The Lady and her Shadow

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I don’t own Prey. I’m just borrowing it. I’ll give it back when I’m through. I’m making no money on this. Warner Brothers and William Schmidt own prey. Tom, Sloan, Ed, Walter, Ray, Mark and Lewis belong to Prey; everything else is mine. Read and enjoy.

Lewis was heading for his quarters. He’d forgotten some things he would need today. Careless of him, unusually so. As he approached, he realized that someone was in his quarters, no one should enter without his permission. He masked himself as he approached and waited until the intruder exited. Lewis’ hand went around the man’s neck and slammed him against the wall. "Who sent you and why were you in my quarters?"

He choked out the words, "She sent me. You weren’t at the morning meeting and she wanted to know why."

Lewis almost smiled at the blatant lie. She knew quite well why he wasn’t there. Whoever he was, he had no idea what he was involved in. He didn’t know if the rumor that he was weak had spread so far or the man was merely so panicked at being discovered he couldn’t stay silent. "Let’s go see her and I’ll explain." Lewis chokes him into unconsciousness. He slings him over his shoulder and goes to see her. His business can wait.

He raps sharply on her door, he had free access, but this was business. When she answers she is buttoning her robe. "I found him in my quarters."

Her eyes hardened. "Take him to interrogation room three. Strip him and string him up, freestanding. I’ll be there in five minutes."

He leaves swiftly. Interrogation room three means she is serious. The man will, in all probability, not make it out of there alive. In less than five minutes she is there with a syringe in her hand. He is just finishing stripping him as she enters. She quickly injects the substance in his thigh. Sven and Fergus were there. She had summoned them.

"I didn’t think you approved of drugs."

"It’s a mild hallucinogen. If he has a trigger to shut him down, this will prevent it from engaging. It is very effective. Sven, turn the temperature down to 50 degrees and wet him down every 15 minutes. I want his defenses down as low as possible. Keep checking his temperature. I want his core temp to be compromised."

He is quite surprised. He often implanted shutdown orders in his agents. He had no idea there were ways to prevent them from being implemented

She goes over to the far side of the room to observe. He stands behind her and inhales deeply. She has not had time to shower yet; his scent is still on her. He senses her faint amusement and knew it was deliberate. She said she would do nothing to interfere but she could be subtle. "What happened?"

"I was returning to my quarters to retrieve some items I’d need today. When he came out I stopped him. He evoked your name and said you had sent him. The lie was blatant. I was busy during the morning meeting. I could have killed him but I thought you might want to do something else."

She snorted derisively. "You never lie unless you know the truth. I doubt he is a real danger. Probably an agent sent to keep an eye on either you or me."

The temperature drops swiftly until there is a definite chill in the air. He sees her shiver slightly then control it. He moves to the medical cabinet and removes a blanket and puts it around her shoulders. She accepts it and waits. When it closes on the noon hour he shows her his watch. She nods and says "Shadow, make sure my guests are fed and return here. Soon we will have some answers."

He delivers the midday meal and is amused at his protegee’s statement of intent. "Tom, call for some one to pick up the dishes. If dinner is not delivered in a timely manner call for it. Some business has come up and things may be unsettled."

He returns to her side. Hours later the man is unconscious; his core temperature has dropped dangerously. She is pleased. "Take him down and put him on the examination table. Bring the room temperature up to normal. Shave his head and attach the electrodes. Wrap him and make sure he doesn’t die. I’ll start the questioning soon. Come, Shadow. We must plan." They leave the room

When they enter her rooms she tells him, "Order food, we must eat before we continue. I’ll dress."

"I’ve got to deliver dinner to your guests. I’ll be back shortly." He watches her strip and walks over to her before she can start dressing again. He wraps his arms around her and kisses her deeply. "Remember I’m not only your shadow."

"You make it very hard to forget."

He delivers dinner to Tom and leaves quickly. He is quite sure that Tom will comprehend that whatever is going on it has nothing to do with him.

They return to the room and see that the man has been prepared. He looks at the file that had been prepared about the man on the table, Cameron, was what his file said. He taps at the keys of the computer to find out more about him. A councilman had recommended him. This could mean nothing. It is unlikely the recommendation came from the same source that asked him to spy.

Her interrogators begin. She is there as merely a threat at this time. She will step in when they stop getting answers. Throughout the long night the questions come. With the aid of their empathic sense and the electronic equipment, they discover that much of what was in his records was false. The details didn’t match up. With the dawn they retire to her office to discuss the results.

"Look, my Shadow, here," she says pointing to the anomaly on the printout, "here, here and here. The same question was asked in a slightly different manner. The answer should have been different in some respect. I noticed it on the third time. He gave the same exact answer each time. I checked on the tapes while you watched. No one says the same thing in the same way in that manner. He has been programmed in some manner. Could he have gone through the chameleon program?"

