"How's Angus," James asked from where he sat, handcuffed to the table.
"You don't get to ask that," Matty replied, her whole body vibrating with anger.
"I was the one who went out yesterday, the one who made sure to be seen. I wanted you to come and find us."
"Why?"
"The others were taking things too far; I didn't want to see Angus hurt like that."
"Your other personalities?" Matty asked, realising this was the one she was glad she was talking to.
James nodded. "Please tell me how my son is."
"He's traumatized, broken into tiny little pieces. How do you think he is?"
The was a pause as they both looked at each other, James looking away first.
"I want to know why you took him. It was you that took him right?"
"Yes, it was me, I wanted to keep him safe."
"Safe!" Matty exclaimed, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You wouldn't know the meaning of the word."
"A son needs his father, especially someone like Angus, someone so undisciplined. Sometimes children need a firm hand, they need rules, control, I wanted to give him that."
"Go on," Matty said, she wanted to shout so badly that sons didn't need father's like him, but she needed as much information as she could get.
"Angus is as bright boy, knows how to get out of tight spots and I knew at first he wouldn't want to be with me. I had to do what I could, keeping him locked up was for the best, I knew in time he'd come to his senses. The boy is so stubborn though, tried leaving three different times, even after I'd taken more and more away from him."
Matty gritted her teeth, listening to James speak like he was telling a story. "But you couldn't let him go?"
"No, that wasn't an option, the harsher parts of me punished him of course, but he was devious, got me to trust him just enough. His last escape attempt was the most hurtful, knowing he really didn't want to stay with me."
"Is that why you moved?"
"No, that was because you were getting too close."
Matty froze, James was always one step ahead of them, he knew what they were doing.
"I knew when you found Oliver, knew it was only a matter of time before you found the house. My timeline had to be stepped up a little and unfortunately Angus suffered because of it."
"What do you mean?"
"I had hoped to stay at the first house until Angus was settled, until he wanted to stay. Moving to my place, the one I wanted us to live in together, when he still wasn't ready, well parts of me weren't too happy with that. I've got a sadistic side, he seemed to come out a lot when we moved."
Matty felt sick, had all this been their fault, if they hadn't had searched? What was she thinking, the only person to blame was James.
"You didn't take part in any of it?"
"Oh, to a degree I knew that something needed to be done, I was the one who made the cuffs, knew someone like Angus would need something like that. I had to have control over him. Some of his injuries came from me, none of the serious ones. No that was all him. We'd been at the new place a couple of days and he took over. Do you know what he did?"
Matty shook her head, she didn't think she wanted to know.
"He tortured Angus for five days straight, only took breaks to sleep, on the sixth day my son broke. That's the boy you see now. Part of me was pleased, he was so much more obedient, respectful, he had his moments, but things were getting better. But the torture didn't stop, he kept it up and I couldn't except it anymore. You have to believe that I only want what's best for my son."
Matty stood up and left the room, trying desperately not to show any emotion, once she was in the corridor she let it out, tears in her eyes, nausea running through her. She leant against the wall, breathing deep.
"Matty, are you ok?" Cage asked, coming around the corner.
"No, I don't think I'll ever be ok again."
"You've been in with James?"
Matty nodded, moving away from the wall, walking where it was quieter. "He was telling me a lovely story about how sons should be with their fathers, but that they need discipline, control. The things he said. But the worst of it, the reason I'm out here wanting to throw up my lunch." Matty paused. "He told me that his more sadistic side, tortured Mac for five days straight, then he broke on the sixth."
Cage closed her eyes; she couldn't imagine what Mac had gone through. She hadn't seen him yet, but she'd spoken to one of the tac team, Agent Jackson, he'd told her how they'd found Mac, about some of the things in the house. She'd heard about the brainwashing technique, unfortunately she knew all about it, it was brutal. She was going to listen to the recordings that they'd brought back, wanting to be able to help Mac as best she could. She looked at her boss and knew that she couldn't have her go back and talk to James, she was too emotional.
