Ingrams & Assoc 5: Personality Flaws Ch. 03

April nodded, anxiously. The anxious part wasn't put on. For some reason, she was far more nervous than normal, when stepping into an unknown situation. This was someone messing with her grey matter, and almost certainly not in a benevolent way. It was enough to put the willies up anyone - that was phrase she had just picked up from conversation in the pub, and she loved it. She couldn't wait to introduce that to Ingrams back home. She moved in the chair, checking again that her phone was in the pocket and the bottom end was peaking out, so the mike would pick up everything said. She actually had another pure recording device in her purse, built into a little pocket with the cover cut out so the mike as exposed, just in case she was told to turn off her phone; it seemed better have a backup.

Willing herself to relax a bit, she said, "Yes. It's not pretty. I hurt my back in a skiing accident, got prescribed Oxytocin, and well, you know how it is..."

She looked imploringly at Doctor Baker, who smiled at her in what he must have thought was a reassuring manner, but basically made it look like his skin was stretching across his gaunt visage.

"Oh indeed I do, Miss Teller. Well, I'm sure we can do something about that. You already have the desire, which makes it so much easier. A few sessions and we should be able to quash the desire. My methods are a little... unorthodox, in some ways, but are very very effective. I have quite the success rate, and your issue is certainly something I've dealt with in the past."

April couldn't help but hear his elongated sibilants. Sure was Shhhhhhure. Success was sssuccsssesss. It was eerie.

"Now, relax yourself, Miss Teller, sit back, feel yourself getting more relaxed... I want you to look at this watch..."

He actually had a pocket watch on a chain! April couldn't believe it! Some of the stereotypes were actually true! Although, he wasn't waving the watch back and forth - his pocket watch was built in such a way as to be glass backed, and you could see a bunch of small cogs revolving. She concentrated on the watch, as he spun it around, slowly, the light glinting off the glass surround... Now that she thought of it, she was quite tired. She stifled a yawn and thought that maybe a nap would help...

Four hours later, April was sitting in one of the rooms of the Salthouse Hotel, in Ipswich. Chandra was there, as were Mark and George. She had returned from her session feeling uncharacteristically good. Relaxed, laid back and almost glowing. She didn't remember a thing, but had been assured by Doctor Baker that they'd made good progress on laying the groundwork for 'solving her little problem' as he put it.

She'd checked the recorders once in her car, and found that her phone had been turned off, which was very interesting. But the purse recorder had captured everything. She then hurried back to the hotel so they could all start listening.

When she'd got there, she'd handed the recorder to Chandra, who then had said, "OK, April, I know you are probably extremely curious, but I want you to go to your room, take a bath for an hour, then come back. I need to listen to this without you in the room, just in case there are any bombs in here. I can't predict what they may have done, or how you might react, so please, give us an hour, then come back?"

April hadn't been pleased, and pouted till Mark just got up and said, "Ohh, you smell. Go wash up April. Take a bath or something, and don't come back till you smell better!"

They'd all laughed, the tension had been broken, and she'd gone, with the worst graces she could muster.

When she returned an hour later, even more relaxed than she had been, the mood was somber. Mark and George wouldn't meet her gaze either.

"So?" she asked, eagerly, a little put off by their avoidance.

"Well, let's see. OK, best to go chronological order. First, he took you down into a trance state. I...uh... made that a bit easier for him. If you remember from what we did, I made it easier for you to relax into a trance state, just so we got more time for him to...um, poke around, so to speak. More time with him doing his thing means we had more time to analyze." Chandra at least had the decency to look embarrassed by this revelation. April had to think hard to remember him doing that to her. Her face wrinkled once she did remember - the way her memories worked of the initial session with Chandra were foggy - she had to actively will herself to remember to actually bring them up, they didn't occur naturally.

"Anyway. You went clear, and he started in. Most of the initial interaction was him asking you about what you really needed from this session. There was a fair bit about him asking you about your sexual preferences - you indicated both, which is fair enough, we didn't prep that part -, whether you were attached or not. Then it got into your job, and that's when he started to get quite interested. A lot of probing there - asking questions designed to get an answer he could check up on, obviously.

