11. Technical Difficulties.
"I've changed your sheets and duvet cover and I've ordered some food in." Sarah said, spinning on her heels as I followed her into the house. "I hope you don't have to go anywhere tonight."
Her scrubs were gone, replaced with jeans and T shirt and sneakers.
After hanging my keys on a hook my the door, I threw my laptop onto the bed, noting that the bed looked clean and fresh finally and went into the kitchen.
"I've got wine. You have nothing much in your refrigerator, Peter. How do you survive like this?'
"I get by." I said, head in the refrigerator.
Two glasses and a bottle of wine sat on the coffee table by the TV.
"Oh, no." I said making my way past it to the internet router, I flicked the power switch to off, never checking to see if any of the cameras were on. All the lights on the router went out.
"Have you been using the spray regularly?" Sarah asked as I scouted the room for cameras and microphones. "Can I take a look?"
"Phone." I held out my hand. "Give me your phone."
Sarah frowned and, slowly reaching into her handbag on the coffee table, handed me her cell phone.
"My phone isn't hacked, Peter." She said, shaking her head.
"Everything else in this place is." I gestured to the cameras by the TV. "Even the kitchen has two cameras. I don't know what they want us to do on the kitchen table. The router is off now so as long as they haven't somehow installed a backup. They can't hear us or see us."
"What don't you want them to hear?" Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Any of this." I replied, waving to the room. "Anything we say."
"You said 'us'." Sarah said.
"What?"
"You said 'us' just now...about what we do on the kitchen table. You said 'us'". She looked at me quizzically.
"Slip of the..." Fuck. Enough mistakes! I thought. She's seeing straight through me!
"Do you want to get changed out of that suit and relax? The food will be here soon, then we can chill out with a glass of wine."
I stopped spinning around the house in the search for bugs and looked at her. Her blond pony tail was gone, her hair a waterfall of gold over her shoulders.
"Can I see your..." She motioned to my nipples.
"They're fine." I replied.
"I'm a doctor, let me..."
"They're fine." I insisted.
"Suit yourself." Sarah gestured to the bedroom. "Get out of that suit and into some casuals. Dinner will be here soon and you don't want to spill it down that lovely waistcoat."
I sighed and headed to the bedroom, closing the door behind me I quickly checked all the cameras I could see, then changed into T shirt and jeans. I was tempted to switch the internet speaker off under the bed and thought again. They can talk all they want. They can't see me or hear me. I'd been in shoes all day so left my feet bare, enjoying the cool of the air conditioning on my stretched toes, before quickly pulling on fresh socks and sneakers.
Ding dong.
"That's the food!" Sarah called. "I've got this."
I took my time, moving my laptop from the bed I unpacked it and set it up on my desk with the monitor attached. Then I unplugged it and took the battery out before putting it back in it's case.
Running again Why am I running? I know why she's here.
The smell of Indian food wafted through the lounge as I made my way to the kitchen, dropping my laptop by the front door to the house. Two plates, cutlery and two glasses of wine, along with an array of curries, rice and side dishes covered the table.
"Looks good." Sarah said with a smile. "Dig in."
Well, if they're still able to see, at least they know we're eating well. I thought, looking around at the camera in the recess over the refrigerator and the one overhead.
We ate in a tension. Neither of us wanting to start the conversation we knew was coming. Neither of us knowing what we knew, or what we were prepared for.
I wonder what she knows. I thought to myself, looking askance at Sarah as she sipped her wine. I wonder if they've told her, or if Rebecca has revealed anything. I hated going into meetings, not knowing what the other people were thinking.
"Go and relax." Sarah said, as she made herself busy filling the dishwasher and I moved the glasses and wine bottle to the lounge.
"There's another bottle in the fridge if you need more."
I need a fucking vat, not a bottle. I thought, turning on the TV I switched to the news headlines, hoping for a distraction from what was about to happen. The news headlines didn't register with me. Nervously, I fumbled with the control, switching between channels for anything that would take me somewhere else before turning the TV off just as she sat down at the end of the sofa.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you." She said eventually as she sat on the sofa. "You really should let me take a look."
"They're fine. Really. Just a little...obvious."
Sarah blushed.
