The Conduit: Chapter 4

Max watched the detention unit for the next twenty-four hours, still dismayed by the age and appearance of the prisoner dubbed highly dangerous and of utmost importance to the group. She looked like she belonged in a freshmen dorm somewhere, not being treated like the world’s most dangerous terrorist. He sat in his office, watching the detention officers regularly circle the barrier field around her living space. She would watch them go around, as they checked the barrier field. She would follow their movements, and she complied with instructions when brought meals.

He hadn’t spoken to Chief Morrow since yesterday. The submarine was still docked on level four, kept out of sight from the world. Chief Morrow and his team had no interest in anything more than the station’s amenities and decompressing from their missing. They’d been going non-stop for three weeks, tracking her from the mountains to a village in the local province. The team was weary, recovering from the ravages of trekking through a blizzard and hostile territory, then two days without sleep as they guarded her aboard the transport sub.

Sitting there, Max had questions that neither the mercenary and his team, nor the group, were answering. It was clear that other than the group, they didn’t have anything more than Max was given. He was going to have to figure out who she was, but something about Morrow’s briefing repeated itself in his mind, over and over. Morrow questioned what she was. He’d said it more than once. He knew Morrow was a skilled soldier. He’d seen action in multiple areas of the world, and all of them hostile. Max couldn’t help but continue to worry about what shook the man he knew was an ice-cold soldier.

Looking at the monitor on his screen, he continued to watch the detention center while he attempted to focus on his other duties. He still had the Oceanic operations to supervise. While he watched the prisoner closely, he would have to trust that the security and his guys could handle manning the detention duties most of the time. He turned to the daily reports in front of him, trying to get caught up with things before he attempted to start the interrogation process. That was going to be a process he knew he’d struggle with.

As a trained interrogator, Max was good at extracting information. He knew how to make people talk, but the methods he was trained to utilize were extreme and outside of what was authorized in most instances. Most of them were used on terrorists or worse, and even then, considered to be off the book’s interrogations. He didn’t know how he was going to proceed with a teenage girl. The idea of waterboarding a child didn’t sit well with him.

A buzz at his door alerted Max that someone was there. He looked at the small screen on his desk, his face turning sour. It was the last person he expected to see.

“Enter!” he yelled.

As the door whisked open, Max looked at the doctor with a forced smile. He expected her to be there to coerce him into letting her take a launch to the yacht. Maybe she’d explain the curiosity to him. Why did she care to see the ghost craft?

“I hear you have a prisoner to attend to?”

“How did you hear that?” he wondered.

“One of the men on four asked if I was going to do a medical screening?” she admitted.

Max knew that under normal circumstances a detainee medical screening was a standard practice. He hadn’t accounted for the doctor screening the classified detainee. But there might be an advantage to them doing the screening. The doctor checking over the girl might put the girl at ease. A female visitor might make her feel more comfortable talking to him.

“Alright, but before we do that, there are some things you need to know,” explained Max.

“I’m listening,” she said.

“None of this is to be written down. You can do the exam, but for the records you’ll have to use a Jane Doe name. There’s to be no mention of the exam being on a detainee,” he instructed. “Do you understand?”

“I do, and I’m intrigued.”

Max described the situation to the doctor. As he told Susan about the young woman being held by the Oceanic, he cautioned her not to treat her as a teenage kid. She may appear to be an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old girl, but she was anything but what she seemed. Max was intentionally exaggerating things to keep the doctor in line. He knew Susan well enough that her bedside manner needed to be left at the door.

“I can’t caution you enough,” he admitted. “There’s little we know about her, but she walked out of an archeological site after six scientists, four soldiers, and two guides were slaughtered. Somehow, she survived the trek to a village near the base of the mountain, nearly 20,000 feet down. None of it makes any sense.”

“Did she kill them?” asked Susan, suddenly unnerved.

“We simply don’t know,” he promised. “But that’s why she’s being detained.”

Susan looked at Max and nodded. Her heart was racing now, and she suddenly felt unnerved by the idea she’d have to examine someone potentially so dangerous. She knew they were building a detention level. She expected to deal with political or intelligence prisoners, possibly terrorist suspects, or known criminals. They would know enough about those types to know what they were capable of doing. Jane Doe was someone who nobody knew anything about.

“Do you still want to exam her?” asked Max.

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” she answered, thinking it was part of her job.

“Alright, I’ll enter you into the authorized database. You’ll have to be scanned every time you enter the detention unit. And you’ll be escorted to and from the lift stations on Level VI. No exceptions,” he insisted. “And no contact with the prisoner without myself or a member of the security team being at your side.”

“Understood,” she replied.

Max put Susan into the system while she waited. He looked over at the stack of reports he still needed to catch up on. They’d have to wait. Suddenly, Max wanted to see how the houseguest responded to being examined. He wondered if she’d speak to a woman easier than one of the men. The little thing in detention hadn’t uttered a syllable since being placed in the cell.

Susan was the first non-security member of the Oceanic to see the detention level since the engineers were transported back to the States. When they arrived, she was made to scan into the system, and it took time to read her retinal scan and palm scan. Once she was cleared to continue, the two men with machine guns stepped aside to clear the corridor. One of them said ‘welcome to the bottom’ as she passed, reminding her that they were on the bottom of the ocean. It didn’t fill her with a sense of safety. An incident at the bottom of the sea felt like it would lead to her future entombment in such a solitary place.

