Part Three

I was pulled back to reality sometime later when Mark and the guards entered the room. Mac was asleep on the bed, but popped up when they entered. The taller guard pointed his gun at her to make sure she stayed over there. The other one unlocked the crank, while Mark stood in front of me. He nodded his head to the other guard who pushed something on the crank that must have eliminated the resistance, because I went crashing to the floor. I was aware enough to bend my body so that my head didn't take a direct hit, but it still hurt and I let out a yelp. Mark undid the bindings on my ankles and the other guard pulled the chains back up.

"Looks like you couldn't even handle a little suspension Rabb," Mark taunted.

"I doubt you'd have lasted five minutes," I taunted back. That was the wrong thing to do. Mark saw red. He bent down, picked up my head, and smashed it back down to the floor.

"I'd be careful if I were you Commander. I get you all to myself tomorrow and it is definitely going to be fun, for me at least."

My head whirled at the implication. I didn't know what in the world I had stumbled on to. I figured they would knock me around a bit and probably shoot me up with some drug concoction, since they were in that line of work. But from what little I had seen so far, they had unlimited means to get what they wanted from me. There was going to be some pretty gruesome and barbaric things going on, I only hoped that my body could take it, for my sake and Mac's.

The guard at the crank walked up behind me and I tried to prepare myself for whatever was about to come. I closed my eyes and my body tensed, but the attack never came. Instead, he reached down and released my hands from the uncomfortable prison they had been in since we had arrived. The circulation was restored and it felt like little bombs were going off inside my arms. The pain was intense.

"Uhhh….," I moaned, not being able to stop the sound from coming out.

"Geez Rabb. I thought you had to be tough to be in the military."

He squatted down in front of me and brought his face close to mine. His eyes were dark and full of tightly contained rage.

"This is only the beginning Rabb. And once the boss gets the information he wants, I can really go to town on you. I hope you believe in some kind of god, because you're going to need him."

"Go to hell." I couldn't have stopped the comment even if I wanted to. I saw his eyes widen in anger, but he tempered it. A glean then appeared in his eyes, along with a smug grin on his face. I was really starting to despise the guy.

"I'd love to, but your appointment is scheduled much sooner than mine."

Tired of small talk and intimidation, he stood back up. Without warning, he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the wall by the window. Letting go of my head, he took, from the guard, the handcuffs that I had only been released from just a minute before. He weaved them through a big circular metal hoop in the floor that I hadn't noticed. Pulling both my arms to the left, he locked the restraints in place so that when I was sitting, with my back against the wall, I was forced to lean over and put strain on my back. When he was done, he stood up and walked out into the hallway. I wondered what he was doing. He came back in with a longer pair of cuffs in his hand. From the weird mechanism in the center, the length looked to be adjustable. He once again knelt down beside me. He connected one end of the cuffs to a loop in the wall on my right hand side and the other went across my stomach and was attached to another loop on the left. He proceeded to fiddle with the settings on the mechanism and the restraints began to tighten around my stomach, pulling me flush against the wall.

The cuffs were pulled so tight that it made it difficult to breathe. He looked at my face and I could tell he knew too, but he didn't care. I guessed that he wanted me to stay in that uncomfortable position all night. He didn't want me to be able to lie down or rest. Pulling a key out of his pocket, he inserted it into the proper hole and turned it two times. It must have prevented the restraints from being tightened or loosened any more.

"Sleep well. I'll see you bright and early in the morning," he said, patting my face hard with his hand. I moved my head out of his way; he just smiled and got up. Motioning to the two other guards, they began to retreat from the room. Just as Mark was about to cross the threshold into the hallway, he turned back towards where Mac was standing.

"If you try to help him get out of his bindings, I'll know and I'll come back here and restrain you, like I did to him," he warned. Mac nodded her acceptance of his terms. Mark reached his arm out for the doorknob and pulled the door shut loudly. I heard a key rattling and the door was locked. Mac and I were left alone once again.

Seemingly just brought out of a trance, Mac walked over to me and sat down on the floor, her legs crisscross applesauce.

"How you doing?"

"I've definitely been better." There was no real emotion to my voice. I was too busy concentrating on taking short breaths. I noticed her eyes roaming up and down my body and could tell she was upset about the situation I was in.

"Why do you keep egging him on? Are you asking for more trouble?"

The answer to that was yes, but I didn't tell her that.

"I don't think I have to ask." I tried to say it jokingly.

"Jesus Christ Harm. Just keep your mouth shut," she practically yelled.

"It not you're problem Mac. I'll deal with it."

"It is my problem because it will affect me."

