Sky was sitting on the bed holding my hand, Muffin was curled up beside me and Crystal was sitting on the chair looking at me. “I am so sorry Steve,” said Sky quietly, “but when I saw you choking Crystal again, I could tell she was beginning to have serious trouble, so I had to stop you.” I smiled at her. “You did the right thing Sky,” I said, “if you did not do that, I might have had to dismiss you from the team. Rules are rules, and they apply to the team leader too.”

Crystal came over when she saw that I was awake. “I suppose you would like to choke me now,” I said, “and I would not blame you.” She smiled. “No Steve,” she said, “I would not want to hurt you. I know you did not do that, someone is controlling you somehow.” Chung came in at that moment. “Time for a look at you Steve,” he said, “I have been talking with Mr. Walter, he has given me an idea which we need to check.” Off I went and Sky came along too.

Dr. Saranna was waiting for me too and it did not take long to find something. Surgery was next to remove a tiny object. It seems Walter was trying to come up with something like this a long time ago too, but he and his “friends” just did not have the knowledge for such a thing. I am glad for that. I am also happy that he mentioned it to Chung so we can perhaps find out what is going on with me.

I was back in my room and Rock came along to see me. He was getting very concerned about me. After a little while Chung came back with a small little device that had been implanted in my ear. Majori must have done it when I was in here before, likely when I was asleep. She probably gave me something to make me sleep more soundly so she could do this little operation.

“Right here,” Chung said, “this would alert someone that you had laid down, then here would tell that person you had fallen asleep. Here is where that person would give you instructions which you would easily accept because of the drugs you had been given. The voice would be quiet, but because it was in your ear, you would hear it just fine. This is how you would have been hypnotized to begin with, right after you had been given the drug, that is when it would be working at its strongest.

The voice talking to you would then make you dream of killing someone which you would then do when you awoke.” “Amazing little device,” I said, “okay Rock, I was told to kill, who would you say is behind this?” “Not Lavina as we first thought,” he said, “first you tried to kill Sky, then twice you tried to kill Crystal. I would say that someone wants you to kill Sky and because Crystal looks so much like Sky and you were not yourself at the time, you just associated her with Sky, so tried to kill her.”

“Right,” I said, “I agree with that assessment totally. Someone wants Sky dead, but who would you say is doing it?” “I would say it was Cherise,” he said, “that other second in command with Carole Ann, the one woman that was not at the headquarters that night.” “Right again,” I said, “you get top marks for all that Rock, that is the woman we want. How far away would the person have to be for this device Chung.” “Oh, they would need to be quite close,” he said, “the range for that device would not be far.”

“That would mean that Cherise is close by!” exclaimed Sky. “No, not necessarily,” said Rock, “she could, and likely does have, someone else doing this. She would not take a chance at being too close at hand, just in case we figured this out and tracked her down.” “Right again Rock!” I said smiling, “you are really doing well with this.” “Thanks Steve,” he said smiling, and blushing a bit, “but I did have a good teacher.”

“You are blushing,” said Crystal to Rock. That made him blush even more. Poor Rock, he really does not like too much attention, but he deserves praise this time, that is for sure. There was only that one device too, Chung and Saranna made sure they checked me thoroughly. “I really am sorry Crystal,” I said, “trying to kill one of my own team, that is really hard on me.”

“Steve, I know it is not your fault,” she said, “I do not hold anything against you, and I still trust you 100%, even if the two of us were alone.” She smiled very nicely and looked at Sky. Sky smiled back, “yes, of course you may.” Meow,meow.=Oooh, that a good one. We all laughed. “Remember this Steve?” asked Crystal. “Yes, I sure do,” I said, “have you looked yet?”

“No, we all waited so you could see it too,” she replied. “Well, do not waste time,” I said, “if my hunch is correct, Sofie will be spending a long time in prison.” And it was better than I had hoped. Now the police will not need anymore evidence to convict her. This, and other things they have already, will be just enough to put Sofie in prison for a very long time.

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.