Act 5
The flight to Edwards was uneventful and the young Lieutenant was a likeable person. He was quite knowledgeable about the areas they would be working in. Rebecca decided to see if they could commandeer him while they were there.
Once they landed they were shown to the base commander Lieutenant Colonel Hays' office.
The commander stood and shook their hands
"Ahh, Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Edwards, whatever I can do to help, please just ask."
"Thank you Lieutenant Colonel, I am Rebecca Andrews and these are my colleagues April Dancer and Mark Slate. I take it that Mr Waverly has briefed you regarding our assignment."
Rebecca hoped that the military personnel here would be as willing to co-operate at they seemed, most times the US Military didn't like UNCLE 'interfering' with their business. But usually when they found out that THRUSH was involved, they knew UNCLE had to be called in whether they liked it or not.
"Yes, he has, when do you want to speak with the prisoner?"
The officer couldn't believe that they had been sent this woman; he really couldn't see how she would be able to get any information from the prisoner at all. He always thought that UNCLE was a strange organisation, although, unlike most of his counterparts, he did recognise the need for them at times.
He would help them with their investigation if only to get his base back to normal as quickly as possible. Having these two good-looking women roaming around the place was sure to cause some trouble.
"In a moment, sir. I would like to know where he was found first please."
The officer called in Lieutenant Henderson and asked him to bring in a map of the area around the Lockheed installation.
"He was found trying to enter the offices at the northern end of the facility here." And he pointed to an area on the maps by a large white building.
"Do you know what was in the offices that he could have been after?" asked Mark
"We don't know what exactly he was after, but there are top secret files for prototype aircraft in those offices." Answered the commander.
"Hmm, knowing THRUSH, they have most likely found out something interesting that's in the pipeline and wants to know more."
"Yes, April, I was thinking along the same lines, we know only too well that they would rather steal other people's ideas rather than come up with their own, he must be working with someone here, we need to find out who." Rebecca looked to Hayes "Do you know how long he has been out here and if he has had any contact with anyone in this area?"
"No, we don't know when he came and haven't seen him with anyone that I know of. The first time I'd seen him was when he was caught and brought here. When we found out he was linked to THRUSH we contacted your organisation."
"OK, I'd like to see our 'guest' and see what he can tell us now please." Rebecca waited for Lieutenant Colonel Hays to show them to the prisoner.
The officer didn't believe that Rebecca would find anything out from the THRUSH man, he had thought that UNCLE would have sent a male interrogator, he knew that UNCLE didn't rough up their prisoners, but at least a male agent would act and look more menacing then a female.
Rebecca was shown to the cell where Konrad Reinhardt was being kept. It was in a small block at the opposite end of the building. She looked in the room at him and he looked back at her with contempt. Rebecca turned to the commander.
"I would appreciate it if we could be left alone please."
"Ok, if you are sure you can handle him, I can leave one of my lieutenants with you just in case?"
"No that won't be necessary, thank you. We are quite capable of taking care of ourselves."
Hayes nodded and went to leave the cells
"Err, Lieutenant Colonel?" He turned back towards Rebecca. "Do you have any cameras active in this area?"
He pointed out several "Yes, they are recording when the light is on."
Rebecca looked at the cameras and could see that the red light was on on each of the cameras.
"Can you isolate them? I would like all of them turned off except this one by the entrance. We can then signal you when we are ready to leave."
"Yes, we can do that, can I ask why?"
April and Mark looked to Rebecca, she nodded slightly. "We have a highly trained interrogator and we don't like the method that is used to be known. As yet, no-one outside our organisation and only a few within it knows how it is done."
"And we want to keep it that way." Finished Rebecca.
The commander nodded gave Rebecca the cell key and left the area. The three agents waited until they saw the lights go out on all the cameras except the one they indicated before they moved to Konrad's cell.
Rebecca gave Mark the key and he opened the door, then they all entered the room. Immediately on entering Konrad ran at the agents, he had somehow made a sharp blade and mistakenly thinking that because two of the agents were women, they would be easy to deal with, he lashed out as he charged, caught April on the arm drawing blood with the blade in his right hand and head-butted Rebecca in the stomach, the blow momentarily stunning her and knocking her backwards. Running into Rebecca had slowed the THRUSH and Mark quickly reached him and grabbed his right wrist very tightly making him drop the blade and swinging the prisoner around, punched him in the stomach. The German fell to his knees, winded, just the other side of his cell door. He was put back into the cell and Rebecca and Mark stood guard over him.
