Trifecta (67 page)

Ivar told the men that Mr.  Hashimoto could contact his
lawyers in their behalf, as well as his own.  They were under room arrest.  They
were not to leave under any circumstances.  They would be contacted by the authorities.

Ivar needed a little time to get Sabrina out of the hotel
before Hashimoto learned that she had been taken out of his control.  What they
had done was an illegal search and seizure.  They were all aware Ivar could get
into deep trouble with the CIA for his activities.

As Mark and Eve walked Sabrina they discussed how to get
her downstairs and through the lobby without attracting too much attention.  Any
one of the three of them could carry her, but Good Samaritans would try to help
if they said she was sick and their anonymity would be compromised.  They could
try to support her through the lobby, but she might collapse.  Sabrina could not
seem to support the weight of her head, which lolled forward or sideways like a
heavy flower.

She actually looked like a drunk.  They didn't want it
noticed that a drunken woman and her twin had gone through an exclusive Los Angeles
hotel lobby. 

It was decided that Eve would go get the car so the noticeable
twin thing would not be obvious and memorable.  The other reason was because Mark
absolutely refused to leave Sabrina, even to go get his own car.

Eve looked around the room and found some cardboard in
the trash cans that had been used to back dry-cleaned shirts.  She tore up a sheets
and made what looked like a crude cervical collar.  They put it around Sabrina's
neck and it held her head up.  Sabrina looked like an exotic type of nun, but it
hid the most telltale sign that she could not support herself. 

While Eve was making the collar, Ivar got a radio message
from Malcolm.  Hashimoto was now on his way back to the hotel.  They had to leave
quickly.

Eve left the hotel room first.  Mark and Ivar practiced
walking Sabrina until they thought they could support her without looking too remarkable. 
Each had an arm around her waist and they locked their arms together.  They draped
Sabrina's arms around each of their necks, holding her hand with their own to keep
her arms in place.  It was a little awkward, because Ivar was quite a bit taller
than Mark, but they finally got the hang of walking Sabrina. 

Three good friends, arms around each other, went down the
hallway.  Sabrina's feet just skimmed the floor.  She floated through the hotel
lobby while Ivar and Mark held a happy conversation with her for all to see.

E
ve stood supporting Sabrina in the shower, and
gradually made the temperature cooler.  Sabrina kept trying to lie down and sleep
in the tub, so Eve had to repeatedly haul her up again.

Then Eve took Sabrina into the bedroom and lay her on the
bed to dress her.  It was like handling a large heavy baby, or a life sized doll. 
Eve was encouraged when Sabrina started talking.  She kept repeating, over and over,
"I don't want to go to Japan."  Later she added, "Not with that loathsome
Hashimoto.  What a creep!"

"Right you are,"  Eve said as she picked up a
leg and dragged one pants leg up.

Mark peered in the doorway, saw Eve dressing Sabrina, and
retreated, but he kept the door open.

"And we did not have lunch.  They didn't even feed
me anything."  She sounded very much like an angry drunk.

"You fought them all the way,"  Eve encouraged.

Sabrina nodded.  Then she started to cry.  "They were
mean to me.  They hurt me."

Eve had to keep lifting dead sagging weight to put on each
article of clothing.  Then Sabrina would melt back on the bed again and try to go
to sleep.  Finally she had Sabrina clad in jeans, a sweater and tennis shoes.  She
pulled Sabrina up by both arms to a sitting position and said, "Time to take
a little walk."

"No! Now I'm going to sleep."  She sounded like
an angry three year old.

"Hashimoto is an evil man.  You're so angry you want
to hit him,"  Eve said, holding on to Sabrina's shoulders and shaking her gently. 
"And the lipless doctor with the skinny neck should have his license revoked. 
He's a real quack."

Sabrina closed her eyes.  "I'm so tired." 

"Mark is waiting to see you.  He's just outside the
door."

Sabrina gave a beautiful smile and, pillowing her head
with one hand, lay back and sighed contentedly.

"Come see Mark,"  Eve urged, pulling Sabrina
up again.

