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screamed through his mind, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He’d been here before, but he didn’t know where here was.
    Had he killed two people in the Andrassy Hotel, or was that all part of an elaborate dream? He lifted his hand to the back of his head and felt the small cut at the base of his skull. Real. He wiggled his toes and felt the small pain of the wound between them. Real.
    Kelly stepped closer and stopped five feet from him, still looking into his eyes with pride. Still smiling.
    â€œThe drugs are still in your system, but they’ll wear off. You did very well this time, Carl. I knew you could do it.”
    Did he love this woman? Or was that a deception?
    Agotha spoke with a distinct Hungarian accent. “Your name is Carl Strople. Do you remember?”
    He hesitated. “Yes.”
    â€œYou’ve been in training here for nearly a year. The mission you just completed was your tenth of twelve before we put you into the field. Do you remember?”
    Now that she’d said it, he did. Not the missions specifically, but the fact that he had been here a long time. Training. His mind was still on Kelly. What did she mean to him? What had he done for her?
    He couldn’t think clearly enough to ask, much less answer, the questions.
    â€œWe call you Saint,” Agotha said.
    The name ignited a light in Carl’s mind. He blinked. Saint. He’d been covertly recruited for Black Ops and given his life to the most brutal kind of training any man or woman could endure. He was here because he belonged here. To the X Group.
    â€œYou remember?”
    â€œI remember.”
    â€œGood,” Agotha said. “The mission you just executed was an important test of your skills. You must forgive us for deceiving you, but it was necessary to test your progress. Naturally, Englishman didn’t actually shoot Kelly in her leg. It was only made to look like he did. The two people you shot at the Andrassy wore vests with pockets of red dye. The woman suffered a broken rib, but otherwise they are quite alive.”
    Carl stared at her, stupefied. No head shots. No one else may be killed. The whole mission was a setup.
    â€œYou performed exceptionally well,” Agotha said. “We are proud of you.”
    â€œThank you.” He lowered his eyes and rubbed his fingers, trying to fill in a thousand blanks. But he couldn’t. “Why can’t I remember?”
    Agotha nodded once, slowly, as if she had expected this question. “Our training is invasive. We train the mind as much as we train the body. You knew this when you agreed to the Group’s terms. It was what you wanted. And you have proven that our techniques produce results. And rewards. You are important to your country, Carl.”
    â€œWhich country?”
    â€œThe United States.”
    Kalman seemed satisfied to study Carl with a dark stare. There was something about him that struck Carl as obscene. But in a good way, perhaps.
    Carl held Kalman’s gaze for a long time, trying to understand his confusion. But he was trained not to trust his feelings, wasn’t he? He was, in fact, trained to control his feelings by shutting them down entirely.
    He didn’t know how he felt about Laszlo Kalman.
    Or Kelly, for that matter.
    â€œThe implant is real?” he asked Agotha.
    â€œYes. You’ve had it for many months. It is our way of tracking you.”
    â€œOr terminating you,” Kalman said.
    So Englishman had spoken the truth on that count. Carl avoided Kelly’s eyes. For some reason she alone was able to penetrate his emotional guard.
    Agotha frowned at Kalman. “We made a small incision this morning to create the impression that it was recently inserted.”
    â€œI’m being trained as an assassin,” he said.
    â€œYou already are one. But you’re much more than just an assassin. Only seven of more than a hundred recruits have ever finished all