He smiled

"Your going to be a difficult one to break aren't you?" to his amusement she blinked once. He chuckled.

"My, my, my, I think I've just realized who you are." She closed her eyes and ignored him.

"I never thought I'd see the day, that I would even meet the 'shadow' Let alone be given the opportunity to break that pretty little mind of yours." He glanced at his watch; the sedative should be just about be wearing off now. He leaned over her again and looked at her eyes, her pupils were beginning to return to a normal size. Soon, her voice would be returning. And then, the fun would begin. He did not expect her to readily give him the information he wanted but he had his ways. But he didn't want her to give in to soon, he wanted to savour breaking her.

She blinked a few times as the figure finally came into focus, he wore a black shirt with the top few buttons undone, Tousled short black hair and a pair of oval black steal rimmed glasses and over that, a white lab coat, unbuttoned. The rest of his clothes she could not see, as her view was restricted by the way she had been bound. He stood by her feet and watched her with a bemused expression.

"You'll never.... Break me," she growled.

"Ahh, I see the sedative is wearing off now," Vincent smiled. "your voice is returning," the woman narrowed her eyes.

"What the hell do you want..?" she demanded, her voice breaking and hoarse.

Randall chuckled to himself.

"What have you..?" she tried again,

"Have I done to you?" he finished, raising an eyebrow mocking her. "In laymen's terms, I drugged you. It made you a lot easier to transport here than you would have been if you were conscious." he paused to take another pull on the cigarette. "As I'm sure your now aware, it was a powerful drug I used, Your voice is going to be a little croaky for a while, its a side effect that I hoped wouldn't happen, but although croaky, you will still be able to answer my questions."

"Release me!" she croaked "Now!"

Randall chuckled again. "Young lady, look at your current situation. You're bound. You have no idea where you are and don't forget the drugs running through your body. I hold your very life my hands. And you still demand?"

Her reply was simple.

"It's obvious you ... want something from me... but killing me won't give you it,"

He pushed the glasses up his nose with his forefinger.

"That is very true. But I have a talent for, lets say, inflicting pain." he moved so he was standing next to her head. "Any person, given the right amount of pain will spill their guts." he reached behind her and pulled a lever.

"Now, we begin." he hissed.

"So what do you intend to do to me?" she smirked. "Torture me?" Slowly, more of the room came into view.

"Maybe," he replied, his voice still gentle. "Whilst I do enjoy extracting information. I somehow don't think that a basic torture alone is going to work on you. You're to, what's the word... controlled." as he spoke Vincent placed his hand somewhere behind her head and spun her round.

She was looking straight into a mirror, and the sight she saw before made her blood boil. He had her bound to what looked like some kind of examination chair. Much like the type of chairs that dentists used. Randall smiled slyly as he saw her take it in. Strong heavy leather straps held her to the chair. Pining her wrists and her elbows high above her head. Another band held down her waist and another held her chest. Her thighs were also locked tight to the chair. But the one that angered her the most, was the one that held her head tight to the headrest, stopping her from moving.

He allowed her a few moments to take it in before speaking. "Now Zera Hamilton," he said slowly. "Are you going to co-operate?"

He couldn't suppress his amusement as her eyes narrowed at use of her real name.

"Your reputation proceeds you," she replied, she kept her voice even, "I am right in the .. assumption that you... are 'the retriever?" Randall nodded.

"well in that case I am ... honoured that it is you.... who finally succeeded... in capturing me."

He nodded at her acknowledgement of respect. Even though she acted cool, inwardly the panic was now beginning to set in, this guy always got the information he wanted, even with her high threshold of pain, she didn't stand much hope against someone of his caliber. he took great pride in his work. He enjoyed causing pain.

"Thank you for your respect. It is nice to know that ones art is recognized. But enough with the pleasantries," He stepped between her and the mirror "I am after all, being payed to a job so, to the business at hand." He turned his back to her, "I'm going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer me. But somehow I don't think your going to allow it to be as easy as that are you?"

"My employers wouldn't be paying me if they knew I was going to allow it to be easy..."

Vincent chuckled, "I suppose that much is true. Same as my bosses would not even entertain the idea of me failing."