"But then he said something to himself, about you being worthy of the 'next stage', whatever that was. And then, he did some stuff to you. And...um...well..."

"What?" demanded a somewhat pissed off April.

"He made you...take care of yourself. Sexually."

"He did WHAT?" yelled April, appalled.

"He made you play with yourself. In fact, he was surprised at how easily you took the suggestion, and how much you got into it."

"I lay there...and I...I?" April was aghast and embarrassed.

"Look, you couldn't have helped it," said Chandra, sympathetically. "But, it's what he did next that I am having trouble with."

"What? Worse than me frigging myself in front of him?"

"Yes. He hurt you. You should have come out of the trance then, but you didn't. I think he twisted your nipples. Hard. You groaned. Both in pain and in... well... He said something about you 'liking that'? Now, why you didn't come out...well, that's interesting. He did do a couple of things I've not seen before, and the whole sex thing...he couldn't know you are a pro at that. There's something else going on here.

"And then there... this."

He played a sequence, and it was of him chanting a set of sounds and tones, and then April heard her own voice repeating them. Almost in stereo. At which point she suddenly realized she was singing them right there and then, rocking back and forth, slowly.

Immediately Chandra shut off the recording and leaning in to April, shaking her.

"April, APRIL, are you with us? APRIL?

"What?" she yelled back, suddenly afraid.

Chandra sat back, breathing hard, his eyes darting around.

"I don't quite believe it. I think I know what this is, but I have no idea how they could have..." his voice trailed off as he thought.

"I need to look at something. I'll be back in a while. DO NOT let her go anywhere," he said, empathically, to Mark and George.

They looked at each other, back at Chandra and nodded, Mark getting up to sit next to April, who was looking around in bewilderment.

Chandra took two hours before he returned.

When he did, he had a serious expression on his face. He came in with a book and a folder, sat down and took April's hands in his. "April, can you do me a favor? Go get the clothes you were wearing for that session?"

April was not feeling good, but nodded. The last two hours had been quite intense for her, worried about what was happening. They'd listened to the recording, avoiding the part with the chanting - and it was haunting listening. April in the throes of climax, Marcus Baker surprise at how easily she went for it, the interrogation of her job and prospects, all of it. There were parts when it went quiet, and that was eerie. At the end of the session, there was some desultory addressing of the issue she'd actually gone to see him about. And at the end, there was a command for her to return for the next session.

It was very disquieting, and there was not a lot of discussion after they'd finished. Mostly, just silence, each alone with their own thoughts. Everyone avoided everyone else's eyes.

Then Chandra arrived back, and made his request. April rose, and went and collected the clothes, left on her floor of her room. She returned to the room with the clothing and passed them to Chandra, who took each of them, sniffing them, and nodding as he did so.

"Yeah, I thought so. Ayahuasca. Those silent bits? I'm pretty sure he was lighting a candle with that stuff in it."

"Ayahuasca - what?" asked Mark, speaking for the first time.

Chandra glanced at him and said, "It's a hallucinogen, from South America. Normally taken as a brew, but it can be condensed and used as a smoke. It provokes heavy emotional responses. That's why the climax April had was so intense, and why some of the other conditioning was more...potent. I think I've got some of what is going on here. Not all of it, but a better clue."

He threw the book he brought with him on the table. "It's in here. This is one of my research books - the research I was talking about. Have you guys ever heard of Saiminjutsu? Almost certainly not. It's the hypnotism of the Ninja. Yes, I know..."

He held up his hand at some of the "Oh for fucks sake," type comments, coming from Mark and George.

"No, I don't think we are dealing with Ninja's here. That would be silly. But, Ninja's had a lot of dealings with hypnotism during their tenure as the world's greatest assassins. Not a lot is known about how they did what they did, for obvious reasons. But what is believed is that it was particularly effective, and they did have the ability to re-write basic parts of a personality. Usually something very specific, that involved their plans to kill someone. But it was reported as being very impressive in action.

