Extracted - Chapter 13 – How Many Eggs Does It Take – Part 1 of 3

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 13 – How Many Eggs Does It Take – Part 1 of 3

 

Special Agent Rosenberg had just gotten back to her hotel room when her cellphone rang.  She noticed that the call was from her boss back at the FBI building in New York.  She answered the call.  “Rosenberg.”

“Ellen,” her boss said.  “Have you had a chance to meet with the family yet?”

“I just came from there sir.”

“And?”

“And it looks like our worst fears are confirmed.  Stephen Marsh seems to have somehow picked up Nancy Stiller’s identity, and there is no sign of Stephen in his body at all.”

“Damn!  When you told me this afternoon what you discovered, I had no choice but to run it up the ladder.  I’ve had the brass from D.C. bugging me every twenty minutes ever since.  They’re not going to want to hear this.”

“Sorry sir, but it is what it is.  The problem is that I’m really not sure exactly what it is.”

“But do you still think that your earlier report was accurate, that we may be looking at a group somewhere with the capability of implanting someone else’s consciousness into other people, and possibly creating an army of killers?”

Rosenberg considered that for only a moment before saying.  “I’m afraid I do sir.  Now, more than ever.  As much as I hate to say it, it looks exactly like someone implanted Stephen Marsh’s identity and memories into Nancy Stiller, and then turned around and implanted Nancy Stiller into Stephen Marsh.  And sir, I’m not an expert, but it very well may have been done that way just to prove to us what they could do and that they’re not trying to fool us.”

“Damn!” her boss swore softly.  “Okay, I’ll pass the bad word onto D.C. right away.  Something tells me my phone is going to be keeping me awake all night.”

“Sorry about that sir.”

“Are you heading back now?”

“No.  I’m at my hotel.  I still want to talk to Stephen’s psychiatrist tomorrow.  Stephen actually had an appointment set up to see him again in the morning.  I’m going to be there, and Stephen’s mother and father both promised they’d be there as well.”

“Okay.  Good.  Keep on it, and let me know everything you find.  I don’t have to tell you Ellen, this looks bad.”

“It could be, sir,” Ellen agreed.

“See you tomorrow,” her boss replied before hanging up.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

It was late, bedtime, when Wanda found Nancy in the kitchen.  “What are you doing?”

“Oh!” Nancy said, startled at being caught.  “I hope you don’t mind.  I couldn’t sleep, and sometimes when I can’t sleep, I go down and make myself something to eat.”

Wanda looked at the eggs she had put on the counter.  “Eggs?”

“I like eggs.  I’ll put them back.  Sorry.”

“No.  I didn’t know you can cook.”

“Not that well, but it’s good enough for me.  So you don’t mind?”

Wanda shook her head.  “Go right ahead.”

Nancy went back to looking around the kitchen.  “I can’t tell you how weird it is to not be able to reach everything in the kitchen.  Even the stove is too high, but I can manage.  I had no problem getting to anything before.”

“Huh!  I’m and adult and I can’t reach everything either,” Wanda told him.  “What are you looking for?”

“The pans.”

Wanda went over to one of the drawers, opened it, and pulled out a small frying pan.  “Here you go.”

Nancy looked at the pan.  “That’s kind of small.”

“Small?  How many eggs are you going to cook?”

“I don’t know.  I usually make five or six.”

“Six eggs at a time?”

“Yeah.  Of course.”

“How much did you weigh?”

“Around one ninety eight.”

Wanda was aghast.  “One ninety….  Nancy, the last time we weighed you, you were only sixty-one pounds, not two hundred.  Here, have a seat,” she told her daughter, motioning to the stools on the other side of the island counter.  She put the frying pan away, then grabbed the eggs and put them back into the refrigerator.  From the freezer she pulled out a tub of chocolate ice-cream.  She dished out two scoops into bowls for each of them, then she sat on the stool next to Nancy.

Nancy took the spoon and tried some of the ice-cream.  “Mm!”

“What’s wrong?” Wanda asked.

“Nothing.  This tastes good.”

“Good.  I’m glad.  Did your mother buy that brand of ice-cream?”

“Yeah.  I just don’t remember it tasting this good before.  And I liked chocolate, but it wasn’t exactly my favorite.  Now, I may have to rethink that.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Wanda told her.

“It’s weird,” Nancy said.  “Since I’ve been here, everything tastes…different.”

“Different?”

“Yeah.  Better.  Like it has more flavor or something.”

“Mm,” Wanda said.  “Maybe it’s because your taste buds are younger.  But I’m glad you’re at least enjoying it.”

“I am,” Nancy confirmed.  She ate for a minute in silence, then said, “I’m sorry I cried earlier.  I…couldn’t help it.”

“You’re sorry?  In case you didn’t notice, I was crying too.”

“Yeah but I’m not supposed to cry.  I don’t even remember the last time I cried.  I feel stupid for doing it.”

“Why?”

“Because…I do.”

“Nancy.  You’re not a two-hundred pound guy anymore.  You’re a twelve year old girl.”

“Not mentally!”

“Still, mentally or not, you’re physically a girl.  And girls, and women…heck, females in general, cry!  And sometimes we cry at the drop of a hat.  It’s what we do.  It’s who we are.  Embrace it and enjoy it.”

“How can you enjoy crying?”

“Oh brother,” Wanda muttered.  “It’s all about giving in to your emotions.  Women…females, are filled with emotion.  Something tells me you need to get used to that.  I can see no reason why men seem to think they shouldn’t cry.  It’s stupid, but that’s the way it is.  But women crave emotion, and crying is something we just do.  She poked Nancy with the handle of her spoon.  “And you dear are now female.  Live it…and love it.  Or at least try to.”

Nancy shook her head.  “How?”

“Try!”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

In Philadelphia, Agatha climbed the stairs up to Stephen’s room.  His bedroom door was open, and he was sitting on his bed staring at nothing.  “You okay?” she asked.

Stephen looked at her for a moment before he replied.  “Yeah.  I just….  It was good to talk to my family again.  My…real family.  I’m sorry if that hurts you but…to me, they’re still my real family.  And I miss them.”

“I’m sure you do,” Agatha replied, going in and sitting on the bed with him.  It was difficult to remember that her large muscular son was now mentally a twelve-year old girl.  Seeing him crying like he had earlier had been distressing.  “How are you coping otherwise?”

“Coping?”

“Yes.  How are you managing.  I’m sure everything has got to be so different for you.”

“That’s an understatement,” Stephen replied.

