Fiction: Ray's Honey Pots, Part Seven

"Uhm," Ben says, still looking at me.

"What?" I say, annoyed.

"What's the plan? I need to know what you want to have happen once the muscle stasis wears off."

I blink at him.

"Rowan said you'd want to use this opportunity to shut down Ray's mind control approach to the honey pots," I say slowly, like I'm speaking to someone who's not particularly bright.

"Oh," says Ben. His face lights up. "That's a great idea!"

I try not to listen to him as he talks to Ben. Rowan and I didn't know whether his words would program me, too. Instead, I listen for noises in the hall. Nothing yet. I try not to think of the girl downstairs, try not to imagine her head in my lap, try not to wonder if she'd love me if she were liberated.

I look at my watch. "Two minutes, Ben," I say.

"That's alright. I think I covered all the bases," Ben says. He takes the phone from Ray's frozen hand. Ray straightens his posture, looks at me, frowns. But he doesn't say anything; no yelling, no accusations. I keep flicking my attention between the two men. Despite having firsthand knowledge of what The Loop does to people, I don't trust Ray. Ben is looking at the phone's screen, tapping it. He hands it back to Ray.

"Give that a listen, Ray," he says. Ray glares at me one last time before sinking into The Loop again.

"What are you doing?" I ask, "He needs to be ready to talk to people soon."

"It's the second phase of The Loop. The irreversible part. What happened to you was like a, a veneer, an added layer of characteristics. The second phase dives in and starts making changes to your psyche. It's similar to what Ray did to his honey pots."

"Wait," I say, "Back up. What Rowan did to me is reversible?"

"Well, it's kind of like a long-lasting post-hypnotic suggestion. Like any other suggestion, it wears off over time if it's not consistently triggered. But, since it's a suggestion, or a directive, really, to obey what people tell you to do, it's not too hard to keep it going."

I keep my mouth shut, realizing it wouldn't be wise to tell him just what I'd do to him and Rowan if the effect wore off.

"Anyway," Ben continued, "Neither phase of The Loop was meant for people who hadn't already been mentally altered in some way. It'll be interesting to see what this does to Ray."

"What's it supposed to do?" I ask. All these years, I'd only ever seen Ben as an efficient bean counter, keeping all the other bean counters in line. Listening to him speak, he sounded more like a mad scientist than an accountant.

"It, uh, it's sort of hard to explain," Ben said, his voice trailing away. "It takes all the suggestions I gave him during the first phase and, uh, incorporates them so they're not, like, 'on top of' or 'in addition to' the rest of his sense of self, but actually erases the parts of his character that don't fit with the suggestions. It's like I gave him a script to follow, only he's not an actor anymore, that script is his reality. Does that make sense?"

I slowly nod. "I can't wait to see the new Ray," I say.

"The new Ray isn't going to need a hit-woman," Ben says, almost apologetically. I shrug my shoulders noncommittally.

"What's going to happen to the honey pots?" I ask.

Ben frowns and fiddles with the cuffs of his button-down shirt. Like all of Ray's employees, he dresses professionally.

"Why didn't Rowan take you to Reynolds?" he asks, finally looking at me. I hold his gaze as I reply.

"She did. She changed her mind. I broke his arm when he tried to stop me from getting back in her car."

"She and I have been growing disillusioned with the unit's handling of--" he stops talking as Ray puts down the phone and looks up at him.

"Ben! Goddammit, I'm glad you're here. Listen, I need you to put together an expense report for me for the whole thing, okay, even the stuff that's not on the books. I'm ready to start phasing into legit business." Ray pauses for a moment, breathes in and briefly closes his eyes. "Goddammit, I need to think about retiring if I'm going to actually do it in ten years." His gaze lands on the blood on the wall, slides down to see Jacob's body." Oh, fuck! Who the fuck shot Jacob?" He takes in the rest of the room, sees me by the door.

"Rebecca?"

I walk toward him, unsmiling and serious, "I'm so sorry, Ray. Ben discovered Jacob was taking money from a rival. Ben told me about it, wanted my backup, since I know how to use a gun, and we were going to talk to him but, before we could, someone let loose some rumor about Ben. That phone call you got explained it all, right?"

Ray looks confused, saying, "Uhm."

Ben starts talking, "I was handcuffed to the chair, Ray, you remember? Then Rebecca came in with a phone call that let you know it was Jacob, not me, who was abducting honey pots. Jacob tried to grab the phone from you. Rebecca shot him, thinking she was protecting you."

Ray looks up at me, shaken. "Man," he said, "I think I need to change my retirement plan from ten years to five. If I don't know my own right hand well enough to know when he doesn't have my best interests at heart -- Aw, fuck it. Rebecca, get some of the boys to come in here and clean up this mess."

"Yessir," I say. I turn and head for the door.

"And Rebecca?" Ray calls. I turn and look at him, one hand on the door. "Take Lucy home with you. She's yours now."

"Excuse me?" I say. My heart rate, having finally slowed, jumps into overdrive again.

"My thanks for saving my life," Ray says, "And your severance pay."

"You don't think there'll be others trying to take your life?" Ben asks.

"That's what the fucking boys are for, Ben. She's not a body guard, she's a hit-woman. First step toward going legit: Lay off the hits."