Title: A TRIP TO AFGHANISTAN V
HARD ROAD AHEAD
Series: A Trip to Afghanistan
Author: Piper86
Email: improvkris@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (adult situations)
Classification: Harm/Mac pairing, JAG story
Spoilers: In Country, Lifeline, Enemy Below
CHAPTER V: HARD ROAD AHEAD
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
CRITICAL CARE WARD
Empty space. Machines once alive and noisy standing silent, forming an aura around the space where her bed had been. Harmon Rabb stood silently, his eyes taking in the void before him. His chair still stood sentry by the windows. He closed his eyes, letting out a long, slow breath.
So hard to wait.
Wrapping his arms around his chest, he crossed to the window. Gazing outside for what seemed like the first time in years, he watched the people coming and going below him. Wondering briefly what brought them here. Too tired to really care.
He tried to concentrate on the last 48 hours, since Mac had regained consciousness. The doctors had been unwilling to remove the ventilator, so she had been unable to speak. Harm had never left her side. The staff had forced him to eat something once ... or was it twice? Details swirled like fog in his mind. The only clear picture was Mac.
Surgeons Nathan Caldwell and Meaghan Davis had met with Mac the previous day. They were part of Bethesda's best surgical trauma team, and Harm found them both to be caring, knowledgeable people.
The two doctors had spoken with Mac about the surgery she needed. The infection in her back was finally under control, and they felt she was indeed stable enough to proceed. But there were always risks. The length of time they had had to wait was of great concern. The trauma her body had endured, and while she had improved, she was still very weak. Her right hand was sketchy at best. And the possibility of complications...
Mac had listened intently to the each doctor's long list of potential disasters. Reaching out to touch Harm's hand, she had looked at him, eyes searching his. He could hear her voice in his head.
Should I?
Harm had taken her hand, squeezing it gently, and nodded to her. Blinking back tears, she had nodded her consent to the doctors.
Final preparations had begun immediately. They had brought in consent forms, which Mac had tried to sign but did not have the strength in her good arm. Harm had signed for her using his medical proxy.
Four hours ago, they had come in to wheel her bed to the surgical ward. Their eyes had locked as they disconnected everything but the ventilator. Never breaking his gaze, Harm had watched her disappear down the hallway, nodding to her that everything was going to be all right.
Four hours. The surgeons told him it may take as long as ten.
So hard to wait.
At first, he had tried to keep busy. He attempted to locate Bud, figuring he would be somewhere in the hospital. He discovered that Bud had been transferred to a rehabilitation unit in Maryland. Harm had contacted the Admiral to get an update on Bud's condition. It was rough going, the Admiral said, but Bud was working hard and Harriet was right there with him.
The Admiral had gingerly inquired about Mac, and Harm heard his own voice cracking as he filled in the details. Harm had promised to keep everyone updated as soon as there was any word. He asked the Admiral to send his love to Bud and Harriet, with a promise he would visit as soon as possible.
That being done, he had wandered the halls for a while, lost in thought. His body switched over to autopilot, guiding him back to Mac's room without any conscious effort on his part. There he'd come face to face with the too quiet, too empty room.
At some point, the staff had placed a cot in the room for him. He couldn't even remember when, it seemed like it had always been there for him. He stretched out on it now, his mind filled with visions of Mac, strong and healthy again. His eyes began to fight him. It had been days since he'd allowed himself to sleep. Now, with nothing to do but wait, his body demanded compensation. His body shuddered briefly as his lids closed, and he felt himself begin to drift off.
For the first time since their capture by the Taliban, Harm slept peacefully.
This time, the dreams did not come.
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
SURGERY ROOM 2
SAME TIME
Four hours into the operation, and the surgeons continued to work. They had started with the patient's internal injuries. Their first priority was to assess her damaged lung. Her ribs were broken in four places along her right side, and each break had punctured her lung.
Dr. Caldwell, the thoracic surgeon leading this phase of the operation, swore silently to himself. The lung tissue had been without oxygen for days now. It had already started to atrophy. It would have to come out. His brow furrowed as he worked. This woman was a Marine, he knew, and he felt a pang of empathy for her. Many people functioned normally in the world with one lung. But for a Marine...what would be left of her career?
He shook the thought away and focused on the task at hand. He glanced up at the monitors, asking his team for a report on her status.
So far, so good.
