Agent Counter-Agent

by Nick Carter

  Tanya looked quickly into my eyes and then away again.

  Kalinin came to her rescue. "We're going to destroy Nick Carter," he said. "For a time, at least. You will no longer exist as Nick Carter."

  I just stared at him. Maybe I'd been right — one final bullet in Tanya's apartment might have been better for me in the long run.

  "No longer exist?"

  "We're going to perform a personality transplant," Kalinin went on. "You will become a completely different person. And that person will be programmed by us, Mr. Carter. As a computer would be programmed by a technician. Do you begin to understand?"

  I looked from him to Tanya. "My God, Tanya," I whispered.

  The blue eyes met mine. She had hardened her beautiful face against me and picked up a vial from a nearby table.

  "This is nambulin," she said in a businesslike way, "a drug developed only recently by our laboratories. It is what you would call a mind-altering drug. It has properties similar to LSD, but the effects of our drug are narrower and more limited."

  "I can hardly wait to hear," I said sarcastically.

  She ignored the remark and continued. "When nambulin is administered, the thought processes are interrupted on a basic level, and the personality is altered. The recipient of the drug becomes very submissive, and he experiences a heightened suggestibility."

  "Suggestion," I mused. "So that's it."

  "Part of it," Tanya said. "While under the influence of the drug, you will be extremely receptive to suggestion by a trained hypnotherapist. And to behavior-control techniques developed in our years of research."

  "To what end?" I asked.

  Tanya looked away.

  "There would be little point in going into details," Kalinin said, taking the vial from Tanya and filling a syringe with the liquid. "You will remember nothing we've said in this conversation, anyway."

  Something about the smug look on his face made me very angry. "Goddamn you," I shouted at him.

  His eyes flashed up to meet my gaze, and I thought I saw a tiny flicker of fear in them when he looked at me. "No dramatics, please, Mr. Carter. You will only make it more difficult for yourself."

  Tanya had left the chair and gone over to speak with one of the technicians. Kalinin was holding the syringe up in front of his face, pushing the plunger to clear the apparatus of air bubbles.

  A violent desperation rose in my chest. It was the closest thing to panic I'd ever experienced. I'd never really feared physical pain or death, but this was different. What they were going to do, in effect, was kill me, destroy my identity, and then use my body for their own ungodly purposes. Just thinking about it made chills run up and down my spine. And I knew now that the threat to humiliate AXE hadn't been an empty one. This plan — whatever it was — must have taken them months or even years of preparation. And with a top AXE agent to carry it out, they were almost home free.

  A technician came over to assist Kalinin. Tanya turned and looked toward us from across the room. The technician tied a rubber tube around my upper arm and rolled up my shirtsleeve. I saw the veins standing out in my forearm. The nambulin was going directly into a vein.

  My heart pounded wildly. When Kalinin came toward me with the needle, I started struggling desperately against the leather straps, trying with everything I had to break them. If I could get out of that chair, I could easily take care of these men. But the bonds were too strong.

  There is no need to struggle, Mr. Carter," Kalinin said smoothly as he grasped my forearm. "Escape at this point is quite impossible."

  The needle came down, and the technician held my shoulders so I couldn't move. There was just a small hint of pleasure in Kalinin's face as he jabbed the needle into an enlarged vein, then pushed the plunger on the syringe.

  Five

  A feeling of euphoria was coming over me. Then I began to get numb. My breathing slowed down markedly, and I felt perspiration dripping from my forehead and upper lip. I didn't even care that I'd been drugged, and the awful feeling of panic had disappeared. I could still remember everything they'd said to me, and I knew they were going to use me in some horrible experiment in terror, but I was no longer concerned about it. I knew I should be, but I simply didn't care about anything. For a few minutes I fought the feeling, trying to rekindle the rage I'd felt inside me, but there was none left. Whatever they did, whatever they said, was all right with me. It was silly to fight it, to worry about it. I was in their power, and their power was enormous. I would submit to it, and maybe somehow I would survive. After all, that was what really counted in the long run.

