Trifecta

by Pam Richter

  Eve ran over to the chair where Mark was holding Sabrina and told him it was vital to keep Sabrina awake. They decided to resume walking her, and each supported one arm and started moving her from one side of the room to another, telling her to move her legs and help them. It was like trying to propel a body made of rubber. Her knees kept collapsing and her head sagged forward on her chest. Once she moaned, "Not again."

  "You have to stay awake Sabrina," Eve said loudly, shaking her a little when she seemed to doze even while stumbling forward.

  Mark glared at Eve.

  "I wish we could put her in the shower. A very cold shower."

  "You heartless bitch."

  "We can't take a sopping person through the lobby," Eve said, totally unmoved by Mark's comment. He was overwrought.

  While Eve and Mark walked Sabrina, Ivar wrote a confession and made each of the men sign it. It stated that they had, under the direction of Mr. Sato Hashimoto, given drugs to a woman named Sabrina Miller. They had used mind control techniques with a script written by the psychologist, also following Mr. Hashimoto's direct orders. Eve and Mark signed as witnesses.

  Ivar told the men that Mr. Hashimoto could contact his lawyers in their behalf, as well as his own. They were under room arrest. They were not to leave under any circumstances. They would be contacted by the authorities.

  Ivar needed a little time to get Sabrina out of the hotel before Hashimoto learned that she had been taken out of his control. What they had done was an illegal search and seizure. They were all aware Ivar could get into deep trouble with the CIA for his activities.

  As Mark and Eve walked Sabrina they discussed how to get her downstairs and through the lobby without attracting too much attention. Any one of the three of them could carry her, but Good Samaritans would try to help if they said she was sick and their anonymity would be compromised. They could try to support her through the lobby, but she might collapse. Sabrina could not seem to support the weight of her head, which lolled forward or sideways like a heavy flower.

  She actually looked like a drunk. They didn't want it noticed that a drunken woman and her twin had gone through an exclusive Los Angeles hotel lobby.

  It was decided that Eve would go get the car so the noticeable twin thing would not be obvious and memorable. The other reason was because Mark absolutely refused to leave Sabrina, even to go get his own car.

  Eve looked around the room and found some cardboard in the trash cans that had been used to back dry-cleaned shirts. She tore up a sheets and made what looked like a crude cervical collar. They put it around Sabrina's neck and it held her head up. Sabrina looked like an exotic type of nun, but it hid the most telltale sign that she could not support herself.

  While Eve was making the collar, Ivar got a radio message from Malcolm. Hashimoto was now on his way back to the hotel. They had to leave quickly.

  Eve left the hotel room first. Mark and Ivar practiced walking Sabrina until they thought they could support her without looking too remarkable. Each had an arm around her waist and they locked their arms together. They draped Sabrina's arms around each of their necks, holding her hand with their own to keep her arms in place. It was a little awkward, because Ivar was quite a bit taller than Mark, but they finally got the hang of walking Sabrina.

  Three good friends, arms around each other, went down the hallway. Sabrina's feet just skimmed the floor. She floated through the hotel lobby while Ivar and Mark held a happy conversation with her for all to see.

  CHAPTER 34

  Eve stood supporting Sabrina in the shower, and gradually made the temperature cooler. Sabrina kept trying to lie down and sleep in the tub, so Eve had to repeatedly haul her up again.

  Then Eve took Sabrina into the bedroom and lay her on the bed to dress her. It was like handling a large heavy baby, or a life sized doll. Eve was encouraged when Sabrina started talking. She kept repeating, over and over, "I don't want to go to Japan." Later she added, "Not with that loathsome Hashimoto. What a creep!"

  "Right you are," Eve said as she picked up a leg and dragged one pants leg up.

  Mark peered in the doorway, saw Eve dressing Sabrina, and retreated, but he kept the door open.

  "And we did not have lunch. They didn't even feed me anything." She sounded very much like an angry drunk.

  "You fought them all the way," Eve encouraged.

  Sabrina nodded. Then she started to cry. "They were mean to me. They hurt me."

