Trifecta (68 page)

A couple of minutes went by and Ivar came out of the inner
office.  He saw an unknown man sitting at what had been Modert's desk, practically
tearing out his hair and looking over schedules.

"Where's Modert?"  Ivar tried to ask casually.

"Who knows? Some agents came and escorted him out. 
Took Sergi Malcovich, too.  Strange."

Ivar knew he had to leave.  Now.  It was too dangerous
to stay.  The compulsion to run was strong.  So was the urge to stay. 

S
abrina watched helplessly as the nurse tried to draw blood
from Eve.  The woman got a few drops, then the blood flow stopped.  The nurse tried
again, apologizing to Eve, and said this had never happened before.  She was sorry. 
We must feel like a pin-cushion. 

Eve tried to reassure the woman, saying she really didn't
feel a thing.  On the next try nurse got nothing at all, and looking alarmed, started
to withdraw the needle, saying she would get the doctor.  Eve took hold of the needle,
which was still positioned in the vein in her inner elbow.  She wiggled it and blood
gushed into the syringe.  The nurse protested, warning she would hurt herself, but
Eve kept moving the needle around in her arm until the nurse looked nauseous and
Sabrina turned away, unable to watch. 

Eve told the nurse that jiggling the needle always works
on tough veins.

"Tough veins? Twenty years experience and you have
to wiggle the needle?"  the nurse muttered as she left with her blood samples.

Sabrina found she had been holding her breath.  "Close
one."

There was no reply and Sabrina looked at Eve.  She was
surprised that Eve looked sad.  It was the first time she had ever seen that expression. 
"Did she hurt you?"

"Oh, no." 

"Do you need syrup?"

Eve shook her head.  They were standing in an examining
room wearing the paper gowns that tie up in the back.  The nurse had snapped name
tags on their wrists, so no one would be confused as to which was which.  Sabrina's
feet were cold on the tile floor so she sat down on the black leather, paper covered
examining table.  The paper crackled under her.  Eve sat down on the backless stool
that doctors use when doing an examination.

"What's wrong?"  Sabrina asked.

"I have to tell you something, Sabrina.  I'm really
sorry, but the doctors will find it when they look for signs of surgery."

"What?"

"When you were drugged by Hashimoto's doctor, they
tattooed you."

"No,"  Sabrina whispered, shaking her head.

Eve nodded.  "I know how much you hate the thought. 
He did it so he could tell us apart, I presume."

"Where?"

"There's a tiny capitol 'H' behind your left ear."

"Damn him!" Sabrina almost started crying again.

"I saw it when you were in the shower.  It doesn't
show unless you pull the ear flap forward, away from your head.  I was washing your
hair and saw some blood..."

"The thought gives me the creeps."  Sabrina literally
shivered, and then touched behind her ear.  "I feel it.  Raised and rough. 
It hurts to touch."

"I would get one too, but I can't be scarred.  So
if we're together, there will always be a way to tell us apart.  Hashimoto knows
that if he kidnaps you again, I'll do anything he asks to get your release.  So
he will always have the leverage to use one of us against the other."

Sabrina sat for a while, thinking, "Even with all
Ivar did to try protect us, destroying the files, and making that man you bit take
back his story..." 

"We can't stay together,"  Eve said, nodding.

Sabrina felt as sad as Eve looked.  Hashimoto had taken
her business and now her best friend.  She tried to shrug off the feeling that she
had, once again, been violated, but it was hard to do.  She had always hated the
idea of getting a tattoo.  Worse, it denoted ownership of a sort.  Like the kind
of tattoo dogs are given on the inside of their ear so they won't get lost.  But
that procedure is done out of fear of losing a beloved pet.  This mark was there
simply to make her identifiable.  It was obscene that Hashimoto chose the mark that
was his own initial and one that was his corporate logo.  There was a capitol 'H'
on his briefcase and on the side of his limousine.  Even his Gi had a monogrammed
H on the lapel.  It gave her the creeps.

"You'll have to have laser surgery, or use chemicals
to get rid of it.  You'll always have a scar." 

Sabrina tried to brush it off.  "It's not very big. 
And it doesn't show.  I'll have it changed."

"But you understand, I do have to leave.  I'll go
tonight."

"So soon?"

"Hashimoto will never give up.  When I went into his
safe, I found the whole CIA file on us.  I gave it to Ivar and he got rid of it."