“Any big problems that stand out?”

“More than I can deal with.”

“What things bother you the most?”

“Being bored.”

“Bored?”

“I’m not into football or any other sports, and that’s all I see around here is things that…the old Stephen used to play with.  He’s got a closet full of shoes with spikes on them and a bunch of sneakers, but even the sneakers are full of mud and dirt and there’s hardly any shoes that look nicer.  And don’t get me started on the rest of his clothes.”

Agatha was surprised.  “What’s wrong with his clothes?”

“They’re boring!  Like everything else.”

“They are?”

“Yeah.  He’s got a couple of suits in the closet, and I tried one of them on to see how I looked.  I didn’t know how to tie the tie so I had to take it off and just leave the top of my shirt unbuttoned.  I looked okay, but basically, all his suits are the same.  All his clothes are the same.  It’s all the same.”

“What do you want?”

“I want…color.  Fun.  Interest.  Style.  Change!”

“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re not a girl right now.”

“How could I not notice!”

“So you’ve been trying on clothes?”

“What else is there to do?  The only problem is, the only mirror in here is the one over the dresser and I can’t see my whole body.  It’s useless.”

“I take it you’ve got a bigger one where you come from?”

“Yeah.  Full length so I can see my outfits.”

“Stephen dear,” Agatha said, putting her hand on his shoulder.  “You’re still too much girl!”

“I’m all girl!  Or at least I was.”

“I’m sorry,” Agatha said as she put her arm around both shoulders and squeezed him to her.  “I’d fix it if I could.  I just don’t know how…yet.”

“Yeah.  I know.  It’s just…”

“Frustrating?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe!”

“Oh, I believe it,” Agatha replied.  “Don’t forget, we’ve got another session with that psychiatrist tomorrow morning, except I don’t know how much time that FBI agent is going to take up.”

“She’s going to be there?”

“Your Dad and me too,” she told him.

Stephen nodded.

“Can you tell me something?” Agatha asked.

“Why not?”

“Since that phone call, I’ve been kind of curious.  What does your mother do?”

“Mom?”

“Yes.  What’s she like?  What does she like to do?”

“Throw dinner parties.”

“Dinner parties.  I do quite a few of those myself.  Does your mother like to cook?”

Stephen shrugged.  “Sometimes, I guess.  For the parties though, we have a maid…Mattie.  But her sister Claire likes to cook, and she’s like really good at it.  Mom hires her to cook for most of her parties now so that she can spend her time on all the tiny details as she calls it.  She likes to fuss so much over that stuff.”

“I guess I would too if I had someone to do the cooking for me.  Maybe I should check with Teresa and see if she has a sister like your maid.”

Stephen shrugged again.  “Maybe.”  His eyes fell on his dresser.  He noticed something he had been dying to ask about.  “Mom,” he said.  “And I hope you don’t mind me calling you that.  I really don’t know what I’m supposed to call you.”

“Mom is perfect,” Agatha assured him.  “What is it?”

Stephen got up and picked up the keyring from the dresser.  “I’m supposed to be seventeen years old.  I’ve got a car and a driver’s license in my wallet.  Will you teach me to drive?”

Agatha was shocked.  “Oh hell no!” she replied quickly as she got up and grabbed the keys out of his hand.  “You’re not old enough yet!”

“But I’m seventeen!”

“Not mentally, you’re not.”

“Then when can I learn?”

“Not till you’re sixteen…at least!  If then!”

“Sixteen!  But that’s…years away.”

“Like it or not, you’ll just have to wait!”

She walked out of the room shaking her head.  “Driving!”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

At the breakfast table the next morning, Wanda took one look at Nancy and was shocked.  “Nancy!”

“What?”

Wanda whispered, “Your nipples are showing through that shirt.  Why aren’t you wearing a bra?”

Her damn nipples again.  Nancy’s hands went to her chest and she rubbed her growing breasts vigorously.

“Nancy!  Stop that!”

“Why do they have to bother me so much?”

“Because they’re growing.  You know th…”  She stopped.  “Oh.  You don’t know that, do you?”

“That doesn’t mean they have to be such a nuisance,” Nancy complained.

Emily, sitting next to her snorted a laugh.  “Wait till they get bigger.”

“Which is what they’re doing right now,” Wanda told her.  “Now finish eating and go back to your room and put on a bra.  Then brush your hair…a full fifteen minutes this time and not a minute less!  Hear that young lady?  And don’t forget to throw it over your head and brush the underside like I showed you.  Fifteen minutes!”  She sighed loudly.  “And I guess I’ll be up after I clean up the breakfast dishes.  Something tells me that you and I are going to have to sit down and have a little talk today about becoming a woman.”

Emily sniggered a laugh, then got up.  “I’m not having that talk with her,” she called as she ran out laughing.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

 

Extracted - Chapter 12 – Hello, It’s Not Me – Part 2 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 12 – Hello, It’s Not Me – Part 2 of 2

 

“Why my son?” Agatha finally asked.  “Why did they have to do this to our Stephen?”

“That’s a great question,” Rosenberg admitted.  “We don’t know.  But if I were to take a guess….  Now mind you, I’m not an expert on the medical and psychological aspects of whatever this is that we’re dealing with, but if you think about it, your son may be the perfect target.”

“The perfect target?” Henry asked.  “What do you mean?”

“You sir, are an important figure, just as the family in New York is as well.”

“A U.S. congressman, according to…Stephen out there.”

“Yes,” Rosenberg admitted.  “But your son is also very physically fit, and I’m guessing that he’s pretty smart as well.  Most likely an excellent student.  It has all the characteristics of someone perfect for their needs.”

“And how about that poor young girl in New York?  I’m guessing she’s not big and strong,” Agatha asked.

“No,” Rosenberg admitted.  “The truth is, we simply don’t know anything at all.”

“How did you manage to put all this together?” Henry asked.

“There’s a doctor in New York.  A psychiatrist who’s been working with Nancy.  She discovered the link between the two cases and alerted us.  She even went so far as to propose what we told you tonight.  I can tell you though that she’s pretty much chomping at the bit for a chance to talk with both the doctor you use for Stephen, and she wants to talk with Stephen himself.”

“She’s got to be better than Stephen’s doctor,” Agatha replied.  “He thinks Stephen has some kind of multiple personality disorder.”

“I can’t speak to that,” Rosenberg told her.  “I’m no expert in any of it.”

Agatha nodded.  “I know I asked this before,” she said, “But where do we go from here?  I know I’d like to meet this girl in New York and see for myself if my Stephen is really there or not.”

