Eve stood supporting Sabrina in the shower, and gradually made the temperature cooler. Sabrina kept trying to lie down and sleep in the tub, so Eve had to repeatedly haul her up again.
Then Eve took Sabrina into the bedroom and lay her on the bed to dress her. It was like handling a large heavy baby, or a life sized doll. Eve was encouraged when Sabrina started talking. She kept repeating, over and over, "I don't want to go to Japan." Later she added, "Not with that loathsome Hashimoto. What a creep!"
"Right you are," Eve said as she picked up a leg and dragged one pants leg up.
Mark peered in the doorway, saw Eve dressing Sabrina, and retreated, but he kept the door open.
"And we did not have lunch. They didn't even feed me anything." She sounded very much like an angry drunk.
"You fought them all the way," Eve encouraged.
Sabrina nodded. Then she started to cry. "They were mean to me. They hurt me."
Eve had to keep lifting dead sagging weight to put on each article of clothing. Then Sabrina would melt back on the bed again and try to go to sleep. Finally she had Sabrina clad in jeans, a sweater and tennis shoes. She pulled Sabrina up by both arms to a sitting position and said, "Time to take a little walk."
"No! Now I'm going to sleep." She sounded like an angry three year old.
"Hashimoto is an evil man. You're so angry you want to hit him," Eve said, holding on to Sabrina's shoulders and shaking her gently. "And the lipless doctor with the skinny neck should have his license revoked. He's a real quack."
Sabrina closed her eyes. "I'm so tired."
"Mark is waiting to see you. He's just outside the door."
Sabrina gave a beautiful smile and, pillowing her head with one hand, lay back and sighed contentedly.
"Come see Mark," Eve urged, pulling Sabrina up again.
"Want to," Sabrina said, nodding seriously.
"Yes. Come with me." She noted that Sabrina could stagger a little by herself now, and let go when they reached the doorway.
Sabrina saw Mark waiting outside the door, just as Eve had promised, and she opened her arms wide, stepped forward, and collapsed. She almost knocked him down in her attempt to hug him. Evidently her depth perception was not quite up to par. Ivar was there beside Mark. He helped catch Sabrina. The two of them started walking her into the living room.
Eve stalked after them, whispering to Mark. "Don't coddle her. If you give her sympathy, like you want to, she'll cry and feel like a victim. Tell her she was wonderful. Because she was. They tried to control her mind and couldn't do it. Even with drugs. She was very brave. Look at her hands."
As they walked, Mark opened the hand he was holding and saw crescents of blood where Sabrina had clenched it in an attempt to use pain to reject the suggestions and drugs.
Mark squeezed Ivar's arm to stop him. Then he turned and looked Eve directly in the eyes for the very first time. He just looked at her seriously and nodded, but Eve understood that he had finally forgiven her.
Ivar broke the moment, "You're sopping, Eve. You better dry off, too."
"And shivering," Mark added kindly, with a smile.
Eve went into the bathroom. Her wet hair was plastered to her skull. She was dripping on the floor and could see herself shivering in the mirror, although she didn't feel cold.
Eve changed into dry clothes and went back into the living room. Mark was supporting Sabrina alone. Sabrina was still shaky but was insisting that she wanted to walk by herself. In the state Sabrina was in, Mark would let her do anything she wanted. When Sabrina fell, she finally gave in and let Mark help her.
Ivar was on his radio explaining to Malcolm that he had evidence that he needed to show Burgess Whitcomb. Eve heard him tell Malcolm to come over himself, so that he could see that Sabrina was in no condition for an interrogation.
Eve went into the kitchen and started making grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches. Sabrina had complained that Hashimoto hadn't fed her. Food might help Sabrina get over the drug overdose. As she was cooking, Ivar came in to help her.
"Ivar, I want to show you something," Eve said. "Would you get my purse?"
When Ivar brought it in, Eve pulled out the Japanese documents she had taken from Hashimoto's safe. Ivar looked at the Japanese writing blankly and shook his head. Eve explained that Hashimoto proposed to open a limited partnership with American investments. When he got the money he would divert it into real estate, sell the real estate at a huge profit for himself and use the failed partnership as a write-off for his corporation. It was legal, but barely so. Another document, she explained, was an investment into several American universities. Hashimoto planned to grab new American technologies.
