Jack City

Sabrina Unchecked

Coolidge had been waiting impatiently outside the boardroom and walked quickly with the attractive assistant to what SCA2 called their 'crime lab'. She was insistent on seeing every step of this inane investigation from start to finish. The neurologist would not perform any unnecessary surgery, especially not on a child. It greatly disturbed her that the research she had poured her soul into was being used so deviously and unethically. This was never her goal.

The glass that Sabrina had drunk water from was handed to a man wearing a lab coat and rubber gloves. The room was dark with blue lights and it took several minutes for Coolidge's eyes to readjust. The crime lab technician brushed the glass and held it under the light on his desk. He then blew off excess silver powder and applied the lifting tape. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, carefully removed the lifting tape and stuck it to a fingerprint card.

"We'll compare it now to the fingerprints found on the knife retrieved from the police chief's home," he said in a very low voice.

Coolidge crossed her fingers hoping there was no match but her wishes were denied.

"It's a match," the technician said.

Unknown to Coolidge, Menendez had slipped into the room moments earlier. His voice shirked her from the daydream state she had fallen into.

"You know what you have to do," Menendez growled.

He took one look at his neurologist and left the room.

                                                                                      ****

Sabrina awoke and found herself in a dark room with four hanging lights above her bed. There was a nurse or someone similar to a nurse, cleaning up a small metal bowl and not being very quiet about it. The tiny woman left with the bowl and Sab found herself alone for five minutes. Her mouth was still frozen from the root canal that the dentist said she required. They sedated her and that was all she remembered. When Marie's mom entered the room, she was not relieved to see a friendly face. She had heard rumours and besides, this woman was not a dentist. Sab tried to look for a positive side and thought that maybe the woman was here because she was someone she knew.

Coolidge sat on the small cot, took out a flashlight and then asked Sabrina to sit upright.

"Listen to me very carefully, Sabrina. This room is video monitored but I have turned off the audio. They can see us but they can't hear us. I am about to tell you some awfully creepy stuff so I need you to remain very calm and do not, at any time, show that you are scared or distressed. Nod if you can do this." Sabrina nodded twice. "I'm going to shine this flashlight in your eyes and then move my hands around your head as if I am in the process of confirming your motor skills."

Coolidge opened Sab's left eye and directed the flashlight.

"The people watching us right now think I have put a brain implant into your upper neck below your skull. I have not done so. So that you know, the purpose of the implant is to send messages to your brain in order to tranquilize you, so to speak...to keep you shy."

The pretty doctor paused a few seconds to gauge her patient's reaction.

"Menendez - Kristina's father - believes you to be a danger to his project because you visited Captain Brossard." Sab's eyes opened wide. "Do not show distress Sabrina." Coolidge flashed her light in Sab's other eye. "I have actually implanted a tiny microchip that will last three years but...Sabrina, take a deep breath, you're going to screw everything up."

Sab was breathing heavier and it was obvious to Coolidge that the girl was terrified.

"I will phone your home this evening, the phone will ring once and I will hang up. After that you will hear my voice in your head. Do not be scared, Sabrina, I am saving you. Look at me and nod if you understand." Sab nodded again. "When you leave here today, do not make eye contact with anyone, keep your head down and act as if you are very bashful. At eight o'clock, I want you to slide on the bracelet that I have stuck in your back pocket. In the meantime, you'll have plenty of time to think things over. You will be very thankful in the next few weeks. You and I, Sabrina, will be one hell of a team. Don't worry sweetheart, all will be fine. Nod if you're all good."

The young girl was terrified but found the courage to nod. In ten minutes she was walking out of the building, avoiding all contact while acting as introverted as she could.

Her mother was not outside to meet her.