"You'll be sorry you did that. You've messed with the wrong two women" Mark said looking to his partner examining the cut to her arm in the passageway "You alright April?"
"Yes, it's only a scratch, which is more than I would do to him if I was allowed to."
Rebecca grinned at Mark and looked to Konrad
"Even we don't like to be in the same room with April when she's angry!"
"And you've just made her angry, mate." Mark looked over to Rebecca
"Maybe we should just leave the two of them together!"
"No, I need him alive a bit longer Mark, we need some questions answered. You take April into the hallway and calm her down and persuade her not to do any permanent damage to our 'guest' here when I'm done with him. She usually listens to you!"
"I only listen to my partner when there's an 'A' in the month Rebecca, you know that!" April called out from the passageway.
"Oh, yes, I forgot, what is this month then?"
"July!"
"The only way it could be worse is if she's got PMT, so you should be fairly intact when she's finished." Grinned Mark.
"Think again Mark!"
"OH, hell, you're in for it mate, July and PMT!"
While the THRUSH was listening to all this, the colour was gradually draining from his face. He came to realise that these two women were not an easy target after all.
"You can always talk to me. I don't bite, unlike my other friend over there!" said Rebecca "Mark, do you have my cassette tape on you? I think we may need it to calm April down"
"Yes, it's here and I've seen a cassette player here too, you want to play it now?"
"With July and PMT I think April really needs it!"
Mark left the room and soon the tape was playing and a soothing, hypnotic voice started talking.
"I think 15 minutes should do it Mark, I'll stay and keep an eye on this one while you see if you can talk to April."
Mark and April knew what Rebecca was doing. The tape was playing to 'condition' the German, it was the way Rebecca worked. The only other people who had seen Rebecca interrogate was Napoleon, Illya and Mr Waverly.
Rebecca turned to the THRUSH and saw that he was listening to her voice on the tape. He was sat on his cot and his eyes were starting to glaze over, entering into a kind of hypnotic trance, Rebecca walked close to him and took her necklace off and started examining the locket hanging on it, it had an engraving on one side, a Celtic knot. The light glinting off it when she moved it caught Konrad's attention. She let the locket dangle and catch the light more, letting it swing gently, Konrad fixed his eyes on the swinging locked, unable to look away.
"It's pretty isn't it? I've always liked the way it catches the light."
Rebecca was speaking in a soothing and hypnotic way. The tape had finished now and her voice was clear in the prisoners head.
"It was a gift, given to me from someone who loves me very dearly, the pattern on the locket is a Celtic knot, it is a knot of love, it is never-ending, like the love of the person who gave me this."
Mesmerised Konrad asked "Who gave it to you? They must love you very much to give you something so beautiful."
"Yes, they do. My Mother gave it to me, many years ago, when I was about 7. It was the age where I always wanted to be good for my Mother, and told the truth. You would tell your Mother the truth wouldn't you? No one wants to upset mother by lying."
"No, I told the truth, didn't like mum to be upset. She loved me, I loved her, always told the truth."
"Good, now you are going to tell me the truth aren't you?"
"Yes, the truth."
"Why are you here?"
The interrogation had now begun. The THRUSH was under full hypnosis and would tell the truth. Under the hypnosis, the subject thought that they were a young child, full of innocence, answering their mother's questions. The questions they imagined they were being asked were innocent and in their mind the answers were simple enough; but in reality the questions and answers Rebecca was getting were more revealing.
The THRUSH didn't actually know that he was giving the Uncle agents all the information they could get from him and the real beauty of this form of interrogation is that they never knew that they had given anything away; and their 'drug resistance therapy' didn't have any effect. The only thing they felt when the interrogation was over was a feeling of calm as if they had fallen asleep and had just woken up, and of course there were no puncture wounds from injections, so they knew that there had been no drugs involved and assumed that no interrogation had taken place.