Rhythm

Chapter 9 – Questions

The ride in the back of the van was mostly just uncomfortable. Something, he thought it might be a bad smelling blanket, was thrown on the floor of the vehicle, and they were dumped in after it, their hands handcuffed behind them.

There were no windows, not even to the front seats. There was a little metal door that Kinter could use to speak to them, but it was closed almost the entire trip, which Ethan thought lasted anywhere from forty minutes to an hour. With no outside references, they had no idea at all where they might be, which was apparently the point.

The back door of the van was opened, and a bright light all but blinded them. They were dragged out and led, individually into a large warehouse-like building. The inside was a bit more modern than out, and Ethan thought he must have passed through four distinct security checkpoints before he was pushed into a chair in what looked like a sound studio. There was a large flat-screen television mounted on the wall, but he got the impression that it wasn’t for watching football. Two other men, who were dressed in military camouflage, followed Agent Kinter into the room and stood to either side of the door.

“Where’s Shara?” He demanded.

“I’ll ask the questions, Ethan.” Said a brunette woman who sat in front of an active computer workstation. She looked to be about thirty, and would have been pretty if he didn’t think she might kill him. Agent Kinter stepped forward and handed her the flash drive.

“Finally.” She sighed. “Took you long enough, Kinter.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Stop complaining. We contained your breach, under the radar, as ordered.”

“That you did. So, Ethan, you may call me Miss Grain. Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me everything you know about this little device.”

He looked over at Kinter. “It has something to do with computers I think.”

The large man sighed. The woman just nodded at him and then smiled.

“I don’t think you really appreciate your situation, Ethan.” She took the drive and plugged it into her computer, continuing to talk to him while she worked at something. “A mind boggling amount of money has gone into recovering this little slab of plastic after it was stolen from my lab. It represents years of research work. Do you understand?”

“Not really. I’m not very good with computers.”

She turned in her chair and stared at him for a moment. “No, you’re not, are you… But your cute little friend is. What do you say we check in on her, yes?” Ethan thought there was a slightly British accent to her voice.

The woman tapped a switch on her desk and the large flat screen television came to life. The image that appeared made his stomach turn.

Shara was sitting on the floor of a room, still in handcuffs. The room itself appeared to be some kind of padded cell. She didn’t look hurt, but she was shaking slightly, probably out of fear. Miss Grain clicked a few more switches on the desk and then nodded to him.

“Go ahead. Talk to her.”

“Shara? Can you hear me?”

“Ethan! Where are you?! I’m locked in some kind of cell.” She was looking around, as though the sound were coming from all around her.

“She can’t see you, Mr Choi.”

“Are you okay? Have they hurt you?” He asked.

“I… I’m alright. One of them roughed me up a bit, but nothing serious. I’m scared, Ethan.”

“I know. There’s a woman here. She’s asking me questions about the flash drive. I think she wants to talk to you too.”

Shara was silent for a few moments. When she did speak again, it was with a very serious tone.

“Is she listening right now?”

“I am.” Replied Grain.

“Then hear this… Ethan doesn’t know shit. He’s computer illiterate. As for the rest of it… Fuck you.”

“Hmm. Are you sure you won’t reconsider?” Said the woman, still working with the computer.

“Um, let me think about that… Fuck you, please?”

“I see. Very well, so long as we understand each other.” She turned to Ethan. “Your girlfriend is quite feisty. I like that. Normally, I would send her to some friends of mine who would soak her brain for every last bit of information that can be squeezed out of it, but I honestly don’t have the time for that, and I’m afraid that I just can’t trust what she says. She would just waste more of my time with lies. You on the other hand, have a very big incentive to tell me the truth.”

“Don’t listen to her, Ethan!”

“If you don’t start talking, and giving me what I want, clearly and without deception, then it won’t be you who suffers, it will be her. Do you understand?”

“He doesn’t know anything!” Screamed Shara.

He stared at the television screen, and the helpless form of his recent lover.

“I understand.”

