Page 28 of Trapped

He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to believe anything this man had told him.

But what if it was true?

“Montgomery was looking at him with satisfaction. Are you sure you don’t want to try hypnosis?” he asked, his voice gentle yet persuasive.

“Despite his sudden feeling of horror,” Cash answered, “No.” If he knew anything, he knew he didn’t want this man having that kind of access to his mind. He didn’t need Sophia Rhodes to tell him that. His instincts were screaming, “Danger.”

He stared into space, not seeing anything around him. Then, as if he’d discovered a gateway to freedom, his eyes focused on the clock in the bookcase to his right. Like in Latin class back in high school when the clock would release him.

“We’re over time,” he said, his voice low and gritty.

Montgomery glanced at his watch. “Yes, but I don’t have anyone after you. We could keep talking if you want.”

“No. This session was . . . traumatic.”

“I understand,” Montgomery said, his tone grudging. Getting up, he consulted an appointment book. “We can start again at the same time tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Cash answered because he was sure that appearing to cooperate was his only option.

He climbed out of his chair and headed for the door without looking back at the man he knew was watching his every move. The way he walked. The way he held his shoulders.

He’d started off feeling like he was in control of the session. And then he’d felt like he was sliding down a greased slope toward some region of hell that he’d been worried about all along. He’d hit the bottom and bounced. Now he was so numb he could barely string two sentences together in his mind.

Stepping into the waiting room, he closed the door behind him, trying to collect himself. He had to think. Because he sensed danger. From the doctor. He focused on that, trying to build a case for his own sanity when he knew he was hanging on by his fingernails.

At first, Montgomery had given him no hard facts. Then he’d come out with some horrific statements about Major Cash Baker. But the man’s attitude had never changed. It was obvious he wanted information. And that seemed to confirm what Sophia had told him.

Sophia. She had come to him in the night. Started his mind working again. Because before that—he had been functioning on a barely human level. Well, her and not taking the pills. That had made a difference too. Had he given that away to Montgomery? He hoped to hell he hadn’t.

As though coming out of a fog, he noticed that the waiting room was empty. The lieutenant who served as a receptionist was gone. Well, maybe that presented an opportunity.

Montgomery was still in his office with the door closed. Hoping he’d stay there, Cash crossed to the desk and looked at the computer. A screen saver was showing, indicating that Tobias had been away for a few minutes.

When Cash tapped one of the keys, he saw a list of men and their duty assignments.

He skimmed it and found only routine stuff—until he came to a notation about checking on Baker.

Apparently, several men were assigned to look in on him during the night. So, was that really going to change? Maybe they wouldn’t actually open the door now.

When he found nothing else very interesting, he switched to the other window and found himself looking at a pornographic Web site.

So that’s what the receptionist had really been doing. But he’d put up the duty list in case anybody saw.

Nice.

As he switched back to the previous screen, another interesting observation zinged into his brain. Olson had told him that they were cut off from the outside world. So how was this computer connected to the Internet? Or had the guy downloaded stuff from the site?

Cash’s hand twitched. Before he could stop himself, he moved the cursor to the taskbar and clicked the Internet button. Several sites seemed to be open. He flicked to another one and found he was looking at a news parody site.

So, the bunker wasn’t sealed off—as far as communications went.

Quickly he restored the screen to the place it had been.

Talking more of a chance, he began quietly opening drawers. He saw the usual office supplies. Pencils, pens, paper clips, notepads, rubber bands. In addition, there was a metal box in the bottom righthand drawer. When he opened it, he found it was a stack of ten-, twenty- and fifty-dollar bills.

Well!

Struggling to repress a grin, Cash helped himself to a quarter of the stack, then closed the drawer. Knowing he’d be pressing his luck to stay any longer, he stepped into the hall.

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