“I’m sure you do, but this all happened today.  This afternoon.  I don’t know what we need to do yet.  I do know that I need to talk with Stephen’s psychiatrist, if you’ll give him permission to tell me what he knows.”

“No problem there,” Henry answered.  “We’ll call him in the morning.  In fact, I’ll be there myself.  What else do you need?”

Rosenberg looked at Henry, then at his wife, and made a quick decision.  “I probably shouldn’t do this, but since he called, how would you feel about talking to your son up in New York again?”

Agatha and Henry were both visibly interested.  “Yes!  Please!”

“And if she agrees to let you talk to your Stephen, will you let her talk to her Nancy?”

“Of course!” Agatha agreed, anxious now to speak to her son…or whoever it was that was claiming to be her son.

“But!...  Rosenberg continued.  “Since I probably shouldn’t be doing this, I’m going to insist that it be kept very short.  I’m going to give you and Wanda both exactly one minute to talk to your children.  Not one second more!  And I’m going to time it.”

“One minute?” Agatha complained.

“That’s it.  Not a second more.”

“Why?”

“Because as I said, I probably shouldn’t be doing it at all at this point, especially not without consulting a psychologist first.  I don’t know if we should be looking for any psychological fallout from the contact.”

“Fallout?”

“I simply don’t know Mrs. Marsh.  Look, I’m sure that at some point we’re probably going to have to get both kids and both families together somewhere.  But we’re not to that point yet.  All this information is simply too new.  So let’s just think of this phone call as a warmup.  Okay?  A quick warmup.”

Agatha wasn’t happy about it at all.  “I’ll take what I can get,” she agreed.  “And maybe this time, he won’t be so afraid to talk.”

“I think we can cover that problem,” Rosenberg assured her.  She pulled out her phone again and pushed some buttons.  “Wanda?  It’s me again.  I’ve got a proposal for you that you may or may not like.  I’d like to give you and Mrs. Marsh here exactly one minute each to talk with your respective children.  But it’s only going to be one minute, and I’m going to time it.”  She listened for a moment then replied, “Because I probably shouldn’t be doing this at all.  I just thought it might be…nice.  And who knows, maybe we can learn something.”

Rosenberg looked to Agatha.  “She’s looking for Nancy.”  While they waited, she put her cellphone on speaker so everyone could hear.  Finally, a young girl’s voice came over the phone.  “Mom?  Are you there?”  Rosenberg glanced at her watch.

“Stephen?” Agatha asked quickly.

“Mom?” the little girls voice came again.  “It’s me, Steve.  Really, it’s me.  I know I don’t sound like myself.  Believe me, I don’t look like myself either, but it’s really me.”

“Steve, son!” Henry said, standing up to get closer to the phone.  “How are you?”

“Dad,” the little girl’s voice said.  “You’re there too?”

“We’re home Steve.  We’re both here.”

“It’s so good to hear from you.  I’ve been going crazy wanting to see you.”

“Us too,” Henry told him.  “Steve, we’ve got the FBI and the police here with us.  We’re all trying to figure out what to do about this problem.”

“Good.  I’m going crazy here!”

“Steve?” Agatha said.  “Was that really you who called me earlier today?”

“Yeah Mom.  Sorry, but I just had to take a chance and try to tell you where I was.”

“Are they not letting you call or anything?”

“I don’t know.  They never said, so I wasn’t sure.  They’ve actually been really good to me.  I was just…afraid.  And what if you wouldn’t believe it’s me.  What if…I’m really there with you, and I just…think this is me here.”

“Steve,” Henry said.  “It’s like we’ve got your body here, but you’re not in it.  Someone else is.”

“Who?”

“A little girl named Nancy,” Agatha told him.

“Nancy.  The other…I guess me.  The person who should be in this body instead of me.”

“Time!” Rosenberg suddenly called.  “Wrap it up.”

“Steve,” Agatha said quickly.  “This FBI woman is making us stop now.  But we’ll try to get in touch again.  Soon!”

“I love you Mom,” Steve said.  “Love you Dad.”

“We love you too!” Agatha told him.

“Rosenberg took the phone and said into it.  “Wanda, are you still there?”

“Yes,” the voice came back.  “Can I please talk to Nancy now?”

Rosenberg looked to Agatha.  “She’s just outside watching TV,” Agatha told her.

Rosenberg carried the phone out of the home office and found the large boy sitting in front of the TV.  Agatha grabbed the remote and turned the TV off.

“What’s going on?” Nancy, in Steve’s body asked.

“You’ve got sixty seconds to say hello to your real mother,” Rosenberg told Nancy.

Nancy grabbed for the phone as fast as she could.  “Mom?  Momma?  Is that you?  Are you there?  Momma?”

“Nancy?” her mother’s voice came over the phone.  “Oh Nancy.  Is it really you?”

“Yeah Momma.  Believe it or not, it’s me.  Mom, I’m stuck in someone else’s body.  A boy.  I know it sounds crazy but it’s true.  And Mom, this boy that I’m in is…huge!”

“Nancy!” Mike Stiller said.  “I’m so glad to hear from you.”

“Dad!” Nancy replied as tears started to roll from her eyes.

“Nance!” Emily exclaimed next.  “Is it really you?”

“Em!  Oh God I miss you.  I miss you all.”  She was crying openly now.  “Momma,” Nancy continued.  “I don’t know what to do here.  I hate being a boy, and believe it or not, I hate being big.  I just want to be me again.”

“Nancy!” her father said.  “Please be honest with me.  Are they treating you okay?”

“I’m fine Dad.  Really, I am.  It’s just…they don’t know what to do with me and I don’t know what to do with me either.  I’m not a boy!”

“We know honey,” Agatha told her.  “We’re hoping to be able to see you soon.”

“I hope so!”

“Time!  Wrap it up,” Rosenberg called.

“Nancy, they’re making us go now.  We love you.  We miss you so much!”

“Me too!” Nancy replied.  “Love you all!”

Rosenberg took the phone.  “Wanda?”

“Yes.  I’m here, but Steve…Nancy, is a mess.”

“I understand.  “I’ve got to go now, but I promise, I’ll be in touch soon.”

“I’m sure,” Wanda replied.  “Ellen, thanks for this.  It was great to talk to Nancy…if that really was Nancy.”

“So far, we think it might be.”

“But what do we do about it?”

“Wanda, we’ll be in touch,” Rosenberg replied, avoiding the question.  “Bye.”