"Most of what we know about how they did what they did comes from an eye witness account of three men who were part of the Eastern Front during World War II. They were captured during a naval battle, and held on Wake Island during late 1942. Wake Island was captured by US forces in 1943, and these guys were rescued then."

There was utter silence as Chandra carried on his narration, everyone totally focused on his story.

"When these guys were rescued, they told of being 'visited', every night, by two men. They wore black and barely spoke. But each night they were tortured. Not with spikes or waterboarding or things like that, but with their nerve endings being worked, to elicit great pain. They were almost never asked questions, just every night they were tortured. Then, after about two months of this, questions were asked of them while the torture was happening. Innocuous questions, about their lives. Their wives - two were married - about the life their children would lead. The questions were asked in such a way as to demand a deep answer, and often those deep answered were dissected by the captors. Not in an aggressive way, in a questioning way. All the while, they were being kept in immense pain.

"It took a while to disseminate what was happening. The pain was putting them in an almost trance like state. They weren't being programmed, they were being put in a situation where they would program themselves. They would question their own basic truths, and because those truths were put under a microscope from a very specific direction, they didn't hold up within the tortured mind itself."

Chandra took a breath and looked around, at each face.

"So, like Chinese brain washing?" ventured George, hesitantly.

"Not quite. Chinese brain washing works by isolating the patient from the world, and basically breaking the entire personality down, and then replacing it with a new one. You are literally a new person, with new hobbies and desires. The Japanese way is far more insidious, because it leaves the basic personality intact - it just rewires specific thinking on specific subjects, orienting them to what the manipulator wants. If you think about it, if you want to make someone a double agent, brain washing them isn't the best way to put them back in where they came from. They are a different person now - yes, they have access to the memories of how they used to be, but now the way they think is entirely alien to those memories. In fact, that's one of the biggest problems the Chinese had with their brainwashing program, and why it was eventually shut down. Too many brain washees ended up killing themselves, because their new value system was so incompatible with the old one, and they were so desperately ashamed of who they used to be.

"But anyway, the way Saiminjutsu works is that it uses a key focusing situation - in the case of the Japanese, it was pain - and then when a trance like state is achieved, it seeks to undermine particular aspects of the current personality. The really nasty part is that the brain washing, if that's what you want to call it, is something you do to yourself. You are the one who creates arguments and justifications for whatever it is that your mind is being changed about. You quite literally convince yourself. The new desires become part of your personality."

April's mind was spinning, she had a bunch of questions. "How does that happen? I mean, I was always taught that a well-integrated and directly opposed personality can always overcome hypnotism?"

"Well, yes, that's true," conceded Chandra. "And in that case, what happens is the new desires get sidelined. They get compartmentalized. In the Ninja case, from what I've managed to piece together, when they encounter this, they then attach the new desires to deeply held existing desires. For example, attaching a deep need for submission to the love for their spouse. So every time they think of that spouse, the need for submission comes with it. It's hard to do, but none of what we are talking about happens overnight anyway. It's a slow gradual process. If it works. This is all very non-scientific hearsay that has been passed along. There's no write-up or actual controlled study. And, as legend has it, even the Japanese were aided by herb usage. We've no idea what these herbs were, but they were reported to be fed to the targets during these sessions. Something to make them more suggestable, obviously."

April glanced at Mark. It all sounded too familiar.

"I think what these guys are doing is a perversion on the Saiminjutsu principles. I think they are using sex - orgasm - in place of the pain the Ninja's are alleged to have used. And I think they are supplementing what they do with hypnotheraputic drugs. Like the Ayahuasca. It's like a massive wave of different things combining to overwhelm the senses and the subconscious mind. So that the subject cannot overcome the process."

"You got all that from the audio?" asked George, more than a little skeptically.

