Page 78 of Rescuing Nathaniel

“I can tell by your heartrate that you're awake, may as well stop pretending otherwise,” a cold voice spoke.

Ava hadn't been pretending, she’d just been panicking. Imagining all the horrible ways these people could exact their revenge for her putting a huge dent in their business.

Someone stepped closer to her and a thumb pressed roughly against one of her eyelids, forcing it open.

With a strangled squeak, her other eye popped open as well and she took in her surroundings. Confirmation that her worst fears really had become a reality.

It was like déjà vu. She was in a sterile white room. Lying on a hospital bed as she looked down her body and she saw her clothes had been removed and she was in a hospital gown, but there was no blanket covering her. Which meant she could see the thick leather restraints securing her ankles and wrists to the sides of the bed.

An IV had been set up, and she could see machines standing around her bed, attached to her body, and a thin tube running from between her legs to a bag hooked up to the end of her bed. She was prepped and ready for whatever organ they planned on stealing from her next.

Only one other person was in her room besides the one standing at her bedside, who had to be a doctor if the outfit he was wearing was anything to go by. But the other person wasn't dressed in scrubs. Instead, the woman wore a black skirt suit, her dark blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun, making her narrow face appear even thinner. She had on a pair of frameless glasses, and beneath them a pair of hazel eyes studied her in a way that made Ava squirm. Well squirm as much as she could while tied to a bed.

With slow, measured steps, the woman approached the bed.

It took everything Ava had but she didn't back down or look away, she maintained the woman’s gaze even though she was sure she was going to wind up regretting it.

This woman had to be the person in charge, the head of the trafficking ring, or at least one of them. That the woman had taken the time to come here directly to Ava’s room meant they all knew what she’d cost the ring, and it was evident that she was indeed going to be punished for it.

“How did you do it?” the woman asked, her voice sweet, melodious, and not at all what Ava had been expecting.

“Do what? Escape?” When the woman nodded, she answered, she could see no benefit in holding back the information. Regardless of whether she told them the truth or lied, security was going to be tightened going forward. Not only would she not be given a second chance to escape but nobody else would be given one either. “They didn't secure me after an examination because they were called about some sort of emergency.”

For a long moment the woman said nothing, just stood there obviously pondering what her next move was going to be.

Finally, she inclined her head in a small nod. “Thank you for your candor.”

Was she supposed to say you're welcome? It seemed inappropriate given that she hadn't told the truth for any other reason than there seemed no benefit to lying. So she settled on not responding, just lay there and waited for her fate to be pronounced.

“I’m sure you understand that I cannot let this infraction pass. You cost me millions when I had to cut my losses in case you were able to tell authorities enough to lead them to us. We already have buyers lined up ready to purchase your remaining organs, and I'm sure you understand that I’m going to need to give them what they paid for as quickly as possible. Already you’ve cost us days, and in this business, time is money. I have a team coming here in twelve hours and we’ll begin. You won't be given an anesthetic for the procedures. Normally, I would have denied pain relief, but as time is of the essence there won't be recovery time between surgeries, my surgeons will be taking everything at once. I must make an example of you. I cannot have our other assets believing that escape is a possibility.”

The woman said that last part almost apologetically, but Ava was still stuck on the fact that she had little more than twelve hours to live.

It wasn't enough time.

There was no way Prey would be able to find her within twelve hours plus however long it took for surgeons to remove each one of her organs and prepare it for transfer to its new owner. While she had zero doubt that Prey knew by now that she was gone, and would be doing everything within their power to find her, it couldn’t be done that quickly. Last time she’d been gone for weeks, and they’d had no idea where she was.

So this was it.

How she was going to die.

As the woman turned to walk away, Ava realized there was one more question she wanted an answer to. In the scheme of things, it didn't really matter but nonetheless she wanted to know.

“How did you find me again?”

Pausing, the woman looked over her shoulder at Ava. “We tag our product when it first comes in. Not that we expected one to ever escape, but we have a lot of product spread out through several bases and its quicker and easier to be able to tag it all and know which base each one is at so we can move quickly. I'm sure you understand that this is a time sensitive business.”

With that, the woman turned and walked out of the room leaving Ava staring after her. Never in her life had she felt less human than she did right now.

Twelve hours.

Unless she got a miracle in twelve hours she would suffer an excruciating death.

* * *

March 9th

1:11 A.M.

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