BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online

were disturbing.
    For him in that Kahlid’s intentions gave his mind something to consider. A puzzle to piece together. A string of new dots
     to connect with the picture he was already forming. Data to process with the absorption and care that he’d trained his mind
     to apply when confronted with disconnected pieces of information.
    The camera’s purpose was obviously to record his every reaction on tape and transmit those reactions real-time to a monitor
     now being watched by Kahlid himself. In addition, the camera was meant to keep Ryan on guard. Like any organ, the mind could
     only function so long before tiring, and remaining on guard would hasten that exhaustion. An obvious intention on Kahlid’s
     part.
    Less obvious were the photographs of the broken children. Again, the mystery of them was undoubtedly designed to wear on his
     mind as much as the horror they presented.
    It was unlikely that Kahlid had any idea what Ryan’s occupation was, but he’d scored one small victory because Ryan couldn’t
     help but to set his mind on overdrive in an attempt to understand the mystery put before him.
    What did Kahlid, who had been very thoughtful in this abduction, hope to gain by making this particular choice? Beyond pointing
     out the obvious connection between the U.S. military bombing Iraq and the unfortunate collateral damage resulting from war,
     Kahlid had little to gain. He surely could have found a far more manipulative incentive than this attempt to disturb him with
     pictures, however gruesome they were.
    Which meant that Ryan was missing something. Kahlid had more up his sleeve. He was manipulating Ryan in a subversive way.
     There was more meaning here. Much more meaning.
    Ryan slouched in the chair with his arms shackled behind him, searching his mind for answers. He left no stone unturned, no
     possibility unconsidered, no thread unexplored. But the answer eluded him.
    Unless there was no answer, the possibility of which only added to his mental gymnastics.
    The light overhead flickered once; otherwise the only movement in the room came from the blinking camera light and his own
     periodic shifting to keep blood flowing to his extremities.
    An hour went by. Two hours. Three. He began to lose track of time. Also part of Kahlid’s plan.
    Most humans gave up on unsolved puzzles within a matter of minutes. Those who purchased and played games like Myst could contemplate
     a single puzzle for twenty or thirty minutes before growing bored with the lack of progress and pulling out the cheat sheet.
    The best code breakers could spend days or weeks on a single challenge and remain engaged. But the conundrum facing Ryan contained
     an element that shifted the balance in his mind. He was staring at images that began to disturb him, not for the mystery in
     them but for the brutality in them. Not being an emotional man, he found his reaction awkward.
    The more he studied what he could see of the victims, the more he felt sucked into their plight. Unlike the thousands of similar
     photos he’d scanned since coming to the desert, he had time with these images.
    Instead of using his mind to understand Kahlid’s purpose in leaving him alone with the images, he began to analyze the puzzle
     in each broken body like he imagined a forensic scientist might.
    How had the building collapsed? A nearby hit or a direct hit? Did the victims fall to the bottom before the falling concrete
     blocks? Which bones had been broken first? How much abuse could a human body sustain? How many breaks could one human being
     suffer before dying from internal bleeding? How long had the children lived?
    Wearing him down was Kahlid’s objective, he knew that much. And he was succeeding on that level. But there was more. There
     had to be.
    At some point Ryan woke without realizing he’d fallen asleep. Pain flared in his back and right shoulder and he tried to ease
     it by shifting to his left. The camera still winked red. The photographs