Page 26

Chapter 26

Jay

I didn’t like talking about it. Didn’t like thinking about it. Henderson, that girlfriend stealing jerkoff, and I spent a week with metal shackles around our wrists, and after trying to kick anyone who came too close, our ankles.

I shivered, the cold in the basement reminding me of the cold in the ‘resort’ as we’d come to call it. We’d been on patrol when the enemy ambushed us, separating us from the rest of the team. We fought for as long as we could, but in the end they surrounded us. We were so focused on the firefight in front of us, we didn’t hear them sneak up behind us.

But the muzzle of a gun, as it pressed into the back of my neck, got my attention.

My hand twitched in the dark basement at the memory of taking my finger off the trigger before turning to see if Henderson was still with me. He was, and he had company too .

Our only option was to surrender and hope our team found us before it was too late.

“Jaden?” Maxwell’s voice pulled me back to the present.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Want to talk about it?”

I didn’t. Talking about it would prolong the memory, and I didn’t want to scare Maxwell with tales of thirst, and hunger so intense it made eating rats sound tempting, or the daily beatings, which included old school battery shock torture.

It might be old school, but it’s effective at wearing a person down .

We endured it all without giving up a single piece of information beyond our names, ranks, and serial numbers.

“What level SERE training did you have?” I deflected the question to a relevant one of my own. Maxwell would need everything she learned in the Marine’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training if she wanted to get through this with her mind in tact. As an officer, she may have had level B if she was stationed near the front lines.

I’d been through it twice. Level A, which all Marine’s are required to take, and Level C, which all Raiders are required to take.

The first was a cakewalk. The second kicked my ass.

That training is the reason I’m still alive and of sound mind .

“Level A.”

I was afraid she’d say that .

The strobe cut out, leaving us in the pitch black. The only speck of light was from the bottom of the door at the top of the stairs.

“The alarm will probably come on again,” I warned.

“Thank-” the alarm cut her off. We did our best to block the noise by stuffing our fingers in our ears.

I recited the Marine Raider creed to keep my mind occupied.

My title is Marine Raider. I will never forget the tremendous legacy and sacrifice of those who came before me. At all times my fires will be accurate. With cunning, speed, surprise, and violence of action, I will hunt the enemies of my country and bring chaos to their doorstep.

The alarm cut out after what felt like forever but was probably no more than ten minutes given I’d recited the creed twenty- three times.

I wonder what Maxwell thought about.

A foghorn sounded before the door opened and light flooded the space. We stood and walked towards the front of our cage. I instinctively moved closer to Maxwell, wanting to protect her for as long as I could.

The last guy in closed the door behind him, throwing us back into darkness until two weapon mounted lights shined in out faces.

Rifles pointed at our heads. Duly noted .

Nice tactic, using the lights to blind us. Not that they planned on letting us live to identify them.

Roman wasn’t with them this time. But I recognized Franks, the fucker who punched me in the limo .

“Mr. Roman thought you might be hungry,” he said. “Walk to the back and face the wall.” The sound of paper rustling filled the air. “If you behave, I’ll give you food and water.”

“What’d you lace it with?” I asked as I walked backwards to the wall.

“Nothing, we want you fully conscious for what’s coming,” he answered with a smile that made my hair stand on end. “Now turn around.”

Turning my back on an armed enemy was not at the top of my list of things I was comfortable with, but I didn’t have a choice. And we needed water.

If it’s safe to drink .

I complied. I didn’t trust him, but there were ways to check the water.

He didn’t open the cage door, but I heard two paper sacks hit the floor before footsteps sounded again.

He called out, “Bon appetit!” and slammed the door.

I clenched and unclenched my fists as I forced myself to take a few breaths and calm myself down. Holding back the desire to choke the life out of Franks, Roman, and his goons, had my heart racing and my eye twitching.

Paper crinkled as Maxwell picked up a bag and felt inside. “A bottle of water, a sandwich, chips, and a cookie.” She pulled out the water. “If we squeeze it, we’ll know if they tampered with it,” she said.

“Exactly what I was thinking.” I grabbed the other bag and tested the water bottle. No leaks. “I think it’s safe to drink.” The test was good but not foolproof, so I said, “Take tiny sips and wait between drinks.”

