“I have the perfect test,” Joaquin said, Mark following blindly behind him as they walked. “Rather than kill Mr. Outlawson outright, I thought I might as well make him useful first. I’m going to enjoy this, although I think perhaps you won’t, Jenna.”
She was pushed through a set of double doors into an open space that looked like a gym. Sparring mats were on the floor, and fitness equipment was along the walls.
The number of dubious stains on the gray mats made her stomach tumble. Blood. Those were all bloodstains. And way too large to be from something like getting punched in the nose.
Those were bloodstains from people who had bled out and most certainly died.
This was either the most brutal training gym in existence, or that wasn’t its only function and Joaquin regularly used this as a torture and murder chamber.
A man knelt in the middle of one of the mats, slumped over and bloody. His back was to Jenna, hands bound behind him. He wasn’t moving. The only reason Jenna knew he was alive was because he was still upright.
“People have attempted to infiltrate my organization before, but they’re always caught. This one was no different. Now he can do me the service of helping fully test your compound before I dismember him entirely and mail him back to wherever he came from.”
Joaquin yanked the man’s head up and didn’t hesitate to shove the needle straight into his neck. It was all Jenna could do not to gasp.
The man’s face was bruised almost beyond recognition—nose obviously broken, one eye completely swollen shut, face and neck covered in blood. She saw the flare of both recognition and relief before he was gone and the eye she could see turned lifeless.
It was Callum.
Chapter 27
Everything was hazy. Mark’s thoughts seemed to slip past him before he could fully catch them. Like his mind was a glossy stream, always flowing, shining in the sun with no other thoughts but to keep going and coming back to the start.
Smooth, shining, and peaceful.
There was nothing he had to worry about except the Voice. When he heard it, he would listen. Until then, he was content to stay where he was in the stream.
His legs and arms felt strange and sluggish, but also tingling painfully. There was a reason why, but he didn’t fully remember.
Didn’t need to remember. Just float.
A man knelt in front of him, and Mark felt the shimmer of recognition in his mind before it slipped away. He didn’t know the man. Why would he know him? There was nothing to know except the Voice, and he would listen to it.
“Now, we wait,” the Voice said. “To make sure they don’t have bad reactions before the second stage of the test.”
“Second stage?”
Again, a ping of recognition in his mind at the sound of the woman’s voice. Stronger this time. His body wanted to turn toward hers, but there wasn’t a reason why. He stayed where he was, staring ahead toward the kneeling man.
“Of course,” the Voice said. “I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I don’t trust you, Jenna.”
Jenna.
He remembered the name, but the meaning of it floated away on the stream. Other voices spoke, and the woman’s voice, but they didn’t penetrate. Minutes slipped past, brushing against his skin. It was disorienting and made him feel like he was falling while he was standing still.
Wait…what?
The thought wiggled out of his grasp, and he was again nothing but a vessel for the Voice and his commands. But there was something…
“Outlawson,” the Voice said, and his mind snapped to attention. “Webb.”
The man across from him leaped to his feet. Mark recognized his name too, but couldn’t put any meaning to it. He was bloody and bruised. Mark catalogued the man’s weaknesses.
“Fight,” the Voice said. “To the last man standing. Fight to kill.”
“What?” The woman’s voice. “You can’t. What does that prove?”
He couldn’t fully listen. He and the bloodied man were already circling each other. The way he moved told Mark he wasn’t completely vulnerable. He had training.