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“Answer the damn question!” the second man demands. “Who are you working for?” I shake my head, because I don’t have the answers they are looking for, so no matter what I say, the result will be the same. More pain. Sure enough, the man slams his fist into my face again and again.
“Tell me who you told about our plans, bitch. I won’t ask again. I know you overheard the conversation with my colleagues. You should have disappeared when we ruined you financially, but instead you had us investigated. I know you are not an innocent waitress. Who do you work for?” the man growls in a menacing voice.
“I swear I don’t know anything. I don’t even know you.” Pain blooms over my face when the man backhands me. Warmth spreads down my chin as the metallic scent of blood fills the air again. “Please, I didn’t have anyone investigate you. My friend has a security company. When he heard about my financial problems, he just started looking into what happened.” Again the man hits me. “Please, I don’t know you or anything about what you are talking about!” The men aren’t buying my story. They haveconvinced themselves that I have told someone about their “plans”, whatever they are, but I have no idea what they’re talking about. I can’t get them to believe me. I’m about to die, of that I’m certain. My mind drifts to Luke. Will they kill him, too, because I’m not giving them what they want? More tears flow as I think of my love and what they might do to him because of his association with me.
This beating disguised as an interrogation continues for a while. One of the men leaves while the other one continues to assault me. As he takes a break to rest, I see movement behind him thinking the other man is back to take over, but then I realize it’s Daisy, Luke’s sister. How is she here? Where did she come from? It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I need to keep this guy distracted so Daisy can get the jump on him. I hope she’s already eliminated the other man. Luke has told me she’s a doctor in the Navy, but she is a well-trained badass, too. She’s told me how she’d survived being shot down in the desert. I know she has the skills to get me out of here alive. I haven’t wanted to give this man the satisfaction of crying out when he hits me. I haven’t been successful every time, but I’ve tried to hide my pain as much as I could. Now I know I need to ham it up. Make as much noise as possible to cover any sound Daisy might make as she approaches.
“Look, man. I’m sorry I don’t know the answers to your questions. What’s your name?” I try to smile at the man, but fail miserably due to the pain in my face and my busted lip. I can hardly see from the swelling of my eyes. “I will do anything I can to help you just please don’t hurt me.” He hits me again, so I begin to wail and thrash around in my restraints. Anything I can do to make noise to keep him distracted with me. Just when I think she’s going to be able to take him out, the other man walks up behind Daisy placing a gun to the back of her head.Oh shit! We are both going to die!
“Drop it, bitch. I swear I will blow your fucking head off ifyou make one wrong move,” the man growls. Daisy stills. She carefully lowers her gun to the floor. In the blink of an eye, the man hits Daisy in the head as she’s standing back up with her hands raised. She drops like a rock.Oh God! He’s killed her! He’s killed her!I can’t think beyond the panic coursing through me at seeing Luke’s sister go down. We are both going to die. They will kill Luke, too.Why is this happening?
The man who’s been beating me, turns back to me. He’d turned to see what the other man was doing, but now he’s returned his attention to me. Tears flow freely down my face as I prepare to die. He glares at me as he stalks closer. I want to be brave, but I shrink back as he approaches. I know there’s nothing I can do to stop what is about to happen.
“Tell me what I want to know!” he shouts at me. “Who did you tell about our plans? What did you tell them?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I yell back. My fear and anger over what’s happened to Daisy comes to the surface. Another hard blow lands on my face. The man growls in frustration.
“You were there when we were discussing the location of our supplies. Then the next day we were raided by government agents.” The man informs me. “You were the only other person who knew our plans!”
“I swear I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please just let us go,” I plead. He backhands me again before punching me in the stomach a couple of times. I can’t breathe from the searing pain. His friend walks up next to him.
“Let me have a go at her,” the man drawls in a thicker accent. “You are too easy on her. I can make her talk.” Fear skitters down my spine. My kidnapper stares at me as if he’s considering the man’s proposal.
“No,” he snaps. “I need her alive. You’ll kill her. She’s no good to me dead. I have to find out who her contact is. I fear we have a rat in our organization. We need time to figure out what to do. Get theother one. We’ll secure them in the bunker.” The other man nods. He walks over to Daisy and lifts her up, throwing her limp body over his shoulder. My kidnapper places a black strip of cloth over my eyes and ties it behind my head. He releases me from the chair before he pulls me to my feet. I’m surprised when he doesn’t retie my hands.
“Let’s go,” he commands as he forces me to walk beside him. His grip painfully tight on my upper left arm. I can tell we leave the house when I stumble down the steps at the door. I can’t see a thing, so I try to listen closely for any clues as to where they are taking us. I try counting how many steps I take after leaving the house, but I keep stumbling as if tripping over limbs or vines. “Keep up bitch! I should have knocked you out like the other one, but I don’t relish carrying your fat ass around!”
