by Aisha Tritle
Sophia yelped, and the Escalade skidded to a halt.
“Damn it, Sophia,” muttered Lund. As he got out of the car, Sophia scurried to pick up the tranquilizer gun. She heard Ilya shoot twice at Lund—but he missed.
A gruff hand grabbed her by the hair, another gruff hand grabbed her left wrist and pulled her through the back passenger side door.
“Did you doubt me?” asked Lund, his warm breath in Sophia’s ear. “I told you I’d shoot you.”
Sophia winced. She’d walked into a trap. Lund was enjoying this. She’d given him an excuse to hurt her—exactly what he wanted.
Sophia clutched the tranquilizer gun tightly in her left hand, but she couldn’t shoot. Lund’s grip on her was too tight.
“What side do you shoot with?” asked the handler.
Sophia didn’t reply.
“Answer me!” he shouted.
“The right,” whispered Sophia.
Lund twisted her right arm behind her back. Sophia screamed in pain.
“Looks like you’re going to have to use your left,” said Lund.
Using her to shield his body, he forced her into the middle of the street. He brought her left arm up into a straight line.
Ilya was nowhere in sight.
Sophia couldn’t bear being so close to Lund. There was too much of him touching her. Chills ran through her skin.
“You’re going to shoot him when I tell you,” said Lund.
Sophia knew she’d have to comply. It was either the tranquilizer or bullets.
Ilya’s golden head popped up behind the back of a distant truck. Sophia aimed and pulled the trigger. He dropped.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
“I didn’t tell you to shoot,” said Lund.
A solitary tear fell down Sophia’s cheek. Her arm was in excruciating pain.
“Whatever,” she said. “I shot him, didn’t I?”
Lund scoffed as he dragged her back to the car. Sophia climbed into the backseat, clutching her wounded arm. Now she was stuck with the problem of explaining to Norbert just exactly why Lund shot her.
Suddenly, a needle pierced her neck.
“I’m taking no chances with you,” said Lund.
Sophia’s eyes fluttered closed. The handler pushed her across the seat.
“You come from bad blood.”
16
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Sophia?”
Norbert’s wide grin gleamed at Sophia from the other end of the table. They were in a “therapy room.” There was nothing in the white-walled room but one metal table and three cold metal chairs.
Dr. Roth occupied the third chair. His round eyes gazed at Sophia with a hint of sorrow. He pushed his glasses up his nose and clasped his hands.
“How much do you know about what happened to you, my dear?” asked the doctor.
Sophia deliberated her answer carefully. This was the first time she’d seen Dr. Roth since arriving back at BASE. She’d been given no instructions. Anything that came out of her mouth carried a great deal of risk.
“He was obsessed with me.”
She studied the smooth-faced billionaire across from her, hoping her answer was satisfactory.
Norbert nodded his head. “I have to apologize for that. We should have known.” He shot a distasteful glance at Dr. Roth. “We’re going to be more careful from now on.”
Norbert leaned forward. Sophia shifted back in her chair.
“What did he do to you?”
Sophia gulped. “What did he do to me?”
“Yes, yes,“ Norbert’s eyes were boring into her “I want to know.”
It was obvious he wanted something perverse. Should she pander to him or no? Sophia racked her brain. “He would sleep next to my bed every night.”
“But he wouldn’t get in it with you?”
“No. He wouldn’t.”
Norbert was still staring at her. He looked a bit like a hungry frog. Sophia tried to keep her disgust from showing on her face.
“What else did he do?”
“He made me breakfast every day,” said Sophia.
“What did he make for you?”
“Bacon, eggs, toast…typical breakfast stuff.”
Her answers weren’t cutting it. Dr. Roth looked at her pleadingly.
“He showed me a stash of love letters he’d written,” said Sophia.
Norbert licked his lips. “Did he, indeed? What was in them?”
