“Ten second, Teds,” says Cooper, a stern edge to his voice. “I’m going to count to ten, and you’re going to get your head back in the game. One, two, three, four, five—” A fist meets his face, blood spraying from his already broken lips. I take a deep breath and try to wipe my face in my arms. “Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,” he continues, despite his attacker.
On ten, I raise my head and set my bitch face in place. I flick out my head, clicking my neck like a boxer ready to enter the ring, or should I say cage fighter?
“That’s it, you whiny asshole,” he says to me, grinning through a mouth full of blood.
I throw my head back and laugh. How can I be laughing right now? I’m being tortured and I’m laughing. The thought only makes me laugh harder.
“You too, shithead,” he says to Wheeler.
Wheeler snorts and lifts his head a little higher. “Who are you calling shit head?” he says, smirking.
“Separate them,” says Towley over a speaker.
Dr Hollister exhales loudly. “But I have a system—”
I can hear Towley sigh in annoyance. “Separate them- now. This isn’t working.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The doctor reluctantly draws the curtain around Cooper and Wheeler. He glares at me as he types in the code for the sliding door.
“I love you guys,” I call.
I’m alone on this side of the wall. I strain to hear what is happening on the other side, but it is silent, and that doesn’t ease my fears in the slightest.
The door behind me buzzes open, and Towley enters. I know it’s him from the sound of his boots clinking like high heels on the floor. Standing behind me, he waits for a few moments. He can think again if he thinks I’m going to look for him. He whispers something to the soldiers, and then his footsteps draw closer. I am alone with him.
I keep my head hanging onto my chest. My back consumes me with a throbbing pain, and I know he can see my butt, but I couldn’t care less. He stands in front of me, sliding a finger under my chin, and tilting my head to look at him. All his actions are slow and gentle. His eyes search my face, something similar to concern on his own. Taking his sleeve, he wipes at my tear streaked, snotty cheeks and mouth.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he says, loosening the chains.
I’m lowered onto my stomach and sprawl out, allowing my shoulders to relax. Towley opens the back of my gown up fully. I flinch, but I’m too tired and in too much pain to move.
“Don’t touch me,” I say into the wet floor.
He sits beside me, dabbing at my wounds. “These wounds need tending, Theyda.”
“Stop acting like you care. I have these wounds because of you.”
He continues to wipe at my back. “You have these wounds because of Dr. Hollister. As you heard, I had no say over what he did to you. Let me clean these for you.”
“You had a say over when it ended,” I say.
“I’m sorry to see you in pain, but this is necessary.”
I snort into the floor, but I know what he’s trying to do. The good cop, bad cop routine won’t work on me. Whatever he is doing to my back is numbing the pain, so I don’t fight or question him any further.
I lay thinking of Adam. I want to link with him, to hear his voice in my mind. I want him to tell me that it’s all going to be okay. For a moment, I wish he was TORO again and working for Towley, so he could come in and rescue me. It’s a cruel, selfish thought and I feel as guilty as hell. Why hasn’t he tried to link with me? The question plays on my mind. I know that logically, Adam would restrain himself if there was a risk of putting me in danger, but I’m not thinking logically.
“All done,” Towley says, resting his hand on my shoulder. I start from the contact, and he laughs to himself. “It’s been said that I have a relaxing touch.”
I could tell him that I was daydreaming about Adam, although, it wouldn’t do me any good. If he wants to play nurse maid, I’ll let him.
“You are very brave, Theyda,” he says into my ear. Again, I snort. “I’m being serious. You have a loyalty that I’ve never before seen in someone... someone in their right mind.” He’s referring to the TORO. Still, I say nothing. “I envy him- the TORO- the one you love. He has your undivided loyalty and that makes him a very powerful man indeed.”
He envies the loyalty I have for Adam, not the love. This is a mind trip. One moment, I think he is playing a part, and then he says things like that.