Rosenberg put her phone back in her purse.  Since she was there with Stephen, or at least his body, she took a moment to study him.  He was crying.  A strange sight to see from someone so…muscular.  And that’s the best way she could describe him.  Muscular.  And big.  He looked like a football player.  Not to mention, he was fairly well gifted in the handsome department as well.  She had no doubt that he was a real heartthrob to the girls at school.  “Are you okay?” she finally asked him.

“Yeah.  Fine,” Steve replied, managing to pull himself a little more under control.  “So is it okay if I call them again sometime?”

“Maybe…not yet.  We just found out about your…problems, and we just found out that the two cases are connected.  This entire thing is very complicated, more so than I’m sure you realize.  Let us do our jobs.  I have no doubt that in the near future you’ll get a chance to actually see your…um…other family soon.  At least, I would think that would be the case.  Right now, I’m not sure of anything.”

“You think I am?” Stephen replied.  “I’m a girl stuck in this hulking ogre’s body.  I hate it!”

“I have no doubt,” Rosenberg agreed.  “I’m sure I’d hate it too.”

Extracted - Chapter 12 – Hello, It’s Not Me – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 12 – Hello, It’s Not Me – Part 1 of 2

 

Agatha’s cellphone rang while she was in the middle of making dinner for the family.  She answered it as quickly as she could.  She noticed Detective Nolan’s name on the caller ID.  “Agatha Marsh,” she answered.

“Mrs. Marsh,” Nolan said into his phone while he was driving back towards Philadelphia.  “This is Detective Nolan.”

“What can I do for you detective?  Has there been any progress in Stephen’s case?”

“You can say that,” Nolan admitted.  “Unfortunately, the entire case has just gone from bad, to worse, and beyond.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tell me Mrs. Marsh, and believe me, this is an imperative question.  Is your son Stephen showing any signs of…let’s just say mental difficulties?”

“Mental difficulties?  Detective, let’s just say that that’s an understatement.  Why?”

“Damn!” the detective swore.  “I wish I had known.”

“Why?  What bearing can it have on who took him, which to my knowledge was most likely that eco activist group?”

“Mrs. Marsh, your son wasn’t the only one taken, we now know of another one that is directly related to your son’s abduction, and it looks like there could be more.”

“More!  Okay.  Who?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t say.  Look, I’m on my way back from New York right now.  We’re still on the case, but the FBI has now taken the lead on it, and trust me, that’s a good thing.  This thing has gone in a direction that could quite frankly be frightening.”

“You mean the abduction of my son and his…difficulties as you called them, isn’t frightening?”

“Yes, it is, but this could be far worse.  Is there any chance that you’ll be home this evening and that we can talk to Stephen?”

“When you put it that way, we’ll be here,” Agatha confirmed.  “We haven’t had dinner yet.  What time?”

“Would somewhere around eight be okay?”

“Fine,” Agatha confirmed.  “See you then.”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Doctor Christopher Faucet picked up a piece of mail that had been delivered to his desk at the behavioral clinic.  He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.  “Hm!” he grunted softly.  It wasn’t the kind of thing he ever expected to get here at the clinic.  It was an invitation to attend a group meeting to discuss the characteristics of incorporeal entities.  Why didn’t they just say ghosts?  But then he noted the member list of what appeared to be an ongoing group.  Three PhDs, a fourth one with pending PhD after his name, and a final fifth name that just said applied physics after it.  This was a group with some serious brainpower.

Why would people like this be interested in ghosts?  And why would they want a psychiatrist to discuss it with them?  But then ghost hunting was his hobby, and maybe one of them had tripped over the paper he had written on the subject.  Anyone even finding that thing though was a longshot!  Still, it was interesting to note that there were others, actual scientists, who were interested in the subject too.  It wasn’t just him.

He looked at the phone number, which told him nothing.  He was a ghost hunter who tried to actually study the ghosts he found and categorize their behaviors.  This sounded like something he might really be interested in.  He decided to phone the number after dinner tonight and hopefully get more information.

With a humorous grunt, he put the invitation aside and moved onto the next piece of mail, a notification for a psychological conference to be held in Denver.  He wasn’t sure if he would attend that one or not.  It would probably depend on how busy he was.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

It was a little before eight when the Marsh’s doorbell rang.  Agatha herself answered it.  She found two people on her doorstep.  “Detective Nolan,” she said.  “Nice to see you again.”  She looked to the woman with him, but the detective didn’t seem interested in introducing her.  She guessed the woman was with the FBI.  “Come in, please,” she offered.  “My husband is in his office and Stephen is in the den.  Who do you want first?”

“You and your husband, alone if possible,” Agent Rosenberg told her.

“It sounds like you need the door closed.  We’ll go to Henry’s office.”

She led the way through the house to an open door.  “Henry,” Agatha said as she went in.  “Our…guests are here.  We might need to talk here for a bit with the door closed.”

That caught Henry by surprise.  He sat at his desk and watched as his wife, Detective Nolan, and a woman he hadn’t met yet came into the room.  Agatha closed the office door.  Henry waved toward the two chairs in the room.  “Have a seat,” he told them.

Rosenberg sat down but Nolan continued to stand.  He looked at Agatha and offered the chair to her.  In moments the two women were seated.

“What can we do for you?” Henry asked.

“Mr. Marsh,” Rosenberg said.  “I’m Special Agent Rosenberg with the FBI.  As of this afternoon, the FBI has taken the lead on your son’s case, although the Philadelphia police force will be continuing to work it as well.  This may need all the resources we can get.”

“All the resources?  You’re the FBI.  You’ve got the entire government behind you.”

“True, but we now find ourselves in a unique situation.”

“Okay.  So what’s going on?”

“What if we were to tell you that your son wasn’t the only child abducted by whoever took him.”

“Someone else was taken?  Who?  Nothing about another abduction came across my desk.”

“That’s because the abduction happened in New York.  Which is why we never made the connection until a third party noticed it and passed the word.”

“A third party?”

“Yes.  I’ll get into that in a few minutes please.”

Henry sat waiting.

“Let me ask first what kind of mental difficulties your son Stephen is exhibiting?  And trust me, I’m guessing that if he is exhibiting any difficulties, I’m expecting them to be…beyond strange.”

“Beyond strange?” Agatha replied.  “You could certainly say that.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Rosenberg replied.  “Can you describe his problem?”

“That’s easy,” Agatha said.  “That…person out there watching TV, isn’t my son.  Oh, he may have my son’s body, but whoever is inside that body is not Stephen.”

