Page 19 of Trapped

He woke, covered with sweat. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he cradled his head in his hands, wondering if he’d ever fragged an American officer.

He was still sitting up when he heard a knock at his door.

His heart leaped. Sophia!

But when the door opened, he saw a man wearing the same blue uniform and cap that she had worn the night before.

Cash squinted at the black name tag the guy was wearing. It said, “Sergeant Lopez.” That was the only indication of the guy’s rank.

Did Cash’s own shirts have a name and rank?

He hadn’t even thought to look.

“You’re up. Good. Breakfast at 0630. Get a move on.”

He tipped his head to the side, looking at the man. “You come around and wake everyone up?”

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Sophia awoke with a start. Cash was up. And he was talking to someone. And more important, the bug she had planted under the slat at the side of the bed was working. She hadn’t really had any faith in the small device. But now it seemed that the men who had given it to her knew what they were talking about.

The next question was—would someone find it? Cash or someone else?

She glanced to her right and saw that Martin’s bed was empty. Glad of the privacy, she listened to the conversation.

Cash had just asked the other speaker if he came around to wake everyone up. And the guy answered in the negative.

“Why me?” Cash asked.

Several seconds passed before the man answered. “Your alarm clock was broken. I said I’d wake you.”

“Thanks,” Cash said. Then asked, “This place doesn’t have a public address system?”

“No. It was built in the Sixties.”

“Yeah. Okay,” he answered, thinking that his high school had had a public address system. It wasn’t exactly advanced technology.

“I have your morning pill.”

Sophia went rigid. This guy had come to give Cash his medication. That was the real reason he was there.

“Uh. Thanks.”

There was a long pause, and Sophia waited with her heart pounding.

“Let me get you some water.”

“Thanks,” Cash said again.

Once again, seconds stretched, and she strained to hear what was going on.

Had she heard him swallow?

Had he taken the pill? Or what?

There was no more conversation on the other end of the line. Several seconds passed before the door closed again. The transmitter was so sensitive that Sophia heard Cash let out a sigh. Then the bed creaked as he got up.

“Did you take the pill?” she demanded, knowing he couldn’t hear her.

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