THE TIMING, JOE PARENTE [ereader ebook .txt] 📗

sure hit.” He was wincing as he shook his head then smiled with a nod.

I stood up. “Can you tell me what is going on here?”

“Well I don’t know a lot but if it will help to get this Frank, I will.”

“What do you know about the take over of the hotel?”

Jules walked over to the bathroom sink and picked up a small baggie of ice. “Here, it’s more than you gave me.” He handed over the ice. “This new company forced the owner of this hotel out by getting him to sign a contract. An efficiency expert took over the management and soon after, he fired many people. I was one of the ones that stayed.

Business wasn’t too good before the take over but with just a few employees, we couldn’t handle the business we had. We lost even more clients and Mister Walton Junior had to claim bankruptcy. This new outfit took it over. Funny thing though, Mister Walton disagreed with some of the contract requirements and tried to get out of it.

I was listening intently. “What were these requirements?”

“It had to do with always being on time. I’ll tell you, they had me working a very long schedule; in fact, I was working a twelve-hour a day shift until today. The thing is, they didn’t pay for the hours that I worked. The main thing was, the new management was a stickler about being late for anything. Since they did all this, business has been swift. This is an aggressive company that you work for.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. What happened to the old owner?”

“He left for a couple of days and no one knew where he was. When he came back, he looked very sick. It was as if he had a mental breakdown. He didn’t get a chance to cancel, anyway, right after the new company took over, he died.”

“He died?” That floored me! Do you know any more about the company?”

“Yeah, they took over the cabs out here, but I don’t know any more about it. Oh yeah, they also own the meat outfit that supplies us with product.”

“When you picked up Jeff Foster at Baetacom, where did you take him?”

“I took him to meet someone at a restaurant. I was supposed to pick him up at a certain time but he didn’t show. A day or so after that, Frank said to find him. I guess the guy disappeared. If I didn’t find him it would be my job, so I asked around the neighborhood.”

“Does Frank know that I was involved?”

“Hell no, when I told him that I lost Jeff, he fired me. I wouldn’t tell him anything then. The way that guy looked, well let’s say, I didn’t want anything more to do with this outfit.” He helped himself to a beer from the bar cooler. “Thanks for the beer.”

I nodded. We talked for a while longer. He offered his help if I needed it, as long as he wouldn’t have to come back to The Walton. He was starting his new job in two weeks at another hotel. He did give me his contact number.

It was time to get to room 622. I wanted to make sure that Judy’s call wouldn’t be missed. She left a message for a make believe lover’s name but I knew it was for me.

“Hi honey, how is your brother?”

“He is doing better- still resting. The doctor says that he should be fine in a few days. I was worried about him. Should I come over now?”

“Can you bring something to eat? Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’ll bring some Chinese and for desert, me.” She giggled.

“You better hurry, see you soon.” I hung up and then called Bill Foster to clue him in on the information that I learned from Jules. I wanted to make sure that he was on the watch and to be careful, especially after learning about Mister Walton’s death.

He told me that he had a message from Willhelm inviting him to lunch; he was probably trying to save the deal.

I told him not to return his call. We needed time to find out more. He agreed. He thanked me for finding his son, and wanted to talk when this whole thing was over.

Things were quiet next door. I must have fallen asleep in the easy chair. The dream I was having was real because of the next thing that happened. I remembered those juicy lips against my nose. Judy’s lips were warm and sensuous against my lips. Her warm tongue was probing into my mouth. Waking up, I found her smiling over me as I took a bite of a sautéed mushroom.

I awoke, moaning pleasurably. “I’d love to tell you what you just made me dream of.”

“Let’s see, you were dreaming about being on a beach in Hawaii.”

“Exactly!” I mused. “Let’s eat.”

“Heard anything?” She unpacked the pea pod beef.

“Not yet, this looks great.” We ate and listened.”
We talked softly as I filled her in on the information that Jules had given me. We were more determined than ever to resolve the situation. We were also worried that if we were caught eavesdropping, someone could get hurt. If what we thought was true about Rhortec, they would do anything to achieve success.

We both felt that we might have enough information to go to law enforcement. Hopefully, they would find enough evidence to convict through the Federal Trade Commission. On the other hand, I felt compelled to protect Judy and her family, after all if it wasn’t for me this would never have happened. I also knew that if things hadn’t occurred, I would not have met Judy.

We were in constant contact with Doctor Carlisle and Judy’s father by using the cell phone in the back room. We didn’t want any noise to carry over to the neighboring room. We, again, took turns at the pass through door. Listening.


THE TIMING Joe Parente


Chapter 12


A telephone’s ringing drifted through the adjoining door only to sound muted as it signaled our inner ears. We stood frozen and alert anticipating additional information that could help to complete the puzzle. We hoped that it would be the piece we were waiting for. Would it be fragmented so that no sense could be made of it? Our only choice was to listen carefully.

We heard Frank. “Ten minutes, fine, don’t be late.” He hung up with a light click.

I didn’t know how long he had been in that room. I didn't hear a door open or close. I whispered to Judy that we had to be very quiet.

I said softly, “hand me that glass so we will be ready. I think Frank is going to have company.”
We waited until a short knock was heard. “Hello, Gustav, you made it on time.

“Of course, you know better than that,” Gustav quipped.

“I don’t think it took. I know you have tried to over ride his de-programming in an attempt to start over. He is very reluctant; there must be a natural block to the synapses you have created. It’s either that, or you did not do your job correctly.”

“You don’t know what you are talking about Frank.” He said with his light German accent. “Technically my field is systematic manipulation of social and psychological influence. In simple terms, I control the elements of the subjects’ social and psychological environments to eradicate undesirable modes of behavior. I am then able to instill or re-install desirable ones. I’m quite good at my work.” Gustav sounded quite sure of himself, gloating at his sick accomplishments.

“But it’s not working I said. Something is wrong.” Frank retaliated.

“De-programming is the answer. I have been able to meld this program with the subjects own brain waves. The subjects aggravated brain waves then trigger this response, in other words, if a person is upset the natural electrical system will bridge, closing the circuit that shuts down his or her present situation. Darkness takes over along with hallucination.

“What if—“

“Let me finish, we have found that when the part of the brain that senses light is not used, the transfer of this unused energy goes directly to the part of the mind that controls the reality in thinking.
The patient then hallucinates. What makes this different then a blind person is the programming. It comes as a total surprise and the brain can not handle its sudden immersion in darkness Blind people know the reason for their disability.

Frank spoke quickly, “what if the implant is moved or becomes disconnected?”

“That is not possible, but another thing can cause it to malfunction.” He was quiet for a moment. “This process is found to be a bit extreme so a buffer is installed. Usually the effect is over in about twelve hours.” There was a pause.

Frank tried to interrupt. “What if—“

“Let me think!” There was a pause. “Did you not tell me that this, uh, Brad had two events?”

“Yes at least two.”

“Then it must be working. As the patient goes into this other state, the natural thought would be to assign blame. In the case of Willhelms experiments that blame is time. The fact that being late for something creates the punishment it causes a dream or hallucinations. With the unusual high attention to the importance of time the brain will trigger the event.

At the training sessions, we brainwash those trainees into believing that those that are tardy will be punished. Time becomes the switch as the anxiety grows to the point to set things off. Now if the subject has insulated the nodes of the device that we implanted, it could have a short life. I am not convinced that this is possible.

We heard Frank speak, “how did you involve time with Jeff, your last subject?”

“I didn’t. I didn’t have to. We simply did not use buffers.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It is extremely dangerous. I would be interested in examining him. Is he—“

Judy dropped her glass. It shattered next to the door making a