Trifecta (82 page)

When the woman got back on the line she said there must
have been a horrible mistake.  Ms. Heather Jamison had a clean bill of health. 
Her sedimentation rate was a little down and she had a slightly elevated white blood
count, but she was perfectly healthy.

Michelle started waving the report around and yelling. 
She finally got a doctor on the line and then put Heather on the phone.

Now that the bad news had been burst, Heather was wiping
tears from her eyes, so Michelle picked up her shoes and went into the bathroom
to wash the soles off.  Heather would hate it if she saw her crying.  Over the sound
of the water running she heard someone knocking on the door.  She had forgotten
all about Nakamura.  She heard Heather answer the door while she dried her shoes
and put them on.

When she came out of the bathroom she found Heather and
Nakamura talking in the living room.  Heather turned around, "I told Rod what
happened."

Rod?  That was Nakamura's name, evidently.  Rodney.  Robert? 
No, it would be Rob if his name was Robert.  It had to be Rodney.  She felt a silly
pang of jealousy.  Rodney was a wimpy name.

"He thinks it's suspicious.  Says I should take the
report to the lab to see if they can figure out what happened."

"Yes, you should.  But that doesn't explain how you
swallowed those pills."  Michelle told Nakamura that Heather couldn't swallow
large pills.

"I don't remember doing it.  And I've never even walked
in my sleep."  Heather smiled mischievously.  "I don't talk, and I don't
snore."

"Obviously that information is corroborated,"
Michelle said.

"Absolutely.  By several authorities," Heather
answered, nodding serious, the smile lurking.

"Too bad you cleaned it up," Nakamura said. 
"I would have liked to examine it.  Maybe tell how much you'd taken."

He sounded so serious both women laughed.

"No you wouldn't," Heather was still smiling.

"Good thing you did throw up, though," Michelle
said, getting serious again. 

"I don't have any enemies, that I know of," Heather
said.

"Still, even if you threw up most of the medication,
the pills effected you.  I phoned several times and you didn't wake up."

"You did?"  Heather appeared a little disturbed
for the first time.  She was so relieved that she didn't have cancer that her mood
had been almost manic.

"And we knocked on your door last night," Nakamura
said.

"Oh."  Heather had raised her eyebrows slightly. 
Michelle knew it was because she thought something was going on between her and
Nakamura, if they had been together last night.  She shook her head minutely.  Heather
would understand, and Nakamura would probably miss the gesture. 

"Maybe I do belong in the psycho ward then,"
Heather said.  "But I'm not suicidal."

"Of course you're not.  I just can't understand what
happened," Michelle said.

"You don't have any lumps on your head?" Nakamura
asked.

"Nothing I can feel.  I can't imagine someone sneaking
in my locked apartment and force-feeding me pills.  I must have done it in my sleep." 
She was shaking her head and looking perplexed.

Michelle was having horrible thoughts about a man who entered
locked apartments and hotels to rape and kill.  The police had told her yesterday
that just such a man was in Hawaii.  She looked at Nakamura.  He had heard the conversation
she'd had with the police.

"Why don't we see if Lucifer gets along with Heather,"
Nakamura suggested. 

They explained about Omar's cat and it's behavior.

"I'll be perfectly fine in my own apartment.  The
cat sounds creepy."

"It's better than a watch dog, though," Nakamura
said.  "Something's really wrong here.  I think someone may be trying to hurt
you."

Michelle nodded in agreement but they couldn't talk Heather
into staying at Michelle's apartment for the rest of the day. 

As they were leaving, Heather grabbed Michelle's arm and
held her back for a moment.  She nodded at Nakamura, winked and whispered, "Keep
him."

As Michelle and Nakamura walked down the hallway
Michelle said, "Why don't you wait here in the hall?  I have to let Lucifer
out of the bedroom.  He can't get to his food or water."

"I'll be happy to wait.  Way down by the elevators."

Michelle nodded and went to her apartment.  She had to
admit she was a little apprehensive herself, but when she opened the door to the
bedroom the cat was waiting at the doorway.  He arched his back and then stretched
slowly and walked with dignity past her into the living room, tail straight up and
twitching slightly, as though he was not the tiny ferocious whirlwind she had observed
earlier.  He curved around and rubbed himself against her ankles.  He was audibly
purring.  His little feet kneaded the carpet and he made a few sorry, lonely sounding
mews, looking up at her with huge sad innocent and needy eyes.  Finally Michelle
sighed and picked him up.  He burrowed under her chin.