Sabrina looked around the room.  "Ivar really is wonderful. 
You don't suppose this place is bugged, do you? They bugged Dr. Steinbrenner's hospital
room."

There was a soft knock on the door and, after a discrete
moment, a man in a white lab coat entered.  The doctor was looking at some forms
on a clip board, saying, "We'll do a routine physical.  One at a time.  Ms. 
Eve Miller first."

The doctor looked up and his eyebrows almost hit his nonexistent
hairline.  He was bald but his thick eyebrows looked like they would shoot into
the stratosphere.  "They said you were identical!"

Sabrina stood up and smiled.  She extended her hand.  "I'm
Sabrina.  This is Eve.  Should I wait outside?"

"Yes."

When the doctor started to wash his hands at the sink,
Sabrina whispered to Eve hurriedly, as she was leaving, not to get mad.  The doctor
would do some pretty personal and unusual things, but she better not hit him.  Or
bite him.

Eve nodded solemnly.

Don't growl, Sabrina whispered as she closed the door. 

Sabrina sat waiting anxiously for Eve in a cold corridor
outside the examining room.  Finally Eve came out and sat down angrily next to her. 
She almost broke the chair.  "I didn't like that at all.  But I was good."

Sabrina laughed.  Life would certainly be much less fun
without Eve.  "Did he weigh you?"

"Yes."

"Oh, no!"

Eve told her it worked out all right.  She told the doctor
that she never wore anything when she weighed herself.  Then she took off her gown. 
The doctor was too busy avoiding looking at Eve in the nude to notice that she moved
the top measurement bar up to 200 before getting on the scale.  When she got off
the scale she moved the bar lever back to the 100 mark. 

Eve said her experience of the exam was a lot worse than
Sabrina's memories.  Experience, in Eve's short existence, was always different
than memories.

After the medical exams, Eve and Sabrina were escorted
back to Burgess Whitcomb's office.  Eve looked around, wondering where Ivar was. 
They waited silently, about twenty minutes until Burgess came into the office, afraid
to speak because they might be overheard by hidden microphones. 

Burgess had medical reports, which he placed precisely
in front of him on his desk, patting the papers into a neat pile.  This time, though,
the atmosphere felt less menacing.

Burgess looked at the three sitting in front of him and
then glanced at a medical report.  "What I have here is preliminary.  There
are more test results still pending from the blood samples, but Sabrina has a real
cocktail of chemicals swimming around in her blood stream.  Some are morphine based. 
A couple are hallucinogenic in nature.  And by the way, some of these drugs are
experimental and all of them are illegal in this country.  There is also assault. 
A tattoo given without one's consent can and will be construed as violent assault,
as far as I'm concerned."

"What!" Mark had erupted out of his chair like
an enraged bull.  "Where?

He turned to Sabrina and she showed him.

"I'll kill him,"  Mark said furiously.

"I understand how you feel, Mr.  Ponti.  But let the
United States' government take care of Mr.  Hashimoto."

Mark kept shaking his head.  "This is outrageous. 
Unforgivable.  Inconceivable."

Burgess continued, "From the blood analysis, you could
easily have died from the poisons they put into you, Sabrina.  The doctor wants
you carefully monitored over the next couple of days.  So what I want to ask, is
if you wish to press charges against Mr.  Hashimoto?"

"No, I don't think so,"  Sabrina said after a
moments hesitation.  She was shocked that she had been so near death because she
felt pretty good now.  But she didn't want any more attention than was necessary. 
Too much publicity would be dangerous for Eve.  "I would like to keep everything
quiet.  And I would like protection from Mr.  Hashimoto."

"We can't just drop this!" Burgess said.  "At
the very least Mr.  Hashimoto will be barred from entering the United States for
a very long time.  The documents brought in by my agents also reveal that Mr.  Hashimoto
had some very shady and shabby dealings in mind for the American public.  But, I
could request a private inquest for the future.  And you certainly will be protected,
Ms.  Miller.  Confidentially, I was very upset that one of my agents took part in
releasing you today.  What he did was highly illegal.  And I suspected that the
pictures might not show exactly what happened.  But with the medical proof from
these preliminary blood tests, I'm going to bring this investigation to a close. 
I'm sorry for the inconvenience you have had in coming here today." 

He did not mention he had no tangible case with his files
missing and Ivar corroborating the testimony given by Sabrina and Eve, that Sergi
Malcovich and been bitten by a dog.  There was no evidence of any unusual experiments
since Dr. Steinbrenner's lab had been destroyed.

