When I awoke, the first thing that I was aware of was the throbbing pain in my head – a swirling spiral of aching that eclipsed all of my thoughts. The second thing was that I was bound awkwardly and hastily, with my wrists tied behind my back.

The third was that I’d become blind.

After a bout of horrendous panic, I realized that it wasn’t that I was actually blind. I felt the constant movement of my prison, and the bumping of the road beneath me.

That meant that not only was I locked in the missing storage container, but Hannah had successfully removed it from the Port of Los Angeles.

It was on the truck, heading God knows where… rigged to possibly explode, with me trapped inside.

And it was lead-lined…

Panic gripped at me. I didn’t feel unwell, but there was no way to tell if the bomb in this container was leaking radiation. The lining could have just been a contingency, or maybe this thing had been slowly making me sick as I laid here for who the fuck knows how long…

After all, I was a goddamn private eye, not a fucking expert in nuclear physics.

I wondered if she was driving it now, or relying on someone else to do so while she rode shotgun. Maybe she wasn’t even in the same vehicle, choosing to run in an escort vehicle.

Either way, I was pretty much fucked.

I tried to wiggle around and see if I could dislodge my phone from my jeans. If that were so, at least I could use it for a light source. I’d get a grasp of my surroundings so that I didn’t accidentally bump into something prone to bursting into flames, especially given who really owned the container that served as my jail cell.

It was then that I remembered the traitorous little phone had gotten me into this entire mess to begin with… and it was probably still in Talon’s office.

Well, fuck me sideways.

I was in an impenetrable storage container, rigged to explode, hurtling probably towards the middle of nowhere, with nobody aware that I was in any trouble. Meanwhile, Hunter’s sister had successfully passed herself off as a friend, when she was here specifically to swoop in and bring the goddamned box to her goddamned boss.

No wonder the bitch had been so adamant that I keep digging into this case. Be independent, my ass!

It was too late to worry about spilled milk. I was part of the package deal, having successfully painted a massive target on myself the moment that I dropped my phone.

For bonus points, it had happened in front of both the traitor and the guy who could halt my cavalry’s progress at every turn.

In that second, feeling the weight of total defeat threaten to crush me, I vowed to absolutely give Hunter the benefit of the doubt and work through all of our worries if I ever saw him again.

If…

How long had I been in here? I was totally unable to gauge the passage of time. One hour or twelve, it all seemed a blur to me. The big knot throbbing on my skull wasn’t helping matters either.

All I knew was that I was moving somewhere, and Hannah wasn’t exactly going easy on the truck. I was being bounced around and thrown from side to side with every twist and turn.

Not only is my captor dragging me along towards my inevitable demise… she’s also a shitty fucking driver.

Worse than that, the bumpiness was really starting to fuck with my pregnancy symptoms.

I was getting more and more nauseous by the second, and the thought of vomiting in this enclosed area without ventilation wasn’t exactly making me happy.

As if I’d ever be happy again…

Hell, the thought of that almost made me chuck up my guts in the moment.

Pull it together, Sarah, I tried to pep talk myself. Come on. You were a great goddamn cop. So, the detective thing didn’t exactly work out, and you got yourself kidnapped in your first private investigation case…

Doesn’t matter.

You’re gonna figure a way out of here. There’s gotta be something, ANYTHING you haven’t considered…

It was hard to do without the luxury of light, the acknowledgement of passing time, any concept of where we were going, nobody aware I was kidnapped or coming to save me, or even any understanding of where I was.

Minor details, I told myself.

Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?

I’m gonna fucking kick the bucket today.

In my frustration, I tried to stand. Maybe if I could get my bearings on where I was, or what exactly was even in the stupid container with me.

What are we talking here, something the size of a beach ball? Or is half this goddamn box a nuclear bomb?

I managed to get to my feet just as the vehicle hit a small bump, but I realized very quickly that I had very little space to move about. Whatever was in this container was taking up almost the entire square footage. Before I could investigate further, the truck hit a harder bump and forced me to topple to the ground. I hit the floor of the container hard and yelped in pain, but I luckily didn’t break anything.

Great…

Just fucking great.

As I lay there for a few moments, my face started to get warm, and I became gradually aware that my head was getting fuzzier. Something was up in here, and I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it…

Was it radiation?

Ten minutes later, it finally hit me: the air was thinning out. I hadn’t been conserving it or trying to breath lighter, and within minutes of trying to restrain my mounting panic, I found myself frenziedly gasping for air.

This thing is waterproof, I realized.

Stands to reason that it’s airtight as well…

Black fuzziness began to overcome my already blind eyes. I tried to breathe as shallowly as possible, but I knew that it was a futile effort.

I am going to suffocate and die here.

My thoughts desperately went to Hunter, my beloved. I had been so completely fucking stupid in resisting his good-natured attempts to save and shelter me…

All he’d wanted to do was keep me safe.

That’s the only thing that he’d asked for – to put me in a goddamn safehouse and keep me protected while he faced our enemy alone.

And I fucking blew it by spiraling straight into danger. I’d gotten lucky the first time, but by testing my luck and throwing caution to the wind, I’d signed my own execution papers.

Well… maybe Daddy and Hunter will live, I hoped.

Things started growing fuzzy.

The world was slipping away…

This was the moment. I was going to choke to death in desperate need of delicious, life-giving oxygen.

This is it…

Goodbye, my beloved…

I’m so sorry.

I was so far gone that I was starting to hear noises now, distant clicking and clanking sounds that were ushering me towards my death.

That’s… not what angels are supposed to sound like, I babbled in my head. Maybe those are demons… great, big, mechanical demons…

Oh god, I’m going to Hell instead…?

What the fuck, man?!