Lewis shook his head. "I would have recognized him. Besides I never would have given such a cover for a program. This was a specific statement that he was programmed with. It does not allow for interpretation of new information. Programming must be general not specific. An agent with this kind of programming can only do one job. I think the investigation of myself was an afterthought. I suggest we have your agents continue the questioning and we look for more incidences of programmed statements."

She nods and looks at the time. "I suggest you bring breakfast to our guests and meet me back in here. I’ll have food brought and we’ll start the winnowing. By this evening we will be prepared to dissect our visitor. If he survives we will know all there is to know about who he is and why he is here."

"You do not intend for him to survive?"

She looks at him with frankness. "If he survives, he will tell us all that he knows. No shutdown command will work. We can keep him alive even if it is triggered. The only problem is that once it is done, he will die. I have never been able to keep a subject alive once the procedure is complete. Killing the subject is not the ultimate goal. It is control. As of now, that is only a dream. Come on, we have a long day ahead of us."

The swiftly eat and go over the details of the interrogation. Throughout the day they work on the details of the interrogation and the new information as it comes in. There are at least a dozen specific statements that are repeated over and over. "Look, they all have to do with one thing, specifically the council member who recommended him. My people checked before he came into our assembly. He vouched for him."

He looks at her and says, "This is like old times, working together."

"Yes, but then it wasn’t so dangerous. This time if we don’t get the answers we both may be dead."

"What do you mean?"

‘We both have enemies. You, as head of the chameleon program, and me, as interrogator. Right now I have control of you and Tom, he is called traitor but this has caused much comment. If we have been targeted, I must stop it. Tom must be sent out to do what I need as soon as possible. How long to get him in shape and ready? I know he has been out of the program for some time. He will need to have his skills sharp as they can be."

Lewis ponders the question. He knows that he’ll be put in charge of his conditioning. "Depending on how much they’ve degraded, a month or two. What do you want him to do? The more I know the more I can help."

She stands very still. "No, the less you know about this part of my plan the safer you are. I won’t put you in needless danger. Come, it will be another long night. We need the information as soon as possible. I will have to use other methods. Accompany me."

They go to her private stock of designer drugs. She has had complete blood work done. He was clean. There was nothing in his system, now at least. He watched as she labeled and filled five hypodermics with a selection of drugs. She consulted several charts before she completed her task. "Ask Shadow, I know you have questions.

"I thought you didn’t approve of drugs."

"I don’t use drugs for those I intend to survive. I used none on Tom, nor do I intend to. It may be necessary later if he cannot be imprinted with certain information. This one though, if he dies, so be it. He will be used to send a message. I will, however, extract every bit of information he has out of him in as short a time as possible. This series of drugs will extract it. There will be nothing left however. Actually, I hope he survives. I’ll deliver him then on the doorstep of those who would spy on me.

"Have you used this before? How do you know the effects?"

"In my position as executioner, even the dead have a calling."

He is disquieted by this announcement. He knew she could be hard, but using their people as experiments disturbed him somewhat. But the knowledge had to be obtained. She used the most efficient means possible. If they all survive this she may be so powerful that no one was safe. But would she use her information against her people? He came to the conclusion, no, she would not. She never had, not even when he was taken from her.

She puts the hypodermic needles in her pocket and they leave. She locks the door carefully. The contents of this room could destroy the world, as they knew it.

When they arrive at the interrogation room she waves her people away and out of the room. "Shadow, I will depend upon you to keep abreast of his vitals. I don’t want him dying too soon. Cameron, do you know why you are here? If you tell me everything, now, it will stop and I will return you to your masters, if not, I use these." She held up the hypodermic needles fanned out so he could see that there were five.

He squirms against the strapping. "I’ve told you everything I know. Please let me go. I didn’t do anything. Not really. Please". He quivers. She has already broken his spirit, perhaps he had little to start with, or perhaps it was an act. She shook her head. The injection slid into his arm. It has begun.

The night was long and difficult, even for him. She never wavered, never flinched. The results didn’t start coming through until the third hypodermic was used. By the time she gave him the fifth his mind was gone. There was nothing left of him. She peeled him away like an onion. One layer at a time. The false identity and another beneath the first. He had been a member of the council’s inner guard. Those who were so secret even he didn’t know of them. But the council had not sent him, that much was certain. She knew though. Her questioning changed when she realized who it was. He noticed it. He didn’t ask. He didn’t want to know. He suspected it was her target, the one who Tom would be sent after.

There was nothing left of him when she was done. He had lost control over all bodily functions. His heart still beat and he still breathed but that was all. She was tired as she rose. "Shadow, call for a transport team. I want him delivered on the council’s doorstep. Bring Tom to the room. There’s no turning back now."

He leaves to get the transport team. Then he gets Tom. This meeting should be interesting.