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missions they used to run. Still, for a split second, he was embarrassed. Not for his actions—he was quite proud of his military record—but the way his past had been framed. Kia was a new member of his team, and he didn’t want her to get the wrong impression. He wasn’t a killer or a criminal. He was a soldier. Nothing more, nothing less.
    Up ahead a shadow danced on the cave wall. Payne spotted it and headed toward the source of the light. It was a faint glow deep within the bowels of the mountain, yet he knew its intensity would increase tenfold when he reached the scene. Each step brought new sensations that he noted. The rumble of a portable generator. The artificial heat from overhead lights. The echoing drip of seeping liquid. And a stagnant cloud of that god-awful stench. It was inescapable. Unforgettable.
    “Don’t touch anything,” he stressed to Kia. “And if you feel nauseous—”
    “I
won’t
feel nauseous.”
    Payne stopped and put his hand on her shoulder. “But
if
you feel nauseous, just leave the scene. Don’t ask for permission. Just go. Get some fresh air, collect your thoughts, whatever you need to do. Just don’t get sick at the scene. That’s very important.”
    “I’ll be fine, sir.”
    “Thankfully,” Jones joked, “if she does vomit, this place will smell better.”
    “I’m
not
going to vomit,” she insisted. “I’m not the least bit squeamish.”
    Payne nodded, hoping she was right. “Well, we’ll find out soon enough.”
----
    Kia lasted less than ten seconds before she bolted toward the entrance. But Payne and Jones didn’t stop her. Or blame her. During their time in the military, they had never witnessed anything like the scene inside the cave. It was beyond gruesome. It was barbaric.
    Blood covered everything. The ceiling. The walls. The floors. Crevices in the stone were filled with sticky red puddles. Cracks looked like surging rivers, the liquid flowing from one point to the next, as if the cave had been drenched with a crimson rain, the downpour searching for a way to escape. Only there was nowhere for it to go because the entire chamber was saturated with fluid. Like a giant heart had exploded and coated everything in its wake.
    A table and a chair sat in the middle of it all. Both were bolted to the floor. Both were splattered with arterial spray. So was the light that hung overhead. It looked ancient. No fancy fixture. Not even a pull string. Just a solitary bulb that was caked with dried blood. A single wire ran from its base, snaking across the ceiling, held in place by mining staples that were old and rusty. Obviously from another generation. In fact, the whole chamber had that feel, a giant time capsule that had been cracked open, revealing the way things used to be done when no one was watching. Payne closed his eyes and tried to imagine the screams.
    Four floodlights were set up along the periphery, but only one was currently on. Jones glanced at its base and noted a lack of blood. No way it was there when the violence occurred. Same with all the others. They were spotless. Obviously brought there to light the scene.
    “Can we go in?” Jones whispered.
    Payne shrugged, unsure if all the evidence had been processed. He was ready to call out when a man wearing a surgical mask peeked his head out of the back corridor.
    “I
thought
I heard someone.” He wore a butcher’s apron that was streaked with blood. It matched the stains on his surgical outfit and booties. “Please come in.”
    Payne didn’t move. “Are you sure? We don’t want to disturb—”
    “Yes, yes! I’m positive. Everything has been collected.”
    Jones glanced around at all the gore.
“Everything?
I think you missed a spot.”
    The man walked across the bloody cave, barely leaving footprints in the residue. Until then Payne and Jones were under the impression that the chamber was wet. But the dampness was an optical illusion, a combination of the bright light and the crimson