Katie took the opportunity to zip tie Sophia. This Sophia looked a bit different...obviously the same woman, but no tattoos, at least no visible ones, and she looked younger...or rather, she looked like she'd taken better care of herself.
Sophia seemed a bit stunned, but not unconscious. "What are you doing?" She demanded.
"Look...I..." she started. "I need you to be calm or we're both in serious trouble."
"You tied me up, and...how did I even get in here? I was in the car." The chloroform hadn't knocked her out...but either that or the surprise had stunned her.
"Same as happened to me...one minute I was me...and next I was...still me, but like I lived a completely different life. Look at you...."
Sophia looked at herself. Her tattoos were gone, and her hands looked...well tended to and clean. Sophia had always been good with machines...mostly cars, and her hands showed it. She noticed the rather nice smartwatch on her arm as well. "That's...loco."
"I bet if we look around, this is your house now...and Jack and Devon think you're the target," she said. "Wait...that means the woman who lived here...she's outside as you now...But why didn't the chloroform work?"
"Because this isn't a movie. Sedatives work differently on different people, and it takes time to kick in...Chloroform is dangerous...too much of it, and someone could swallow their own tongue..." She paused. "How the fuck did I know that?" It seemed like something she'd read somewhere, but she wasn't really much of a reader.
"Same way I know how to use the gun in my purse, even though I've never fired one in my life," Katie said. "Look, we're in serious trouble here..." Jack and Devon ran in, and Katie paused. She didn't know what they'd do if she told them the truth. She didn't really trust either of them. She leaned over. "Play along," she whispered.
"The chloroform didn't work," she told the two of them.
"I told you we should have gone with the stuff pervs use at bars to knock people out..." Devon said. "But no..you wanted chloroform...so I got you chloroform..."
"Fuck you..." Katie said, without even thinking. It was what Kat would have said if challenged. "Plan B," Katie said, reaching into the box, where there were also a pair of zip ties. She tied Sophia's hands behind her back.
"Do you two know who I am?" Sophia demanded of the two of them...sounding more like a victim than a former thief.
"Yeah," Devon said. "We read your bio on the company website."
"Now, you have a choice..." Katie said. "Cooperate, or I let him shoot you," she said, gesturing to Jack. "And he really wants to shoot someone. Got it?"
Sophia nodded, still bewildered. She felt like she needed to approach this rationally, for some reason and remain calm.
"We need some of her work clothes from the closet," Katie said. "And find her ID and fob..."
Meanwhile, out in the van, Denise was studying the tattoos and herself in the mirror. She somehow knew the van was stolen, but looking around it, she saw several concerning items. A bag of what looked like explosives, bolt cutters, guns... The mirror was equally disturbing. She looked like crap.