“It’s what the doctor was afraid might have happened,” Nolan noted to Rosenberg.

“Yes.  Unfortunately,” Rosenberg agreed.  She looked to Henry, then Agatha.  “Let me guess,” Rosenberg said.  “Your son Stephen, thinks he’s actually a twelve year old girl named Nancy.”

Both Agatha and Henry were visibly shaken.  “How did you know?” Henry asked.

“Because our other victim is a twelve year old girl named Nancy, who thinks she’s a seventeen year old boy named Stephen Marsh.”

Henry wasn’t sure what to say to that, but then he looked to his wife.  “You want to tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Rosenberg asked.

“Earlier today,” Agatha said.  “I got a phone call.  Whoever it was only whispered, and it was a very short conversation, but that person said he was Stephen, and he was in New York somewhere.”

“Are you sure it was a boy who called?” Rosenberg asked.

“No.  It just sounded like a kid.  But he was whispering, and then he suddenly ended the call.  I don’t know why.  I got the impression that he was scared.”

Rosenberg immediately pulled out her cellphone and made a call.  “Wanda, it’s Ellen.  Did Nancy make a call this afternoon to Stephen’s real mother in Philadelphia?”  She listened a moment then said, “Yes.  Please check.  I’ll hold.”  She waited a while then she finally got her answer.  “No.  I was just wondering.  You didn’t by any chance get a phone call claiming they were Nancy, did you?”  She listened again.  “No.  I don’t know if you should expect one or not.  Thanks.  I’m with the other parents now.  Bye.”  She ended the call.  “Nancy up there, or rather Stephen in Nancy’s body, admitted that he tried to call you.  But he was afraid to make the call.  I don’t know why.  In the middle of it, he heard his sister coming and quickly ended it and hid the phone.”

“So that’s why it was so short, and that’s why he was whispering,” Agatha said.  She looked at her husband.  “Henry.  It was Stephen.  Our Stephen.  He called!”

“It sounds like it,” Henry agreed.  “But how can we know for sure that whoever it was, was actually our Stephen?”  He looked to the FBI agent to answer that one.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Rosenberg told him.  “All I can tell you is that there’s a young girl in New York who thinks she’s your son Stephen, and she can tell you everything in the world about him.  And now we’ve discovered that here in Philadelphia, your son Stephen thinks he’s a young girl named Nancy, and I’m guessing he can tell us everything in the world about her.”

“Believe it or not,” Henry said.  “That’s true.”

“So what do we do about it?” Agatha asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Rosenberg  admitted.

“You’re right,” Henry said.  “This is beyond strange.”

“Yes,” Rosenberg told him, then added.  “But that’s not the worst of it.”

“Not the worst?  How can it get any worse?”

“Mr. Marsh,” Rosenberg said.  “From what we’ve tried to piece together.  It very much sounds like someone did this to your son and the girl up in New York.  It was done deliberately!  Somehow, someone has figured out how to extract…”  She looked to Nolan and said, “How did she put it?  Stephen’s entire memories, personality, and identity…”

“I think that was it,” Nolan agreed.

“They figured out how to get all that out of your son, and somehow inject it into someone else, and at the same time, wipe out any existence of the original person in that body.  And it was all done in such a way that the mental takeover if you will, happened slowly, right in front of you, which means they’ve done this before and knew what to expect.  They were that confident of their process.  Now what do you think might happen if these people took the memories and personality from someone like, say a serial killer or something, and injected that into another person, and another person, possibly a hundred or more people, giving them all that same exact personality and memories?”

“My God!” Agatha breathed.  “Is that possible?”

“Is it possible that your son has all the mental characteristics of a twelve year old girl?  We don’t know, but it’s possible that whoever did this is taunting us with what they’ve done.  In a few months’ time, after we’ve had a chance to fully study what they did, we may get a ransom demand of an entirely different nature than the one you received, but that ransom will most likely not go to you, it will go to the government instead.”

“Geez!” Henry exclaimed.  “The fallout could be….”

“A catastrophe!” Rosenberg finished.

 

Extracted - Chapter 11 – Round One and Round Two – Part 2 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 11 – Round One and Round Two – Part 2 of 2

 

It was stupid and annoying.  Just one more annoying thing in this stupid new life Stephen found himself in.  Just because he was stuck in this lousy little girl’s body, everyone thought that he really was a twelve year old girl, and that he had to be treated like one.  He was seventeen years old!  And he wasn’t a little girl, he was a boy, and a big strong one at that.  He had a driver’s license and his own car.  He was going to be a senior in high school.  He could take care of himself!  But no.  Just because he looked like a little girl they had to treat him like one.

Instead of being left in this room to wait alone, Emily had to come with them to babysit while his fake mother was in talking to the doctor.  Why?  They had both talked to the doctor a couple of times now already, including this morning.  Now they were back here again.

He knew for a fact that Emily wasn’t exactly happy about having to keep an eye on him as well.  Emily made no bones about the fact that she didn’t like him and wanted nothing to do with him.  All just because he had stolen the real Nancy’s body.  He hadn’t stolen anything.  Someone had stolen his body, not to mention his entire life!

The thought of his life being stolen made him realize something else.  What if the police found his real body…dead!  He hadn’t thought about that before.  Was he…in reality…dead?  That thought scared him to death because it would mean that he could never get back to his real body.  Not that he had the slightest clue how he had wound up in this body.

And why a little girl?  Somebody sure didn’t like  him.  Who the hell had he pissed off?  He didn’t know, but he’d sure like to find out.  Finding out by himself though didn’t seem likely.  Not as long as they insisted on treating him like a little girl all the time, just because he had Nancy’s little girl body.

It was all stupid!  And annoying!

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Doctor Montcliff walked into the small conference room that was in the clinic she worked out of.  Usually, the room was used for meetings between the clinic staff members.  Today, it held outsiders.  “Hello everyone,” she said politely as she walked in and took the seat at the head of the conference table, not her usual seat for the meetings held here.  In fact, it might be more appropriate for Wanda Stiller to be sitting here since she was the wife of the congressman and would have the most power of anyone at the table.  But Wanda had taken another seat already.  She didn’t see Nancy or her sister and guessed they were in one of the other offices somewhere else in the building where they wouldn’t be seen.

“Thank you all for coming,” she told everyone.  Other than Wanda, she didn’t know the two other people in the room.  She was guessing they weren’t the one person she’d like to be there.  The one person she needed eventually to get to.  There was one other person she wanted access to eventually as well.  Looking around though, she had no doubt at all that neither of those two people were here.