Burgess paused and a smile that looked uncomfortable on
his face appeared.  "I guess, now, the good news is in order.  This is still
preliminary, but it is indisputable that you, Sabrina,"  Burgess said nodding
at her, "and you, Eve, are sisters.  I will get started on the paperwork myself
to see that Eve Miller is granted citizenship in the United States."

Everyone stood up.  When Eve shook Burgess Whitcomb's hand
he winced, almost involuntarily.  A look of incredulous doubt flickered across his
face.  Then the look was gone.  But Sabrina saw it and wondered if Eve had squeezed
too hard on purpose.  Eve loved to play games.  And she liked her versions of revenge.

M
ark was watching Sabrina and Eve argue about what
to pack for Eve's trip abroad.  They had already cleaned out Eve's apartment upstairs. 
Now Sabrina was insisting that Eve take the majority of her own wardrobe.

"You'll need a warm coat, even if you can't feel the
cold,"  Sabrina said, folding a parka into one of the suitcases.  "You
could freeze to death and not even know it."

"I can buy the clothes I need.  Really Sabrina, I'll
be all right."

Sabrina was on the verge of tears again.  Her mood swings
were erratic.  Mark knew she was still under the influence of the drugs, even though
it had been almost four hours since they had taken her out of that hotel room. 

Mark vowed he would not let her out of his sight for at
least a week.

After the meeting with Burgess Whitcomb, the three of them
drove to the bank so Eve could withdraw funds for her journey.  Then Eve insisted
that they put a deposit on the commercial space on Wilshire Boulevard for the new
Sabrina's Fashions.

After that they went to Alexander and Stephan Steinbrenner's
residence in Bel Air.  Eve went in alone.  She told the two lawyers if they ever
told anyone about her computer and special abilities, she would expound on the story,
revealing that they had provided a baby for experimentation.  And then she would
get really vicious.  By that time both men were taking little steps backward, distancing
themselves from the women who broke legs. 

Eve had handed the brothers fifty thousand dollars in cash. 
She said that was for their broken legs.  They were open mouthed with surprise. 
She apologized for their discomfort, saying she had been too new to realize the
consequences of her actions.  Eve promised them that each six months they would
get another fifty thousand dollars, for a period of two years.  In return for their
silence.

When Alexander suggested that they put the promise into
writing, Eve declined, but she reminded them that if they broke the silence there
would be severe repercussions.  The two brothers looked at each other briefly and
came to wordless accord.  They promised solemnly and smiled greedily at each other.

Now, Mark thought, it looked like Eve would be leaving
in a few minutes and Sabrina was extremely unhappy about it.

"Let Sabrina pack anything she thinks you need, Eve," 
Mark said.  He was sitting in Sabrina's bedroom on the bed, strewn with clothing,
watching the two women.  "You know she will obsess and obsess about your not
having everything necessary for your well-being if you don't."

"Syrup! I almost forgot your syrup."  Sabrina
left the bedroom abruptly.

"Now she's going to cry,"  Eve said.  She saw
Mark getting up to follow Sabrina.  "Wait Mark.  She needs time alone.  I wanted
to talk to you, anyway."

Mark stared after Sabrina worriedly.  "You think she'll
be all right? She may get dizzy and fall."

"I'll hear it if something happens.  We'll go check
in a minute."

"Okay."  He slumped down, pushing clothing out
of the way.  Eve sat down beside him.

"I have all Sabrina's memories and have sorted through
them year by year, chronologically,"  Eve said.  "I know all her dreams
and what her subconscious mind tells her to do.  Since her childhood Sabrina has
always been afraid to care for anyone.  It's a recurring theme." 

Mark nodded and looked at Eve.  Her eyes seemed to shoot
out sparks of energy.  He was surprised by the thought that Eve didn't look anything
like Sabrina.  The extraordinary resemblance was just superficial.  They were identical,
but very different.

"When Sabrina was six the only family she knew gave
her up and sent her to an orphanage.  She believed it was punishment because she
was a bad little girl.  She never got over it.  She's always trying to change herself. 
Trying to gain weight.  Trying to hide in pretty clothes.  You know how beautiful
she is." 

Mark nodded, "Yes."

"She thinks she's a freak."

"What? No."  Mark shook his head.