"Want to,"  Sabrina said, nodding seriously.

"Yes.  Come with me."  She noted that Sabrina
could stagger a little by herself now, and let go when they reached the doorway.

Sabrina saw Mark waiting outside the door, just as Eve
had promised, and she opened her arms wide, stepped forward, and collapsed.  She
almost knocked him down in her attempt to hug him.  Evidently her depth perception
was not quite up to par.  Ivar was there beside Mark.  He helped catch Sabrina. 
The two of them started walking her into the living room.

Eve stalked after them, whispering to Mark.  "Don't
coddle her.  If you give her sympathy, like you want to, she'll cry and feel like
a victim.  Tell her she was wonderful.  Because she was.  They tried to control
her mind and couldn't do it.  Even with drugs.  She was very brave.  Look at her
hands."

As they walked, Mark opened the hand he was holding and
saw crescents of blood where Sabrina had clenched it in an attempt to use pain to
reject the suggestions and drugs.

Mark squeezed Ivar's arm to stop him.  Then he turned and
looked Eve directly in the eyes for the very first time.  He just looked at her
seriously and nodded, but Eve understood that he had finally forgiven her. 

Ivar broke the moment, "You're sopping, Eve.  You
better dry off, too."

"And shivering,"  Mark added kindly, with a smile.

Eve went into the bathroom.  Her wet hair was plastered
to her skull.  She was dripping on the floor and could see herself shivering in
the mirror, although she didn't feel cold.

Eve changed into dry clothes and went back into the living
room.  Mark was supporting Sabrina alone.  Sabrina was still shaky but was insisting
that she wanted to walk by herself.  In the state Sabrina was in, Mark would let
her do anything she wanted.  When Sabrina fell, she finally gave in and let Mark
help her.

Ivar was on his radio explaining to Malcolm that he had
evidence that he needed to show Burgess Whitcomb.  Eve heard him tell Malcolm to
come over himself, so that he could see that Sabrina was in no condition for an
interrogation. 

Eve went into the kitchen and started making grilled tuna
and cheese sandwiches.  Sabrina had complained that Hashimoto hadn't fed her.  Food
might help Sabrina get over the drug overdose.  As she was cooking, Ivar came in
to help her.

"Ivar, I want to show you something,"  Eve said. 
"Would you get my purse?"

When Ivar brought it in, Eve pulled out the Japanese documents
she had taken from Hashimoto's safe.  Ivar looked at the Japanese writing blankly
and shook his head.  Eve explained that Hashimoto proposed to open a limited partnership
with American investments.  When he got the money he would divert it into real estate,
sell the real estate at a huge profit for himself and use the failed partnership
as a write-off for his corporation.  It was legal, but barely so.  Another document,
she explained, was an investment into several American universities.  Hashimoto
planned to grab new American technologies.

Then Eve pulled a canvas bag out of her purse and showed
him the contents.

"A fortune,"  Ivar commented, after he had looked
inside.

"I was hoping to buy Sabrina back from Hashimoto,
if all else failed.  It came from his own safe.  Should I return it?"

Ivar shook his head, "Give it to Sabrina."

"That's what I planned.  Hashimoto may accuse me of
stealing."

"With the pictures we have, he won't dare come near
either of you again."

"You saw what he did today,"  Eve countered. 
"He'll have his henchmen after me, if he can't do it himself.  I have to get
lost.  Permanently.  Or he'll try to use Sabrina again, to get me."

"You're serious?"

Eve nodded.

"Will you let me know, if you decide to leave?"

"Of course.  I'm going to give some of this money
to the Steinbrenner brothers.  They may be creeps, but they can be bought."

Sabrina was staring at Ivar with approval when they walked
in the living room with the sandwiches.  "This is Ivar?"  It was the first
time she had really seen him.  Before he had only been a presence that helped to
support her.

"Yes.  He helped you escape." 

"Thank you, Ivar,"  Sabrina said.  "And
Mark came, too?"

"I called him, and he came from work." 

