Briar
From her left, a voice asked, “Who’s there?”
Briar started and did her best to shake off the overwhelming nausea as well as the cobwebs impeding her memory. She had figured out that she’d been injected with some kind of date rape drug, Rohypnol or GBH. The way her brain felt, maybe even scopolamine—Devil’s Breath. Even moving her lips to speak was difficult and made her stomach churn.
“Briar… Nilson,” she rasped through dry lips.
“Briar, it’s me. Raine.”
Raine was there, too. The tinge of relief she felt seemed selfish but it was reassuring to know she wasn’t alone in the dank darkness. Raine was smart and together they had a better chance of getting themselves out of here. Wherever here was. And if Briar could just get her body to function.
She cleared her throat and tried to moisten the inside of her mouth. “Where are we?” The words came out stilted and craggy. Briar swallowed.
“I don’t know,” Raine whispered back. “They burst into the house, surprised me, did… something, and I can’t remember what happened next. I think we’re in a basement though. There’s cement underneath me.”
A basement. That made sense with the smell.
“Okay, good to know. Last thing… I recall,” Briar tried to force memories but they just weren’t there, “I stopped by your house to see if you’d remembered anything more about Tia. Then nothing.” Drugs like Rohypnol and scopolamine did scary things to a person’s memory. Briar felt lucky she remembered anything at all.
Her stomach roiling, she twisted around and eased herself to a sitting position even as she listened for voices, anything that might tell her something about their captors. All was silent—if they were in a basement, there didn’t seem to be anyone upstairs at the moment.
“How long have we been down here?”
Briar’s hands were cuffed in front of her, which, she supposed, was one positive. It was much easier to fight handcuffed with her hands in front.
“I don’t know,” whispered Raine.
Briar forced herself to think and assess the situation. She didn’t feel like she had to pee, so they hadn’t been out for days. At the very least, probably three or four hours, though. And scopolamine could last for up to eight hours, so it was possible it was well after dark. But maybe these assholes were used to dosing smaller girls and women, ones the size of Tia, and underestimated how much of the drug to give Raine and her. If that was the case, they wouldn’t expect Briar and Raine—both fit and above average height—to be themselves already.
They needed to use it to their advantage, so she lay back down and waited. That’s all she could do until her head cleared a little more and her stomach stopped wanting to empty its contents anyway.
“When someone comes, we need to be ready.”
“They handcuffed me.” Raine’s voice was shaky.
“Me too. Are your hands in front or behind you?”
“Front.”
“Good. That’s good, Raine. We need to be ready and use this to our advantage. We can do this, we’ll have the element of surprise.”
A few years ago, Briar had taken a private self-defense class taught by an ex-Navy SEAL on top of her regular training. Some of what she learned was not exactly sanctioned by the brass, but when it came to personal safety, Briar didn’t much care. Those lessons were about to come in handy.
After what felt like an hour but could have been longer or shorter, they heard footsteps overhead and then heavy clomping down wooden stairs. There were at least two of them. She’d hoped for only one, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Someone’s coming.”
“Stay calm and follow my lead,” Briar whispered back. She had no plan, except not to die in this fucking basement. “Lean into your strengths, and if you have a special skill, like Krav Maga, now is the time to use it. If not, use your head and your knees.”
Too soon, there was a rattle, accompanied by what sounded like keys, and the door opened. Briar kept her eyes closed. She didn’t want to be blinded by any light that came in from outside. She wanted a good look at whoever thought they could do this to her and Raine or anyone else—before she kicked their asses.
“You sure about this?” a gruff voice muttered.
Light flashed quickly over her face and was gone again, but not entirely. They must have had a flashlight.
“They’re too old, no one will take ‘em. Probably bitches too. Besides, Hog had the inventory moved.”
“Why did Hog and Rack bring them here, then? Seems like they should’ve just dumped ‘em.”