Chapter 156
Hailey-
Eventually the car slowed again, but this stop was different. A deep, grinding groan of metal on metal echoed from oxid
Like a heavy gate being dragged open.
We crept forward a while longer, then stopped completely.
The engine cut out, and then I heard new voices- terse, overlapping words in Russian, the chunk of car doors opening
My door was wrenched open. A cold blast of air hit me. Someone grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the car
My boots scuffed against a smooth concrete floor. The space felt vast, judging by the way things were echoing
A garage. A hangar?
I was pulled forward, stumbling slightly as they guided me. I heard the heavy thud of the car door dosing behind me the the beep of it locking
We walked, and the sound of our footsteps changed. A door hissed open–some kind of air lock? – and we passed throu
The echo vanished.
The procession continued. Left turn. Another long stretch. The air lost the garage smell, becoming slightly stale. Were we somehow traveling downhill?
Were we underground now?
I heard other doors opening and closing, distant and muffled. The place wasn’t empty. There were other people here. The hought sent a fresh jolt of fear through me.
How many? Guards? Other prisoners?
We walked for what felt like eons. It was a labyrinth of turns and straightaways that ruined any chance I had of ever e my steps.
The two guards flanked me, each gripping one of my arms. Anatoly walked ahead of us 1 could smell has cologne behind him.
Then, we stopped. I braced myself, preparing for the worst. But nothing happened I just stood there, bind, sound of Anatoly’s lighter flicking open
Finally, one of the guards tugged the hood off of my head
The fight was dim, but it was a physical assault after the absolute blackness 1 blinked hard a few the
my vision reared, I saw that my surroundings were unhing like what I unagined
“We were slanging in a long, witle hallway. The walls were polished cement, jahne at the dyt dark wooden doors identical and rimed
The overhead lighus were spaced far apart, rusting pool of pickly yellow then left de hoja ya bike
Bursion wood with thy devuld of warul it was spodek selle prel
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Chapter 156
I looked at Anarky. He was standing a few feet away, taking a long drag from his cigarette, watching me
Finally, he gestured with a slight file of his head, and his men untered me forward. We walked a she way down the h I caught details I had missed from a distan
There were small black keypads mounted next to each doorframe, with red lights forming neatly. Electronic lock
This place was fortified. How long had they been operating here?
We stopped in front of one of the identical doon. One of the guards stepped forward and tapped a code into the keys green light flashed, and I heard a thick, mechanical dunk.
He pushed the door open.
I winced, instinctively bracing for the sight of chains on the wall, a drain in the floor, stains that couldn’t be scruters The room that was revealed had my brain struggling to process the disconnect.
It was.. a bedroom. A bland, inoffensive bedroom that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a mid–range chain hotel
The walls were painted beige. There was a double bed with a plain navy–blue comforter. A small, flat–screen TV. A gene landscape print in a cheap frame.
To the right, an open door leading to a white–tiled bathroom.
There was even a small, upholstered armchair in the corner and a laminate–topped nightstand.
A single, shaded lamp on the nightstand cast a warm, domestic glow over everything. It was clean. It was quiet
It was utterly, profoundly terrifying.
What the actual fuck?
I turned back to look at Anatoly, trying to read his face. I couldn’t.
He gave another small nod, and the guard who had been holding my left arm released his grip and pulled out a pocketkni 1 flinched as he reached behind me,
1 I felt a pressure, then a sharp snap as the zip tie was cut. A wave of pins and needles flooded into my hands. I brought then around in front of me, rubbing my raw wrists.
Anatoly spoke, his voice calm and conversational, as if we were discussing hotel amenities. “There will be two men statione outside this door at all times. If you require anything food, water, something to read knock twice and state your request”
1
His eyes held mine, and the politeness in them was an obvious mask. “Get some deep. We beguis is the sing
Oh, hell no.
“Begin what?” The question last out of me. The first sound I’d nude in ages.
He followed his guards out of the mom and paused at the thresholt half–tuning back the ibin‘ mule. He didn’s frown. He just looked at me for a long moerd. Then to stepped out in the hallway
The door wong shot with a solid, heavy sound 1 heart the keypuf beep them the defuites, being THUNK of the bolt sliding back m place
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Chapter 156
The sound was final. It was the sound of a vault sealing.
I was alone.
I stood rooted to the spot for a full minute, just breathing, listening. No sounds from the hallway.
$5 voucher
I took a tentative step forward, then another. I went to the door first, running my hands over the surface. The outside of th door had looked like wood, but the inside was sheet metal. There would be no breaking through it. No knob on the inside,
either.
I turned and surveyed my cage. I checked the bathroom. It was small and functional. Toilet, sink, shower stall with a translucent curtain. No window.
I turned on the faucet. The water ran clear and cold.
I checked the bedroom for vents, for any opening. There was a small grille high on the wall, probably for climate compa Too small to crawl through.
The only window was a narrow, horizontal slit of reinforced glass set high up on the wall opposite the door, far out of reach It showed nothing but blackness.
I sat down on the edge of the bed. The mattress was firm. The comforter was clean.
I picked up the remote for the TV. Would it even work? What channels would it get? Russian state news? Static? I dropped it back on the nightstand.
This had to be another mind game. A sophisticated form of torture designed to disorient and unnerve.
And what the hell were we beginning in the morning? Interrogation? Brainwashing?
I hugged my arms around myself. The faint, fading scent of Logan was the only real thing in this carefully constructed illusion.
The hunting party would be searching for a signal that was lying in a ditch.
And I was here, waiting for morning, and for whatever fresh hell Anatoly had planned.
8/4
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