"Well, I can't be sure about any of it. He's not got into heavy programming yet - what he did here was preparation and investigation. He wanted to know how suggestible April was, and what kind of mark she might be. He's just preparing the ground so to speak. But putting it all together - what happened to Lee Hicks, what he did in this session, the way he did it, - I'm pretty confident I'm on the right track."

April sat back, considering, then said, "So ok. Now we know this, what's next? Can we get Lee sorted out yet? Can you help him? Get that shit out of his mind?"

Chandra looked down, then looked back up at April, seriously.

"I honestly don't know what I can do. I think I can help him somewhat now, certainly. Calm him. Maybe stop some of the fits. Mind you, I still don't know how they are making that happen, so I may do more damage than good. I doubt they've laid booby traps in his grey matter, but you never know. I need to know a bit more about what their technique is to break it down. You can't just put people in a trance and say 'now you are a submissive' you know. Particularly not to someone like Lee Hicks."

April, Mark and George digested this. George and Mark exchanged a worried glance, and April said, in as steady a voice as she could, "I'm going to have to go back, aren't I?"

"Now wait a second," said Mark, hurriedly. "I'm not comfortable with this, in any way. Quite apart from the concept of letting this guy run around with his spiked boots in April's grey matter, Jessica would have my balls on platter for letting this happen. Why can't we go and tell the cops?

April looked at him and said, "And tell them all he just said?" She gestured at Chandra. "We talked about this..."

"Yeah but, we are all starting to buy into this right? We've got Lee and Rachael. We've got the doctors' conclusions, what Chandra has deduced. We've got evidence. Ok, it's almost all circumstantial, but it's still compelling. If we are convinced, why won't they be?"

"And how long will that take? How much more damage will this guy do in the meantime? And what if they don't go for this? What if they go in there, blundering around with their size elevens? What if he discovers they are investigating him and just vanishes? Or, worse still, turns their investigators?" April demanded, heatedly, in response.

"Well, what if they discover we are investigating them April? Same rules apply to us," replied Mark, calmly.

"They won't. We aren't your usual set of investigators. We don't have rules. We know what we are doing. We are prepared for this. They aren't," April fired back, less heatedly but firmly.

"I hope you are right. Obviously we are going to follow your lead on this - you are the agent in charge here. I'm just trying to provide you with an alternative view on all this, April. Jessica is still going to have my balls for supporting this, but then she'll have to fight my wife for them," Mark replied with a small smile.

April visibly relaxed, and said in a conciliatory tone, "I understand Mark. I just want this guy. I want him all wrapped up a bow when we hand him over to the authorities. He hurt my friend, and he's going to pay for that."

Mark glanced at George, clearly not happy with the passion still evident in her voice. But, as he indicated, it was her mission to run.

"If it's any consolation, I'm pretty sure I can undo any damage he might do. I have enough to go on and if we get another recording, it'll be even easier. There's very little there right now to remove, after listening to that recording we already have - everything he did was preparation, there were no long-term bombs to deal with. But that won't be the case after the next few sessions. Hopefully we'd only need one. I do have to echo some of Mark's concern though April. You sure you want to do this? Knowing what they did to Lee? What they are capable of doing?"

April turned to him and stated clearly, "It's because of that they did to Lee, because of what they are capable of that I really must do this. Someone has to stop them. We are the thin edge of that wedge. I am the point of that wedge."

Every sat in silence for a moment, and then Mark said, "Your call then. So be it. Let's organize another session, and see where it goes."

April nodded and got up to make the phone call.

The session was arranged for two days later. April spent some time on the phone with Dermot and the people back at Ingrams in the US, going over what they'd found and making a detailed verbal and written report. She was surprised to see Desirea actually sitting in on some of the Skype sessions, and was extremely glad to see her back in the saddle. She was still sidelined at Ingrams, but at least she was alive and still in one piece.

She spent some time with Chandra, who put her into a trance twice to try and put some protective measures in place, as a precaution. It was hard to know exactly what to prepare against, so Chandra put some default suggestive blocks in place.