Sabrina smiled at them both.

As they started eating, Ivar explained that Malcolm would
be over in a few minutes.  "To get the CIA to end the investigation, Eve will
have to go and meet with Burgess Whitcomb.  When he sees the pictures of what happened
in that hotel room, I believe I can convince him that the whole story about a super
computer implanted in someone's brain was a con.  Just some dishonest lawyers out
to hustle a buck, planning to bilk a Japanese corporation."

"Won't work,"  Sabrina said thickly. 

"After what you've been through,"  Ivar said,
"I don't want you to have to be interrogated by Burgess Whitcomb.  He's extremely
tough.  He'll try to trip you up, Sabrina.  He can wait a few days."

"I'm thinking fine,"  Sabrina insisted.  "I
won't make any mistakes."

"Sabrina's right,"  Eve said.  "Whitcomb
won't believe us unless he sees us both.  If we wait, he'll be harder on us, and
the drugs will be out of Sabrina's system.  So, the sooner the better.  He can have
his medical men search us for some sign of surgery and he won't find any."

"He may want X-rays,"  Ivar said.

"Then we may be in trouble,"  Eve admitted.

"I broke into his office and destroyed all of the
files on the investigation,"  Ivar said.  "It's causing a real uproar. 
So if you see me arrested, don't say or do anything.  Act completely ignorant."

"You'll go to jail?"  Eve asked.

"I'm just warning you, because if he thinks we're
in collusion, believe me, he'll never let up."

Eve frowned and shook her head.  "No.  We can't let
that happen, Ivar."

"It doesn't matter.  Just listen, because Malcolm
will be here in a few minutes.  We have to get our stories straight.  I made the
man you bit take back his accusation.  So you both have to say that Sergi Malcovich
was bitten by a dog."

"He's Russian.  That Sergi Malcovich.  KGB I believe," 
Eve said between bites of her sandwich.

"Yes.  The Soviets now have the complete CIA file
on you both.  If all goes well today, and Burgess is convinced that the computer
story is a hoax, I'll make sure that that information gets to the KGB, as well. 
Then I think you'll be safe.  The FBI might watch you for a while, because that's
where the information about the Japanese drugging will go.  But they'll protect
you and make sure Hashimoto never goes near you again."

"You're sacrificing everything, Ivar,"  Eve said. 

"You deserve to be free, Eve.  And so does Sabrina. 
Believe me, I know what it truly means to be free."

Mark, listening, felt both guilty and ashamed.  Sabrina
had been so brave today, and just last night he had left her.  Now he understood
that to Sabrina, loyalty to Eve was like being loyal to a part of herself.  And
as for Eve, she had broken into that hotel room and done everything she could to
get Sabrina back.  On top of that, Ivar had probably sacrificed his own job for
the woman he loved.  He might even land in jail.  Mark felt like a total shit. 
Especially since he was thinking what a fabulous story this would be if he could
write an article for the L.A.  Times.

"I'll come along, too,"  Mark said.  "The
CIA can interrogate us all.  It might help if Whitcomb knows he can be quoted in
the press."

"Good,"  Ivar said.  "When Whitcomb understands
what an ass the CIA will appear to be, by a leak from a member of the press, he'll
want to hush the whole thing up as quickly as possible.  And Sabrina, it would help
a lot if you would cry."

B
urgess Whitcomb sat imposingly at his desk with
Ivar and Malcolm, chosen because they were his largest agents, on either side of
him.  Sabrina, Eve and Mark sat across the desk from the three grim, powerful looking
men. 

With Burgess's hooded eyes, long lipless mouth, and thick
bullet shaped head, Sabrina thought he looked like a stern turtle.  A dangerous
snapping turtle. 

Mark was allowed to remain in the meeting because he had
been a witness to the incident in the hotel room.  He pronounced that the meeting
would have to be postponed for medical reasons if he were not present.

"You're also a doctor?"  Burgess inquired.

"No.  But Sabrina has no family."  He stopped
when he felt Eve's intense stare.  "Except for Eve, of course.  And I've known
Sabrina for years and will know if she becomes any...sicker."

