“It was crude by our standards today. We took a tiny radio receiver with two stubby little electrodes and inserted it under the skin at the base of the spinal column. A patient would be put under observation. If he misbehaved, we triggered a signal that pumped an electrical charge into the spinal cord. Intense pain resulted as long as the signal was maintained. But it was very unwieldy and impractical because the person had to be kept under twenty-four-hour observation, and only outward behavioral symptoms could be punished. That’s when we started developing an internal, automatic control system implanted in the brain.”

“There is no automatic punishment response in this system, Travis.” The Major waved his hand. “She won’t even know it’s there. Unless we push the button, she’ll never have any pain.”

“You insert a radio receiver in her back, and she doesn’t even know it?”

“Yes. I’ll explain how in a moment.”

“Why the implantation?” Travis demanded, obviously wavering. “Bugging her wrist computer will lead us to Eric, if—” he paused, his eyes bitter, “—if she’s really with them. So what’s the purpose of implanting her?”

The Major looked away, unable to meet Travis’s demanding stare. “We think something may be developing between Eric and Nicole, Travis. I’m sorry, and I sincerely hope we’re wrong. But if we’re right and somehow he cuts her wrist computer and she slips away to him, the implantation will give us leverage. We’ll have a hold on Eric. We can trigger intense pain from virtually any distance.”

Travis was silent for almost a full minute, his face drawn. Finally he nodded. “How can you implant her without her knowing it?”

The Major smiled. “We have arranged for a minor accident to happen tomorrow in the Monitoring Room.”

CHAPTER 31

Clayne Robertson stared at the patches of white on Sarah’s neck as she bent over the stack of blocks to help her younger brother. He looked away angrily.

Adrienne leaned across the table, pushing aside the dishes from the quick dinner she had fixed for him, and put her hand over his. He looked up, his own eyes softening when he saw the moistness in hers. He swung around to face her, covering her slim fingers with his massive palms. “Hi.”

“Hello, big man.”

“I love you.”

The tears welled up and spilled onto her cheeks. “And I love you,” she whispered fiercely.

He started to rise, but she reached out with her other hand to hold his on the table. “Clayne, do you really want them to catch Eric?”

His eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You liked him, didn’t you?”

“Once,” he snapped. “Once I thought he liked me until he blasted me with my own stun gun.”

Adrienne nodded, “He was hardly himself that night.”