"You certainly have a high opinion of yourself, don't you?" she sighed.

"Where have you hidden the disk?" he asked

"What disk?" she mocked him "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Your voice is returning to normal," he smiled "wonderful! what about the microfilm?"

"I don't know about that either." She taunted.

"Hmm." He mused. He cocked his head to one side watching her, before suddenly pulling his hand back to deal her a vicious slap. She tasted warm, salty blood in her mouth and swallowed it back.

"You'll pay for that..." she replied. Already feeling the sting of his hand on her skin.

"Your not very good at lieing, Zera." He dealt her another vicious slap, "I know there were two people contracted on to that job."

"And what's that got to do with me?" she responded.

"two companies wanted that information.... your bosses and mine." He looked at her face, the left side of her face reddening from his slaps, a thin trickle of blood had began to dribble from the corner of her mouth.

"there's no point in lieing to me, I know you have the microfilm, as I have the disk."

She swallowed back more blood, and stayed silent. Dam, her face hurt.

She licked the inside of her mouth, looking for the source of the blood.

"yes, and while your here, I have something to ask you." He sneered. "Those people you killed, you used the same technique I do, why?"

"What makes you think it was me?" she could feel movement slowly creeping back into her body.

"Cut the crap." He said coldly."Tell me where you hid it."

She looked back at him. A smile creeping across her features. She received another slap for her trouble.

"Hmm, I'm going to enjoy this." He said leaning over her so his face was inches from hers. His breath reeked of tobacco. "I didn't even know what you would look like. Now standing here with you bound and at my mercy, I'm beginning to see what an attractive young woman you really are. It would seam such a shame to mark that pretty skin of yours."

She spat a mouthful of blood in his face,

"you know that is really disgusting." He snarled and pulled his hand back yet again to hit her. White hot pain temporally assaulted her senses leaving her stunned for a few moments. Vincent wiped her blood from his nose with a white cloth and then proceeded to clean his glasses. He always loved 'interrogating' women, they were more, expressive in their pain. He liked to hear them cry out and scream. This woman however was going to be different. she was ex Special Forces and had the stamina and training behind her. She was going to be more of a challenge than his usual fair. He smirked and decided to take his time with her. He was really going to savour this. Besides, it was probably going to take some time to break her.

"Where did you hide the microfilm?" he persisted.

"if I had it, do You really think I'm going to tell you?" she snapped, finally finding the cut inside her mouth.

"No, not yet I hope at least." he replied. "You were in such a hurry to leave the country, I bet you were going to leave straight after those jabs weren't you?"

"Jabs...?" it took a few seconds for her befuddled brain to make sense of it, "You were the doctor..."

"Yes, I was, rather good at it wasn't I?" he chuckled.

"But the tan.... you look different.."

"Its amazing what you can do with a little make up and some latex isn't it?"

"The other injections you gave me, what were they?"

"Oh nothing untoward," he shrugged, "Hep B, typhoid, Yellow fever, just the ones you requested."

"Nothing else?" she queried.

"Are you questioning me?" he snapped and slapped her again, Another bolt of White pain

spiked her vision.

"Where were you going in such a hurry? Columbia maybe?"

"And if I was, what's it got to do with you?" she snapped. Hamilton could feel her right eye swelling.

"If you were, it would mean that you either A, have the film on you, and you were leaving shortly after those jabs, Or B, you've already sent it on." she glared at him her eye now beginning to throb.

"I'd wager that you've already sent it on, haven't you?" he mused, folding his arms. "You're not daft enough to carry it so blatantly with you are you? But," he sighed,

"I can't leave that to chance." He pushed his glasses up his nose again.

"What's that meant to mean?" she asked, spitting out more blood.

"it means I'm going to search you."

She struggled against her bonds.

"Stop struggling," he sighed, "there's no way your getting out of those restraints. Well, not unless I release you, that is, And I have no intention of doing that just yet."

Realizing it was useless, she ceased her struggles.

"Fine," she sighed, "Do what you want. It's not as if I'm able to stop you."

"Oh?" he raised his eye brows "you don't want to be saying things like that to me. I may just do that."