I don’t have a choice. The room is small with only a single table in the center. A third soldier guards the room from the outside, so even if I could take both of these guys down, I wouldn’t get anywhere.
Aikido taught me not only how to fight, but when not to. This is one of those times.
“Quítas el sostén y las bragas,”Alvarado says when I lay my pants on the table next to the shirt.
Swallowing hard, I unclasp my bra, take off my panties, and cross my arms in front of me, trying to hide as much of myself as I can from these two men leering at me like I’m some prize they won.
But they don’t touch me. My clothes, on the other hand… Guerrero scans them all with a metal detector and Alvarado checks every seam and fold. When they finish, they advance on me. “Face the wall.”
Ryker prepared me for this, but I still want to cry when they run their hands through my hair, under my breasts, and between my ass cheeks. At least they spare me the horror of sticking their fingers inside me.
“Vestirse.”
I can’t get my hands on my bra and panties fast enough when Alvarado gives the order for me to get dressed again. Guerrero examines everything in my bag, then asks me for my phone’s unlock code.
“I’ll give it to the general after I see Trevor Moana.”
Alvarado grabs a fistful of my hair and wrenches my head back. “You do not give the orders.”
“Neither do you,” I snap, and he shoves me against the wall hard enough the impact ignites sparks of pain from my shoulder all the way down my arm, and my knees buckle, sending me to the ground.
“It is useless to resist,” he says as he towers over me. “Everyone breaks here.”
Peering up at him, I force strength into my voice. “I’ll stop resisting as soon as the general gives me what I want.”
They move faster than I expect, and I’m bent over the table with my arms pinned at the small of my back. Panic floods me, and I scream, but all they do is cuff me—making the bracelets so tight, my fingers start to tingle—before they take me to Sublevel 1, march me down a short hallway, and then lock me in a cell.
“Turn and press your hands to the bars,” Alvarado says, and when I do, he removes the cuffs. “You will wait here until the general is ready for you. Do not expect it to be soon.”
As soon as they leave, I sink down onto the thin cot and choke back a sob.
I’m not hurt. They didn’t do anything my doctor hasn’t done.
Well, except for sliding a hand between my ass cheeks. My doctor hasneverdone that.
I don’t know how long the general’s going to make me wait, but there’s a camera right outside my cell, so all I can do is look scared. Not difficult. Having mortar fire exploding all around me was less terrifying than this. At least then, I had armed soldiers protecting me. Now…I’m alone.
Drawing my knees up, I wrap my arms around my shins and bow my head.
“Look beat,” Ryker says as we’re going over the plan. “Make him think he’s getting to you.”
I start to rock back and forth in tiny movements. After a few minutes, I get to my feet and curl my fingers around the bars. “General Ochoa! How long do you plan on keeping me down here? I’m an American. There’s a record of me entering this country. When I don’t show up for work in two days, the Washington Post will break the story I wrote before I left. Want to know what’s in it? You. Your name. Your face. And copies of all of our text messages. You were careful. Didn’t use a traceable number. But I know it’s you. And so will the rest of the world.”
I barely have time to curl up on the cot again before the soldiers are back. But this time, there are four of them. I’m surrounded as they bring me down another level. According to the blueprints, this is the command center. We pass a room with dozens of monitors lining the wall, each showing a group of cells. I try to stop and catch a glimpse of Trevor, but one of the soldiers behind me yells at me to keep moving, and the other shoves me forward.
A break room of sorts is next, and then it’s the general’s office. He sits behind his desk, hands folded one on top of the other, that insincere smile along with his shiny medals making him look like a demented clown.
“Leave us,” he says to the soldiers as he rises and rounds his desk to stand in front of me. The moment the door shuts, he backhands me, and I stumble, dizzy, my right cheek exploding in hot pain. “That is for taunting me.”
I don’t fight the tears that well in my eyes, nor the tremble in my voice. “Please. I just want to know Trevor’s okay. You said—“
Another blow to my other cheek, and this time, I go down. The room is spinning now, and stars dot my vision. I struggle to get to my feet, falling over twice before I let my shoulders slump and stay down. The general, apparently bored by my pathetic struggles, turns and walks over to a side board where he pours a tall glass of water, and that gives me the opportunity I need.
The piece of rubber in the sole of my shoe doesn’t look or feel any different from the rest, but Ryker made me practice a hundred times with my eyes closed, so I know exactly where I need to wedge my fingernail to pry it loose and palm the comms unit.
“I’m…s-sorry,” I manage as I cup my cheek, shoving the little device into my left ear at the same time. Now, I have to hope he won’t hit me again. “I just…he wouldn’t have even come here if it weren’t for me. I have to tell him how sorry I am.”
“You will have the opportunity. After you prove yourself useful,” the general says as he drains the glass and pours another, then holds it up to the light. “This is the freshest, purest water in Venezuela. In my office, and in my private quarters, there are only the finest things. Out there,” he waves his hand towards the door, “it is very different.”
