Page 12 of Empowered

“Does he know how you’ve been treated here?”

“Yes. He’s just as evil as Tarun so I’m sure he doesn’t care.” Salena’s sagged. It couldn’t have been easy knowing your father didn’t mind you were being kept as someone’s personal punching bag.

I decided to change the topic. We had more important matters at hand than discussing her poor excuse of a father. “So, you said a handmaid went with you last time you visited the temple?”

“Yes, men aren’t allowed in the area of the temple that I prayed in, so Tarun made Noor escort me in case I tried to run away. She’s the maid who helps me dress.”

“You mean when the guards take you out of your cell?” I had always wondered where she went when they took her away for hours almost every day.

“Most of the time it’s for daily grooming, but other times I have to visit Tarun.” Her tone implied that there was more to the visit than small talk. My heart broke for her. I was lucky to have avoided being raped while here. I thought Tarun had spared me from that type of hell because I was useful to him in other ways, but Salena hadn’t been so lucky.

“I promise you we’re going to get out of here.” My voice strong with confidence. I had to believe it to protect my sanity. “You said that Noor wears a burkah?”

“Yes, she’s a very conservative Muslim. Tarun mostly has Hindu and Sikh women working for him, but lucky for us, she is one of the few Muslims here and wears all black fabric that covers her face. You can disguise yourself with her clothes and no one will suspect it’s you unless they check your cell.”

I wasn’t sure how I’d go about getting Noor’s clothes. I knew that she’d be waiting for Salena in front of the garage in a few hours before they left for the temple in the car. Salena helped me fill in the gaps I had in my mental map of the house. I just needed to figure out how to get out of my cell and get to Noor without anyone else seeing me. I stowed the rope away under the bench in my cell just as Salena had so no one could see it if they just glanced around.

After reaching the temple, I would need to get to Mount Road and find Mongoose Inc. I prayed that the directions that Salena remembered were correct. My hope was that one of Shyam’s men would have eyes on the factory and take photos of me. If all went as planned, the photo would trigger the facial-recognition system as soon as it was uploaded to the cloud.

That was another issue. Hopefully, all surveillance photos would be set to upload to the cloud automatically; otherwise, the software wouldn’t work.

My plan after that was to hide out nearby. My red hair and light skin made me stand out in India. I’d have to stay in my disguise so Tarun’s men wouldn’t find me.

I worried about what Tarun would do to Salena when he found out I had escaped. I couldn’t take her with me because she had a tracker in her ankle. Tarun had injected one into her before her first outing to the temple. We had planned for her to stay at the temple alone, so no one suspected anything was off. Hopefully, they’d believe that she had nothing to do with me escaping. We agreed that I would come back to get her from the mansion once I had Shyam’s men as reinforcements. It wasn’t a solid plan at all, but we had to make it work somehow. We wouldn’t get another opportunity like this.

As we expected, a guard came to escort Salena away. She would be taken away for about an hour before leaving the palace to be groomed and dressed for the temple. I waited several minutes to make sure Salena was upstairs and hopefully being attended by Noor as she dressed.

I grabbed the rope from the underside of the bench, and I wrapped it on itself a few times to ensure it would be strong enough to handle what I was about to use it for. Tucking it into the waistband of my pants, I adjusted my top over it fully cover any evidence of what I was hiding. I was glad that this style of outfit included a loose-fitting top. It was easy to disguise something under it.

I approached the bars of my cage, willing my hands to stop shaking from nerves. I took a deep and steadying breath to calm myself down.

Smoothing my hand over my cheek, I felt the thick scab that had formed where Tarun had sliced my cheek open. I felt the bumpy ridges of the tough sheathing.

My nails hadn’t been groomed since I had been taken, so they were a lot longer than usual. I dug them under the scab and ripped it off. It crumbled off in pieces, so I had to try multiple times to remove all of it. Tears sprang to my eyes and I squeezed them shut against the pain. At last, my cheek felt wet, signifying success. I rubbed my fingers over it and examined the liquid. Blood, but not nearly as much as I had hoped for. Taking another deep breath, I used my nails to scratch the cut open even further, digging deep inside. I was sure it would become infected from shoving my dirty nails into it, but it was a small price to pay.

My stomach turned from the sensation, and I was already queasy from the pain. I would throw up if I thought too hard about what I was doing, so I just focused on my breathing.Inhale. Exhale.Warm liquid oozed down my face, dripping onto my clothes. That was surely enough for what I needed.

I grabbed the bars and shook them, “Guard! Guard!”

A short, stocky man hurried to the cell. Panic set into his eyes as he saw blood splashed all over me.

“Please! Help me!” I begged, letting the tears spill from my eyes. I needed to convince him that I was truly freaked out.

He opened the gate and rushed inside, leaving the gate open.

“What is the meaning of this?” he shouted, not knowing what to do.

I sobbed loudly. “My wounded opened up again! I don’t know how!” My reaction was mostly genuine because I was in excruciating pain. The guard looked around for anything to use as an aid, his head bobbing around like a caged chicken.

“The handkerchief,” I shouted as I clutched my cheek. I pointed to the bloodied one that Tarun had given to me days ago, neatly folded on the bench behind me.

He eyed me with suspicion, not moving for fear it was a trick. “Please!” I screamed.

That got him to fulfill my request. He turned his back to me and rushed to the far end of my cell to retrieve the cloth.

I slipped my hand under the back of my top and into the waistband of my pants, feeling for the rope. My heart was pounding through my chest, but I forced myself to move quickly behind the guard as he bent over to pick up the fabric. My bare feet fell silently on the concrete. Before he could stand up straight, I slid the folded rope over his head and pulled it as tight as I could around his neck. He made choking sounds as he tried to pull it off his neck. His knees gave out bringing both of us to the ground. The ends of the rope started slipping out of my sweaty grasp as he fought against me. I pulled harder, with everything I had, my biceps burning from the struggle. Sick gurgling filled the cell as his body crouched to the floor. I thrashed along with his every move, never letting up on the noose. Suddenly, his hands went limp and he toppled to the ground, his body no longer moving. His eyes were wide, staring up at the ceiling.

Fuck.I was in shock over having had just killed someone. This was the plan all along but now that it had happened, I felt myself start to shake uncontrollably.Breathe, Becker.I reminded myself to focus and that it was not the time to give into panic.

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