“I found something over here,” Agent Melinda Thompson said.

“Good. I’ll be right there,” Special Agent Sember Gillis said.

“It looks like some kind of sensor.”

“Be careful not to activate it. It could set something off.”

Melinda suddenly lost herself in a hissing fog that swept over and around everything. Sember cried out, and Melinda heard herself do the same. Then came a sensation of falling, followed by...darkness.

As if through deep water, Melinda swam slowly up to consciousness. One by one, her senses returned to her.

First, she could feel. Pressure against her wrists and ankles kept her limbs from moving. Soft fibers of carpeting brushed her toes.

Next, she could hear. Voices spoke nearby. Was one of them...Sember?

And finally, she could see. A face took form before her eyes. It was Sember’s. The senior agent wore a relaxed smile beneath drooping eyes.

Melinda blinked and tried to focus. Slowly, her partner came into full view.

Sember sat on a large bed. She wore spandex workout clothes, and her long brown hair was done up in a ponytail. Handcuffs secured her to the headboard, and in them, her arms hung limply. Her legs stretched out in front of her so that her feet, which were bare, faced Melinda.

Still foggy and trying to regain her wits, Melinda took a moment to process what she saw. Why was her partner dressed in exercise clothes? Why was she barefoot? Why was she handcuffed to a bed? Why was she smiling? Why…

It all came rushing back. They had been working undercover. Casing a hotel and posing as guests on their way to the gym. They’d broken into the suspect’s room and were searching for files. She had found something, and Sember had warned her to be careful. But she must have triggered...a trap. Gas. It had overwhelmed them and then…what?

Melinda looked down at herself. Like Sember, she was still dressed in workout clothes and was barefoot. She sat in a chair, bound to it with black cord. Looking up, she saw that they were in the same hotel room. And they weren’t alone.

An attractive middle-aged woman in a business suit and high heels sat in a chair to the side of the bed. On a night table between her and Sember rested a syringe and a small medical vial, partially filled with clear fluid.

“That’s all very useful information, Sember,” the woman said. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Mm-hm,” Sember said in a drowsy voice.

“No!” Melinda said, struggling against her binds. “Sember! Wake up!”

“Ah, your partner’s awake,” the woman said to Sember. “Please ignore her, until I tell you otherwise.”

“Okay,” Sember said.

“What’s your name, my dear?” the woman asked, turning to face Melinda.

The junior agent glared at her.

“Sember, what’s your partner’s name?”

“Melinda Thompson.”

“Why don’t you tell me about her?”

“No!” Melinda said.

Annoyance flashed across the woman’s face. She pulled a compact pistol from a purse on the floor next to her. Leveling the gun at Sember’s head, she gave Melinda a look that dared her to interfere again. Melinda fumed, but said nothing more.

“Tell me about her,” the woman repeated.

“She’s a rookie agent, who works with me on field cases. She’s good at her job, if a bit brash. I like her. We’re friends.”

“How nice that you’re friends. Does that mean you know any intimate things about her? Anything you can tell me will help me in my interactions with her.”

“Oh, yes, I know some things.”

“Very good. Please tell them to me.”

Melinda gritted her teeth. The woman stared coldly at her, the pistol never wavering from Sember’s head.

“Melinda has a particular fetish,” Sember said.

“Does she?”

“She likes to be tied up and hypnotized. Her ex-boyfriend used to do it to her, and it really got her off.”

“And how do you know this, Sember?”

“She told me about it once when we got together for drinks after work. And then, later on, we tried it ourselves. Just for kicks.”

“So you tied Melinda up and hypnotized her?”

“Yes. Several times.”

“How did it go? Was she suggestible?”

“Oh, it went very well. She was extremely suggestible. She did everything I told her to do.”

“That’s wonderful. Isn’t that wonderful, Melinda?”

“I’m going to get free, and I’m going to kill you,” Melinda said.

“I doubt that very much,” the woman said. “If I see you move, or think you have any chance of getting free, I’ll immediately kill Sember. And then you. So you just sit tight and let Sember tell me all about how she hypnotized you. Now then, Sember, how did you hypnotize Melinda?”

“The first time I used a classic induction,” Sember said. “A swinging pendant. After that, I used one of two post-hypnotic triggers.”

“How did those triggers work?”

“The first one put her under instantly. She didn’t like that one so much because part of what got her off was feeling herself slipping into the trance and knowing she was losing control.”

The woman eyed Melinda fiendishly. Melinda blushed and tried to maintain a fierce glare back at her.

“The second one,” Sember went on, “acted just like a classic induction. Once triggered, she would slowly and inexorably slip into the hypnotic state, losing her will and gaining suggestibility as she went. It was quite arousing for her.”

“Indeed,” the woman said. “I almost find it arousing myself. Do those triggers still work?”

“I don’t know. They might.”

“Why don’t you whisper them to me?”

The woman stood and leaned in close to Sember, who whispered to her for a few seconds.

“Thank you, Sember. That is so very helpful. I think that’s all I need from you. Are you sleepy?”

“Yes, I’m very sleepy.”

“In just a moment, you may go to sleep. But first, tell me what you’re going to remember when you wake up.”

“I’m going to remember that Melinda and I found the files we were looking for in this room. She didn’t set off a trap. You didn’t capture us. You didn’t drug and brainwash me.”

“That’s very good, Sember. You may go to sleep now.”

“Okay,” Sember said.

She yawned and let her eyes close. Almost instantly, she was fast asleep.

“Well, well, well,” the woman said to Melinda. “I have some choices here, don’t I? I can inject you with the same truth serum I gave to Sember. It’s remarkably effective, and it will let me get whatever I need out of you. Or, I can use one of Sember’s two post-hypnotic triggers on you. If she is correct, both will work. But the second one would give you quite a rush and me quite a show. I wonder, which method would you prefer?”

“Go to hell,” Melinda said.

“Yes, that’s what I would say, if I were in your place. After all, who wants to have to decide how she’ll be brainwashed by an enemy operative? But of course, I’m not in your place. And you will be brainwashed. Quite thoroughly, I assure you. Given the options, I choose the second trigger. I want to see how it affects you. And, if by chance it doesn’t work, no matter. There’s always the truth serum.”

Melinda let loose with a string of curses so callous and severe that they startled the woman momentarily. But she quickly regained her composure. She moved to stand right before her captive. Melinda audibly gathered spit in her mouth, Unworried, the woman said softly:

“Hypno-spies.”

Melinda took in a sharp breath. Her mouth went slack, and the spit dribbled from it.

“No…” she managed to say.

Her eyes began to grow heavy, and her head swayed back and forth. She began to tremble and moan.

“You really are turned on,” the woman said, with a grin. “Aren’t you?”

Melinda nodded, her moans becoming louder. She gyrated in her chair, as much as her bonds allowed. Her eyes fluttered closed and stayed shut, but still she moved an moaned.

“Are you wet?”

Another nod. Melinda’s tongue slipped from her mouth. Her moans continued for a short while, then faded away. Her movements ceased, too. Then her head lolled forward.

“Can you hear me, Melinda?”

“Yes.”

“You are in a deep hypnotic trance and must do whatever I say. You may start by calling me Mistress.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“I’m going to enjoy brainwashing you. And you’re going to enjoy it to.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Excellent. Let us begin...”