“You never asked me how I found you at the woods.” I still won’t look at him. I want to know, but I don’t want him to know that. “Lizzie Roscoe.”
My stomach sinks like I’ve swallowed a stone. “Lizzie?”
“Don’t look so distraught. She didn’t betray you, although, the moment she had my phone linked with hers was the moment she handed you to me on a plate. The Roscoe’s have a way of screwing you over, don’t they?”
“You knew we’d go after the kids.”
He rolls me over onto my side, and I cry out as my back smarts. “Oh, I know, I know. You’re hurting,” he soothes. Lifting me into his arms, surprisingly easily for a weed of a man, he places me on the bed and ties the restraints. “The whys and wherefores no longer matter. You look exhausted. I shall escort you back to your room and stay with you until you fall to sleep if you wish?”
I close my eyes and will sleep to hurry the hell up.
***
“It’s not normal. He’s obsessed with the prisoner. You’ve seen how he is with her.”
“And is that any concern of yours, marine?” I recognise the doctors voice. “Would a man under infatuation order the torture of the object of his said infatuation? I think not. Towley’s motives and game plan are not to be discussed by you.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The door closes, and I exhale in relief. I think I’m alone, but I’m wrong.
“He’s right, though. Towley is either playing a twisted game or he has lost his marbles,” whispers another voice.
“Shut it. We don’t know who can hear in this place.”
“Don’t you feel sorry for them at all?”
There is silence for a moment. “She is Isaac Woodman’s daughter. Don’t forget that.”
“I’m not his daughter,” I say. My throat is scratchy and hoarse.
“Shit,” says one of the soldiers. I don’t turn my head to look at them. “I told you to shut it, man.”
“What do you mean you’re not his daughter?” asks the other soldier.
“My Dad was a good man, Rob Leason. Isaac played me because he wanted to use me to help him, but he was sick. He killed my friends, even his own family. I couldn’t let him continue.” I cough, the action jarring at my back and skull. “That’s why I had to kill him.”
“Special Ops killed him,” the dubious soldier says, although, he sounds a little curious.
“Isaac Woodman was found in the bottom of a swimming pool with not a single bullet wound. Do you know how I know that? Because that’s where I left him after I drowned him.”
“Bullshit. We have no way to justify that, and you know it. She’s playing us. Come on, man.”
“Gregor was there in Italy that night. He’d know,” says the second soldier.
“Like hell are you asking Gregor. Have you lost your bloody mind? Do you want to have us locked up?”
“You won’t be locked up, you’ll be executed,” I say. I roll onto my side and stare at the wall with the restraints biting into the flesh on my ankles.
The soldiers leave, talking in hurried whispers. “Why would that Syndicate group have her working for them if she was E.N.C?”
“Because they’re all in cahoots. EVO are dangerous, and that one is playing you. I don’t want to hear you mention it again.”
***
I’m not sure how long I’ve been left alone. I know I’ve drifted off to sleep and woken at least twice. A hand taps on my shoulder, bringing me out of my trance. I don’t look to move or react in anyway.
The hand taps me again. I know who it is from the clink of boots.
“I come bearing gifts,” says Towley, “Bacon, eggs, mushrooms, and even some black pudding.”
“I’m not hungry.” I try to visualise anything other than the images conjured by the smell of the food. My stomach will probably start eating itself if I don’t have food soon, but the stubborn mule in me won’t take a bite.
“Sure you are. If you’re tired I can feed it to you.” I feel the mattress dimple from where he perches on the edge.
“I’m not hungry, and I don’t want to be fed.”
“It’s this or a meeting with Dr Hollister, so what do you want more- food or Hollister?”
I gingerly roll onto my back to face him.
“That’s a good girl,” he says, smiling. I try to push myself up onto my elbows, but my back burns with pain. “I’m here now, so why not let me feed you?”
“Are my friends getting food?” I ask.
He cuts up a piece of bacon. “Of course.”
“Promise me.”
He tilts his head. “I thought my word meant nothing to you?”
