21
JESSICA JOLTED AWAKE when Daya woke with a gasp. Hazy flames danced before his eyes. The back of his arms puckered in gooseflesh, but shone with sweat.
He stood tied to a wall that was cold like a block of ice. Broad bands looped around his chest. Tight bands held his arms and legs in a spreadeagled position. A thin tube led from his left arm to a machine where a red light blinked; a thick bandage covered his right arm, the wires protruding from it and leading to a box attached to a glass-stone vessel filled with what looked like beads. Whatever they had stuck up that arm still hurt like burning acid.
Jessica called, Daya.
How long had he been out?
Men spoke in soft voices somewhere in the room.
“. . . and you got how much from the others?” Daya was sure he had seen this man befor
