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Yet Katzen knew that one thing he'd learned in the lectures was true. If they survived this, the deepest scars would not be physical. They would be emotional. And the longer the captivity went on, the less treatable their post-traumatic stress disorder would be. Fits of panic or chronic despondency could be brought on by re-experiencing anything they had suffered today. The smell of dirt or the sound of a scream. Darkness or a shove. Perspiration trickling down their armpits. Anything.

Katzen looked at Coffey. In his fetal position and distant expression he saw himself and the others. The time they'd spent tied up in the ROC had enabled them to pass through the first phase of the long emotional road hostages faced--denial. Now they were moving through the numbing weight of acceptance. That phase would last for days. It would be followed by flashbacks to happier times--which was where Coffey was already headed--and finally by self-motivation.

If they lived that long.

Katzen shut his eyes, but the tears kept coming. Rodgers was snarling now, like a caged dog. His chains rattled as he tugged against them. Private DeVonne was talking to him calmly, trying to help him focus.

"I'm with you," she was saying to him in a soft but very tremulous voice. "We're all with you "

"All of us!" Private Pupshaw shouted from the pit to the left of Katzen's. "We're all with you."

Rodgers's snarls soon became screams. They were short, angry, and agonized. Katzen could no longer hear Sondra's voice over his cries. Pupshaw was swearing now, and Katzen heard Mary Rose vomiting in the pit to the right. It had to be her. Seden was still unconscious.

There wasn't a civil, dignified human sound to be heard. In a few short minutes, the terrorists had transformed a band of educated, intelligent people into desperate or frightened animals. If he weren't one of them, he might have admired the simple skill with which it was done.

He couldn't just sit there. Turning, Katzen dug his fingers into the mesh and pulled himself to his feet.

Coffey looked up at him. "Phil?"

"Yeah, Lowell?"

"Help me up. I want to stretch too but my goddamn legs are like rubber."

"Sure," Katzen said. He put his hands under Coffey's armpits and helped him to his feet. As soon as Coffey was standing, Katzen released him tentatively. "You okay?"

"I think so," said Coffey. "Thanks. How about you?"

Katzen turned to the mesh side of the pit. "Shitty. Lowell, I have to tell you something. I didn't get up to stretch."

"What do you mean?"

Katzen looked up at the grate. Rodgers was shrieking now in clipped bursts. He was fighting the pain and losing. "Oh, for God's sake stop!" Katzen moaned. He looked down and shook his head from side to side. "Jesus God, make them stop."

Coffey wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. "It's kind of ironic," he said. "We're in God's backyard and He isn't even listening. Or if He is," Coffey added apologetically, "He's got a plan that's not making much sense to me."

"To me either," Katzen said. "Unless we're wrong and these other people are right. Maybe God is on their side."

"On the side of monsters like this?" Coffey said. "I don't think so." He took two halting steps across the pit and stopped beside his coworker. "Phil? Why did you get up? What were you going to do?"

"I was thinking of stopping this."

"How?" Coffey asked.

Katzen put his head against the mesh wall of the pit. "I've dedicated my life to saving endangered animals and ecosystems." He lowered his voice to a loud whisper. "I've done that through action, by risking my life."

"You've got a streak of steel in you," Coffey said. "I've told you that many times. Me? I don't know how well I'm going to stand up under--under that." He looked up quickly and then back. He leaned closer conspiratorially. "If you're thinking of trying to get the hell out of here, I'm with you. I'd rather die fighting than cringing. I think I'm strong enough for that."

Katzen looked at Coffey in the faint light