“Good, then we can start with…”

“But I don’t trust you either. You don’t have any right to hold us, certainly not in some warehouse in the middle of nowhere with no access to a lawyer or other responsible official. That means that what you’re doing is illegal, and that our rights, even our lives, don’t mean shit to you.”

Grain looked a little surprised.

“Well well… Not quite the mindless meat-bag after all. Fine, then we shall skip along to the end-game, as it were. I read the file on your little cutie, and given what we found at her house, it would seem that she is more than generally proficient with computers. Quite a bit more. In fact, I’m certain that she has already figured out the files and how the music works. That’s unfortunate. So, there’s really only one question I need answered, Mr. Choi, and that’s who else you might have told about the contents of that flash drive.”

“No one. No one else knows.”

“Well, now that we’ve established that your lives are at stake, there’s really no reason for you not to lie, now is there? So I’ll have to give you a reason.” The woman was working at the computer again.

Kinter stepped forward. “What are you doing, Grain?”

“Your services are no longer needed, Special Agent. I’ll send you your payment.”

“Terminating kids wasn’t part of the deal…” He said a bit tensely.

“Don’t be so naive, Kinter. You see, Ethan, I think you know exactly what this music can do. What you don’t know is the rest of the story. It’s not so much the music on the drive itself that I was after, but rather the other, smaller file, the key. The late Dr. Mason, the creator of this technology, had an inconvenient change of ethics and took it upon himself to encrypt his entire body of work right when we were ready to present it. He locked the files and then smuggled the flash drive with the key on it out of this facility. After quite the chase, we cornered him in a mall, where he decided to use you as a mule of sorts to carry it out of our grasp. But thanks to Agent Kinter here, we were able to track you down, and, well, here we all are. ”

“I don’t see how that changes anything…”

“I want you to understand completely what’s at stake, so that you will comprehend why I am about to torture your girlfriend.”

“Ethan! Nothing you tell her is going to make a difference!” Yelled Shara over the video monitor. “Don’t worry about me! This isn’t your fault!”

Through the televsion, Ethan started to hear music. When he realized what it was that he was hearing, he almost unconsciously raised his hands to his ears.

“Oh not to worry, Mr Choi… The filters strip out the dangerous parts of the signal, at least on our end. We’re completely safe here. In the other room, however…”

Ethan watched in horror as Shara realized what was happening, but was powerless to prevent it. With her hands locked behind her back, she couldn’t even try to block the music by covering her ears. He saw her tip over onto her side, her face a mask of concentration as she fought to resist the ‘grabber’ phase of the audio. In seconds she was shaking and sweating, her breathing erratic.

“No… no… no… grrrrUGHNN…” She gasped, and exhaled abruptly. Instantly, her whole body relaxed and her eyes glazed over.

“There,” said Grain, “it’s got her. And now, it will slowly stimulate her sexually until she is forced to have an orgasm, and when she does, the file I have chosen for her will trigger a loop. So long as the music is playing, she will continue to experience that wonderful bliss. It will go on and on, continuously. But, as pleasurable as it may be, her muscles will gradually tire, as will her mind, and before long, she will start forgetting to breath. It takes about twenty minutes before her body stops supplying enough oxygen to her brain to keep her alive, but at least she’ll have a good time until the very end.”

“NO!” Said Ethan, loudly, as he took a step forward. With his hands behind his back, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but it didn’t matter as one of the men by the door moved up and pulled him back sharply.

When he looked back up to the screen, Shara was already shaking, the arousal effects of the music taking hold of her. He could hear her panting through the speakers as the music continued to work her.

“This isn’t right.” Said Kinter. “They’re just kids…”

“Since when do you care about killing people, Agent?”

“We don’t do children. Never have.” He replied firmly.

On the monitor, Shara was moaning, her body squirming on the floor as the arousal slowly built.

“You need to stop this!” He demanded more loudly. To his surprise, there was a gun suddenly at his back, held by the other uniformed guard.

“Maybe I should throw you in there with her, hmm?” Said, Grain in a sultry voice. “Let you two fuck each other senseless?”