"Perhaps you would prefer a medical doctor to be present?" 
Burgess said.  "That could be arranged."

Mark shook his head and decided to keep his mouth shut. 
His time would come. 

"This is just an informal questioning for both Ms. 
Millers,"  Burgess said.  "And Mr.  Ponti, we wanted you here also, in
any case.  I'll get to that in a moment.  I want to stress that this meeting is
only for our information.  There are no formal charges against any of you."

Burgess Whitcomb looked separately at each of the three
people before him.  None of them got the impression it was a friendly meeting. 
He was out to get them.

"First, it was alleged that Dr. Steinbrenner had been
doing highly illegal experiments on human subjects, so Dr. Steinbrenner's residence
was put under surveillance.  Ms.  Sabrina Miller was seen entering Dr. Steinbrenner's
Tanning Salon.  Then two women exit, who look exactly alike.  But there are no records
for the identity of Ms.  Eve Miller.  Then, a few days later, Eve Miller is on all
the computers.  Credit cards.  Birth certificate.  Drivers license.  The whole ball
of wax."

"I can explain,"  Eve said.

"Wait.  I'm not finished,"  Burgess said sternly. 
"Dr. Steinbrenner's residence was entered that same night by a blond woman
who looked very much like Sabrina Miller, accompanied by a dark haired man of approximately
the size and build of Mark Ponti.  Understand, I'm not making any allegations, just
telling the facts.  The result is that Alexander Steinbrenner sustains a broken
leg, Stephan Steinbrenner has two broken legs, and Dr. Steinbrenner has a heart
attack.

"The next night Dr. Steinbrenner's laboratory is totally
wrecked.  By this time we have all three of you three under surveillance, and during
the time this incidence occurs, all three of you are missing.  Whereabouts unknown. 
But earlier that night we have a recording of the two brothers, Alex and Stephan
Steinbrenner, asking which one of you two women is the computer.  Both of you answer
that you are a computer.  A mystery, heh? Especially since you three were at the
scene where the laboratory was later broken into and vandalized."

The smile he gave was sinister.

"A couple of days later the two of you go to Dr. Steinbrenner's
hospital room.  A conversation is recorded which is very distorted, but Dr. Steinbrenner
explains that one of you has a brain that is more primitive.  Not as evolved.  Which
is something I almost start believing when one of my agents is injured in a book
store while doing routine surveillance.  This is done by the dark haired woman. 
Maybe accidentally, maybe not.  Soon after this, another of my agents is bitten
in the neck and his hand is broken.  Again by the dark haired woman."

Burgess Whitcomb was clearly enjoying himself during the
recital. 

"Then suddenly we don't know who attacked my Federal
agents because both of the women in question have blond hair.  But there are bits
of evidence.  Traces of blood on handcuffs that were mysteriously broken.  Tooth
marks which prove that it was Sabrina Miller.  So we were planning to take Sabrina
into custody for attacking an officer of the Federal Government."

Sabrina could feel Burgess waiting for a reaction, staring
at her.  She tried not to register the shock and fear she felt.  In this instance,
the drugs were helpful.  By the time her eyes had widened and her eyebrows slid
up he was speaking again.

"Then Mr.  Sato Hashimoto enters the picture.  He
visits Dr. Steinbrenner in the hospital and Dr. Steinbrenner has a stroke.  The
conversation that precipitates the stroke is about a new computer Dr. Steinbrenner
made.

"And then my own office is broken into.  One of my
employees is tied up and some files are missing."

Burgess paused to take a drink of water and Sabrina was
even more reminded of a giant snapping turtle, as his upper lip covered the top
of the glass, hiding teeth.  Water disappeared without visible swallows.

"Onto today.  Mr.  Hashimoto, a tiny man, beats up
his own bodyguard so violently he has to be hospitalized.  Sabrina Miller is drugged
by Mr.  Hashimoto's doctor.  The hotel room where this takes place is broken into
and Sabrina Miller is rescued.  During the rescue, hotel property is demolished. 
A door is broken.  Three telephones are smashed until they are unrecognizable.

