Page 131 of Killing Mind

She stopped speaking as he shone the torch down at his feet. Damn it, he’d trodden on a tripwire leg snare. The cord around his leg stretched up to a thick branch on a tree about twelve feet away.

‘Shit,’ he said, trying to pull the rope from around his ankles.

The more he pulled, the tighter it got.

‘Bryant, stop,’ she warned. It was a complex knot and he was going to cut off the circulation if he kept tugging at it. Discomfort was already shaping his face. The only way to free him safely was with a knife.

Indecision tugged at her. One colleague was injured and another…

‘Go,’ Bryant hissed, in a whisper shout. ‘I’ll keep still, I swear.’

‘You sure?’

He nodded and moved his hand away from the rope.

She shone the phone back down to the ground, locating the exact line of the path.

She would have to face Jake Black alone.

One Hundred Nine

Kane let go of Stacey’s arm and moved slowly towards Sophie.

Stacey glanced at Penn, who was as dumbfounded as she was.

She watched as Kane gently touched the skin at the girl’s wrist.

‘There are no ties, Sophie,’ he said, gently. ‘You can move your arms and open your eyes whenever you want.’

‘Fuck off,’ she hissed. ‘He told me you’d say that. He told me everything you’d do to try and brainwash me. He told me. He knows all your tricks. He knows everything.’

Kane continued to rub the bare skin on her wrist.

‘Is this the same man who told you that your parents didn’t really want you, that you were an accident and they’d only ever loved Sammy?’ Kane asked, quietly.

A tear forced its way from the corner of her eye.

‘Yes, and it was true. I hate them, both of them. They love her more than me and I can prove it. Jake explained it to me.’

A wave of sadness engulfed Stacey as she watched this young girl, lost inside herself.

Stacey met Kane’s gaze and he shook his head. She didn’t know her sister was dead.

Kane returned to stand beside Stacey. ‘Almost five days she’s refused to open her eyes. I can’t force her. That’s the whole point. I have to allow her to understand and realise on her own that I don’t have her tied down.’

‘How did she get this way?’ Stacey whispered.

‘My understanding is that Jake played the sisters off against each other. Sophie followed Sammy into the cult because she idolised her, but Jake broke that bond and enforced the separation once Sammy was gone. He’s done a real number on her, but forcing her to open her eyes will only reinforce everything she’s been told.’

‘She doesn’t trust you,’ Penn said, quietly. ‘You’re everything Jake warned her against. She’s been expecting everything you’ve said and done. Every time you speak you prove Jake right and strengthen his hold of her mind. You’re actually making it worse.’

Kane nodded his agreement. ‘With the way she now feels about her parents I’m not sure they’d have any more luck.’

Stacey swallowed back the emotion as she watched the girl fidgeting in the chair but never once moving beyond the invisible ties that bound her.

Of course everything Jake said was true, she thought. If he had convinced her about her parents then she would believe him on everything.

‘May I speak to her?’ Stacey whispered.