Deadly Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page A

But always, eventually, he did. Step one, the stripping away of old memories, was the worst. If Max tried to hold on to a memory, he was punished. And the pain he endured was nothing compared to the agony of watching those he loved being tortured.
    The carefully nurtured false visions they’d implanted of home and hearth—of him as a beloved husband and father—were sown for no other reason than for usage in obtaining his compliance. Max would plead, bargain, beg for their lives to be spared. But in the end, even total capitulation was not enough. He had to endure, suffer. So they could prove their point.
    Step two was a black hole, the part Max never remembered. Hell, maybe there were twenty steps in that black hole process but always they extracted a promise. Max swore to do X in exchange for Y . No questions asked.
    The kicker was that no matter how perfectly Max performed, the promises were always broken. He was deep-sixed, put on ice until the next time.
    Weeks, sometimes months, were lost while Max was in that horrible state Rufin reverently referred to as “stasis.” Like it was pleasant.
    And while Rufin wasn’t as ruthless as Zadovsky, the difference was inconsequential.
    Light seeped in through Max’s closed lids as his senses came back online, albeit unevenly. A foul smell smothered him, as if something dead lay rotting beneath him. His stomach muscles clenched.
    Without warning his hearing switched on with eardrum-shattering feedback. He prayed no one saw him flinch. If he gave any outward indication of awareness, they’d put him under again.
    Memories of being darted like an animal spun over him. Rufin and the guards kept tranquilizer guns locked and loaded. Max recalled coming to instantly once and springing off the table in a raw burst of energy only to be hit with four rounds of the darts. That much tranquilizer at one time had nearly killed him. Except he was never that lucky.
    The noise modulated to a low hiss. Beneath the static he heard voices—real ones—but the drugs in his system made it difficult to distinguish words. What had they given him this time? They purposely used different drugs to avoid predictability and addiction.
    “Almost ready…” Rufin’s voice grew faint again.
    Summoning every bit of concentration he could muster, Max latched on to Rufin’s thoughts before the man shuffled away. That Max had been inside Rufin’s head before made it easier to reestablish a mind link.
    Taz had taught Max how to slip into another person’s mind, into the pauses between thoughts. Mind wormholes, Taz called them.
    It was how the two men communicated without words, how they plotted to survive and formulated a plan of what they would do once one or both of them escaped.
    Right now, however, Max found Rufin’s thoughts nearly impossible to follow. The man was a total nervous wreck and that spelled trouble. Too sedated to exert any influence over Rufin, Max focused on the man’s emotions and was nearly blown away by the intensity.
    Rufin was worried the current procedure would kill Taz.
    Taz was in danger!
    Max immediately redirected his energy, probing the room, mentally seeking Taz. Where was his friend?
    That Max couldn’t pick up Taz’s presence alarmed him.
    Rufin began speaking to the guard, dismissing him. “Prepare room number two.” His voice dropped, but only for a second. “I’ll start the new medication as soon as h-h-he’s up from stasis.”
    Rufin was talking about Max now and it took every speck of Max’s willpower to remain unmoving and silent.
    As the door to the lab closed, Max mentally scanned the room to make certain the guard had left. Prying one eye just barely open, he followed the tile floor until he spotted Rufin’s shoes. The scientist had moved to a station along the opposite wall and had his back to Max.
    Opening his eyes a bit more, Max searched the rest of the lab. His gut clenched as he glimpsed the piece of equipment Rufin worked at, the