Turn & Turn Again - Chapter One: a tourist in the waking world
Chapter One: a tourist in the waking world
"Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realise that it was you who held me under"
- "Blinding” by Florence + The Machine
Joseph tapped his pencil against his yellow notepad. He had a list of questions, the same basic questions he always had to ask, but he was nervous. Sometimes he felt like waiting on that door to open was comparable to a game of Russian roulette.
There were two knocks, and an armed guard stepped into the white room. A woman followed him inside, and she was trailed by a second guard.
When Joseph had been approached with the offer of participating in groundbreaking psychiatric work, this wasn’t what he had imagined.
Not by a long shot.
The woman took the only empty chair, directly across from him and exactly three feet away. She flipped her long brown curls over her shoulder and arched an eyebrow at the guards.
He knew she wasn’t dismissing them, but with the way they turned and left, it felt like she was the one in charge.
He constantly had to remind himself that he held the power, at least in this room.
“Hello, Doctor.”
“Name, please.”
“Annie Kroy”
A shudder ran up his spine at the rough Cockney accent; of all people, she had walked through the door. He remembered the cameras and the hidden microphones, and the hour time limit, so he cleared his throat and focused on the first question.
“How long have you known Nathan Ford?”
She smirked and crossed her legs. “For awhile now. Of course, I don’t know him very well, since we didn’t normally work in the same circles.”
“Can you describe him to me? First impressions, any details you might remember.”
She blinked, and he watched her as she shifted in her chair. He would go through the footage of this session later, looking for tells that she was lying, but it was best to catch it now, to use it against her. He had been playing with her supposed weakness for months now, and he hadn’t even gotten close to cracking her.
“He’s handsome. He has gorgeous blue eyes. And, he’s very smart.”
When she lapsed into silence for a few moments, he pressed, “Is there nothing else you can remember?”
“Nothing important. I told you that I didn’t associate much with him.”
He hit his notepad in frustration. “Ms. Devereaux, we will never accomplish anything if you refuse to cooperate!”
“That is not my name.” Her voice snapped, and he froze as she stared at him.
“Putting up these walls will not….”
“I have no interest in helping you.” Her eyes were darker were normal; he considered pressing the panic button on the underside of his chair as she stood and crossed the short distance to him. “I think we’re finished here for today.”
“You’ve only been here for twenty minutes. The requirement is for an hour.”
She had already started for the door. “You can be the one to explain to your superiors that you are incapable of doing your job. I am done talking with you.”
He had no choice but to let her leave, and he certainly wasn’t sorry to see her go. Annie Kroy terrified him, almost as much as when she showed up as Sophie Devereaux. He would pay for this later, of course, and they had only made it through the first two questions. It was some progress. He normally never got the past the first one with her.
***************
“How long have you known Nathan Ford?”
Joseph tapped his pencil against the pad in his lap. Parker stared back at him, slumped down in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. He waited two minutes for an answer and sighed.
“What can you tell me about Nathan Ford? First impressions or certain incidents that stand out in your memory would be good places to start.”
The only reaction he got was a small twitch of her eyebrow. At least she was staying in her seat this time.
“Can you tell me of any place you know of where Nathan Ford might be hiding?”
Again, she didn’t answer. As this was their second round of these questions during the hour, he decided to change tactics.
“I’ve heard that you don’t talk to any of your team members. Can you tell me why?”
She straightened her back at that, but her expression didn’t change. He relaxed back into his chair, hoping that he might manage to shift the power back to himself.
“Not even Alec Hardison, to whom you used to be very close. I wonder why that is. Could it be that he just doesn’t want anything to do with you? Do you think he might have found someone better? Less damaged, maybe?”
As he spoke, he saw the uncertainty in her eyes and the way her fingers pulled at her long sleeves. But it was only a small falter, because he blinked and her blank stare was back in place.
He checked his watch; only a minute and forty-three seconds left to go. He scribbled some nonsense onto his pad and then sat there, just watching her and waiting. And, if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked as though she would like nothing more than to lean across the space between them and snap his neck.
He might have gotten that small reaction, but he wasn’t sure if it was worth it. Maybe silence wasn’t all that bad.
