Taking her arm, he forced her down the hall, stopping at the first door. “This room is for level-one interrogations. I would take you inside, but as you can see it is currently in use. Observe,” he ordered.
The last thing she wanted to do was look through the small window. She had no desire to witness the horrors going on inside any of these rooms. Lowering her head, Mattie shut her eyes. The next thing she knew strong hands were clamped around her head, forcing her face to the glass.
“Look at him!” The Jaguar commanded.
Mattie opened her eyes. She caught a glimpse of bare flesh. The stark red of blood. The jangle of chains against concrete. The crack of electricity against wet skin. A cry of anguish escaped her at the sight of the man’s face as it contorted in agony….
“You’re a monster,” she whispered.
“I am a man fighting for what I believe is right.”
“Not like this.”
“How then?” Stepping in front of her he put his hand beneath her chin and forced her gaze to his. “Negotiation? Peace treaties?” His laugh was bitter. “Too many of my people have died trying.”
“What do you want from me?”
She immediately regretted the question. She knew what he wanted. And she had a terrible feeling she knew how far he would go to extract it.
“I want the future plans for EDNA,” he said. “You tell me what you know, and I’ll let you go. I won’t hurt you. I’ll personally drive you to the nearest city and release you. It’s as simple as that.”
The offer was tempting. But Mattie knew that to accept it she would be making a deal with the devil. She knew that by relaying the information, tens of thousands of lives would be in danger. She’d never be able to live with herself even if he kept his word and let her live, which was highly doubtful.
“I don’t know the future plans for EDNA,” she said.
“Lying to me now will only cause you more pain later,” he said.
“I swear,” she said. “I don’t know anything.”
He stared at her with those cold, dark eyes. “Daniel Savage gave me your notes. You had outlined the second phase of EDNA. I know you were working on miniaturization. I know you had almost perfected it. I want those plans, Mattie, and I want them now. If you do not cooperate, I will be forced to take you into that room.”
At that moment she was more terrified than she’d ever been in her life. She knew if she wanted to survive this she was going to have to talk. But the idea of unleashing any part of the EDNA project on an unsuspecting population repulsed her so thoroughly, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. There was simply no way she could give that kind of power to a terrorist.
Maybe she could make something up. She could recreate her research and embellish it in a way that would ensure the weapon he built wouldn’t work. She could design phony blueprints using substandard materials. After all, no one would be the wiser until the weapon was built and tested….
The level-one interrogation room door swung open. Mattie saw two men drag out a third wearing nothing more than a pair of drawstring pants. Her stomach turned when she noticed that his feet were leaving a trail of blood on the concrete floor.
“Ah, they’ve finished.” The Jaguar smiled. “Take her inside.”
She lunged backward in an attempt to free herself, but the two men snagged her arms.
“No!” she screamed as they forced her into the room. “No!”
The room was small, perhaps twelve feet square. A gurney sat against the wall. Chains with shackles hung from the ceiling. Electrical probes dangled from a table. An array of sharp instruments lined the counter.
Mattie looked down, saw a pool of blood the size of a saucer on the floor and tried not to imagine the horrors that had just taken place in this terrible room.
“What do you think of my interrogation room?” The Jaguar asked.
“I think you’re a sick bastard,” she said.
One side of his mouth curved. “I’m going to enjoy teaching you some manners.”
“Go to hell!” she hissed.
“You first.” He nodded at the two men. “Strap her to the gurney. Let her get a sense of who’s in charge and who is not.”
Mattie frantically looked around, but there was nowhere to run. No way to escape what this man had planned for her. She backed away as the two men approached her. With her wrists bound, there was nothing she could do to protect herself. The scars on Cutter’s body flashed in her mind’s eye. Only now did she realize fully the horrors he must have endured.
As the men dragged toward the gurney, Mattie felt as if she was entering hell.
Chapter Seventeen
Cutter stole the SUV at gunpoint just two blocks from the wire office. A man, probably on his way to the ski slopes, judging from his clothes and the snow chains on the tires, was sitting behind the wheel at a stoplight, tapping his fingers to the beat of a song on the radio. Cutter walked up to the passenger door and jammed the pistol into the side of his face.