Once he extricated the lung, team member Meaghan Davis took the lead. She proceeded to open the patient's abdomen for an exploratory. She found evidence of massive blunt trauma. Dr. Davis carefully searched for evidence of puncture or rupture. Her stomach, liver, and intestine had been bruised but remained intact. Her spleen was discolored and distended, threatening rupture. Dr. Davis decided to remove it.
She ran the patient's bowel, again finding no evidence of rupture.
One of the monitors beeped, causing Dr. Davis to look up. The patient's blood pressure had dropped, but not drastically. She ordered infusion of two more units, and waited until the pressure started to rise again. She then resumed her work.
-------
Through all of this, Sarah MacKenzie floated in dreams. Her last thoughts before the anesthetic took over had been of Harm, his face fading as she was wheeled down the corridor away from him. And it was Harm that occupied her dreams now.
She found herself back in the desert, alone with Harm under a sky full of stars. Air strikes coming towards them. A mad scramble from their position towards a cave and refuge. Mac leading the way, Harm pushing from behind. She tumbled through the cave entrance, the scene shifting...
She landed on the steps of the Admiral's porch. She looked up at the stars, now thick swirls in the sky, rotating back and forth. She blinked, and felt a hand on her shoulder. Warmth spread over her skin from the touch, and she knew without seeing that it was Harm.
He took her hand, pulling her up onto the porch. Her purse was in his hand. He reached out, offering it to her. She extended her hand to take it, only to find it had disappeared and she had grasped his arm instead. He pulled them close, starting to dance with her. The porch railing moved and swayed with them ... blurring, shifting, until it became the Admiral's living room.
They continued to dance, her eyes lifting to lock with his. Everyone in the room surrounded them, applauding. The Admiral, Gunny, Tiner, Bud and Harriet, Singer. Even Mic and Renee. She smiled at them all, laying her head against Harm's shoulder.
Her eyes caught Turner's, standing with Bobbi Latham by the fireplace. He winked and nodded to her.
Her eyes swept the room again, this time finding Gunny in his Marine fatigues, dirt and sweat on his face. A ragged looking beard sprouted along his jaw line. He was cradling a woman's body in his arms. He looked up at her, still smiling.
Mac felt a little strange. She continued to hold onto Harm, dancing. Her gaze found Bud and Harriet, who had joined them on the dance floor. They both beamed at her, floating gracefully together. The Admiral approached them, handing something to Harriet. She took it and continued the dance. Mac could see it was part of a leg. Harriet held onto it by the boot, the tattered edges of the pant leg rustling as they moved. Mac looked down, seeing Bud dancing effortlessly on one leg.
She gripped Harm by the shoulders, looking up at him. Instantly they were on the porch, her lips meeting his in a heated kiss. She sighed into him, feeling his hands stroking her back. Stars drifted down into the trees, lighting the darkness surrounding the porch. She could feel the intensity of the light through her closed eyelids.
The bright light shifted, evolving into sporadic flashes. She opened her eyes, once more in a cave. The flashes were coming from the air strikes around them. At some point they had built a small fire, whose light flickered and danced on the cave walls. Harm still held her in his arms, his shirt and tie now a set of khaki fatigues. She could still feel his hands on her back. He stared into her eyes, his head pressing forward.
Their lips met again, even more feverishly than before. She opened her mouth to his tongue, feeling it exploring, wanting. Her hands now pressed against the bare skin of his chest, both their shirts somehow cast aside.
She felt his warm hands caressing her bare skin, her heartbeat starting to race. His thumbs brushing over her sensitive breasts. His mouth traveling down the side of her neck. She arched her back towards him, lost in sensation.
The fire continued to flicker, giving a loud popping sound as a larger piece of firewood split in two. Flames leapt up again, devouring the newly exposed wood. The shadows continued to dance along the walls.
They were both completely naked, all of their clothing magically spread out underneath them. She was on the ground now, lying on her back. Harm lay on his side above her. His hand slowly stroked up and down her skin. His lips brushed along her jaw, as his fingers lazily teased her aching flesh.
She was breathing rapidly, electricity coursing through her. Her hips began to move, lifting slightly as his hand drifted lower, over her stomach. Her legs took on a life of their own, bending and moving in reaction to his hands. She could feel his desire as his lower body pressed against her thigh. She could taste his wanting in his kiss. Her skin was hot, she wanted him just as badly.