***************
Hardison shook his head. “Naw, man, you got it all wrong. That ain’t Parker.”
As this wasn’t their first discussion of the matter, Joseph closed his eyes and counted back from five before asking, “Are you telling me that you believe Parker is an imposter?”
“I’m saying that this all a damn hoax. She looks like Parker, acts like her, but it ain’t the real Parker. Y’all are just trying to get me to tell you where my people are.”
“So you don’t believe that Sophie Devereaux and Eliot Spencer are here, either?”
“’Course not. You people must think I’m stupid.”
Joseph let out a long breath and reminded himself that at least Hardison was speaking, even if nothing he said was actually beneficial. The only saving grace for these sessions was that Hardison wasn’t a good enough actor to be believable; a small comfort, but it was nice to know that Hardison was actively lying.
“If you don’t believe your…people are here, then can you tell me where they are?” Joseph forced a bland smile onto his face. “I’m sure you miss them.”
Hardison gave a weak chuckle. “Ain’t no way in hell, man, that I’d tell you. Think I would help you drag them here so you can experiment on them? You crazy, dude. Just plain crazy.”
Joseph checked his watch and almost sighed in relief. Only twenty seconds left.
“Well, our time is up for today, Mr. Hardison.” Joseph stood and motioned to the door. “Maybe we can accomplish more in our next session.”
Hardison smirked and walked to the door. “Yeah, like that’ll happen.”
As Hardison left, Joseph could have sworn he heard Hardison mutter something about him being adorable. From the tone of voice, though, he gathered that wasn’t meant as a compliment.
***************
“So, you don’t know Sophie Devereaux?”
“I know of her, I guess. She’s supposed to be the best grifter in the game. But, I’ve never crossed paths with her.” Eliot shrugged. “Why do you want to know?”
“I have documented evidence here that you used to work with Ms. Devereaux, Nathan Ford, Parker, and Alec Hardison. Are you telling me that this isn’t true?” Joseph brandished the manila folder he had brought with him; he was getting tired of being jerked around by these people.
“I guess I am. Like I said, I ain’t worked with those people. Well, Ford some. He paid really well.”
“Take a look, then.”
Joseph handed Eliot the folder and sat back as Eliot flipped it open. Eliot frowned and pulled out photos and documented phone calls and restricted information from Interpol and CIA files. He shoved everything back into the folder and tossed it back to Joseph.
“Doctored that stuff or something. Ain’t me.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t work with teams. It’s dangerous.”
Joseph leaned forward, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he was getting somewhere. “How so?”
“You get attached.” Eliot shook his head. “People get under your skin, you start letting your guard down. Next thing you know, you’re dead. I ain’t stupid enough to ever do that.”
He held Eliot’s gaze for a little while as he tried to come up with a way to continue on. Nothing came to mind, and his watch started beeping. The end of the hour.
“We’ll continue talking next week,” Joseph said with a smile.
Eliot nodded his head and pushed himself to his feet. “See you later, Doctor.”
Joseph looked down at his pad after Eliot had left; again, he didn’t have any notes because he had yet to learn anything. Maybe he would have better luck next week.
***************
He studied his new patient and considered his list of questions. She looked subdued and kept her eyes trained on the floor. He opened her file and flipped through it; Maggie Collins, an expert on art, Nathan Ford’s ex-wife, and recently transferred here from another unit in the facility.
He had heard stories about the other units. Stories about torture and experiments that ended horribly. He was told to pay the stories no mind since the point of what they’re doing here was to make scientific progress. But, she looked afraid, and he had a weakness for beautiful women.
He cleared his throat and started. “How long have you known Nathan Ford?”
“Since he started working with IYS and I was verifying art for them,” she mumbled. “Probably about fifteen years, but I don’t know how long I’ve been here, so it might be longer.”
He raised his eyebrows, surprised by the ready and honest answer. “What can you tell me about Nathan Ford?”
She raised her eyes to look at him, then, and he had to work to keep from reacting at the sheer emptiness of her gaze.
“What do you want to know?”
Chapter One* - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine
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