Revelation (M/F) (F/M) - A sequel to Devastation

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Post by Caesar73 »

Dear [mention]wolfman[/mention] you do it again and again! What an incredible Drama in this Chapter: Kurt dead, Kim probably kidnapped and Sasha is losing her child? I bow deeply before a true Master!
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Post by slackywacky »

That was one big update (I know, lots of different things to tell us). Great writing. I am actually reading your older stories again, to see if I can use some of your ideas to make Linda suffer some more, oops, wrong line... to help Linda get out of trouble. ;)
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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Post by GreyLord »

[mention]wolfman[/mention], such sadness. Just as real life can sometimes overwhelm, this story does too. And just as people in real life must sometimes reach for hidden resources, I think that your characters will too. It is hard not to shed a tear however.
ImageA List of my stories:
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Post by wolfman »

[mention]Caesar73[/mention] [mention]GreyLord[/mention]

I have always written these stories with stakes. The characters don't lose often, but when they do I try to make it mean something.

[mention]slackywacky[/mention]

I am sure, that there is enough of my stuff on here to give you a little inspiration.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

Steve sits with one arm around his wife and his other around Nikita, they lean against him with tears soaking their cheeks. 

A gloom has descended over the room and it gripping every heart in equal measure. Everyone keeps their own counsel, lost in their own thoughts. 

The words of the surgeon still ringing in everyone's ears, "We have the best surgeons in the country on stand-by, however, you should prepare yourself for the worst."



Steve gently squeezes Louise and Nikita's shoulders without thinking and stares at the floor, with a faraway look in his eyes, "Another one of those times, where all the skill and lethal precision I have acquired means nothing." 

He casts his gaze across all the faces on those present, "I would lay my life down for everyone in this room."

Steve takes a deep breath and reflects on his life, "With everything I have done, nothing has been as hard as being a father, a brother or a husband. It has been the greatest challenge of my life and by far the most wonderfully rewarding. I love them all and am so proud of my children. I just wish I was better at being there for them."



Dani looks on lost in her own thoughts, "Nikita was inconsolable in the car on the way home. She is devastated that she was not here to help. I am just glad Kate was able to get us back so quickly."

"Someone went to a lot of trouble to take Kim. From the police reports Kate was able to get, it looks like Kurt got to his brothers then an unknown number of men swept in. At least the blood that Nikita tested showed they took her alive. From what Jim was saying, the phone was used to control the car and crash it." She thinks, her mind racing.

She glances at the door to the theatre, her lips trembling, "Please be alright, babe. I need you."

Dani stares at the ceiling, "I hate this, I can't focus. I feel so lost."



"I feel so useless." Nikita thinks, resting against her fathers shoulder. "I can cure all kinds of trauma, but there are some things even I cannot treat."

She pulls a coin out of her pocket and begins nervously rolling it between her fingers, hating herself for wanting a cigarette at a time like this.

"That can wait. I am needed here." She thinks, knowing her abilities wont be of use, "There is more than one way to heal."

She looks at Dani seeing how pained she looks. She taps her foot on the floor softly, causing Dani to look over. Nikita locks eyes with her sister and winks, giving a reassuring nod which prompts a weak smile from her sister.



Fey leans against Carl both of them feeling numb and useless, knowing that despite their skill and abilities there is nothing they can do. 

"What was it Kate said? Intrauterine haematoma. Kate's missus reckons that the stress of the past few days has driven Sasha's blood pressure through the roof." Carl thinks, grimly. "By the time we got her here, she had already passed out from internal blood loss."

For a moment, he hugs Fey tighter and closes his eyes, as if the closeness to one sister, will take away the worry about the other. "I am not a man of faith, but I would pray every day to make this right."



Fey welcomes the embrace of her brother, making her feel a little less small and alone. She wipes her eyes, feeling utterly exhausted.

She smiles weakly over at her father, "He looked broken when the doctor spoke to him before they went in for surgery. The doctor meant well but, when he said if a choice has to be made, policy is to save the mother, it struck us all hard. Especially dad."

Fey fights back tears as she thinks, "I wish I knew dad better so I could comfort him."



Kate paces back and forth in the waiting room. Normally she would have been impressed that she got back from Stoke in just under forty five minutes, but today, it was a curse that it took so long.

"I cannot sit still. I feel like I should be doing something." She thinks, ordering a coffee she doesn't want from a vending machine, just for something to do.

She sits in a seat across from Carl and Fey and sips the strong black coffee, "Kim is still missing and the latest email from the head of the investigation confirmed that they have nothing." She thinks of Kim's smile and closes her eyes to try to dam the flow of tears, "Sasha has already lost so much. We have to find Kim. She cannot lose any more."



Jim leans back in his chair, his eyes closed. His mind is ablaze, every second he dispatches programs scouring the world for any signs of Hel or Kim. Then he stops, his mind blocked by thoughts of his sisters pain. Tears stream down his face and he forces himself to focus and hide from his thoughts. 

"This is the worst day ever. We have taken such a kicking." Jim thinks, "We should have told the whole story sooner. If we had, Kim would be safe, Kurt would be alive and Sasha and her baby would be ok. This is on us."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Keep looking." He berates himself, reviewing the steps so far. "OK. Someone has taken great care to eliminate traces of Kim and Hel and they have done a top notch job." He changes tactics and decides to do a hard search on Lupita Carrillo, he sets about tracking every step she has ever taken. "She has confessed to being behind T.H.I.S. If anyone knows where the Eyrie is, she does. Her foot prints might lead us there."

Much as he tries to focus, he is always pulled back to thoughts of Sasha and the pit in his stomach gnawing at his soul. 



Everyone looks up as the door opens and the doctor emerges. Deep lines besiege his eyes and furrowed brow. The salt and pepper hair at his temples at odds with the darker hair atop his head. He wearily pulls off his face mask and nods to Steve.

"Doc?" Steve asks, almost afraid to voice the question.

"Can you please come through, Mr Marks?" The doctor, asks gently.

Steve takes a calming breath and follows him into the office and takes a seat.

"Your daughter will need absolute rest for a few weeks, but should make a full recovery." The doctor says in a gentle tone. "Sasha will be settled in her room, shortly. The nurse will let you know when you can see them." The Doctor says with a twinkle in his eye.

"What?" Steve asks, shocked in disbelief.

"It was too dangerous to leave the baby in situ. The bleed was increasing the pressure in the womb. We could not stem the flow quick enough, to prevent massive problems for mother and child. We made a decision to deliver the baby." He explains, with a gentle smile.

"But it is so early. Will they be ok?" Steve asks, daring to hope.

"The baby is small, but he is a fighter. He will need to spend some time in an incubator, but indications are good at this stage." He says, offering Steve a hip flask.

Steve declines waving a trembling hand, trying to take everything in. "Thank you so much doctor. Please thank your team from all of us."

"'I most surely will Mr Marks." The doctor says, warmly extending his hand.

Steve takes the proferred hand and firmly shakes it, "Thanks doc." He takes another breath to centre himself and turns to leave, but catches himself for a moment, asking the doctor, "Why did you call me in here to tell me the news?"

"I don't know the full details but I know your family has had a hell of a day. Thought you would like to be able to give them some good news for a change." The doctor says, with a grin.



Sasha wakes slowly, unsure of where she is. She takes a slow breath smelling the familiar chemicals of a hospital. "Am I at work?"

She stares at the ceiling struggling to remember where she is. "That is not right, I am off work at the moment on maternity leave at the moment." Reflexively her hand goes to her stomach. 

Her partly numb fingers brush the bandages, covering her stitches and everything comes back in a flood. "Kurt." She screams silently, feeling every moment they have shared and remembing a touch she would never feel again.

Sasha hugs her stomach no longer feeling, the comforting presence of life inside her. She tries to curl up in a ball but the pain is too great. Defeated she lays back on the bed. She stops herself before calling Kim, knowing that she too is beyond her reach.

Feeling tears pricking her eyes and turns her head to search for a tissue. Sasha freezes, finding herself gazing at an incubator, with a perfectly formed tiny baby within and beautiful blue sparkling eyes staring back at her. In that moment, she feels no loss, or pain, or sorrow. She only feels love. 
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by Caesar73 »

The last paragrahs of this last chapter? They were heartbreaking. That moment, when Sasha awoke - and then discovered the incubator? So well done, [mention]wolfman[/mention] !
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Post by GreyLord »

wolfman wrote:Sasha will be settled in her room, shortly. The nurse will let you know when you can see them. ... We made a decision to deliver the baby.
Caesar73 wrote:The last paragrahs of this last chapter? They were heartbreaking. That moment, when Sasha awoke - and then discovered the incubator? So well done, @wolfman !
[mention]wolfman[/mention], [mention]Caesar73[/mention], that is powerful writing. I could not stop myself from tearing up as I read this.
Last edited by GreyLord 2 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by wolfman »

Louise returns to the waiting room to give Steve some time with his daughter and baby grandson. The mood has lifted considerably in the room and Dani, Nikita and Kate enter through the other door to the waiting room having just had a smoke.

Louise nods to Kate, who stands by the door keping watch. Dani notices the look and subtly nudges Nikita, raising an eyebrow when she looks up at her. Dani looks down at the seats next to her and takes a seat, with Nikita following suit.

