Thea blinked, looking up at a bare lit bulb hanging above her. She was still dressed and lying on a mattress. Her brain’s glueyness indicated that she had been sedated. Using her tongue, she searched her gums for moisture. They were wet. Someone had fed her water at least once. She could feel that she was in a moving vehicle and heard the wheels rolling beneath her. Turning her head, she saw a portable toilet lashed to the wall with ratchet straps. Down past her feet was the gloomy dark insides of an otherwise empty trucking container. Sitting up, her bladder was full. She got up and wobbled toward the plastic stall. It was stocked with toilet paper, a hand towel and a working sink with liquid soap. Having relieved herself, Thea stumbled back to the mattress. On it was a pillow and a sleeping bag. Next to that was an opened pallet of bottled water and a canvas shopping bag. She wanted to look inside the bag, hoping her glasses were in it but she was too dizzy to check. Back on the mattress, looking up at the bulb, Thea wondered about Martin. She knew he had been captured by the same people and was therefore probably undergoing similar treatment. So far, it was okay. Thea knew the Epsteins would come to her rescue and Martin’s too. Voices were faintly audible from inside the cab. A string hung from the bulb above. Thea wanted to pull it, craving darkness but was now too tired to reach. The rig stopped moving. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0858TGPRN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

From the helicopter, medics eased a dark youth onto a stretcher and drove away. Another medic tended a young blonde lady in a black sari with blood all over her face. She sat on the bottom edge of the helicopter’s open side door with her hands on her lap as her head was being stitched up. “Wonder what they’ve been up to,” said Lucy. Ali shrugged. He was watching the tall, muscular man in the tight white T-shirt who had emerged from the same helicopter. His pale skin had blood on it. He waited as the medic took care of the woman. When the medic’s work was done, the bloody man and woman then entered the Helilounge. They submitted pistols to the doormen and sat at a table near Lucy and Ali, failing to notice the extra space available around them as they thumbed their phones while gabbing at each other. The pair sat side by side, facing the windows as Ali and Lucy did, who listened to their banter. “You got lucky with Natasha,” said the woman. “She would’ve chewed you out bad if she didn’t have to go pick up dad.” “I’m getting it already from Kennedy,” replied the man, grinning and typing. Their accents were American. A stunning Persian waitress approached. Ali pointed at his and Lucy’s wine glasses, making a circular motion to indicate another round. The server nodded to him and stopped at the new patrons’ table, her open-backed dress suggestive, bare legs shining bronze. “Hi, just a Stella,” said Hamish, not looking up from his phone. “A cold gewürztraminer, if you have it,” said Matilda, smiling up at the elegant server, who smiled back. She walked away, unphased by the blood. “I’ll never have hips like hers,” sighed Matilda. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0858WJT8C/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0