“He—“ Sophia paused. Could she really go through with this? She had to. “He detailed things—that he wanted to do to me. Creepy things. Violent things.”
The false words felt like razors coming out of her throat.
Norbert’s small jaw dropped. “But he didn’t do those things to you?”
“No, he was as gentle as a lamb.” She had to weave enough of a puzzle to intrigue him sufficiently.
“Did you have intimate relations with him?” asked the German billionaire.
Sophia scoffed. “No, I didn’t.”
Norbert’s eyes narrowed. “Very odd. Very odd indeed,” he muttered.
His face was hard to read. Sophia felt a slight tinge of nervousness.
“Do we have to keep talking about this?” she asked.
“I’m sure you’re tired,” said Dr. Roth. He turned to the man next to him. “She needs to rest.”
Norbert brought his fist down on the table with full force. His face was beet red. “Just—“ he took a deep breath “—a few more things.”
“Of course,” said Dr. Roth.
Norbert leaned further across the table. “Tell me what happened to your arm.”
Sophia looked down at her wounded limb. Her arm was in a sling. It didn’t hurt too much, but she suspected they’d slipped her a high dose of painkillers.
“That was the result of a misunderstanding,” she said.
“Lund says you tried to escape.”
“Yeah, well, Lund hates me.”
Norbert giggled. “Yes, I suppose he does, doesn’t he?”
The glee on his face repulsed Sophia.
“He thought I was trying to escape,” she said. “But I wasn’t.”
“He says you shot Stark in the neck with a tranquilizer gun.”
“That was an accident,” said Sophia. A minimal answer, but she hoped he’d buy it.
“I see.”
Norbert’s joyous countenance had grown dark. He hadn’t bought it. Sophia stared steadily at him. She couldn’t crack now. She’d have to stick with any lie that came out of her mouth.
“Did you meet anybody?” asked Norbert.
“Only the man whose house we were staying at; I don’t know where Ilya knew him from.”
Norbert let out a low hum. “There was somebody in the car with you.”
Sophia’s heart dropped. How exactly had they found her and Ilya? How much did they know? “In the car? When?”
Norbert sighed.
“On the street where we found you, of course,” he muttered, with no small amount of impatience.
“Oh, yes. There was a man who drove us to the house. I don’t know how Ilya knew him, either.”
Norbert’s gaze grew more intense. Sophia’s left hand was beginning to shake—but not too much. She clamped it between her legs to steady it.
“Did Ilya say anything about me?”
Sophia shook her head. “He said nothing about you.”
Norbert sunk back in his chair, looking almost rejected. “Nothing at all?”
“He said nothing at all,” said Sophia, wondering if she’d taken a wrong turn.
Norbert shrugged and got up. “Very well,” he said.
He stood for a minute, silently studying Sophia. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze.
Dr. Roth cleared his throat. “Perhaps it’s best if Sophia and I have some alone time now.”
A courteous smile appeared on Norbert’s face. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll let you get on.”
His two-
inch heeled shoes clattered on the cold cement floor as he exited.
Sophia and the doctor sat in silence for a few minutes after he left. It was the latter who finally spoke.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” said Sophia.
There weren’t any cameras she could see in the room, but you never knew. Dr. Roth would know, but she didn’t know what to make of his behavior. She was back in her gilded cage; any freedom she’d ever had was gone. Words and actions carried the old dire consequences now.
“You look well,” said Dr. Roth.
Sophia stifled a snort. She wore the same track suit she’d had on the last time she saw him. Her face was makeup-free, and yesterday’s grease had forced her to slick her hair back into a bun.
“Yeah, so do you,” she replied in a dry voice.
The doctor rested his hands on his round stomach. “I mean, you seem more like yourself.”
He was right. Sophia did feel more like herself. She was handling her fear better, which was strange considering she’d just walked back into the lion’s den.
“Do you need your medication?” asked Dr. Roth.
“No, I’m fine.”
