Page 44 of Free Fall (The Quantico Files 3)

When she ended the call, she stared at her phone for a while. What would she have said if Logan hadn’t stopped her? She wasn’t sure. “Liar,” she whispered to herself. She knew exactly what she would have said. What she wanted to say.

When she woke up, Tracy immediately rose to gather fresh clothes, having decided to wait one more day before putting her plan into action. As eager as she was, she needed a little more time to pray and gain strength.

She noticed a piece of clothing folded and lying on top of the dresser. She shook it out to get a better look. It was a sleeveless white dress with yellow daisies on it. Not anything she’d ever wear. It was juvenile and out of style. Like something a teenager might have worn years ago.

On the floor next to the dresser sat white flats. Then she spotted a note on the dresser top as well.

Fix yourself up and put on the dress and shoes. Tonight is date night. Be ready by dinnertime.

Date night? Fear stabbed her in the chest like a knife. Was this it? Did he plan to assault her tonight?

Calming herself, she sat on the bed and thought for a while. This was it. She had to put her escape plan into motion now even though she wasn’t sure she was ready. Date night changed things a bit. A few minutes more gave her an idea that involved an item she’d noticed in the makeup bag. She stepped behind the curtain, cleaned up, and then dressed in her regular clothes. She prayed this would work. It just had to.

As she sat eating her breakfast, she suddenly acted as if something was wrong and ran back to the sink behind the curtain. Then she put her fingers down her throat and threw up. It wasn’t pleasant, but she had no choice. After rinsing her mouth, she took out the tube of red lipstick and rubbed a little onto her cheeks, hoping that would make her look like she had a fever.

After she came out from behind the curtain, she carried her tray with the remainder of her breakfast to the door. Then she made a show of lying down on the bed and stayed there until she heard the bottom panel slip open to retrieve the tray and leave her lunch.

“I don’t want it,” she called. “I’m not feeling well.”

No response, but the lunch tray didn’t come through. She listened as the other doors slid open. One, two, three, four ... She waited for the fifth, but instead simply heard the cart going back down the hall. What did that mean? Had one of the women escaped? Or . . .

She couldn’t think about that.

She ran to the area behind the curtain a couple more times. After each deception she lay down again, then wrapped her arms around her middle, making certain the camera could see her do it.

After she heard the cart with the dinner trays start down the hall, a knock sounded at her door. “Date’s off for tonight,” a male voice said, “but you’d better recover soon or you’ll be punished.” Then a tray was pushed through the bottom panel.

She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to sabotage her plan. She waited a few minutes before bringing the tray to the table. The meal was some kind of broth with saltines, along with a bottle of water and, of course, the drugged tea. How could she make them think she’d downed the tea without actually drinking it? Filling her mouth and then going to the sink to spit it out would be too obvious. Besides, she couldn’t hold that much in her mouth all at once.

After thinking about it for a while, she came up with an idea. First she ate her soup and the crackers. Then she went to the sink and removed the toothbrush and toothpaste she kept in a gallon-size zip bag. It was risky, and she wasn’t sure it would work, but it was all she could think of.

She hid the bag under her T-shirt, went back into the room, and took the tea cup off her tray. Then she carried it to the bed, where she got in and pulled up her comforter. She sat with her knees up to her chin and slowly moved the bag until it was between her chest and her legs. After that, she carefully opened the bag and held the cup to her lips while allowing the tea to pour into the bag. Since it had sat for a while, the tea wasn’t hot. That made it easier.

She finally got all the tea into the bag, then still holding the cup, she slowly zipped the bag with her other hand so that whoever was watching wouldn’t notice that something was going on. Praying the bag wouldn’t come open, she slid it under her comforter as she bent to place the cup on the floor.

When it was time for bed, she got up with her back to the camera, the bag clutched to her chest, and slipped behind the curtain. She poured the tea into the sink before washing and drying the bag with a paper towel. She put her toothbrush and toothpaste back inside and returned it to the shelf.

When she carried the dinner tray to the door after gathering the cup by her bed, she prayed no one would pick it up early. If they did, they might notice the butter knife was missing. They’d obviously put it on the tray by mistake since she didn’t need it for her soup. Their carelessness gave her hope that they might not miss it. Maybe she really could pull this off.

She got the waste bags and placed them near the door. After that, she lay down on the bed, pretended to go to sleep, and waited.

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