Chapter 3

Pain hit hard, making it difficult to breathe. After sucking in air slowly, Nichole blinked open her eyes. Light shot to the back of her brain, sending a spike of pain straight through her. She slammed her eyelids shut, hoping to block out the offending brightness.

What in the world was going on?

It took a few tries to get her eyes open, but she had to stare at the ground to reduce the brightness enough so she could see where she was. From her limited view, she saw no furniture and no windows.

She blinked a few more times, trying to adjust to the near plasma like lighting. There were a few lumps on the ground close by. The shapes started to organize into something recognizable. There were women in the room with her. Three other women. So the four of them had been separated out. Were there only four women who’d survived?

Pain spiked through her, and she closed her eyes as she tried to figure out exactly what happened. Why was it so bright? They weren’t outside, but it was like two suns were shining down on them, making it impossible to keep her eyes open.

After the pain abated and she could stand it again, she opened her eyes and looked around. One of the other women was looking at her but closed her eyes after a second. She wasn’t the only one having trouble with the brightness.

Where were the men? They’d killed the one doctor, but what had they done to the rest of the medical personnel? She didn’t want to think she was lucky to have survived, but she might not live long enough to make it out of this.

Her heart squeezed as the reality of her situation seeped in. Had her text to her editor gone through?

The attack had been a surprise. Before flying over here, they’d done a threat assessment. She knew the risks but had wanted the experience of interviewing medical personnel working to save the forgotten. She’d attended the meeting to learn what to do if something bad happened. But this was beyond what she’d expected. Of course, if she’d known, she wouldn’t have come, or maybe she would have. This experience was an opportunity of a lifetime if she made it out of here. She had to survive.

One thing she knew for sure was antagonizing the people holding her would be dangerous. But a small part of her wanted to do just that. If she got under their skin, it could be bad for her and the other people being held captive with her. Putting these people at risk would be wrong.

She’d made her career learning who to needle and who to give rope to so they would hang themselves. She was good at reading people, but all of that had been thrown out when one of the terrorists had shot the doctor in front of her eyes. That had put real fear into her, showing her that her captors couldn’t be reasoned with or manipulated.

The door opened, and the three other women crawled or scooted away from the door. She was the only one who didn’t move. Nichole could make out two of the women huddled close together. A part of her wanted to be huddled close to them, but she stayed put, partially because of the pain coursing through her body. What had they done to her while she’d been passed out? Her muscles felt bruised. Almost like someone had beaten her. Had they done more?

“Get up!”

Nichole’s eyes pricked with tears from the overly bright lights, and her body ached as she pushed herself up from the ground. Not wanting them to see how scared she was seemed like an impossible task. Fear raced through her like a jackrabbit, hopping all over the place, making everything shake. She fought for control, pushing down the fear and anger. It wasn’t really helping because when the guy spoke next, she jumped like his words had struck her.

“Follow.”

Pain flared in her feet and hips, along her back, and up her neck. The other women seemed to be in similar shape. She spied blood clumped in the hair on the back of one woman’s head. These bastards must have beaten them after they’d passed out.

A shiver almost took Nichole to her knees. The woman behind her grabbed her arm and kept her upright. Nichole didn’t want to think about what else the bastards could have done while she’d been passed out.

They were led into a room with tables. She saw that the men were already sitting at one of the tables on the far side of the room. What was this? Why were they allowing them out of the room where they were being held? She thought terrorists wouldn’t let them out of their holding cell. Weren’t they afraid of them talking or planning an escape?

“No talking. Eat.”

A half-filled bowl was placed in front of her. The food inside seemed to be some sort of stew. Walking in here, food had been the last thing she wanted, but now her stomach cramped as hunger took over. It was like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. How long had they been out?

She took a bite, surprised that the stew tasted good. So good that this could be a restaurant meal. This wasn’t how the people in the safety briefing she’d attended told her it would be. They’d warned her that the food would be horrible, and maybe poisoned. But this tasted like heaven. As she spooned the stew into her mouth, a piece of bread was plopped down on the table beside her.

As she consumed the stew, she glanced around, taking in the people and the room. There were six men still alive and three women. Adding her in meant ten people. Had they killed everyone else from the compound or let them go? She hoped they were free and finding a way to get help.

The man who had read the statement on camera had two black eyes, one of them mostly swelled shut. He was eating slowly. Nichole feared he wouldn’t be okay.

She’d almost finished eating when they were told to stand. There was still food in her bowl, so she tried to spoon the rest into her mouth quickly as she stood. One of the men picked up the bowl to finish what was in the bottom. Retribution came fast, and he was punched in the side of his head, which dropped him to the floor.

“Get up!”

Nichole dropped the spoon and stood straight. She didn’t want to be hit. She figured they’d already beat them when they were passed out, so any new beating would hurt worse. Since she had no memory of what had caused them to pass out, she feared it had been very bad. Maybe they’d drugged them, or they’d just beat them senseless. Whatever had happened in those few hours or days that she couldn’t account for, it had been terrible.

Once she was back in the room with the other women, she would start asking questions. They were almost back to the room they’d come out of when one of the terrorists grabbed her by the shoulder. She froze and resisted the urge to shake their hold off.

“Come with me.”

Nichole wanted to say no, but this man wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. She had to watch every response because one little thing could set them off. She could survive beatings and rapes, but she couldn’t recover from a death blow.