After a brief walk, he pulls me to a stop. I can hear the creaking of metal like maybe a door opening or something. Then I’m being forced to walk again. My shoulder brushes against a door frame and the air cools dramatically as we enter some type of structure. I can hear our steps scuffing on the floor. Concrete, maybe? I hear a thud as the other man drops Daisy’s lifeless form. I’m shoved from behind and stagger a few steps before colliding with a hard surface that causes me to fall on my ass.
A door slams shut. The lock clicking in to place echoes in the room. I can hear the men retreating. I quickly reach up pulling the blindfold from my eyes. Blinking to adjust to the room, I turn to see where we are, but there’s very little light in here. I make my way over to where Daisy is laying and feel for a pulse. Thankfully it is beating strong and steady. Her chest is rising and falling evenly. I settle down next to her and wonder what will happen to us now. I’m not sure how much time passes before Daisy begins to stir. Her eyes flutter open.
“Oh my God Daisy! Are you all right?” I ask when I’m certain she’s alert. My voice trembles with relief at seeing her wake. “I thought you were dead.” I can feel tears welling up in my eyes.Daisy tries to raise up, but she immediately lays back onto the cold stone floor. After a few moments, she tries again. This time she manages to sit up even though she looks like she might be sick.
“Where are we?” Daisy asks. She looks around the room with such intensity. I can’t help but look, too, trying to see what she sees. As I glance back at her, a look of relief comes over her face. She looks down at her boots. I see her pull up on the handle of a very dangerous looking knife.
“I think we are in a basement or some underground place,” I explain as I attempt to wipe the blood off Daisy’s forehead with my shirt sleeve. “I was blindfolded when they brought us here, but they didn’t do a very good job so I could see a little. We are a few hundred feet into the woods behind the cabin.”
“How many men are there? I only saw the one guy that brought you here, but clearly there was at least one other one.” Daisy says with a huff. She is apparently upset that she didn’t know about the other man.
“I have only seen two men. I’m not sure if there are others or not,” I tell her. I wish I was more observant so I could be more help to her.
“How did you end up here, Marley?” Daisy gives me pointed stare as if she thinks I wanted to be kidnapped and beaten.
“I was leaving work, when a man grabbed me from behind. He pressed a gun into my side and told me he knew all about Luke…and how defenseless he is,” I say as anger courses through me when I remember how the man spoke of Luke. “He told me a friend of his is watching Luke, and if I didn’t cooperate, he would have Luke killed. I couldn’t let them hurt him. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt because of me.” My voice has gotten softer as I’ve spoken due to the raw emotions running through me when I think of something happening to Luke. I look up at Daisy, expecting to see anger on her face. Luke wouldn’t be in danger if itwasn’t for me. I need her to understand how important he is to me.
“I know he isn’t defenseless,” I say. “He is the strongest man I know, but I didn’t want him to be hurt…I care about him. He’s been so good to me.” I look down at my hands. My emotions are taking over, making me feel insecure about my relationship to Luke. I want Daisy to approve of me, but I’ve sensed she doesn’t trust me. This situation is only going to fuel her doubts about Luke being with me. Daisy takes my hands in her own. I look up at her in surprise at the simple, kind gesture.
“Marley, thank you for wanting to keep Luke from being hurt, but he is strong. Stronger than I give him credit for.” Daisy smiles at me. “Okay, we need to try and find a way out of here so he doesn’t try to be a hero.”
“Okay.” I smile back at her. “I’m not like you, Daisy. I know you are a badass Navy woman, but I will try my best to help you.” Daisy stands up, and I follow her lead. We walk around the room, checking for any possible way to get out of this prison. The room seems to be secure. There are no windows and only one door. After checking every corner of the room, we sit back down to strategize the best way to escape.
“Here’s my idea,” Daisy says when we are seated. “You pretend to be sick and call for the guards. I will hide beside the door. When they come into the room, I will take them out with my knife.” Daisy gives me a stern look. “It won’t be pretty, but it’s the only plan I have.” Daisy looks nervous as if she isn’t sure this will work, which causes me some concern. She’s been in situations like this before. If she can’t get us out of this, we are well and truly screwed.
“It’s a good plan, Daisy. So why do you seem reluctant to carry it out?” I ask when Daisy has finished relaying her plans.
“What if both men come at the same time?” Daisy says anxiously. “I might not be able to protect you from harm.” Heridea is far better than anything I could think up, so I try to be supportive.
“Listen Daisy, it’s the chance we have to take. Those men will kill us sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time.” I sigh heavily as the weight of my words hit me. “I would rather go out trying than cowering in here like fish in a barrel.” Daisy nods. Now we just have to put our plan into action.
