TWO
Standing at the glazed wall overlooking his compound, Raiden Laird sipped his espresso. Set on stilts, half hidden by the trees of the forest, his home was a manifestation of how he lorded over those he commanded.
Not that he’d meant it to be so literal, but there was logic in having a view over the compound. The four wings were arranged in a square around the central courtyard, and all of it was his responsibility. On the other side of the glass, between him and his kingdom, was his twenty foot long balcony that stopped just a dozen or so feet from the roof of the south guard tower. From there, he could see everything.
Surveying his realm, Raid was pleased with what his family had achieved. It had taken generations to build this place into what it was. Every inch of it was a testament to the hard work and sacrifice of him and his kin. It was a compound to be proud of, even if others might consider it abhorrent.
This was his empire in his own hidden corner of the world.
Diego, his number two, approached from behind, but said nothing.
It was unlike Diego to loiter. “Give it to me, Diego,” Raid said. “You’ve never hesitated to share what’s on your mind in the past.”
“The men, uh… they found a woman in the amber quadrant.”
Surprised, Raid put his cup aside and turned to see his colleague was experiencing some kind of anxiety that was making him sweat. Something else he didn’t normally do.
“The plane we picked up on radar?” he asked. Diego shrugged. “Must have been. Nothing else has come in or out… What do we know about her?”
“Nothing yet. She was injured, head wound, fractured ankle. We kept her sedated, patched her up, and put her in isolation.”
Efficient.
Raid nodded once and turned back to his window, picking up his coffee again. “Good. Keep her there. Feed her. Give her medical care. If she becomes a problem, sedate her in the infirmary.”
“Yes, sir.”
This was a day for firsts. A woman on the compound… it was unheard of. But, Raid knew better than to appear uncertain. Showing weakness was the first step toward losing respect, and without that, there was a high chance of getting killed.
“You weren’t with them,” he said. “When the men picked her up?”
“No,” Diego said. Raid was considering this development when his lieutenant spoke again. “In other news—”
“Leave the report there,” he said because he liked to read and absorb in his own time. Diego usually only gave him a headline or two if the day’s news warranted it. There was no way anything else in the report topped having a woman on his property. “I’ll read the rest myself. The men need a drill. Search and rescue isn’t in our purview.”
If there were any threats to the compound, they were supposed to be eliminated, not brought inside and fed. Procedure dictated that anyone found in the forest who wasn’t sanctioned should be executed on sight. That his men had deviated from procedure so completely was concerning.
It was half in his mind to tell Diego to terminate the woman immediately. Except they’d invested in her, and it might be worth finding out why, and how, she’d come so close to their secret. There would always be time to erase her later if they had to.
“Yes, sir,” Diego said, a smile in his voice.
“Enjoy.”
Raid knew how Diego loved to put the men through their paces. His lieutenant was tough, and didn’t shy from breaking a sweat, just the way Raid liked his men to be.
Diego departed the house leaving Raid to wonder about what he’d do with this “woman.” She was going to cause problems, females always did. There was no procedure for having a female under their roof, but he’d have to come up with one fast.
If there was one thing Shea knew how to do, it was make a nuisance of herself. The first part of the plan she’d come up with involved getting more information. The only way she knew to do that was to talk to someone.
After calling out for hours and receiving no response, she’d clambered off the bed and sat on the floor to bang on the door demanding attention.
No one came.
It wasn’t much of a plan. But, getting someone to acknowledge her was the only way she could get some answers. As she tired, she sat against the wall and began to sing the loudest, most annoying songs that she knew. Someone would have to come to her eventually. She wasn’t going to give up.
Except, when someone did come, all they did was post a food tray through the door and tell her to shut up. Ha. Silence wasn’t part of the plan. She tried to ask questions but was ignored. The metal flap was shut over the door, and she was left alone.
Shea wasn’t deterred. Ignoring the food, she kept on singing.
Staying up as long as she could, she sang until her voice was hoarse, pounded on the door some more, and kept calling out. There was no clock in the cell, but she had to have been at it for hours. Hours and hours. But, she kept on going until they brought her more food.
Whoever was on the other side of that door faltered when Shea posted the first food tray out untouched. Her jailor loitered a minute, posted the new tray, and eventually left without speaking.
She wasn’t going to eat their food, not until she got answers. Pounding some more, Shea made animal noises, recited poetry and Shakespeare, and screamed out every joke she knew at the top of her lungs. Anything she had in her arsenal that could help her draw attention to herself, she used.
Mad as all hell that these people had imprisoned her without reason, she would make sure they had to acknowledge her, even if it took the rest of her life. Crying and pleading weren’t options; she was pissed and her anger only got hotter the longer she was left there.
Sure, she was scared, she’d be insane not to be. But, she had considered everything that had happened so far while coming up with her plan of action. The conditions were clean and the people who’d found her had put her back together again, so they couldn’t be all bad. That was the theory she’d continue working from until something happened to make her reassess.
Her confidence grew the longer she sat there. Yeah, sure, they hadn’t come to give her an explanation, but they also hadn’t come to put a bullet in her head either.
As long as she had breath, she vowed to keep going until someone out there relented.
“Some are born great, some achieve great—”
A thud behind the door cut off her words. Quieting, Shea crawled away from the wall, being careful not to knock the cast on her leg. On her hands and knees, she was facing the door when it swung open.
