She couldn't brace herself before another bucket of freezing water before it came crashing down over her, plastering her hair to her face and neck. It had her bra and panties sticking to her skin and goosebumps popping up on her reddening skin. She couldn't have imagined anything so cold in her life.
Looking up the brown eyed woman let out a shocked gasp as the cold seeped through her skin and into her muscles. She could even see her breath before her.
The air around her began to grow thin as she used all her energy to slam her hands against the glass. "No! I know it!" she begged. "Please! I know it."
Another bucket.
"Stop!" Emily let go of the chain that kept her shackled to the bottom of the vessel she had been locked inside, feeling it begin to freeze against her skin.
"Next question."
The FBI agent rammed the palms of her hands into the glass of the plexiglass cell he had created. "You think you can get away with this?" she spit out, slamming her hands down once more before covering her head as another bucket of water splashed over her. Her body wracked with tremors as the water waded just below her knees.
She knew it was in her best interest not to panic and keep her heart rate as normal as possible, but the water continued to rise.
"Is this what you did to Ashley Carter?" she asked, looking up to the speakers that surrounded her. "Catherine Baldwin? Anthony Delagarza? Did you torture them all the same way?"
"I'm the one who asks the questions."
Her leg jerked as the chain tightened, forcing her knee to bend. Closer to the ground, the water now sloshed above her knees.
She looked up when a crackle from the loudspeaker echoed around the room.
"Are you ready for your next question?"
Emily bit down hard on her bottom lip. She had been in worse situations before: held by crazier unsubs, held for longer amounts of time and even in worse physical condition. She almost died only a year ago from a table leg, for Christ's sake. But this was the first time she had been taken and tortured with water- the freezing cold water taken from the bay playing with her body temperature. She could control her emotions and compartmentalize everything she needed to, but the way her body reacted to the water couldn't be controlled.
Taking a deep breath the brunette glared at the two-way mirror where she knew he had been watching her. "You won't get the fulfillment out of watching me die of hypothermia," she stated quickly, feeling her leg muscles start to spasm. "I'll freeze in here before you get what you want."
Silence.
Remaining calm as the water continued to blue the skin of her feet Emily stared at the mirror. "You get off by watching me slowly slip under the water," she spit out, knowing by the silence in the room that she was getting to him. "You want me to drown: to take my final breath under the water and have it fill my lungs. That's what you like."
She tugged at the chain that hooked her to the floor of the chamber. "This isn't going to give you any satisfaction."
Emily heard the familiar crackle of the speaker before his voice came through.
"You know nothing."
The brunette stepped closer to the glass wall that trapped her, hearing the water she stood in sloshing as she moved. She could hear the tension in his words. "The others you trapped in here gave you what you wanted quickly, but I'm not like them. I've already been in here longer than any of them." Feeling her teeth begin to chatter she did her best to keep her mouth from opening too wide as she spoke. "The chamber was filled with water in the fifth minute or so, wasn't it? They didn't know how to answer your questions. But I do."
When she didn't receive a response she put slammed her hand against the glass. "I'll be dead in thirty if you keep going. You won't get to see me drown and you'll be left unsatisfied. It won't matter that I've died because you'll get nothing out of it."
"You know nothing."
Shivering, she prepared herself for another dousing. "I'm supposed to be the last piece to your puzzle, aren't I?" she asked, her eyes on the mirror with her arms above her head to block the impact she knew was coming. Emily could hear the water filling the bucket above her. "Without me, all you've done to get to this point will be for nothing."
When the crackle came over the loudspeaker again, the agent rushed her words to beat him. "And you can't just throw me away," she challenged. "You'll have to start all over. Four new victims. It took you almost a year to get the first two, didn't it? You're going to take all that time to retrace your steps? Really?"
Taking her arms from above her head for just a second, Emily rubbed her hands down them warmth. She couldn't hold back her shivers now. She was sure he could see her trembles now, but no voice came over the loudspeaker.
Before she could react another bucket of water fell into the chamber. Instead of the freezing water sending pricks up her skin, it was boiling hot. Emily couldn't hold back the scream that broke free from her throat.
She dropped to her knees and cupped the water around her in the palms of her hands, bringing it to the burns she could already feel forming on the crown of her head.
"You know nothing!" the voice bellowed over Emily's whimpers.
She could feel the tears pricking her eyes as she heard the water filling the bucket. Adding the hot water would keep her from freezing inside of the chamber, and it would add to the pleasure he got from watching her torture through two-way mirror.
Standing back up, Emily set her hand to the glass to help herself. She could swear she heard his laughter through the mirror.
"Next question."