  Eve had to keep lifting dead sagging weight to put on each article of clothing. Then Sabrina would melt back on the bed again and try to go to sleep. Finally she had Sabrina clad in jeans, a sweater and tennis shoes. She pulled Sabrina up by both arms to a sitting position and said, "Time to take a little walk."

  "No! Now I'm going to sleep." She sounded like an angry three year old.

  "Hashimoto is an evil man. You're so angry you want to hit him," Eve said, holding on to Sabrina's shoulders and shaking her gently. "And the lipless doctor with the skinny neck should have his license revoked. He's a real quack."

  Sabrina closed her eyes. "I'm so tired."

  "Mark is waiting to see you. He's just outside the door."

  Sabrina gave a beautiful smile and, pillowing her head with one hand, lay back and sighed contentedly.

  "Come see Mark," Eve urged, pulling Sabrina up again.

  "Want to," Sabrina said, nodding seriously.

  "Yes. Come with me." She noted that Sabrina could stagger a little by herself now, and let go when they reached the doorway.

  Sabrina saw Mark waiting outside the door, just as Eve had promised, and she opened her arms wide, stepped forward, and collapsed. She almost knocked him down in her attempt to hug him. Evidently her depth perception was not quite up to par. Ivar was there beside Mark. He helped catch Sabrina. The two of them started walking her into the living room.

  Eve stalked after them, whispering to Mark. "Don't coddle her. If you give her sympathy, like you want to, she'll cry and feel like a victim. Tell her she was wonderful. Because she was. They tried to control her mind and couldn't do it. Even with drugs. She was very brave. Look at her hands."

  As they walked, Mark opened the hand he was holding and saw crescents of blood where Sabrina had clenched it in an attempt to use pain to reject the suggestions and drugs.

  Mark squeezed Ivar's arm to stop him. Then he turned and looked Eve directly in the eyes for the very first time. He just looked at her seriously and nodded, but Eve understood that he had finally forgiven her.

  Ivar broke the moment, "You're sopping, Eve. You better dry off, too."

  "And shivering," Mark added kindly, with a smile.

  Eve went into the bathroom. Her wet hair was plastered to her skull. She was dripping on the floor and could see herself shivering in the mirror, although she didn't feel cold.

  Eve changed into dry clothes and went back into the living room. Mark was supporting Sabrina alone. Sabrina was still shaky but was insisting that she wanted to walk by herself. In the state Sabrina was in, Mark would let her do anything she wanted. When Sabrina fell, she finally gave in and let Mark help her.

  Ivar was on his radio explaining to Malcolm that he had evidence that he needed to show Burgess Whitcomb. Eve heard him tell Malcolm to come over himself, so that he could see that Sabrina was in no condition for an interrogation.

  Eve went into the kitchen and started making grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches. Sabrina had complained that Hashimoto hadn't fed her. Food might help Sabrina get over the drug overdose. As she was cooking, Ivar came in to help her.

  "Ivar, I want to show you something," Eve said. "Would you get my purse?"

  When Ivar brought it in, Eve pulled out the Japanese documents she had taken from Hashimoto's safe. Ivar looked at the Japanese writing blankly and shook his head. Eve explained that Hashimoto proposed to open a limited partnership with American investments. When he got the money he would divert it into real estate, sell the real estate at a huge profit for himself a
nd use the failed partnership as a write-off for his corporation. It was legal, but barely so. Another document, she explained, was an investment into several American universities. Hashimoto planned to grab new American technologies.

  Then Eve pulled a canvas bag out of her purse and showed him the contents.

  "A fortune," Ivar commented, after he had looked inside.

  "I was hoping to buy Sabrina back from Hashimoto, if all else failed. It came from his own safe. Should I return it?"

  Ivar shook his head, "Give it to Sabrina."

  "That's what I planned. Hashimoto may accuse me of stealing."

  "With the pictures we have, he won't dare come near either of you again."

  "You saw what he did today," Eve countered. "He'll have his henchmen after me, if he can't do it himself. I have to get lost. Permanently. Or he'll try to use Sabrina again, to get me."

  "You're serious?"

  Eve nodded.

  "Will you let me know, if you decide to leave?"

  "Of course. I'm going to give some of this money to the Steinbrenner brothers. They may be creeps, but they can be bought."

