“W-what are you doing?” Emma stammered.
The man wordlessly began pulling her toward the door.
“Wait!” She dug her bare feet into the dirt floor. “Where are you taking me?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he continued forcing her to walk with him, out of her personal prison and down the hallway to another room.
Once inside, Emma was shoved into a wooden chair, the hood pulled off her head. Squinting, she blinked several times to help her eyes regain their focus.
When they did, she wished she was back in the other room, alone.
Positioned in front of her was a video camera connected to a tripod. Standing behind it was a man who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.
“Who are you?” she asked boldly, fearful she already knew the answer.
Though she couldn’t see him, Emma knew the man who’d escorted her was standing somewhere behind her.
“My name is Sadiq Khaled,” the man confirmed her suspicions. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Cooper.”
“Can’t say I feel the same about you, asshole.”
Being a smartass with the man behind all of the attacks on R.I.S.C. probably wasn’t the brightest idea she’d ever had, but at this point, it was the only defense Emma had.
“You have a very smart mouth for such a beautiful woman.”
“Funny.” Emma stared back at him. “My parents always say the same thing.”
With a biting glare, Sadiq moved from his place around the camera and walked toward her.
“Let me tell you what is going to happen. You see the camera, there? I’m going to record you reciting a speech I’ve prepared.”
“A speech?”
Continuing forward, he nodded. “You are going to help me tell the world how Jake McQueen and his precious Alpha Team are to blame for your capture and subsequent execution.”
Execution?
Emma’s chest began to heave, her fear refusing to remain locked away. Still, no matter how scared she was, there was absolutely no way she was going to do what he was asking.
“Go to hell,” she hissed through a set of clenched teeth.
Standing directly in front of her now, Sadiq grabbed her chin and squeezed. Emma cried out from the pain, expecting her jawbone to crush within his grasp any second.
“You will do what I say.”
No, asshole. I won’t.
She spit in his face.
Rage turned his face red as he wiped the saliva from his chin. A second later, he backhanded her so hard, she flew out of the chair and onto the floor with a hard thud.
Pain in her head, shoulder, and hip radiated throughout her body when she hit. But still, she didn’t cry.
This man was going to do what he wanted with her, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop him.
The only thing she could do—the one thing shevowedto do—was to keep her dignity as long as she could.
While Sadiq went over to the camera to begin the recording, the other man stood off in the corner, doing nothing to help her. Not that she expected him to.