When she left the apartment, Nakamura was right in front
of the door, holding it slightly ajar.  Michelle almost bumped into him.

"Were you going to rescue me from the beast?"
Michelle asked, careful not to smile.

"Heavens no.  Not me.  I was just waiting here."

Lucifer, now prowling around Michelle's apartment,
had a primitive knowledge of his master's intentions.  Thus, the attack on Nakamura. 
The cat's primeval purpose was to destroy the enemy.  Although bred to be tiny and
look innocuous, it would fight to the death with an adversary hundreds of times
its own size.  If Heather had been alone in Michelle's apartment, Lucifer would
have attempted to kill her.  Now Lucifer was slinking around, hissing, batting at
nearly invisible dust motes and gnats.

"I
'll die if I tell."

"No you won't.  I promise, Suzanne.  You won't die
if you tell me what happened at Omar's apartment.  Now, listen carefully.  I want
you to relax even more profoundly than you are right now.  Pretend you're in a wonderful
garden, lying in a hammock...it's gently swaying...you can smell the beautiful roses
in the garden and your eyes are gradually closing.  You have nothing to do but rest. 
You are peaceful and serene.  Now, I'm going to count down from ten to zero, and
when I get to zero you will be even more relaxed...ten..."

Vincent went on with the relaxation techniques he had been
using with Suzanne for the last half hour in her hotel room.  She was lying on a
couch with her legs stretched out.  He sat beside her in a chair. 

Vincent had had to wait until he believed the drugs were
entirely out of her system.  It's nearly impossible to hypnotize someone that has
been given any kind of narcotic, as intense concentration is necessary.  Suzanne
looked fresh and rejuvenated after a good nights sleep, but Vincent was exhausted. 
He had been compelled to check on her during the night, every hour or so, afraid
the drugs might interrupt her breathing.

Vincent knew he should have taken her to a doctor, but
explaining what drugs she had been given was hopeless.  Since Suzanne had been manic
at first, he believed she had been given an amphetamine after the sedative tea. 
Describing how the drugs had been ingested would require making allegations against
Omar Satinov, which might have disastrous repercussions. 

Now Vincent was afraid he wouldn't be able to get any information. 
Recalling was proving so traumatic that Suzanne had repressed her memory of the
entire evening.

"I'll die if I tell," Suzanne repeated stubbornly.

"You won't have to remember what you tell me after
you wake up.  You'll only remember what your mind feels you're ready to handle."

"I don't have to remember?"  Her voice was high
and trembled.

Vincent's lips tightened in anger.  Suzanne was so terrified
her voice had regressed to that of a young child of perhaps five years old.

"No.  You just tell your old friend, Vincent.  I'll
make sure nothing bad happens to you.  I promise.  And you can forget each sentence
as soon as you tell me."

Suzanne was nodding.

"As soon as you tell me, it will be gone from your
mind.  And you won't feel any fear.  You will not experience any emotions.  Okay?"

"I'm afraid."

"Shh, now.  Remember, no emotions.  No fear.  Just
start telling me, Suzanne, and everything will be fine."

There was a long pause and then Suzanne started speaking. 
"Omar is so handsome.  The handsomest man I have ever seen.  He is wearing
all black.  And his apartment is so beautiful.  He seems glad to see me and he has
such a wonderful smile, with very white teeth against his dark skin.  He says he
will tell me about the Old Religion and goes into the kitchen to make tea.  I watch. 
When I'm not looking he pours some powder into the tea."

Vincent was not surprised Suzanne knew this.  Subconsciously
people pick up a lot of things they are not supposed to know and it never really
reaches their awareness unless they are in a state like hypnosis. 

Suzanne related how they both sat down on the couch.  She
repeated verbatim what Omar had said, much of which he had heard the night before.

"Suddenly I was so sleepy.  It seemed strange, so
awfully tired and dizzy and a little sick.  I put my tea on the table, afraid I
might drop it, but Omar told me to finish it.  So I thought, fine, I will.  Because
he seemed so wise.  And I did.

"I nodded out for a few minutes, I think, and when
I woke up there were other people in the room.  Four women.  They were all inside
a circle, about twenty feet wide, that was delineated by a red ribbon placed upon
the carpet.  The women were chanting, but I couldn't understand the words. 