  Their faces warped in front of me — Tanya's and Kalinin's — and they were staring at me as they would stare at a guinea pig in a cage, but I didn't mind. They had their job to do, and I'd let them do it.

  Kalinin reached toward my face and lifted my eyelids. He nodded to Tanya and then he left us. Tanya brought a straight chair up and faced me. She sat very close. I stared into her brilliant blue eyes and found a dimension I'd missed before.

  "Now you are feeling very relaxed, very much at ease," she said to me in a soft, sensual voice. The voice, the inflection, increased my feeling of well-being.

  "Yes," I said, gazing into the deep blue pools of her eyes.

  "As you look into my eyes, your own eyes are becoming tired. Your eyelids are becoming very heavy, and you want to close them."

  My eyelids fluttered.

  "It is a struggle to keep your eyes open now. When I count to five, you will close your eyes because you want to. You will feel greatly relieved when you close your eyes. After you close them, you will slowly slip into a deep trance. One. You are very sleepy. Two. Your eyelids are very heavy. Three. You are deeply relaxed and submissive. Four. When your eyes close, you will let my voice guide you in your responses and actions. Five."

  My eyes seemed to close of their own volition. I knew that I couldn't keep them from closing, but I didn't even want to try.

  "You are now in a hypnotic trance, and you will respond to my voice."

  She was speaking in a soft, quiet monotone that was somehow extremely persuasive. I found that I felt tremendous affection for the lovely sound of her voice — that sensual, cajoling voice — and I wanted to do whatever it asked of me.

  "Do you understand?" she asked.

  "Yes, I understand."

  "Good. Now we are going to place this ring device onto your head and attach the electrodes." I felt someone moving the piece of equipment onto my head. It fit like a headband, and I remembered the maze of wires that had run from it.

  "As I speak to you, Nick, you will receive audio-visual data from the machine. The things you see and hear will be pleasant and will assist you in reaching the deepest state of trance." I heard a button click somewhere, and then a swirl of beautiful colors assailed the blackness Tanya had created. Along with the colors came a soft swell of music, beautiful music I'd never heard before. And Tanya's voice accompanied the lovely sights and sounds.

  "All the muscles of your body are gently relaxing, easily relaxing, and a great sense of euphoria is engulfing you. You are on an escalator that is moving downward. With each foot you move slowly downward, and you are becoming even more relaxed."

  The machine created the escalator for me, and in a smooth-riding glide I was carried down through the maze of colors toward a soft darkness.

  "You are nearing the bottom of the escalator now, and you are going in a very, very deep trance. You are completely receptive to my voice." I reached the bottom, and I was in a magnificent, free-floating blackness I never wanted to leave.

  "I will now ask you to count to five, but you will skip the numeral three. You will not be able to speak the number three. Now count to five."

  My lips moved. "One, two, four, five." My mouth and brain would have nothing to do with the number three.

  "Very good," Tanya said. "Now tell me your name and who you are."

  Something deep inside me balked, but there was that all-powerful voice aski
ng me, so I answered, "I am Nick Carter. I am employed by AXE, where I have the code name N…" I couldn't remember the number, and a rating of Killmaster." I went on to give more details of identification.

  "All right. Now listen to me carefully. You are going to forget everything you have just told me and everything else connected with your past. You are at this very moment developing complete and total amnesia."

  A strange thing happened. An exotic tremor passed through me, and when it was gone, I felt very lightheaded. When the physical effects passed, I felt different. It was a subtle difference, but it was as if the whole world around me had disappeared. There was nothing left in the universe except my floating body and Tanya's voice.

  "Who are you?"

  I thought for a minute. Nothing came. I tried harder, but I still couldn't answer. I had no identity. I was an entity floating in a vast blackness, waiting to be named, classified, and categorized.

  "I don't know," I said.

  "Where do you live?"