“I’m Isabella Montcliff,” she told the two newcomers.  “I’m the psychiatrist who has been asked to look into…”  She looked over at Wanda Stiller.  “Can I use names here?”

Wanda seemed to consider that for a moment, then agreed.  “Yes,” she said.  “Do you know who these people are?”

“No,” Montcliff admitted.  “I was just getting to that.”  She looked at the other woman in the room.

“FBI Special Agent Ellen Rosenberg,” Agent Rosenberg told her.

Montcliff looked at the man.

“Philadelphia Detective Nolan,” Nolan introduced himself.

Montcliff looked to Wanda.  “Do you want your identity kept a secret?”

Wanda shook her head.  “Agent Rosenberg already met me once at the hospital.  She turned to the man who was the Philadelphia detective.  “I’m Wanda Stiller.  I’m the wife of Congressman Michael Stiller.  And it was our daughter Nancy that was kidnapped.”

Detective Nolan’s eyebrows went up a bit, but he wasn’t that surprised.  Everything pointed to someone important.  “Nice to meet you,” he replied.

“As you can imagine,” Wanda continued.  “Our need for strict security about what has happened needs to be everyone’s utmost concern.  And that includes you detective.  Can you assure us that you won’t mention anything about who we are to anyone else?”

“As much as I can,” Nolan admitted.  “I have a team who are helping me investigate this.”

“Of course,” Wanda agreed.  “Just please, try to keep our names out of things as much as possible.  It’s very important for us.”

Nolan nodded.  “I’ll try.”

Wanda nodded and looked again to Montcliff so she could continue.

“Right!” Doctor Montcliff said.  She looked at Rosenberg.  “I was kind of hoping I’d get a chance to speak with you.”

“Why is that?” Rosenberg asked.

Doctor Montcliff nodded and sat back in her seat, trying to figure out how to begin.  “What I’m going to be telling you, is going to sound like the most far-fetched thing on earth.  And believe me, you’re going to be right, it is the most far-fetched thing on earth.  The entire thing has to be some kind of hoax or something made-up, except that it appears to be absolutely real.  Which, should be impossible!”

“What are you talking about?” Rosenberg asked since the doctor was doing nothing but beating around the bush with nonsense.

“Have some patience!  Please,” Wanda told her quickly.  “I can’t believe it either, except that I do.  I really do.”

Rosenberg felt annoyed.  This woman was trying to admonish her?  Get real.  She was the FBI!  Still, she nodded and looked to the doctor, albeit impatiently.

“I was asked by Congressman Stiller’s representatives to look into his daughter’s little problems.”

“Problems?” Rosenberg asked.

“Yes.  Problems,” the doctor confirmed.

“What kind of problems?”

“Mental problems.”

“From the abduction?  Why weren’t we told?”

Before the doctor could answer, Wanda leaned forward toward the FBI agent.  “Do you want to leave this meeting right now and we’ll have someone else assigned, or sit back and learn something?”

Rosenberg stared Wanda down.  “Who the hell do you think you are?  I’m an agent with the FBI.  I’m the one trying to find out what happened to your daughter!”

Wanda didn’t bat an eyelash.  “And if you can’t shut your mouth and listen for a while, I can make one phone call and have you removed from this case and someone else put in charge!  That’s who I am!”

Rosenberg was angry.  Unfortunately, this woman was right.  As the wife of a U.S. congressman, she probably could do that.  Completely frustrated, she sat back and angrily glared at the doctor, who couldn’t seem to move along with the information.

“Are we done?” Doctor Montcliff asked.

“We’re done!” Wanda replied firmly, giving another glance at Rosenberg.

“As I said,” Doctor Montcliff continued.  “I was asked to look into Nancy Stiller’s mental problems.  Problems, the likes of which I’ve never seen or heard of before.”  She glanced at Rosenberg and knew that the FBI agent wanted to say something else, but was purposely trying to keep her mouth shut.

“Now listen carefully to what I’m about to say,” Montcliff told them all as she leaned forward.  “Somehow, twelve year old Nancy Stiller has completely lost her entire identity, personality, and memories, and all that has been replaced with the very real memories, personality, and identity of someone else.  That someone else being a seventeen year old boy named Stephen Marsh, who claims his father is the District Attorney for Philadelphia.”

“What?” Detective Nolan exclaimed, now fully interested.  “How the hell…”

The doctor shook her head.  “I don’t know.  But trust me, Nancy has absolutely no knowledge of her previous life at all, yet she can go on for hours about Stephen’s life, including details of football games, his sex life with his girlfriend, and a thousand other things.  Unbelievably, she knows it all!  But…she doesn’t know one single thing about Nancy.  Not one!  It’s as if Stephen Marsh is simply living in Nancy Stiller’s body, and I don’t know where Nancy is.  I can however make some wild guesses.”

Rosenberg shook her head.  “That has to be the weirdest fantasy I’ve ever heard!”

“Yes.  It is.”

“But it’s real!” Wanda added.  “Too real.  Frighteningly real.  I know.  I know it for a fact, because Nancy is my daughter.  And that…thing…is living in my daughter’s body, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Try an exorcism,” Rosenberg threw out sarcastically.

“Believe me, we’ve thought of that,” Wanda admitted.  “We’ve seriously considered it.”

“You said you had some thoughts on what happened to Nancy?” Nolan asked the psychiatrist.

“Yes,” Montcliff replied.  “As far as I can see, and believe me, since I first started working with Nancy a few days ago, I’ve done a lot of looking into things.  Nancy, her personality and memories, are either gone completely, as if she’s dead.”  She paused a moment then continued.  “Or…what I’d really like to know…since Stephen’s identity is now living in Nancy’s body, is Nancy’s identity living in Stephen’s body?”  She looked directly at the Philadelphia detective.

“I have no idea,” Nolan admitted.  “I never heard anything about that.  Other than the one time I talked with the boy in the hospital after he finally gained consciousness, I never bothered to talk with him again.  But I can tell you that he certainly knew who he was when I saw him.”

“Nancy too,” Rosenberg told everyone.  “She was definitely herself when I spoke with her.”

“Yes.  I’m sure they both were,” Doctor Montcliff agreed.  “After the first time I met with Nancy, I did a simple internet search to find out if there really was someone named Stephen Marsh.  To my surprise, I was able to confirm not only that he existed, but the first thing I found were the news articles saying that he had been abducted and then later returned at the same time as Nancy.  It just seemed like there were too many identical circumstances for it to be completely separate from Nancy’s case, so I asked Wanda here to look into what the FBI had discovered about both cases.”

