You’re not here to do an article on local biotech companies,” the man said. Without bothering to wait for an answer, he looked at his watch, then back at Bill. “I can give you ten minutes and see if I can clear up your misconceptions. Why don’t we go back to my office?”
Bill caught the way the security guard’s eyes darted in the direction of the steel door. “No thanks,” Bill said, “maybe another time.” He backed up and left through the front entrance before he had a chance to see who the security guard and the Gordon Gekko look-alike were waiting for. “Some other time then,” the Gordon Gekko look-alike called out to Bill with mild disappointment as he waved genially. Bill self-consciously found himself waving back.
Chapter 27
Dr. Sidney Whitfield’s soft owl-like face squeezed into a perturbed frown. “That is not possible,” he insisted, a nasal whine edging into his voice. “Injecting a subject with sodium pentothal will certainly aid and speed up the hypnotic process, but hypnotizing someone to commit murder? No. It simply does not work that way.”
“What about creating false memories with hypnosis?” Bill asked.
Whitfield’s frown grew more pained. “Not in an adult, no, at least not in the way you’re suggesting,” he said. “In a small child, maybe. For an adult, you would require brainwashing techniques, which is much different than hypnosis and far more intensive. It would take days, if not weeks. And to brainwash this woman into believing that she had a child who was murdered, a child who never in fact existed….” Whitfield rubbed his jaw while he considered the possibility of it, his fingers kneading deeply into his dough-like flesh. “I don’t know,” he murmured, a bit flustered. “But if something like that were possible it would take a long and drawn-out effort to break down the subject’s personality. I’ve never read any literature on the subject suggesting something as extreme as being able to create memories within a mother of a child who was never actually born.”
“That part of it was an accident,” Bill said. “They grabbed the wrong woman. They meant to take Janet Larson, but Larson and Hawes looked so much alike…”
Bill stopped as he saw how his theory fell apart. If they thought they had grabbed Janet Larson they would’ve brainwashed her that Forster had murdered her daughter. They never would’ve bothered trying to make her believe that she’d had this daughter in the first place.
Whitfield smiled sympathetically at Bill, clearly seeing the same hole in Bill’s logic that he was now seeing himself. “Anything else I can help you with?” Whitfield asked.
Bill shook his head and thanked the psychologist for his time. Something bizarre was going on, but it wasn’t what he had first imagined. Still, though, some bizarre shit. Abducting him in broad daylight and shooting at him. His car bugged, a GPS transmitter planted also. And then there were those emails from his good pal, G . He wished he could just dismiss them as cranks. Except G knew about his abduction. Not just knew about it, but claimed that he had organized his rescue…unless he was bullshitting about that part of it. G could’ve been only watching him. That Hummer running the stop sign and plowing into the side of the van could’ve been just a fluke accident. Maybe Tim Zhang had worked for ViGen Corporation, then again, maybe not. Even if he had, what would that mean? He was a renowned immunologist, the company is working on a revolutionary flu vaccine. Nothing sinister there…
Except there was something sinister about the place. Even before they sent for muscle to deal with him he felt there was something very wrong there. Maybe it was the way that bullet-headed guard had stared at Bill when he first approached him, almost as if he knew who Bill was and that the identity he was being given was false. The same was true with that Gordon Gekko look-alike. Bill caught his
Bill caught the way the security guard’s eyes darted in the direction of the steel door. “No thanks,” Bill said, “maybe another time.” He backed up and left through the front entrance before he had a chance to see who the security guard and the Gordon Gekko look-alike were waiting for. “Some other time then,” the Gordon Gekko look-alike called out to Bill with mild disappointment as he waved genially. Bill self-consciously found himself waving back.
Chapter 27
Dr. Sidney Whitfield’s soft owl-like face squeezed into a perturbed frown. “That is not possible,” he insisted, a nasal whine edging into his voice. “Injecting a subject with sodium pentothal will certainly aid and speed up the hypnotic process, but hypnotizing someone to commit murder? No. It simply does not work that way.”
“What about creating false memories with hypnosis?” Bill asked.
Whitfield’s frown grew more pained. “Not in an adult, no, at least not in the way you’re suggesting,” he said. “In a small child, maybe. For an adult, you would require brainwashing techniques, which is much different than hypnosis and far more intensive. It would take days, if not weeks. And to brainwash this woman into believing that she had a child who was murdered, a child who never in fact existed….” Whitfield rubbed his jaw while he considered the possibility of it, his fingers kneading deeply into his dough-like flesh. “I don’t know,” he murmured, a bit flustered. “But if something like that were possible it would take a long and drawn-out effort to break down the subject’s personality. I’ve never read any literature on the subject suggesting something as extreme as being able to create memories within a mother of a child who was never actually born.”
“That part of it was an accident,” Bill said. “They grabbed the wrong woman. They meant to take Janet Larson, but Larson and Hawes looked so much alike…”
Bill stopped as he saw how his theory fell apart. If they thought they had grabbed Janet Larson they would’ve brainwashed her that Forster had murdered her daughter. They never would’ve bothered trying to make her believe that she’d had this daughter in the first place.
Whitfield smiled sympathetically at Bill, clearly seeing the same hole in Bill’s logic that he was now seeing himself. “Anything else I can help you with?” Whitfield asked.
Bill shook his head and thanked the psychologist for his time. Something bizarre was going on, but it wasn’t what he had first imagined. Still, though, some bizarre shit. Abducting him in broad daylight and shooting at him. His car bugged, a GPS transmitter planted also. And then there were those emails from his good pal, G . He wished he could just dismiss them as cranks. Except G knew about his abduction. Not just knew about it, but claimed that he had organized his rescue…unless he was bullshitting about that part of it. G could’ve been only watching him. That Hummer running the stop sign and plowing into the side of the van could’ve been just a fluke accident. Maybe Tim Zhang had worked for ViGen Corporation, then again, maybe not. Even if he had, what would that mean? He was a renowned immunologist, the company is working on a revolutionary flu vaccine. Nothing sinister there…
Except there was something sinister about the place. Even before they sent for muscle to deal with him he felt there was something very wrong there. Maybe it was the way that bullet-headed guard had stared at Bill when he first approached him, almost as if he knew who Bill was and that the identity he was being given was false. The same was true with that Gordon Gekko look-alike. Bill caught his
Similar Books
