Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(105)

Why hadn’t he fought the night her father had taken him? There had been a balcony to his left. It was entirely possible he could have made it. He was smart and strong. He was quick and beyond capable. This was a man who had been in tight spots before and fought his way out.

Yet when her father had come for him, he hadn’t fought at all. In fact, he’d been polite to the man who had killed his brother.

Somehow, it didn’t jibe with the reports she’d read on him.

He winced a little, but otherwise made no sound as she cleaned his wounds. Like Nick, who had been far too traumatized by seeing his lover killed to care about his pain.

How much trauma could a soul take before it shut down? Before it gave over and began to think the trauma was normal? The body often adapted in a search for survival. The soul did the same. Ten had come to accept pain was a way of life and that he deserved it.

The day had been so long. She wasn’t certain of anything except that she couldn’t let him sleep on this tiny couch. And she couldn’t sleep without knowing why he hadn’t fought.

“Your sister gave me some kind of drug,” he said quietly. “You talked about your patients at the clinic. You know, the ones who received the vaccine. They had memory issues, right?”

She studied the veins of his legs. In extreme cases, electrical torture could cause vascular spasms and disrupt blood flow, but it looked like her father had been leaving that for the Chinese. “Yes. They thought more time had passed than actually had. After the episode, their perceptions of time went back to normal. Did she tell you what she was giving you?”

He shook his head. “No, but I know I got more than one dose, and apparently at some point I blacked out completely because I don’t remember putting on these clothes. I vaguely remember being someplace white. There was a bright light and she was standing over me with a clipboard. She was talking about how well my system handled the drug.”

Bitch. She had a clinic down there for her experiments, but she hadn’t helped Theo and Des. She hated her sister in that moment, but she needed to know more. “How long do you think you were there?”

“I know it wasn’t more than a two full days, but Faith, I swear it was forever. I’ve been in this position before. I was trained to be able to take this kind of torture, but when I was on that drug, I had no control and it dragged on and on. I couldn’t meditate, couldn’t force my mind to go anywhere else.”

She sat back, her stomach clenching. “She couldn’t. It’s not real.”

“What’s not real?”

“What you’re talking about.” What had her sister done? “It’s called time dilation. It’s a future tech thing, a theory. They talk about it in science fiction. I know I’ve heard some people are making strides in memory manipulation, but we’re supposed to be years away from something like this.”

“Wait. I’ve heard of it. The Agency sent out some information on potentially dangerous technology being developed. One was a time dilation drug.” He shook his head with a rueful grimace. “It’s supposed to trick the brain into thinking more time has passed than actually has. I can now say that it’s a very effective torture technique. Quite frankly, I’m surprised I’m not more seriously injured.”

“You wouldn’t have to be physically. Your brain gave you the pain. I can’t believe she’s doing this. She tested her drug on my patients.”

“It doesn’t shock me at all. I suspect your sister is doing what her company wants her to do. Kronberg is suspected of being in a group called The Collective. It’s a loose association of some of the world’s richest men. Think of it as a cartel, but they’re aiding each other in business interests. They’re a ‘by any means necessary’ kind of group.”

“The Collective? I’ve heard that word before.”

Ten sat forward. “Your father has mentioned The Collective? To you?”

She searched her memory. That word had caught. It was something she’d heard her father say a few times before. He wasn’t as careful as he thought he was or he’d trusted that she would never understand what he meant.

“He kept a log. He called it his collection. Maybe it isn’t the same thing. He would joke that he had a collection. It was names in a notebook. I was a kid. He didn’t care that I was in the room. Hope and I would play in his office all the time when we were out of school, and I remember him telling me it was important to keep lists.” She couldn’t get the idea out of her head. Her father always had backups. He always had a way out.

She needed to find that way out and block it.

Otherwise, Tennessee Smith would have one more thing to hate himself over. He would kill her father and it would hurt him, like another wound on his soul.

She might not be able to be with him, but she could give him respite this once.

“Don’t worry about it anymore.” Ten brushed back her hair.

“Why did you come here?”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it.” He sat back.

“I want to know what you were really looking for.” After everything she’d been through tonight, she felt like she deserved a debrief.

“I think your father’s documentation is on a computer in the compound I was held in. I think I’ll find all the evidence I need to take both your father and a good portion of The Collective down.”