His mouth broke from hers, and slowly worked along her neckline to her collarbone. Torturously moving lower still, taking his time. Her fingers threaded into his hair, holding on as his lips and tongue worked magic on her.
-------
Dr. Caldwell had finally finished with the patient's chest cavity, completing the final suturing. He turned his attention to Dr. Davis' work, peering into the abdomen.
Dr. Davis had almost completed her inspection. She had moved into the lower abdomen, and as Dr. Caldwell watched, she did a random check of the uterus. What she found was curious ... It was distended, maybe two or three times the normal size. She looked up at Dr. Caldwell.
"Nate, any indication that she may be pregnant?"
"No, nothing in the history, and the pre-op blood test shows negative."
Davis knitted her brow as she gently probed, feeling very little give. She asked for a scalpel, and made an incision in the uterine wall. Dr. Caldwell moved in closer, at the ready. What they saw alarmed them both.
"DAMN it!" Dr. Davis muttered. A huge blood clot had appeared through the opening. She quickly opened the uterus further, trying to determine its size and origin.
It was the size of a grapefruit, and filled the patient's uterus completely. It looked like it may have entered part of the fallopian tubes as well. Dr. Davis cursed under her breath, asking Dr. Caldwell to assist. A blood clot this size meant a bleeder, somewhere. And they had to find it.
-------
Mac continued to revel in Harm's touch. His mouth and hands exploring her. She was moaning, whispering his name over and over. His teasing fingers slowly reached their final destination, and she felt waves of heat wash over her, crying out his name. Her hands wrapped around his upper arms, trying to anchor herself in the storm he had created.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, she turned her head to look at him. The firelight danced in his eyes. She could tell he was very pleased with himself. She gave him a wide grin and pulled his head down to hers, kissing him deeply. She had to pull away more quickly than she would have liked, still short of breath.
-------
Davis and Caldwell carefully excised the blood clot, and blood almost immediately began to fill the uterus again. The clot had stemmed the bleeding, saving her from slowly bleeding to death. Now the two surgeons followed the line of blood to try and find the source. Dr. Davis ordered more units of blood, knowing they had to keep the patient's volume up until they found the source.
-------
Mac lay on her side, facing the fire. Harm was pressed against her back, arms around her. His mouth at the back of her neck. Her face flushed from heat and exertion. She felt him pulling her onto her back, leaning over her. She watched as he moved his body, settling between her legs. Her eyes never left his as he crossed their last boundary, making her complete.
---------
"I need constant suction here, we can't see what we're after!" Caldwell shouted to his team.
Blood continued to fill the uterine cavity, as the two surgeons worked frantically to stop the bleeding.
"There it is! I see it!!" Davis called for sutures, intent on sealing off the offending vein.
"Meaghan, it's the ..."
"I know! I know! But her life has to take precedence, Nate. C'mon, you know we've got to do it."
Caldwell nodded, knowing they had no choice. He took control of the suction as Davis focused on the delicate work in front of her...
-------
Mac had never felt so alive. She lay underneath Harm, the embers of the fire glowing on his skin. They slowly parted, he lifted up, supporting himself on his arms as he did so. Once more they kissed, his mouth deep and hungry on hers. He stretched out alongside her again, his hand resuming it's travels on her upper body. She felt his palm warm on her abdomen. Then she felt pressure. His gentle kiss became more and more intense, finally bruising and harsh.
She pushed against his chest, and he drew away from her, his hand still pressing down on her abdomen. She gripped his arm with her hands, looking up at him. Not understanding.
And then she saw it.
The dying fire cast a hardness on his features. The eyes looking back at her were no longer Harm's. There was no light to them. She cried out as the hand pressed harder, and the now smiling face came closer. She looked deeper, and saw only shadows behind those eyes.
She froze, remembering the shadow that had sung to her in the blackness. It had come again, this time using her own desires against her. Its hand held her abdomen in an iron grip. It looked out at her from Harm's face.
The cave began to curl and spin around them. The movement made her stomach churn. The cave dissolved and she was back in the Taliban interrogation room.
Harm was gone. The Taliban leader stood in front of her naked form, pressing her against the wall. She knew it wasn't really him. The shadows dancing across his face told her that.
She cried out as the hand pressed into her flesh, entering her abdomen.
And as blackness surged up to claim her, the shadow once more began to sing.
