Page 53 of Operation: Integrity

Sam whistled and Zeus immediately returned. “Well, I guess if she comes to Wayside, we can use her help with security when the Guardians have to go back to Minnesota.”

Connor nodded as they headed for the hotel. “I hope she’s the good side of security, but that’s not the feeling I got when I was digging around for her.”

Nathan strode toward Kelly,a chain slowly swinging from one hand. One of his men had immediately met them at the door and taken her to the basement. She could hear the sounds of scuffles from other rooms. Odd that she knew it was people, not rats, near her.

He’d done his worst, told her to sit on the concrete slab in the corner and wait for Nathan. Odd too that she would’ve blocked the pain before, but now couldn’t. Maybe hope wasn’t all good because now she knew what was right outside the door to this apartment building. She knew what life was like without chains, degrading expectations, mental and physical abuse.

Grandma’s voice came back to her, loud and clear, echoing loudly in her head in the dark room.I told you so.Tears gathered, but she blinked them away. Yet again, her choice had led her to this place. She tilted her face up as far as the collar would allow. “Are you there?” she whispered. “I can’t even tell anymore.” One tear managed its way past her defenses.

Nathan slammed a chain on the floor, making her jump. He knew she hated any loud noises. “Well, what have we here?” He shoved the chain onto the loop at the back of her neck, forcing her to pull on the front of it or risk choking.

He laughed at her struggle. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to put up with this for long. Viceroy’s plan was delayed because of interference, but you haven’t got much time left. You’ve seen his face. Do you think he’d let you live after that?”

“So did Ramona. And you,” she choked out, momentarily forgetting that she shouldn’t say anything.

“Ms. Butters isn’t going anywhere. She is Nicholas’s thirdwife. The child is his, not that he cares about it. She forgot her place, but she’ll be back begging to shelter under his wing as soon as she gets here. It’s a long walk.” He laughed. “We’re all expendable. Some more than others.” He caressed along her jaw. “Too bad you had to leave. I had your money all ready for you. You were almost done with your term.”

She yanked her face away even as her jaw collided with the collar. “That’s a lie. It was all a lie. You never saved a penny for me. You stole everything I had, then took everything I was. You made me feel like I had no choice.”

His smile was as cold as the arctic. “I was only preparing you for this moment where you’d exhausted all your choices. You won’t even get the choice to breathe. In two hours, Viceroy will be done with his meeting. I’m to bring you up to him, then.”

Kelly closed her eyes and listened to Nathan’s footfalls as he left her tiny cement enclosure. She’d heard about that place but hadn’t wanted to believe it.

“Kelly?” a small voice came from outside her door. “Is that you?”

Kelly lifted the chain around her neck and tried walking toward the door. “Yes, who’s there?”

“It’s Anna. Remember me?”

Fresh tears poured down Kelly’s cheeks. “Yes, of course. What are you doing down here? I was told you were dead.” The one who’d brought her to faith had been alive this whole time?

“I lost count of how many days I’ve been down here. Nathan accused me of leading an escape. He decided this would be a worse punishment for me than anything else he could do. He’s right. If I died, I’d see Jesus and thatwould be a reward, but he knows I won’t do that. So, I keep praying for Jesus to take me home.”

“Are you locked in?” What if there was a way out for both of them? Could she finally repay the goodness Anna had brought into her life? She’d supplied the hope that had literally saved her.

“Yes. I’m right across the hall from you. I can see your door through my food slot. Can you get to your door?” Anna asked.

“No, my chain can’t reach that far.” And she only had two hours to figure out how she was going to get out of this and try to save Anna, too “Are you all right?”

Anna chuckled. “I’m as all right as I can be. Faith tested day after day sometimes doesn’t get stronger. Sometimes, I’m only hanging on by a thread.”

Kelly sat on the floor with her chain stretched as far as she could, holding the weight up in her hands to take the pressure off her neck. Kelly didn’t know what to say to the friend who had so much more faith than her but was still struggling. Who wouldn’t struggle in this dungeon of torment? “Maybe that’s just a human thing. Maybe we never learn to fully accept our lives because this isn’t really our lives,” she chattered, not knowing what else to say.

Anna snorted. “I know you’re right. This isn’t my home. I’m to a point where I’m not even looking to hear, ‘well done, my good and faithful servant’, but ‘my child, your chains are gone.’”

“I wish I was in there with you.” Kelly swallowed a sob that wouldn’t make the situation better. Nicolas Viceroy would revel in her weakness and tears.

“I haven’t seen a single true human in months. It would be a joy to see you.”

Kelly let Anna’s words sink in. She’d always known that Nathan and the men who used her didn’t see her as human, but she wasn’t the one with the major flaw. They were. Anna was right, they were less than human. Not her.Lord, we deserve life. If I’m not meant to live after today, so be it. But please find a way to save the people in this building who need it.

She glanced down at the spot where the watch used to be on her wrist and flinched. That watch brought her back to this place. It had allowed Nathan a door into her life when he shouldn’t have had one. Now she only had two hours to live and no way to tell when her time was up because the watch was gone.

“Anna, pray with me?” Kelly whispered.

“You know it,” Anna answered.

Chapter Twenty-Four

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