"Because of her height and unusual white hair.  See,
she believes men only want her for sex, or to use her to make money.  So she pushed
them all away.  Even the ones that might have loved her.  Even you."

Mark nodded, waiting for Eve to continue, knowing instinctively
what she said was true. 

"She had to push away anyone she cared for, for fear
they would do it to her first, and then she would be hurt again.  She always rationalized,
found reasons for the rejection.  Then you took her by surprise.  She tried not
to care, but she did.  She couldn't deny it.  So she waited for you to flee or reject
her.  And she began to wait for the hurt she knew was her due.  Her punishment."

"Punishment?"  Mark said frowning.

"She doesn't believe, truly, that she deserves to
be cared for.  Like she's innately flawed in some way that repels people.  But,
Mark, do you know what she wants most in the world?"

Mark smiled, "To show her fall line in Paris."

"Her future will be very successful, vocationally. 
But what she wants most is your baby."

"Mine?"

He looked so startled Eve almost laughed.

"She's already presumes you're going to leave.  So
she's been planning to have the baby.  I have to say, this is self-fulfilling prophecy. 
It will be very painful.  But I'll bet that nine months after you two break up,
she'll have a baby."

"I don't understand." 

"She's a human being, flawed by her past.  She doesn't
think, deep down, that anyone will ever want her.  To make up for her lonely childhood
she wants a family fiercely.  Even if her children never have a father, she's determined
to do the whole thing alone."

Mark was shaking his head.  "She's beautiful and talented. 
Anyone would want her.  She's sweet and funny..." 

Eve stood up and looked down at Mark.  He couldn't stand
the staring.  Eve was not blinking again.

Finally Mark said, "What should I do?"

"What Sabrina needs,"  Eve said bluntly, "is
a commitment."

"We're practically living together."

"On your terms, Mark.  Pretty soon that won't be enough
and she'll push you away forever."

"You're serious?" 

"You know what to do.  But only if it's what you want. 
Otherwise, you should let her go.  She's been waiting for years.  She won't wait
much longer.  This isn't a threat.  It happened last night."

Mark nodded.

"She made it happen, didn't she?"

"Yes."  Mark was so still he looked mesmerized.

"The important thing is, she will make the dreams
come true, because she can't help it.  Even after the commitment, if you choose
to make it, it will cause so much anxiety, because it goes against everything she
believes deep down inside, that it will again seem like she's rejecting you.  She'll
even think there's something wrong with you.  So you will have to be patient and
remember that she really loves you."

"Really?"  Mark couldn't stop his smile, although
he was trying to be serious.

"Believe it,"  Eve said, smiling back at Mark. 
"I know because I get her emotions when I see you suddenly."

"Bizarre."  In a way it was extremely flattering.

"When it first happened, I wanted you so badly I couldn't
believe it.  I was a computer first, before I got Sabrina's memories, and I couldn't
understand how I could want anyone so violently.  It was totally illogical.  Her
thoughts and emotions, even her memories were so vivid it seemed like they were
mine.  I thought I was going crazy.  Luckily I met Ivar, and fell in love with him. 
Lucky for you too,"  Eve said, smiling at Mark impishly, "or I might still
be stuck on you."

"No way, Eve."

"A few days ago...I had a real thing for you.  I would
have loved to just squeeze you to death and suck your breath out." 

The statement was so dramatic and funny that both Mark
and Eve were laughing hysterically when Sabrina came into the bedroom.  She smiled
at both of them, not understanding, but happy to see they were finally getting along.

Mark and Sabrina started lining up the packed suitcases
on the floor in the hallway, while Eve tried to call Ivar.  She had called his apartment
several times.  Now she was worried and finally tried Burgess Whitcomb's office. 
When she spoke to the receptionist there, he said they were looking for Ivar too,
and if she found out where he was, to give them a call.

Eve wondered if Ivar was, indeed, in trouble.  Why would
the CIA be looking for Ivar when he was off duty? Then something clicked in her
mind.  He was Russian.  He had known who Sergi Malcovich really was.  He said he
would get their final interrogation with Burgess Whitcomb to the KGB.  It all snapped
together.  The fact that he had talked about her on the phone the first night he
had met her, when he thought she was asleep and could not hear.  It seemed so obvious,
now, that he had not been speaking to anyone in the CIA.  He had been talking to
his real boss.  The KGB. 

Ivar was now on the run.

