Page 73 of Hearts of Resistance
Still she didn’t say a word, but the hairs on her back slowly prickled as she thought of Hazel and Sophia being captured.
‘Stand up!’ he barked.
She glared at him but grudgingly did what he said. She would do whatever they asked, so long as they weren’t asking her to talk.
He strode closer, the bread long gone as he wound his arm back and pummelled his fist into her stomach.
‘Arrghh,’ she cried out, hating the pained noise that escaped from her throat.
‘Tell me what I need to know,’ he said in a low voice, stroking her hair as she tried to stand from her doubled-over position. ‘Then I can be gentle with you.’
She shook her head and he punched her again. Rose doubled back over, and he hit her a third time, slamming her back against the concrete wall. Tears escaped her eyes, as she cried out, yelping in pain.
He walked away then, striding from the cell and calling over his shoulder.
‘You will talk,’ he said. ‘I am good at making women talk. Eventually.’
‘Bastard!’ She spat out the word but it came out low, barely audible, her lungs screaming as they tried to work. She gasped for air as she listened to his footsteps echo away from her, struggling to breathe, struggling to move. Struggling to stay coherent.
They couldn’t know anything; it wasn’t possible. They might get close, but there was no way they could trace her back to the chateau.
Rose shut her eyes, willing sleep to find her to take away the pain. She’d expected Kurt, knew he’d be furious that she’d deceived him, but in a way she’d expected to be able to sweet-talk him. To play on the attraction he’d had to her, beg for forgiveness, give him a few titbits of information to get him to trust her, to make it look like she was wanting to be turned.
But her captor wasn’t Kurt. And that man? She was certain he’d taken great pleasure every time his fist had connected with her body.
The shaking had stopped. When, she didn’t know, but her body had finally warmed enough to stop convulsing from the cold, her clothes no longer wet to her skin. But her feet were still like icicles, and no amount of jumping up and down or flexing and wriggling her toes had helped.
Rose sat still, ears pricked. She’d had very little contact with anyone since her arrival, but she knew there must be others in cells nearby. It was so dark where she was, the only light an old lamp in the corner. And that was only ever turned on in the short time it took them to interrogate her.
Today would be worse. They’d thrown icy water on her, pretended that they knew everything about her friends when she was certain they didn’t, flexed a few tools that were supposed to terrify her into talking for fear of them being used on her. None of that had worked, of course, which meant that today she was certain they’d start doing dreadful things to her instead of merely threatening to.
She heard footsteps, soft at first but then becoming louder. It would no doubt be the same man, the one who made her feel sick just by looking at him. Her eye was swollen from having his fist slammed into her face so many times, and her jaw ached. But it wasn’t like she was being fed anything, so at least she’d been able to rest it.
‘Bonjour, my love.’ The thick German accent made her cringe, his words making her skin crawl. She knew that was exactly the reaction he wanted, but she could barely look at him when he flicked the light on and pushed open the cell door.
‘What, not even a “good morning”?’ he asked, speaking in German now.
She sighed and stood, not wanting to be curled into a ball in a submissive position with him standing over her. She kept her back straight and her expression neutral.
‘Good morning,’ she said in perfect German.
‘Ah! She has a voice!’ he said, his sarcasm not lost on her.
She waited to see what he would say to her next.
‘Are you hungry?’
Rose nodded. There was no point lying; anyone in her position would be starving hungry. She actually had no idea how long she’d been captive, but she was certain it was long enough for Hazel and Sophia to know that something had gone terribly wrong. She thought of their safety constantly, hoped they weren’t locked in a cell somewhere, or worse. And Sebastian. Would her brother and his lovely wife still be safe? She’d been fretting about them since her capture, too. Was he still alive? Were they both safe?
‘Tell me what the codes mean,’ he said plainly. ‘All you need to do is give me something, some piece of information, and I’ll have breakfast sent down to you.’
Rose thought for a moment, wondered whether she could tell him something trivial in exchange for something to eat. If she didn’t have something soon then her energy would diminish completely, and she needed to stay physically and mentally strong.
‘I know nothing of importance,’ she replied, deciding to stay standing so she didn’t feel so inferior beside him.
‘We know you are acourier,’ he said, spitting out the word. ‘You are transporting information and devices. That means you have information to give me. You are working for someone.’
She knew there was no point flatly denying her involvement in the Resistance movement. They’d caught her with evidence. She was guilty, and there was no getting around that fact.