"Now that we have a bit of breathing space, I think we need to talk." Louise says, without warning, her gaze fixed on Jim, Carl and Fey.

"W-what do you mean?" Jim asks, surprised by the quiet power in her voice.

"Ever since we found out Kim was missing, you three have had a look on your face." Louse says, softening her tone, "I think you would feel better if you tell us what is on your mind."

The three of them exchange a look, before Jim bows his head, "We should have told you sooner."

Dani stares at him, "Is this about your rampage in Cambodia?"

"Yes." He says, ashamed.

Louise senses the connection between them and nods to Dani to proceed.

Dani moves to his side and puts an arm round her brother then softly says, "We can't fix this, until we know what's broken."

Jim begins, keeping his tone low but wavering slightly, "When they took me, I checked their phones. One of them had a photo of a child that had been taken by T.H.I.S. while she was on holiday in Thailand with her parents."

He takes out his phone and brings up the photo from memory and passes it to Dani, indicating that she pass it around. Dani raises her hand to her mouth in shock seeing the photo. Nikita mirrors her sisters reaction, gazing at the photo and seeing Kim with Lighter blond hair staring back at her, before passing the phone on.

"When the T.H.I.S. team discarded their helmets and flew away in the spice field, I logged onto their network. There are at least a dozen others." Jim confirms, with self loathing.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything?" Nikita asks, feeling a rage building in her heart, "We could have protected Kim better. Kurt might still be alive."

"That's on me." Carl admits, feeling broken, "I said we should gather intel and lay it out for you and Dani."

"What have you found out?" Nikita asks with an incredulity to her tone.

"They appear to have been taken to a facility called the Eyrie, somewhere in Europe, but we can't confirm where." Jim adds, in a defeated tone "It looks like UN under Secretary Lupitas Carrillo is heavily involved in T.H.I.S. according to the intel we have but she has escaped custody."

Nikita softens slightly, seeing her brothers pain, "What have you looked for so far?"

"Facial recognition on every feed I can find on Kim and Hel's faces. So far nothing." Jim says weakly. "I am trying to put together a time line for Lupita Carrillo's movements to see if we can locate the Eyrie that way."

Nikita looks over at Dani and nods, before she says, "Dani says you are the best. If you want to prove it, gather as much detail as you can for each abduction and compare them looking for similarities. Find a thread that links one or more of them."

Jim wears the expression of a man who has been spared the death penalty, he nods frantically, then puts on his smart glasses and get to work.



Natalie is roused from her slumber by the smell of slowly cooking and rendering pork. As she stretches in bed her stomach rumbles reminding her of how hungry she is. She rises from the bed wearing only a t-shirt and takes a pair of shorts from the pile of clothes left for her on the chair.

Following her nose, she creeps into the kitchen and takes a deep breath. "Man that smells good."

Her fingers lazily trail along the counter top, as she crosses the room to the fridge. She notes every knife on the rack, above the cooker and the pans in the glass doored cupboard, casually flicking the grill on as she passes.

Without thinking, she adds a little butter to a pan and turns up the heat, shen it is frothing and golden, she pours in three beaten eggs and sets it down. After a minute, she adds a little grated cheese and some chilli flakes, then puts the pan under the grill.

Once the omelette has puffed up, she dishes it onto a plate and takes it into the living room with a bottle of water. As she begins to eat, she allows her gaze to wander around the room, thinking, "This is a nice place, decorations a little sparse,for my liking, but it is lovely."

She spots a photo on the mantlepiece and sets down her plate. Cautiously, she approached the photo and pulls out her phone. Her call is answered on the third ring, "Church?"

"Long story Moses. I am still onsite at Nirvana Academy in the third owners cottage. Can you come as quickly as you can? There is something you need to see." Natalie says, with trembling lips.



Jim opens his eyes and blinks a few times to clear his vision, then removes his glasses for a moment. With tired eyes he looks up at Nikita, "Any luck?" She asks, with a smile.

"Something and nothing after each disappearance there is a military flight from the host country to either northern Spain or southern France. I had to dig deep to get that. T.H.I.S. are covering their tracks really well." Jim explains, taking a deep breath.

"Did you find anything on why them?" Dani asks, passing him a bottle of water.

"All of the childrens parents visited a fertility clinic before they were born." Jim says taking a sip of water, "Kim is the oldest by about six months."

"Same clinic?" Dani asks, thoughtfully.

"No different clinics, in most cases different countries." Jim says shaking his head, "No link on personel or financials either."

"Have you tried cross referencing personel photos and not just names?" Fey asks, speculatively.

Jim furrows his brow and dons his smart glasses,  "Not yet. Good idea."

Everyone watches breathlessly waiting for him. His eyes flash open and everyones phone beeps with a message. "Found a common link. A doctor who has different names but the same face."

Dani looks at the photo and screws up her face, "Who is she?"

"No idea." Jim says, with a shrug.

"Dead end?" Louise asks, gently.

"Maybe not. I can run the images through facial matching might take a while though." Jim offers, with a thoughtful nod.

"OK. Maybe there is something about her even her father didn't know. That being said, it may not help us to find her right now."  Nikita observes stroking her chin, "Although it would explain why they went after her."



"Ok what do we know?" Dani asks, looking at Jim.

"T.H.I.S. are UN backed and well resourced. Possible link to a location ineither northern Spain or Southern France. Indications are that they are multinational." Jim explains. "After the Carrillo testimony the UN is making moves to shut them down."

"If they are shutting down, why attack us and take Kim?" Louise says, thinking aloud.

"Maybe a last bid to take out as many empowered as possible. Make the world a safer place." Dani says thoughtfully.

"But why take Kim?" Louise asks, with a nagging thought at the back of her mind.

"Good point." Nikita says, nodding grimly, "Why not just kill her?"

"Maybe, she is bait to draw us in." Dani speculates.

"It will work, as soon as we find them we will be going in hard." Fey says, as she flexes her neck.

"Damn straight." Carl agrees, "They are not ready for us."

"Possibly not, but we will approach them as if they are." Dani says, firmly. "But, we need to find them first."

"Yeah, good shout." Jim nods, "Their holding facility is called the Eyrie. The name would appear to indicate a high place. Maybe some kind of place in the Pyrenees."

"Can we get a shortlist of possible sites?" Kate asks, with a smile.

"I can try." Jim says, nervously. "What am I looking for?"

"Somewhere remote, away from civilian flight paths and hard to access by road. Somewhere hard to hike to as well. Easy to defend, good visibility of the area, but if possible concealed." Nikita says, closing her eyes before continuing, "Would need water, probably subterrenean. Power, off grid, generated onsite. Waste disposal."

"There shouldn't be too many places in the area that fit the bill." Fey says, with a smile.

"You would think so, however, that may not be the case." Carl says in a sombre tone, "However, they may be using part of the P line."

"What's that?" Kate says, unfamiliar with the term.

"The P line or Línea P, was a fortified defensive line spanning the Pyrenees constructed after the end of the Spanish Civil War, between 1944 and 1948 to prevent an invasion into Spanish territory." Carl explains, running his fingers through his hair.

"Seriously? Why haven't we heard of it?" Dani asks, with a mix of shock and confusion.
 
"The Línea P was definitively abandoned after the Spanish army performed its last inspection in the 1980s. Most of the locations were classified until the early two thousands." Carl rubs his chin and looks Dani in the eyes.

"He isn't wrong." Jim chimes in, "Short version is that after the Spanish Civil war, General Franco wanted to build a line of fortifications in the Pyrenees, that would go from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea. The P line and it's support infrastructure was built by prisoners and opponents of the Franco regime. There were roughly 4000 bunkers completed, but none of them were ever operational or armed."

"Too many options." Dani says, bitterly.



"Did you get anything from the phone we pulled from the crash scene?" Nikita asks, resting back on her chair.

"Not much." Jim shrugs, "The phone was hooked into the vehicles electronics and controlled the car. They used it to drive the vehicle from Stoke. There are some serious skills at work here. The phone was used as a command conduit. I am trying to trace the device it was linked to, but it must be turned off."

"One barrier after another. This is so frustrating." Kate says, stopping herself from punching a wall.

"Where are we with finding Hel?" Dani asks, rubbing the back of her head.

Jim hangs his head and stares at the floor, his lips trembling. He closes his eyes and softly begins to weep.

Dani is the first on her feet, rushing to his side. She bends down to him and hugs him tightly. "Jim?"

"I can't do it." He says, barely above a whisper, his voice filled with pain. "I have tried everything I can think of and I can't find Hel or Kim." He turns to face Dani and throws his arms around her.

Fey leans into Nikita's ear and whispers, "He hasn't slept properly for days. The only reason he got a few hours earlier is because I knocked him out."

"Oh Jim." Nikita says, softly "We have put too much on you. I'm sorry it's all come down to you."

"Send what you have to Nirvana Data Services, they will take up the search." Kate says, pulling out her phone.

Carl watches Jim closely, reading his pattern, "I know what will fix him." He says under his breath. He rises slowly from his seat and walks over to his brother. "Sorry mate, I am cutting you off." He says removing Jim's smart glasses.

