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"All right," I said. "Let's get started."

They pulled up three chairs and sat down facing me, the men on either side of Tanya. She put the papers on her lap. Dimitrov was staring hard at me, as if trying to assess my innermost thoughts and feelings.

"We are going to ask you to submit to therapy once more," Tanya said. "Then you will be ready."

Kalinin was preparing the syringe. He leaned forward from his chair and gave me the injection. "You will receive only a small amount of the sedative this time," he said, "because we will be releasing you immediately after this session is over." The liquid entered my vein, and he withdrew the needle and pressed a bail of cotton to the tiny wound.

"Now," Tanya said, in her smooth, quiet voice, "you are feeling very relaxed and tranquil." Her voice droned on, caressing my brain, and soon I was in its power. I was completely submissive.

"This time I am going to ask you to open your eyes, but you must not come out of the deep trance. On the count of five you will open your eyes but remain in the hypnotic state."

She counted slowly. When she reached five, my eyes came open. I looked from one face to the other. I was perfectly aware of everything around me, but I was still in a state of supreme euphoria. I was completely relaxed, and I knew I was in the complete power of that voice.

"You have been chosen to carry out the most important mission yet attempted by the revolution," Tanya said gravely. "Day after tomorrow, the Caracas Conference will take place. There will be a morning and an afternoon session. The President of Venezuela, the Vice-President of the United States, and various other dignitaries will be present. The conference will take place at the Palacio de Miraflores.

"You will go to the afternoon session just before the conference is to reconvene. You will be given a water carafe to take into the room. When the conference resumes, a device hidden in the carafe will kill everyone in that room."

A shiver of pleasure passed through me.

"You will not use a gun to kill our enemies, as you tried to do earlier. But you will kill them. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I understand."

"Your face will look different to you when you awake from this trance. We will have made you look like an American spy whose name is Nick Carter."

"Nick Carter," I repeated. Nick! That was what Tanya had called me in the dream. It had been a premonition, like the dream about the Luger.

"You will enter the building as Nick Carter. A member of our group will give you a carafe containing a hidden device. You will take the carafe into the conference room and place it on the table. You will be able to do this because this Nick Carter, whom we have disposed of, has top security clearance at the conference."

"I understand," I said.

"During the next two days you will pose as Nick Carter. I will now begin reading from a file on this agent, and you must remember every single detail so that you will be able to impersonate Carter successfully. Also, you have certain knowledge of this man deep inside you. You may utilize just enough of this knowledge to accomplish your impersonation and no more."

She read from the papers on her lap. The information wasn't difficult to remember. Somehow it seemed very familiar to me.

"It was I who impersonated Ilse Hoffman," Tanya concluded. "After we release you, you will report immediately to Carters boss, David Hawk. He will wonder why you have been out of touch for two days, and he will ask about me, whom he knows as Ilse Hoffmann. You will say that you took a trip to a country villa with me for a few days because you wanted to check on me but that you are now convinced that I am above suspicion."

"Yes," I said. "Above suspicion." The information was indelibly recorded on my brain.

"You will impersonate Nick Carter as cleverly as you know how, doing whatever is expected of you until noon on the day of the conference. You will then ignore any orders they may give you and go to the palace. You must be in the corridor just outside the conference room at exactly one p.m. At that time our man will approach you. He will be wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, with a white carnation in his lapel. He will hand you this carafe, which is the kind that will be used on the conference table." She took a large, ornate carafe from Dimitrov. "Inside it, under the false bottom, will be this device."

She carefully removed an electronic gadget. It looked like a fancy transistor radio.

"The device is operated by remote control. It emits sound in a wide range of frequencies, wider than anything previously devised. At certain frequencies and levels of volume, sound is destructive to central nervous tissue. Very brief exposure results in painful death."

She replaced the gadget in the carafe. "The device will be tuned to the proper frequency by remote control after the afternoon session has begun. Within minutes it will have killed everyone within hearing range, but it will not affect anyone outside the room. After it has done its job, it will emit a much lower sound, which will still sound very high-pitched to your ears. You will be able to hear that sound outside the conference room, where you will be stationed."

"I will hear the sound outside the conference room," I repeated.

"After our man gives you the water carafe, you will go to the guards at the door of the room and tell them that the palace staff has asked you to deliver the carafe so that there will be fresh water for the members of the conference. Since Nick Carter has clearance to enter the conference room, they will allow you to take the carafe inside, where you will place it on the table. You wall leave it there and take the other carafe to the nearest service room in the corridor. You will stay away from the immediate area until you see that everyone has entered the conference room for the afternoon session. Then you will take up your place just outside.

"When you hear the high-pitched sound from the room, you will know the device has done its job. Now, listen carefully." Dimitrov had gotten up and turned a dial on a small machine on a nearby table. I heard a piercing scream that reminded me of the noise some jets make.

"That is the sound you will hear." Her voice paused a moment. "When you hear it," she said slowly, "you will remember everything buried in your subconscious. You will remember everything that I told you earlier not to remember. You will recall all that occurred prior to your coming to this clinic. But you will not remember anything that occurred here. This will reveal truth to you but will result in severe confusion. You will admit to the first person who speaks to you that you planted the death device in the conference room. Is this all clear?"

"It is all clear," I said.

"Also, when our man hands you the carafe, he will say, 'Viva la revolución! These words will reinforce your determination to kill the Venezuelan President and the American and you will feel an irresistible compulsion to take the carafe into the room as I have instructed you."

"Viva la revolutión," I said.

Kalinin got up, went over to a table, and got the Luger they'd given me earlier and a stiletto in a sheath. He handed me the weapons.

"Put the gun on," Tanya said. "The stiletto sheath should be attached to your right forearm."

I followed her instructions. The weapons felt uncomfortable and bulky on me. Kalinin brought me a dark suit jacket and a tie, and Tanya told me to put them on over the weapons.

"The weapons belonged to Nick Carter," Tanya said. "You will know how to use them. The clothes were also his."

Dimitrov leaned over and whispered something into Tanya's ear. She nodded.

"You will make no attempt to return to your apartment on Avenida Bolivar. Nor will you contact the Vigilantes or anybody connected with this mission, not even the personnel at this clinic."