"I'll finish talking to him, get as much information as he can give. We need to know everything that man did to Mac, otherwise we might not be able to help him."
"Are you sure? You're not emotionless Cage, and this is about a friend."
"I can set my emotions aside better than you, sorry, but it's true. I've got this, we don't know how long he's going to want to talk, we need to do this now."
Matty nodded, knowing that Cage was right. She walked away, watching her agent prepare herself and walk into the interrogation room. What she needed to do was to talk to Jack. He had to know what James had said, even though she knew it would kill him. And she wanted to see Mac. She understood why Jack told them to stay away and she'd spoken to Dr Fray, knew what had been happening. She wouldn't stay long, she might not even talk to him, she just needed to see him for herself, know that he was really here, really back and really safe.
When she reached Mac's room she found Jack outside pacing, that wasn't good.
"Jack, what happened?"
"What happened? What hasn't happened. I don't think I can do this Matty. That's not Mac in there, that's his shell, all of Mac's been taken out."
"Oh ok, we'll just send him back to his father then, now you can't handle it!" Matty cried, needing to snap Jack out of his tailspin. "Pull yourself together Dalton, that kid needs you. I don't care if there's nothing left of the old Mac, we'll help him build a new one. We can't give up on him."
Jack sighed, running his hands over his face, sitting on a chair that was nearby. "I'm sorry Matty, I didn't mean any of that."
"I know Jack, this is going to get frustrating and you need to be able to deal with that. You storming out probably hasn't helped a kid who's confused and doesn't really know what's going on."
Jack realised Matty was right, looking over at the door. He needed to get himself together. "Did you hear he smashed a mirror?"
Matty nodded, she'd stopped off to get an update before coming to see Jack.
"Mac told me that his behaviour was unacceptable. Do you know what he said next?"
It was like with James, she didn't want to know, but knew she had to. "What?"
"He told me he needed to be punished."
Matty closed her eyes, shaking her head. She sat down next to her friend, saying something that he wouldn't want to hear. "It's not surprising Jack. He's been conditioned to know he'll be punished if he does something bad. He's not just going to snap out of it."
"You've talked to James?" Jack asked.
"How could you tell."
Jack smiled. "I know you; you're upset."
Matty nodded. "You need to stay calm when I tell you what he's told me so far, getting upset isn't going to help Mac. If you want to go down to the gym later and destroy a few punching bags then I won't stop you. But right now, you need to breath and just take it in."
"Ok Matty, tell me."
So, she did, reciting everything James had said, telling him that Cage was getting more details as they spoke. She also told him that she was going to bring in the best trauma psychologist she could find, even if she had to pay for them herself.
She had to give Jack some credit, he didn't blow up or even swear, he just nodded. "Can I kill him once we've got all we need?
"As much as I would love to say yes, that's not gonna help anyone. Least of all Mac."
Jack nodded, not really caring, he just wanted to put a bullet between the man's eyes. He didn't deserve to still be walking around.
They both got up a minute later, knowing that they'd left Mac on his own for too long. Matty said she just wanted to pop her head in and then she would leave them to it, she needed to brief Oversight anyway.
As they walked into the room they both smiled slightly, Mac was curled up on the floor in the corner fast asleep. Jack took a blanket from the bed and laid it over his friend, hoping that Mac slept for a while. He said goodbye to Matty and then got comfortable in the chair in the opposite corner to where Mac was. Luckily, it was a padded chair and not standard hospital issue, so he thought he should be good to wait there for as long as it took. Part of him thought about doing what Matty suggested and punching his anger away, but he didn't want to leave Mac again, preferring to watch him sleep, however creepy it looked. He decided to take a picture and send it to the others, knowing that they were eager to see that Mac was ok. He was far from it, but at least he was home, safe and sleeping, that's all they could ask for right now, the rest would come with time.