"No." Jim mumbles, "I need to find them."

Carl crouches in front of his brother, almost nose to nose. He paces a hand behind Jim's neck and speaks softly, "If anyone can find them it is you. But you need to rest mate. We need you on your game and focused." Carl chokes up a little, "I need you mate."

Jim pats the hand on the back of his neck and nods weakly, "I will be ready."

"Go back to my place. Have something to eat and get some sleep." Nikita says, gently, "We will wake you, if we need you."

"I might head back with you, mate. I could do with a shower." Carl says, rising to his feet, then extending a hand to his beleagered brother.

"I might go as well. I will bring back some food for everyone." Fey says, with a smile.

"Really? You never cook." Dani says, surprised.

"I needed something to do. I couldn't settle." Fey says with a shrug and a wink.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

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To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
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Post by slackywacky »

> We need you on your game and focused.

I can understand that Jim wants to keep going, but tired people make mistakes and that is not what the others need.
And I wonder what Fey will come up with, as she never cooks... :lol:

Great chapter, well written. This story keeps on giving and I keep hoping for a happy ending, but knowing you [mention]wolfman[/mention] there might be more harrowing scenes in the future.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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Post by GreyLord »

So well written. A lot of meat to digest in this chapter. They are all so stressed out and trying so hard.
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Post by wolfman »

[mention]GreyLord[/mention] [mention]slackywacky[/mention]

Thank you for your kind words. I am very pleased you are still enjoying it.
slackywacky wrote: 2 years ago
Great chapter, well written. This story keeps on giving and I keep hoping for a happy ending, but knowing you [mention]wolfman[/mention] there might be more harrowing scenes in the future.
Harrowing scenes? From me? :twisted:
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

Kim weakly pulls against the handcuffs securing her wrists behind her back, knowing that they are going nowhere fast. Idly she moves her legs as much as the tightly secured ankle cuffs will allow. She bites down on the cloth wedged in her mouth and grips her left handcuff with her right hand and tries to pull her left hand free.

The man sat on the back seat of the van staring down at her notices her feeble attempt to free herself and reaches down and clicks both handcuffs, two clicks tighter. Then he sits back and places a booted foot between her shoulder blades.

Kim feels herself being pressed into the floor and looks over her shoulder with tears in her eyes, mumbly weakly, with sounds that barely escape her mouth. Her faded jeans and t-shirt offering little protection from the rough floor.

The man stares into her eyes and shakes his head, mumbling, "Just a kid." He removes his foot from her back and reaches down with the key and loosens her cuffs, whispering "If you don't give me any trouble, I will go easy on you. OK?"

Kim looks up and smiles despite the stuffing in her mouth. The man nods and gives a little smile.

Kim smiles weakly at the man, seeing the words from Dani's book in her mind, "If you can't overwhelm them with strength, undermine them with weakness."

She settles on the floor, trying to make herself comfortable. The man takes off his jacket and folds it, before placing it under her head. "We should be there soon. Then we can get those cuffs off."

Kim keeps smiling up at him thinking, "Be as nice as you want, you killed my father and made me watch him die."

True to his word, half an hour later, Kim feels the van pull up to a halt. She lays still, keeping as motionless as possible, imagining the words from Dani's book, "Save your energy for action."

She closes her eyes for a moment and imagines that she is stood in her bedroom and the pages of the book carpet the floor and cover the walls, there for her to see and all she need do is look. She thinks quietly to herself, "This will not be like the other times. I am not a helpless child anymore." She opens her eyes and looks up at the man who killed her father, "You took my childhood and you will pay for it dearly, From now on, you will be known as DMW. Dead Man Walking."



The door of the van slides open and Kim squints against the light of the day. The air is not like the airtfield, with its heat and humidity. The air here is cooler and crisper. "For the last twenty minutes it felt like we were climbing. Maybe we are in the mountains somewhere."

She keeps quiet and tries to listen as the man who killer her father speaks to an unseen man outside.

"Do you know what has been happening?" The unseen man says in Spanish.

"My team has been radio silent since last night." DMW calls out, in Spanish.

"We are shutting down." The unseen man says, "Most of the inmates are already gone. Once the last ones are finished, we are clearing out."

"Fuck it." DMW says, "This one and her dad are dead for nothing then."

"We had another one brought in last night, within minutes of the order being given. She and the others are being taken for disposal now." The man outside confirms.

"Shit." DMW says, bitterly, "Any chance there is room on the transport?"

"I am sure that they have space for a little one." The unseen man says.

The Killer of Kim's father, crouches by her side and pulls a cloth from his pocket and whispers, "Don't worry, young lady. I have arranged for you to go somewhere safe."

Kim's eyes light up for a moment with hope before he ties the cloth across her eyes. "They talk in Spanish, like I don't understand." She thinks, trying to stay calm, "I might only get one chance before they execute me. I have to take it." She sees a phrase from the book in her mind that forces her to swallow a feeling of nauseau. "You will be faced with a choice. The hardest part of it will be how to live with it after. However, in that moment, do what you have to, in order to survive."



She relaxes her body allowing herself to go limp and he throws her over his shoulder. In her mind she sees a paragraph from Dani's book and smiles to herself as she takes it in. 

"Never stop paying attention. Millions of years of evolution have shaped your senses for a reason. Seeing danger, hearing the soft step of an assailant, the smell of a silent predator and countless other applications. Use your senses to gather as much information about your surroundings as possible. Even if you lose a sense, remember the others."

She listens, hearing the sound of lots of people in heavy boots, crunching in the dirt and stones around them as they walk away from the van. Her face curls in disgust smelling the sweat of DMW, but then she detects something else. "Pine trees." She tries to put it together, "Ok, pine trees, walking on gravel and dirt not a road, maybe a wood. It is early in the morning but the air is still quite cool. We were on the plane for just over an hour and the sun was on the right, so we flew south. As the guys were speaking Spanish. I would guess we are in Northern Spain. Not immediately useful, but, handy to know."

Kim hears the doors of a van swing open and feels herself lifted inside. DMW lifts her off of his shoulder and sits her in a seat with her back to a side wall of the van. She pauses for a moment, "I hear three people breathing, around me, one is crying softly. Another is mumbling something, probably gagged." 

The van rocks on it's suspension as DMW jumps out, before slamming the door shut. Kim strains to listen, as DMW talks to the driver. Picking out few words, through the vans insulation, she nods to herself grimly, "Looks like we are going for a ride."

She leans back in her seat and rubs the back of her head against the sidewall of the van behind her. Slowly she feels the knot of her blindfold move up. Taking a leap of faith, she throws her head forward and remains seated. She smiles, seeing the discarded cloth land on the floor.



The rear of the van is poorly lit, but she sees the three figures sitting mournfully. They are bound as she is, but they wear hoods over their heads. She is relieved that there is not a security soldier in her with them. 

She looks around the van in the dim light seeing if there is anything that would help her. "Grab rail above the rear door, fire extinguisher and four scared girls, including me."

She quickly appraises the girls, "The one in the rugby shirt and shorts, looks in good shape, but is probably the one who hasn't stopped crying since I got in the van. The one in old ripped leggings and a t-shirt, is shaking like a leaf." She looks in dismay at the last girl, "She is very thin and the shirt and skirt look like she has been wearing them for a long time. Damn it. No help from any of them

She takes a deep breath and clenches her fist to steady her shaking hand, "Come on Kim, you have been training yourself for this for so long. You can do it."

Kim slips the concealed pick from the waistband of her trousers and inserts it into the lock of her left cuff, opening it in less than five seconds.

She pulls her hands slowly in front of her and quietly clicks it closed and uses the pick to double lock it. Then she sets to work releasing her ankle cuffs, before removing the cloth tied in her mouth.

Kim sits feeling numb in the back of the van, confronted with the enormity of what she is about to do, "There are at least two men outside and if I don't defeat them, they will kill me and these three."



DMW turns to the driver, as the van climbs a steep path, "Where are we going to do it?"

"End of this track, there is a deep gully." The driver says, with a shrug. "It's where we dumped the others."

"Do you ever have second thoughts?" DMW asks, rubbing his chin.

"Every day." The driver says, wearily, "But then I remember the havoc that Price could have wrought, if he hadn't been stopped. That remonds me why I do this. We cannot allow another crazy empowered human to walk the earth. The methods are brutal, but effective and the people I care about can sleep safe, because I do what I do."

DMW raises his eyebrows and nods, "I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. I just saw them as kids, not seeing how dangerous they could be."

"Exactly." The driver says, punching the air. "We are protecting tomorrow, by acting today, before these kids become dangerous."

"What is the deal with these kids?" DMW asks, cocking a thumb towards the rear of the vehicle.

"No idea, something about them has identified them as being potentially dangerous. Above my grade." The Driver says, dismissively. "Anyway, we are here."

DMW looks stares out of the windscreen, his heart swelling at the sight of the mountains and their snow capped peaks, laid out before him, "A beautiful place for a last view, shame they wont be able to see it."

"Bring them round to the front of the van, by that rock. I will take care of them and then we can get out of here." The driver says, patting DMW on the arm, "Now that things are being wound up, a few of us are thinking of going underground to take care of business moving forward. What do you say, we go and get breakfast after this and see if you want to be a part of our team."

