"You ready for this?" Sonny glanced at Jase with concern, yet nothing on his comrade's face suggested he was struggling. Sonny knew the expression; hard set features, limited eye contact to prevent the brain from registering any unwanted emotions. Sonny understood he was probably the least skilled in this particular area, but Jase had an at times frightening ability to switch off to get the job done.

Jase ignored Sonny's question and assessed the contents of a small metal case, ensuring everything was intact. "Take her to the end room," he ordered coolly. "Don't talk to her." Sonny tipped his head in acknowledgement and headed for the small cell room, privately wondering what temperament they'd all have to suffer from Jase after this assignment was over.

Ryan was stood dutifully outside Paige's room, an irrelevant position seeing it would have been impossible for her to leave the compound. His being posted there was more to inspire the mental angst of knowing there was always somebody outside watching you, of knowing they could come in at any moment. Sonny clapped Ryan on the arm to signal his involvement.

"No talking, you got that? We're taking her to the big room," Sonny said in a hushed tone.

"Where al-Raheem was?" Ryan frowned. He knew the British girl had something of interest to them, but he didn't think they would have to actually hurt her. Moving her to the same room her previous captor had been held and tortured in seemed a little twisted, even to him.

"Just open the door," Sonny ordered, deeply irritated by the line of questioning. It didn't sit well with him either, but moving a prisoner had important psychological significance. It said there was a change in their position, and that things were about to get a lot worse. Ryan pushed the door open, surprised to see Paige standing upright for once. He'd only ever seen her huddled in the furthest corner against the wall, as though she wished she could sink back into the concrete and disappear.

Sonny resisted the urge to say something, to explain what the next move was and alleviate some of her concern. He wished he could give her the opportunity to walk the several steps to the adjacent room herself, but he knew as much as Jase did that interrogation was a cleverly prepared show; each form of contact just as important as the questioning itself. He had to play his role too. The Southerner strode towards Paige with an easy gait, the clearly petrified young woman saying nothing, staring ahead to the doorway with wide glassy eyes. Sonny seized her arm, nearly touching finger to thumb around the circumference as he yanked her slightly. He needn't have bothered, she wouldn't have put up a fight.

The little party began it's procession out of the door and down the corridor. It was barely six strides for Sonny and Ryan, but it felt like a great deal longer. Sonny glanced across to Paige out of the corner of his eye. Her blue eyes, shattered and puffy from crying, were fixated on the bolted door ahead of them. She had no idea what lay for her on the other side.

*

I stood upright at the sound of the outer door opening and footsteps in the hall. This was it. Ant's stern pep talk had woken me up somewhat, but it didn't shake the fear and desperate exhaustion. I just wanted it to be over, and yet at the same time thinking about returning to normality and everyday life seemed more petrifying than everything I'd faced.

The door scraped open, Sonny and another of his men entering with expressionless faces. Would they do it here? Was it the two of them? Had Jase delegated the job? Sonny strode towards me with a disinterested swagger, perhaps I was now the dirty work they all begrudged having to do. I looked straight ahead to the doorway as his figure reached me, eyes fixed on the dimly lit hallway, so wide I could feel them beginning to water in discomfort. Despite having given myself stern words of encouragement, the sensation of Sonny's calloused hand forming a shackle around my arm made my heart leap into my throat. I could hear my heartbeat drumming faster and faster in my chest, hands trembling fiercely. I gripped the fabric of my trousers for some kind of stability as Sonny nudged me out into the corridor.

Were they taking me back to the room with the table? Would they do the polygraph after all? It only took me a moment to realise we were heading the wrong way, the door ahead of us was rusted metal with a huge iron bolt.

"W- wait-" I hesitated, my feet stopped but Sonny was having none of it. The grip on my arm tightened as he pulled me closer to the opening, his comrade stepping ahead to scrape the bolt aside. "Don't leave me with him!" I pleaded quietly, resisting the force against me. There was no response, neither of them cared. And why would they? I was just another prisoner now. Sonny forced me inside, a familiar putrid smell hitting the back of my nose. There was no sign of al-Raheem, even in the poorly lit conditions I couldn't make out another living being. The scent of decay prompted a frantic scan of the cavernous room for a body, or body parts... I had no idea what had happened inside these walls.

Up until now I'd fooled myself into believing I was safer with the Americans than I ever was in al-Raheem's dungeon. Even though the image of Jase emerging sodden from the torture he'd been inflicting was etched in my memory as a warning, I really hadn't believed they would do the same to me. And yet... here I was. Ant warned you it was going to be bad.

The younger man pushed me towards the centre of the room, where Sonny was adjusting a large wooden armchair. My eyes darted to all possible exits, but that was a pointless thought. I wasn't going anywhere except for where they wanted me. Sonny looked towards me, but not at me as he paced purposefully, grabbing me by the back of the neck. I flinched and jolted against the contact, but didn't bother resisting. He pinched hard and led me to the chair, forced me down against it and bound my left forearm to the arm of the chair. Amid the panic swirling in my head I noticed he didn't bind my wrists. Was that just standard, or was it possible he cared? Not that it made a difference, he grabbed the other arm and restrained me in the same way, wrapping rope around my ankles to the chair leg after he'd finished. I counted my breathing in my head, desperate for a sense of control.

In... two, three, four- hold-

The main door swung open, revealing an inky sky. I hadn't even realised the day had long since left, there was no concept of time in the cell block. Jase entered casually, unreadable as ever and nodded to Sonny and the other man. They both left swiftly, leaving Jase to fiddle with a camera pointed directly at me.