Shara was really fighting, but it was obvious that she couldn’t hold off what was coming. Ethan could only watch as her head started to go back as her body tensed and trembled. Then, with a great cry of passion, she nearly pulled her own arms from their sockets as she shook into ecstasy. Her eyes rolled up into her head, her mouth wide as she struggled under the massive jolt of pleasure… but just as Miss Grain had said, the orgasm seemed to go on and on. And also as she said, the girl was hardly breathing.

“Stop it!” Ethan yelled. “You’re killing her!” He struggled to free himself, but was yanked painfully by the cuffs.

“Yes, I am. So tell me what I want to know and I’ll stop the music and end her torment.”

“I already told you, no one else knows!”

She clucked her tongue. “Now why don’t I believe you? A strapping, sexually active boy like yourself has music that can force an orgasm on anyone who listens to it, and you don’t tell a soul? Really? Please…”

Shara was jerking and rolling on the floor, obviously out of control.

“It’s the truth! We wanted to figure it out, Shara wanted to test it…”

“Oh my, how kinky of her. I’m sure that was fun…”

On the screen, the girl was starting to slow as her body tired and overheated.

“Let her go!! I’ve told you everything I know! There was no one else!”

Frantic, he tried again to free himself, and this time the man behind him bent his hands and forced him to his knees.

“GRAIN!” Yelled Kinter from the corner.

“Fine… fine…” She said at last, and tapped a key on the computer. The music stopped at once, and to Ethan’s great relief, he saw and heard Shara make a huge gasp as her mind was released from the onslaught of pleasure. Rolling to her back, she merely panted as her strength gradually returned. A moment later Grain switched off the television.

“Take him to the ward.” She said, indicating Ethan. “Go ahead and put him with his girlfriend for now. I’m sure she’ll be… eager to see him.”

With that, he was painfully hoisted to his feet and marched out. He was pushed down several corridors until he arrived at a hall with many armored doors. At the third one, the door was opened and he was shoved inside. Shara was laying in the far corner.

“Oh my god…” He said, rushing to her side. “Shara! Can you hear me? Are you alright?” Without his hands, there wasn’t much he could do to comfort her, so he just bumped his head against her shoulder.

“I’m okay, Ethan.” She mumbled softly. I think I did some damage to my wrists and shoulders, but otherwise I’m unhurt. You?”

“I’m fine. Shit, I’m so sorry, Shara. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t called you over…”

“No Ethan, don’t do that. I knew I was into something dangerous. I should have taken better precautions. Help me up, okay?”

He did, and when they were seated against the wall, next to each other, she gently leaned her head on his shoulder.

“What a day.” She said, at last.

He sighed. “I can’t believe she did that to you. Oh man…”

She stopped him. “Yeah, very nearly tore my own arms out I was cumming so hard.” She looked down. “I’m a real mess, sorry.”

He just chuckled.

“You know what would make me feel better?” She said after a moment.

“A hot bath?”

“Other than that… A head scratch.”

“That might be a little tough right now…” He quipped.

“I don’t usually wear my hair in a tail, so it’s driving me crazy. Do me a favor… If I lay down behind you, will you pullout the tie and give me a really good scratching? Please?”

“Uh, sure. Let me just turn.” The both did so, and she then scooted down so she could lay back with her head just at his hands. He found the thing that was holding her hair and pulled it out.

“Here, just drop that into my hands.” She said, scooting back up to him again. “It has… sentimental value.”

He did so.

When she was back in position, he did the best he could to give her scalp a good scratching. Finally, she sighed in satisfaction.

“Thanks. You have no idea what it’s like to have long hair that you can’t itch. It’s almost as unbearable as that music.” She sat next to him again. “Do you think she’s going to let us go?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. I can’t think of a reason why she would. If it wasn’t for that other guy she hired… Kinter, I think she would have just let you suffocate back in that padded room.”

“I remember some loud voices, but I was a bit… distracted.”

“You were dying.” He corrected her. “A few more minutes and you would have stopped breathing altogether.”