DMW strokes his chin thoughtfully and nods, "I am good with that."

DMW smiles to himself and reaches for the handle of the rear doors of the van. "End of the line ladies." He says with a sad tone. It takes him a moment to realise that one of the seats is empty. In that moment, his fate is sealed.



Kim pushes off from the back wall travelling the length of the van in four steps. She siezes the grab rail over the door and swings out launching herself like a missile.

DMW is a big man, over twice kim's weight. But when she hits him at speed and wraps her legs around his neck, all he can do is tumble to the ground. Kim grabs the loose handcuff attached to her wrist with both hands and slams it down onto the top of her target's skull. He is dead, before they crash to the ground.

Kim pats him down frantically, as the driver calls out "What the hell is going on back there?"

With a desperate heave she rolls the man onto his side and reaches for his gun, pulling it as the driver walks into view. She aims the weapon ready to shout a warning, not realising that the safety is off. 

The silenced pistol coughs once.

The driver looks down at himself, confused by the patch of red growing on his shirt. "That isn't right." He whispers to himself. He raises his gaze and stares at Kim, before collapsing hard against the side of the van.

The girls in the van, scream and sob at the loud thump on the side of the van. Kim ignores them and approaches the driver, nervously reaching down with two fingers to check his pulse. She uses the same fingers to close the mans eyes.

Kim slips the silenced pistol into the back of her jeans and begins to search the driver, taking a folding knife and slipping it into a pocket. She tries not to think and she reaches into his hip pocket and takes out a set of keys.



Kim sits with her back to the van, catching her breath and composing herself. "Escape and Evasion is not a group activity. When you have to run, a group brings attention. Go for yourself." Dani's book is clear on this, however Kim is not.

"I can't just leave them." She decides, rising to her feet and using the keys to remove the handcuff attached to her right wist, trying not to think about its blood soaked counterpart dangling from it.

The sound of the girls' crying still rings out but softer as she climbs into the back of the van. "We are safe for now, but we have to get out of here, before more men come. I am going to free you."

The crying stops, replaced with mumbles pleas and confused grunts. Kim pulls the hood off of the girl dressed in shorts and a rugby top and her jaw drops as, she sees her own face. She pulls the hoods off of the other girls and sees the same face staring back at her.

"Ok Kim, calm yourself. This has been a really rough couple of days, you are hallucinating. Get them loose and get out of here." She says to herself.

Kim pulls the cloth out of the first girls mouth and uses the keys, to release her ankle cuffs and then the handcuffs. She freezes, when rugby shirt girl throws her arms around her and sobs, "Thank you."

"Easy, we need to get everyone free and get moving, there will be time for that when we get to safety." Kim says, managing to keep her voice calm.



A moment later all of the girls are free and staring at each other. Kim breaks the silence, "We need to get out of here. Search the van, see if there is anything useful. We regroup in two minutes and get moving."

"Why should we listen to you?" The American girl dressed in torn leggings and a filthy t-shirt asks.

"We are in hostile territory and once our captors colleagues realise that they are missing, they will come looking. If we are here, when they come, they will kill us. If we discuss every choice we have, we will get nowhere." Kim says, with a confidence she didn't know she had.

The American stares at her for a moment, then smiles before speaking, "Did you say your name was Kim when we were trussed up? " Kim nods, before the American continues, beaming a smile, "Well Kim, you have my vote, I am Anya." 

The girl who tried to hug her speaks next, "You have my vote too. I am Ali." 

The last girl dressed in a once white shirt, with a sleeve missing and a dirty skirt, shrugs, "Tara. You go. I am staying." She says in a soft Essex accent.

Kim looks at her confused, "They will kill you, if you stay."

"They took everything from me. I have nothing left to live for and no one waiting for me." She says, with a lost look in her eyes. "No point me running."

Kim walks over to her and gently hugs the girl, feeling the pain of her own father being taken so violently, "They have taken from me too. There may not be anyone waiting for you, but you have me by your side." She says, trying to think what her step mother would say.

The feel of Kim's embrace, is the first human contact the last girl has had, since she was taken. The words Kim speaks are the first kindness she has been shown for just as long. A dam breaks in the girl and she collapses in tears, "Thank you."

Kim hugs her tightly as if she can siphon off the girls pain and whispers, "I've got you."

She feels the other girls approach and join the embrace, Anya says, "They took my mum, when they snatched me. She tried to fight back in the plane on the way here and they killed her for it."

Ali whispers, "They killed my brother when the soldiers came. I don't know if the metal man saved my parents."

"They took my dad." Kim adds, grimly, "We are united in loss, we are here for you and each other."
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

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Post by Caesar73 »

Outstanding @wolfman! That is so perfectly written: Kims feelings and then her resolve, her actions! You never fail to amaze me!
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Post by NotSeen »

By the time the cavalry gets there, they're going to find Kim has cleared the place out. They really, really, REALLY picked the wrong girl to abduct...
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Post by slackywacky »

NotSeen wrote: 2 years ago They really, really, REALLY picked the wrong girl to abduct...
Yep, they did and now they will pay. Great chapter, seeing Kim (mostly) following Dani's book. The other prisoners will be happy she did not follow it all the way.
Last edited by slackywacky 2 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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Post by GreyLord »

This was an amazingly well written chapter. I particularly like Kim's recollections from Dani's book. The chapters fits so well with the story yet stands out at the same time. Well done!
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Post by wolfman »

Caesar73 wrote: 2 years ago Outstanding @wolfman! That is so perfectly written: Kims feelings and then her resolve, her actions! You never fail to amaze me!
She has been taken before, but she has never had skills like this. Will she rise to the occasion or will her lack of experience betray her?
NotSeen wrote: 2 years ago By the time the cavalry gets there, they're going to find Kim has cleared the place out. They really, really, REALLY picked the wrong girl to abduct...
slackywacky wrote: 2 years ago
NotSeen wrote: 2 years ago They really, really, REALLY picked the wrong girl to abduct...
Yep, they did and now they will pay. Great chapter, seeing Kim (mostly) following Dani's book. The other prisoners will be happy she did not follow it all the way.
She is formidable, but don't forget she is only 13, with all the doubts and insecurities that come with that.
GreyLord wrote: 2 years ago This was an amazingly well written chapter. I particularly like Kim's recollections from Dani's book. The chapters fits so well with the story yet stands out at the same time. Well done!
Thank you for your kind words. It was a hard chapter to write. I had to find a balance between her being skilled but also being untested.

Thank you to everyone who commented and all who have read so far.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


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Post by wolfman »

They gather in front of the van, all of them trying to avoid looking at the bodies on the floor. "What do we have?" Kim asks, looking each of the girls in the eyes, one at a time.

Anya steps forward holding  a first aid kit, small snub nose revolver and a bottle of water, "Not much, to be fair." She says, tucking the pistol into her sock. "My dad is a DEA agent, he taught me how to shoot." She says, biting her lip.

"Are you ok with using it to kill someone, if you have to?" Kim asks, gently.



Anya thinks back to last summer, in the Alaskan woods. Her father places his hands on her shoulders, "Take careful aim, hold your breath and squeeze the trigger when you are ready." She looks down the sights at the duck and holds her breath. She sees the beautiful plumage of the bird and thinks its quack is a cry for mercy. She lowers the weapon and turns to her father.

"I can't do it Dad. I am sorry." She says staring at the ground.

Moses wraps his bear like arms around her and kisses her on the cheek, "I am so proud of you Anya."



Anya pulls the gun out of her sock and passes it to Kim. "I am not a killer like you."

Despite the sting of the words, Kim gently accepts the gun and pulls her pistol before she addresses the others, "If we are cornered and pull a gun, it will cause whoever cornered us, to pull theirs and things only get worse from there."

"You make a good point, it increases the risk for us. What do you think we should do?" Tara asks, chewing her lip.

"If we had enough for one each and we were all good shots, I would say keep them. But, as it stands, my gut feeling is to lose them." Kim says, looking each of them in the eyes in turn, "But this is too big for me to decide on my own. We take a vote."

"Ditch them." Tara firmly says.

"No!" Ali wails, "How will we stay safe?"

Anya puts her arm around Ali's shoulders and nudges her, "We don't need them, we have Kim to keep us safe. Toss them."

"Ok. Do it." Ali says, weakly.

Kim tosses both weapons off of the side of the cliff and feels a pang of regret as they sail over the edge. "I hope we have done the right thing." Unnoticed by the others, she slips the loaded magazine of the pistol she used, into her pocket.



Kim turns to Ali, "What did you manage to get?"

Ali holds out a coil of rope and a backpack, "Slim pickings." She says crest fallen.

"Outstanding, the rope gives us so many more options for climbing and travel. The bag will make it easier to carry the stuff." Kim says, patting her on the upper arm, making Ali's face light up.

Everyone turns to Tara expectantly. "I found a wallet in the glovebox." She says, "Some cash and a card, and a small hip flask of something, maybe brandy."

"We could ditch the card, as they can trace it, but the cash and booze is good as an antiseptic." Kim says, taking a pause before addressing everyone, "We have done well, lets load up the bag and get moving."