The corners of Dr. Roth’s small mouth turned up. “That’s good.”
“I know,” said Sophia.
“Your friends have missed you.”
A wave of guilt swept over Sophia. She hadn’t thought of Davey or Kristin since she’d come back; her thoughts had been filled with someone else…
“How are they?” she asked.
The doctor’s face was frozen in an expression of sympathy. “I’m afraid you’ve missed some important developments,” he said.
Sophia frowned. “Developments? But I haven’t even been gone that long.”
“Still, you’ve missed some things.”
“What have I missed?”
The doctor got up and pushed his chair in. “It’s better you find out for yourself.”
He opened the door. “Your friends are waiting.”
Sophia was still glued to her seat. “That’s it?”
He’d said strangely little. Had she totally screwed up? Had she blown her one chance at freedom?
Dr. Roth closed the door. “Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?”
There were so many things she wanted to say. Sophia opened her mouth to speak, but the doctor cleared his throat and looked away. It was probably best to say nothing.
She stood up. “No.”
The doctor let her out the door. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, my dear,” he said.
Sophia stepped out into the old, familiar hall. The air conditioner was blasting, and she shivered as she walked to the elevator.
Maybe she should take a shower. Or not. The elevator doors slid closed. She stared at the buttons. A part of her dreaded seeing Davey and Kristin. She’d abandoned them—and returned a failure.
Gritting her teeth, she pushed the button for the first floor. Dr. Roth said they were waiting.
The doors opened to reveal Kristin. Sophia wondered how long she’d been standing there.
“Hey, Soph.”
There were dark circles under Kristin’s eyes. A baggy sweater draped her skeletal frame.
“Hey,” said Sophia.
The redhead enveloped her in a hug. Sophia could feel Kristin’s tears drenching the shoulder of her track suit. “It’s good that you’re back,” said Kristin, wiping her face. Her green eyes blinked at Sophia hungrily.
“I missed you,” said Sophia.
She had missed her friend. But she couldn’t help but feel the words that came out of her mouth were half-hearted.
Kristin grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen. “Davey will be here in a bit. He’s just wrapping up some tech job. Norbert let us send the chefs away,“ she grinned. “We’re going to make dinner ourselves.”
Sophia forced a smile. “That’s great.”
There was something wrong with Kristin. It was great that she was out of therapy…but why was she wearing such baggy clothes? It could be trivial. But Sophia had never seen her friend out of a figure-hugging ensemble.
Kristin began pulling out pots and pans. “I was thinking we could make steak—or even pizza or something. Mashed potatoes. We could make anything!”
She was trying too hard to be happy.
“Also,” said Kristin, “I made a big bowl of cookie dough earlier. I was gonna bake the cookies, but I figured maybe you’d just want to eat the dough? Even though it’s gonna make you gain like five pounds.”
She laughed. The empty tone of it sent chills down Sophia’s spine.
Kristin grabbed the bowl of cookie dough out of the fridge. “Let’s have some while we wait for Davey.”
She pulled out two spoons from a drawer and handed one to Sophia.
“Thanks,” said Sophia, scooping the cookie dough into her mouth. She was famished.
Kristin watched her quietly as she continued to devour half the bowl. “Soph, what happened?”
Sophia set down her spoon. Just how much could she explain to Kristin? “It’s…complicated,” was the pathetic answer she let out.
Kristin was unimpressed. “Really, Soph? ‘It’s complicated’ is the only explanation you can offer your best friend?”
Sophia pulled her hand over her face. “It’s just really hard to explain, okay? I mean, I want to tell you everything…but I just can’t.”
The bowl of cookie dough landed on the floor with a crash. Sophia took a step back. Kristin was fuming.
“I was worried sick!” she cried. “I had no idea where you were—and Davey was no help. He was just wandering around looking all secretive. All peaceful. And all he would say is ‘She’s fine,’ while I’m running around going out of my mind. I mean, how did he know you were okay? Does everybody know something that I don’t?”