"I really don't know anything else," I trembled, wriggling my arms to soften the chafe of the rope. Jase laughed from the back of the room, dragging a chair in front of me and sitting nonchalantly. His knees touched mine he was so close. There was nothing, nothing to his demeanour or expression to suggest he disliked this part of his job. If anything it looked quite the contrary, his eyes had more fire behind them than I'd seen since I'd met him.

"The problem is," Jase looked down towards the crater I'd made in my right wrist. "Your word means very little to me. You lied to my face, and tried to cover it up with a very poorly executed story. I thought you were meant to be a psychologist, Paige."

"I'm sorry," I whispered as tears sprung in my eyes.

"Mmm. Well, I'll forgive you. If you give me what I want now," Jase's green eyes sparkled darkly.

"I don't-" a soft sob interrupted my words. "I don't know anything, I swear it." Tears fell freely down my cheeks as I dragged every ounce of remaining mental strength to remind myself of Ant's words. It's going to be shit. You can endure it.

"Shh, shh," Jase hushed tenderly. "You don't need to swear it, this will do that for you," he pulled out a small metal case and unlatched it carefully. What the hell was in the case? A long, thin syringe with a thick needle emerged between his fingers, several more lining the inside from what I could see.

"Wai- wha-" I stammered, panic overriding all of my senses.

"This doesn't exist," Jase smiled secretively as he eyed the syringe he displayed in his grip. "Just one of these will be enough to cause you inhuman amounts of pain, and spill your deepest darkest secrets. I'm authorised to administer you three, but honestly I'll be surprised if you make it through one. Any more than 8cc- that's four of these, and you'll go into cardiac arrest. I guess we'll see how much you can tolerate. I've only ever had 3cc before and that was enough, believe me." Jase tapped the needle as the room spun around me. If I hadn't already been restrained to a chair I'd have slunk to the concrete.

In... two... three-

*

Jase made the mistake of connecting his eyes with Paige's, holding for a second longer than he should have. It was enough to jolt his conscience for a moment, but as he registered the sheer terror in her eyes he told himself it was too late. He was already there, he had already assumed the role.

Jase leaned forward to get better access, assessing which vein would be best. He glanced back to the chewed skin around Paige's wrist, she'd been picking at the healing wounds. The vast majority of them had already healed and left tiny thread-like scars, but apparently she'd been attempting to make herself bleed to death picking this last one. You left her in that room too long. Focus, he needed to focus.

"Now you're going to have to keep nice and still for me," Jase murmured softly as he held Paige's elbow, pushing the joint forward against the restraints to coax the veins to attention. He lifted the needle, feeling Paige jolt against the contact of metal on her skin. She made a strangled noise as he pushed the tip into her, trying fruitlessly to thread it but the vein collapsed at every chance. This would have been al-Raheem's overuse of epinephrine, damn it, he'd have to use her neck.

Without allowing himself a moment to overthink he seized Paige's head, who gave a muffled cry as her features smashed against his muscled shoulder. He held her tightly, fingers spread across her skull to fix her position, and drove the needle deliberately and precisely. He was careful to only hit the external jugular, hitting the carotid or internal jugular could have killed her. Paige squirmed against him as he pressed the liquid into her, but he held fast until the syringe was drained. Jase released his fingers from her head and sat back in his chair heavily, feeling the moisture on his t-shirt from where she had bitten down. Focus. Paige panted heavily, shaking all over.

"I'm going to be-" Her torso heaved forward as she vomited bile and water, the spew covering her own lap and dribbling down her chin. She couldn't aim it anywhere else, she was fastened so tightly to the chair. It was with good reason, the dose began to snake through her bloodstream provoking a tentative moan of discomfort.

"Give it thirty seconds, it will work it's way to you," Jase scratched the surface of his thumbnail with his index finger impatiently, willing the drug to work as quickly and effectively as possible.

Paige held still, trembling and trying with every fibre of her being to remain calm. You've been through worse, she told herself. She breathed through her nose rapidly, becoming more and more aware of the pain every rise and fall of her chest induced. A prickly jolt of electricity ran up the bridge of her nose and settled between her eyes, spreading across her brow bone and behind her sockets. She couldn't help but make a noise out loud, a primitive low groan that shot sparks of radiating pain through her chest. Frenzied awareness broke; there was nothing she could do that didn't cause pain. It was as though someone was directly electrocuting her nerves, she could feel places in her body she didn't know could register sensation and the feeling only intensified as her muscles seized and she spluttered out a breath in disbelief.

Jase watched with determination, seething inside with a rage he had no idea what to do with. He fixed his eyes to Paige's outstretched fingers, each spread apart and pointing upwards in petrification.

"Anytime you're ready to talk, Paige," Jase sniffed and forced himself to sit back with a nonchalance he gritted his teeth to falsify. The camera couldn't see his expressions so he was free to display whatever emotion he wanted on his face, but for Paige's sake he had to make her believe he was her dedicated and sadistic interrogator. With heaviness he knew there was no way she doubted that was the truth.

"First opportunity to speak; when is the document being leaked?" Jase pressed, his tone bored and even.

"D- n-" As she tried to form the words a swell of burning prickles rolled up the back of Paige's throat.

"You'll have to do better than that."

"Don- t- kno- w-w-" Blood trickled out from her parted lips, Paige could feel a chunk of flesh that had become separated from the inner wall of her cheek from her own bite, still half hanging on. It was the only part that now felt numb. Endure, she forced herself to repeat the word in her mind. Endure it.