“And we’re just catching up now,” Rosenberg admitted.  “We never made the connection.”

“Neither did we,” Nolan admitted.

“Since then,” the doctor continued, “in the little time I’ve had, I’ve made other…let’s say inferences, since I have no direct proof…yet!  For the sake of no better explanation, let’s simply look at this as something that someone did to those kids.”

She paused for a moment to let that sink in, then continued.  “They were both abducted at nearly the same time, although succeeding nights.  They were both drugged and kept that way, keeping them unconscious the entire time.  They were both found on the same night outside of restaurants.  I don’t know anything about Stephen’s condition, other than that he was found unconscious, but Nancy complained heavily about her head and the room around her constantly spinning around, keeping her in great distress.  She also complained about a lot of confusion.  Confusion that we now know grew worse and worse the longer it went on, until there was no confusion at all anymore and her spinning head finally stopped.  All of Nancy’s memories were simply gone at that point, and the only identity that she knew, was Stephen.  A seventeen year old boy, stuck in a twelve year old girl’s body.  Completely bizarre!”

“You said someone did this!” Nolan noticed.

“For the sake of trying to at least think about it.  Yes.  I have no idea as to what really happened, but this is simply a framework for us to try and understand the entire situation better since it is such a complicated one.”

“How would someone do it?” Rosenberg asked.

“I haven’t a clue.  Despite all the science fiction shows, it should be impossible.  I can’t even imagine all the things someone would have to think of to extract everything from someone’s brain, store it in a computer somewhere, and then stick it all into someone else’s head.”

“And what if they install that identity into a number of people?” Rosenberg asked.

Montcliff shook her head.  “Thank you for making this entire nightmare worse.  I hadn’t even thought about that.”

“We’re talking about someone who could take someone with a brilliant mind and make a thousand copies of him,” Rosenberg explained.

“Or a psychopathic killer,” Nolan suggested.

Rosenberg nodded.  “That too, which would make it the world’s worst nightmare times ten!”

“Except we don’t know if that’s what really happened,” Montcliff reminded them.

“You’re the one who threw out the suggestion doctor,” Rosenberg told her.

“True.  I did.  But it was just a suggestion so we could all understand the situation.”

“Maybe it was too good a suggestion,” Rosenberg replied.

“One thing to keep in mind,” the doctor said, “is that this…process we’ll call it, for lack of anything better, is a gradual process.  It didn’t happen all at once.  Remember, Nancy was herself, then gradually grew more confused, until she was only Stephen.  We don’t know about the real Stephen.  But whoever did this was so confident of their process, that they were able to drop the kids off and let it continue happening right in front of everyone.  Which means that this couldn’t have been the first time they’ve done it.  Somewhere out there, there have to be others who have been put through this strange process as well.”

“Like we said,” Rosenberg replied, “adding to our nightmare.  Okay, we’ll keep it in mind.  Believe me!  My bosses in the FBI are going to have a fit!”

“Where do we go from here?” Nolan asked.

“First thing!” Doctor Montcliff said quickly.  “We don’t know if Stephen is exhibiting any psychological problems at all.  For all we know, he’s perfectly fine.  And believe me, I hope he is.  We’ve already got one too many headaches to handle.  However, if he is showing any problems at all, especially if they’re anything like the problems that Nancy has, I’d really like to talk to his doctor about it, and more importantly, I’d love to talk to Stephen as well.  These two cases are connected.  Having multiple doctors could be slowing any progress down.  Even though in other ways, multiple doctors might not be a bad idea.  I simply have questions that need answers.”

“And my daughter has problems that need…”  She shrugged.  “Answers may at least be a good place to start for her as well.”

“We all need answers,” Rosenberg agreed.  She turned to Nolan.  “The FBI is now taking the lead on your case.  You can continue to work it, but we’re going to be in charge.  Are you going back to Philly today?”

“It’s only a two-hour drive.”

“Then I’ll follow you down.  I need to interview the entire Marsh family, especially Stephen.”

“I’ll make some phone calls,” Nolan told her.  “Before we get back, I’ll try to have some answers on Stephen’s mental situation.”

“Perfect!” Rosenberg declared.  She looked around the table.  “Any more atomic bombs for us today?”

“Just that I’d really like to see the other patient,” Montcliff reminded her.

“Noted!” Rosenberg replied.  She nodded towards Wanda.  “Mrs. Stiller,” she said, saying goodbye.  She stood up and Nolan followed her out of the room.

Extracted - Chapter 11 – Round One and Round Two – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 11 – Round One and Round Two – Part 1 of 2

 

Detective Nolan threaded his way through the huge building that was more often known as Twenty-six Fed, the New York home of the FBI.  On the eighth floor, he asked for directions to find Agent Rosenberg and a woman pointed down the hallway and told him to turn right at the end of it.  He followed the hallway around and finally found the shoebox of an office that was the home away from home for Agent Ellen Rosenberg.  The first thing he noticed about Rosenberg’s office was that it was better lit than his office back in Philadelphia.  The second thing he noticed about it was that her office was just as cluttered and confused as his.  The woman inside appeared to be in her mid-forties with short curly hair showing a few areas starting to go grey already.  She was still somewhat good looking though.  “Agent Rosenberg?” he asked as he stopped at the doorway.

“Detective Nolan,” Rosenberg replied, looking up to see the tall detective in a grey suit.  He looked to be about her age she guessed.  Very good looking.  Distinguished.  Someone who’d been around for a while.  “Come in,” she invited.  “Have a seat.”

Nolan went in and sat in one of the chairs across from her.  “I emailed our file to you,” Nolan told her.  “Did you get it?”

“Yes.  Thank you,” Rosenberg told him.  “You surprised me by doing that.”

“I’ve been around long enough and have worked with the FBI more than once on cases.  I already knew you’d be asking for that file, even if our cases don’t match.”

“True,” Rosenberg conceded, sitting back in her chair to further study this man.  So far, she was liking what she saw.  In more ways than one.  “I read through the file, what little there is, but do me a favor, talk me through it from the beginning anyway.”

“Not a problem,” Nolan replied.  So far, this was going exactly like he suspected it would.  “We didn’t get the call till the next morning, after the family noticed that the kid was missing.”

“Stephen Marsh,” Ellen said, for confirmation.

“Yes.”

“How did they know he was missing and hadn’t just run off with his girlfriend or something.  From his picture in the file, he looks like he might have been old enough to have a girlfriend.”