I wasn't really sure what she meant. I presumed that she thought that if I ticked them off too much they would go to her, so I answered accordingly. I didn't want to let her know my intentions because she would give me her marine mantra, but I was too tired and sore to care.

"You don't have to worry Mac. I'll make sure they stay away from you. If it looks like they're going to give up on me and go to you, I'll think of something."

Her eyes flashed and she just looked at me incredulously.

"You just don't get it do you Harm?"

I inwardly groaned. I just didn't need that right then.

"No Mac I guess I don't. I don't get why you've been so hostile to me lately, I don't know when I stopped being your friend, and I don't know why you seem to blame me for this predicament. But you know what, I don't care right now. I'm tired and I just was to stop talking." The long rant had me out of breath.

She looked like she wanted to argue her point, but she saw how fatigued I really was and decided to end it for the time being.

"All right Harm. I'll go lie down, but you can let me know if there's anything I can do." Her tone was somewhat icy, but I knew she meant it.

Mac pulled herself up and slowly walked to the bed. She laid down, her back to me, and pulled a blanket overtop of herself. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling that I had been hanging from no more than a half an hour ago. I wondered if things could get any worse. Mac and I couldn't go five minutes without fighting and I was going to be tortured for information in about eight to ten hours. I think I'd have been able to cope better if Mac and I hadn't been fighting. I didn't want to admit it, but I was scared. No one knew where we were. It was Thursday and the base's CO didn't even expect to hear from us again until Monday at the earliest. We had signed the car out for the remainder of our investigation, so the motor pool definitely wouldn't have missed us. The only real hope was for someone to find our abandoned car, but that was a slim chance. As much as I didn't like Mark, I believed him when he said no one traveled the part of Texas we were in. Hell, we could have been in New Mexico right then and I wouldn't have known.

I let my gaze wander to where Mac was laying a few feet away. Her breathing seemed to be pretty even so I guessed she was asleep. Even though I couldn't see her face, she looked more relaxed. Her shoulders weren't as rigid and tense vibes no longer radiated from her. I shivered a little as the nightly desert cool down took place, along with the air conditioning that was pumping through the building. Shifting to the left, I tried to find a more comfortable position, but it was fruitless. I just closed my eyes and let my fatigue carry me off to dreamland, where I firmly forgot that everything was screwed up in the real world.

I was awoken hours later. But it wasn't due to the rough hands of my captor. The sun was streaming in through the window and noises could be heard in the courtyard. I unconsciously tried to reach up and rub the sleep out of my eyes, but realized that my hands were bound and reality set in. I settled for opening and closing my eyes in an attempt to come fully awake. It was then that I registered something lying on top of me. The pressure was light but warmed me all over. It was a blanket. Mac must have woken up and realized how cool the room had gotten. I was grateful for her consideration. I probably would have woken up five or six times from the cold if she hadn't covered me up. Wanting to thank her, I turned my head towards the corner of the room, but noticed that she was still sleeping. I hoped that she would wake up soon because the temperature was rising and I was stifling under the wool blanket. My eyes roamed up and down her body. Damn she was beautiful. Sometime during the night she had turned over, towards me. The sun canvassed her hair, allowing me to see all the different shades of brown, red, and black. For some reason, it reminded me of a fall afternoon. Her worry free face glistened in the sunlight. A thick strand of hair had fallen down her face, partially covering her nose and mouth, so that every time she exhaled the strand would fly up slightly. My breathing became labored and it wasn't due to the restraint around my stomach. That woman could tie me up in knots even when she wasn't conscious. I wish things had turned out differently, that we could have gotten on the same page.

The increasing temperature in the room pulled my out of my reverie. I waited five more minutes for her to wake up before deciding to take matters into my own hands. I tried to lift my left leg up and kick the blanket off. The movement caused the restraint around my stomach to tighten even more, digging into my tender ribs. I couldn't stop the gasp of pain that escaped my lips. I lifted and kicked again, but the blanket only got tangled around my foot. I let out an almost silent curse at my inability to do that simple task. The noise I made must have woken Mac up, because she shot up in the bed like a gun had gone off. She turned around and stared at me with sleep filled eyes and messy hair. She raised her eyebrows at me, silently asking what in the world I was doing. I tried to shrug my shoulders, but ended up looking more like a shiver. I decided to go with a verbal answer.

"It was getting hot."

She realized what I had been doing and gracefully rolled off the bed, making her way toward me.

"Why didn't you call to me," she asked. She pulled on the blanket and untangled it from around my legs, beginning to fold it right in front of me.

"Didn't want to wake you and I thought I could get it myself."

