Using her numb arms, Karly pushed against the mattress to roll over. Once there, she stared at a petite Asian woman whose belly was visibly rolling and rippling. The woman clutched the mattress edges with sweat streaming down her face, her eyes clenched tight, probably trying to hold off the pain.

Memories of Karly’s miscarriage flooded her with dread—the unpredictability of childbirth. Feeling isolated, alone. Praying for a good outcome. Knowing the result was out of her hands. Please let this baby survive.

“Hey? Hey? Talk to me.” Karly reached out to touch the woman and provide comfort, but the neck restraint held her back. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Sung,” the other responded through short bursts of air from a hospital bed complete with stirrups, handles and birthing bar. “Sung Wen. Who are you?”

The heart monitor blipped in time with the woman’s heartbeat.

Karly traced each tube and electrode with her eyes to a different piece of equipment. “I’m Karly Krane. Where am I?”

“Be careful.” The woman pointed at her neck where the leather collar chafed her skin. “They get mad and punish you if you bruise.

Oh, God. Stay calm. You need to stay calm. She tugged at the leather again, just to be sure she couldn’t get free.

“It’s locked. You won’t be able to get it off.” Sung lifted her position, probably wanting to get more comfortable, and groaned.

Helplessness rolled in. Karly folded an arm under her head to reduce the strain on her neck. “Maybe if we talk it will take your mind off the pain.”

The woman arched upward, muscles clenching as she curled in on herself when another contraction hit.

“Breathe. Short breaths,” Karly advised. “That’s it.”

Unable to reach the woman, she could do nothing but watch while contractions ripped through the woman’s small frame.

Karly wanted to ask how long she’d been there, where Dr. Abbott was going to take Sung’s baby, how she could escape, but adding stress to an already terrifying situation wouldn’t help. “You’ll be fine,” Karly promised, even though she had no idea if it was true. “We need to figure out a way to get out of this place.”

Hysterical laughter filled the room.

“What’s so funny?” Karly regarded the laughing woman with confused delirium.

“Honey, where did they transfer you in from?” Sung mumbled past the pain.

“Transfer? I didn’t transfer from anywhere. I was taken.”

“Taken? You weren’t sold?” Sung looked away. “Most of us worked hard to get here.” Her voice quivered with pain. “The price of admission is pregnancy.” Her voice stayed soft, even, unemotional. “For six to seven months we get a pass. No pimps. No johns. Three hot meals a day, and all we have to do is package product. Dr. Abbot thinks this place is a hellhole. To slaves like us, this is paradise.”

Slaves? Paradise? “You got pregnant on purpose?”

“You are a naïve one. No. I didn’t get pregnant on purpose, but where I come from, there’s no choice. Just like we had no choice when our parents sold us, and we were shipped here. Three-quarters of us died in that container. We didn’t choose this life. We just decided to stay alive.”

To live. If this type of thing was happening in Karly's backyard, then apparently she’d been living in a bubble.

“Where do you go from here?”

“The first time I went back to LA, the second time Las Vegas. I don’t know where they’ll send me next.”

“You’ve been here before?”

“The is the second time I’ve been to this place. It isn’t so bad compared to other locations. My last handler sorta liked me, so I got a few more freedoms. I’m hoping my former owner might buy me back.”

“Buy? You mean like in purchase you?”

“You remind me of another girl I met once. She didn’t belong here any more than you do.”

Karly could taste the fear of the unknown. “What happened to her?”

She rolled her head to the side. “I helped her escape.”

Hope surged through her mind. “Would you…”

The door opened and forced her back into a silent cell. Dr. Abbott moved toward them at supersonic pace. “Time to get this baby delivered.”

“What will happen to Sung’s baby?” Karly couldn’t help asking.

The doctor pushed a cart filled with metal things that looked downright scary. The doctor’s expression turned dark. “The fewer questions you ask, the better off you’ll be. Stay quiet. Stay small. Be invisible if you can. And, whatever you do, don’t let Macedo get a rise out of you. He likes to play, and enjoys watching women react.”

Two densely tattooed men entered through a sliding door on metal tracks. Karly glanced into the hall, but all she could see was another wall. The men came closer, and her instinct to run made her roll away, but the chain prevented from moving more than a foot.

Helplessness settled on her chest.

“What are you doing?” the doctor asked. “That one needs to stay here.”

“Macedo said to move this one to the warehouse,” a Hulk-looking guy responded.

“Suit yourself, but if something happens to her, if she goes into spasms because of the drugs, or her heart stops, the blame’s not on me.” The doctor turned away as if she didn’t care, and made Karly question just which side the doctor was on.

The bulky guy, who looked more like a middleweight boxer than a thug, hesitated. He didn’t look like he had an ounce of fat on him.

“Move her, Sanchez,” his partner demanded. “Macedo can deal if anything happens.”

Sanchez yanked on her leather collar and pulled up, forcing her to stand. He unlocked the collar, releasing her from the restraint, then pushed her toward the door. She had no choice but to go.

At the door, she turned just in time to see Dr. Abbott’s intent, silent warning. Stay small. Sung cried out in pain, and the doctor’s attention was diverted. The door slid shut, and any hope of remaining with the doctor faded. A quick glance left and right revealed a long hall with more closed doors. There would be no escape.

Sanchez yanked her forward by the neck. Ten feet away was another door, leading to another room. A few minutes later, she was shoved into a dark, empty room and attached by metal cuffs to the far wall. “Wait, don’t leave me here,” she begged.

Her captor started to turn when his partner bellowed, “Out. Now.”

The sound of doom was the door locking. Darkness closed in. Karly's insides quaked.

The only light came from under the closed door. She slid down the cold wall and curled into a ball. The hand chains weren’t long enough for her to get as small as possible. Minutes ticked by like water from a leaking faucet. The fear overwhelmed.

Tears streaked her face.

Desolation clogged her lungs.

She could scarcely breathe, and wondered if she made a sound whether the other women could hear her. She picked up her chain and clunked it against the wall...waited...then tried again.

Nothing. No return noise. No small hello.

Sung’s conversation circled back around. The tiny Asian woman wanted to be here. She believed this place was paradise. If this was paradise, Karly wanted a refund. She’d settle for a three-star...anything...as long as the place didn’t have armed men stalking the corridors.

Unless the armed man was Thad. Had he stopped by the kennel? Did he know she was missing? Did anyone know? What if he tried to find her?

These guys know what they’re doing. Will Thad be shot? Killed?

A high-pitched whimper echoed off the walls.

Her only thought…I’m going to die.