“Oh, he does.  A girl named Melody.  But we had other factors that pointed to a different conclusion.”

“That wasn’t in the file,” Rosemberg pointed out.

“Those other factors are in the file,” Nolan pointed out.

Rosenberg had other ideas about that.  She hated even the smallest things left out of an investigation file.  “Go on,” she said.

“It didn’t take us long to figure out that this was done by professionals, not your usual break and grab guys.  And when I say professionals, I mean most likely a team of highly trained people.”

“We came to the same conclusion with our case, but walk me through it.”

The fact that the FBI had concluded the same thing in their case didn’t bode well.  “The family is well off.  Is yours?”

“Yes,” Rosenberg conceded, knowing it would give away little.

“Not surprising,” Nolan noted.  “Why else do you abduct someone, except money wasn’t the case here at all.”

Rosenberg didn’t reply.  She knew he was just fishing for more information on her case.

“Anyway,” Nolan continued.  "They disabled the backup generator, then went for the main electrical power.  They also disabled the internet connection.  Basically, they managed to disable the entire security system, including the cameras.  Pros!”

“Yes,” Rosenberg agreed.  “Our professionals did the same thing, but in our case, the family had an outside security agency monitoring that system twenty-four seven.  They noticed the system going down and called the police.  They were still gone before the police could get there.”

“Damn!” Nolan muttered.  “The Marsh family’s system was all in-house.  But with everything shut down, it gave us nothing.”

“Like we agreed, pros.”

Nolan nodded.  “We’re not even sure how they got into the house.  There was no sign of anything broken so they either had keys, or they picked the locks.  Not really much of a problem, but the neighborhood we’re talking about isn’t exactly known for any kind of trouble.  The family thought they were secure enough, especially considering the husband’s job.”

“Philadelphia District Attorney,” Rosenberg remembered.  “An important position.”

“When the family called the next day, we immediately went out looking.  The disabled generator, power, and security system tipped us off immediately that something bad had happened.  This wasn’t just a case of the kid running off to be with his friends.”

“I see,” Rosenberg replied, glad that she had asked him to talk the case through.  The fact that Nolan concluded that they were dealing with pros hadn’t been in his file at all.

“And then of course,” Nolan added, “the ransom note.”

“Yes,” Rosenberg said as she sat forward.  “Detective Nolan,” she said.  “That note is one of the primary differences in our two cases.  You got a ransom demand like I would have expected, even if it wasn’t for money.  In our case, there was no note.  Nothing at all.”

Nolan looked at her.  “Then why was she taken?”

“You tell me.”

“I don’t know.”

“Detective, neither do we.  We still don’t have the slightest clue.  We’re just glad she’s back.”

She!  There was no doubt now that a girl had been taken in the FBI’s case.  “She’s back.  No demand from the perpetrators, and you’re still investigating?  I’m guessing this is for someone who is not living day to day on just social security checks.”

Rosenberg smiled at the way he had put that.  “No.  They’re not.  So your investigation turned up nothing at all.”

“So far, nada!” Nolan agreed.  “It was as if the kid had simply vanished off the face of the earth.  We interviewed a few possible suspects, but in every case it was clear that they had nothing to do with it.  Especially in light of the fact that the note demanded the release of one of the founding members of the Planetary Eco Alliance, who Henry Marsh went after and put in prison.  We’re still sure that the group is somehow behind this, but our resources for getting to them are severely limited.”

Rosenberg nodded.  “I’ll admit, it’s possible.  It’s just that so far we don’t know of any connection between them and our abduction case here.  But then, until we saw that group in your file a little while ago, we had no reason to go looking in that direction.  I still don’t see how it could be a factor in our case, but you never know.  We’re looking at them now.”

“Good!  Maybe with your resources you can find something that we haven’t been able to dig up.”

“That’s what we’re hoping,” Rosenberg conceded.

“Anyway,” Nolan continued.  “Despite our lack of anywhere to look, the kid suddenly showed up.  He was dumped between ten and ten thirty at night on the front porch of a major restaurant near the interstate.  He looked more like he was simply sleeping there, but with a restaurant like that, nobody would expect to see any kind of homeless person napping anywhere near it.  Someone from the cleaning crew noticed him and called the police.  He was still unconscious when we got there, and he stayed unconscious for quite some time after he got to the hospital.”

“Same in our case,” Rosenberg told him, except they found the girl a few hours later.”

Nolan nodded, then continued.  “We interviewed the kid as soon as we could, but it was quickly obvious that he didn’t know a thing.  The medical report showed that the doctors thought they had kept him drugged and unconscious for the entire time he was missing.  Now, is there anything at all that you can tell me about your case?”

“Yes.  I can tell you that the security on our case is exceptionally high.”

Nolan was immediately disappointed.  “In other words, I drove all the way up here for nothing.”

“Maybe not,” Rosenberg told him.  “But what you can be told is not going to be my call.  It’ll come from someone else.  Someone who is…let’s say, more involved.”

“More involved than you?  Aren’t you the lead agent on this thing?”

“Yup.  But that doesn’t mean I can dish out any information at all.”

“So what kind of government oath or something will I have to take to get me read in?”

“More than likely, something very close to what you just described.  And just to let you know, I’m making the first decision now.”

“The first decision?”

Rosenberg picked up her cellphone and punched in a number.  “Wanda?  Ellen.  I like him.  Can we come?”  She listened for a moment.  “Okay.  See you there.”  She hung up the phone and looked to Nolan.  “On to round two.”

“Round two?”

“We take a little ride.”

“To see the family, I hope.”

“Yes…and no.”

Nolan wasn’t sure what that meant.  While she was grabbing a few things from her desk, he said, “You called her Wanda, and you gave your first name, Ellen.  You must know her fairly well.  Especially in light of how high the security is supposed to be.”

“I barely know her at all.  I only met her once, in the hospital.”

“But you’re on a first name basis already.”

“Simple code names.  We’re dealing with pros here.  What if they’ve also hacked her phone.  We’re tracking it, but it’s best not to take chances.  Anyone listening in wouldn’t know what’s going on.”

As Nolan followed her out of her office, he realized she was right.  Nothing had been said that sounded like it was the FBI working a case.  “So…he said.  “Ellen.”

“Yeah.  Believe it or not, that’s my name.”

“Oh, I believe it.”

“Nice to meet you…Thomas!” she said pointedly.

Nolan realized she had already researched him.  Did she know he was single?  Probably.  She had said on the phone that she liked him.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---