Chapter 14
As Sam emerged from the cloud of numbness, the sickly-sweet taste in her mouth and nostrils, he leaden eyelids opened. The fog in her brain was slow to dissipate but after a moment or two of deep breaths in and out. Her eyes focussed on a small group of being standing around a table, she was vaguely aware of lights and a undulating sound in the background.
"She's awake." A familiar voice registered. Sam searched her memory; she knew the tone and the texture of that voice. She looked and saw Billie leaning in closely, putting some kind of capsule under her nose. The acrid smell was awful but instantly her head started to clear.
"That will help." Billie offered.
"What. What is going on?" Sam's dry throat cracked. As her mind cleared, sensations returned to her limbs. She was held tightly to a chair. Plastic zip held her wrists behind her back.
Markham walked up to her, "Sorry Sam. You'll need some time here before you will be fit enough to go back on duty." He seemed pleased with his own joke.
Beside him stood a tall woman, with a dark jacket and leather pants and boots. Sam blinked and as the woman adjusted her position, Sam recognised Alison., the former abductee of the men she had been trying to find. Sam's mind cleared further, she strained at the zip ties. Billie returned to her side, with polycarbonate cup of water from a cooler in the container.
"Drink this, it'll make you feel better." Billie put it to her lips. Gratefully, Sam drained it. The cool fluid relaxed her throat, and she found her voice again.
"Billie, what's going on?" Sam could see how uncomfortable Billie was. Markham, watching Billie like a hawk, crouched down.
"Samantha, you don't need to worry your pretty little head about this, in a few hours, it'll all be over." Markham stood up and brushed her cheek. He turned to Billie.
"I should have kept this one for myself. Having her little pussy in the office would have been a bonus." His tone dismissive of her. Billie wheeled round.
"The deal was she would be mine." Billie fired back. Billie felt small, vulnerable, and not a little frightened by all this.
Alison joined the conversation, "Yes, D.I. Markham, Billie is right. Sam is to be hers. That was the deal. So don't het any ideas." Her tone playful but with an icy impression of authority in it. "Besides, you're all mine, aren't you?" Alison reached out and pulled Markham closer, she slipped her hand around his neck and then kissed him deeply, Markham caressed her lovingly. He broke the kiss.
"All yours, but boys will be boys you know!" He joked. His mouth attached to hers and kissed her again.
Sam was confused by their behaviour and the surroundings. The noise, she heard earlier penetrated her mind again. "What is that noise?" she whispered, craning her neck to try and place it. She twisted her neck to the partition wall, soft lights and some odd low -level humming, squeals and throbbing tones came from the other side of the wall.
Billie stepped forward again." I'm sorry Sam. I had no choice. Markham had three warrants on me, and I had no choice but I saved you, but I couldn't save Peter." Billie looked at the partition wall. Alison and Markham broke their kiss and turned to Sam and Billie. Alison smiled.
"Untie her, she may as well see this, as she'll be next for a treatment." Alison detached herself and nodded towards Samantha. Markham kissed the back of her trailing hand and made his way to Samantha. He scooped up a Stanley knife from the desk, cut through the plastic tie and retracted the blade and slipped it into his pocket. He gently, but firmly helped Sam up. She didn't resist, still groggy and unsteady from the chloroform, and walked her to the screen window. She looked at the flashing lights and heard the odd noises that pulsed loudly. She saw the naked back of a man. She could see the sweat on his body, his hair limp, and large headphones around his head, but even she could recognise Peter.
"Peter!" Samantha shouted. Markham held her tightly. She watched as Alison thumbed some switched and brushed her finger on a laptop. Immediately, the noises stopped, and the lights stopped flashing. A strip light flickered on. Markham pushed Sam through the door to the right, and into the room where Peter sat.
"Sam. Stand here or I'll make sure you regret it." Markham meant what he said. Billie had followed Sam and Markham into the room, she went straight to Peter, snapped off the zip-ties, took off the headphones and pulled him from the chair. Peter meekly followed Billie out of the room. The whole time, Billie avoided trying to catch Sam's eye. After shutting the door, Markham steered Sam into the chair and pulled fresh zip ties from a box on the floor, next to the chair. He placed the sweaty headphones on her head and looked to the window partition. After leaving the room, Markham nodded to Alison, who immediately switched on all lights and noises.
Surprisingly, Sam felt nothing. The room was filled with lights that flickered and pulsed. She simply shut her eyes to prevent herself from looking. The noises began, so she began to hum to herself to help focus her mind.
Then the voice crept into her mind.
She couldn't stop it.
Meanwhile, Peter sat down in another chair in the corner. Alison checked his pulse, and his eyes and smiled to herself.
"How are you, Lover?" She asked softly.
Peter said nothing but looked up and smiled vacantly. Alison looked at Markham and nodded.
"It's all a bit Ipcress File, isn't it?" Markham mused. He had no real grasp of the science; he simply enjoyed the results of the conditioning.
"Ah! to the uninitiated it must seem so. The lights and noises simply assist the subject to focus on the sounds you can't hear the subliminal messages, they induce the light suggestive state that allows the parts of the brain to be conditioned." Alison brushed her finger down Peter's sweat-stained face. "He needs cleaning up. Markham, you, and Billie stay here. Give her two hours' treatment and use recording one on her, it's in the player.
Markham nodded and scanned the equipment and found the CD tray and the controls to begin feeding Sam with the hypnotic suggestion. Billie watched Alison help Peter up from the chair and led him out of the room, to another adjoining container. She waited until the door was shut.
"Sam is mine, you promised me!" Billie's voice cracked with tension. Markham turned and looked at her.
"Yes, I did. She will be yours, with the appropriate conditioning and after I've enjoyed her company for a while. I hope you are not suggesting that you are being treated unfairly?" Markham glared at her. Billie had no option but to accept the situation in that she found herself.
As the investigation had begun, after Billie and Sam had been introduced. Markham had turned up unexpectedly at Billie's flat, above a shop in Stevenage. Markham held all the cards; he had outstanding warrants on herself and her hacker 'grey hats'. He had her caught and knew it. He explained that Sam and her investigating friend would need watching and that she should report on their findings, leads and information that Markham would need. She had always suspected Markham was not as clean as he pretended, the real enormity didn't dawn on her until later, when she and Sam started sleeping together. Then before she knew it, she was deep in the conspiracy, subverting their investigations, and creating false communications via the website. Subliminally, she had used the name BEA, hoping somehow, someway Sam and Peter would discover her perfidy without her having to tell them. When Peter started getting too close, she even distracted him by trying to fuck him, but to protect Sam, she would have done anything.
She hated this but she knew had fallen for Sam and Markham promised her that they could be together.
"When?" Billie asked quietly.
"Oh, a day or so to perfect the conditioning, then Sam and I will have a wonderful two days in a hotel room. I want to her fuck me like I'm the last man on Earth. After that, you can have her then. Let's say next Sunday morning." Markham was determined to have his reward, which meant enjoying all that Sam would happily give him once she was conditioned appropriately. Billie fought back the acid-hot tears. Bile gathered in her throat, she felt helpless to protect the one person she loved.