Page 16 of Emi's Hero

Emi staredup at George towering over her. “What do you need from me?”

“Anything and everything you know about the compound, the people in it and Fallon.”

Emi pinched the bridge of her nose. “There was a lot of concrete. Concrete walls, concrete corridors and concertina wire on top of the outside walls. The quarters he assigned to Sara and me were pretty bare bones. We had a bed barely large enough for the two of us. We had a small bathroom attached with a one-person shower and a toilet.”

“What was it like outside?” George asked.

She stared at the open door to the bedroom, her thoughts going back to the prison she’d lived in for the past eight years. “We were allowed to go out into a little courtyard at the center of the compound. There was some grass and a couple of benches. It was the only place we could see the sunshine until he had camouflage netting strung over the entire structure. Then we only got speckles of sunshine that made it through the netting.”

George pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. “What about the vegetation and terrain around the structures?”

She scrubbed her hand over her face, tired to the bone. “I only managed to get outside the walls twice. The guards hauled me back in before I could see much.” She snorted softly. “It was after the second time Fallon had the netting installed.” She lay back, fighting exhaustion, determined to give this man enough information to help him find Sara.

“When you did get outside the walls, was it hilly? Were there trees?” George persisted. “If this is too much for you, we can wait until after you’ve rested.”

“No. I’m okay,” she lied, barely able to keep her eyes open. “It was before Sara was born, but I remember lots of trees growing up so close to the walls. Trees everywhere I looked.”

“Could you see the ocean?”

“No.” Sleep tugged at her, urging her to let herself drift off. Then she remembered. “The road leading away from the compound sloped downward steeply with overhanging trees, almost like disappearing into a tunnel.” She sighed. “The entire place reminded me of a bunker partially set back into the side of a hill.”

“Which could make it even harder to find.”

She nodded, hope draining from her. “But not impossible, right?”

“We will find the bunker and Sara,” George said. “When he took you to the yacht, did you see anything along the way?”

She shook her head. “He blindfolded me until the yacht was out far enough I couldn’t see land. When I fell off the yacht, I swam in the opposite direction the yacht was heading, hoping it would take me back to whatever land we’d left from.”

“The bastard didn’t even try to fish you out?”

She shook her head. “No. The yacht didn’t even slow.”

George’s jaw hardened. “I’m going to make a couple of phone calls to my team. I’ll let my boss know I’m working a case andcontact Swede, our computer guy. He can start searching for anything he can find on Fallon Vance.”

Emi nodded, at once overwhelmed and relieved by the big man’s presence and take-charge attitude. She wouldn’t have to do this alone.

He paused, staring down at her. “For now, you need to rest and get your strength back.”

Again, Emi nodded.

After George left the small bedroom, Emi laid back against the pillow and thought through what had happened and her options.

If George was truly a former Marine, he would be her lifeline to Sara. Could she trust him?

Over the past eight years, she’d learned she couldn’t trust anyone—especially men. Fallon was an evil man who’d collected a number of people he kept against their wills, either to manage his compound or use as he willed. The men he hired to guard the compound were equally ruthless and hadn’t been allowed to talk to Emi. None of the staff had been allowed to talk to Emi without reprimand or repercussions.

She suspected Fallon had also raped the other women he’d accumulated who cooked, cleaned and cared for Emi and the compound.

The man had a god complex and had his mercenary team under tight control. They didn’t let anyone escape the compound. If someone managed to reach other people, it would expose Fallon’s nefarious operations to the outside world.

Fallon didn’t spend all his time on the compound. He would come for a week, disappear for several weeks and come back. Those weeks in between had given Emi time to heal and to live without fear of being raped or beaten. She’d had time to spend with Sara, to give her as normal a childhood as she could in captivity.

Sara was a bright and intelligent child. Emi was already teaching her how to read and write. She’d learned some Spanish words from Maria and asked a lot of questions.

Sara also knew when to be quiet and shrink back into shadows when Fallon was on the compound. She would even hide beneath their shared bed to keep from being seen by the man whose sperm had spawned her.

Emi’s heart squeezed hard in her chest.

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