Page 57 of Talk to Me

No taint.

Still, I stuck a finger in it, then took it out and waited. If there were drugs—I might get a skin reaction. The bread was just—never mind. Crusty and stale, nothing about it was appetizing. Bread and water used to be considered a humane form of punishment.

A step up from flogging.

How…nice for me.

As it was, I finally rinsed the water around my mouth. Just enough to help moisten and then as much as I wanted to drink it, I spat it out. Well, let it dribble out.

I hadn’t spotted any cameras, didn’t mean they weren’t there. But I could only hope watching me had been exceptionally boring enough that my audience went to sleep.

If not, then I needed to move.

Once I got to my feet, there was no stopping until I was free or I was dead.

I rinsed my mouth twice more, then let it dribble out. It soaked the bra I wore. I’d been in my office when they came for me. My clothes had barely survived them taking me. They hadn’t survived my incarceration. They’d torn out the gusset of my panties, but these were still on. So weird and I really didn’t care.

Nudity was the least of my problems.

When I hit twenty minutes in my head, I “knocked over” the water cup and spilled the rest. Then I crawled over to the cell bars and bit by bit, pulled myself up.

When I reached the combination lock, I entered the code with shaking fingers. The faint buzz as it released made me want to sob.

One down.

Moving slow as hell, I headed for the door on the far side. They always took me left for interrogation. I did not want to go that way. The lack of windows meant I had to rely on what I could remember for navigation.

The code entered into the keypad next to the door. It buzzed and the locks released. I’d probably be crying for real if I wasn’t so dehydrated. As it was, I couldn’t even feel the tears forming.

The door pushed outward and I stared into the hall. Cooler air rushed in and it gave me the first taste of something fresher in days. There was a cold bite to the rush of air. Fresh enough that my own stench threatened to bludgeon me.

Tiles like ice beneath my feet helped numb the pain in them, even as it kept me awake and on the move. The hallway was so damn ordinary and unremarkable. No symbols. No addresses Nothing to betray what was here or where.

The first door had a window to glance through in order to stare into the room. The other side was dark, no movement, no light. Nothing.

The next one had a light. It was a cell.

Okay, so I’d probably been in one of these before they took me into the other room. The room was all odd misshapen stones, like it had been carved out of the rock. The door probably looked different on the inside.

Right.

Couldn’t care about them.

I was almost to the end of the hall when I heard the sound of an elevator. Adrenaline flooded my system. There was the pick me up I needed.

With nowhere else to hide, I tried the nearest door after a swift glance inside. It was empty. The lights on low.

Inside, I gripped the handle to keep it from re-securing then pressed myself against the wall. The doors cut off most sound. But a shadow of their passing flickered over the window.

I didn’t remember a window in the door to my cell. It might have been there, but I had no idea.

Heart thudding, I counted to sixty then stole a peek through the window. I couldn’t see anyone.

Didn’t mean they couldn’t be in the cell right next door.

The thunder of my heart gonged like a bass marching drum. The beat increased, the sound so loud in my ears, it was making me lightheaded.

Another sixty seconds was all I could give myself. The surge of adrenaline helped, but the crash was going to be so much more brutal. Testing the door, I pulled it open slowly. A peek out revealed—no one.