"Why are you here really, Sarah." I asked. "You've never come around without being asked before. It's not to look at my wounds, is it?"
"I think we should talk." She looked serious.
I know we need to talk. I thought. Stop fucking fishing for what I know.
"You have my attention." I said, dancing around her lure.
"OK, this is going to be hard." She winced and looked at my phone which had just buzzed. I picked it up.
Turn the router back on!
I ignored the SMS from Catherine. A few seconds later, Sarah's phone buzzed.
"They...want to listen." She said.
"I know. I'm not letting them. I'm not ready." I replied defiantly. "They can fuck right off. This is between me and you."
"I'm glad they didn't hear that." Sarah said.
"Are you afraid of them already? Do they already..."
"It involves them." Sarah insisted.
"How?" Again, I threw her a lure.
"Please, Peter. Just turn the fucking thing on." She said, a slight tremor in her voice.
"Who sent you the SMS?" I asked.
"That was Becky." Sarah replied.
She knows. I thought. She knows what Rebecca wants and she is going along with it.
"And Becky wants me to turn the internet back on?"
Sarah's smile changed. "Of course she fucking does. Can we stop this dancing around and talk. This is about you, me and The Code. You know bloody well why I'm here. You know damn well what they're planning for us so let's get this out into the open!" There was a tear rising in her face.
"And how..." I started but couldn't continue.
We fell silent, the whirrs and gulps of the dishwasher disturbing the otherwise quiet.
"They told me you would order me." I said eventually. "Is that why you're here? You're here to order me to sleep with you?"
"You need to put the internet on, Peter." You...We'll be punished. Sarah looked at me nervously.
"Just how much of you do they own?" I asked. "What about all that crap about how you were taking everything from me? Does that still go?"
"I'm sorry, Peter." She said. "You knew what The Code was about so, seeing me with Christopher...you should be okay with that. If you honor The Code, you won't judge me for that...Now can you please switch on the internet router!"
"Not yet." I said bluntly. "Look, Sarah. I want them to see and hear us but right now, I need to know where I stand. I'll make up some excuse about technical difficulties. If they punish me then I'll take the punishment. I love being part of The Code but where we go from here, is important."
"It was almost vanilla with Christopher, Peter. Nothing extreme. If it had been another Code member, would it have bothered you so much?"
"You're right, Sarah...and anyone else...it wouldn't matter. Look. It was a bit...a lot...of a shock to see you like that but, look, I'm trying hard not to judge you. The sex with Christopher I can live with, it's the way you rubbed it in my face that bothers me. Using him to punish me, taking him away from me like you did...not to mention stopping visits to me from other men. I know I insulted you in my email but..."
"I wanted you to leave The Code." She said, firmly.
"I know you did. But why didn't you just ask me?"
"Would you have left if I'd asked?" She asked. "Really?"
I stopped. Would I? I thought. Would I really have left? She's a mistress...or I suspect...was; and I'd have accepted her right to punish me wouldn't I? I would have tried to stay out of her circles as much as I could but, would I have really stopped being owned and used by Catherine and Christopher if she asked?
"I was hoping the shock would make you go...seeing me with...being made to watch me. You had a way out. You still do.
"Is that what the piercing was for? To get me to use my keyword?"
"Catherine wanted you pierced. I came up with the idea. Don't judge me for that. I was just a delivery mechanism."
"I'm not judging. The piercing I can handle. The way you tried to use my childhood..."
"I know." Tears welled in her eyes. "I was wrong. I should have known by then you weren't going to leave. I could have got a local anesthetic into you, they'd never have known. I fucked up."
Sarah's phone buzzed again. I suspected more orders from Rebecca.
"Can I use the bathroom?" She asked.
"You don't need to ask me for that, Sarah. You know that. You've been here before."
She stepped off the sofa and headed to the bathroom, switching the router on as she passed the shelf it was standing on. A few minutes later, all the lights on the router were on, and so were the cameras.
"Sorry about that." I called to the room as Sarah, in her bathrobe, came back to the sofa. "Power outage."
"What's the camera over the shower for?" She asked.
"it's their fetish." I replied with a slight laugh. "They're training me to...aren't you aware of what they're going to want from you yet?'