"If all possible charges are taken into account, we
have several counts of assault, willful destruction of private and government property. 
Breaking and entering.  Destruction of classified government property and documents. 
I could go on and on.  But now I want some answers."

Burgess Whitcomb scowled at each person separately for
an instant.  Then he pressed his intercom.

"Turn around and look at this man,"  Burgess
instructed as the door opened.

Sabrina, Eve and Mark turned and looked at the tall muscular
man with a bandage prominently displayed on his neck.

"Do you recognize these two women, Mr.  Malcovich?" 
Burgess asked.

"Yes."

"Thank you.  You may leave."

Burgess waited until the door closed behind Sergi.

"I want to know which one of you two women bit the
man you just saw."

"Neither of them would..."

"Mr.  Ponti,"  Burgess thundered.  "I'm
warning you.  This is a serious matter.  If you continue to give unsubstantiated
opinions you will have to leave."

"Neither of us bit him,"  Eve said calmly "He
was threatening both Sabrina and I with a gun.  Then a dog came up and bit him. 
It was tan colored.  A large boxer."

"Is that the truth?"  Burgess asked, looking
at Sabrina.

"Yes.  That is the truth."

Burgess turned and looked at Ivar.  "You said you
were observing from behind a tree.  What did you see?"

"I saw a large dog in the area.  I presume it bit
Sergi."

"Where do you come from, Ms.  Miller?"  Burgess
asked, quickly changing the subject and looking at Eve.

Eve hoped the story would sound logical.  She had to account
for the time before she was born.  Her nonexistent childhood.  They didn't expect
the identity papers that Eve had received from Stephan to check out once they were
put through the rigorous scrutiny that Burgess Whitcomb would insist upon.  She
had to have come from another country. 

"I'm an illegal alien.  When I met Sabrina a few days
ago and saw the remarkable likeness, I began to doubt for the first time who I really
was.  You see, I was brought up in Mexico.  Maria Estavez was my mother.  We didn't
look alike.  Our coloring.  But that happens sometimes.  She told me my father was
blond and that he left her soon after I was born.  She died a few months ago, and
it was then that I found that I didn't have any identification.  There was no birth
certificate or anything."

"Say something in Spanish,"  Burgess ordered.

"I think Sabrina is my sister,"  Eve said in
Spanish. 

"More,"  Burgess ordered.

Eve told him the whole story of her childhood in rapid
Spanish.  She and her mother never stayed in one town in Mexico for long.  Her mother
did not have any family that she knew about, but was well educated and taught her
English.  She did not go to regular schools.  Her mother gave her lessons.

"Okay,"  Burgess said.  "You can speak Spanish. 
Any theories on how this all come about?"

"Sabrina is an orphan.  Her mother died in childbirth. 
I know that the woman I though was my mother worked in the United States for a while,
at a hospital in the Los Angeles area.  I think she took me shortly after my birth
and fled to Mexico. 

"After she died, I hitched a ride with some tourists
into the United States.  I look like an American and speak perfect English, so at
the border I was not questioned.  When I came into Los Angeles, I met Dr. Steinbrenner. 
He said I could stay for a while and employed me to do the cooking and cleaning,
and to take care of the tanning salon when he was absent.  Then Sabrina came into
the spa.  I couldn't believe it.  We look exactly alike.  We knew we must be sisters. 
Probably twins."

"Did Dr. Steinbrenner ever do any experiments on your
brain."

"No."

"He never gave you drugs to enhance your mental acuity
or your strength?"

"If you would like to search for a sign of surgery
or any drugs you may do so.  Sabrina and I were joking when Stephan asked if one
of us was a computer.  The only experiments I saw Dr. Steinbrenner do was on rats. 
After I met Sabrina, I moved in with her.  We wanted to know all about each other. 
To understand the truth."

"Mr.  Ponti, what did you think when this double turned
up?"

"Look at them,"  Mark said simply.  "They
have to be twins."