HARD ROAD AHEAD
Series: A Trip to Afghanistan
Author: Piper86
Email: improvkris@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (adult situations)
Classification: Harm/Mac pairing, JAG story
Spoilers: In Country, Lifeline, Enemy Below
CHAPTER V: HARD ROAD AHEAD
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
CRITICAL CARE WARD
Empty space. Machines once alive and noisy standing silent, forming an aura around the space where her bed had been. Harmon Rabb stood silently, his eyes taking in the void before him. His chair still stood sentry by the windows. He closed his eyes, letting out a long, slow breath.
So hard to wait.
Wrapping his arms around his chest, he crossed to the window. Gazing outside for what seemed like the first time in years, he watched the people coming and going below him. Wondering briefly what brought them here. Too tired to really care.
He tried to concentrate on the last 48 hours, since Mac had regained consciousness. The doctors had been unwilling to remove the ventilator, so she had been unable to speak. Harm had never left her side. The staff had forced him to eat something once ... or was it twice? Details swirled like fog in his mind. The only clear picture was Mac.
Surgeons Nathan Caldwell and Meaghan Davis had met with Mac the previous day. They were part of Bethesda's best surgical trauma team, and Harm found them both to be caring, knowledgeable people.
The two doctors had spoken with Mac about the surgery she needed. The infection in her back was finally under control, and they felt she was indeed stable enough to proceed. But there were always risks. The length of time they had had to wait was of great concern. The trauma her body had endured, and while she had improved, she was still very weak. Her right hand was sketchy at best. And the possibility of complications...
Mac had listened intently to the each doctor's long list of potential disasters. Reaching out to touch Harm's hand, she had looked at him, eyes searching his. He could hear her voice in his head.
Should I?
Harm had taken her hand, squeezing it gently, and nodded to her. Blinking back tears, she had nodded her consent to the doctors.
Final preparations had begun immediately. They had brought in consent forms, which Mac had tried to sign but did not have the strength in her good arm. Harm had signed for her using his medical proxy.
Four hours ago, they had come in to wheel her bed to the surgical ward. Their eyes had locked as they disconnected everything but the ventilator. Never breaking his gaze, Harm had watched her disappear down the hallway, nodding to her that everything was going to be all right.
Four hours. The surgeons told him it may take as long as ten.
So hard to wait.
At first, he had tried to keep busy. He attempted to locate Bud, figuring he would be somewhere in the hospital. He discovered that Bud had been transferred to a rehabilitation unit in Maryland. Harm had contacted the Admiral to get an update on Bud's condition. It was rough going, the Admiral said, but Bud was working hard and Harriet was right there with him.
The Admiral had gingerly inquired about Mac, and Harm heard his own voice cracking as he filled in the details. Harm had promised to keep everyone updated as soon as there was any word. He asked the Admiral to send his love to Bud and Harriet, with a promise he would visit as soon as possible.
That being done, he had wandered the halls for a while, lost in thought. His body switched over to autopilot, guiding him back to Mac's room without any conscious effort on his part. There he'd come face to face with the too quiet, too empty room.
At some point, the staff had placed a cot in the room for him. He couldn't even remember when, it seemed like it had always been there for him. He stretched out on it now, his mind filled with visions of Mac, strong and healthy again. His eyes began to fight him. It had been days since he'd allowed himself to sleep. Now, with nothing to do but wait, his body demanded compensation. His body shuddered briefly as his lids closed, and he felt himself begin to drift off.
For the first time since their capture by the Taliban, Harm slept peacefully.
This time, the dreams did not come.
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
SURGERY ROOM 2
SAME TIME
Four hours into the operation, and the surgeons continued to work. They had started with the patient's internal injuries. Their first priority was to assess her damaged lung. Her ribs were broken in four places along her right side, and each break had punctured her lung.
Dr. Caldwell, the thoracic surgeon leading this phase of the operation, swore silently to himself. The lung tissue had been without oxygen for days now. It had already started to atrophy. It would have to come out. His brow furrowed as he worked. This woman was a Marine, he knew, and he felt a pang of empathy for her. Many people functioned normally in the world with one lung. But for a Marine...what would be left of her career?
He shook the thought away and focused on the task at hand. He glanced up at the monitors, asking his team for a report on her status.
So far, so good.
