I don´t own any of the characters, besides my own. Roughly based on the happenings in MATB, for those who don´t read it (can totally understand why) here comes just a short summary: Mark is heading to a travelling job not long after Mabel´s birth -that´s it...won´t go into details of the book.

All typos are mine, so are the grammar mistakes. If you stumble across anything please don´t hesitate to inform me.

First Chapter, in which Mark makes a cruel discovery but wins a new friend

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He barely could see anything in the dark room of the small shed he was lead to. It was dusty and the air was muggy. He could hardly breathe. They closed the door and someone shouted something in an Arabic language.

Slowly his eyes got used to the minimum of light which fell through a small rectangle hole in the wall. In the middle of the room he could identify a small wooden table, probably not higher as his knee. He turned to his right and felt his way along the wall to the edge he could detect. Suddenly a sickening smell fulfiled the air.

"I would stop if I were you." A sudden voice warned him. He stopped and tried to figure out who had spoken to him. It was clearly a woman according to the sound. "May I ask why and above all where you are?" he asked trying to keep his voice low. He could hear someone rise in the opposite corner and walking in his direction. Suddenly two pair of small hands touched him and led him away from the horrible smell. She led him below the window and finally he could see his opponent.

It was a young woman, maybe 23 or 25 years old. She had dark brown hair which was short cut and stuck out in all directions. A broad smile formed on her face.
"Finally some company. Sorry that I didn´t introduced myself. I am Emilia Fischer. Nice to meet you, in spite of the unfortunate circumstances in which we are." He nodded. "Darcy, Mark Darcy." She nodded too.

"Excuse me Emilia," he asked not quite sure he got her surname right. "Where are we and why are we here." She sighted and dropped herself down on the floor. She gestured him to do the same and Mark sat down on the sandy floor.
"I assume you are here because of the same reasons as I am, maybe because you have some important information for them or about them. Or you are useful in another way, even just being a hostage."

Despite the hot air a cold shiver ran down his spine. "Hostage?" he tried to understand but clearly he still missed some pieces.

Emilia looked at him. "How did you come here Mark?"
"A Jeep. It should pick me up and bring me to the airport but we were separated from the other group. So we drove to this camp and…" Knowledge trickled slowly and tenaciously into his consciousness, disgusting and sticky like tar. Emilia looked at him commiserative. "I was tricked. They were tricked. We were tricked! I must warn them." He jumped up. How could he have been so naïve? He was a bloody barrister and should have seen the signs. "How do I get out of here?" His heart started to pound as if it would jump out of his chest and his breaths would start to get short and unsteady.

Emilia pulled him down and took his face into her hands. "Mark look at me!" She commanded. "You are having a panic attack. You need to calm down. We are counting together. On one you are breathing in and on three you release your breath." She started counting and Mark breathed according to her counting. When his breathing started to normalise Emilia let him go and leaned her head against the white wall closing her eyes.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I assume your friends are already dead. At least thats what happened with my group. And there is no way out of this room except for this little door." She nodded towards the door he came in.
It seemed like hours ago since he entered this shed, and so probably his worst nightmare.

"May I ask a question?" Mark said looking at the young woman next to him. She nodded. "How long have you been in here?"

She opened her eyes and stared into the distance. "I dont know maybe three months, maybe half a year, maybe even more. I tried to count the days but its hard to keep track you know." Suddenly he felt a tear rolling down his cheek. He tried to wipe it away but more tears started tow flow. He would probably never see his wife or his children. How could he leave them? How was he able to leave his family when his family was his world? Emilia hugged him tightly.
"Its okay, as long as you dont lose your hope you´re still alive." He calmed down slowly. "How?" he asked. Emilia shrugged. "You just keep going. I mean at the beginning it is pretty easy and you start trying to find a way to escape. And then it just starts to be an endless fight against the doubt. I just kept thinking of my loved ones. That helped." Mark nodded. He leaned his head against the wall and both of them stared into nothing thinking about their situation.

They sat together on the dusty ground in a pleasant silence, busy with their own thoughts. Mark though about Bridget and how this could have happened. He regretted leaving her so early after the birth and he regretted that he hadnt told her more often how much he loved her and how much she and their children meant to him.

"Okay tell me about yourself Mark." Emilia said, tearing him from his thoughts. "Well, you already know my name. I am a human rights lawyer and I live in the UK together with my wife and my children. What about you? Why are you here?" he tried to keep his personal information as little as possible. He still didnt knew how well he could trust her. Sure shes been helpful and all. But that could also be a disguise.
"Let me see where I begin. I am a journalist. Well actually the assistant of a journalist who wrote for a German magazine. I am living in Germany and have no kids but quite a few godchildren. How I end up here? My story is similar to yours. We were on our way to the next city, he, the journalist that is, wanted to update the magazine and had an important TV appearance for the news. But we never got there. They took us both as hostages and killed the soldiers who were in our vehicle. Eventually they beheaded him and a few other journalists who were here. I was forced to upload the video clip of it, into the internet...maybe that is the reason why I am still here. Still useful. "She laughed a joyous laugh. "So you are coming from Germany?" Mark asked. Emilia nodded. "Very obvious because of the last name" she said. Mark chuckled and said: "Certainly not because of the accent. Your English is very well, I though you would come from maybe Sweden or Norway." Emilia blushed. "Thank you. It took me quite a while until I managed the `th´." She laughed. "Luckily I always had good English teachers." "And where exactly do you live in Germany?" Mark asked. "Used to live in the southern part, you know…Bavaria where every river contains beer and everyone is dressed in Lederhosen, but I moved to Berlin, due to the job." "You are kidding?" asked Mark.
He never been directly in Bavaria but he couldnt imagine that it was like this. "Yes I am" Emilia smiled. ". Even some Germans believed me when I said that but it´s just funny to shock everyone with this and humour is very important in here." Mark laughed. "And where exactly are you living in the UK? I mean its still a big country." Emilia asked. "London." Mark answered. "Ever been there?" Emilia shook her head and said: "Unfortunately not. But it is still on my list of places I would love to see." Mark smiled. "Maybe one day you have the possibility."

Emilia smiled too. "Maybe."