"Did you find anything, Kim?" Tara asks, tucking the wallet and  flask into the backpack, Ali holds.

"Sorry guys. Yes I did. Got handcuff keys, a knife, and a watch." Kim says, sheepishly, "I also found a phone."

Ali's eyes light up, "We could call for help."

"They can track the phone. They will know where we are and who we are calling. I used it to find out roughly where we are and what is nearby." Kim confesses, "Then I turned it off."

"She's right. They can track the phone." Anya, chimes in, "My dad used to say about the dealers he used to find that way." She chokes up, thinking of him, "I wish he was here, he would know what to do."

Kim hugs her and whispers softly, "I might not be your dad, but I will do all I can to get you back to him."

Tara taps Kim on the shoulder and nods towards the van, "Can I have a word?"



"We had better be quick, we need to get moving." Kim says, to Tara away from the others.

Tara takes a breath, before speaking, "Anya and Ali are looking at you as if you were the child of Jesus and a Kardassian. They look up to you. I know there is more to you than you have let on." Tara struggles to find the words, "I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that this is not some game to you."

Kim sees the pain in Tara's eyes and a part of her melts, "You have my word. I will do everything I can. But I cannot do it alone." Kim looks Tara in the eyes, "Will you promise to help me?"

Tara stands back shocked, "W-what?" She stammers, confused.

"Ali is frightened. I am guessing she hasn't been here long. Anya has been here a while, but expects her father to come riding over the hill on a white horse to rescue her." Kim says, quietly, "I have been kidnapped too many times and have trained so I am no longer a victim. But you are something else, you act like you have nothing to lose, but you are as scared as the rest of us."

"You're scared?" Tara asks, shocked.

"Terrified." Kim confesses, "I am trying not to think of what I did to those men. Trying not to think of what will happen if I fail to protect you all. I am terrified of letting everyone down."

"I believe in you, but you need to believe in yourself." Tara says, with a smile, "Who trained you?" 

"My aunt Angel, is like the best soldier. She wrote a book and I memorised every word and practiced however I could, even the stuff I shouldn't."

"You have an aunt called Angel?" Tara asks, skeptically.

Kim nods, solemnly, "Yeah. She is the best and she can actually become an angel too and Auntie Niki is part octopus."

Tara raises her eyebrows, "Are you winding me up?"

"When we get through this, I will introduce you." Kim says with a playful smile.

"I will hold you to that." Tara says, smiling and gently punching Kim's arm. 

"I will ask uncle Carl to let you have a go on his flying motorbike too." Kim says with a wink.



They move in single file, with Kim in the lead, making her way down the slope, through the trees. Ali follows behind, stepping in Kim's footsteps. Then comes Anya and Tara brings up the rear. The idea is one trail, one set of prints and one scent. "No guarantee it will work, but at worst it will leave a trail so obvious they will think it is a trap."

Kim keeps a brisk pace, is not running anywhere near her top speed, "Ali looks in reasonable shape but Tara and Anya has been locked up for a while. Need to ease up to make sure I don't lose them."

She leads them down the mountian away from the where they escaped. Overall she zigs and zags, heading south east. After a couple of hours, she holds up her fist and slows down, turning to face the others. "Take five."

"I thought we would never stop." Ali pants, trying hard to catch her breath.

Tara and Anya flop against a tree, relishing the cool breeze. Kim looks over her companions and her heart sinks, "Two hours in and we are already wrecked. This is not going to work."

Ali takes a sip of water from the bottle and passes it around, Anya and Tara take a sip but Kim, declines. "Don't be a hero. You need this as much as we do."

Kim accepts the offered bottle and takes a small sip, before passing it back to Ali.

"How are we doing?" Tara asks, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

Kim tries to be diplomatic in her response, "We are making good time. But it is not going to be enough. We need to pick up the pace, to put some distance between us and them."

"How can we do that?" Anya asks, as much in fear as curiousity, as she thinks, "She will leave Tara and I behind as we are the slowest, then it is a matter of time before she ditches Ali."

"By my reckoning we are about an hour or so from a river. If we can get a boat, we can buy ourselves some breathing space." Kim says, remembering the map she checked on the phone.

She gazes across the tired and scared faces of the girls with her and speaks softly, "We are tired, we are scared. But we are alive and we are together." She braces herself for objections, but none come. "Ali can you take the rear this time? After me I think you are in the best shape. Watch Tara for any signs that she is flagging, if she does whistle. Tara you do the same for Anya. Anya if you lose sight of me, whistle and I will double back."

Everyone nods and they proceed again.



Kim settles into a slower pace than before but still brisk. She enjoys the dappled sun on her face and the eucalyptus scented breeze cooling her, from the rising heat of the day. She is startled back to her senses, by a sharp whistle about forty minutes in. "Glad I said to whistle. I don't know anyone's whistle and it is a guarantee that the group stops."

She turns back, sprinting to Anya's side, when another piercing whistle splits the air. She grabs Anya's arm and grunts, "Come on." Then retraces their route seeking its source. "This feels bad." She thinks quickening her pace.

The first thing she notices is the desperation in Ali's eyes as, she and Anya approach. Ali points off of the trail with a trembling finger, "Tara fell."

Kim looks on with dismay seeing Tara laying on her back at the bottom of a ten foot ditch. "Is she dead?" Ali asks in a heartbreaking tone.

"Not if I can help it." Kim says, spinning Ali around and reaching into the backpack, grabbing the rope. She ties one end around her waist and loops it around a tree, before using it to lower herself backwards, abseiling down the side of the ditch.

Unseen by those above her, she closes her eyes as she crouches by Tara's still body and takes her hand. Tara's eyes weakly open and she squeezes Kim's hand. Terrified eyes stare up at her and she leans down, "Hey you." Kim says, trtying to find the right words, "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." Tara mumbles.

"Just using your eyes, follow my finger." Kim says, before moving the tip of her finger before Tara's face. Then Kim places her hands either side of Tara's head, "I am going to rub my fingers together. Just say which side. Ok?"

Tara nods and correctly responds while Kim tests her over a dozen times.

"Do you feel sick at all?" Kim asks, to which Tara shakes her head.

"I cannot be one hundred percent sure, but I don't think you have a concussion." Kim says, feeling relieved, "Do you think you can get up?"

Tara nods and leans heavily on Kim, managing to rise most of the way, until she puts weight on her right foot. To her credit, she doesn't scream but her face is tear soaked by the time she lands on her backside.

Kim checks Tara's right leg, drawing a wince of pain when she touches her ankle. Kim squeezes her hand. "Squeeze my hand as hard as you need to, love." She regrets the offer instantly, as Tara grips hard and then slowly eases off.

Tara drips with sweat, reaching up with her free hand and pulling Kim down by her t-shirt, "I am sorry, I have let you down. I don't think I can walk."

"Shhhhh, it's alright. Everything is going to be ok." Kim says, while her mind races.

"Don't be daft, I am a dead weight. You have to leave me behind." Tara says, trying to sound brave, while inside the words, "Please don't leave me." Echo around her heart.

Something in Kim snaps, like a jigsaw falling into place. "No bloody chance." She says, whispering into Tara's ear, "We are together, we are not leaving you behind."

Kim unties the rope from around her own waist and begins to tie it around Tara's. "We are going to get you out of this hole and then get ourselves to safety."

Tara shakes her head weakly and fumbles ineffectively at the knot, "Just leave me."

"No." Kim says firmly, "I would never be able to forgive myself. I made a promise to you too remember." 

The weight of the words, hits Tara hard and she calms down.

"Ali, Anya! Start pulling her up. Slow and steady." Kim calls, softly.

Alison and Anya tightly hold the rope and coil it around a tree and slowly walk backwards. Slowly Tara begins to feel herself lifted. Kim digs her hands into the soil of the  bank and begins to climb alongside Tara.

The rope wound around the tree, slows the ascent and makes it more controllable, however, it also begins to shred the rope the moment the girls take the strain.

Kim reacts as soon as she realises Tara is no longer by her side, halfway up the bank. She drops back to the floor of the ditch and helps Tara pick herself up.



"The rope is useless now." Kim realises looking at the shredded and frayed end. Tara looks up at her with pleading eyes.

Kim hugs her terrified of letting her go. Tara whispers in her ear, "I know that rope is not going to be able to support me. You need to leave me here." Tara chokes back a cry, "Take the others and go."

"No." Kim protests, "We need to stick together."

"You did well to get us here. You brought us together and you saved us once." Tara says, in quiet peace, "Don't sacrifice everyone, trying to save me."

"Ali and I have been talking." Anya interrupts, "You are the fastest of us all. We will stay with Tara while you get something to get her out of there."

"No." Kim says through gritted teeth, "I can't abandon you. I have only just found you."

"You aren't abandoning us. You are scouting for us." Ali chips in.

"But what if they come for you?" Kim begs.

"Then they come and you will need to save us." Anya says, gently reassuring Kim.

Kim looks into the eyes of the other girls and knows what she must do. She hangs her head and simply says, "OK. If I don't find anything in half an hour, I will come back and we will think again."



