only within her own mind.
But not tonight.
She frowned, struggling to recall the familiar images; what it felt like to be outside, to stand beneath the sky with no walls around her, no ceiling above her, no hard and cold concrete floor beneath.
Nothing came to her. Every time she tried to picture it, she saw the same grey cell. Her world. The only world she knew now.
Have I forgotten?
For the first time in a long time, fear, sudden and uncontrolled, flooded her body. Her mind had been her last bastion, the one aspect of her life that she could still control.
But not now. Now she was a prisoner within as well as without. A cold, hard knot of dread and despair swelled up inside her, twisting and writhing in her guts like a snake.
You let it in, she thought with bitter recrimination. You let it get to you, and you lost the only thing that still mattered. You failed. This place has beaten you.
She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching the thin blanket in a white-knuckle grip as her muscles locked up. She screamed a silent, agonised, furious scream.
Suddenly the cell block reverberated with the harsh clang of a door being thrown open. Too heavy for a cell door. It was one of the bigger security doors that separated the solitary confinement cells from the rest of the building.
The one at the west end of her block had a rusted hinge that grated horribly when it was hauled open. It always made her cringe, knowing there were guards out there. Were they coming for her, or another one of the poor wretches in the adjacent cells?
She strained to listen to the sound of the footsteps, and frowned in confusion. There were three of them. She recognised the heavy tread of Bastard, but the other two weren’t familiar. They were moving fast, coming her way.
Was this some new punishment that he had devised? Had he brought new friends along to help him? Did he ever stop?
Not again. Not again so soon. Please
.
Her heart started beating faster as she pulled herself out of bed, already tensing her muscles, readying herself for what was coming.
She could hear voices, hushed and muffled. She couldn’t make out the words. That only increased her unease. The daily grind of casual violence and abuse no longer bothered her, because it was predictable, and there was a certain security in that.
But deviations from the norm frightened her. She felt out of control, about to be plunged into a new situation that she didn’t understand.
What was going on?
They were coming for her. There was no doubt about it now. They were almost at the door. The footsteps were moving fast and urgent.
With her heart pounding, she rose to her feet, clenching her fists. Come on, then. Come on. Get it over with, you bastard. Have your fun and get it over with.
You won’t take me so easily this time.
There was a rasp as the deadbolt was thrown back, then suddenly something slammed into the door with such force that it flew inward, old hinges creaking under the abuse.
She jumped, startled by the violent movement. And when her eyes took in the three figures standing there before her, she let out an involuntary gasp of shock.
Chapter 17
Twenty minutes earlier
DRAKE WAS FLOATING in a void, a world without shape or dimension. There were no landmarks, no points of reference, nothing.
The parachute harness bit into his shoulders and crotch. Freezing wind whipped past his faceplate, the cold slowly seeping into his limbs despite the layers of thermal insulation between his body and the outside world.
He checked his altimeter: 6,500 feet.
The temperature was 22 degrees below freezing. It had been creeping up as they descended through the cloud layer, but it was still bitterly cold. Wind chill only compounded the problem.
His gaze swept to the GPS unit on his left wrist, though he was forced to wipe away a thin layer of ice to make out the image. They were just over 5 miles from their target, and slightly below their intended glide path. This was going to be
But not tonight.
She frowned, struggling to recall the familiar images; what it felt like to be outside, to stand beneath the sky with no walls around her, no ceiling above her, no hard and cold concrete floor beneath.
Nothing came to her. Every time she tried to picture it, she saw the same grey cell. Her world. The only world she knew now.
Have I forgotten?
For the first time in a long time, fear, sudden and uncontrolled, flooded her body. Her mind had been her last bastion, the one aspect of her life that she could still control.
But not now. Now she was a prisoner within as well as without. A cold, hard knot of dread and despair swelled up inside her, twisting and writhing in her guts like a snake.
You let it in, she thought with bitter recrimination. You let it get to you, and you lost the only thing that still mattered. You failed. This place has beaten you.
She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching the thin blanket in a white-knuckle grip as her muscles locked up. She screamed a silent, agonised, furious scream.
Suddenly the cell block reverberated with the harsh clang of a door being thrown open. Too heavy for a cell door. It was one of the bigger security doors that separated the solitary confinement cells from the rest of the building.
The one at the west end of her block had a rusted hinge that grated horribly when it was hauled open. It always made her cringe, knowing there were guards out there. Were they coming for her, or another one of the poor wretches in the adjacent cells?
She strained to listen to the sound of the footsteps, and frowned in confusion. There were three of them. She recognised the heavy tread of Bastard, but the other two weren’t familiar. They were moving fast, coming her way.
Was this some new punishment that he had devised? Had he brought new friends along to help him? Did he ever stop?
Not again. Not again so soon. Please
.
Her heart started beating faster as she pulled herself out of bed, already tensing her muscles, readying herself for what was coming.
She could hear voices, hushed and muffled. She couldn’t make out the words. That only increased her unease. The daily grind of casual violence and abuse no longer bothered her, because it was predictable, and there was a certain security in that.
But deviations from the norm frightened her. She felt out of control, about to be plunged into a new situation that she didn’t understand.
What was going on?
They were coming for her. There was no doubt about it now. They were almost at the door. The footsteps were moving fast and urgent.
With her heart pounding, she rose to her feet, clenching her fists. Come on, then. Come on. Get it over with, you bastard. Have your fun and get it over with.
You won’t take me so easily this time.
There was a rasp as the deadbolt was thrown back, then suddenly something slammed into the door with such force that it flew inward, old hinges creaking under the abuse.
She jumped, startled by the violent movement. And when her eyes took in the three figures standing there before her, she let out an involuntary gasp of shock.
Chapter 17
Twenty minutes earlier
DRAKE WAS FLOATING in a void, a world without shape or dimension. There were no landmarks, no points of reference, nothing.
The parachute harness bit into his shoulders and crotch. Freezing wind whipped past his faceplate, the cold slowly seeping into his limbs despite the layers of thermal insulation between his body and the outside world.
He checked his altimeter: 6,500 feet.
The temperature was 22 degrees below freezing. It had been creeping up as they descended through the cloud layer, but it was still bitterly cold. Wind chill only compounded the problem.
His gaze swept to the GPS unit on his left wrist, though he was forced to wipe away a thin layer of ice to make out the image. They were just over 5 miles from their target, and slightly below their intended glide path. This was going to be
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