“Is it safe down here?” she asked Max, looking at one of the guns as she passed.

“Have you ever heard of blazer rounds?”

“No,” she answered.

“The are the same kind of rounds issued for airflights. They won’t penetrate more than flesh. So, if it’s the guns you’re worried about, don’t,” Max explained. “They’re not for you. They’re for the people we’re going to be keeping here.”

They entered the detention area moments later. Susan was amazed at the amount of work they put into the technological marvel. The most advanced monitoring system she’d ever seen was in front of her. They were able to read her bio signs through the camera system. Body temperature and respiration were on display. There was a heart rate monitor and a thermal imaging monitor. Most of all, she was confused by the cell.

“How is she being held in there?”

“Oh, it’s an electromagnetically charged energy barrier. It took me years to develop it, but nothing is getting past the lines on the floor. We can open segments of it because of nanotech that’s magnetically held in the barrier wall. It allows us to pass in food, necessities, and to restrain the prisoner without exposing ourselves to unnecessary risks.”

“And I thought you were just an old sea captain,” she admitted.

Max charmingly smiled at her.

“I guess I’m an underachiever,” he said. “Shall we?”

Max took the doctor to the detention center. He spoke to the prisoner, telling her the doctor was there to meet her. When Jane Doe stood up and walked to the edge of the barrier, Susan introduced herself.

“I’m Doctor Reimers. I’m here to do a basic medical examination. Is that alright with you?”

Jane nodded her head and looked at the barrier. When Susan nodded to Max, he pressed buttons on a control that caused an opening in the barrier to appear. Max instructed Jane to put her right arm through the opening so the doctor could check her vitals.

Susan took Jane’s blood pressure and pulse. After, she let Susan put her arm back through. She asked Jane if she could understand what was happening to her. When she asked, Jane looked blankly at her. It left Susan to wonder if the girl understood much. Could she clearly understand English? Could she speak?

“Yes,” said Jane.

“You do understand us,” Susan said, smiling.

“Yes,” replied Jane.

“That’s good,” said Susan. “Jane, I’m required to take a blood sample from you. Do you understand what that means?”

Jane nodded her head and put her arm back through the opening. It surprised Susan how cooperative the prisoner was. As Susan nervously prepared to take the sample, she continued talking to Jane. Her reassuring demeanor seemed to put the houseguest at ease. Susan commented on how the men called her ‘Jane Doe’ and ‘houseguest.’ She asked her if there was something else, they could call her.

“Jane is fine,” answered the prisoner.

Susan wrapped a rubber strap around Jane’s upper arm and prepared to insert the syringe into her arm. She took three vials of blood out of the girl’s arm before putting a bandage over the vein. After making notes on stickers and putting the vials in her pocket, she asked Susan some questions.

Jane claimed to feel fine, but her answer was questionable. There was a sense of withdrawal behind her voice. She was like a scared child more than a prisoner in a black site. Susan felt for her.

“If there’s anything I can do,” sighed Jane as she soulfully looked at Max. “Just tell the men that you need to see me.”

Jane nodded to Susan before crossing her arms and walking back to her bunk. Susan watched as the girl lay down and stared at the walls. It sent a shrill feeling through the doctor. It was something she couldn’t describe while standing there.

When Susan and Max left the detention unit, Max stopped her in the corridor. He asked if there was something wrong. He felt the change in Susan’s demeanor. Her tension was palpable as it radiated off her.

“It’s nothing,” Susan told him. “Just, an uneasiness about the whole thing. She’s damaged. I can’t put my finger on why.”

Jane was unusual, and outside of anything Max ever expected to deal with. Her mannerisms were hard to read and her almost withdrawn demeanor made her appear unthreatening. He was supposed to start a question-and-answer session with her, but after seeing how she responded to the doctor he knew he needed to change his approach. His typical approach wasn’t going to work.

After escorting the doctor back to the main level of the Oceanic, Max returned to the detention center. His men looked at him. He was dressed more casually than they were accustomed to seeing. Max went through the scan station, making small talk with the staff. He carried a clipboard and a recorder with him.

When he walked back into the detention center, he took a chair from the control room with him. He wanted to make himself look comfortable as he started the interrogation. She was so spooked that he’d need to dull any suspicions or fears Jane might have. He comfortably sat outside the barrier and activated one of the openings so they could easily communicate with each other.

Jane looked over at Max and she showed a smile. She admired the colorful Hawaiian shirt he wore. It was more vibrant than any of the uniforms she saw the men wearing. Jane moved toward the barrier, carefully examining Max.

“We have questions we hope you can answer, Jane. Would you mind?”

Jane shook her head, indicating she didn’t mind him asking some questions. She moved a plastic chair from the cell to the edge and sat. As she sat next to the opening in the barrier, Jane inhaled deeply.

“I like the way you smell,” she commented.

Max inhaled the scent of his clothes. They did have a pleasant aroma. He smiled at Jane, slightly put off by how she could smell him from such a distance. Most people couldn’t smell the faint scent of laundry detergents from ten feet away. Jane was proving she was different.

“Thank you,” he responded. “Maybe we should get started.”