Once he extricated the lung, team member Meaghan Davis took the lead. She proceeded to open the patient's abdomen for an exploratory. She found evidence of massive blunt trauma. Dr. Davis carefully searched for evidence of puncture or rupture. Her stomach, liver, and intestine had been bruised but remained intact. Her spleen was discolored and distended, threatening rupture. Dr. Davis decided to remove it.
She ran the patient's bowel, again finding no evidence of rupture.
One of the monitors beeped, causing Dr. Davis to look up. The patient's blood pressure had dropped, but not drastically. She ordered infusion of two more units, and waited until the pressure started to rise again. She then resumed her work.
-------
Through all of this, Sarah MacKenzie floated in dreams. Her last thoughts before the anesthetic took over had been of Harm, his face fading as she was wheeled down the corridor away from him. And it was Harm that occupied her dreams now.
She found herself back in the desert, alone with Harm under a sky full of stars. Air strikes coming towards them. A mad scramble from their position towards a cave and refuge. Mac leading the way, Harm pushing from behind. She tumbled through the cave entrance, the scene shifting...
She landed on the steps of the Admiral's porch. She looked up at the stars, now thick swirls in the sky, rotating back and forth. She blinked, and felt a hand on her shoulder. Warmth spread over her skin from the touch, and she knew without seeing that it was Harm.
He took her hand, pulling her up onto the porch. Her purse was in his hand. He reached out, offering it to her. She extended her hand to take it, only to find it had disappeared and she had grasped his arm instead. He pulled them close, starting to dance with her. The porch railing moved and swayed with them ... blurring, shifting, until it became the Admiral's living room.
They continued to dance, her eyes lifting to lock with his. Everyone in the room surrounded them, applauding. The Admiral, Gunny, Tiner, Bud and Harriet, Singer. Even Mic and Renee. She smiled at them all, laying her head against Harm's shoulder.
Her eyes caught Turner's, standing with Bobbi Latham by the fireplace. He winked and nodded to her.
Her eyes swept the room again, this time finding Gunny in his Marine fatigues, dirt and sweat on his face. A ragged looking beard sprouted along his jaw line. He was cradling a woman's body in his arms. He looked up at her, still smiling.
Mac felt a little strange. She continued to hold onto Harm, dancing. Her gaze found Bud and Harriet, who had joined them on the dance floor. They both beamed at her, floating gracefully together. The Admiral approached them, handing something to Harriet. She took it and continued the dance. Mac could see it was part of a leg. Harriet held onto it by the boot, the tattered edges of the pant leg rustling as they moved. Mac looked down, seeing Bud dancing effortlessly on one leg.
She gripped Harm by the shoulders, looking up at him. Instantly they were on the porch, her lips meeting his in a heated kiss. She sighed into him, feeling his hands stroking her back. Stars drifted down into the trees, lighting the darkness surrounding the porch. She could feel the intensity of the light through her closed eyelids.
The bright light shifted, evolving into sporadic flashes. She opened her eyes, once more in a cave. The flashes were coming from the air strikes around them. At some point they had built a small fire, whose light flickered and danced on the cave walls. Harm still held her in his arms, his shirt and tie now a set of khaki fatigues. She could still feel his hands on her back. He stared into her eyes, his head pressing forward.
Their lips met again, even more feverishly than before. She opened her mouth to his tongue, feeling it exploring, wanting. Her hands now pressed against the bare skin of his chest, both their shirts somehow cast aside.
She felt his warm hands caressing her bare skin, her heartbeat starting to race. His thumbs brushing over her sensitive breasts. His mouth traveling down the side of her neck. She arched her back towards him, lost in sensation.
The fire continued to flicker, giving a loud popping sound as a larger piece of firewood split in two. Flames leapt up again, devouring the newly exposed wood. The shadows continued to dance along the walls.
They were both completely naked, all of their clothing magically spread out underneath them. She was on the ground now, lying on her back. Harm lay on his side above her. His hand slowly stroked up and down her skin. His lips brushed along her jaw, as his fingers lazily teased her aching flesh.
She was breathing rapidly, electricity coursing through her. Her hips began to move, lifting slightly as his hand drifted lower, over her stomach. Her legs took on a life of their own, bending and moving in reaction to his hands. She could feel his desire as his lower body pressed against her thigh. She could taste his wanting in his kiss. Her skin was hot, she wanted him just as badly.
