LED track lights at the seams of the ceiling lit the way. More were strung along the floor. She was very aware that Uri’s fury was growing with every step they took because his fingers clamped down harder and harder on her until, midway down the seemingly endless tunnel, he abruptly stopped, turned to her and shook her hard.
“You bitch. I’m going to hurt you like you’ve never been hurt before. You’re going to live a very long time and you’ll beg me for death and I won’t ever give it to you. You did this. Don’t lie to me. You did this.”
She was very aware of the men surrounding them. All had weapons. All were looking at her as if she were their greatest enemy. She shook her head. “Uri. I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
He slapped her. The blow was delivered open-handed but it was so hard it felt like her entire cheek exploded. The pain radiated up to her eye and down to her jaw. Her ears rang, a peculiar buzzing noise that drowned out her gasping cry. She staggered back, but he yanked her forward, driving his fist into her stomach. She doubled over and choked on bile.
Uri snatched the gun from the nearest soldier and shoved the barrel against her skull, hard. “Talk to me right now. Is it Ilya out there? Are you working with him?”
She gasped for air, still choking, trying to straighten, but the blow to her stomach held her immobile. She could only try to shake her head.
“Where’s your rendezvous point? Where are you going to meet him?” he barked.
She opened her mouth and nothing came out but a thin wail.
“Lock the city down,” Uri snapped to his men. “I want that bastard found. Now. He has to go somewhere. Someone has to know how he got into the country and how he plans to get out. Find that someone, and do it now.” He shoved the gun back at the soldier and forced Lissa into an upright position.
His hands settled around her throat. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know and you’ll do it now.”
Her breath hitched. Her eyes welled with tears. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know. I couldn’t possibly…”
His hands cut off her air supply, fingers squeezing hard. She struggled violently as her lungs fought for air, but he held her helpless. She saw black around the edges of her vision, her hands batting at his and then finally falling to her sides. He let go and she slumped forward, gasping for breath.
“Talk, you bitch. I don’t believe in coincidences. You come here from Sea Haven where you just happen to know a Prakenskii, and then someone blows my father’s head off.” His hands settled around her throat again. “Where is he? How’s he going to get out of the country?”
“I don’t know,” she wailed. “I swear…”
He cut her off a second time, fingers viciously digging into her neck, applying pressure so that she felt almost giddy. Then she was light-headed and dizzy. Her air was gone and she fought him again. Tears ran down her face and her fingernails ripped at his arms and the backs of his hands. Once again she began to lose her ability to fight, her arms like lead. Instantly he let her go again.
“There’s no sign of anyone on the roof. No shells, no scrap of paper. No disturbance in the dust or dirt,” the lead guard told Uri, clearly getting the information over his cell. “There was a suitcase containing a weapon, but it was blown to bits.”
Lissa fought for breath, one hand going to her throat. Already it felt bruised and swollen. There was no talking to him, so she didn’t bother to try. She just kept her head down, fighting to draw as much air into her lungs as possible.
Uri swore over and over, savagely, his anger raw and wild. “These men are ghosts. You aren’t going to see any signs of them. But there are cameras everywhere. In the building. On the stairs. In the elevator. Out on the street. There’s no way to miss all of them.”
He began to walk fast again, dragging Lissa with him through the tunnel. She counted the steps to herself, still struggling to breathe properly. Her high heels clicked loudly on the paved flooring, much louder than the boots of the soldiers. From the blueprints she’d studied, she knew they were more than halfway through and just up ahead was a small room, they had been certain, for prisoners.
The tunnel was the perfect place for interrogating prisoners. No one knew of its existence. It was soundproof and they could torture their prisoner for days or even months if they desired. No one would ever find the missing person. No one would ever know. The small room had been designed solely with interrogation in mind. Electricity ran to the room. There were manacles and chains actually incorporated into the wall. She knew because Casimir had entered the tunnels and explored them, knowing she would be taken into them. She dreaded, but knew, she would end up in that terrible room.