A little more plot today. In other news, I'll be on vacation next week. I'm trying to make arrangements, but just in case I can't, I'm letting you guys know now that there may not be a post next Thursday. Thanks for your patience, and the positive feedback.
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Her eyes slowly opened. The overhead lights made her head throb, and she narrowed her eyes to slits. She was seated in a hard, uncomfortable chair. There was a dull gray table in front of her. The far wall held a huge mirror. After a moment, she realized it was more like a one-way window. The setup seemed familiar to her. Shortly, it occurred to her that this looked like one of those police interrogation rooms she had seen on TV. She felt no chains or handcuffs on her; experimentally, she moved around in the chair, then stood up, finding that she was not restrained in any way.
“Ah, you're awake.”
Carla looked around for the source of the voice, seeing a small speaker in the wall over the window.
“So I am. Where the hell am I?” she snarled.
Instead of the voice replying, the door to the room opened and a man walked in. Her stomach turned when she realized it was Will.
“What do you want, you bastard?” Carla snapped.
He looked at her sadly. “First, let me start by apologizing,” he said softly.
“Fuck you.”
“Okay, can't say I blame you for being angry,” re replied.
“Angry?” she said in disbelief. “Angry? You haven't seen angry yet, asshole. Wait until I get out of her and there's nobody to keep an eye on you. I'll show you angry.”
“Carla. Please. Give me a chance to explain,” he said pleadingly.
“Explain what? How you've secretly been on Talbot-Lucian's payroll? How you've probably been using me to spy on CHC? How you've been actively discouraging me from investigating this incident so you can help these assholes cover up their involvement?” Her tone steadily became louder and more aggressive as she went on. “Stop me if I'm wrong, you dick!”
Will held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Carla. Please. Sit down, and let me talk for a minute.”
“Fine,” she snapped through gritted teeth. She sat heavily in the chair and watched him approach, sitting in one opposite her.
“I didn't want it to come to this. Believe that, if nothing else.”
She gave a derisive snort of laughter. “Why should I believe anything you say?”
He sighed. “I suppose that's fair. But if you aren't going to trust anything I tell you, then there's not much point in talking to you, is there? So you can sit in this room by yourself with no information, or you can trust that I don't have any reason to lie to you.”
She shook her head, scowling at him. “Whatever. Say what you have to say, then.”
“Alright. So as you correctly guessed, I was asked to keep an eye on you. With you being the secretary of your organization, I'd have easy access to the notes for what was going on. The only reason we wanted to do that, though, is because of some fairly radical viewpoints expressed by some current and former members. Particularly that bitch Vanessa.”
Seeing her disapproving expression, he raised an eyebrow. “What? You don't like her either. Anyway, some of the higher-ups here were concerned that there might come a day when her, or someone like her, attempted something really drastic. Sabotage, maybe, or falsifying enough evidence to put together a credible scandal to sell to the media. It was my job to help prevent something like that.”
He leaned across the table, getting closer to her, and lowered his voice. A forlorn look crossed his features. “But I want you to know, falling for you wasn't part of the assignment. That was genuine, because you're an amazing woman.”
Her eyes went wide and she reeled back in shock. For a moment she seemed to stunned to speak. “You...you can't possibly...” Reading his expression, she laughed bitterly. “You do, don't you? You honestly think you can make up for lying to me, betraying me, and kidnapping me. Are you fucking kidding me?”
He frowned down at the table surface for a moment. “I really didn't want to do that. Believe me. I only did it to keep you out of trouble.”
Carla glared at him, full of skepticism. “What the hell do you mean? You knocked me out and let them imprison me. How much more trouble could I be in?”
Will stared levelly at her. “If you'd continued on the path you were going down? A lot more. I had orders to keep you from digging too deep, so I hit you with a tranquilizer and had someone come pick us up and drive us here. This was about as easy as it could have gone down. If I hadn't stopped you, the next guys you ran into wouldn't have had any reason to go easy on you. They might have hurt you. Or worse. Not to mention, I would have failed at my assignment, so there would have been no way for me to help you after the fact. As it stands, I'm allowed to handle you directly, so I can keep you from getting in more trouble.”
Sitting up straight, he flicked his eyes meaningfully at the one-way mirror over his shoulder so that only she could see. Speaking loudly and clearly, he continued, “I already told them that I don't believe you know very much. You had suspicions that what's happening to the women in this town might somehow be connected to the lake water, and that was all you had to go on.” With a very subtle shake of his head, he added, “If you know anything else, you need to tell us now.”
Presumably, he hadn't mentioned her suspicions about the communications blackout or their involvement in the military blockade of the town. Hoping she was reading his intended message right, she said, “No. That's all I really had. I figured it was probably something in the water, but I wasn't able to get any more details. And now I guess I never will,” she spat.
“Alright. We're going to have to keep you here for the time being, but we'll be able to release you once we've taken care of this...incident,” Will said. “If you need anything—food, a restroom break, whatever—just press the intercom button by the door.” Rising from the table, he turned and walked toward the exit.
“Will?” she said as he neared the doorway. He paused, turning to look at her. “How long do you think it'll be?”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I'm not entirely sure. But we expect to have everything under control within the next 24 hours.”
“And what if you can't get it under control?” she asked.
He looked her in the eyes and seemed as if he was about to say something, but after a few seconds, he turned away and walked out of the room, the door closing and locking with a loud click behind him.