"Omar had a mask on.  It reminded me of the old Lone
Ranger movies because it covered only his eyes.  All the women wore white robes. 
Omar had a black robe over his clothes.  He had a sword in one hand and he was sprinkling
some kind of liquid, which had a pungent smell, like flowers and herbs, toward the
four corners of the living room from inside the circle.  He was chanting along with
the women.  The room was dark, with black curtains pulled over the windows, lit
only by candles which were  placed around the room.

"Omar came out of the circle, and as he did so the
chanting grew loud.  One of the women said something about breaking the magic circle,
losing power.  Of course, I knew a ceremony was taking place.  I though Omar was
performing to show me how witches conduct rituals.

"Omar came directly to me.  He scared me because he
pointed the sword to my chest.  I asked him what he was doing, but he said, 'You
stand on the threshold between the pleasant world of men and the dominions of the
dread Lords of the Outer Spaces.  I give you the courage to make the assay.  It
were better to rush upon my weapon and perish miserably than to make the attempt
with fear.'

"Then Omar went behind me and tied a blindfold around
my eyes.  He put an arm around my neck and one around my waist and pulled me backward,
very forcefully, to where the others were inside the circle.  I tried to resist. 
I was frightened. 

"He said, 'Pass through this dread door.'  His voice
sounded very loud, commanding, like from a muffled loudspeaker.  Then he took the
blindfold off.  He pointed with the sword at the place where we entered into the
circle, the doorway, and said 'Agla, Azoth, Adonai.'  He then drew three pentacles
to seal the doorway.

"Omar tied my hands behind my back with rope he took
from the pocket of his robe.  He said, 'Take heed, O Lords of the watch towers of
the East.  Suzanne, properly prepared, will be made a witch.' 

"He dragged me around the circle three times, because
now I was trembling and crying, but I felt so weak, too, that I didn't protest. 
The whole situation was so alien.  He was forcing me into something I didn't understand. 
This wasn't a real witch's ceremony, which is supposed to be a joyous celebration,
not frightening and intimidating.  I had the feeling that I was to be a sacrifice
and this was the maleficent black magic Omar had told me about.  I was also tired
and my mind seemed confused.  Sometimes the chanting seemed loud, right in my ears,
and sometimes it faded to whispers.  The same with the lights in the room.  Most
times it was dim, but suddenly it would get intensely bright.

"There was a wooden alter and he stopped me there
after we had gone around the circle.  He struck a bell that was sitting on the alter
with a small mallet eleven times.  Then another person entered the circle."

Vincent looked at Suzanne closely.  She had stopped
talking.  He could see her eyelids twitching, an almost infallible sign that a
person was in a deep hypnotic state.  She had continued diaphragm breathing,
like a person asleep, but her breaths were rapid, almost gasping.  Perspiration
sprang out on her face and dampened the curls on her forehead.  He wondered if
it was possible that Omar had implanted actual suggestions that would cause her
physical condition to deteriorate if she related this information. 

Even a young person can have a heart attack if frightened
badly enough.  Vincent cursed himself for not giving suggestions to overcome a physical
problem, but he had not believed Omar would be so vile to make such a suggestion. 
Spies with very sensitive information in WW11 had been given commands to die if
they revealed certain government secrets, and they had actually done so.  It was
like the voodoo curse.

Vincent decided to intervene since his suggestion that
she would not feel any emotions was obviously failing.  He had to take her deeper
into hypnosis.  Inexperienced hypnotists, seeing an anxiety attack like this, took
the person out of state.  That was exactly the wrong thing to do.

"Suzanne, you will forget what you were speaking about. 
We'll come back to it later.  I want you to pretend you're in the garden again. 
In the hammock, swaying in the summer breeze.  There is a blue bird flying over
the hammock.  Do you see it?"

It took some time.  "Yes.  I see the blue bird."

"Fine.  Now remember this.  Even as you talk to me,
all of your body processes will remain calm.  Your mind and your body will be totally
tranquil.  Do you understand."

Suzanne took a deep breath and she did seem to relax more. 
"Yes."

"Your heart will beat as it always does.  It will
not accelerate.  Your breathing will remain calm.  All of your organs are perfect
and will continue to work perfectly as you speak to me.  Do you understand?"

"Yes."  Suzanne's respiration was back to normal
and she seemed calm, but Vincent went on with suggestions.

"As you speak you will forget anything that was unsettling
to you, and these things will not affect your body in any way.  Your heart, lungs,
kidneys and your brain will continue to function perfectly.  You are strong and
are doing very well.  Now, you said another person entered the circle.  Start speaking
from that time."