This is where I play him at his own game. “It didn’t, but now...”
He lowers the fork a little. “But now?”
“Well, you’ve been looking after me, and well, I guess… Oh, I don’t know?”
He touches the fork to my mouth, and I take the bacon. “You trust me.”
I shake my head. “Not exactly. Not yet.” Not ever, I think to myself.
He offers a mushroom. “We’ll work on that. Your friends have food. I promise you.”
“Thank you.” He feeds me some black pudding, and I force a smile. “I’m done.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s making my tummy cramp.”
“I suppose that will do, for now, as long as you promise to eat more later,” he says, making his way to the door.
“I promise,” I say.
He steps aside and lets two soldiers in. They force me onto my back and start wheeling the bed from the room. Towley stands in the doorway as we pass.
“Where are they taking me?”
“To Dr. Hollister,” he says.
“But you said if I ate—”
“I said eating or Dr. Hollister, and you’re done eating.”
“You bastard,” I scream.
A smirk plays at his mouth. “Theyda, I know you. I’ve studied the ins and outs of you, and I haven’t broken you... yet. You may play the part, but I know it is all an act. My fiery girl would never give in so easily.”
My fists shake with anger. “I will never be yours. You will never break me. I’m going to kill you! I will kill you!”
Towley smiles, eats a piece of bacon from my plate, and heads down the corridor.
One soldier watches me, his mouth hanging open. I look him dead in the eyes.
“Just so you know, every time you wheel me into that room, you could be wheeling a corpse back out.” My sobs come thick and fast. “I don’t know if that means anything at all to you, but I’m a human being... I’m a human being. I have friends, and family, and a man I adore. And I haven’t turned my back on the Non-EVO. I never will. Most people are good people.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dr. Hollister is waiting with his stupid clipboard and his stupider glasses. I know the routine now; attached to chains, ripped from the bed, and left to hang like a piece of meat. It is worse this time, my muscles are already sore from last time, and I scream continuously for minutes until the pain numbs slightly.
Dr Hollister watches impatiently, tapping his pen against the desk. “If you are quite finished, I would like to explain this session to you. It’s a Q and A session in which I expect candid answers.”
“And what if I don’t want to play your game?”
“We punish you by hurting them.” He nods toward the wall. Cooper and Wheeler must be on the other side, just like last time. “I’d think wisely if I was you.”
“Can I see them?”
He shakes his head. “Question one- Is your name Theyda Woodman?”
How do I answer this one? “No. My name is Theyda Leason.”
Dr Hollister presses a finger to his watch. “Incorrect.”
Cooper’s screams erupt from the other side of the wall.
“That’s correct! I’m Theyda Leason. Rob Leason is my Dad. His name is on my birth certificate.” Cooper continues to scream. “Isaac Woodman is not my biological father, and you know it.”
“Question two- Were you involved in Isaac Woodman’s plan to attack the British government, start an EVO war, and murder innocent, Non-EVO humans?”
“No. I killed Isaac Woodman. He planned to use me and Tess Kersey in his plan, but we were innocent.”
“Incorrect,” he says into his watch.
Wheeler’s screams pierce through me. “Stop! Please, stop hurting them. I’m telling the truth.” The doctor pushes his glasses up his nose. “So, it’s that sort of game. You want the truth? I’ll give you a candid response. When you let your guard down, and you will eventually let your guard down, I will take those glasses and shove them up your ass- sideways. Oh, and then I will kill you.”
He nods to the soldier from the corridor. The man steps in front of me, and I lift my head. You can look me in the eyes when you pummel me, thank you. If I get a beating for insulting the mad doctor, then so be it. It is worth it. Taking a deep breath, he thumps me in the face, my lip splitting open on impact. I swing on the chains, fighting to clear the dots from my vision.
Dr Hollister clears his throat. “Your friends have answered their questions incorrectly.”
