TWO YEARS LATER

St Petersburg, Russia

Olesya was drowning.

Water splashed her face, soaked the black hood. Breathing sucked the hood into her mouth and made her choke. She inhaled through her nose, desperate to draw air from inside her hood. There wasn't any.

Panic flashed inside her. She slowed her breathing. Focused. She heard the loud crackling in her ear. For a moment, the darkness lit under her hood. She knew what was coming.

Silence.

She breathed slowly. Listened for movement.

The stun gun made contact. Ark screamed. His body shuddered beside her. She could hear him sucking the damp hood into his mouth with each heavy breath.

The electrodes struck Olesya this time. They bit hard under her ribs and the current surged through, locking her every muscle. Her plasticuffed hands pulled tight against her back. The pain stopped. She slumped back. A pair of boots paced around her.

Val screamed.

Olesya flexed her fingers. Her hands were shaking. Every time an electric current snapped through her, her body jerked and drew the plasticuffs around her wrists tighter. Her fingertips were tingling. Soon, she would lose feeling altogether.

The footsteps receded. A door opened and closed. They were alone now. Three teenage captives, unarmed and with no one to save them.

Ark whispered, 'Now.'

Olesya kept her breathing slow and reached into the back of her pants. Hooked to her underwear, a long flat sliver of metal: an improvised shim she'd made herself. She straightened the thin wedge with almost numb fingertips and worked fast, rotating one wrist. Using her index finger, she probed for the ratchet in her plasticuffs.

She found the gap where the teeth fed into the ratchet and lowered her shim. It took a few attempts until she lost the ratchet completely. Her breathing was heavy again, she tried to slow it. Her body ached and her fingers trembled. In any high stress situation, fine motor skills were the first to deteriorate, skills she needed desperately right now.

On either side of her, frantic breathing and curses told her Ark and Val weren't having an easier time. She concentrated, used her index finger to find the ratchet. Once she was sure she had it—and she wasn't entirely sure—she tried the shim again. The more she rotated her wrist the more the hard plastic dug into her skin.

And then she started losing feeling in her fingertips.

'Come on,' Olesya whispered.

The shim hit the tiled floor with a tinkling sound.

Inhaling, she sucked fabric into her mouth. She tried to calm herself, she was running out of time. Running her fingertips across the wet tiles, she searched for the wafer-thin shim.

Then she heard the teeth on Ark's plasticuffs tear free.

'I'm out,' Ark whispered.

She could hear him pulling at his hood. 'Get Val,' she said.

The door burst open. Color inside her hood shifted. Ark was moving, then he landed hard. The stun gun crackled. Ark yelled, then spluttered.

'Not fast enough.' Illarion circled the trio.

He fastened a hood. Then plastic teeth clicked through a ratchet, binding someone's wrists.

The stun gun fired. Ark screamed. It echoed inside Olesya's head. Next, Val screamed. The stun gun stopped and her groan was twisted, breathless.

'Again,' Illarion said. 'You will make it out of this door in under five minutes.'

The door slammed shut.

Olesya's shim was gone. She felt for a spare, deeper inside her clothing, then stopped. There was a quicker way. She leaned back into an arch until her shoulder blades touched the wet tiles. Pointing her feet to the ceiling, she pushed her bound wrists under her hips, over her butt and under her legs. She bent one knee, then the other. Now her wrists were in front of her.

She only had one shot at getting this right. If she screwed up, it would pull her plasticuffs so tight she would cut off her circulation. Olesya held her wrists up high and pulled them back, hard, across her midsection. Pain flashed through her wrists as the plasticuffs tightened, then snapped. She ripped off her hood and saw the room for the first time. It was lit by a single light bulb, walls peeling, a single door in front. Her nostrils seared with the smell of bleach. Before her, Val was hooded, a shim in her plasticuffs as she wriggled her hands. Olesya moved to help Ark.

He felt her hands on him and pulled away. 'I can do it myself.'

She didn't bother arguing. She was on her feet, moving for the door. Illarion's footsteps fell on the other side. The door handle turned. She sidestepped quickly and pressed herself against the wall behind the door.

Illarion stepped inside. Olesya kicked him in the back of one knee. He dropped, and she closed her arm tightly over his neck. He lifted his stun gun up, the electric arc sizzling angrily. Olesya grasped his elbow, and guided the stun gun into his body. Illarion jolted beneath her, collapsed.

Olesya knelt on his arm, pinning it. She knocked the stun gun clear and drove her knees high into his armpits. He spluttered, trying to knock her off. She pressed her palms over his cheek and clamped his head against the tiles. Leaning in, she applied just enough pressure.

Illarion tapped out.

Olesya released him. Ark and Val had removed their hoods and were watching from their seated positions on the wet tiles.

'Congratulations.' Illarion cleared his throat. 'You're now the team leader.'

'But I cheated,' Olesya said. 'And we didn't escape.'

Illarion smiled thinly. 'This was never about escape.'

***

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<3
Nathan