"This whole story is outrageous,"  Burgess stated. 
"Even preposterous.  Now we have a hospital worker spiriting away an infant!
To Mexico." 

"We don't know the truth, so if you could find out
we would be grateful,"  Eve said, smiling at Burgess.

"This isn't a missing person bureau.  The Defense
Department was notified that Dr. Steinbrenner had made what could be a super-human. 
A person who was phenomenally strong.  A person with a computer in their brain. 
By the way, I will have both of you women checked by a doctor.  We will also do
blood tests for ingestion of chemicals."

"Good,"  Eve said.

"Why would Mr.  Hashimoto's corporation want to hire
you, Ms.  Miller?"

"Well, Stephan and Alexander Steinbrenner thought
of me as a servant.  They saw me cleaning, running errands.  They knew I was an
illegal immigrant.  I think they decided Mr.  Hashimoto would want to hire me for
sexual favors.  They knew I was powerless.  Then they obtained documents that made
me a citizen so I could travel with Mr.  Hashimoto." 

Eve reached into her purse and handed them to Burgess Whitcomb,
who looked at them silently for a few minutes.  "Excellent work."

"But if the blood tests prove that I am Sabrina's
sister, then I'll be a citizen of the United States, won't I?"

"Technically,"  Burgess said, nodding.

Eve gave him another of her blinding smiles.  If he thought
he was being manipulated, he didn't give any indication.

"Dr. Steinbrenner gave you what amounts to a small
fortune, Ms.  Miller."  Burgess made it sound like an accusation.

"Yes.  He may have found out what his sons were up
to with Hashimoto.  He knew he was ill and was worried about me, here alone without
an identity.  He's a very nice man." 

"Why did you change your hair color?"

"Sabrina has worked as a model, but she is quite well
known and we look so much alike.  So I changed my hair color and she took me on
a shoot to meet a photographer, Tracy Rieber."

"Then you changed your hair color back again?"

"Twin modeling is lucrative."

"Tell me about what happened today.  Not you Eve," 
Burgess said when he saw Eve straighten up, about to speak.  "Sabrina."

Sabrina spoke slowly and told the whole story in great
detail.  It was obvious that she was still under the influence of the drugs.  Sabrina
finished by saying that she tried to fight the suggestions.  She knew they were
brainwashing her, and had injected her with drugs. 

Sabrina excused herself when she started crying, saying
she had been so scared.  It wasn't hard to cry when she remembered how frightened
she had been, but she didn't like doing it.

"Damn it!" Mark exclaimed.  "She shouldn't
have to go through this now."

"Of all your stories, her's I believe." 

"Fuck you,"  Mark said angrily.  "I'm going
to print her story in the L.A.  Times.  Interrogating innocent people because of
some incredible hoax about a computer plugged into someone's brain.  What a way
to spend the tax payer's money!"

Mark crossed his arms and settled back, frowning.  "This
is too far out to fucking believe."

Ivar gave a slow almost imperceptible nod at Mark from
across the desk.

"What do you believe, Mr.  Ponti?" 

"Hashimoto is a perverted bastard.  He wanted to buy
Eve and then he saw Sabrina, and wanted her too.  He drugged Sabrina and tried to
implant false memories about the time during which she was drugged, saying that
she had lunch with him.  Then he used mind control techniques to try to get her
to go to Japan."

"What about the Steinbrenner brothers?"

"Quack lawyers,"  Mark snapped.  "They hope
to make a buck by luring Hashimoto to the United States, saying that their father
implanted a computer in someone.  They couldn't prove that nonsense, so they tried
to sell Eve to Hashimoto because she's in the country illegally."

"But why was Dr. Steinbrenner's lab destroyed?"

Mark shrugged and looked hostile, "Someone searching
for drugs." 

"I'm going to have Sabrina and Eve examined by a doctor. 
Then we will meet back here."

Burgess called on the intercom and a man came in to escort
Sabrina and Eve to the doctor's office.  Mark wandered into the outer office and
sat down.