Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which paul is in trouble

     When Paul came to, it was to find himself strapped down to a metal table by his wrists and ankles. His arms were bare, he could feel the cool metal against his skin. He lifted his shoulders up off the table to glance at his arms, and what he found was that he was no longer in his sweater or trousers or shoes. Instead, he was in a white t-shirt a white pajama pants and his feet were bare.

      He laid his shoulders back down against the table and took a deep breath. Don't panic, he told himself, the worst thing you can do right now is panic.

     Paul looked around to see what he could see. There were wires all about, some of them attached to him. There were wires attached to his head, and along his arms, and to the bottoms of his feet.

     Paul shifted uneasily. This was bad and he knew it, this was very very bad.

    And then he had a thought.. Where's John?

     If these people were the Shadows, and he was reasonably certain that they were, then these were the people who were fighting to make sure that John died, the people who had nearly gotten Paul and George killed in the process of trying to kill John in the middle of an ocean. 

     He heard a door open and a middle aged man with greying hair and a receding hairline approached Paul. He was wearing a lab coat and he was pushing a tray of needles in front of him.

     "Who are you?" Paul asked as the man as he prepared a needle.

    The man did not answer. Instead, he stuck the needle in Paul's arms and Paul hissed. The man pulled blood from Paul's veins then set the needle aside and repeated this process three more times.

     With four vials filled with Paul's blood, the man in the lab coat was apparently satisfied and he left the room without a word. Paul shouted after him and a few moments after the man walked out, several men and women wearing lab coats entered the room. After them, a woman with beautiful dark skin that looked rather like silk and hair pulled back into a tight, perfect bun. She was dressed in a suit jacket and suits pants of charcoal black, and a grey blouse.

     The people in lab coats gathered around the edges of the room with notepads and pens in hand, and they began taking notes.

     "James Paul McCartney," said the woman in the suit. "Welcome to the Institute of the Shadows. My name is Marbella Giasson, I'm the President of the Shadows."

     "Why am I here?" Paul asked, frowning.

     "I think you can answer that question for yourself, Mr. McCartney." Marbella raised her eyebrows.

      "Okay.. How did you find me?" Paul asked.

     "We have a spy of sorts," Marbella said.

    "Shit. Tessa.." Paul hissed.

     "Erm, I have no idea who this Tessa you speak of is," Marbella said. "And I wasn't aware that there was a Tessa working for the F.H.O., but anyway.. We need some information, Mr. McCartney, and you're the only one who can give that information to us."

     The President of the Shadows didn't know who Tess was? She could be lying, Paul supposed, but something about her tone told him that she was being truthful. So if Tessa had been telling the truth about not being a Shadow, then that posed a very interesting question; what else had she been telling the truth about?

      Paul pushed that from his mind for the time being and focused on his current, life threatening situation. "What are you going to do to me?" Paul questioned, his voice barely above a whisper.