  "In this blackness," I responded.

  "Where have you come from?"

  "I don't know."

  "All right. I will refresh your memory. You will now see the image of a man before you." The machine hummed, and I did see a man. He was tall, with dark hair and gray eyes. "The man is you," she continued. "You are Rafael Chávez."

  "Rafael Chávez," I said.

  "You are a Venezuelan who spent a few years in the United States. You were born in Margarita and educated in Caracas. You have been engaged in several lines of work, but now you are an active revolutionary."

  "Yes," I said.

  "You live in an apartment at Avenida Bolivar, 36, here in Caracas."

  "Avenida Bolivar, 36."

  She went on to tell me that I had no family or friends and that the people I associated with were the few in this building, who were comrades in the revolution.

  "You will learn more about yourself later," she finally said. "For the time being, you must rest. I will count backward from five. During the count, you will rise slowly from your trance and float back up into awareness. Five. You are moving back up the escalator. Four. You are completely rested, but you are becoming more aware. Three. When your eyes open on the count of one, you will remember nothing prior to closing your eyes, nothing at all. Two. When your eyes open, you will remember only what I have told you about your identity as Rafael Chávez. You will remember nothing prior to the onset of complete amnesia. One."

  I opened my eyes. A girl was sitting there, and I knew I had seen the face before, but I had no idea under what circumstances. It must have been just before I closed my eyes. I noted immediately that she was not Venezuelan, and that lessened my interest in the pretty face. I spoke to her in fluent Spanish.

  "Qué pasó?" I asked.

  "You have been under a light sedation, señor Chávez. You were in an accident and received a blow on the head, and we are taking care of you for a couple of days. You do recognize your revolutionary comrades-in-arms, don't you?"

  I looked around the room. A technician unfastened the bonds that held me to the chair and took something off of my head. "Why… yes," I said. The fact was, I remembered almost nothing.

  "This is Dr. Kalinin, and I am Tanya Savitch, your Russian friends in the revolutionary movement. These other fellows are Menéndez and Salgado. They have been with you in the movement for some time. We have brought you here to this private clinic to treat you. After all, the conference is not far off."

  "The conference?" I asked.

  Tanya smiled. "Do not try to remember it all at once. You must go to your room and rest now."

  "Yes," I said numbly. "Rest. I feel very tired."

  * * *

  It was pleasantly quiet in the room they took me to. There was just a cot to lie on, but under the circumstances I couldn't expect a hospital bed. After all, I was a man wanted by the law, wasn't I? Frankly, I couldn't remember very much. I wished I had asked the girl how the accident had happened, because I had no memory of it. One thing was clear — I needed these comrades who were nursing me back to health. I needed them very much. They had no idea how bad my amnesia was. Well, it would clear up in a few hours. A good sleep would fix me up fine. But it bothered me that I couldn't remember the important conference the girl had mentioned. My brain whirled with trying to remember, but finally I went to sleep.

  I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Was I hallucinating, or had it just been a strange dream? It must have been a dream. I was in some foreign country, a desert country. I was running down a dark, cobblestone street, and I was chasing a man. I held a long, black gun in my hand, a German make, probably a Luger. I was shooting at the man and trying to kill him. He turned and fired back at me, and I felt a searing pain in my side. The gun in my hand suddenly turned into a short-handled axe. Then I woke up.

  It was an odd dream. I had no memory of being in any country except Venezuela and America. And I had never shot at a man in my life. Or had I? None of it made any sense to me.

  When morning came, they brought me a tray of food, and I ate ravenously. After I'd finished, I examined my face in a mirror. At least it was familiar. But it did not seem to be a face that went with Rafael Chávez. I took a look at the clothing they brought in for me, but I didn't recognize it. The pockets were empty, and there was no identification. About an hour later Menéndez came and took me back to the room with the wired chair and other equipment.

  "Good morning, señor Chávez," the girl who called herself Tanya greeted me. "Are you ready for another treatment?"

