40
Liam
Istirred to life, my body numb from whatever had knocked me out—I assumed a good dose of Special Z.
It’d just been a prick in the side of my neck, and then I felt the effects all too quickly. I started to scream to warn Ty, when a hand came around from behind me, covering my mouth. My struggle hadn’t lasted long before I’d planted face-first onto the mattress.
As I opened my eyes, the overhead fluorescent lights were nearly blinding as they reflected across concrete walls and a cement floor.
Ty sat in a chair on the other side of a metal table.
My Pretty Thing.
Who had drugged me? Who’d brought us to that room?
Regardless of whoever was behind this, Ty shouldn’t have been there.
I couldn’t fixate on that thought at the moment, though.
All I knew for certain was: we were getting out alive of wherever the hell we were.
Upon inspection, I saw my wrists were restrained in cuffs, affixed to the arms of the metal chair I sat in, and as I tried to shift the chair about, I quickly discovered it was bolted to the floor.
This room had obviously been set up for some nefarious purpose. Torturing us for intel, perhaps? Was our captor someone aligned with Blackmore that the IPB hadn’t caught? Someone after more agents?
I didn’t have time to theorize on that front.
“Ty, Ty. Wake up, Ty. Come on.”
He didn’t move.
Considering how effective the tranquilizer had been on me, I figured he must have had his own good dose of it that was keeping him down.
Who knew how long we’d been out?
I searched around the room, which was bare except for a door over my shoulder, to my right.
I was still in my button-up from the party, meaning I had a safety pin I’d placed in the placket of my shirt to keep it flat. I leaned forward and shifted my body, working to get my chest as close to my hand as I could manage. But as I attempted to feel at the fabric, I realized my fingers were still numb, an effect of the tranquilizer I’d been shot with. The cuffs were specially made, so I could only speculate on the type of lock they had and how long it might take me to pick it. If I even could.
I heard the door unlock behind me.
I stayed leaning forward, acting like I was still passed out, to distract from my real intent as I attempted to work the safety pin out, which proved to be a struggle with my limbs not totally under my control.
“I know you’re already awake, Agent McKinney,” a voice came from behind me. “I have cameras in this room, so no use pretending.”
Realizing if I wasn’t careful, my intent to remove the safety pin would be discovered, I sat back as our abductor’s footsteps approached, moving slowly, seemingly with great calculation.
“Good morning, Liam.”
I didn’t recognize the voice, nor could I place the face when I turned. He was older than me—maybe in his fifties, with dark hair against almost sickly pale flesh. He wore what was clearly a tailored black suit and a bow tie, dressed similarly to the way Ty and I had dressed for our night out.
“Who the fuck are you?” I strained to spit the words out as my body still wasn’t quite within my control.
“Your little boyfriend recognized me. Or what do you call him? Pretty Thing? That’s such a lovely nickname.”
“Don’t you fucking call him that,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Took me a moment to recognize him. Last I saw him was at the auction, surely wearing a disguise.”
