Pressure Point

Coming to The Phoenix Agency Kindle World in 2018

 

 

Lily woke in the darkroom, unsure if her eyes were even open. She’d lost count on how many hours or days she’d been there. Her bruises were no longer hurting as badly as they had that first night. The hunger pains she felt no longer ate away at her gut. And she couldn’t remember whether she had drunk anything since they’d pushed her into this hole.

Occasionally she would hear some of them talking on the other side of the door. The language was Spanish, that much she knew. But, her early years studying the language had failed her. She couldn’t identify a single thing that they were saying.

Her thoughts went to Lena so many times. When she had fought her attackers the morning she was abducted, all she could think of was her sister.

Lily prayed they didn’t have her as well. The thought that her sister could be holed up in another room like the dirt-floored one she was being held in, made her sick to her stomach.

She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to tear through the blood-soaked mats that had tangled her long locks.

She had to find a way out of this place. She needed to find Lena and make sure she was safe.

The rattle of a chain startled her, and she scurried to the corner far away from the door.

The tall silhouette of a man stood before her. His presence seemed large, much larger than she would expect until he was standing on a ladder, several feet away from him.

He stepped inside and set a tray down beside her. She couldn’t see his eyes, or make out any of his face.

“Come ahora, niña. Necesitas tu fuerza.”

“Why do you bother? I already told you, she can’t understand you.”

“She’s still a human being.”

“Please. Help me.” She pleaded with the man.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch! Come on, let’s go!”

“Silencio!” the kind stranger turned to snap at his colleague.

“Whatever, just leave her the fucking food and come on. You don’t want to piss off, Rico.”

“Please eat, dear.” He urged her once more before stepping back outside the room.

She listened while the chains rattled as they locked her back inside. The scent of turkey and juice crept into her nostrils and she fought with the idea of not touching it, unsure of whether or not it could be poisoned.

Her stomach growled, almost as if it knew the food was within inches of touching her tongue.

She didn’t want to give in. She didn’t want to take anything her captors had provided her. But, she did.

She picked up a sandwich and took the largest bite she’d ever eaten in her life. Her dry mouth barely allowed the bread to enter her throat, causing her to take a gulp of juice to keep from choking.

She’d eaten the entire plate in record time. Not that she was able to know for sure. In the dark hole that had been her home for the past several days, or maybe even weeks, she had no concept of time or what was happening in the world beyond the chained-up door.

Her thoughts went to Lena as she begun to lay on the floor. She was so tired. Sleep not only sounded heavenly, it sounded like a much-needed escape.

As she curled up to her side and allowed her tired body to take over, she was jolted back to reality with something she recalled.

She sat up and thought back to the day of her abduction. The men, they weren’t G.E.A. operatives. They were working for someone else. The name was just beyond her reach as she struggled to remember.

Then a chill raced up her spine when something else jogged her memory.

More.

There were more like her.

Others.

Other assets that they were looking for.

That’s what she’d overheard one of them say when she’d been lying in the trunk of a car.

It wasn’t just her and Lena. The G.E.A. had created more than just the two sisters. The memories she and Lena had shared from childhood about other children were not simply imaginary friends that they’d somehow concocted in an effort to make their lives seem more normal.

The G.E.A. had not only created Lena and her, but they’d created dozens more.

The only thing that she couldn’t make sense of was who had taken her.

Why they had taken her.

And, if there were others out there, where could they be?

 

 

 

Watch for Pressure Point, the next book in the G.E.A. Files series of

The Phoenix Agency Kindle World.