“Shit…” She commented, slightly in awe. “Well, we’re not dead yet. Maybe there’s still a chance we’ll get out of this.”

He looked over at her. “We’re handcuffed, locked in a cell out in the middle of nowhere, with armed guards and a crazy bitch who likes to torture teenagers…”

She smiled at him. “You’ll think of something. Now come closer next to me so that I can snuggle.”

It did feel nice to have Shara’s warm body pushed up next to his, but it didn’t give him any bright ideas to escape. He was just considering whether or not he could slide the handcuffs under his rear to get them in front of him when he felt something touch his hand.

Shara had her mouth right next to his ear, but spoke in a barely audible whisper. “Don’t move. Don’t speak. Wait for the guard to come back…” To his amazement, there was a soft click, and he felt the cuff loosen around his wrist as the mechanism released. As his heart rate skyrocketed, he marveled at the apparent miracle. “Just wait.” She reiterated, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

And so they waited, but not long. About five minutes later there was a loud thud, and Ethan felt the ground shake slightly. He turned to Shara with his mouth open.

“Be ready.” She urged, her eyes locking with his. There were loud voices in the hall, and running footsteps. Then there was another deep thud and shaking, and he swore he heard bursts of gunfire. Finally, there were footsteps outside their door as someone unlocked it.

Ethan was up and moving before he had time to consider what he was doing. As the door to the cell opened, he shifted quickly to the wall just inside. A camouflage arm appeared holding a gun, and he moved.

A thousand hours of training and practice rushed forward in that one second and took hold of the hand, turning it back and up in a quick snap, all without letting it go. The force and weight of the man he couldn’t even see was turned and directed down and to the doorframe, where he caught the elbow laterally against the corner. His reflex was to back off at this point. His mind waited for the tap-out that he would expect in a safe dojo, but this was not a safe place. This was not a safe sparring partner.

He ignored his reflex and put real force to the lever that had been created by the arm against the edge of the door, bending it beyond its ability to resist. There was a horrid popping sound as bone and tendon broke within the surrounding skin. The arm folded sideways, at an angle that was entirely unnatural, and there was a gasp and cry of pain from behind him. He turned and carried the limp arm into the room, drawing the stunned guard in closer. With a simple shift of his hips, he directed the falling body of the man around, accelerating him. This long spiral would have taken the man to the ground, if not for the fact that his forward decent was abruptly halted by the inside wall of the cell. His head clunked soundly into the concrete structure and he crumpled to the floor, unmoving. The whole exchange had taken less than four seconds.

“Holy crap!” Exclaimed Shara, who was just standing. “You really are Bruce Lee!” She came over and carefully took the gun from his hands as he caught his breath and tried to slow his racing heart. He wasn’t even aware he had taken it from the guard.

“I guess I thought of something…” He said, smiling.

“Fuckin’-a!” She grinned back at him.

Suddenly, there was more running and someone else appeared at the door. To his surprise, Shara snapped up the gun as though her arms were on springs, pointing it right over his shoulder at the second man.

“WHOA! Hold your fire!” Said a voice that Ethan recognized. He turned around, but noticed that his lover kept the gun pointed squarely on the man’s chest. “I’m on your side, girl!”

“Hold on, Shara.” He urged. “He’s the one who stopped that Grain woman.”

She didn’t move or lower the gun. “He’s also the one who brought us here, remember?”

“I wouldn’t have done that if I’d known what she had in mind for you, Miss. That’s the truth.”

There were a few tense moments, where Ethan wasn’t at all sure of his girlfriend’s intentions. Kinter never moved, apparently also convinced that Shara knew what she was doing with the gun. Finally, the girl brought her arm down and both of the males took deep breaths of relief.

“My partner and I took care of most of the guards, but there might be one or two still around, and of course Grain herself. We should go now in case she managed to call for backup.”

“No.” Said the girl, coldly.

“Uh, Shara… I think the man is right. It’s dangerous to stay.”

She shook her head. “There’s something I need to do first. Ethan, can you take me to the room you were in, the one with the computer. Please.”

