Page 83 of Thorn

“The woman on the left is Dr. Polla Khouri. She is working in Munich as a physicist. She sought asylum from Aleppo at the beginning of the war. This picture was taken last night.”

Arya gasped and started shaking.

Thorn reached his free arm around her and pulled her tight against him.

“And the woman on the right is Dr. Habiba Khouri Schmid. She is working as a geneticist in Geneva, Switzerland. She lives there with her husband and two children. Another child is on the way. That picture was also taken yesterday. Neither woman was captured at any point. And neither woman was ever hurt in retaliation for anything you did or did not do.”

Arya couldn’t believe it. Could not wrap her thoughts around the relief of this. “I have nieces and nephews?” she was able to gasp out.

“Just nieces.” Lynx smiled. “I’m sorry we don’t have their pictures for you.” Lynx gave Arya a moment to assimilate that information.

A moment wouldn’t do it. A lifetime might not be enough to do it. To let go of the fear and guilt. To let go of the pain and anguish. They had been fine all along, despite the recording that had been played for her. And now that Arya thought about it, she knew that sound waves could be altered. Her captors had tortured her physically, but probably worse, they had tortured her mentally.

“Ready?” Lynx asked.

Arya nodded. She felt weirdly out of her body, disconnected.

“The two Russian scientists used the idea of your sisters being hurt to get you to work for them. CHAMP was later. But can you explain to me what it was?”

“Yes, they wanted to develop a weapon that was supposed to be used instead of traditional firepower. It was supposed to be as effective as a nuclear weapon without hurting buildings.”

“Just taking out all of the warm-blooded animals?” Thorn asked with a nod toward Lynx.

Arya just stared at him wide-eyed. In her mind she was too horrified to contemplate a sound weapon that would take out all warm-blooded creatures in a space. That would be apocalyptic, and to stop such a thing, she would have allowed them to torture her and her family to death. What were the options? To take out whole swaths of populations? Horror coursed along her nervous system.

“Breathe,” Thorn reminded her, and she took in a great gulp of air, held it, and thrust it out with as much power as she could muster. She did it again. And again. And again, until her brain started to function.

“The first thing they wanted me to develop was a shield. This shield was to be carried by the riot police. It was to make it so that the protestors would not be beaten or shot, but simply that the sound it emitted was painful enough that it forced them to leave the area.”

Lynx change the screen. “This?”

There was an article written in Russian. It said the pension riots in Russia were getting out of hand and the Russian government was deploying new weapons to contain the rioters. One of the items was a sonic riot shield that immitted sound waves that were physically torturous and would drive back the crowds. People with unprotected ears could be permanently damaged by the effects of the subsonic sound waves.

“That was a theory. A prototype,” Arya said. “They must have started to manufacture them.” Her gaze scanned down the article. “Developed by Dr. Petrov and Dr. Sokolov, who were given medals of valor by the Russian government.”

“That article came out recently,” Lynx pointed out. “But they must have been in production for a while for the police to get a supply in place and train their forces.”

“These are very dangerous weapons, and they could hurt friend or foe alike. I’m sure the training was extensive,” Thorn said.

“Time is a nebulous concept to me right now,” Arya whispered. “I can’t put my research on the calendar for you. I’m sorry.”

“You’re doing just fine,” Lynx encouraged her. “What happened after you had the sonic shield prototype ready?”

“Next, they wanted George and me to work on another riot weapon, one where you could shoot the sound at a pinpointed opponent.”

“And you were able to do that?” Thorn asked.

“Not the way they wished. Sound waves radiate out. So it’s not like shooting a bullet – getting the gun on target, pulling a trigger, shooting a round, and having it hit someone specific. I wasn’t able to figure that out, and I discovered that kind of weapon did the same kinds of physical damage on all the people, in say, a space as big as an office-sized building.”

“Let’s move away from that for a moment. I don’t think knowing your exact research will help us right now. Let’s talk about George. He was held prisoner with you?”

“Yes.”

“You saw him daily?” Lynx asked.

“No. I saw him sometimes. Every couple of weeks. I was told he was in a different facility, and he’d be brought in so we could compare out research notes.”

“He was tortured the way you were?”

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