Page 31 of The Lost Soldier
CHAPTER 10
There hadto be a way out of this. Chad had to have seen her in his view, and she had to believe he was doing everything possible to save her ass. She stood in front of one of the windows, rubbing her right temple. The sky had darkened as the sun set behind the mountains. If she weren’t being held captive by a crazy man, she’d want to go for a stroll and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the countryside.
A large bug slammed into the window.
Okay, she’d enjoy it from inside.
“I brought you some tea,” Jung said as he entered the room with a tray as if she’d stopped by for a chat.
“I don’t like tea but thank you.” She swallowed the mouthwatering green citrus aroma. She loved tea, but for all she knew it was spiked with some weird truth serum, or some crazy concoction to read and extract her aura.
“Suit yourself.” Jung set the tray down in front of the brown wingback chair. He picked up his pipe, dipping the flame from a lighter into the tobacco. “This is a beautiful country.”
“Indeed, it is.” She turned and faced him. “You’re killing that man upstairs.”
“If he’d cooperate, I wouldn’t have to do this, but he’s refusing.”
“What is it that you want from him?”
Jung laughed as he sat in the chair, resting an ankle over the opposite knee, his pipe in hand as he sucked on the end. “I’ll tell you that if you tell me about this.” He dug into his sport coat pocket, pulling out a coin.
Trying to control her trembling hand, she took it, rolling it through her fingers. Etched on one side of the coin was the symbol of the Projection Project. On the other side, a Latin saying she couldn’t decipher.
“I don’t know anything about this.”
“Tsk tsk. You work for the Projection Project. And don’t lie to me.” He took a sharp knife from the tray the tea had been on. “I’ll cut that pretty face and enjoy it.”
“I’m an independent contractor. I don’t work directly for the organization.”
“A technicality,” he mused, waving the knife in the air. “Sit down.”
She did as commanded.
“How large is the Projection Project?”
“I really don’t know.” That was an honest answer, and she’d keep answering his questions with as much truth as she could, keeping the conversation going as long as she could.
“Does the American government sanction this organization?”
“I doubt that, but they are all ex-military, and we both know every government is developing, in secret, teams of psychics.” She cleared her throat, setting the coin on the table. “Isn’t that what you are doing here?”
“We’re taking it to the next level.”
“And what level is that?”
He leaned forward, making an O with his lips and pushing out smoke rings. “We’re creating a perfect psychic soldier. An unstoppable soldier that will be able to penetrate our enemy lines in ways no one would think of. Gather intel and top-secret information, giving us the upper hand and putting us as ruler of the world.”
“And how does the man upstairs fit into this program of yours.”
A long, slow smile drew across his lips. “The same way you do.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How is that?”
“One of my talents is sensing psychics who have talents far greater than even they know and understand. That man upstairs can see things no one else can. He can reach back into the past and find answers to age-old questions. And you my lovely girl have something so powerful, I can feel it pumping through your veins.”
“I told you what I can do and my limitations.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Whoever is protecting your psychic energy, can’t protect you from the physical pain, and I doubt they will want to see you tortured.”
