Page 7 of Duty Bound

The drive north took another whole day but as long as they were on the move, she wasn't being tortured. They would leave that task to some big-shot Taliban honcho, someone with the authority to squeeze the information out of her and the know-how with which to do it.

Most of the ride, she had a grimy sack over her head, which didn't help with motion sickness, but she kept listening in the hopes of identifying where she was going.

It didn't do a stitch of good. Apart from the spluttering and ticking over of the old clunker's engine, she couldn't determine anything distinctive. The men spoke Pashto, which meant she couldn't understand a word they said, and apart from fastening her seat belt for her, they ignored her completely.

She couldn't help wondering about the reporters who'd been snatched with her. What had become of them? Were they to be transported separately? Ransomed off? She'd heard kidnapping had turned into a booming market in these parts. Governments, wealthy families, even high-profile companies would pay big bucks to have their citizens, employees, and loved ones returned. And, of course, that cash would be used to purchase weapons and put more people in danger.

Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn't care. Under the stinking sack, nobody could see them.

The reality was, she was in some serious shit. There was no one back home to pay her ransom. She'd never known her father, and her mother had died in a car wreck when she was sixteen. Since then, she'd only ever had Joe.

Her heart twisted painfully. It still felt so raw, it was hard to believe he'd been gone almost a year already.

Darling Joe, her rock… The person she'd clung to, who had always been there for her through thick and thin.

Why did you have to die?

Living with a Special Forces soldier, she'd prepped for the worst, but even so, she'd been unprepared to face the reality.

They'd been together for nearly ten years, since high school. Since her mother's death had left her homeless and his family had taken her in. He was the only man she'd ever loved, the only home she'd ever had.

She sobbed underneath the foul-smelling bag. Joe would have come to rescue her, she knew that without a doubt, but now there was no one. She was on her own.

The car stopped.

Lily sniffed and blinked to clear her eyes of tears. Was this it? Was this the place where she would be tortured? Where she would die?

The car door groaned open, and a blast of cold air slapped her in the face. It was way colder than back in the town. She tensed, ready for the grab-and-drag.

There was no chance of rescue. She wasn't important enough. Not like a high-powered politician or powerbroker upon whose shoulders rested a fragile peace agreement. She was just a tech geek who'd done some work for the Afghan government. Expendable.

And now, impossible to find. They'd moved her from the village to the mountains, judging by the drop in temperature and the fact that the car had been traveling steadily uphill since they'd set off.

But she had one card left to play. The military software codes. She was the human key to that lock, so she was more useful to them breathing than not. It was a small comfort, but she'd take it.

Showtime. An arm reached across her to unbuckle her seatbelt. She was dragged from the vehicle, then the sack was ripped from her head.

The blinding sun made her eyes water. At least it would mask the crying.

"Where am I?" Nobody answered.

The scenery was dramatic. Mountain peaks towered above, while a river snaked through the valley below, twisting like liquid silver.

Two men gripped her arms then pulled her toward the ridge.

Where the hell were they taking her? There was nothing here but solid rock.

They rounded an outcrop, and a dark slit materialized. Her eyes widened. It was a freakin' cave, but the entrance was disguised to look like part of the mountain. The perfect hideaway.

Her heart sank. No one would ever find her here. There were no signs of life anywhere, nobody to call on for help. Just a rocky mountain and below that, acres of green valley stretching down to the river. It was beautiful, though, in a stark, hopeless way.

The men forced her into the cave. On the way, a sharp edge snagged her arm.

"Hey!" she cried out, but no one took any notice.

One of the men made her sit with her back against the cold stone wall, while the other, much younger, chained her ankles to two iron rings bolted into the solid ground. Crude, but effective. With the shackles on, she wasn't going anywhere.

The older man left the cave.

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