He picks up a bloody cable from his desk. I know what this means. Rather than spin me, he walks around me and opens the back of my gown once again. First, he tears off the dressings, and then he cracks the cable in his hands. I flinch from the sounds, and he brings the cable down across my lower back. I bite my lip to stop from screaming out. He wants Cooper and Wheeler to hear my screams. He brings it down again; I gasp, but still hold in my cries. The third time cuts through my old wounds. This time, I scream, and he dishes out another lashing for good measure.
Chucking the cable on the desk, he stands in front of me and clasps his hands together. “I shall repeat questions one and two again. This time, I advise you think about your answers. Question One- Is your name Theyda Woodman.”
This isn’t a test, this is torture to force a confession from me. I look to the floor. “Yes.”
“Correct,” Hollister says into his watch.
I hear Cooper shouting, but it’s not cries of pain. He shouts my name, calling for me not to give them what they want.
“Question two- Were you involved in Isaac Woodman’s plan to attack the British government, start an EVO war, and murder innocent, Non-EVO humans?”
I hope Cooper meant what he said. “No, never,” I shout.
“Incorrect.”
“Good girl!” Cooper shouts, before breaking into screams.
Dr Hollister steps closer, reaching up for my pinky finger. “Were you involved in Isaac Woodman’s plan to attack the British government, start an EVO war, and murder innocent, Non-EVO humans?”
“No,” I scream in his face. He forces my finger out of place, and I cry out, my legs shaking underneath me. He holds my ring finger and asks me the question again. “Never,” I sob. A second finger pops out of place.
My defiance irritates him. He blows out his cheeks, taking another finger.
“Change your approach, Doctor,” says Towley’s voice over the speaker.
A sadistic smile twists over the doctor’s face. He heads towards the wall panel and places his hand against it. I take what respite I can get from his divided attention. It feels like lava flows over my back, and my fingers need relocating. I let my legs sag a little, and take some deep, gulping breaths.
The soldiers stand statue still, staring at the far wall. The man I cried at in the corridor has a thick sweat on his
forehead and dark patches under his arms. He flinches a little as the wall clunks and recedes toward him.
Cooper and Wheeler hang from the chains, stark naked and mottled in small burn marks similar to the ones on my stomach and thigh. They felt the wrath of the electrocution rod.
“Are you okay,” I sob.
Cooper nods. “You?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I say.
The doctor laughs out loud, breezes over to me, and spins me to expose my back.
Wheeler takes a sharp inhale. I know it’s bad, I can feel the blood running over my butt and legs.
“You should have answered your questions truthfully,” Hollister says to Wheeler.
“I did,” Wheeler screams, his voice sounding thick from swollen lips. Spit and blood drip onto his chin, and he pleads with me with his eyes. “I’m sorry, Baby Girl.”
“You have nothing to apologise for.”
“So, we have established that you are Theyda Woodman, but you have given an incorrect answer, hence why your friends have suffered the way they have.”
I glare at him.
“You are framing her! You’re coercing her answers. Don’t give them what they want, Teds,” says Cooper.
The doctor acts as if Cooper hasn’t spoken, whispering something to the soldiers. They both nod and make their way over to Cooper. He tenses, but they pass him, retrieving a bed from behind him. He is lowered onto the bed, chains removed, and restrained in the bed straps. They do the same to Wheeler.
A part of me sighs with relief. If this is just about me, I can concentrate on myself, give truthful answers, and not worry about the consequences to them. Hollister can dislocate all ten of my fingers and toes before I’ll falsely admit my allegiance to Isaac.
“Did you think I was done with them?” Hollister asks me. “No, they will be your motivation for this next question. Answer it incorrectly, and your friends will be executed.”
Wheeler sobs as a gun is pressed into his forehead. Even, Cooper whimpers, his hands shaking in the restraints.
“You are the one we need. These two are expendable, so don’t think that we won’t kill them. Question two- Were you involved in Isaac Woodman’s plan to attack the British government, start an EVO war, and murder innocent, Non-EVO humans?”
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