***
They whipped him. And when that didn’t work, they applied electric shock.
Major Jenkins writhed in agony, strapped to the cold table that was far too narrow for his broad shoulders. Aside from the noises of anguish he couldn’t keep back, he remained silent. Telling them nothing. Enduring the bone-twisting, muscle-ripping pain that scorched him head to toe.
“Where is the Harbinger?” a voice asked.
He said nothing. Bracing for their next action as best his weakened body could. Scrapes, bruises, and deep lacerations graffitied his arms and torso. And some kind of fluid was poured over them, amplifying the pain.
“What did Asari Raidan tell you?”
Even if the major had known the answer, he wouldn’t have revealed it. This treatment only made it harder to think clearly. His vision blinked in and out, and he could scarcely understand what was going on.
He held to a singular thought and pushed everything else out. Calvin had to survive to lead the others to freedom. He was their best chance. Nothing else mattered.
He gritted his teeth as more pain followed. Thin rivers of blood snaked down his arms and chest. The tickling sensation only added to the torture. And the chemicals they poured onto his wounds! Who knew pain like this existed? But everything began to fade, and he knew it would all be over soon.
“Where is the Arcane Storm?”
He didn’t understand the question. He couldn’t. Before his brain could even try to process the significance of it, they poured a different hot liquid over his damaged skin. It was so terrible, he lost his bearings and, for several moments, did not comprehend where he was or what was going on.
“Where does the Harbinger make port?”
The words felt strange and alien. Like sounds he’d never heard before.
“What Asari Raidan stole on Aleator, where is it? What does he plan to do with it?”
The major had to keep fighting. He had to! But his strength and will to live faded like shadows in the light.
Until he couldn’t fight anymore.
The Phoenix Conspiracy Page 75
