Saving Rain: The First Novel in The Rain Trilogy by Karen-Anne Stewart Page A

they obviously have pertinent information that we need to access now.”
    Raina runs her tongue over her lips before biting her lower one. “I might be able to help you with that,” she offers shyly.
    Kas shoots her a quizzical look, “What do you mean?”
    “I’m pretty good with finding back doors to fire walls.”
    “Pretty good? Define ‘pretty good’,” Kas asks watching her closely, his curiosity and hope piqued.
    “Well, really good, actually,” she responds, modesty keeping her from telling the truth of just how good she really is.
    Kas shakes his head and chuckles, “I know you are getting your doctorate with computers, but I didn’t realize it involved this kind of knowledge. I thought languages are your specialty.”
    “Languages are my passion, the intricacies of computers are my . . . specialty,” she admits quietly, too modest to tell him that she is quite gifted with technology, creating it, cracking it, improving it, and just about everything in between. Her gift of understanding technology saved her, giving her an escape countless times and ultimately, her means to freedom.
    “Alright, you have clearance that would cover taking a look. I’ll take you up to Erik when you’re done translating. Chase will be talking with the Americans, and they’ll probably bring in a Spanish-speaking therapist for the girl you are going to talk to—”
    Anything else that Kas was going to say is cut off when they see Derrick and his team leading a group of terrified girls, some so young Raina thinks she is going to get sick in Kas’ office. They watch them silently, unspeakable thoughts searing their brains, until they turn the corner and are out of sight. It’s a moment before either of them speaks.
    Kas protectively grabs Raina’s arm and turns her towards him, worry filling him at the sharp paleness of her skin, “Are you sure you are up for this, sweetheart?”
    Raina swallows, a task quite difficult with how dry her mouth has become. She forces herself to nod before she musters up her courage and walks out of the room, towards the direction where the terrified, traumatized girls were taken. She straightens herself to her full five foot six height and forces herself to stop shaking while she walks more purposely than she feels to the room where the poor victim sits. No, not a victim, she angrily reminds herself, she hates that word. Survivor , that’s what she will think of her, what she will call her, what she deserves to be referred to as.
    Raina stops when she reaches the closed door. Taking deep breaths, she stares at the dark wood, wishing with all her might that this is just a dream, a nightmare, and she would wake up to a better world, a world where women and children aren’t subjected to such monstrosities, a world where the weaker aren’t dominated by the stronger to build their depraved minds to a false sense of superiority.
    With a final shaky breath, Raina timidly raises her trembling hand and knocks on the door. Fear engulfs her as the door opens, and it’s all she can do to not turn and bolt out of the building, but when her eyes lock with the eyes of the most broken person she has ever seen, she stands her ground. There is no way she can run out on this girl, no way she will not do her very best to help her in whatever way she possibly can, no matter what it takes from herself.
    Raina gives the girl huddled in the corner a small smile as she walks over to her and lowers herself to her knees so she is level with the enervated girl who has been reduced to mere fragments of the person she used to be. She slowly places her hand on top of the frail hand that is protectively wrapped around the girl’s trembling knees. Raina watches with empathy as the girl continues to maintain enough courage to not break their eye contact. She searches the girl’s eyes and finds that the she is doing the exact same thing to her. They stay like that, both staring and searching, trying to find