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“Jenny, why are two policemen outside your house?” Ahmed Banik asked. She could hear both concern and fright in his voice. His sisters sitting in the back seat, Sabina and Sonia, murmured to each other. Jenny and Sabina worked together at New Era Cyber Tech in Dhaka. Currently, Jenny was the highest-ranking executive for the company in country.

Jenny peered out the passenger side window and frowned. The two men were in teal-blue police uniforms, and they stood in front of the house that she’d been renting for the last two years while she worked in Bangladesh.

“They probably want to ask Jenny another round of questions,” Sabina answered her brother’s question for Jenny. What Sabina said was probably true, but it still sent a frisson of discomfort up Jenny’s spine to see the police at her home.

She’d heard the horror stories about what some of the police had perpetrated in the last year, and it had made her blood run cold. Granted, it was just a few outliers, but most people thought they were doing the bidding of the Awani League. They were the government in charge at the moment.

Stop it! You’re overreacting, Rivers!

Jenny took a deep breath and worked to keep her breathing at a comfortable rate.

I am not scared. I am not scared.

Jenny concentrated on the fact that her company had assured every single employee from the US—CEO and executives multiple times—that they were completely safe in Bangladesh, despite the unrest.

“Maybe we should just turn around and go to our parents’ house,” Ahmed suggested. “We’ll pretend we’re still hiking in Sreemangal.”

“If I keep them waiting, it’ll only make things worse,” Jenny said. “You head on home. I’ll handle things.”

“No. It’s better if we both go,” Sabina protested. “We both work for NECT. Remember, the rule is to stick together.”

“I’m the highest-ranking NECT employee here in Bangladesh since Mr. Roberts and Mrs. Tyree left last week. I need to handle this. You stay with your brother and sister.”

Jenny opened the car door and stepped out onto the small drive that led up to her bungalow. The two men stood straighter, their rifles pointing up behind them.

“How can I help you?” Jenny asked.

“You are Jennifer Rivers,” the first officer asked. “You work for New Tera Tech.”

“New Era Cyber Tech,” Jenny corrected.

The young man’s mouth twisted and his brow furled. “That’s what I said. New Era Tech Cyber,” he spit out. “We have questions for you. You need to come with us.”

The other police officers who had come to her office to talk to her, had the name of the company. NECT backed up many of the servers and websites for various competing political coalitions and the universities that were currently protesting.

NECT’s international stance had been and always would be apolitical. As someone who had a master’s degree in public relations, Jenny understood this, and had always felt comfortable explaining her company’s position. She’d been working in public relations for eight years. This was not her first rodeo.

“You need to come with us,” the second officer said. “Now.” He looked over her shoulder, then she turned and saw that Ahmed had gotten out of the car and was leaning against it with his arms crossed.

“Tell your boyfriend to get back in the car,” the younger, surly officer demanded.

“He’s not my boyfriend and I’m not getting in your car. Now tell me what you want.”

“Our supervisor needs to ask you a few questions,” the older officer, who spoke better English, said.

Now that Jenny was over the surprise of these men showing up at her house, she was noticing things. Their shoes were wrong. They were wearing two different kinds of boots. The police had a specific type of boot—black with a rounded toe—and one of the men had brown boots on. Also, the young man, besides having horrible sweat stains on his teal uniform, was missing a button. Jenny had never seen such a thing. Police officers took pride in their uniforms.

The young man grabbed her upper arm. “Let’s go.”

“Let me go,” she shouted.

“Let her go,” the sisters yelled from the car.

Jenny was hurled to the ground as the young officer let go of her when Ahmed’s shoulder hit the young man’s stomach. It was like Ahmed played tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals football team.

“No,” Jenny screamed. Attacking a member of the Bangladeshi was a terrible offense.

“Ahmed, no!” Sonia or Sabina yelled from the car.

Jenny heard the car door opening. She pushed herself up from the ground and pointed at Sonia, the younger sister. “Stay there. You’ll only make things worse.”

The older officer was helping up the younger officer, while keeping his rifle pointed at Ahmed.

“He was hurting her. Look at her arm. It’s going to bruise.” Ahmed pleaded his case. The man didn’t turn to look at Jenny. He kept his rifle trained on Ahmed.

“Crawl to the stairs. Over there,” the older officer said. He motioned to Jenny’s front porch.