With tears in her eyes, Kim dusts herself off, clearing the remnants of the climb and begins to run, unable to look back for fear of reaking her own heart. Running hard, she covers ground much faster on her own. She skirts the bank of the River Ebro and follows the current.

She checks her watch, "Five minutes until I have to turn back." She thinks approaching a bend, as her heart skips, "A dock."

She sprints headlong at the old river dock, skidding to a breathless halt. "Ok, we have an old rowing boat. Good to know." She begins to search the area, rummaging in the ruins of the old wooden boat house.

"Shelter, check. Food, nope." She picks up and old but solid hook, with a wooden handle at right angles to the shaft of the hook. She grips it in her fist, with the shaft of the hook, between her middle and ring finger, "Weapon, check."

She uses the hook to help her search, pulling aside one old box after another, until she sinks to her knees with tears of joy. The coil of rope is old, but seems solid enough. She sets down the boat hook and picks up the coil of rope with both hands and lifts it to her lips for a kiss.

After she finishes spitting out dust, she loops the coil under her right arm and over her left shoulder, across her chest.

She takes a few deep breaths to centre herself and thinks to herself, "This might actually work."



Anya jumps to her feet, hearing a twig snap to her right. "Kim?" She calls out, louder than she intended,causing Ali's head to whip round.

Both girls, look on fearfully at the man who steps out from behind a bush. He stands tall, at least six feet, if he is an inch. Broad at the shoulders, but lean. Her wears faded brown leather trousers and a black shirt, with well worn boots on his feet. Over his shoulder is an old back pack and dangling from his left hand area brace of recently killed rabbits.

He squints with one eye closed at the girls and speaks softly in a mellow Navarra accented Spanish, "Well what do we have here?"

"Please." Anya responds in Spanish, "Please don't hurt us."

"You are American." The man sees the fear in their eyes and hears the moans of Tara from the pit. "Are you lost? You shouldn't be out here alone."

Anya nods, "We were on a tour bus. The bus left last night and we have been trying to get to Barcellona ever since."

He lays down his rabbits and pulls a canteen from his backpack offering it to the girls, Ali takes it eagerly and gulps greedily, before passing it to Anya. "Well, you are a long way off. Why don't we get your sister out of the hole and we go to my home? You can call your folks and we can get you cleaned up."

Anya and Ali exchange a worried look then look to Tara who shoots them a warning look. "I am not sure." Anya says feeling uneasy.

"Look I understand." He says, gently, "But, you shouldn't be out here alone. Hikers go missing every year around here. I just want you to be safe."

"That would be lovely. Any chance we could have something to eat, as well?" Ali asks with a yawn.

The man smiles inscrutably and softly says, "Of course, young lady, I would love to have you all for dinner."

Anya tosses the canteen to Tara, who finishes it. Anya sways a little, turning back to the Spaniard. "I don't think this is a good idea." She says, slowly rubbing her face with her hand, "Oh no, the water." She slumps to her knees, looking up at him with a look of betrayal. "Why?"

He reaches down, tenderly cupping her chin, "As I said, I would love to have you for dinner."
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

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To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
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Post by slackywacky »

Another great addition to the story.

> I cannot be one hundred percent sure, but I don't think you have a concussion.
Good. Been there, done that, not a nice thing to have.

All these events they are going through will definitely build their character and will hopefully make them stronger.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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Post by GreyLord »

For some reason, I suspect we are going to have more big surprises with Kim.
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Post by wolfman »

Kim feels a sense of elation recognising the area, she left the others. She creeps quietly, towards the bushes surrounding the hole where Tara lays waiting. 

A quiet dread creeps over her, as she approaches the spot she last saw Tara, Ali and Anya. "It is too quiet. Almost like the forest is holding its' breath."

She enters the clearing and her heart sinks, finding it empty, "No, no, no. This cannot be happening." She peers over the edge of the hole and confirms it too is empty and no trace of the girls remains. "Shit." She says, only comfortable swearing on her own.

Kim stands, her lower lip quivering, remembering the girls faces and each ones smile and wave as she left them for supplies. "There will be times when you think all is lost." Words from the book echo in her mind, "That is only truly the case, when you give up and stop trying."

She takes a deep breath and feels energised, deciding, "This aint over. I have to find them."

Kim searches the clearing and freezes noticing the tracks coming towards the hole in the ground. She checks the size of the tracks in the dirt and the length of the stride checking for crushed leaves and twigs, recalling the lessons from Dani's book. "Individual, roughly six feet tall by the length of their gait. They make more of a dent in the dirt that the girls. Maybe a hundred and eighty pounds."

"Please let them be alright." Kim prays, "If anything has happened to them, i will never forgive myself."

She takes a deep breath and focuses. Letting her gaze settle and take in everything. She works her way around the clearing and her focus is drawn to a patch of crushed leaf litter. "Looks like something heavy was dragged here." She nods to herself, "Or several lighter things dragged as one."

Without another thought, Kim decides to follow the trail of the dragged item or items.



Anya wakes slowly, "My head, what happened?" She thinks, struggling to focus. "'Why is it so cold in here?

Her eyes snap open and she looks around frantically, swaying gently. She looks up, down? Seeing her body above her, ankles bound tightly with a wide leather strap and secured to a hook in the ceiling. Her legs are tightly strapped too at her calves and thighs. She tries to pull her hands in front of her, but her wrists, forearms and elbows at strapped tightly and wide leather more straps encircle her body.

She tries to scream but the cloth stuffed into her mouth and held in with wide leather strap between her teeth, reduce even her best efforts to a whimper.

Her eyes fall upon Tara and she shakes her head, seeing her likewise bound tightly and hung from the ceiling. Frantically she twists and tries to look around the room, seeing boxes of canned food and two large chest freezers. 

"Are we in his fridge?" Anya thinks, as her life flashes before her eyes, "He really is going to have us for dinner."

Slowly she spins in the air, breathless from her efforts, when her heart begins to pound at a terrible realisation, "Where is Ali?"

Anya struggles furiously, trying to turn around, panting as she realises that Ali is not with them. She fights not to cry, "I have watched enough cop shows to know dried blood when I see it." She thinks, staring at the freezer.

She is snapped from her thoughts by the heavily muffled sound of screaming from Tara, when she wakes and feels the massive pressure from hanging upside down on her injured ankle. "Come on Kim, where are you?"



Ali's hair sticks to her sweat and tear slicked face, as she struggles, desperate to escape. But the thick layers of cling film encasing her body, do not yield.

Her body is wrapped from her feet to just below her chin in tight wrap and in turn, several layers more wrap around her, pinning her to the cold steel table.

She whimpers pitifully, giving in to her fate, knowing she is alone and helpless. Her cries stifled with tightly wrapped tape, sealing a large balsamic vinegar soaked sponge in her mouth.

Her blood turns to ice in her veins feeling a hand. At first on her leg and then squeezing her bicep. She struggles to look down at herself to see what is happening, but cling film over her forehead keeps her firmly pinned.

"Try not to struggle my dear, your fear and adrenaline will sour your meat." The man from the woods says, softly.

"What does he mean sour my meat?" Ali thinks confused and fearful.

"I must say, it is a long time since I have such a tender morsel, for dinner." He coos, bending down and licking her face. "Mmmmm, delicious."

Ali tries to twist away in disgust, but is held fast. Unable to escape she begins to cry. "Please don't eat me." She tries to whimper but all that comes out is a soft mournful moan.

"Shhh, little one. Uncle Salvaje will take care of you." He whispers, with his lips less than an inch from her ear. "I will take away all your fear, all of your pain."

He tenderly strokes her cheek and gazes into her eyes, "I will give you a peaceful death and when I consume your flesh, you will become a part of me forever."

"NO!" She screams, her cries rendered unintelligible.

"Hush child. Uncle Salvaje will make it all better." He says, reaching under the table. "I will save you from a life of misery and bring you only delight as a part of me."

She winces as the needle enters her arm and holds her breath awaiting its' removal.

Salvaje strokes her hair and brushes her cheek with reverence. "I am going to leave you for a time. While I am gone, the blood will drain from your body and slowly you will drift off to sleep."

Ali screams and struggles, but does not budge and inch. Salvaje leans down and softly kisses her forehead and licks her sweat and tears from his lips, "Sublime."

With a look of delight, he straightens and gives her thigh a squeeze, before strolling away.

He sighs, barely able to focus on what to serve her with, because of the sound of her cries.

In the wake of his passing, she stares at the ceiling sniffing back tears, "I am glad Kim didn't stay with us. I just hope she comes in time to save the others."



Kim creeps slowly and carefully, following the easily recognisable trail, from a few metres to the left. "This is too easy." She thinks, cautiously, "This is all wrong. This feels like a trap."

She bends down and rubs her hands in the dirt of the dusty forest floor to dry them of sweat and eyes up a nearby tree.

"Whenever climbing remember three points of contact at all times, both feet and one hand, or both hands and one foot. Safety is your first concern." The books words echoing in her ears, while she steaily and swiftly ascends the tree.

She perches at the top and surveys the area, "I knew it."' she thinks spying a pile of logs rigged on a ridge overlooking the path she was on.