Then Eve pulled a canvas bag out of her purse and showed him the contents.
"A fortune," Ivar commented, after he had looked inside.
"I was hoping to buy Sabrina back from Hashimoto, if all else failed. It came from his own safe. Should I return it?"
Ivar shook his head, "Give it to Sabrina."
"That's what I planned. Hashimoto may accuse me of stealing."
"With the pictures we have, he won't dare come near either of you again."
"You saw what he did today," Eve countered. "He'll have his henchmen after me, if he can't do it himself. I have to get lost. Permanently. Or he'll try to use Sabrina again, to get me."
"You're serious?"
Eve nodded.
"Will you let me know, if you decide to leave?"
"Of course. I'm going to give some of this money to the Steinbrenner brothers. They may be creeps, but they can be bought."
Sabrina was staring at Ivar with approval when they walked in the living room with the sandwiches. "This is Ivar?" It was the first time she had really seen him. Before he had only been a presence that helped to support her.
"Yes. He helped you escape."
"Thank you, Ivar," Sabrina said. "And Mark came, too?"
"I called him, and he came from work."
Sabrina smiled at them both.
As they started eating, Ivar explained that Malcolm would be over in a few minutes. "To get the CIA to end the investigation, Eve will have to go and meet with Burgess Whitcomb. When he sees the pictures of what happened in that hotel room, I believe I can convince him that the whole story about a super computer implanted in someone's brain was a con. Just some dishonest lawyers out to hustle a buck, planning to bilk a Japanese corporation."
"Won't work," Sabrina said thickly.
"After what you've been through," Ivar said, "I don't want you to have to be interrogated by Burgess Whitcomb. He's extremely tough. He'll try to trip you up, Sabrina. He can wait a few days."
"I'm thinking fine," Sabrina insisted. "I won't make any mistakes."
"Sabrina's right," Eve said. "Whitcomb won't believe us unless he sees us both. If we wait, he'll be harder on us, and the drugs will be out of Sabrina's system. So, the sooner the better. He can have his medical men search us for some sign of surgery and he won't find any."
"He may want X-rays," Ivar said.
"Then we may be in trouble," Eve admitted.
"I broke into his office and destroyed all of the files on the investigation," Ivar said. "It's causing a real uproar. So if you see me arrested, don't say or do anything. Act completely ignorant."
"You'll go to jail?" Eve asked.
"I'm just warning you, because if he thinks we're in collusion, believe me, he'll never let up."
Eve frowned and shook her head. "No. We can't let that happen, Ivar."
"It doesn't matter. Just listen, because Malcolm will be here in a few minutes. We have to get our stories straight. I made the man you bit take back his accusation. So you both have to say that Sergi Malcovich was bitten by a dog."
"He's Russian. That Sergi Malcovich. KGB I believe," Eve said between bites of her sandwich.
"Yes. The Soviets now have the complete CIA file on you both. If all goes well today, and Burgess is convinced that the computer story is a hoax, I'll make sure that that information gets to the KGB, as well. Then I think you'll be safe. The FBI might watch you for a while, because that's where the information about the Japanese drugging will go. But they'll protect you and make sure Hashimoto never goes near you again."
"You're sacrificing everything, Ivar," Eve said.
"You deserve to be free, Eve. And so does Sabrina. Believe me, I know what it truly means to be free."
Mark, listening, felt both guilty and ashamed. Sabrina had been so brave today, and just last night he had left her. Now he understood that to Sabrina, loyalty to Eve was like being loyal to a part of herself. And as for Eve, she had broken into that hotel room and done everything she could to get Sabrina back. On top of that, Ivar had probably sacrificed his own job for the woman he loved. He might even land in jail. Mark felt like a total shit. Especially since he was thinking what a fabulous story this would be if he could write an article for the L.A. Times.
"I'll come along, too," Mark said. "The CIA can interrogate us all. It might help if Whitcomb knows he can be quoted in the press."
"Good," Ivar said. "When Whitcomb understands what an ass the CIA will appear to be, by a leak from a member of the press, he'll want to hush the whole thing up as quickly as possible. And Sabrina, it would help a lot if you would cry."