His mouth broke from hers, and slowly worked along her neckline to her collarbone. Torturously moving lower still, taking his time. Her fingers threaded into his hair, holding on as his lips and tongue worked magic on her.
-------
Dr. Caldwell had finally finished with the patient's chest cavity, completing the final suturing. He turned his attention to Dr. Davis' work, peering into the abdomen.
Dr. Davis had almost completed her inspection. She had moved into the lower abdomen, and as Dr. Caldwell watched, she did a random check of the uterus. What she found was curious ... It was distended, maybe two or three times the normal size. She looked up at Dr. Caldwell.
"Nate, any indication that she may be pregnant?"
"No, nothing in the history, and the pre-op blood test shows negative."
Davis knitted her brow as she gently probed, feeling very little give. She asked for a scalpel, and made an incision in the uterine wall. Dr. Caldwell moved in closer, at the ready. What they saw alarmed them both.
"DAMN it!" Dr. Davis muttered. A huge blood clot had appeared through the opening. She quickly opened the uterus further, trying to determine its size and origin.
It was the size of a grapefruit, and filled the patient's uterus completely. It looked like it may have entered part of the fallopian tubes as well. Dr. Davis cursed under her breath, asking Dr. Caldwell to assist. A blood clot this size meant a bleeder, somewhere. And they had to find it.
-------
Mac continued to revel in Harm's touch. His mouth and hands exploring her. She was moaning, whispering his name over and over. His teasing fingers slowly reached their final destination, and she felt waves of heat wash over her, crying out his name. Her hands wrapped around his upper arms, trying to anchor herself in the storm he had created.
When she was finally able to catch her breath, she turned her head to look at him. The firelight danced in his eyes. She could tell he was very pleased with himself. She gave him a wide grin and pulled his head down to hers, kissing him deeply. She had to pull away more quickly than she would have liked, still short of breath.
-------
Davis and Caldwell carefully excised the blood clot, and blood almost immediately began to fill the uterus again. The clot had stemmed the bleeding, saving her from slowly bleeding to death. Now the two surgeons followed the line of blood to try and find the source. Dr. Davis ordered more units of blood, knowing they had to keep the patient's volume up until they found the source.
-------
Mac lay on her side, facing the fire. Harm was pressed against her back, arms around her. His mouth at the back of her neck. Her face flushed from heat and exertion. She felt him pulling her onto her back, leaning over her. She watched as he moved his body, settling between her legs. Her eyes never left his as he crossed their last boundary, making her complete.
---------
"I need constant suction here, we can't see what we're after!" Caldwell shouted to his team.
Blood continued to fill the uterine cavity, as the two surgeons worked frantically to stop the bleeding.
"There it is! I see it!!" Davis called for sutures, intent on sealing off the offending vein.
"Meaghan, it's the ..."
"I know! I know! But her life has to take precedence, Nate. C'mon, you know we've got to do it."
Caldwell nodded, knowing they had no choice. He took control of the suction as Davis focused on the delicate work in front of her...
-------
Mac had never felt so alive. She lay underneath Harm, the embers of the fire glowing on his skin. They slowly parted, he lifted up, supporting himself on his arms as he did so. Once more they kissed, his mouth deep and hungry on hers. He stretched out alongside her again, his hand resuming it's travels on her upper body. She felt his palm warm on her abdomen. Then she felt pressure. His gentle kiss became more and more intense, finally bruising and harsh.
She pushed against his chest, and he drew away from her, his hand still pressing down on her abdomen. She gripped his arm with her hands, looking up at him. Not understanding.
And then she saw it.
The dying fire cast a hardness on his features. The eyes looking back at her were no longer Harm's. There was no light to them. She cried out as the hand pressed harder, and the now smiling face came closer. She looked deeper, and saw only shadows behind those eyes.
She froze, remembering the shadow that had sung to her in the blackness. It had come again, this time using her own desires against her. Its hand held her abdomen in an iron grip. It looked out at her from Harm's face.
The cave began to curl and spin around them. The movement made her stomach churn. The cave dissolved and she was back in the Taliban interrogation room.
Harm was gone. The Taliban leader stood in front of her naked form, pressing her against the wall. She knew it wasn't really him. The shadows dancing across his face told her that.
She cried out as the hand pressed into her flesh, entering her abdomen.
And as blackness surged up to claim her, the shadow once more began to sing.