When Alexis slowly ca to, the first feeling that greeted her was the painful ache of hunger, a huge emptiness that seed to hollow out her belly like she had not eaten anything in weeks but she recalled having coconut rice and stead fish with her boyfriend.
Her mouth felt dry, her lips parched and cracked, and her tongue heavy and unresponsive. She tried to lift a hand to her face, but it was stuck. Did she drink?
Alexis tried again but it was as if her hands were bound by sothing.
She rubbed against it. It felt like a rope, a rough rope that chafed against her wrists.
She was tied up.
Calm down! Calm down! She was Alexis Russel. She was calm, she was collected, she was in control but no matter how she spoke the words in her mind, she could not take hold.
Like a sea, the waves of panic began to stir, fluttering in her chest like a trapped bird. She wanted to speak, but her voice was barely a whisper, very hoarse like sandpaper against oak wood.
Alexis struggled, taking a deep breath. The air was stale and musty, filled with the scent of damp earth.
Was she underground? She was lying on a hard, cold surface, and as she shifted, she felt the rough texture of concrete beneath her.
Alexis began to struggle, she could not see, she could not see anyone. As she moved, the blindfold that covered her eyes seed to tighten, pressing against her eyelids, heavy and alone.
"Help." She scratched out of her throat. The imminent situation dawned on her.
She was trapped, helpless, and alone.
The silence in the room was oppressive. All she could hear was the sound of her own pained breathing.
Summoning all her courage, she. strained her ears, trying to pick up any hint of her captor’s presence, but there was nothing. No footsteps, no whispers, no hint of human presence. Just the darkness, and the silence accompanied and the weight of her own fear that was getting heavier each mont.
Alexis, calm down. Think.
Taking a deep breath, she began to piece together the fragnts of her mory. The last thing she rembered was walking back to the dorm after her dinner, she had a eting with so of the Earth-Aid committee. And then...nothing. She had no idea how long she’d been here, or where "here" was.
Suddenly, Alexis began to feel the vibrations of footsteps, muffled and distant, but growing louder.
She swallowed, trying to move but the bounds were just too tight. Her heart raced, pounding in her chest like a drum.
The sound of the door opening echoed in her ears and various footsteps beca louder along with the visible presence of people.
More than one? Two? Three?
Even as other footsteps paused, one continued, so kind of boots that pounded on her heart rather than the floor.
Thump! Thump!
A presence lood over her and she felt a cold chill run down her spine, this person was dangerous, not in the cold kind at all. She tensed, waiting for...sothing.
Anything. But nothing happened, the silence stretched more than she wished for and she moistened her dry mouth, waiting to beg, to plead for her life when a cold hand touched her chin, the finger tracing down her neck and lifting her face up.
"Aren’t you a pretty little thing?" The taut thread vibrating with tension seed to be broken by a low and gravelly voice.
Cold dread washed over her and Alexis felt like the greasy finger on her chin was leaving a stain on her, she wanted to struggle to push him away but she did not move.
Stay calm. Alexis. If you are calm, you will survive.
She did not feel like this person was one of those people she and her committee liked to trouble because of their cruelty to animals. This person seed more dangerous, her whole body, her whole mind was telling her to be careful, to stay still.
"A brave one, isn’t she? I wonder if you would be just as brave when..."
"Victor. Have so self-control, she is a child." A female voice said not far from where Alexis was.
A woman. Alexis felt a stirring of hope.
"She is pretty. She is my type." The man said, his hand leaving a trail down her neck.
Alexis was afraid that even if she washed her neck a million tis, she might never clean the mark of this touch.
"Girl." It was a different woman’s voice. This one had the finality of one in command, cold with the notion that she expects to be obeyed at all tis, "How old are you?"
Alexis’ heart pounded and she raised her head, "Seventeen. Please, I would never say anything. Please let go. I would not say anything, I swear."
"Your presence here is integral to my plans. As long as you behave, I would let you go but if you misbehave, you are not that important. Nova, why did you bring her to the eting room, take her, and tie her soplace else? Victor, don’t touch her. Helena, Get the board."
Soone pulled her up, carrying her as if she had no weight. It was a woman.
As they left the door, she begged her, "Please let go. I would not tell anyone, please."
"Just shut up!" Nova threw her into the corner of the room and took out two syringes.
She jabbed them into her skin and Alexis felt the darkness behind her blindfold taking hold of her. She closed her eyes and drifted away.
Nova swore and threw the empty syringes into the bin, turning and leaving the room. She returned to the eting room, and Helena turned to look at her.
She hated the way she looked at her, like she was so foolish, lost child. One day, she would show her.
At that mont soone materialized from the shadows. He was lean and had a wiry build. His black hair was cropped short and his brown eyes had no distinct light in them.
"None of the team mbers in the Davenport Police Bureau knows about the Kyanos diamond except [t one. Their team captain, he has been hanging out with Vega and had four etings with the Chief today. The Heroes of the Georgiou families all go to Delphina to take an oath. If they divulged any sensitive information of the Georgiou family then they would be dead but the Captain can not swear the oath. He must have signed an NDA."
"What is the na of the Captain?" The priestess asked.
"Arlen Sinclair."
Helena’s fingers moved without stopping on the keyboard in front of her. She froze and looked at Kadia.
’What is it?" Nova asked, creeping closer.
Helena looked at the empty screen and her fingers moved again. After a minute, she shook her head, "There is no record of him in any of the databases. It says her that he was transferred from the Capital, Elyria district but there is no record of him on the police force. No dical records, military assessnt, or even social dia presence."
"Is he a spy or sothing?"
"Fucking grow up, this is real life." Victor spat from the corner.
"Don’t talk to her like that," Helena said, setting.
"Oh! Look. It is the knight in shining armor. Please save ." Victor mocked.
Kadia sighed, a low sigh, "None of you are indispensable. If any of you argue again and compromise this mission. I will kill you and I will hunt your families down and kill them."
Her voice was quiet and everywhere echoed their silence.
"This Arlen, we do not have enough ti to start digging his weakness online. Fluxx, he might not have had a life before Davenport but he has a life here. I need to know everything about him, what he eats, where he stays, who he likes, those he cares about. Everything. If he blinks twice at soone, I want to know who and where."
Fluxx nodded once, "He was talking to soone last night but I did not catch the person’s na. I will find out after the eting."
"Victor and Nova?" Kadia asked.
"We found the little shit. You can not believe he is going to the library. The library, that god-forsaken thrall." At that mory, he chuckled, his voice tinted with malice.
"He even made so friends. How cute." Nova added. "We took so pictures, where..." She searched and then gave it to Helena here.
Helena projected the image of the screen, looking at it with absolute disbelief. The thrall she knew was malnourished, wearing clothes that could not even be classified as rags, his head down and an expressionless face.
This person was even taller, with a hint of baby fat on his cheeks, he wore a soft sweater and shorts, carrying a book. His shoulders were raised high and he was smiling, eyes filled with laughter.
She had been with the Phantom for six years and she had never seen him smile.
Even the Priestess who looked up could not stifle the look of surprise in her eyes.
"Wait! That man. Zoom in on him." Fluxx suddenly said.
Helena fought back the disgust in her eyes when she saw Victor swallow, licking his lips.
"That was the man with Arlen, the Captain. I think they are lovers." Fluxx announced.
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