Kristin threw her hands up. “So please, Soph. Please just give me a slightly better explanation.”
But Sophia had stopped listening. The sleeves of Kristin’s sweater had fallen down to reveal gauze bandages that covered her arms from wrist to elbow. Sophia’s jaw dropped.
“What did you do to yourself?”
Kristin hurriedly covered her arms. She said nothing. The two girls stood there in silence, looking at each other.
Finally, Kristin spoke. “They let me out of therapy two days ago. The first thing I did was—“ she coughed “—the first thing I did was break my shower door, cause, you know, it’s glass. They’d taken away all my knives and razors. So yeah, I threw this stupid old decorative metal bowl into it. Then I took the sharpest piece and just sliced away.”
Her green eyes looked at the floor. “I don’t really remember what happened. I think I passed out. Next thing I know, I’m in a med room with Dr. Roth standing over me. I think Davey found me…I think they let me out of med early because you came back. They told me to cover up. To keep up appearances or something.”
Sophia reached out for Kristin. The guilt she felt was overwhelming. But the skeletal girl backed away. “They told me to take some pills,” she said. “But I didn’t take them. They’ll probably catch onto that soon.”
She turned to the black dot on the backsplash of the kitchen. “Since they watch everything I do. Bastards.”
Sophia was speechless. She kept turning over thoughts in her head, trying to find the right thing to say. Nothing came.
The elevator doors slid open, and Davey stepped out.
“Oh, great,” sighed Kristin.
Sophia turned around—too stunned to force a smile. But Davey threw his arms around her in a bear hug.
“It’s good to see you,” he said.
Sophia nodded. She was too numb to feel the warmth of his arms.
Davey pulled away and looked her in the face. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. At least, definitely not this soon.”
“I know.”
His fingers pressed into Sophia’s shoulders. There were other things that h
e wanted to say. Sophia knew a multitude of words would have poured out of his mouth if they weren’t on BASE. Instead, he was stuck. Stuck in the same constricting cage that she was in.
Davey let her go. “You alright?”
Sophia cleared her throat. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
His eyes drifted to Kristin. “Hey, Kris.”
The haggard girl gave him a feeble wave. Davey spotted the bowl of cookie dough. He crossed over to Kristin.
“I’m glad to see you’re eating.”
Kristin stepped away from him. “I know.”
“Have you been able to eat much today?”
“You don’t need to be my babysitter. I’m fine.”
Davey pulled his hand over his face. “I’m being sent on a job later tonight for a day or two. And I need to make sure that you’re going to take care of yourself when I’m gone.”
Kristin scoffed. “If I starve myself, they’ll probably just pop me back in med. So whatever.”
“Listen, just remember that everything you do now affects someone else, too,” said Davey, his voice low.
Kristin’s green eyes shot daggers at him.
Sophia frowned. Was Davey talking about himself? He’d always had a thing for Kristin…
“I can’t believe you just said that when she’s right here,” said Kristin, her fingers curling into claws.
Guilt was beginning to show on Davey’s face, but his mouth straightened into a determined line. He shot Sophia a glance. “I didn’t know you were in the habit of keeping secrets from your best friend, Kris,” he said.
Kristin let out a frustrated growl. “Stop it.”
Sophia suddenly felt like she was intruding.
“Hey,” said Davey in a soothing tone. “She deserves to know, alright?”
Sophia tensed up—they were fighting over her. Kristin was fuming, and Davey was stoking the fire. Why was he picking a fight with Kristin in her fragile state?
“Just because you saved me, it doesn’t mean you—you—you control me now, alright?!” shouted Kristin.
Davey tried to set a hand on her arm, but she pushed him away. “You ruin everything! Do you know that?”
Kristin’s face was flushed with anger. “I didn’t want to be saved.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Sophia was beginning to feel stifled by the tension.