Just as she prepares to climb down, a thin wisp of smoke draws her attention from behind the logs, "Too much for a cigarette, looks like a small fire."

She carefully makes her way down the tree and darts from cover to cover approaching the foot of the ridge.



Tara feels nothing but pain as she hangs limply by her ankles. Her existing injury sending waves of searing pain through her body, aggravated by the straps binding her tightly.

"This isn't fair." She thinks mournfully, "Haven't we suffered enough. We were free."

"Anya looks as upset as I feel." Tara thinks, wishing she could just reach out and comfort her.

The rope holding her aloft twists slowly so she gets a full look at the fridge. She closes her eyes, trying not cry, but the simple thought of "Where's Ali?", bursts the dam inside her. "Kim trusted me to help her and I blew it."

She hangs helplessly, her tears soaking her hair and dripping onto the flooŕ, freezing where they land. In frustration she thrashes wildly, trying to free herself, or break the rope holding her aloft, of freeing her mouth, just something that she can control instead of hanging like a cheap suit.

The only thing she manages to achieve is a massive jolt to her ankle which overwhelms her with agony. 

Anya watches shivering, as Tara goes limp and silent, thinking, "Oh God no, please don't let her be dead."

"Why is it so cold?" She thinks, shivering ever more, as her eyes flutter closed.



Kim crouches at the foot of a tree and watches the man in leather trousers, tending a fire under a large metal box, "That looks like a wood smoker." She observes, watching the man sharpen a meat cleaver with a flint and steel.

"They are here, I can feel th-" She stops mid thought, spotting the backpack at the edge of the clearing, resting against a tree. "This is the place."

She eyeballs the man and thinks to herself, "He is a big guy and a definite problem. He holds that cleaver like he means it too. There is no way I can take him down in a fair fight."

She takes a half step back, but stops before she puts her foot all the way down, feeling a branch, roughly a foot long and two inches around which would have caused her to fall. She looks down ready to kick the branch away, but then she smiles to herself and reaches down it.

Oblivious, Salvaje smiles, thinking of how delicious his dinner will be, after the delicious little morsel he has currently draining will be after 24 hours of slow smoking.



Kim takes out the folding blade and begins to carve a channel in the stick, "This has to work." She thinks, quietly blowing wood shavings away.

It takes a few minutes until she has finished her preparations. She has been watching the man the whole time, knowing that he hasn't moved far away. "I am their only hope, I cannot fail them."

She stoops down and picks up a small pebble and pops it into her pocket. Then she edges towards the edge of the clearing.

Kim takes a long slow breath and focuses. She holds the improvised woomera in a loose but firm grip, watches her target. "This is the guy." She thinks, as much to voice her decision, as it is to convince herself.

The forest seems to hold its' breath as she places a round into the channel. She breathes slowly and once she is ready and lets fly, planting the round in the smokers fire. In rapid succession, she unleashes another half dozen rounds. Finally she whips the pebble out making sure it pings off of the metal at the back of the fire chamber.

Salvaje frowns confused, hearing the strange noise from the smoker, he stands in front of it, squinting into the flames, trying to see the source of the noise.

The first round cooks off pinging against the back wall of the chamber and ricochets into Salvaje's shoulder. He stares at the hole in his shoulder, thinking, "What the hell?"

The other six rounds detonate like a burst of machine gun fire and the man collapses backwards, utterly still.



Kim stands stunned, "That actually worked." She thinks in disbelief.

Her eyes flit around the clearing looking for something that could hold her companions, until they come to rest on a bush that seems a little out of place, "There." She thinks, taking a stride towards it.

"Not yet, make sure." She thinks looking back at the fallen man.

Cautiously, she enters the clearing, edging towards the body. She doesn't notice that the birds in the trees have stopped singing and the wind blows no more. Here, in this place, the only movement comes from her.

She stands over the man, kicking him in the ribs, to see if he reacts. Her heart nearly stops when he lashes out with a powerful arm, sweeping her legs from under her. Everything seems to move in slow motion as, she tumbles towards the ground, while he rises to his feet.

She howls in pain, from the powerful kick to her ribs, reeling in pain she doesn't notice the man stalk closer to her. "You stupid little bitch. You think you can ambush me? I smelled you when you were at the river and left a trail a blind man could follow."

Kims looks at him wide eyed with fear. "I can't take him, he is too big." She thinks, heart broken, "The girls are going to die. What have I done?"

"There it is." He says sniffing the air, "That luscious ambrosial moment that you feel death coming for you. But don't worry, I will not kill and consume you like I will your sisters. I will carve you up piece by piece and keep you alive till youŕ last steak has been carved."

She back away as he advances rapidly. She ducks and weaves avoiding his thrusting grasp, trying not to panic. 

"Oh yes, I like it when my prey tries to escape. Makes me feel like I have earned it." Salvaje growls, with low menace, "Your sisters succumbed far too easily, it was almost no effort at all. But you, are something to savour."

"You bastard. Why?" Kim hisses angrily, while thinking, "Get him to show off a little and crow about his power, be a scared little girl and destroy him."

He chuckles to himself, "You ask why and expect an answer." He scoffs, "Does the farmer tell the fattened calf, chicken, or cow why? Does the lion tell the antelope why? Does the hawk explain why to the mouse." His eyes burn with fervour as he continues, "No they do not. I am an alpha predator and you are my prey. It is my right to consume your kind and in so doing, maintain balance in the world and use your flesh to augment my own." He closes his eyes, revelling in his own power. He takes a deep breath sniffing the air and savouring the moment.

He bellows in pain, as Kim rams the knife into his stomach with her right hand and striking the hilt of the knife with the woomera to drive it deep.

Salvaje lashes out with a blind right catching her cheek and sending her sprawling on her back. With ragged breaths he closes on her girding himself against the pain from his gut. She tries to slap his hands away, but she is no match for the larger man as he wraps his hands around her throat and lifts her to her feet.

Kim reaches up trying to pry his hands from her neck as he squeezes. The book echoes in her mind, "If your opponent gets their hands around your neck, you must act quickly. The arms will be hard to move, the hands will be like clamps. Go for the little fingers, move them and the rest will follow."

She reaches up, taking his right little finger in her right fist and the left finger in her left hand. With a howl of anguish Salvaje's fingers loosen from her neck and his arms are forced wide, unable to resist for fear of the pain it would bring.

Kim somersaults backwards, smashing his chin with both feet and sending him sprawling backwards, with the first and gaining breathing space with the second and third flips. She watches him stumble back and land hard. "No second chances." She whispers between ragged breaths, as she sprints and then leaps at him. She bends her legs at the knee and grabs her ankle in mid air, slamming her knees down on his chest with a crack.

The floodgates open and all the fear, anger and pain of the last twenty four hours, pours out of her in a deluge of fists and hammer blows. What she lacks in power, she more than makes up for in ferocity. Visions of her father and uncle's lifeless bodies, feelings of impotent rage as the men dragged her bound from the house, the fear she felt on the plane, the self loathing at killing the men at the van and the kaliedoscope of emotions she feels about the girls who wear her face, punctuate every blow in the storm she unleashes on the man who took her fellow escapees. There are no bounds to her fury, as the onslaught continues unabated. If he wasn't dead before the first blow landed, he certainly is when she finishes.



In the silence that follows, she kneels sobbing on his chest. She gazes beyond her blood and gore covered hands as if they are not her own, staring at the unrecognisable clump of blood blesh and bone atop the mans shoulders.

She climbs off of him with numb limbs, and stands staring, "What have I done?" She asks herself, doubling over and vomitting, disgusted with herself.

There is only one thing that can make this right, that can take her pain away. But it is forever beyond her reach. She throws her head back with a keening wail, calling for the only thing that she wants, but can never have, "DAD."
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
GreyLord
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Post by GreyLord »

Kim is such a fantastic young girl. You are telling her story perfectly. The reader will yearn for Kim's success. Masterful story telling, [mention]wolfman[/mention]. I'm only waiting for the next installment because I have no choice.
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slackywacky
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Post by slackywacky »

Kim might ask herself what she has done, but what she did was needed.
Good addition to the story. But having to experience all this at this young age... I wonder what it will do to them.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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Caesar73
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Post by Caesar73 »

slackywacky wrote: 2 years ago Kim might ask herself what she has done, but what she did was needed.
Good addition to the story. But having to experience all this at this young age... I wonder what it will do to them.
I agree, Kim did what she had to do to safe her friends and herself. But surely that act will have consequences. The fighting Sequence was outstanding and the way the hunter talked to Kim gave me the creeps :) Well done!
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Post by wolfman »

The Spanish sun beats down on the clearing, patrolled by men trying desperately not to look like soldiers. A few of them turn at the sound of an engine, to see a large black german SUV approach. A few men shield their eyes from the sun watching the vehicle, hands resting on concealed handguns.

The vehicle pulls up in their midst, in a cloud of dust and loose gravel. The driver cracks the door and emerges into the hot late morning sun, her dark fatigues, boots and leather gloves, almost seeming to repel dust. But it is the gleaming black helmet and full face visor that puits the men ill at ease.

After scanning the area, she opens the rear door of the vehicle allowing her passenger to exit the vehicle.