"Well next time wake me, I don't mind."

I was skeptical about her sudden kinder attitude.

"Ooook." After another second, "what time is it?"

"0920."

She put the last crease in the blanket and went over to set it onto of the mattress. I was surprised that we had slept that long, that those people had let us sleep that long.

"Thanks for thinking to cover me up last night."

"No problem. I woke up and couldn't figure out why until I realized that your teeth were chattering like crazy. I was a little mad at myself for not thinking to do it before I fell asleep," she said with regret and concern in her brown pools.

"It's ok. I didn't think to ask you," I said, meeting her gaze and getting lost at the emotions flowing through them.

The moment was broken by the sound of a key turning. I had suddenly remembered where we were and what that sound meant. It was time. I tore my eyes away from hers and watched the doorknob turn and Mark walked into the room, with his two shadows. The same one as before held his gun to Mac in a silent command.

"Rise and shine Commander, it's going to be a wonderful day," he said in a tone that made me gag.

He came over to me and undid the left side of the restraint around my stomach, giving my battered ribs a reprieve. My hands were uncuffed from the floor and relocked behind my back in what seemed like one swift motion. Mark had definitely done that before.

"Walk," he commanded, yanking me up by my hair. The sudden movement upward made my head spin and I was unsteady on my feet. I tried to take a step, but fell hard on my knees.

Mark got frustrated.

"If you can't walk then we'll just have to drag you," he said, nodding to the shadow not guarding Mac, who produced a eight foot rope out of no where. He came over and stood behind me, putting one end of the rope under my hands, between the metal links of the cuffs and my back. He pulled the end up and back toward him, so one end of the rope was above my hands and the other was below. Making both sides even, he wrapped the rope around his hand, between the thumb and index finger, like an owner would hold a dog's leash. He stood up and started walking forward. My hands were pulled up behind my back as far as they could go and I had no choice but to fall on my stomach. The burly guard didn't even blink, he kept walking and my body began to slide across the floor, my uniform gathering up dirt as we went. It was embarrassing enough as it was, but having Mac watching magnified it tenfold. I think that was their goal. I knew she probably wouldn't see it that way, but I did.

Pretty soon I was pulled out into the hallway and Mark and the other guard followed.

"Have a nice day Colonel," I heard him say to Mac before he shut the door and locked it.

"Let's go Sam," Mark ordered to the guard that was pulling me, who had stopped to wait for his boss. They were off and I was pulled along behind them for a few minutes before they stopped again.

"Think you can walk down the stairs Rabb?"

He didn't even give me time to answer before he spoke again.

"I'll take that as a no. Let's go boys."

Sam, the guard pulling me, went ahead first. He was to about the sixth step down when my body reached the point where more of it was in empty space than was on solid ground. I began to slide down the steps and it was apparent that I was going to fly past the guard. I assumed he would let go of the rope and allow me to tumble the rest of the way. But as I passed him, he didn't let go and both of my shoulders snapped back, dislocating with a sickening sound under the strain. My vision blurred and the pain was unbearable. I let out a blood-curling scream, so surprised by the injury that I was unable stop it. Sam then let go of the rope and I slid ten or so more steps to the bottom, landing in a heap.

Mark, Sam, and the other guard reached me a second later.

"Brilliant Sam, what a way to start off the day," Mark praised. I was still in a daze from the pain. Sam abandoned the rope and picked me up by my belt, carrying me over to a metal table and chair off to the left. He set me down in the chair and my cuffed hands painfully fell against my back. He left me to go talk to the others and I tried to slow down my rapidly beating heart. Sweat had broken out on my forehead from the pain in my shoulders. I had broken bones before, but never anything like that. The suddenness of it all and severe pressure with which they were pulled magnified the pain. It literally felt as if my arms were floating entities beside my body. I told my brain to move them, but nothing noticeable happened. I realized that it must have torn through muscle as well. I leaned my head back slightly and let my gaze wander over my prison.

The space was dark, with only very dim lights in the ceiling illuminating things. I got the feeling that we were underground. Despite the low lighting, I could make out almost the entire space. The room I was in was big and open, at least twenty feet by fifteen feet. Directly in front of me stood a wall that went the length of the building. There were at least six doors that led to rooms containing god only knew what. While glancing to my right, I noticed a few horrifying contraptions and a table full of tools that sent my imagination into overdrive. I had no doubt that they knew how to use them to maximize the pain and mental anguish of the victim. I was going to be that victim. I prayed that I could survive and rejoiced that I didn't have the information they wanted because, if I did have it, there was a good chance they could get it out of me.

tbc...