The Interrogator
Chapter 1:
“48 hours?! It takes you that long to perform your interrogations?”
“48 hours guaranteed. There’s also a good chance she’ll tell me more then she would a normal interrogator.”
“Oh really? Why would she be willing to talk to you?”
“I’m persuasive like that. My record proves it.”
“Yes, you’re well known for being able to extract information from the most resistant of subjects. Very well. 48 hours. She’s all yours. I look forward to your report.”
A dull sense of pain brought Jacklyn back to consciousness. She didn’t open her eyes right away. She pretended to be asleep in the hope of catching some fragment of conversation.
“Hey there. You can open your eyes if you like.”
The voice belonged to a man. It sounded soothing, friendly even. Whatever her head was resting on tilted forward. They knew she was awake. She reluctantly opened her eyes.
The room she was in, well it didn’t look like an interrogation room. It looked like some kind of fancy massage parlor or something like that. The source of that voice stood in front of her. His most notable feature was his apparent heterochromia. One of his eyes was green while the other was a steely blue. Possible cybernetic implant? She couldn’t be certain. He had a young face, but his short beard was flecked with gray. He was skinny, wiry even. She could easily take him on in a fight if she had to.
She tried to get up, and discovered the restraints that bound her nude body to whatever she was lying on. She couldn’t move any part of her body more then an inch or so. There was no wiggling out of these bonds. Yep. This was an interrogation room, fancier then the ones she was accustomed to, but they all had the same purpose.
“Let me save you some time. You ain’t getting shit out of me. I’ll die before I tell you anything!”
Talking made that dull pain sharper. The source of that pain was a deep cut on her lip. It opened and began bleeding.
“It looks like those mean ol guards roughed you up. I apologize for that. Here, let’s take care of your lip.” he replied in that same, soothing voice.
He took a Q-tip with some kind of cream on it. She braced for more pain, but when it was applied, the pain actually lessened. It soon faded away and the bleeding stopped. She wasn’t swayed. This guy was obviously playing the good cop/bad cop game. He’d be kind to her then some other asshole would come in and torture her.
“I should introduce myself. My name is Axel. I’ll be your host during your stay here.”
Jacklyn didn’t say anything. She just glared at him, steeling herself for what was to come.
“I thought to begin with I’d tell you a bit about myself. I wear a few different hats. Artist, interior decorator, tailor. I designed this room. What do you think?”
“I think you’re an asshole and this room sucks.”
“Those are some pretty mean words, but I understand why they’re mean. This is a situation you don’t want to be in. I’m sure you’d love to be at home right now...”
He picked up a tray with a bunch of little black discs in it. The discs were shiny, featureless, and maybe a half inch in diameter. As he spoke, he began attaching these discs to various spots on her body. Whatever they were, at least they didn’t hurt.
“Home right now, maybe with a cup of hot cocoa and a soft blanket for company. Phone turned off, maybe a good old fashioned book in your hands. That would be a nice little escape without leaving the comfort of that blanket.”
That did admittedly sound good to her. She didn’t own any books, those being quite rare nowadays, but yeah being home right now was certainly preferable to her current location. He continued to talk in that oddly soothing voice, and what were those things he was sticking to her? What were they for? There was some loose pattern he was following as he applied them, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.
“I have a few books of my own. Oh I’ve read them quite a few times. The words never change but how I see them does. They’re a glimpse into what the world used to be like before it ended. A couple of them are children’s books, and one is a boring old encyclopedia. Even that one’s special though. Really all books are since they’re so rare now.”
She couldn’t help but wonder why the hell he was going on and on about some old books? Shouldn’t he be asking her questions about the job she had been hired to do? Maybe his strategy was to bore her to death. Yet as he spoke, she didn’t find his words boring, not at all. His voice was soothing and pleasant to listen to. In almost any other situation it would have put her mind at ease.
At some point she realized she was starting to feel... kinda sluggish. She wasn’t exactly tired, she just felt oddly slow and very relaxed. The room was pleasing to look at. His voice was still calm and soothing. He continued to talk about his books and occasionally repositioned one of the discs, moving one a couple inches, moving another just slightly. He said nothing about her slim, athletic body that he was attaching these discs to. It was a body she worked hard to maintain, a body that she was proud of. Even though she was completely nude with such a hot, well sculpted body, his interest in her didn’t seem to be sexual.
She found that realization a bit disappointing.
Wait, why the hell was that disappointing?! If he had no sexual interest in her, then he’d likely leave her sensitive bits alone. Sure she could block out the pain, but if she didn’t have to deal with it at all, even better. He just continued to talk about unimportant shit while occasionally removing a disc and reapplying it elsewhere on her body.
“So tell me, that catsuit you were wearing. Is that a custom piece or are they selling those now?”
Her catsuit? Who gave a shit about that? There was nothing special about it, just a piece of lycra that allowed her to blend into the shadows. She didn’t say this however. The less she gave away, the better.
After waiting a moment for an answer, he added a couple discs, one above and one below her navel.
“I just asked because it’s a bit reflective. I’m no stealth expert but I just figured something that reflects light like that works against concealment.”
He... had a point. She had other ways of staying concealed, but if she survived this maybe she should look into wearing something with a matte finish. It’s possible one of the guards saw a glint off her catsuit on camera and that’s what got her caught. Normally she’d be furious with herself over such a stupid mistake, but for some reason it didn’t bother her right now. It was just a small mistake to correct next time around. She had to remind herself that there might not be a next time. Oddly that did little to upset the relaxed state that she was in.
“Well I think that will do for now. I’ll be back later to check up on you.”
And with that he left the room. The lights slowly dimmed until the room was semi dark. The headrest tilted back until she was looking up at the ceiling. There wasn’t much she could do except lie there. At least whatever she was lying on was comfortable, and whoever this guy was, he hadn’t hurt her yet. The discs attached to her, what were they for? The only thing that came to her mind was they could be used to deliver some kind of drug. However the pattern was too apparent for that. She was no expert on anatomy, but the discs that she had seen were grouped around her organs and muscles. Six lined up with her lungs, four surrounding her heart, eight on her stomach, and several running down her arms and legs. There were several more attached to her temples and forehead.
An interrogator who didn’t seem to care about what she knew, who made some effort to keep her comfortable, and spent most of the session talking about some old books. This was easily the most confusing interrogation session she had ever experienced. It was also the shortest. He had spent at most a half hour with her.
Well there was nothing to do now but rest, store up enough energy to resist whatever he had planned for her next. At least resting would be easy. He even dimmed the lights for her... What if making her rest was part of his interrogation strategy? Even if it was, she couldn’t stay awake forever. Resting would help keep her strength up. Also, well the table or bed or whatever it was that she was lying on was soft and comfortable. The room was a pleasant temperature. It also smelled nice, like flowers. The dim lights added to the warm atmosphere. Relaxation settled back into her mind and she felt herself drifting away...