  Sabrina was staring at Ivar with approval when they walked in the living room with the sandwiches. "This is Ivar?" It was the first time she had really seen him. Before he had only been a presence that helped to support her.

  "Yes. He helped you escape."

  "Thank you, Ivar," Sabrina said. "And Mark came, too?"

  "I called him, and he came from work."

  Sabrina smiled at them both.

  As they started eating, Ivar explained that Malcolm would be over in a few minutes. "To get the CIA to end the investigation, Eve will have to go and meet with Burgess Whitcomb. When he sees the pictures of what happened in that hotel room, I believe I can convince him that the whole story about a super computer implanted in someone's brain was a con. Just some dishonest lawyers out to hustle a buck, planning to bilk a Japanese corporation."

  "Won't work," Sabrina said thickly.

  "After what you've been through," Ivar said, "I don't want you to have to be interrogated by Burgess Whitcomb. He's extremely tough. He'll try to trip you up, Sabrina. He can wait a few days."

  "I'm thinking fine," Sabrina insisted. "I won't make any mistakes."

  "Sabrina's right," Eve said. "Whitcomb won't believe us unless he sees us both. If we wait, he'll be harder on us, and the drugs will be out of Sabrina's system. So, the sooner the better. He can have his medical men search us for some sign of surgery and he won't find any."

  "He may want X-rays," Ivar said.

  "Then we may be in trouble," Eve admitted.

  "I broke into his office and destroyed all of the files on the investigation," Ivar said. "It's causing a real uproar. So if you see me arrested, don't say or do anything. Act completely ignorant."

  "You'll go to jail?" Eve asked.

  "I'm just warning you, because if he thinks we're in collusion, believe me, he'll never let up."

  Eve frowned and shook her head. "No. We can't let that happen, Ivar."

  "It doesn't matter. Just listen, because Malcolm will be here in a few minutes. We have to get our stories straight. I made the man you bit take back his accusation. So you both have to say that Sergi Malcovich was bitten by a dog."

  "He's Russian. That Sergi Malcovich. KGB I believe," Eve said between bites of her sandwich.

  "Yes. The Soviets now have the complete CIA file on you both. If all goes well today, and Burgess is convinced that the computer story is a hoax, I'll make sure that that information gets to the KGB, as well. Then I think you'll be safe. The FBI might watch you for a while, because that's where the information about the Japanese drugging will go. But they'll protect you and make sure Hashimoto never goes near you again."

  "You're sacrificing everything, Ivar," Eve said.

  "You deserve to be free, Eve. And so does Sabrina. Believe me, I know what it truly means to be free."

  Mark, listening, felt both guilty and ashamed. Sabrina had been so brave today, and just last night he had left her. Now he understood that to Sabrina, loyalty to Eve was like being loyal to a part of herself. And as for Eve, she had broken into that hotel room and done everything she could to get Sabrina back. On top of that, Ivar had probably sacrificed his own job for the woman he loved. He might even land in jail. Mark felt like a total shit. Especially since he was thinking what a fabulous story this would be if he could write an article for the L.A. Times.

  "I'll come along, too," Mark said. "The CIA can interrogate us all. It might help if Whitcomb knows he can be quoted in the press."

  "Good," Ivar said. "When Whitcomb understands what an ass the CIA will appear to be, by a leak from a member of the press, he'll want to hush the whole thing up as quickly as possible. And Sabrina, it would help a lot if you would cry."

  CHAPTER 35

  Burgess Whitcomb sat imposingly at his desk with Ivar and Malcolm, chosen because they were his largest agents, on either side of him. Sabrina, Eve and Mark sat across the desk from the three grim, powerful looking men.

  With Burgess's hooded eyes, long lipless mouth, and thick bullet shaped head, Sabrina thought he looked like a stern turtle. A dangerous snapping turtle.

  Mark was allowed to remain in the meeting because he had been a witness to the incident in the hotel room. He pronounced that the meeting would have to be postponed for medical reasons if he were not present.

  "You're also a doctor?" Burgess inquired.

  "No. But Sabrina has no family." He stopped when he felt Eve's intense stare. "Except for Eve, of course. And I've known Sabrina for years and will know if she becomes any...sicker."

