Page 29 of Hidden By the Convicts
Bowen would only have room to stand. And no one could bring him supplies or keep him company. That hole was right in front of the guards’ barracks, where they would watch and taunt anyone unlucky enough to be thrown in.
“You’re stressed. You need to relax,” Harlis said.
“Of course, I’m stressed. Bowen’s been in a hole for three days. A hole that doesn’t even have room for him to sit. And it’s been raining for the past two days, Harlis.”
“He’s lucky then.”
“Lucky?” she said, storming over to him. “He could drown in that hole!”
“He won’t drown. The drainage in that area can handle the type of rain we’re having. At least it gives him a source of water to drink. They don’t give prisoners anything when they throw them in the cage, especially Bowen.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. It’s not for me to say.”
Gavin, who had been laying on his side, quieter than usual, finally spoke. “It means the guards here use our weaknesses against us. Bowen is deathly afraid of small spaces, especially underground. It’s how he ended up on Narkos. Got convicted of being AWOL.”
“The mining accident where he lost his family,” she said.
“He told you, then. Well, he lost his shit during a mission. That’s how he ended up on Narkos, in the mines in West Side, initially. He’s terrified of being sent back to there.”
She took a deep breath, trying to think. “What do we do? How do we help him?”
“There’s nothing we can do.” Gavin rose from the bed. “Just try to be understanding if he’s not himself. They’ll release him today and bring him here, and he’ll be a mess.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Have you seen a man after he’s been pulled from the cage?”
“No.”
“He’ll be filthy and unresponsive likely. Don’t expect him to react to you. And don’t try to force him to, either. Our task will be to clean him up, nurse him back to health, and do whatever it takes to make sure he’s back to work as soon as possible. His quota won’t change just because he got thrown in the cage. If he fails to meet his next quota, they’ll throw him in there again.”
“Or worse,” Harlis said. “They might return him to West Side. He’s said it himself often enough. Anyone from over there can run the food production here.”
“But you said he’s deathly afraid of the mines.”
“They don’t care, Teagen. You of all people should know we’re nothing to them. We’re theirs to use however they like to accomplish their goals. On Narkos, that goal is to meet The Company’s quota for mining zurlite. Dresden and his managers don’t care how it’s done, just that it is.”
A high-pitched whine pierced the house. A bright burst of light by the window followed.
“In the pit, Teagen!” Gavin said as Harlis pulled back the middle bed and floorboards and removed the string from the frame.
Before she could even process that the flash of light had been Harlis’s alarm, Gavin lowered her into the pit and tossed the string in with her.
“Be brave,” he whispered, throwing her a smile as he set the floorboards in place. Wood creaking told her the bed had been repositioned over the hole.
Teagen hugged her legs to her chest. The temperature in the pit had to be twenty degrees colder than the house, even in the daytime. At least this time she wasn’t sitting in the dark. Slivers of light streamed through the floorboards, giving her a glimpse of her hiding spot.
To her right, she noticed two bottles of water, a blanket, and a pack of dried food. Bowen had stocked the pit for her. And the pants she wore would keep her warm.
Harlis hadstolen for her, taking a big risk, even if it was only from another prisoner. And Gavin. . . He hadn’t given her anything for the pit except a smile, but that gave her the strength to sit there and endure. She would focus on breathing and think of her guys, not of her boss and the guards who had made her fear being trapped and helpless.
Her guys? When had she started to think of them as hers? She hadn’t slept with any of them. Granted, Harlis had gone down on her, and a guy had never done that before, but aside from that and some innocent kissing, nothing else had happened with any of them. Gavin still barely talked to her, though he was generous with those encouraging smiles, and his eyes never left her, as if he had more to say but didn’t know how.
Someone above hissed.
“You left him in there too long, Thompson,” Harlis said.