Suzanne took a deep breath, like a sigh.  "He was
even bigger than Omar, taller and very muscular.  I was shocked because he was wearing
only an animal skin robe that tied at the neck.  As he walked forward into the circle
the robe was not closed and I could see enormous genitals each time he took a step. 
His body was hairy, like some kind of beast.  On his head there were attached horns
that were curved inward, like those of a bull.  He was also masked.

"This creature, so enormous he didn't even seem human,
stood right in front of me.  That was when Omar's witches started taking off my
clothes.  I was crying, too weak to defend myself.  They took off my blouse and
bra first.  Then they unbuttoned my skirt and it fell off.  My underpants were pulled
down and thrown from the circle.  As this was going on, I saw in horror that the
man in front of me was achieving a huge erection as he watched.  It poked out of
the front of the animal skin.  It was horrible, disgusting, frightening.  I couldn't
see the giant's eyes, but his mouth was smiling.  He was not chanting with the women
and I suddenly knew why.  He was a mute.  He didn't have a tongue.  He was staring
avidly.  By this time I was petrified with fear.

"There was a bowl of liquid on the alter and one of
the women picked it up.  All of the women dipped their hands in the bowl and then
started rubbing the liquid over me.  It was an oil.  They covered every part of
me except my hair.  The oil was warm and slippery and smelled of herbs and flowers. 
It was woodsy and nice, but the giant was still staring.

"All the time the women were covering me with oil,
they were chanting in a sing-song way, over and over, the same phrases.  Then they
ceremoniously unfolded a white cloth that they took off the alter.  They laid the
cloth on the carpet and made me lie down on it.

"All the time that I was being covered with the oils,
Omar stood off to the side and watched.  He was not facing me, and his head was
turned partly away, but I could see his eyes riveted to the side, staring.  Then
he pointed to the giant and pointed down at me, as though giving a command.  The
giant squatted beside me and took over the oiling of my body, but he concentrated
on my erogenous places.  I tried to resist, so repulsed by what they were forcing
upon me.  One of the women kept patting my tears away with a cloth.

"The giant untied his robe and threw it off, like
a matador with a cape, out of the circle.  I thought he was masturbating for a minute,
until I saw that he was putting on a condom.  Then he pulled my legs apart and entered
me with his high erection.  It was easy because of all the oils.  Each time he would
push in there would be this enormous loud chant by the onlookers, like they were
egging him on.  It went on and on.  I turned my head away and watched Omar, who
stood staring at us in that peculiar sideways manner.  He seemed perfectly calm
as he watched me cry and be violated.

"Then the giant was suddenly gone.  It was as if time
had passed that I had missed somehow.  The women were wiping the oils off of me
with cloths.  I think they used soap, too.  I felt cleansed.  I was so tired I almost
went to sleep right there on the floor.

"Then Omar was kneeling beside me.  He had the sword
and he cut a place on my thigh.  The sword was very sharp and it really didn't hurt,
but it bled a lot.  He was holding a tiny white kitten in his other arm.  The cat
jumped out of his arms and ran right to the wound and started lapping up the blood
on my thigh.  Then the little cat bit me.  That did hurt.  It was evidently trying
to get more blood.  Omar laughed and gave the kitten to one of the women.  I think
she was bitten too, because she let out a shriek.

"The giant was again standing outside the circle,
handing a box to Omar.  He told me, 'You will not remember any of this.  You don't
want to remember do you?  His voice was very calm and comforting and I felt myself
falling asleep again, as he said over and over again that I would not remember,
but would always do exactly what he said.  I was now a witch, bound to him in secrecy. 
That seemed perfectly agreeable.

"Then Omar said that if I told anyone, I would die. 
He said to make sure I told no one, he would have to exact my promise.  Then he
opened the box and turned it over on top of me.

"Out sprayed all these insects.  Some large and some
small, some black and some red.  They were crawling all over my stomach and heading
down my legs and up my neck.  I started screaming.  Omar said to promise I would
not tell.  I was trying to brush the insects off of me, but women were holding my
arms and legs.  The insects were crawling in my hair and on my face.  Finally Omar
snapped the top of the box hard, like a command.  Then he opened the box and all
the insects quickly ran into it.  He shut the box, but picked one insect up between
his fingers.  He was holding it over my face and told me to open my mouth.  I refused. 
I said I would do anything he asked.  I was crying.  The giant came inside the circle
again and he pried my jaws open.