Seeta pulled her legs up, resting her heels on the seat, and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her head was down, but her eyes were taking everything in.

Julia reached out a hand and squeezed the woman’s arm. “She’s been here for months. She’s a prisoner to ensure her man continues to work on whatever project is going on.”

A fuzzy thought occurred. He should know what Julia was talking about, but it wasn’t clear. The knock on the head wasn’t doing him any favors. His eyebrows lifted.

“You remember the story about the Colonel and his girlfriend?”

He should remember, it sounded familiar, but he didn’t.

“He was an Army Colonel working for the CDC. The Taliban kidnaped them on their way to visit her relatives.”

“Yeah, now I remember.” He looked the young woman over. “That was, like, six months ago.”

“Six months.” A tear started to form and trickle down her face. Julia sat closer and hugged Seeta. “I’m sorry.”

Mike examined the woman with more attention, top to bottom. Her appearance was perplexing, but he attributed it to his head injury. It was clear that she had been through a lot.

“What have you been doing for six months?”

Her head lifted.

Julia let her go.

“I’ve been doing pretty much this, sitting in this room. I’m let out for bathroom visits, and they let me walk the helipad for an hour daily. I only see Randall sporadically, usually when they want him to work faster or harder. We’re together for a few minutes, half an hour at most. I haven’t spent more than ten hours with him since we’ve been here.”

“I’m sorry.” Julia took her hand.

Another tear fell. “It’s been hard. But, when Randall’s work here is done, they will let us go.” She smiled. “We’ll get married when we get home.”

The girl was delusional if she thought they would be allowed to leave. Plus, Randall’s current wife might have something to say about the marriage thing. Mike put those thoughts aside. “So what is it that Randall is doing here?”

She half shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Mike lifted his back off the wall. “You don’t know?”

She flinched. “They told him to never mention it to me, or they'd kill us both. We took the threat seriously. We never talk about it.”

Mike rolled his tongue on the back of his teeth. “Never? It never came up once?”

“No.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“He works for the Center for Disease Control. He's some epidemiology expert, and he’s here working for Hotak, and you never thought to question why?”

She dropped her feet to the floor. “I told you, no!” Her hands balled into fists. “They threatened to kill me if he told.”

“Okay, okay. I just wanted to be sure.”

She scrutinized him for a moment, then bowed her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything.” Her brow lifted. “Who’s Hotak?”

“He’s…”

Mike broke in before Julia could say more. “He’s the guy who runs this place. I was hoping you’d met him. Maybe give us some insight into him.”

Julia scowled at him for interrupting her but remained silent.

Seeta caught it and regarded Mike. “Sorry, I never met him. I’m glad I didn’t. Randall told me he wasn’t a very nice man. He did say a big man accompanies Hotak everywhere he goes. I met him several times.” She touched the bruises on her face.

“Yeah.”

Seeta turned to Julia. “So, what are you two doing here?”

Mike spoke before Julia could answer. “We were in Pakistan. We had a met with an asset in a town over the border. We took a chance to meet him and ended up here.” It wasn’t a great story, but it was all his head would allow him to come up with.

“Oh.” Her forehead wrinkled. “You’re CIA?”

Mercifully, Julia stayed quiet.

Mike chuckled. “No, we’re DEA working a drug task force with the Pakistani Government. A lot of drugs are coming out of this country into Pakistan and other countries. Not as exciting as what our CIA brothers do, but it is fulfilling work.”

“Oh, wow. It sounds exciting to me.” Her head shifted to Julia, then back. “Julia said there were four of you?”

Mike’s jaw tightened, and glanced at Julia

She ignored his scrutiny and remained focused on Seeta.

“Yes. That’s true.” He massaged the back of his neck. “We had some troubles. Damaged equipment and such. Our access to the border was blocked off, so we split up, and next thing we knew, we were captured and brought here.”

“I hope they’re alright.”

“I’m sure they are. Listen, we shouldn’t be talking about this, operational security, and all that. You know?”

“I get it. No problem.” She glared at him.

He met her gaze with a blank stare.

She crossed her arms.

“Mike? You look like you have a question.”

“I do." He thought about it, changed his mind, and asked another question instead. "Why did they give us medicine and water?” He tapped his fingers on the table the aspirin and cup rested on.

“The explanation I got was they wanted me fully cognizant for each time they came for me.” She sneered. “They didn’t want me fuzzy-headed. I had to be able to appreciate the full effect of whatever the giant had in store for me.”

Julia’s nostrils flared. “That sounds awful.”

“It was. I had to take them, or it would be worse.”

"Well, we don't want to upset the apple cart." His hand reached out. “Hand me the bottle.” He shook out ten of the white pills and threw them in his mouth. Julia handed him the water bottle to chase them down, her head tilted to the side.

"No, I don't want to feel the full impact of what's coming. I want to be a hundred percent in case an opportunity arises.

Julia took two pills and swallowed them. “How often do they come to interrogate you?”

“Interrogate?” Seta’s mouth twisted. “Not once have they asked me a question. I don’t know anything. I never did. The giant pulls me out of here, beats the shit out of me, then throws me back in. There’s no rhyme or reason to it other than he gets off on it. It happens with no regularity only when the mood strikes him.”

“Great. What about escape? How many guards are outside the door?”

“Two, but…”

The door slammed open, hit Julia’s bed frame, and bounced off. The giant stepped into the room.

Mike tried to stand, but the guard behind the giant rushed forward and rammed his rifle muzzle into his chest. His chest on fire, Mike fell back onto the bed.

“You.” A baseball mitt-sized hand pointed at Seeta. “Come.”

Her mouth fell open.

The giant’s mouth curved into a smile. “Now.” He spun around and walked out.

Seeta stood. Julia touched her arm and whispered to her. Shoulders slumped, Seeta walked out the door.

The guard who’d hit Mike spat at him and shut the door.