Threshold (59 page)

“Whenever you want it to end…”

A sucking pop filled the air as the finger was quickly extracted from the meat.

The man screamed again.

“You’re probably wondering how this is possible?”

The man made no reply other than his heavy breathing.

“The Hydra can’t regenerate without a sufficient supply of water, which it can leach from the air itself on a humid day. You were given enough water for your torso to regenerate, but without more, you will remain a quadruple amputee. The pain you’re feeling is your dry cells screaming out for fluid. You can’t even bleed. As you’ve probably noticed, the air in this cell is not only hot, but also very dry. Your wounds will remain open indefinitely. Your bones will not heal. Your mind will not rest. The pain will never dull.”

The interrogator crouched before the legless torso, looking at the fragment of femur protruding from the man’s partially formed thigh. He grasped the bone with two fingers and wiggled it.

The prisoner’s breathing sped up.

“You
will
tell me everything about the language of God.”

The interrogator quickly slid his finger inside the bone, pushing hard, compressing the marrow.

A fit of spasms shook the prisoner. His voice became a high-pitched shriek. But when the finger was removed, his face twisted with rage. He shouted a string of muffled curses.

The interrogator simply smiled and stood. He leaned forward, placing his hands on the arms of the chair. He looked the prisoner in the eyes. “Perhaps you haven’t fully grasped the situation, Mr. Ridley. I am
not
who you believe me to be. I am not who your enemies believe me to be. And I can do this until the end of time, can you?”

ALSO BY JEREMY ROBINSON

The Didymus Contingency

Raising the Past

Beneath

Antarktos Rising

Kronos

Pulse

Instinct

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

THRESHOLD. Copyright © 2011 by Jeremy Robinson. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Robinson, Jeremy, 1974–

    Threshold : a Jack Sigler thriller / Jeremy Robinson. — 1st ed.

           p. cm.

    ISBN 978-0-312-54030-2

  1.  Terrorism—Prevention—Fiction.   I.  Title.

    PS3618.O3268T47 2011

    813'.6—dc22

2010042215

First Edition: April 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-6833-1

First Thomas Dunne Books eBook Edition: March 2011