A white light flooded me, and I knew that my time had finally come. A great lifting of pressure bathed me in relief, and I gasped in happiness and satisfaction that I was finally home…

Well, if home looked like a roadside pullout, with cars roaring past in the distance.

Wait.

I’m alive?!?

Hannah Hargreaves looked at me with something that was almost disappointment after opening the back of the storage container.

“What the hell was that noise back here?”

She glanced down at my gasping form.

Gasping hungrily and desperately for air, I gazed up at her from the floor. Hunter’s older sister looked at me with pity as she held the door propped open, turning and lighting up a cigarette.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” she mentioned offhandedly, turning back to watch me suck down the precious, beautiful air. “Kind of slipped my mind that this thing was airtight. Whoops.”

“You…” I gasped. “Why are you…?”

“Nuh-uh,” Hannah warned. “Sorry, kiddo, but you don’t get to hear the story. All you’ve gotta know is that I’ll figure out what to do with you in a little while… I’m still thinking things over, yeah?”

My breathing was slightly easier now, and I fought down my nauseous stomach. It wanted to rebel against me and vomit up the last meal I’d had – maybe the last meal I’d ever have.

“H-h-how long…?”

“How long have you been in here?” Hannah finished for me. She turned her head again, thinking for a moment. “Long enough. A few hours… I’m glad I thought to check on you when I did, you were almost a goner there…”

Hours?

“Surprising, huh? Time flies when you’re having fun,” Hannah smirked, planting the cigarette between her lips again. “Anyway, how are you feeling? Is the kid kicking yet?”

I glanced up at her from the floor of the storage unit in confusion. “S-seriously?”

“Yeah, of course,” Hannah took another drag from the cigarette between her fingers. “The pregnancy, doll. I was hoping you’d be asleep. That’d help with the nausea.”

She glanced into the crate over me.

“Kind of surprised you haven’t been puking your guts up back here, especially with the bumps here and there in the road… I mean, that’d really suck for the two of us, but especially you.”

“Anything I can do to help,” I groaned bitterly.

“Hey, this is more your fault than mine,” Hannah tried to lecture me. “Remember, you gave me the information I really needed. Once I knew Talon dumped the container in the ocean, I was all ready to swoop in and move this thing where it belonged. And after I had my little chat with him, I was ready to let you right off the hook… if you’d just given me the fucking time to text you after the meeting, you’d have known that.

Hannah shrugged, taking another drag. “Sorry about the whole Daddy thing, though. I was just fucking with you, Sarah. I didn’t think you’d go sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. Still, I kinda admire the up-and-at-‘em initiative there. Real brave, kid.”

“That was you?” I wheezed, groaning in mounting horror and rage. “You’re the one who texted me? You fucking hired me?”

“Trying to kill two rotten, pain-in-the-ass birds with one stone, Sarah. You know, Hunter just hasn’t been the same since you left. He keeps sending me these sad fucking letters. I thought maybe I’d help you out…”

“Forgive me for not being thankful,” I growled lightly. My chest still heaved with the touch of Death’s embrace, as narrowly as I’d escaped it.

Hannah haughtily tsk-tsked.

“You know, I could have killed you on the spot, Sarah. Wouldn’t have been any problem to put a bullet in the back of your head, or send you to the bottom of the port.”

“Then why didn’t you?” I asked.

She looked hurt. “Why? Because I like you.”

“…What?”

“Shouldn’t it be obvious, kid?” Hannah shrugged nonchalantly. “You make my little brother happy.”

I was absolutely speechless.

“And you’ve got convictions,” she continued on. “Sarah, you’ve got a strong spirit. When Hunter wasn’t willing to go a single step further, you decided to leave without him. You pushed the two of you forward. That was all you.”

“But you… you pushed me to be independent,” I reminded my captor in rising confusion. “And you fucking threatened my family…”

“It was a distraction,” Hannah noted, taking another solid drag. “Sending you off to Talon gave me time to work on my end of things, you know? You and my brother rolling into town gave me the breathing room to do my job.”

“So, me working on the case…”

“Helped me, yes,” Hannah observed as she cut me off. “And that’s another good reason to spare you a cruel death. I like to repay kindnesses.”

“Like the way that you repaid Hunter for saving you?” I recalled. “He signed his life away to a motorcycle club and roared down to Mexico to save your life. You’ve repaid him with lies and bullshit!”

Hannah snuffed out the cigarette beneath her boot before reaching down and grabbing me by the hair sharply, painfully twisting my head.

“Don’t you ever speak to me like that again,” she growled menacingly. “Or it’ll be the last that you ever speak. Are we clear?”

“Jesus, Hannah,” I groaned. “Okay!”

“Good,” she snarled, releasing her grip. “Don’t make me overlook the help you’ve been in getting my hands on this fucking container.”

“So you’re… you’re sparing me?”

“Of course I am,” she replied offhanded, glancing around the passing vehicles for any suspicious activity.

“But what happens when we get where we’re going?”

“If you’re talking about what happens to you,” Hannah shrugged. “It’s out of my hands at that point.”

“But I thought you were sparing me!”

“You’re right,” she smiled. “I’m sparing you. That’s the distinction that I’m trying to make here… but then, it’s up to her…”

“Her?” I asked in panic.

“That’s right,” she answered, closing one of the doors and locking it into place. “Right now, you’ve got me to contend with, and I like you. As a token of my appreciation, I’ll stop once or twice again before we get there to replenish your air…”

She readied the other door.

“But when we arrive, you’re probably going to have to beg for your life.”

“Why is that?” I asked, dreading the answer that I knew was already coming.

Hannah tilted her head piteously.

“Because you get to meet Soroka Sarkonov.”

With that definitive note of terror, the other container door locked into place, the sounds of whirring locks filled the air, and the outside world was silent and lost to me again.