“I’ll go first.” Maxwell opened her bottle and sniffed. “No odor. Here goes nothing.” She took a small sip. “Tastes clean.”

I took a sip and rolled the water around in my mouth, verifying what she’d said before swallowing. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her; I wanted a second opinion.

“You think we can eat the chips, since they’re sealed?” she asked.

My stomach rumbled at the thought. My last meal was the spiked Chinese food, so of course I was starving.

“Probably, but they’ll make you more thirsty. Might be a ploy to get us to drink more water.”

“That’s what I thought, but was hoping for a different answer.” Her stomach grumbled, rather loudly, at being denied food.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t eat them. We just need to do it with our open eyes.” I took out the bag and squeezed it to see if there were any air leaks. None.

“You going to eat them?”

“I’m debating,” I answered. “I’m starving, so my stomach is screaming at me to eat. But my brain knows it’s a bad idea.”

“We’ll need the energy, so that’s a tick in the eat them box,” she said.

“But if they managed to drug the water or chips before they were sealed, we’d be helping them by eating. Tick in the don’t eat box. ”

“Franks said they want us conscious for what’s coming.” Despite her attempts to sound nonchalant, I could hear her fear. “Whatever that might be.”

“I think we can assume it’ll be unpleasant,” I said, making the understatement of the year. “And there are lots of drugs that would render us immobile but leave us conscious.”

“I know.” Her voice fell flat.

I dropped the chips in the bag and tossed it out the bars, removing all temptation.

“Better safe than sorry.” I’d never suffered through being conscious while unable to move, but heard it was the worst form of hell.

That’d be a hard pass from me.

“Better safe than sorry.” Maxwell’s bag followed mine out of the cage. “I could stand to lose a few pounds anyway.” She chuckled.

I disagreed, but now wasn’t the time to pick a fight about how perfect her body was.

“Cheers,” I said, holding my bottle up before realizing how stupid it was. “Nevermind.”

“Is it just me or is the temperature dropping?” she asked.

“It’s dropping.” We could expect the strobe or alarm to come back on again soon.

Or maybe we’d get a special treat and they’d both come on.

We sat back down, but this time Maxwell joined me along the back wall.

In what could only be considered a blessing, the basement stayed dark and quiet long enough for us both to fall asleep. And to dream .

I expected nightmares, but instead, I dreamed of Maxwell curled up next to me.

Because of the fucking alarm, I woke with a start. So did Maxwell. She pulled away quickly but not before it registered that she’d been leaning against me, her head resting on my shoulder.

I didn’t mind, but I’d never tell her that.

The alarm shut off as abruptly as it started.

“Guess they don’t want us to sleep.”

“Guess not,” she said. “I’m surprised they even let us fall asleep.”

I wasn’t. Roman would take great pleasure in letting us fall asleep only to scare us awake.

“Me too, wish they’d let me have a little more,” I said. “I was having good dream.”

“I wish mine was. Tell me about yours, it’ll take my mind off mine.”

“I was on a warm sandy beach with a beautiful blond serving me a tropical drink with a pink umbrella in it,” I lied.

But it worked, making Maxwell laugh. “Of course you were.”

“The strobe and alarm will probably start again soon. How’d you manage the last time?”

“I was okay with the strobe, but the alarm made me feel like I was going crazy.”

“Can I offer a suggestion?”

“Please,” she practically begged .

“I recited the Raider Creed in my head. Is there something that brings you pride or joy that you could recite, maybe a song?”

“Does it work?” she sounded skeptical.

“It worked for me. Worst case it doesn’t; but you’re no worse off.”

“True. I wonder if I remember the Marine’s Hymn?” she mumbled.

“Of course you do.” I sang, “From the Halls of Montezuma.”

“To the shores of Tripoli.” She joined in, surprising me with her soft soprano singing voice.

We kept our voices low while we sang. We didn’t get to the end before the alarm started. I went back to reciting the creed. When the strobes started, I could see Maxwell’s lips moving as she sang to herself.

I hope it helps .

I lost track of how many times I repeated the creed before the noise stopped and the room was dark again. Slumping against the wall, I asked, “How’d it work?”

“I feel less crazy.”

“Good.”