  "Yes, I suppose so," I said, eying the machinery. "But is all this necessary? I'd like to know what kind of treatment I'm getting."

  "Please," Tanya said, showing me to the big chair. "You must trust us, señor Chávez. We are your friends."

  I sat down in the chair, but I felt uneasy. I wanted to get out of this building, to roam the streets of Caracas, to return to my apartment on Avenida Bolivar. I was sure those familiar sights would bring back my memory and make me well. I promised myself that if this session didn't bring results, I'd go straight home.

  "Now, just relax," the man called Kalinin told me. "I am going to give you a mild sedative." He stuck a hypodermic into my forearm.

  A name flashed through my mind. Nambulin. Where had I heard that before? Before I could think any more about it, I began to feel a deep euphoria coming over me, and I lost interest in the word and everything else.

  Someone adjusted a headpiece on me. I didn't mind. A minute later I heard Tanya's voice.

  "You want to close your eyes. You will close them on the count of five." She counted, and my eyes closed. There was a sudden burst of color in the blackness, and I heard some odd music that somehow seemed familiar. The voice ceased, but the colors and music kept on, pulling me down and down. I felt as if I were on an escalator. Then another voice came from inside my head. The voice was telling me all about myself. Every small detail, from the date of my birth to my recent activities in the leftist movement to free Venezuela from the tyrannical imperialism of the United States. There were images of specific scenes. When it was over, I had a detailed picture of my past. My amnesia was cured.

  I was a member of a political group called the Vigilantes, whose aim was to overthrow the Venezuelan government and to set up a leftist regime with the help of the Russians. I had been recruited several months back and had been injured a couple of days ago in a demonstration at the American Embassy.

  Tanya began to speak again. "Your leader has asked us to inform you that the ranks of the Vigilantes are thinning because of cowardly desertion in the face of brutal police tactics. Therefore, action is required now. You have been chosen to carry out the action.

  "Venezuela has become much too dependent on the United States," she continued. "The United States buys about 40 percent of Venezuela's petroleum exports, which gives the Americans an economic death grip on Venezuela. The President of Venezuela and his capitalistic government must be destroyed
before they turn the entire country over to the Americans. A plan has been devised involving the forthcoming Caracas Conference.

  "The conference will be a meeting between the President of Venezuela and the Vice-President of the United States. It will afford a unique opportunity to strike out against both these enemies of the people. You will be advised later as to the nature of the plan and the details of how it is to be accomplished. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, I understand."

  "Good. When you awake, you will remember in detail all I have told you and all you have heard and seen while in the deep trance. If questions arise in your mind about details, your subconscious will provide the answers and fill in any gaps that may bother you. You will not question your identity as Rafael Chávez, nor will you doubt the validity of his political philosophies."

  A few minutes later my eyes opened naturally, and I remembered Tanya counting backward from five to one. I also remembered everything about my past life. Whatever they'd done to me, it had worked. I had completely recovered from my amnesia.

  "How do you feel, comrade?" Tanya smiled.

  "Quite well," I answered. "The drug made me remember. I'm to take part in a mission against the Caracas Conference, I remember it now. Will I be ready?"

  "You will be ready," she said.

  Kalinin turned away and went over to a technician at the far end of the room, leaving Tanya and me alone. "Have you and I… do we know each other better than I remember?" I asked. I had a fleeting image of Tanya lying nude on a sofa.

  There was something in her eyes, then her face broke into a small smile. "I hoped you would remember. We had an evening together. Don t you remember it?"

  "Not really," I said. "But the glimpse I got makes me wish I could remember more."

  She laughed softly. "Perhaps we will have a few moments together again before you must leave the clinic."

  "That's something to look forward to," I said.

  Even though I felt completely well, they insisted I stay in my room and rest. I thought about Tanya for a while. Strange. My mission was the most important thing in my life, yet I couldn't stop thinking about this extraordinary girl.