  "Perhaps you would prefer a medical doctor to be present?" Burgess said. "That could be arranged."

  Mark shook his head and decided to keep his mouth shut. His time would come.

  "This is just an informal questioning for both Ms. Millers," Burgess said. "And Mr. Ponti, we wanted you here also, in any case. I'll get to that in a moment. I want to stress that this meeting is only for our information. There are no formal charges against any of you."

  Burgess Whitcomb looked separately at each of the three people before him. None of them got the impression it was a friendly meeting. He was out to get them.

  "First, it was alleged that Dr. Steinbrenner had been doing highly illegal experiments on human subjects, so Dr. Steinbrenner's residence was put under surveillance. Ms. Sabrina Miller was seen entering Dr. Steinbrenner's Tanning Salon. Then two women exit, who look exactly alike. But there are no records for the identity of Ms. Eve Miller. Then, a few days later, Eve Miller is on all the computers. Credit cards. Birth certificate. Drivers license. The whole ball of wax."

  "I can explain," Eve said.

  "Wait. I'm not finished," Burgess said sternly. "Dr. Steinbrenner's residence was entered that same night by a blond woman who looked very much like Sabrina Miller, accompanied by a dark haired man of approximately the size and build of Mark Ponti. Understand, I'm not making any allegations, just telling the facts. The result is that Alexander Steinbrenner sustains a broken leg, Stephan Steinbrenner has two broken legs, and Dr. Steinbrenner has a heart attack.

  "The next night Dr. Steinbrenner's laboratory is totally wrecked. By this time we have all three of you three under surveillance, and during the time this incidence occurs, all three of you are missing. Whereabouts unknown. But earlier that night we have a recording of the two brothers, Alex and Stephan Steinbrenner, asking which one of you two women is the computer. Both of you answer that you are a computer. A mystery, heh? Especially since you three were at the scene where the laboratory was later broken into and vandalized."

  The smile he gave was sinister.

  "A couple of days later the two of you go to Dr. Steinbrenner's hospital room. A conversation is recorded which is very distorted, but Dr. Steinbrenner explains that one of you has a brain that is more primitive. Not as evolved. Which is something I almost start believing when one of my agents is injured in
a book store while doing routine surveillance. This is done by the dark haired woman. Maybe accidentally, maybe not. Soon after this, another of my agents is bitten in the neck and his hand is broken. Again by the dark haired woman."

  Burgess Whitcomb was clearly enjoying himself during the recital.

  "Then suddenly we don't know who attacked my Federal agents because both of the women in question have blond hair. But there are bits of evidence. Traces of blood on handcuffs that were mysteriously broken. Tooth marks which prove that it was Sabrina Miller. So we were planning to take Sabrina into custody for attacking an officer of the Federal Government."

  Sabrina could feel Burgess waiting for a reaction, staring at her. She tried not to register the shock and fear she felt. In this instance, the drugs were helpful. By the time her eyes had widened and her eyebrows slid up he was speaking again.

  "Then Mr. Sato Hashimoto enters the picture. He visits Dr. Steinbrenner in the hospital and Dr. Steinbrenner has a stroke. The conversation that precipitates the stroke is about a new computer Dr. Steinbrenner made.

  "And then my own office is broken into. One of my employees is tied up and some files are missing."

  Burgess paused to take a drink of water and Sabrina was even more reminded of a giant snapping turtle, as his upper lip covered the top of the glass, hiding teeth. Water disappeared without visible swallows.

  "Onto today. Mr. Hashimoto, a tiny man, beats up his own bodyguard so violently he has to be hospitalized. Sabrina Miller is drugged by Mr. Hashimoto's doctor. The hotel room where this takes place is broken into and Sabrina Miller is rescued. During the rescue, hotel property is demolished. A door is broken. Three telephones are smashed until they are unrecognizable.

  "If all possible charges are taken into account, we have several counts of assault, willful destruction of private and government property. Breaking and entering. Destruction of classified government property and documents. I could go on and on. But now I want some answers."

  Burgess Whitcomb scowled at each person separately for an instant. Then he pressed his intercom.