MIND CONTROL
CHAPTER TWELVE
Starsky slouched in the corner of the room, trembling from another session with Colby and his games with the stun belt. His muscles were still shaking and quivering from the shock of electricity that had coursed through his body. Starsky knew that if he had been much weaker, he wouldn't have survived the torture. He was still capable of feeling a deep burning rage at Colby for the pleasure that he was obviously getting from hurting him. Colby's use of the device went beyond a simple means of control, he enjoyed seeing Starsky in agony, writhing on the floor at his feet.
He looked up as the door to his prison opened, expecting to see Colby coming back to torment him some more. Instead, he was surprised to see the pretty redheaded nurse who had cared for him when he was first taken prisoner. He watched her warily as she crossed the room and knelt down beside him. Instinctively, he flinched and pulled away when she reached out to touch his arm.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." She said in a soft, gentle voice with a distinctive southern accent. She smiled trying to put him at ease. "Are you okay?"
"Why should you care? You didn't care before."
"I suppose I deserved that. I was just doing my job and following orders." She pointed out defensively. "My name is Melissa but you can call me Missy. What should I call you?"
"Dave." Starsky told her cautiously, still not sure if he should trust her or not. "I don't suppose you want to tell me where I am?"
"I can't do that." She said with a tone of regret in her voice. "Or I could end up just like you."
"Why are you helping them?"
"Money. What else is there? I couldn't make this much working anywhere else."
"Don't you care about what they do here?" Starsky demanded, a hard edge to his voice as he stared intently into her soft brown eyes.
"It's really none of my business." Missy said in a disinterested voice. She brushed at an imaginary piece of lint on her white uniform pants. With a smile, she reached into the pocket of the white lab coat she was wearing and pulled out a can of soda and a candy bar. "Want this? I bought it for my break but I'm not really hungry anymore."
Starsky was sorely tempted to accept the treat but hesitated. "How do I know I can trust you? You could have put something in it."
"Awfully suspicious, aren't you?" she said with a giggle. She opened the can of soda and took a long swallow, then held it out to him. "See? There's nothing in it."
Starsky grabbed the can gratefully and drank it down in one long swallow. It was cold and sweet, the taste delicious on his tongue. "Thank you. I needed that." He told her with a thin smile as he sat the empty can on the floor.
"You might as well take this too." She said offering him the candy bar.
Starsky accepted the candy, sitting it on the floor beside him. "I'll save it for later." He said starting to relax in her company. It felt good to just be carrying on a normal conversation with another person. He had missed that more than he realized.
"I have to go. I could get into trouble if they catch me talking to you." As Missy started to rise to her feet to leave, Starsky reached out and grasped her wrist.
"Will you come back to see me again?" he asked, hating the needy sound he could hear in his own voice. "Please…I need somebody to talk to besides myself."
"Of course I'll come back." She promised him with a bright smile. "As soon as I can. Maybe next time I can sneak in a pizza."
"Do that and I'll love you forever." Starsky told her, his natural charm showing through as he enjoyed a bit of flirting with her.
"I'll have to keep that in mind." She said with a blush as she stood up and hurried from the room. Starsky sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall and took a deep, calming breath. He still didn't entirely trust the young woman but he craved the simple contact with someone who wasn't out to hurt him.
He picked up the candy bar and tore off the wrapper. It was a Milky Way, one of his favorites. He took a bite, savoring the taste in his mouth as he chewed slowly before swallowing. He wanted to make the experience last since he didn't know if he would taste another candy bar anytime soon. Starsky missed the simple pleasures the most. His favorite junk foods, a cold beer on a hot afternoon, kicking back with Hutch on the deck of their little house on the beach, long walks in the sand listening to the sounds of the ocean waves. His eyes filled with sudden tears that he angrily blinked away.
He found himself wondering if there was some way he could use the woman to get a message to Hutch. He knew he couldn't get out of this mess alone. He was going to need all the help he could get. He knew he was still being drugged on a regular basis. His mind wasn't as sharp as usual and he had trouble keeping focused. He knew that drugs played a big part in brain washing a subject, making them more susceptible to suggestion and the loss of their own free will. He had survived almost six months of hell as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam. He wondered how long he would be able to survive this.
Finishing his candy, he shoved himself to his feet and shuffled into the bathroom to answer the call of nature. He longed for something to do, anything, to break up the boredom and silence of this room. He had counted every crack in the ceiling and identified every obscure sound from the creaking of the pipes in the bathroom to dripping of the water in the shower. His daily routine never varied. Once a day, clean clothes were left along with his breakfast tray. After he ate, he took a shower and changed. And then he sat, losing himself in his own mind, until his lunch tray was delivered. After lunch was when Colby usually showed up to torment him for awhile, sometimes using his fists along with the shocks from the stun belt to get his point across. The sessions always left him weak and disoriented, his muscles involuntarily twitching and jerking for hours. After supper, he usually curled up on the bed and tried to sleep. It was an endless cycle that was slowly driving him out of his mind.
He hoped that Missy would keep her promise to come back and see him again. At least that gave him something normal to look forward to. Even if it was only for a few minutes, it helped him grab onto to something real and hold on tight to keep himself balanced. He had pushed the ever increasing fear and panic he felt deep inside of himself, held at bay only by his own determination and will power. But, he didn't know how much longer he could keep it under control. Every man had his breaking point and Starsky knew he was rapidly approaching his.
His captors must have sensed it to. Colby arrived ahead of schedule the next day, even before Starsky had eaten lunch. His tormentor seemed in a cheerful mood and not as interested in causing Starsky an unnecessary pain.
"So, Starsky…have you thought anymore about the offer my colleagues made you?" he asked with a pleasant smile.
"I told them before to get fucked and I haven't changed my mind about that." Starsky growled, watching Colby closely and trying to anticipate his next move.
"David," Colby said with a heavy, disappointed sigh. "Why do you insist on doing things the hard way?"
"Just the way I am, I guess." Starsky said with a thin smile. "You should know that."
"Yeah, I remember back at the Academy, you were always butting heads with the instructors wanting to know why something had to be done a certain way." Colby laughed at the memory. "You always had some smart ass answer for everything and everybody." He snorted "You're still a smart ass…always running that mouth of yours." He smiled bitterly "I can't see how you made it as far in the department as you did without getting kicked out on you ass."
"Maybe because I was a good cop and I had a partner I could trust." Starsky said dryly. "We busted you, didn't we?"
"That you did…and I spent two years in a lousy, stinking cell because of you." Colby said with a sneer. "But look where I am now and where you are." He smiled smugly "And this time Hutchinson isn't going to show up to save you because everybody back home thinks your dead."
"Sooner or later, your little plan will blow up in your face." Starsky said with more confidence than he actually felt. "And then we'll see what happens to your little covert operation"
"Still a cocky bastard, aren't you." Colby said with no real malice. "Believe me, my friend, you haven't even begun to suffer yet. By the time we're finished with you, you'll do exactly what we tell you to do. It's just a matter of time."
Laughing, Colby turned and walked out of the room leaving Starsky alone with his thoughts. Although he hated to admit it, there was a part of him that knew Colby was right. They had all the time in the world to break him down into an empty shell of a man who would obey their every command and they had the resources available to make his life miserable until he bent to their will.