Page 136 of Hidden

“Nooooo!” I scream. He grabs my ankles and pulls me closer to him.

I try to kick him, but he grabs my leg, and kisses the ankle area, so I kick him with my other leg. The man stands up tall and laughs, then slaps me so hard I swear I’m seeing fucking stars. I try to get my bearings around me, but then my arm is yanked, and I feel something around my wrist.

No, no, no.

I try to pull my arm away, and trying to get my sight back, but my arm is stuck, both of them are. No, no, no.

My sight finally focuses and the man is right in front of me, the fucker has handcuffed me to the bed. He slaps me again, and I lie down. Before I can move, he’s sitting on top of me.

I’m screaming, spitting in his face, and kicking my legs about. I’m doing anything to stop him. He grabs the top of my t-shirt and rips it open, exposing my breasts. He leans down and sucks on one hard. Again, I try to fight him.

“No! No! Stop!” I’m screaming, I’m screaming so much I feel my throat starting to hurt so much. I don’t even have a voice left.

My body freezes when I hear the zip of his trousers, and the tears escape the corner of my eyes.

No, this is not going to happen to me, this is not happening to me.

Thirty-Four

Cain

Miles goes down hard. I get to him, laying him flat on the floor.

“Doc!” I shout.

My pulse is loud in my ears. I should’ve forced him to stop sooner. I should’ve taken the keyboard away from him the moment he started shaking.

“Talk to me,” I say.

“He’s out. Blood pressure’s dropping again. I need to…”

“Then do it.” My voice comes out harder than I mean it to. “Don’t tell me what you need. Just keep him alive.”

The doctor’s jaw tightens, but he nods and gets to work. I leave him to it and turn back to the desk. The screens are still live; I've been following Sadie down a corridor.

Behind me the doctor mutters something about clotting and pressure. I don’t turn around.

“You keep him breathing,” I say. “That’s the only job you have right now.”

“I’m doing everything I can,” the Doc shouts at me.

“Then do it faster.”

I lean in, watching the warehouse cameras, tracking the team’s progress on the secondary map. Everything’s still clean, and still quiet.

Then the screens flicker.

Once. Twice.

Every feed goes black at the same time.

My hands freeze on the keyboard. I refresh, but there’s nothing. I switch networks. Nothing. The entire camera system has dropped.

“No!”

“Mason.” I speak into the open line. “I’ve lost visual. Do you copy?”

Static answers me.