“What are you waiting for?” The younger man demanded to know. “Kill him. Kill him now. Rakib said no witnesses.”

The senior officer casually twirled his rifle and used the butt of it to smash it into the young officer’s face. Jenny could swear she heard his nose break. The older man turned back to Ahmed. “Crawl faster,” he said as he turned the rifle back on him. He waited until Ahmed was at the stairs.

“Listen here, you piece of dog shit,” The older man turned to the young man who was bleeding out his nose. “Don’t use our leader’s name again, or I’ll shoot you. Next, we do want witnesses. We’re wearing the Bangladeshi Police force uniforms. That poor bastard,” he pointed to Ahmed. “And the women in the car would have testified that the police took her. It would have been perfect. Now it will be just the women.”

“Are you taking orders from the Awani League government?” Jenny whispered her question.

The older man smiled while the young man went over to Ahmed and ripped his shirt off him in order to use it to staunch the bleeding from his broken nose.

“Miss Rivers, before your adventure is done, you’ll wish we were the Awani League. Alas, we’re old-fashioned. We want money. Small change. Two billion takas . Today, that’s a little less than twenty million dollars. Your company makes that much in four hours each day. Surely, they can pay that for you?”

Jenny shivered. She knew that New Era Cyber Tech had kidnapping and ransom insurance, but they had assured her they had never once had to use it. What’s more, India was one of America’s allies. America did business with India all the time, and Bangladesh should be considered a sister country to India. But she knew they were very different nations, and had voiced her concerns. She was all but laughed off. The more Jenny had talked to the Banik brother and sisters, the more concerned she became.

“I know how much two billion takas , is,” Jenny said calmly. She wanted them to know that she’d taken the time to learn about Bangladesh as she tried to soothe them.

The older man laughed. “You’re funny. Don’t think you can talk your way out of this.”

“I don’t.” She bowed her head. “Please don’t hurt them.”

“If you come easily, there will be no need,” the older man said.

“The man needs to die. He’s heard too much,” the young hot head shouted.

“And whose fault is that?”

“Please,” Jenny begged. “I will do what you say.”

“Don’t worry, if you come calmly, no one will die. Bring the truck.” The older officer motioned to his minion. The young man reluctantly trotted around the side of Jenny’s house, and she soon heard the roar of a truck coming to life.

When it drove to the front, she shuddered. It was a box truck, with just two seats in front. Obviously, she was going to have to go in the back. She couldn’t read the writing on the side of the truck, but the logo was clear. It was a butcher shop.

Please let it be empty .

“Tie her up.”

The young man grinned as he yanked her arms behind her back and tied them together at her elbows. He tied them tight. Then he started at her wrists. She did what she remembered from some TV show or another and kept her wrists a little bit apart so she would have wiggle room.

Yeah, like that’s going to make a difference.

The rope was coarse and scratchy. It hurt already.

“Don’t forget her ankles,” the older one pointed out.

“Then I’ll have to carry her,” the other kidnapper whined.

“There is definitely something wrong with your generation. Quit your complaining, tie her up and carry her to the truck,” the other man ground out.

At least the rope was tied over her boots.

The angry young man shoved his shoulder into her stomach, then lifted her up and soon she was hanging upside down over his shoulder.

She heard a shot, then she heard Sabina and Sonia screaming.

Oh God, he shot Ahmed!

She heard the truck’s door clang open, then the young man tossed her upward. Her forehead cracked against metal and her nose and mouth filled with liquid covering the floor. She inhaled in shock and choked on it. It was cold, but the coppery taste was foul.

Blood!

She jerked up her head as best she could and tried to scream, but the blood in her lungs made her cough.

“Get me out of here. Let me out,” she begged as she spit blood out of her mouth.

“Shut up. Figure out a way to roll over, and you’ll be fine.”

Jenny looked over at the young officer and saw his maniacal pleasure. He laughed.

“Enjoy your time. Just wait until we start driving over rocks, then you’ll really have fun.”

Jenny had a moment to look around and saw that there was no meat hanging from the hooks, but the notched floor of the truck had blood an inch deep in each of the runnels, and her mouth had landed in one of them. Then the door clanged shut and her entire world went black.

Without being able to see anything, she could hear the blood sloshing around, and smell and taste the copper in the air.

I’m in hell.