Holding her breath, she waited for someone to reveal themselves. Her eyes widened and a gasp passed her lips when she registered the size and build of the man on the cell’s threshold. Six and a half feet tall, his shoulders were as wide as the doorway, and his biceps bigger than both her thighs put together.
Her lips dried when she noticed there were two other men in the shadows behind him. It was dark out there, so deciphering specifics was tough, but she guessed it had to be some kind of passageway. Though it was difficult to pick out any more details. She couldn’t see past the huge man with the scar intersecting his brow who was bearing down upon her.
“What’s your name, Pest?”
His voice was so deep it hit her with the force of an explosive aftershock. But, she wasn’t going to shrink. This was what she’d been working for and if she wasted the opportunity and portrayed herself as some kind of weak pushover, these men may never come back.
“Who’s in charge around here?” she asked, using the floor and her one good leg to climb onto her feet.
It wasn’t easy. She swayed, but didn’t let her chin drop or the certainty in her eyes fade. If confidence was what it took to get out of here, she was going to prove she had it in spades.
“Far as you’re concerned, I am,” he said and folded his arms, increasing the bulk of those biceps.
But, he could glare at her as much as he liked, she wasn’t going to be intimidated. “Which means you’re not. I want to speak to your boss.”
A vague snicker came from the hallway and the hulk’s head moved a fraction toward it, but then his attention came back to her. “My boss isn’t interested,” he said. “My boss told me to sedate you. The boss is big on routine and you are screwing with it.”
Her lips parted, just a fraction, to draw in a breath that she hoped didn’t reveal her trepidation. If they sedated her, she wouldn’t be able to make a nuisance of herself, and she would be at the mercy of every man here.
“Why should I be sedated?” she asked. “And, why should I be locked up against my will? I don’t deserve to be in prison. My plane crashed, I was injured. I’m not a criminal. I’m a reporter.”
Something flickered in his eyes though they didn’t move. In the silence that followed, she wondered if she’d made a misstep with that admission or if it intrigued him. “Freelance?”
The unexpected question made her think for a second. “Uh… yeah,” she said, but pulled on her gumption. “But, don’t think that doesn’t mean someone isn’t looking for me. I was on my way to a meeting with a very important man. A very important, very rich man. If it’s ransom you want—”
“That’s not what we do around here.”
If these people were going to make her eliminate possibilities one by one, it would take a while for Shea to figure out the purpose for her captivity.
Sometimes being direct was a better course of action. “What do you do?” she asked, hopping toward him and wobbling until she almost lost her balance, but she didn’t let it stop her. “This facility isn’t on any map I’ve seen. Granted, I don’t know exactly where we are, but I know we’re still in North America. There wasn’t any prison on our flight path.”
“You weren’t on your flight path when you went down.”
That stoked her professional curiosity and she peered at him. “How do you know that? What is this place? Is it some kind of secret government facility?”
“Secret? Yes. Government? No,” he said. “I’m not here to answer your questions. I’m here to tell you to eat… and to shut the hell up.”
The corner of her mouth rose. “I might be more willing to do both… if you’d answer some questions. Or you could just let me go.”
“There’s nothing but wilderness for a hundred miles in every direction,” he said. “So sure, we’ll kick you out the front gate, but how long do you think you’ll last out there? We’ve got traps and weapons everywhere.”
“Traps?”
“Yep,” he said. A sort of pride spread on his face. “We have mines, automatic weapons, laser nets, not to mention video surveillance, FLIR, and audio monitoring. There’s all sorts of tech spread around the complex and sharpshooters all over. You’d be lucky to get ten feet before you got yourself killed.”
It was incredible that she could have stumbled across such a place or that such a place could even exist without the public knowing about it. And where would an organization get funding for this?
“Who built this place?”
“Dedicated people,” he said, his pride going nowhere. “You should know that you’re in solitary confinement. Singing and banging are annoying, but we can pull our men and just leave you here. You’re not going to annoy anyone if you’re alone under twenty feet of concrete. There’s not much chance of you escaping. Even if you do, you won’t last long in the forest. But, while you are here, you do have to eat.”
Damn, he was taking away the only string in her bow. If they could isolate her, she’d have no way to get their attention. “Why?” she asked. “Why do you care if I go on hunger strike?”
“Because the Laird has rules and if you don’t eat, I have to make you eat… or else we sedate you and put in a feeding tube. Those are your options… You don’t want him to classify you as hostile… hostiles don’t last long.”
“Hunger strike is a peaceful form of protest. I’m protesting my incarceration. I should have a lawyer. A phone call. A—”
A whisper of a laugh left his lips. “You haven’t figured out yet that none of this is legal? Protest of any kind isn’t sanctioned.” He leaned toward her. “We don’t give a damn about your rights.” How did she reason with that? “So, what will it be?”
“I want to talk to this Laird.”
“I’ll put in your request,” he said. Shea sensed that she shouldn’t hold her breath for a positive response. “But, you’ve got to eat something.”
“I’ll eat something after I talk to him.”
“I’ll take that as a request for sedation,” he said and stepped back out of the door. “I’ll give you another night to think about it… and I’ll get a bay prepped for you in the infirmary.”
The door swung shut and locked with a clunk before she could think of anything else to say. Her proverbial cards weren’t great, giving her little choice in how to play her hand.
Shea wasn’t going to win the first round, but somehow, she knew getting close to the Laird was the key to making sure she wasn’t the first one at the table to lose.