“I… I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“I can take you.” Replied Kinter. “But we need to go now.” He turned around and disappeared into the hall. Shara followed him without a word, and then, still trying to get his head around everything that had happened in the last fifteen minutes, Ethan took up the rear.

The trip to the control room was short, if not tense. Twice more they heard gunfire from elsewhere in the building, and Agent Kinter was smiling. Apparently his partner was still causing trouble.

Shara went straight to the computer when they entered, and Ethan recognized the focussed intensity of someone deep at work on a problem. Her fingers raced over the keys as though possessed.

“Just wonderin’, but how did you guys get out of the cell?” Asked the large black man.

Ethan’s brows went up. “Come to think of it, I’m not sure. Shara unlocked my cuffs, and I took care of the guard when he came through the door.”

The man turned to Shara.

“Handcuff key in my hair tie.” She said without looking up from what she was doing.

“Seriously?” Said Ethan. “Why on Earth would you…”

“Hacker habit.” She replied as means of an explanation.

Kinter just laughed. “I think you’ve got your hands full, son.”

There was some running outside, and then a pause beyond the door. There was very faint tapping in a specific pattern, and the man in the suit relaxed and opened the door. Another man, the one he had called ‘Hess’, was in the hall, his gun at his side.

“Sorry I’m late. Had a little disagreement with a few of Grains goonies. You good?”

“Frosty. Chick needed to see the computer. I think I know what she’s up to. D’you get the other four?”

He smiled. “Yup, and I think you might want to see this…” He walked over to the control panel and flicked a switch. The large flatscreen monitor came to life, showing the same room that Shara had been in earlier. Pounding on the door from the inside was Grain.

“How?…”

“She did it.” He laughed. “Took a wrong turn, and I just closed her in.”

Shara had stopped what she was doing to look up at the screen, her eyes squinting in anger. A moment later she turned back to the computer, even more intense than before.

“Special Agent Kinter?” She called, while still typing.

“Ma’am?”

“I assume you’re a paid mercenary.”

“Well… We were actually hired to contain the breach and recover her missing flash drive…”

She turned and looked at him with an icy glare.

“But, yeah, paid mercenaries works…”

She nodded. “Did she pay you yet?”

He seemed surprised. “Er… well not entirely. Half up front, half on completion… We never got the second half, as she decided that it would be more economical to just kill us.”

“I thought that might be the case. Can I ask you how much she still owed you?”

The man was even more confused. “Four million, U.S., why?”

“Because Miss Grain is about to pay you what you’re owed… as well as a small P.I.A. fee. For someone who works on covert dark research, her computer security is pathetic. Who keeps their banking passwords on their computer ‘fer crissake? Got an account number?”

“I do…”

“Type it in.” She indicated he should come to the keyboard. He did, looked at the screen, then at her, then started typing.

“Smart chicks with money…” He said to himself and pressed return. “Hey, that was six.”

“Yup. P.I.A. fee.” She answered.

He chuckled. “We ready to blow this place yet?”

“Just one more thing.” Said Shara, looking at the monitor, and the woman pounding on the door. The girl entered a few quick commands on the keyboard, and suddenly there was music playing in the padded room. It was music that Ethan recognized, and his mouth dropped open.

“Miss Whelan?” Prompted Agent Kinter.

“I’m giving her no less than she gave me. You got a problem with that, Kinter?”

“No Ma’am.” He said at once. “Just wanted to be sure. Mind tellin’ me what else you did with that computer?”

“I’ve set it to permanently wipe itself, and every other drive on the network, in exactly thirty-eight minutes. Is that acceptable?”

His smile was mixed with a heavy sigh of appreciation. “Yes, Ma’am. Quite. Some things just shouldn’t be in the hands of people like Grain… or anyone of power for that matter.” He turned back to Hess. “We’ll just take one of those nice SUV’s she was driving, you give them the keys to the van. Thought we could use an upgrade…”

The second suit tossed Ethan some keys, and they all started to leave. Shara took one last look at the video monitor, just as Grain started gasping, her hands between her legs. She nodded, and followed the others from the room.