Page 57 of The Captive Missing

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By the time noon rolled around, Val was a wreck. Her nerves only registered on the inside though. Anyone watching would think she was as unaffected by her impending appointment as Amber or any other lifetime captive.

Managing vacant eyes and a placid face, Val appeared bored while Alicia arranged her hair and perfected her makeup. The outfit the client selected was hung inside a black garment bag. She would change into it at the last moment.

Sky-high stiletto heels were already strapped to her carefully scrubbed feet. The shoes were a vibrant red, along with her nails. It didn’t take a genius to guess at the dress she would be wearing that evening.

Shane was not present for her prep this time. Instead, he was standing by the door to the transport garage and gave her a final inspection. His eyes swept over her face and down the length of her body. He lifted the skirt of her uniform and brushed quickly at her thighs.

Giving a curt nod, he stepped aside and let the Cambric guard pass through the wide metal exit door. As Val followed behind, she held her forearm underneath the waiting scanner and listened absently to its beep.

Inside the garage were rows and rows of buses, limousines, vans, and cars. It was enormous, resembling an aircraft hangar with all the vehicles having blacked out windows and reinforced glass. Val had been inside the garage only a handful of times before, though she knew it was a heavily trafficked area by most others.

Hourly and party captives were brought in and out like a herd of cattle, while monthly subscription captives went out in groups of three or four. Cambric tried its best to schedule them in clustered locations and at similar times so they could benefit from using a single vehicle or single driver.

Today, Val would be the only one. She had a Cambric driver as well as a designated guard who would follow her to her client booking and wait outside the door. Most guards did not have to monitor their captives quite so closely, especially if they had worked with them before, but Val was considered a flight risk and so extra precautions had to be taken.

Looking at her personal guard now, Val wondered if he was related to CT. This was no ordinary Cambric security. This guy was about twice the size. He was a huge hulking machine with a thick neck and shoulders so broad his arms couldn’t rest at his sides. Along those same lines, he didn’t say much. She thought his name was Hugo, or Rafael, but admittedly, she couldn’t be certain.

Stopping at a black town car, her guard leaned over to look in the driver side window. He grunted, then rapped one chunky knuckle against the glass before gesturing to the driver. Whomever sat inside turned over the engine.

Val listened as the doors were unlocked but waited, eyes glancing at the far wall. It was made entirely of sheet metal. She spied a few Cambric security standing at intervals, looking out of large windows that were cut into the building. Looking out. Not in at the captives, odd.

“Get in.” Her guard spoke gruffly as he yanked open the rear passenger door with one hand, still clutching the garment bag in the other.

Obligingly, Val folded down gracefully onto the leather seat and just managed to tuck her legs inside before he slammed the door shut. Tucking a strand of hair behind one ear, she huffed a breath and watched him walk all the way around before taking his position in the shotgun seat. Twisting around, he hung the garment bag carefully in the back before securing his seatbelt.

The driver, both hands held loosely on the wheel, a black ball cap pulled low over his eyes, put the car in reverse and maneuvered out of the parking slot. At the end of the long aisle they turned left and followed the narrow lane until they reached a wide rolling door.

It was large enough for a bus to fit through and had a guard shack situated just in front of it. Her driver handed the guard in the shack an ID card which was swiped through a handheld reader. All of a sudden, the garage door began to lift and the guard returned the card without another glance.

The sun was bright and directly in their eyes, so Val turned her head to the side and looked away. The concrete flooring of the garage gave way to gravel which crunched slowly as it rolled beneath their tires. Val blinked through her heavily tinted window.

There was a narrow swath of green lawn off to her left. It wrapped from the far end of one of the apartment towers to the edge of the garage. As they approached the outer wall of the Cambric estate, Val watched a lone rabbit nibbling quietly on some clover. It was so peaceful in that instant, so unaware of what surrounded it.

In the next second, Val’s eyes widened in shock. The car had passed through a heavy iron gate and an angry hand was slapping hard against the outside of her window. Val jumped back, hands clutching instinctively at her uniform.

A crowd of people swarmed just outside the Cambric gates. They pushed at the car, hitting and kicking the vehicle as it crawled by. The driver inched forward, unperturbed as other Cambric guards shoved people out of their path. Val’s mouth hung slack as people yelled.

One man climbed on top of the slow moving sedan. Then another, then another. Before long Cambric security was overwhelmed, she couldn’t see their uniforms in the mass of bodies. The roof began to sag and moan in places, and the driver began to tap the throttle impulsively. The car leapt forward a few feet, then stopped just before running over a person.

Fixing her eyes on the last bit of blue sky through the front windshield, Val’s pulse spiked. They were going to be crushed. She broke out in a cold sweat. Leaning forward, Val gripped the massive body guard with one clenched hand and pulled his sleeve towards her, trying to peer into his face. He glanced at her once, before giving her a brisk nod and patting at her hand.

“There she is!” A voice screamed.

“She’s in this one!” Then another.

The collection of bodies had migrated to the windshield. They were looking in and pointing. The bodyguard shoved Val further into the backseat until she could feel the rough carpeted floor on her cheek. Then he was yanking at the steering wheel and growling instructions to the driver.

Suddenly, cameras began to flash.

Then gunshots. Pop. Pop.

They made Val cringe and people shout. Again and again Val listened to the rapid release of bullets. The driver slammed his foot against the gas pedal and the car flew forward.

Still on the floor in the backseat, Val heard the sound of gravel fly from the wheels before they bumped up onto the highway and tore smoothly down the road. It took several minutes for her breathing to even out. During that time, no one in the car said a word.

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