Eve walked into the entrance hall.  Mark had managed to
pick up two suitcases and then put one down, placed the smaller bag of syrup under
his arm and picked up the second suitcase again.  He staggered toward the door.

"You're sure you'll be able to carry these, Eve? They're
pretty heavy, altogether."

"Yes, Mark.  But I need to have some tea and talk
to you both, first.  I think you two better sit down."

Sabrina was happy at the reprieve, wanting a little more
time before she left.  Eve sat down at the kitchen table because she knew that Sabrina
wanted to fuss over her and make her tea.  Mark sat down too.

"I will sure miss this place,"  Eve said.  The
clock was making it's usual noise and Morris had jumped comfortably into Sabrina's
lap, circled a few times and hunkered down.  Eve looked around the kitchen, at the
potted plants, the tea kettle shaped like a cat and the empty shelf where her own
supply of sweets had been.

"I was planning to tell you all that I'm going to
say on the way to the airport.  But now I need you to stay here.  I'll take a taxi."

"We want to take you,"  Sabrina protested.

"I know.  And I'll tell you why in a minute.  See,
I want cats, like Morris.  And dogs and babies.  I want to see all the sunrises
and sunsets, and learn to ski, and see the whole world, and own a farm and watch
things grow.  And, most of all, I want to be free.  Remember what Ivar said? He
said that he truly knew what being free meant."

Eve paused when the tea kettle whistled and she waited
for Sabrina to pour the boiling liquid into cups.

"I didn't catch what he was really saying.  Because
Ivar did sacrifice everything.  For us."

"I don't understand,"  Sabrina said.

"He blew his own cover to save us.  What I'm telling
you is very secret.  The CIA is looking for him because he's not an American citizen. 
He's Russian.  With the KGB.  And now he's on the run."

Sabrina felt shivers of alarm go down her arms, "How
do you know?"

Eve explained the clues that had led her to that conclusion.

"But he can't be KGB,"  Mark protested.  "I
mean, I can tell he's very tough.  But KGB?"

"I think he was placed in deep cover for a long time. 
He speaks French as well as Russian.  Probably came here from Canada.  But now he
has to disappear.  Both from the CIA and the KGB.  He's in serious trouble with
them both.  I think he gave up Sergi to the CIA, and it implicated him."

Eve paused for a moment and then continued, "You know
how I feel about him.  And he will try to contact me.  I'm going to ask you both
to do something very dangerous."

"What is it?"  Mark said.

"When he calls, I want you to persuade him not to
leave at once.  I'm assuming that there will be a gigantic manhunt.  They'll be
watching all the airlines."

Sabrina nodded.

"The dangerous part, is that I am going to ask you
to hide him in the apartment upstairs for about a week, if the hunt starts right
away.  No one knows about that apartment.  Tell him I'm going to the Bahamas and
that I will be there for two weeks, doing business.  I think he'll come after me."

"We'll stay and wait for his call,"  Sabrina
said.  She was thinking what a gigantic relief it was that Ivar would be with Eve. 
He would certainly know how to protect her. 

Mark stayed in the apartment to await Ivar's call, and
to let Eve and Sabrina have a final few minutes together.  Eve said good-by to Mark
quickly and hugged him at the door.  His breath went out with a big whoosh when
she squeezed his ribs and they both laughed. 

Sabrina walked with Eve openly for the first time, to the
elevators, and then down into the lobby.  They now could be seen together without
fear and it was such a relief.  It would also be less dangerous for Sabrina if people
noticed Eve leaving.

Jack called for a taxi and helped Eve with the bags, taking
them out front under the round awning at the doorway.  He clucked over the two them
until Sabrina thought he would never leave.  How cute they were together.  How beautiful
and identical they were.  Finally he went back inside.

"I hate this,"  Sabrina said. 

"And now we have nothing to say.  I know what you're
thinking, so you don't have to say it.  And you don't want to be thanked again for
rescuing me from what could have been a terrible fate; being displayed and probed
by scientists.  Or even something much worse."

"You rescued me today." 

Eve shrugged.  "You see those two men across the street?" 
Eve was looking past the heavy street traffic.  "Staring at us."

"CIA? KGB? Hashimoto's people?"  Sabrina asked,
alarmed.

"Naw.  They're just staring at the two beautiful babes." 
Eve was laughing.  "See, they just waved."

"You're trying to say something, Eve?"

"What I'm wondering, is if you think I'm repulsively,
disgustingly skinny."