Lupita Carrillo emerges without hesitation. Any reticence from her confession before UN Congress, has vanished as she strides across the open ground of the clearing towards the entrance with vehement purpose. Her tall, strong and lithe frame wrapped in a white tight fitting blouse, and blazer, with a matching mid thigh skirt clinging to her legs. She glides on three inch heels across the uneven ground as if she were in a catwalk.

Twenty feet in front of her, a tall soldier blocks her path, holding up his left hand, resting his right on his sidearm, "Sorry miss." He says with a think French accent, "You no longer have clearance, to enter."

She takes a step forward, immediately matched by the soldier stepping back into a shooting stance, weapon drawn. "You need to leave, miss."

"I built this organisation. I am this organisation." Lupita growls, "Step aside, or be swept aside."

The soldier stands his ground, weapon drawn, "Withdraw or I will use force." 

Lupita strides forward suddenly, the startled soldier, pulls the trigger, halting her in her tracks. She shakes her head disdainfully, "Impenetrable skin, you worm." She runs at the man, who panics, emptying the magazine of his weapon at her.

Unfazed, Lupita rips the gun from his hand and casually shoves him aside with a strike to the check which pulverises his rib cage. He skids helplessly into another man legs, taking him off of his feet. Both men are little more than a pebble her path and she continues towards the entrance of the Eyrie, dropping the gun.

The other men clear a path allowing Lupita and her driver to pass, merely radioing ahead to warn of her approach.

Despite the bright sunshine of the afternoon, the entrance to the underground structure, carved into the weather worn rock, is almost invisible. The rough slate rocks strewn around the entrance, help it to blend in almost invisibly.
 
The cool breeze carries the scent of the sea, as is weaves between the long grass of the meadow and  the branches of the nearby trees.
 
The entrance gives way to a cave heading deeper under the mountain. One fork of the cave system terminates in a large steel blast door. The true entrance to the fortress.
 
The fortress is split into half a dozen levels of barracks, medical facilities and administrative facilities. As many as two hundred and fifty soldiers may be garrisoned here. Guarding the score of cells in the lowest levels.



Director David De Veer puts the phone down after heeding the warning of the former UN Under Secretary's arrival at the site. He steeples his fingers and stares at the door for a full minute before he gets to his feet.

He stalks to the middle of the room and stares defiantly at the door, flinching slightly when it bursts open.

Lupita strides into the office, without trace of the trauma she has suffered and heads straight for the director followed a few paces behind by her driver. With her six feet height plus heels, she towers over the diminuitive  man.

He puffs his chest out and bellows at her, "You stupid bitch, what the fuck are you doing here?" His face reddens with each word, "First you expose us, in front of the entire assembly and now you turn up here. What the fuck are you thinking?"

Lupita beams a movie star smile at him and puts her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "It is wonderful to see you too David." She says in a honeyed tone.

He tries to push her away, but is no match for her strength. He begins to panic, trapped against Lupita's body in a steel like grip. She presses his face to her shoulder with one hand and viciously twists his body away with her left. The sound of the crunch fills the office, before she drops his body to the floor.

Without emotion she steps over his body and takes a seat at his desk. With a slim perfect finger, she keys the intercom summoning the head of base security, whilst her driver drags the body into a chair, making no effort to turn his head to a more natural angle.



Captain Reyes marches into the room, noting the clearly dead site director, seated in a side chair. He winces subtly and removes his beret, "Good afternoon Lupita, fancy seeing you here." He stands proud and tall in his Spanish Navy Battle Dress Uniform. He thinks quietly to himself, "Shit, what is she doing here? I thought we were rid of her when she handed herself to the authorities."

"Hello Captain, would you like to take a seat?" Lupita asks, conversationally.

"Don't mind if I do." He says, taking a seat opposite her and placing his beret on the desk between them. "What brings you here?" He chooses his words carefully, not wanting to earn her ire. Remembering how quick, she is to anger and how slow, she is to forgive.

"I am here to save everyone's lives." She says, without irony.



Jim, Fey and Carl enter Nikita's home, looking like they have been through hell. Jim freezes seeing Special Agent Black sitting nervously on a sofa with Natalie in a nearby chair, sporting a pensive look. 

"Hello Minh, we meet again." Agent Black says, with a smile tinged with sadness and at the same time hope.

Jim wearily rubs the back of his next and shoots a disappointed look at Agent Church, "Nat, I trusted you." He says disappointed.

"I'm sorry Jim." She pleads with him. "But, you need to hear this." Her voice tinged with the fear of a lifetime of possibilities, lost in a heartbeat.

He breathes wearily, "Alright Agent Black, let's hear it." His voice touched by the sting of her betrayal, after she promised to lay low.

Agent Black slowly rises to his feet, careful not to make any sudden movements, as he walks to the corner unit. "Who is this girl?" He asks, pointing at a photo of Kim.

"Her name is Kim. She is the step daughter of my sister." Jim fixes him with a cold stare, "She was kidnapped last night and her father and uncle were murdered."

Moses nods, "I am reaching for a photo to show you." He says, making a show of opening his jacket and reaching into the inside pocket with the tips of his fingers. He pulls out a photo and lays it on the table. "This is my daughter Anya. Three months ago she and my wife were in a car accident. My wife's car left the road on a clifftop road and they found the car, burned out on the rocks below. Their bodies were never found."

Jim, Carl and Fey stare at the photo of the girl, "She is the spitting image of Kim." Jim observes, nodding.

With a world of pain behind his eyes, Black asks, "What happened to them?"

Jim opens his mouth to speak but Carl puts a hand on his shoulder, "We have this mate, get yourself to bed."

"I need to finish this, for Kim." Jim says exhausted.

"We all do, mate." Carl saysfeeling the exhaustion come off of his brother in waves, "But right now, you need to rest. I will wake you if anything happens."

Jim nods and heads for the stairs as Carl opens the mini fridge pulling out four beers, tossing one to his sister and then handing one each to Natalie and Agent Black.

Carl cracks the top off of his beer and takes a seat. "Hello Agent Black. I am also Minh of the Mrenh Kongveal, but you can call me Carl. We believe that Kim was taken by an organisation called T.H.I.S. They are a branch of the United Nations and we think that have a base in the Pyrenees called the Eyrie." He begins.



"Oh really." The Captain says with a raised eye brow. "How will you do that?"

"Last night, T.H.I.S. took Kim Smith. Effectively the grand-daughter of Nirvana's CEO and majority share holder." Lupita explains, calmly.

"So?" Reyes asks, leans back in his chair and folds his arms.

"Nirvana will put everything into the search for this girl." Lupita says holding up her hand to stop Reyes interrupting, "Make no mistake, they will come and when they do, all the men under your command will fall before them. Do not forget what they did on La Palma."

"I was there. I saw the aftermath and the operations team. I think I might have met the girls step mother on the day." Reyes explains, breathing out slowly. "I lead a brigade of good men. They do not deserve the hell Nirvana would unleash. I have no idea what happened in those caves, but it was bad. How do we stop this?"

"Where is the girl?" Lupits asks, firmly.

"She was taken out with the last of the prisoners and another girl who was brought in last night. The driver and another man have yet to return." Reyes confesses, despising the arrogance in her tone.

"Find them and if at all possible bring them back alive." She orders hautily, then pursing her lips, "Then there is the hard part."

Reyes' left eye twitches, "Go ahead." He says in a stiff tone.

"Your people must lay down their weapons and be prepared to surrender once Nirvana arrive." Lupita says in a matter of fact tone, staring down her nose at him.

"You are of course joking." Reyes says, raising an eyebrow.

"If there is any resistance, they will give no quarter. You will instruct your people accordingly." She says with a curl of her lip, in a half snarl.

He bristles slightly and speaks through gritted teeth, "I will give the order."

"Thank you Captain. Would you be so kind as to keep me informed regarding the girl?" Lupita asks, calmly.

In a sickly sweet tone, he replies, "It would be my pleasure." He pauses at the door and turns, "What will you be doing?"

"Waiting." She says, inscrutably.



Lupita sits back in the desk chair, relaxing as Captain Reyes leaves the room, "I think that went well." She says, addressing her driver.

"He is like a whipped dog." Her driver says, "Hurt and filled with hate, but obedient nonetheless. You should ease up on antagonising him though."

"I will deal with him as I see fit." Lupita snarls, making to stand.

Her driver puts a hand on her shoulder, "We need him to obey and we need him onside, or this will turn bad quickly." The driver says, calmly.

"You think I don't know that. I will do-" Lupita begins before being cut off by her driver.

"You will do as you are told." Her driver says, in a low, cold tone. "Or have you forgotten what will happen if you disobey me?"

Lupita trembles at the threat, "No, please. I haven't forgotten."

"Tell me." Her driver hisses softly, her voice equal parts honey and venom.

"I will wake up bound and helpless and you will torture me until I die. Then you will use a defibrilator and adrenaline to bring me back and continue, until such time as I cannot come back to life." Lupita recites, as she has been conditioned.

"Correct." Her driver says, "So what will you do?"

"I will ease up on antagonising him." Lupita says in a small, contrite voice while staring at the floor.

"Good girl." Lupita's driver says, smiling to herself.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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